Irish look to move up in CCHA with series against Western Michigan
By Matt Oliva
With only twelve games remaining in Notre Dame's regular season schedule, the Irish are looking to improve their playoff position starting with this weekend's home series against Western Michigan. The Irish (8-13-5) are tied with Nebraska-Omaha and Miami for seventh-place in the standings with a 5-7-4 CCHA record, holding the tie-breaker advantage over Miami and with two more games to play against UNO. Western Michigan (8-10-2, 7-7-2) meanwhile is currently ranked in the fifth and last home-ice playoff position.
Friday night's match-up will be the first time that the Irish and the Broncos have met since November 22, 1998. The Irish won that contest 9-5, and have played 40 CCHA games against other opponents since. The Broncos hold a series edge of 26-13-2 overall, but the Irish have gone 5-3-1 in this match-up over the last three seasons. During this time the Irish have averaged 3.6 goals per game, including a 17-8 scoring edge last season (7-1, 1-2, 9-5). Irish captain Ben Simon is the team's career leader in points scored against WMU with 2 goals and 10 assists.
With a pair of victories this weekend the Irish can help their playoff positioning, while ruining the Broncos in the process. Western Michigan is tied for fifth-place with Ferris State, but the two teams are only two points ahead of the Irish. A successful weekend could push the Irish ahead of the Broncos in the standings.
"This is a huge series for us," said center Connor Dunlop. "There are 5 or 6 teams all within a few points of each other. This series could really boost us and take us up to fourth place. The rest of our games this season will be really important for the playoffs."
Notre Dame will look to several key players to lead them in their playoff push. Junior right wing Ryan Dolder has 10 points in the last 12 games and is the leading scorer for the Irish with 16 points overall. Senior Joe Dusbabek also has continued his strong play this season with a game-winning goal against Lake Superior State, and leads the Irish in CCHA points with 3 goals and 6 assists. He has also had four points in the last five games.
The Irish are also counting on their defense for help in the offensive zone. Freshman Evan Nielsen has 2 goals and 3 assists in the last nine games, while Sean Seyferth and Sean Molina appeared to be headed for career bests in points this season. Tyson Fraser recorded his 50th career point with an assist against UMASS earlier this year.
"We have been working on special teams mostly this past week," said Dunlop. "They have a very good offense, their power play is very good. We have been concentrating on our penalty kill, but they are also very good short-handed. They have scored a lot when they are shorthanded."
The defensive play of the Irish have helped freshman goaltender Tony Zasowski to rank seventh in the league in goals-against average. His current mark of 2.47 is better than the Irish record set by Forrest Karr last season. The defense will be in focus as Western Michigan brings their fourth-ranked offense into the series, while ranked second in power play percentage. Junior C David Gove is the CCHA's third-leading scorer (20G-11A) while sophomore center Mike Bishai is tied for 12th on the CCHA scoring charts (19G-10A).
The two teams will face-off starting at 7:05 Friday night at the Joyce Center. The series will conclude Saturday night also at 7:05 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 21, 2000
