Irish come back to top No. 2 Michigan State
By MATT ORENCHUK
Sports Writer
In a season of ups and downs, the Notre Dame hockey team really needed its victory against Michigan State Saturday. After dropping a 2-0 decision to the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans on Friday night, the Irish came back to beat MSU 3-2 on Saturday.
The win ended a couple of streaks. For Notre Dame it was their first win after dropping four straight and seven of its last eight. For Michigan State, it was its first loss on home ice since October 2000. In the past 16 months the Spartans had amassed a 30-0-3 record in that time before falling to the Irish on Saturday night.
More importantly for Notre Dame is the confidence gained from defeating a ranked opponent on the road.
"This was a good win for us," said junior Connor Dunlop. "We have been struggling as of late, so this will really help our confidence."
The Irish get out to an early lead on Saturday. At 14:02 into the first period Neil Komadoski put the puck past Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller, and Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead. The Spartans struck back quickly. Just 2:48 after Komadoski's goal Duncan Keith tied the game when he beat Irish goalie Morgan Cey.
The Irish weren't done in the first. David Inman came through with 18 seconds left in the first to put Notre Dame up 2-1.
In the second period Notre Dame picked up where they left off. At 1:43 into the second Brett Lebda increased the Irish lead to 3-1. Rob Globke had a break away down the right side. Lebda jumped in late and was fed a perfect pass from Globke that he put away for the score.
The Spartans came back once again. At 6:36 into the second Brad Fast added a goal to cut the Notre Dame lead to 3-2.
After that the defenses took over. Although they were out-shot 20-4 in the second period, the Irish hung onto their 3-2 lead through the second. In the third Cey stoned the Spartans, and the Irish walked away with the victory.
Friday's game also featured a good defensive struggle. MSU's Miller and Notre Dame's Cey went head to head in goal for the duration of the game. Miller ended up making 39 saves for the shutout, while Cey saved 41 shots, gave up the game-winning goal late in the second.
"I was pretty nervous about being on the ice with him," said Cey. "It was a challenge to play against Ryan Miller."
In the first period both goalies saved 16 shots. With less than two minutes to go in the second the Spartans went on the power play. Notre Dame tried to clear the puck, but MSU's Ash Goldie knocked it down, keeping it in the zone. Goldie passed to a wide-open John-Michael Liles, who fired one past Cey. The goal gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead and a lot of momentum going into the third.
The third period proved to be more of the same, as the goalies continued to be tested. With 1:05 left Irish coach Dave Poulin pulled Cey in favor of a sixth attacker. However, instead of Notre Dame coming up with the game-tying goal, Michigan State was able to put in the empty-netter to seal the game.
Despite splitting the weekend, there was a lot of satisfaction for the Irish. For one, they beat the No. 3 team in the country on its home ice. And the Irish defensive unit finally showed up. After giving up 13 goals the previous weekend, the Notre Dame defense only gave up three (the fourth being the empty net goal) in the series.
Next week the Irish have a bye weekend. They won't take the ice again until Feb. 22 and 23 at Lake Superior State. It will be important for them to keep the momentum they gained from this weekend.
"In the next couple of weeks we need to keep a level head," said Cey. "We can't get too high from this win. We need to keep our conditioning up and have a good stretch run."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 11, 2002
