Icers rally to tie Wolverines on road
By MATT ORENCHUK
Sports Writer
Yost Ice Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan is not the easiest place to play a hockey game. Not only are the Wolverines are one of the top hockey programs in the country, but their fans are notorious for being rowdy during games. It would be nearly impossible for a team down 3-1 to fight back in an environment like that.
But that is exactly what the Notre Dame hockey team did on Friday night. Down by two goals midway through the second period, the Irish battled back to tie the Wolverines 4-4 on their home ice.
It was the first regular season point earned by Notre Dame at Michigan since 1982.
The game started off well for the Irish. Rob Globke scored on the power play seven minutes into the opening period to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead. The defense played well early for Notre Dame, and the Irish went into the intermission with their one goal lead intact.
The second period was an entirely different story. Michigan came out firing. A series of penalties gave the Wolverines a four on three advantage. Jeff Jillson was able to capitalize for Michigan and he tied the game at one with his goal 2:49 into the period. The Wolverines put two more goals on the board, first by Josh Langfeld and then another by Jillson to take a 3-1 lead at the 13:24 mark of the second period.
Then Notre Dame got a break. Even Nielsen skated out of the penalty box and received a perfect pass from teammate Ryan Dolder. Nielsen raced up the ice and put the puck past Wolverine goalie Josh Blackburn to cut the Michigan lead to 3-2.
"Nielsen's breakaway goal was the spark we needed," junior center David Inman said. "The team was able to feed off of that for us to comeback."
Michigan wasn't done yet. They added another power play goal by Langfeld to restore their two-goal lead going into the second intermission.
The third period belonged to the Irish. On the power play, Inman got a nice rebound and flipped the puck past Blackburn to make the score 4-3.
"Dan Carlson made a perfect pass," Inman said. "I was just at the right place at the right time, and I was able to find an open net and put it away."
Brett Lebda finished off the scoring when he scored shorthanded with 10 minutes left in the game. That tied the game 4-4.
The game was then a dual of the goaltenders. Tony Zasowski was excellent in the third period and overtime while preserving the tie for the Irish. He stopped 40 shots setting a personal record.
Most importantly, the tie keeps the Irish tied for the last CCHA playoff spot. Notre Dame and Bowling Green each have 15 points and are tied for 10th in the league. The Irish, however, hold the tiebreaker over the Falcons, and if the season ended today, Notre Dame would have the last playoff spot.
Although they sit in the last playoff spot, the Notre Dame players know they can't be complacent.
Next up for the Irish is a two game series at Alaska Fairbanks this weekend.
"These are desperate times," said Inman. "[Alaska Fairbanks] is one of the teams we are fighting with for the last playoff spot. So we need to come out of next weekend with some points."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 19, 2001
