Irish skate to 2-2 tie on senior night
By BILL HART
Sports Writer
Looking at the crowd on Senior Night at the Joyce Center Fieldhouse, one might have seen a few fans crossing their fingers. But with the events of the past week, Irish hockey fans had many reasons to be nervous.
While Notre Dame did hold a two-point lead on fifth place in the CCHA and the last playoff spot played on their home ice, sixth-place Ferris State had two games of its own against 10th-seeded Western Michigan.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame was taking on Michigan State, which holds the top penalty killing and power play units in the conference. Even worse, the Irish only had 16 healthy skaters to put on the ice against the Spartans, after sophomore David Inman was declared likely to miss the rest of the season due to illness.
But through the emotions of the eight seniors, possibly playing their last home games at Notre Dame, the Irish earned a 2-2 tie against the Spartans, good enough to secure home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs when combined with a loss by the Bulldogs on Friday.
"You don't like to have things out of your control," Poulin said about the playoff picture. "The ideal situation would have been for us to win tonight and tomorrow night, but you take all the help you can get in this league. Home ice is a big advantage for us. We like this building and we play well at home."
The Irish dodged a few bullets early in the first period, including a Spartan pass which slid through the blue circle, after freshman goalie Tony Zasowski was pushed away from the net. Both teams traded shots until the 14 minute, 50 second mark of the first, when left wing Dan Carlson went coast-to-coast, evading two defenders, en route to a score
"Carlson's goal was obviously highlight material." Poulin remarked. "I remember seeing him do stuff like that in high school."
It was the junior's 16th goal on the season, with assists by senior defensemen Sean Molina and Nathan Borega.
The Irish held the lead going into the locker room, but it didn't take long for the Spartans to answer. At the 0:45 mark of the second period, sophomore right wing Adam Hall sent in a shot from between the circles off a rebound from sophomore Andrew Hutchinson.
After tying the game, numerous Irish penalties kept the home team on the defensive. Midway through the second period, the Spartans held a 5-on-3 advantages for just under 30 seconds. While the Irish were able to kill three penalties early in the second period, an interference penalty at the 15:45 mark proved to be just the edge the Spartans needed. One minute later, Zasowski was unable to counter a 2-on-1 advantage, as Hall scored his second goal of the night off a pass from freshman left wing Brian Maloney.
"It seemed like it was an uneven game with all the penalties," senior captain Ben Simon said. "It's kind of ironic how we're the least penalized team in the league, and we always seem to have more penalties than the other team."
The Irish missed a huge opportunity late in the second, when goalie Ryan Miller fell down to leave an empty net. But a stabbing glove save prevented the home team from taking advantage.
Early in the third, the Irish found themselves in danger of being scored on again. Hall attempted to get the hat trick, but Zasowski covered up the puck for one of his 32 saves on the night.
At the 5:53 mark in the third, the PA announcer informed the crowd that Ferris State was losing to WMU 4-2 late in the game. The reaction by the team was almost instantaneous.
"They felt it on our bench." Poulin recalled. "After hearing the score, they really picked it up. Dan Carlson was the first to jump up and he said, "It's in our hands, let's go get it.' There was a definite surge."
After fending off another penalty, the Irish earned their second power play opportunity of the night at the 13:42 mark, off a hooking penalty from Spartan center Shawn Harcoff. Simon won a rightside faceoff in the Spartan zone and passed the puck to senior Tyson Fraser. After a shot by senior Joe Dusbabek was blocked by Miller, Simon rebounded the puck at the inside edge of the right circle and hit a low shot past Miller's right leg at the 14:23 mark.
"The shot just hit off one of their guys and bounced our way," Simon said about the play. "That's just the way things were going. They were going our way, and we'll take it."
Both sides fended off last-minute shots to force overtime, which saw numerous chances for the Irish fall short.
"We have never been happier with a tie," Poulin said about the game. "And the way it happened, coming back to get it. Every time we have tied this year, it was really a tie. Tonight, we came back and got this one."
The Irish started off strong in Saturday's game at the Munn Ice Arena, as Simon scored on a forehand shot inside the far left post at the 8:20 mark of the first. But the Spartans rallied back with five unanswered goals, ending with a power-play shot by Hall at the 15:27 mark of the second.
Notre Dame began to mount a comeback off power-plays early in the third period, beginning with junior Jay Kopischke's fifth goal of the season, a tap-in score off a pass from Dusbabek at the 2:01 mark.
Minutes later, Dusbabek threatened to score off a pass from Carlson. A shot from the high slot was deflected near the right goalpost, but Simon was there to bank the rebound off Spartan goalie Joe Blackburn, ending the scoring for the night.
Despite the loss, Notre Dame will face Ferris State in the first round of the playoffs, in a best-of- three series at the Joyce Center starting on Friday. The Bulldogs swept the Irish earlier in the year, winning two games in mid-October at Big Rapids, Michigan. But with the two teams playing on the Irish home ice, the outcome could be decidedly different.
"Ultimately, we didn't really need Ferris if we took care of our own end," Simon remarked. "But we capitalized on the chances we did get, and we're going to roll from there."
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 6, 2000
