November 15, 1996

Ferris State Skates Past Notre Dame, 5-1

Bulldogs come away with three power-play goals despite 39-21 shot advantage for the Irish

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Visiting Ferris State University broke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals and sealed the victory with a pair of power-play goals in the closing minutes to defeat the University of Notre Dame 5-1 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action Friday before a crowd of 2,214 at the Joyce Center Fieldhouse.

Notre Dame outshot Ferris State by a considerable margin, 39-21, but converted on just 1-of-6 power-play chances, compared to a 3-of-7 mark for the visitors. Freshman Mike Szkodzimski continued his stellar play in the goal for FSU, stopping 38 shots while lowering his season goals-against-average to 3.13.

The win moved Ferris State (5-6-1, 2-4-0 CCHA) into a three-way tie for seventh in the 10-team league standings. Friday's effort provided the second big road win in the past two weeks for FSU, which came away with a 3-2 win at Bowling Green last week behind Szkodzinski's 47 saves.

The loss dropped Notre Dame (3-4-1, 2-3-1) from fourth place to fifth in the CCHA standings, behind Lake Superior (3-2-0), a 7-3 winner at home Friday over Ohio State. The Irish remain in front of OSU (2-4-0) and Bowling Green (2-5-0), which dropped a 4-0 decision at Miami University on Friday.

Sophomore right wing Geoff Bennetts scored the first of his two goals in the game early in the second period, putting back a shot from freshman Brian McCullough (1:07). The visitors went ahead 2-0 midway through the second period, when senior defenseman Dusty Anderson skated in from the left and sent a quick pass between the circles for sophomore right wing Joel Irwin, who quickly redirected a shot past Notre Dame junior goaltender Matt Eisler.

The Bulldogs converted on a 4-on-3 power-play late in the second period, on a goal that closely resembled FSU's second score. McCullough took a pass on the left side from junior defenseman Brett Colborne and slapped the puck across to sophomore center Todd Steinmetz, who then fired home the third goal of the period (17:16).

Notre Dame had a chance to gain a motivational lift heading into the second intermission after an interference penalty on Bennetts with 1:56 remaining in the period. But the Irish were unable to create any solid scoring chances while failing on their fourth power-play opportunity of the game.

Midway through the third period, the hosts had another golden opportunity after penalties to Steinmetz and Jason Hodel yielded a 5-on-3 situation for the Irish. But Notre Dame could convert just once, when senior right wing Tim Harberts slapped home a deflected shot by senior defenseman Benoit Cotnoir (8:34).

FSU had a similar two-man advantage in the closing minutes and was able to come through with a pair of goals, as Hodel and Bennetts both lit the lamp in the final two-and-a-half minutes.

Notre Dame outshot FSU 18-7 in the third period but also had a handful of chances in the first 20 minutes, including a shot from freshman center Ben Simon that smacked off the right pipe.

The Irish continue to struggle on the power-play, having converted on just six of 46 chances (13.0 percent) for the season. Meanwhile, Ferris State has been solid on its penalty-killing during CCHA games this season, stopping opponent power-plays 82.9 percent of the time (29-of-35).

POSTGAME QUOTES

Ferris State Coach Bob Daniels
"Overall, Notre Dame had the edge in the game. In the first period, Notre Dame was a much better team. It was the worst piece of hockey we played all year. In the second and third, we got the game to somewhat even. Szkodzinski gave us time to get our act together. We caught a break tonight. Every point you earn in the league is going to bring a lot of parity."

Notre Dame Coach Dave Poulin
"At some point, you have to play. We've done a lot of talking and had a lot of discussions this week, but you just have to play. We started better, but you have to score and you have to capitalize on special teams. You've got to score goals and we just didn't do that. The fact that they score should not change the way we play. The bottom line is that you have to score to win. You can't win a game 0-0. Like last week it was a situation where the goalie gets confidence as the game goes on. Scoring is really a mentality as well as a talent. You have to want to score goals. We spent 30 to 40 percent of our practice time this week working on special teams, but a 5-on-3 is a difficult kill situation. They scored once on a 5-on-3 and once on a 4-on-3."


FERRIS STATE 5, NOTRE DAME 1
CCHA HOCKEY - at Notre Dame's Joyce Center

Ferris State    0   3   2   --  5
Notre Dame      0   0   1   --  1

Scoring
FIRST PERIOD:  No Scoring 

SECOND PERIOD: 1. FS - Bennetts (McCullough, Hunt) 1:07;  
2. FS - Irwin (Anderson, Roach) 10:28; 3. FS - Steinmetz 
(McCullough, Colborne) 17:16, PP 4-3. 

THIRD PERIOD:  1. ND - Harberts (Cotnoir, Borega) 8:34, PP 5-3;
4. FS - Hodel (Colborne, Roach) 17:33, PP 5-3;  5. Bennetts
(McCullough, Hunt) 18:30, 5-4.
Shots on Goal
Ferris State       5-9-7   --  21
Notre Dame         8-13-18 --  39
Saves
Szkodzimski (FS)  8-13-17  --  38
Eisler (ND)       5-6-5    --  16
Penalties
Ferris State            10-for-20
Notre Dame              12-for-32
Power-Plays
Ferris State             3-for-37
Notre Dame               1-for-6