Jan. 7, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame hockey team responded to an
early Lake Superior goal with two first-period scores of its own and then
rode the 29-save effort of freshman Tony Zasowski the rest of the way, as
the Irish returned to CCHA play with a 2-1 victory over the Lakers in
Central Collegiate Hockey Association action Friday night at the Joyce
Center Fieldhouse.
The win moves Notre Dame (8-12-3, 5-6-2 CCHA) into a tie for
seventh place in the CCHA, just two points out of fifth. The Irish welcomed
back three of their top forwards from the World Junior Championship but
played without their co-leading scorer and team captain, as senior center
Ben Simon was forced to sit out the game due to a game misconduct penalty
in the previous game versus Colorado College.
Lake Superior (8-11-0, 7-6-0 CCHA) failed to cash in on all six of
its power-play chances while slipping back into a tie for fifth in the CCHA
standings, by virtue of Western Michigan's 3-2 win Friday over visiting
Alaska Fairbanks (WMU is now 7-6-2).
The Irish received an early goal from sophomore David Inman-one of
the three players returning from the World Juniors-while senior right
wing Joe Dusbabek scored on the power play, becoming the eighth different
player to record a game-winning goal for Notre Dame this season (in eight
wins).
The Lakers jumped ahead in the game's fifth minute, with junior
defenseman Ryan Knox scoring at the top of the crease for his first goal of
the season (4:27). Junior center Ryan Vince assisted on the goal for the
Lakers, who then failed to crack Zasowski on their final 28 shots of the
game.
Inman-who has spent most of the second as the fist-line left wing
but centered the third line on Friday due to Simon's absence-tied the game
48 seconds later, slapping home the rebound of his own breakaway chance.
Junior left wing Jay Kopischke picked up the assist for his sixth point in
the last seven games, firing the puck to Inman in the Irish zone. Inman
then came free up the middle and sent a short forehand shot off the chest
of LSSU junior goaltender Jayme Platt, who was unable to sweep away the
rebound before Inman had nudged home his team-leading eighth goal of the
season (5:15).
Dusbabek's power-play goal pushed the Irish ahead midway through
the period. Junior left wing Dan Carlson angled from the left boards to
mid-ice before sending a pass to the top of the right circle. Junior right
wing Ryan Dolder then fed the puck back between the circles and Dusbabek
beat Platt with a low shot for his fifth goal of the season (10:46).
The Lakers pulled Platt with 34 seconds left to play and the Irish
had a chance to score on the open net, after clearing the puck from the
zone. But LSSU quickly went back down the ice and Vince nearly poked the
puck past Zasowski on rush form the right side. Vince ultimately slapped
the puck through Zasowski, but the play already had been blown dead for a
faceoff.
NOTES: In other CCHA action Friday, Michigan (11-4-0) picked up a 2-0 win
at Michigan State (11-4-0) to force a tie atop the CCHA standings ...
third-place Northern Michigan (10-2-1) kept pace with a 2-1 home win over
Ferris State (7-8-0), which dropped into a tie with LSSU for fifth ...
Dusbabek scored a PPG for the second straight game and has 12 points over
his last 14 games played (4G-8A ) ... Dolder has points in each of the last
four games and nine points in the last seven (2G-7A) ... Dolder (5G-11A)
inched past Simon (6G-9A) atop the Irish scoring charts ...Kopischke has
six points in his last seven games played (3G-3A) after totaling just nine
points in his first three seasons with the Irish (69 games) ... Inman's
goal was his first in his last five games played and just his second since
Nov. 6 (spanning nine games played) ... freshman Connor Dunlop made his
return from the World Juniors and made his presence felt as the first-line
center, winning 15 of his 24 faceoffs ... sophomore center Brett Henning
also returned from Sweden, restoring the productive second forward line of
senior left wing Andy Jurkowski, Henning and Dolder ... Zasowski was solid
in his first appearance since Dec. 10, after allowing four goals in each of
his previous two games ... prior to Friday, Notre Dame had allowed 27 goals
in the previous seven games ... Zasowski lowered his season goals-against
average to 2.41 while raising his save percentage to .912 ... the Irish
avoided their first three-game home losing streak since late in the 1996-97
season ... eight of Notre Dame's last 13 games have been decided by 0-1
goals (4-3-1 in those games) ... the Irish improved to 4-2-1 in the first
game of CCHA series this season (1-4-1 in second games) ... the Irish are
5-2-2 in their last nine CCHA games ... Zasowski has allowed 0-2 goals in
eight of his 11 starts.
| LAKE SUPERIOR (8-11-0, 7-6-0 CCHA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 |
| NOTRE DAME (8-12-3, 5-6-2 CCHA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 |
1st: LS 1. Knox 1 (Vince) 4:27, ND 1. Inman 8 (Kopischke) 5:15, ND 2.
Dusbabek 5 (Dolder, Carlson) 10:46.
Shots: LSSU 9-13-8/30, ND 14-10-12/36.
Saves: LSSU (Platt) 12-10-12/34, ND (Zasowski) 8-13-8/29.
Power Play: LSSU 0-for-6, ND 1-for-3.
Penalties: LSSU 5 for 10:00, ND 8 for 16:00.
