Michigan
9-2-1, 6-1-1CCHA
Notre Dame
5-4-2, 4-4-0CCHA
Three-Goal Third Period Propels Irish Past Wolverines
11/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 5 University of Michigan ice hockey team dropped a home contest at Yost Ice Arena for the first time this season as it was beaten 4-3 by Notre Dame on Saturday (Nov. 23). The Wolverines held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 after the first and second periods, respectively, however, they were outscored 3-1 in the third period, including the game-winner with 3:40 left in the game. Sophomore forwards Dwight Helminen (Brighton, Mich.) and Milan Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) each had one goal and one assist in the defeat.
| | Gajic |
Notre Dame earned its first power play of the night at 5:58 but it was Michigan that took the advantage as sophomore forward Helminen made the score 1-0 at 6:45. Helminen stole a pass at his own blue line while UND was setting up its power play and then proceeded on a breakaway to beat Irish goalie Morgan Cey to his blocker side.
The teams exchanged one-minute power plays five minutes later as UND had its man advantage nullified by a too many men on the ice call. Back and forth offensive chances ensued over the last five minutes, highlighted by rushes from either team in the last minute of play. Notre Dame's Aaron Gill was denied a breakaway by a hard-charging Montoya, who slid out between the tops of the circles to knock the puck away, which generated a two-on-one break for the Maize and Blue the other way that saw senior forward J.J. Swistak (West Bloomfield, Mich.) hit the post.
Notre Dame got the game's equalizer at 3:44 of the second period on a scrum in front of the net, with Rob Globke chipping the puck over Montoya's left shoulder. Michigan's offense was then shackled by the Notre Dame defense throughout the period as U-M did not record a shot on goal until it was on a power play and 5:24 remained in stanza.
On another man advantage minutes later, the Wolverines took back the lead on just their third shot of the period. Senior forward John Shouneyia (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) chipped the puck off of the left boards to give sophomore forwards Gajic and Eric Nystrom (Syosset, N.Y.) an isolated two-on-one down low. Gajic slid the puck from the left circle to Nystrom in the slot for a one-timer with 3:32 left in the second period. After 40 minutes of play UND was outshooting U-M 24-14, including a 13-5 edge in the second period.
Notre Dame's power play three minutes into the third period did not result in a score, however, at 5:26 the Fighting Irish were able to tie the game at two goals apiece. Tom Galvin took a crossing feed by Connor Dunlop and fired the puck into the upper region of the net as Montoya was out of position.
The Wolverines were awarded a power play at 10:48, and with another infraction being given to UND Michigan had a five-on-three advantage for 41 seconds. Unfortunately, Michigan could not put the puck past Cey during the stretch and instead Notre Dame's Cory McLean scored with 5:40 left in the game. McLean was being harassed by a Michigan defender as he came down the left side and his shot trickled through the legs of the flat-footed Montoya at the left post.
The Wolverines retied the game with 3:55 left when Gajic slammed a Helminen pass into an open net from the left of the crease. Notre Dame took the lead right back 15 seconds later as Globke knocked a loose puck into the Michigan net for his second goal of the game and the eventual game-winner. U-M pulled its goalie with just over a minute to play in favor of an extra attacker but all of its shot attempts were blocked before they could reach the net.
Michigan will take a week off from CCHA play as it partakes in the 10th annual College Hockey Showcase. U-M will open with Wisconsin on Friday (Nov. 29) at 7:05 p.m. CST at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Red Berenson
On Notre Dame ... "Well, they worked hard; that's the name of the game and they really did work hard. They made their chances count, they stayed in the game. We had them down after two, and we've been a good team traditionally in the third period with a lead and we couldn't hold that lead. We couldn't put them away. We had some glorious scoring chances that we didn't score on and then it was going to be a one-goal game and you have to defend that lead and we didn't do a good job of defending it."
On the play during the second period ... "Penalties were part of it, you play in your own zone. I don't remember how many penalties we had to kill in that stretch but it takes away your momentum. Even if their power play doesn't score on you, it definitely takes away from your offensive momentum. We got a shorthanded goal that was a key goal in this game but you can't count on scoring shorthanded. And they got the offensive confidence and they kept us at bay. We got better; I thought the last part of the second period we came back, had some good chances and got back to playing better hockey."
On the third period ... "The third period was Notre Dame's period. Well, obviously that first goal was huge; if we scored that probably takes them out of the game. They score, they're right back in the game. The go-ahead goal was a tough goal. Every goal in the third period is a tough goal to swallow, the goals against."
On the team's play so far this season ... "We'll find that out. I'm trying to be honest with everyone. We've played well enough to win against teams that haven't won much but these are the tougher tasks for our team now. We're playing without a pretty good hockey player (senior captain Jed Ortmeyer), and with a couple of guys who have just come back that maybe aren't a hundred percent back yet in terms of game conditioning like (John) Shouneyia, (Andy) Burnes and (Jason) Ryznar. You can see that there's a fine line between winning and losing every night in this league. Rarely have we seen in this short season any real separation between us and our opponent, and so whether we're ready to take the next step remains to be seen. This was not a positive step for us this weekend."
Sophomore Forward Milan Gajic
On the difference in tonight's game ... "Notre Dame never gave up, they never backed up. They just kept on working and we knew that. We that was going to happen but suddenly we decided not to pay attention."
On U-M's play tonight ... "Coach mentioned that we finally started playing with some desperation. We really didn't play anybody and coming up to this weekend, to win and do well it takes a better team. You got to play with desperation and you always have to be on your toes and he preached that to us (throughout practice this week) and we didn't do that. On Friday we didn't look like we played with desperation and finally it took Notre Dame to get the lead before we decided we had to play with some."
On what U-M takes from this game ... "Everything is a learning lesson as you go on throughout the year. We've got a lot of young guys and it's the type of thing where every year every team has to learn that and this is one of those bumps in the road. It's one of the learning blocks."
N O T E S
Michigan has now completed its home schedule for the first half of the 2002-03 season. The Wolverines will play the next six games away from Yost Ice Arena and will return to play Miami (Ohio) in a weekend series on Jan. 4-5.
U-M wore its maize jerseys for the second time this season and is now 1-1-0 when wearing them.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Wolverines opened the scoring in the contest. U-M lost for the first time this season after scoring the first goal and is now 7-1-0 when doing so.
Michigan's streak of seven straight CCHA series with at least three points was snapped.
The Wolverines held their opponent without a power-play goal for the fifth straight game. Notre Dame went 0-for-13 for the weekend on the man advantage.
Michigan had multiple winning and unbeaten streaks ended in losing to Notre Dame. Michigan's 11-game home winning streak that had extended to last year, its seven-game home winning streak to start this season, its nine-game overall unbeaten streak and its 16-game CCHA regular-season unbeaten streak were all ended. The last time Michigan lost a CCHA regular-season game was to Bowling Green (4-2) on Jan. 25, 2002.
Michigan lost a regular-season home game to Notre Dame for the first time since Oct. 22, 1982 (4-2). Prior to tonight's contest, U-M had been 14-0-1 at home against UND since 1982. The only home loss to UND during the 20-year stretch came in the CCHA Tournament in the 1997-98 season (4-2, 3/13/98).
Michigan was outshot for the second straight night (31-28) and just the third time all year.
The Wolverines have scored in four straight games while on the power play and in five of the last six.
The Wolverines have notched at least one marker in the second period of all 11 games this year. Michigan has outscored its opponents 22-5 in the second period of play.
Eric Nystrom recorded his fourth power-play tally of the season and he now has half of Michigan's goals on the man advantage. Nystrom is tied for second on the team with five goals.
Dwight Helminen notched his second shorthanded goal of the season, giving him half of Michigan's shorthanded goal total for the season.
Helminen is the team leader in scoring with 12 points (5-7-12) and is tied for second on the team with goals scored. His 1-1-2 line was the third time this season and the sixth time in his career that he has had a two-point game.
Milan Gajic picked up two points in a game (1-1-2) for the first time this season.
John Shouneyia continued his point-per-game scoring with an assist on Nystrom's goal. In six games Shouneyia's line is an even 3-3-6.
Eric Werner's assist gives him seven on the year and ties him for the team lead. Also, Werner became the third U-M player with at least 10 points this season (3-7-10). Werner is the highest scoring defenseman in terms of goals, assists and points.
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
