Feb. 26, 2011
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Freshman left wing Anders Lee scored twice, including the game-winning goal on the power play, to help Notre Dame to a 3-2 win in front of a crowd of 3,876 at Lawson Arena on Friday night.
Lee’s game winner, his team-best 21st goal of the year, came with 4:57 left in the game and he never got his stick on the winning goal. With the Irish swarming around the goal on their fourth power-play chance of the night, Billy Maday ripped a wrist shot from the left face-off dot. The shot went off Lee’s skate at the top of the crease and deflected past Bronco goaltender Jerry Kuhn to make it a 3-2 game.
After an official review, it was ruled that Lee was not in the crease and did not kick the puck, and the goal was good.
Lee was joined on the scoresheet by fellow freshman Jeff Costello who picked up his ninth of the season to tie the game at 2-2 in the final period. Western Michigan got a pair of goals from senior center Max Campbell on Senior Night in Kalamazoo.
The victory improved the eighth-ranked Irish to 21-9-5 overall and 18-6-3-2 in the CCHA, good for 59 points. Notre Dame goes into Saturday’s home finale at the Joyce Center with a one-point lead on Michigan as the Wolverines kept pace with a 3-2 win at Northern Michigan on Friday night. A Notre Dame win on Saturday night will give the Irish their third CCHA regular-season title in the last five years.
The loss dropped Western Michigan to 15-10-10 on the season and 9-9-9-5 in conference play. The loss moves the Broncos to fifth place in the CCHA playoff race.
The win was the fifth straight for Notre Dame and extended the Irish unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2) since January 22nd.
Notre Dame wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Lee got his first of the night when he scored on a deflection in front just 1:31 into the game.
T.J. Tynan, who had two assists in the game, came out of the right wing corner and fed the puck back to defenseman Sean Lorenz at the center point. Lorenz fired a low, hard shot on goal. Lee was camped in front and deflected the puck past goaltender Jerry Kuhn for his 20th goal of the season.
The Broncos got the equalizer at 10:09 of the first period when Campbell snapped a wrist shot past Irish goaltender Mike Johnson from the bottom of the right wing circle.
With the Irish moving the puck through the neutral zone, right wing Greg Squires took the puck away along the boards in front of the Notre Dame bench. He moved the puck to the Irish blue line and left it for Campbell who carried it down the right boards before moving to the circle for the shot. The goal was his 15th of the season.
Campbell put the Broncos ahead with his second goal of the night and 16th of the year as he scored at 14:40 of the second period on a power-play goal.
Defenseman Matt Tennyson moved in from the left point and got a low shot on goal that Johnson made a pad save on. The rebound bounced out to the right circle where Campbell flipped it over Johnson under the cross bar to make it 2-1.
The Irish came into the third period trailing by one and were just 1-7-1 on the year when trailing going into the final period. That would change on Friday night.
Costello got the game-tying goal at 4:07 when he burst down the right wing and tucked a shot under the cross bar to make it a 2-2 game. Ryan Guentzel and Joe Lavin assisted on the goal.
That set up Lee’s late game heroics. With the two goals on the night, the Edina, Minn., native is the first Irish player to score 21 goals in a season since Rob Globke did it in 2002-03. He is the first Irish freshman to score 20 goals in a season since Ryan Thang had 20 in 2006-07. The big left wing also became the 12th Notre Dame rookie to score 40 or more points in a season as he now has 21 goals and 19 assists.
On the night, the Irish out shot Western Michigan, 29-18. Kuhn finished the night with 26 saves while Johnson had 16 in winning his 16th game of the season.
The Irish and Broncos play the home finale on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Notre Dame will honor its senior class of 2011 immediately following the game on Senior Night.
** IRISH NOTES **
** The win for the Irish at Lawson Arena snapped an 0-3-1 streak at the home of the Broncos. Notre Dame’s last win there came on Nov. 17, 2007.
** Notre Dame’s come-from-behind win over Western Michigan marked the first time this season that the Broncos lost a game when leading after two periods of play. They were 9-0-1 prior to Friday night.
** The two-point games for Anders Lee (two goals) and T.J. Tynan (two assists) marked the 14th time this season that each player has had a multi-point game.
** The win improved the Irish to 9-5-2 on the road this season. They were 3-10-4 away from the Joyce Center last season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#8/#8 Notre Dame (21-9-5/18-6-3-2) 1 0 2 - 3rv/#17 Western Michigan (15-10-10/9-9-9-5) 1 1 0 - 2
Scoring
First Period: ND: Anders Lee 20 (Sean Lorenz, T.J. Tynan), 1:31; WMU: Max Campbell 15 (Greg Squires), 10:09.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; WMU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: WMU: Campbell 16 (Matt Tennyson, Dennis Brown), PPG, 14:40.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; WMU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Jeff Costello 9 (Ryan Guentzel, Joe Lavin), 4:07; ND: Lee 21 (Billy Maday, Tynan), PPG, 15:03.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; WMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 15 - 9 - 5 - 29Western Michigan 6 - 7 - 5 - 18
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 5 - 6 - 5 - 16WMU: Jerry Kuhn (58:46) 14 - 9 - 3 - 26
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 4WMU: 1 for 3
Attendance: 3,876