Feb. 10, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. With time running out in regulation and Notre Dame tied 3-3 with Bowling Green, the Irish got what proved to be the game winner from an unlikely hero.
Sophomore defenseman Evan Nielsen scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway with just 44 seconds left to snap a 3-3 tie and give Notre Dame a 4-3 lead on the way to its’ 5-3 win over Bowling Green giving the Irish a weekend sweep of the Falcons.
The win moves Notre Dame into a three-way tie with Bowling Green and Lake Superior State for the 10th and final CCHA playoff spot. All three teams now have 14 points in league play as Lake State defeated Ferris State, 4-2 on Saturday night. The Irish are now 8-21-5 overall and 5-14-4 in league play. Bowling Green falls to 10-16-4 on the season and 5-13-4 in the CCHA.
As has been the case during the second half of the season, senior left wing Dan Carlson was involved in the game winning goal.
The play started at center ice when Nielsen took a Bowling Green player off the puck at center ice near the penalty box. Bowling Green carried the puck into the Notre Dame zone where the Falcons lost the puck near the right face-off circle. Carlson was there to pick it up.
“I picked up the puck and came around the corner and saw a white jersey breaking. I just tossed it out there. I guess I put it right on his tape,” said Carlson.
Nielsen who had drifted to center was waiting for the pass.
“I was standing all alone at the blueline and Danny put it right on my stick,” explained Nielsen.
The sophomore from Evanston, Ill. broke in on Bowling Green goaltender Tyler Masters. He faked right, then went left and slid the puck past Masters inside the left post for Notre Dame’s biggest goal of the season.
“I considered shooting it, but I’ve been working on that move in practice. It’s worked against our goalies so I thought I’d give it a shot. It couldn’t have come at a better time,” commented Neilsen who also assisted on Ryan Dolder’s second period goal.
In this strange season for the Irish, coach Dave Poulin didn’t know what to think as the winning play developed.
“Think about it. Your best defenseman is drifting all alone at center ice and your best offensive player is deep in the defensive zone breaking up a play. The game was on the line and we needed someone to step up and make a play. Tonight, Evan Nielsen made the play,” said Poulin.
Poulin continued as a smile came over his face, “I told Evan that was the first time that move has worked ever, pee wees, bantams, high school or practice.”
For the second night in a row, the Irish came out knowing that their season was on the line. A loss would have put them four points out of the final playoff with just five games left.
“I told them before the game that tonight’s game meant everything and I told them between the second and third period that our season came down to the third period,” said head coach Dave Poulin.
“After winning on Friday, we couldn’t let a chance to pull even slip away tonight.”
The Irish scored the first two goals of the first period. Carlson scored his 14th of the season at 10:45 as he took a pass from Rob Globke and whipped it past Masters for a 1-0 lead. With his goal and assist on the night, Carlson now has a career high 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists)
Connor Dunlop made it 2-0 just over three minutes later when he took a pass from Ryan Dolder and beat Masters from the left side at 13:46.
After dominating most of the first period, the Irish were forced to kill a five-on-three power play chance by the Falcons. The penalty killers did a great job, killing all put seven seconds when BG’s Curtis Valentine snuck a wrister from a bad angle off Tony Zasowski’s left shoulder under the crossbar for his first of the night at 19:37.
The Falcons wasted little time in the second period tying the game at 2-2 as they converted an Irish turnover into a goal. D’Arcy McConvey stopped a clearing pass between the face-off circles and took a shot that was blocked by the Notre Dame defense. The rebound went to Austin de Luis who fired a low, hard shot past Zasowski for his fourth of the season at 1:36.
Dolder would put Notre Dame ahead 3-2 at 10:04 as he poked a rebound past Masters for his 14th of the year. Nielsen kept the puck in at the blueline and fed it to Aaron Gill below the right wing circle. Gill took the shot and Dolder gave it the final push for the lead.
Valentine got his second power play goal of the night at 16:02 when he beat Zasowski from in close to the short side which set the stage for the final heriocs by Nielsen. Freshman defenseman Neil Komadoski scored his first collegiate goal as he fired a shot from inside his blueline into an empty net with one tick left on the clock for the final of 5-3.
Notre Dame fired a season-high 22 shots on goal in the third period and finished the game with 38 on the night. Bowling Green finished with 23 for the game. Zasowski made 20 saves while Masters had 35 on the night. At least for this weekend, the breaks seemed to go Notre Dame’s way.
“This has really been an incredible season,” said Poulin. “No one knows everything that these kids have gone through this year. People who aren’t in that locker room every day just don’t know. It’s nice to go on a little roll like this late in the season.
The back-to-back wins by the Irish marked the first time this season that Notre Dame has won two in a row since February of last season. Poulin believes that his team is finally playing with a little confidence.
“Confidence is such a key thing. It’s really hard to play this game without confidence. Your confidence is so fragile when things are going against you all year. You play on your heels and that’s when you make mistakes,” related Poulin.
The Irish play four of their last five games on the road and it all starts on Friday, Feb. 16 when they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a single game with the University of Michigan. Face-off is set for 7:35 p.m.
IRISH NOTES: Dan Carlson became Notre Dame’s all-time leader in games played when he played in the 153rd game of his career versus Bowling Green. He moves past former Irish defenseman John Schmidt (1978-82) who played in 152 during his playing days. Carlson has missed just three games in his career and those came when he played for the U.S. Junior National Team during the 1998-99 season.
With a goal and an assist in the Notre Dame win, Carlson has moved into a tie for 25th on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list with 49 goals and 77 assists for 126 points. He is tied with Kevin Humphreys who played from 1977-81 and had 55 goals and 71 assists for his 126 points.
The Irish have now scored the first goal of the game in three straight games marking the 11th time in 34 games they have had a 1-0 lead. Notre Dame is 6-3-2 in games when they score first.
Tony Zasowski has now played in six straight games in goal for the Irish. During that span, he is 3-3-0. ND is now 2-2-1 in its last five games.
SUMMARY:
Bowling Green (10-16-4/5-13-4) 1 2 0 – 3
Notre Dame (8-21-5/5-14-4) 2 1 2 – 5
First Period: ND: Dan Carlson 14 (Rob Globke, Jake Wiegand), 10:45, ND: Connor Dunlop 6 (Ryan Dolder, Aaron Gill), 13:46, BGSU: Curtis Valentine 8 (Greg Day, D’Arcy McConvey), PPG, 19:37.
Penalties: BGSU: 0 for 0 minutes, ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: BGSU: Austin de Luis 4 (McConvey), 1:36, ND: R. Dolder 14 (Gill, Evan Nielsen), 10:04, BGSU: Valentine 9 (Roger Leonard, McConvey), PPG, 16:02.
Penalties: BGSU: 3 for 6 minutes, ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Neilsen 1 (Carlson), 19:16, ND: Neil Komadoski 1 (unassisted), ENG, 19:59.
Penalties: BGSU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Power Plays:
Bowling Green: 2 for 5
Notre Dame: 0 for 4
Shots On Goal:
Bowling Green 6 – 11 – 6 – 23 Notre Dame: 8 – 8 – 22 – 38
Goaltender Saves:
Bowling Green: Tyler Masters (59:56) 6 – 7 – 20 – 33
Notre Dame: Tony Zasowski (60:00) 5 – 9 – 6 – 20
Attendance: 2,721