Feb. 29, 2008
Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Notre Dame hockey team saw its scoring struggles continue on Friday night at Lawson Arena as they fired 40 shots on goal but failed to beat Western Michigan goaltender Riley Gill in a 3-0 shutout loss.
The shutout was the second this season against the Irish who also had eight power-play chances in the game.
Cam Watson, Patrick Nagorsen (shg) and Jeff LoVecchio (eng) did all the scoring as the Irish finish the month of February with a 1-3-3 record and just nine goals scored in the seven games.
The loss drops the Irish to 21-12-4 overall and 14-9-4 in the CCHA. Western Michigan goes to 8-24-3 on the year and 4-21-2 in the conference. Notre Dame is 5-8-4 during the second half of the 2007-08 season.
The Irish had plenty of scoring opportunities in the scoreless first period, but failed to take advantage of four power-play chances, including a two-man advantage for 1:14. Six of Notre Dame’s 11 shots in the opening stanza came on the power play.
It was more of the same early in the second period as the Irish carried the play early, only to see the Broncos score first.
Cam Watson gave Western Michigan a 1-0 lead at 8:34 of the second when he tucked the rebound of a Chris Clackson shot through Jordan Pearce’s pads for his ninth goal of the season.
Then, with Notre Dame on its seventh power play of the game, the Broncos would strike again, taking a 2-0 lead with a short-handed goal.
Cam Watson had a hand in this one too as he broke up an Irish rush in the neutral zone and found Nagorsen at the Notre Dame blue line. The freshman center broke in all alone on Pearce, deking him to the ice before sliding the puck under him for the short-handed tally. The goal was his first of the season.
The Irish played with a sense of urgency in the third period, firing 15 shots at Gill, only to have the big netminder turn them all aside.
With Pearce pulled in favor of a sixth attacker in the final minute, Patrick Galivan blocked a shot in the Bronco zone and he and LoVecchio had open ice to the empty goal. LoVecchio fired the puck in from the slot for his ninth of the season at 19:44 and Western Michigan had the 3-0 win.
Notre Dame out shot the Broncos by a 40-23 margin in the contest. Gill finished with first star honors as he made 40 saves while Pearce finished the night with 20 saves.
The two teams will wrap up the regular season on Saturday night when they meet at the Joyce Center. Game time on Senior Night is 7:05 p.m
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#11/#11 Notre Dame (21-12-4/14-9-4) 0 0 0 - 0Western Michigan (8-24-3/4-21-2) 0 2 1 - 3
ScoringFirst Period: No Scoring.Penalties: ND: 4 for 8 minutes; WMU: 8 for 16 minutes.
Second Period: WMU: Cam Watson 9 (Chris Clackson, Jeff Pierce), 8:34; WMU: Patrick Nagorsen 1 (C. Watson), SHG, 19:03.Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; WMU: 6 for 20 minutes.
Third Period: WMU: Jeff LoVecchio 9 (Patrick Galivan), ENG, 19:44.Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; WMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 11 - 16 - 13 - 40Western Michigan 6 - 10 - 7 - 23
Goaltender Saves:ND - Jordan Pearce (58:41) 6 - 8 - 6 - 20WMU - Riley Gill (60:00) 11 - 16 - 13 - 40
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 8WMU: 0 for 2
Attendance: 2,456