Oct. 31, 2001
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The Games: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-4-2/0-1-1) at Northern Michigan Wildcats (3-0-1/3-0-1)
Date/Site/Times: Friday-Saturday, Nov. 2-3, 2001 – Berry Events Center (3,754) – 7:05 p.m.
Broadcast Information: The game can be heard live on WHLY Radio (1620) with Dave Mager calling the action. The broadcast can also be heard via the internet at www.und.com.
ROAD TRIP: The Notre Dame hockey team will close out its’ string of six consecutive games on the road this weekend when the Irish travel to Marquette, Mich., for a weekend-series with the #12/#10-ranked Northern Michigan Wildcats. Notre Dame will be looking for its first win of the season as the Irish are 0- 4-2 overall and 0-1-1 in CCHA play. The Irish were 0-1-1 on last weekend’s trip to Boston where they dropped a 4-1 decision to Boston College and then tied Northeastern, 3-3 on Saturday night. Notre Dame is 0-2-2 in the first four games of its six-game road swing. Northern Michigan is coming off a weekend road sweep of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Wildcats won Friday night’s game, 1-0 in overtime, and then took a 5-3 win on Saturday night to improve their record to 3-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in CCHA action. The Wildcats are ranked 12th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll and 10th in the U.S. College Hockey Online Poll. Game time both nights at the Berry Events Center is 7:05 p.m.
IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northern Michigan have met 19 times in the all-time se-ries with Irish trailing 5-10-4 in the series. Since Northern Michigan returned to the CCHA for the 1997- 98 season, the series is tied at 5-5-4. At Marquette, the Irish are 1-3-2 with the lone win coming on Feb. 20, 1997 by a 4-3 score. Notre Dame is 0-1-2 in its last three games at Northern Michigan and 0-1-1 in two games at the Berry Events Center which opened in Oct. of 1999. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 4-7-2 in 13 meetings. Last season, the two teams met on Thanksgiving Weekend at the Joyce Center with Northern winning the Friday night game 3-1 while the two teams battled to a 3-3 tie on Saturday night.
HEAD COACH DAVE POULIN: Irish head coach Dave Poulin is now in his seventh season behind the Notre Dame bench. He owns an 81-125-31 (.407) and is 57-91-27 (.403). Versus Northern Michigan, Poulin-coached teams are 5-5-4.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Northern Michigan is 3-0-1 on the season and 3-0-1 in CCHA play. The Wildcats come into this weekend ranked 12th in USA Today’s poll and 10th in the USCHO poll. Northern is 1-0-1 at home and 2-0-0 on the road this season. For more information on the Northern Michigan Wild-cats, check their website at www.nmu.edu/athletics.
LAST SEASON VERSUS NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Northern won the series opener on Nov. 24 with a 3-1 victory. Matt Hunter and Bryce Cockburn snapped a 1-1 tie with third period goals 3:13 apart for the win. David Inman scored the lone Irish goal of the game on the power play giving Notre Dame a 1-0 first period lead. Tony Zasowski made 21 saves for the Irish while Dan Ragusett made 30 for the Wildcats. The loss dropped Notre Dame to 3-7-2 on the year, 1-3-1 in the CCHA. On Nov. 25, NMU’s Sean Connolly scored with just 45 seconds left to make it 3-3 and send the game to overtime. Northern scored two quick goals (Cockburn and Chris Gobert) to chase Irish goaltender Tony Zasowski. Senior Kyle Kolquist made his first appearance of the season and sparked the Irish holding off the Wildcats until Connolly’s goal. Rob Globke scored at 19:55 of the first period to cut the lead to 2-1. Aaron Gill tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period and Ryan Dolder put the Irish ahead with just 1:15 left in the game. Kolquist made 27 saves in 48 minutes and Craig Kowalski made 21 saves for NMU.
LAST WEEEKEND: The Irish went 0-1-1 on their trip to New England, dropping a 4-1 decision at Boston College on Oct. 26 before tying Northeastern 3-3 on Oct. 27. At Boston College, the Irish played in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,884 as the Eagles raised their NCAA championship banner. Aaron Gill (So., Rochester, Minn.) staked the Irish to a 1-0 lead just 4:42 into the first period with a power play goal. Freshman goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) made it stand up for two periods as he made 24 of his career-high 35 saves in holding the 1-0 lead. Boston College scored twice in the first 3:10 of the third period and added a goal at 10:34 for a 3-1 lead. An empty-net goal at 19:51 gave BC the 4-1 win. Notre