The Western Michigan Broncos completed a home-and-home sweep against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday Night at Compton Family Ice Arena by defeating the Fighting Irish 4-3 in special-teams-fueled nail-biter.
“Well we scored two (power-play goals) and they scored one,” said Broncos coach Andy Murray. “When that’s the difference in the game… I think our special teams did really good.”
The opening period of play started fast-paced, with a lot of two-way skating and even play from both sides. The high-octane stalemate was broken at 6:13 when Irish winger Thomas Dipauli netted a close-range wrist shot from a no-look pass from Mario Lucia from behind the goal line. The goal came seven seconds into a Josh Pitt checking-from-behind penalty.
The penalty and goal changed the dynamic of the play as the rest of the period was a parade of players, mostly Broncos, to the penalty box, and three more goals.
The Irish stretched their lead when Dipauli lost control of the puck while entering the Broncos zone, but was picked up by a streaking Vince Hinostroza who cut straight to the goal crease and punched in a backhand shot while falling after getting tangled up by a pair of WMU defenders.
The Broncos pulled to within one 12 seconds later when Justin Kovacs blasted a top-shelf offering past Irish goaltender Chad Katunar from the left faceoff circle.
The change of momentum was largely accredited to a timeout taken by Murray when WMU went down 2-0.
“[Murray] called a good timeout,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson. “When that happens, sometimes the whole momentum of the game changes.”
It only took WMU 1:41 to knot the game at two when Will Kessel followed up his own close range shot with a tip-in on the crease off the rebound.
The WMU defenders deserve a lot of the credit for the close game, as they gave the Irish very few opportunities on four power plays in the period.
ND dominated early in the second period with most of the play taking place in the WMU zone. The Irish capitalized on the momentum when Mario Lucia tipped in a rebound to give ND a 3-2 edge.
WMU turned the momentum after a brutal boarding penalty by defenseman Justin Wade resulted in a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty. The Broncos almost squandered the opportunity though, as Sheldon Dries took an interference penalty early into the man-advantage.
WMU blue liners answered during four-on-four play however, and the Broncos tied the game shortly after the Dries penalty expired when Nolan LaPorte shelved a shot from the left faceoff circle.
The Irish made a change in goal to start the third period, bringing in Cal Petersen in response to Katunar allowing three goals off 15 shots in the first two periods. The change seemed to work, as both teams swapped scoring chances that continued to be turned aside by the two netminders.
ND had a prime opportunity to take a late lead when Mike McKee was sentenced to four minutes for a cross check and unsportsmanlike conduct.
“That’s an unacceptable penalty to take,” said Andy Murray, “That player didn’t come off the bench for the rest of the game.”
The Irish looked to capitalize on the man-advantage when DiPauli had the game and the puck on his stick and was staring at a wide open net, only to have his shot stick checked away by WMU defenseman Neal Goff.
“I just got tied up and it bounced wide,” said Dipauli, “He poked it away, and that’s on me. I got to capitalize on those.”
The four-minute kill energized the Broncos, who took control of the rest of the game, outshooting ND 6-0 down the stretch. The momentum translated into a series sweep when Colton Hargrove got Petersen to bite early and then blasted a high shot over his shoulder from the left faceoff dot with only 1:06 left in regulation, giving WMU a marquee series win as they work to turn their season around.
“This is a big win for us,” said Murray, “Notre Dame is a perennial national championship contender, and excellent academic institution. For us to win both games is big.”
The win improves WMU to 9-9-2 on the season. The Broncos play Minnesota-Duluth on the road on Friday, January 16. The loss drops the Irish to 9-11-2 on the season. ND plays next at home against Connecticut on Friday, January 16.
