A clash between two Central Collegiate Hockey Association rivals will take place tonight at the BG Ice Arena, as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame come to town to battle the Falcon hockey team to kick off a big CCHA series.
The Falcons are off to a good start as they sit 3-1 overall with a CCHA record of 1-1 after earning a series split with Lake Superior State at home this past weekend (1-5, 2-1).
Notre Dame comes into the game 1-4-2 overall and has a CCHA record of 0-3-1.
Last weekend the Irish tied (1-1) and lost (4-1) to Northern Michigan at home, but they’re a team that has been battle tested early on in the year as they’ve matched up against ranked teams in each weekend. Minnesota-Duluth, Miami, Boston College and this past weekend’s series against Northern marked the fourth weekend in a row the Irish faced a top 15 team.
Their only win on the year came against Boston College, who is the top-ranked team in the recent national polls.
“Looking at Notre Dame, I think they’re as battle tested as any team across the country,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “They’ve had a difficult schedule, but they’re a team that brings a lot of energy. They play a physical game, they’ve had trouble scoring so far this year, but they’re quick and they’re physical. They’re really young, they lost some key players, but they have a lot of skill.”
Up front, the Irish are led by forwards: Matt Amado, Michael Bartlett, Cory McLean, Josh Sciba and Tim Wallace. Wallace, who is second on the team in points with three, has a goal and two assists on the season.
On defense, the Irish are led by Noah Babin, Wes O’Neill, Brock Sheahan and Chris Trick. O’Neill, a 6-foot-4-inch sophomore leads the team in points with six, scoring a goal and dishing five assists.
Last season as a freshman, O’Neill asserted himself as one of the top defensive- defensemen in college hockey. He was selected 115th overall by the New York Islanders in the fourth round in the recent NHL Entry Draft.
In goal, the Irish will counter with what may be the top goaltending tandem in college hockey, having Morgan Cey and David Brown rotating starts.
Cey has been among the top goaltenders in the CCHA the past few seasons. He owns Irish records for career goals against average (2.73), save percentage (.913) and shutouts with six. He currently has a 1.92 goals against average on the year with a .949 save percentage.
He teamed up last season with Brown, who set single-season Irish records for goals against average (2.32), save percentage (.925) and shutouts with four as a freshman. Brown is struggling this season with a 4.33 goals against average and save percentage of .877.
“You look at that goaltending tandem and you see a really good one-two,” Paluch said. “Dave Brown has given up a few goals early, but we certainly know what he’s capable of.”
Last season, Brown shutout the Falcons in two Irish wins. The teams split the season series with each winning two of the four games.
“They’ve become a pretty good rival of ours,” Paluch said. “They’re our CCHA travel partner and our natural rival in terms of the CCHA scheduling format. It’s a team we improved our record against a year ago, and there’s no question that the series will be big as far as points go, playing them four times in a year.”
The Falcon youth continues to be the story so far this season, as all three goals scored against Lake Superior came from two underclassmen.
On Friday, freshman forward Jonathan Matsumoto continued his goal scoring streak to three games, scoring the lone goal on the night. He is leading the team in points with five on three goals and two assists. Sophomore forward Rich Meloche notched both goals in Saturday afternoon’s game.
Four of the top five scorers on the team as of now are underclassmen.
In net, Jordan Sigalet made 62 of 68 saves last weekend and brought his season goals against average to 1.75 with a .946 save percentage.
The seven suspended players still remain indefinitely suspended from the team and have not practiced in a week and a half. Word is expected soon as to what type of further action will take place.
As for now, coach Paluch couldn’t comment on the situation and whether or not the players will be available for the series.
Though the suspensions have brought attention, tri-captain Ryan Minnabarriet feels he and his teammates have been looked over.
“I think some people underestimated us coming into this past weekend,” he said. “We were missing a lot of our upperclassmen. But we worked hard all week; I think we prepared well, we didn’t exactly get the game we were looking for on Friday. For the most though we played welled on Saturday and if anyone did overlook us they probably shouldn’t of.”
“A lot more of the younger guys kind of picked up their play,” Minnabarriet said. “The leadership in the dressing room was there too. We got a lot of comments from everyone for keeping everyone in the game.”
He knows as well as anyone how big this series will be and how big the points will become the end of the year.
“Notre Dame, in my four years has been pretty good all four years,” he said. “If we can take any points from these guys, we’ll need them. We play them again two more times after this weekend, so we’ll need to come out and set the tone early.”
The situation for Falcon freshman defenseman Mike Nesdill is looking bleak. He will undergo surgery on his shoulder and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Face-off for tonight’s game is 7:05 and will conclude tomorrow at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana with a 7:35 p.m. start.
