Notre Dame hockey had every opportunity to lose a series of matches against Bowling Green over the weekend, but despite its best efforts, the Irish left unscathed.
When you’ve lost 10 of your last 11 and 15 of your last 17 games, opportunities to lose tend to crop up. Over the last two months, it appeared like Notre Dame couldn’t get out of its own way – earning untimely penalties and in large quantities, committing unbearable turnovers and allowing goals that shouldn’t have been.
They’ve shot themselves in the foot, as first year head coach Brock Sheahan has said often throughout the season.
Notre Dame (5-18-3, 1-13-0 Big Ten) notably did not lose either of its games against Bowling Green (14-6-6, 11-4-3 CCHA) this weekend. Of course, they didn’t technically win either. But Notre Dame’s 4-3 shootout loss Friday and 3-2 shootout win Saturday will both go down officially as ties, not losses, and the Irish have now gone three games unbeaten for the first time since October.
The Irish took to the ice Friday night wearing the same “skating leprechaun” uniforms they donned in their first win since November. They came out of the gate at an aggressive pace, out-chancing Bowling Green and building a 2-1 lead late in the second period.
Junior defenseman Henry Nelson got the Irish on the board less than five minutes into the game with a sliding shot from the point, and junior forward Cole Knuble responded to Falcon senior Quinn Emerson’s goal with one of his own midway through the second.
But the opportunity to lose lingered on. Late in the frame, the Bowling Green bench stood up in a roar, hollering for a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty against the Irish. The blunder put Notre Dame on the penalty kill with less than two minutes remaining in the period. Then the officials whistled graduate forward Sutter Muzzatti for hooking, and the Irish quickly found themselves down two skaters.
The team thought it had escaped the issue when the siren went off to end the second period. But Falcon freshman defenseman Ty Higgins picked the blocker side corner on Irish sophomore netminder Nick Kempf on the ensuing third-period power play. Notre Dame’s lapse in focus had landed itself in a tie game.
The Irish responded 50 seconds later with a goal by junior forward Evan Werner. With 18 minutes to play, Notre Dame regained its one-goal lead. They skated with the Falcons in a wide-open third period, until another lapse in focus allowed freshman forward Noah Morneau get loose on the backdoor and tuck an equalizer around Kempf with just over 14 minutes remaining. Yet again, mistakes were mounting.
“We generated a lot, especially in the first two periods, like a lot,” head coach Sheahan said after Friday’s game. “Our third period, I thought we were just kinda hoping to win. And they’re a good hockey team … we did have some pushback in the third, at moments, but I thought we waited until it was tied again to get going again. You just can’t leave anything to chance, especially with where we are at.”
The expected goals metric before the game lean 3.5-2.3 in favor of the Irish. The Irish encountered multiple opportunities to win, including a late-game power play and a shot off the post from junior forward Brennan Ali in the ensuing overtime.
Notre Dame had the opportunity to lose as well. And it didn’t do that, either. The Irish got the game to overtime, and then to a shootout, clinching a tie.
Saturday night’s game was a different beast. Friday was the kind of game that Notre Dame has lost this season, but Saturday was the kind that every team loses. The Irish outplay their opponents analytically, winning the expected goals differential in nearly all their games over the last several weeks. On Saturday, they were caved by the Falcons 6.1-3.0, and still managed to squeak out a tie.
With the Irish managing a one-goal lead in the middle of the second period again, another ill-timed penalty allowed Bowling Green to tie the game. Once freshman forward Jeremie Minville scored to ignite a hostile Falcon crowd at Slater Arena, the Irish quieted the building in the middle frame with goals from Werner and Ali. Leading 2-1, Irish freshman forward Cole Brown received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind, and Falcon freshman defenseman Brayden Crampton scored on the power play with just nine seconds remaining in the period.
That would conclude the scoring for the night. Kempf stole the tie for the Irish, stopping 48 of 50 shots, setting a career high in saves.
The Irish found a way to not lose, which in this season is a victory. Next weekend, against a Wisconsin team that’s taken every opportunity to lose in its last six games, maybe Notre Dame will even find a way to win.