In just his second career start, Notre Dame freshman goalie David Brown turned aside 40 shots as his Fighting Irish (2-2-0, 2-2-0 CCHA) posted a 3-0 shutout win against the Bowling Green Falcons (1-3-0, 1-3-0 CCHA). Brown’s shutout is the earliest career shutout ever by an Irish goalie.
“Brown was great tonight,” said Irish head coach Dave Poulin. “He made a couple of enormous saves when we needed them.”
In a series which saw the losing team of each game outshoot the winning team 109-42, Saturday’s game was played straight-up, according to Poulin.
“I thought the game seemed pretty even. I don’t really get caught up in shots,” he said.
Bowling Green tried everything to put the puck in the net, but could not figure out Brown. Even a breakaway chance in the second period by forward Dana Hanson was turned aside.
“I came across, stacked the pads and was able to pick [the puck] up,” Brown said of his stellar glove save. “[The save] really helped with the momentum. The crowd was getting into it at that point.”
BG’s raucous opening-night crowd tried in vain to shake the freshman goalie, but to no avail.
“There was a lot of energy tonight,” said Poulin. “I know this building well. I’ve seen as much energy in here as anybody has.”
“It was a great atmosphere,” added Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch. “The fans and students did a good job of responding to us tonight.
Mike Walsh opened the scoring for Notre Dame just 17 seconds into the game. He netted a goal, beating sophomore netminder Jordan Sigalet on the doorstep for an Irish lead. Cory McLean assisted on the goal.
The Irish lit the lamp again at the 2:43 mark of the period as freshman Josh Sciba scored his first collegiate goal. Sciba, from the side of the net, tucked the shot in behind Sigalet for the 2-0 lead. Matt Williams-Kovacs and Rob Globke picked up the assists.
“This was clearly not the way we wanted to start the hockey game,” said Paluch. “We stayed with things from a team standpoint, though. We did a lot of things very well. We were able to generate a lot of offense tonight.”
“The start was everything,” said Poulin. “That changes the course of the game. Those two goals were really key.”
After a scoreless second period, Globke added his fourth goal of the season 1:39 into the third, giving the Fighting Irish a 3-0 lead. Tim Wallace and Matt Amado assisted on Globke’s goal.
Bowling Green outshot Notre Dame 40-17. Notre Dame was 0-for-6 on the power play while the Falcons ended up 0-for-7.
The Falcons continue their homestand next week as they face Union College in nonconference action. Notre Dame heads east to face Boston College in a Saturday night game.
