Michigan State University
Notre Dame
Spartans Fall to Notre Dame, 4-1
11/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 17, 2006
South Bend, Ind - Michigan State couldn't recover from a three-goal outburst by homestanding Notre Dame on Friday evening, and fell to the fifth-ranked Irish, 4-1, in South Bend. Jeff Lerg had 28 saves in the loss, as the Spartans fell to 5-3-1, 3-3-1 in conference play. Notre Dame improves to 9-1-1 and 4-0-1 in league play.
Notre Dame opened the game with a period of aggressive, hard-hitting play which saw the Irish outshoot the Spartans by a 14-4 margin, but sophomore netminder Jeff Lerg was up to the task. MSU had some early chances in the second period thanks to back-to-back power plays, but the Notre Dame penalty kill - the most proficient in the nation entering the weekend with a 92.7 percent success rate - kept the Spartans off the board on both opportunities.
The home team went up at 7:30 in the middle frame. Noah Babin had the puck at the top of the right circle and fired it on net, and Jeff Lerg made the glove save. The puck popped out and rolled over the top of his glove, and fell on the goal line at the left post. A crashing Jason Paige was draped by a Spartan defender, but managed to crash and poke the puck home for his fourth tally of the season. The goal snapped Jeff Lerg's personal shutout streak at 104:45, dating back to last Tuesday's game against Ferris State.
The home team potted goals 14 seconds apart to blow open a tight game. Paige potted his second of the night when he pounced on a rebound off of a Justin White in the high slot on the power play and had a wide-open left side; seconds after the ensuing faceoff, White scored his first career tally with a tip off of a slapshot from the left point by Dan VeNard that eluded Jeff Lerg stick-side.
The Spartans called a time out, and came out with a marked improvement in their level of play - however, Notre Dame netminder David Brown was a wall, turning aside each of MSU's 19 shots in the middle frame. Chris Mueller flew out of the defensive zone with a shorthanded breakaway attempt with less than 30 seconds remaining in the frame, but Brown made the left leg-pad stop to preserve the Irish shutout headed into the final frame.
Bryan Lerg broke up the shutout bid with a hard-working effort at 6:20 of the final frame. Ethan Graham had the puck at the left point and fired it low into the zone, where Dan Sturges fought for the puck with a defender. He got it to Lerg just below the goal line on the left side, and the winger fought off an Irish defenseman with one arm as he carried the puck out in front of the net, turned on it, and pushed his sixth tally of the season across the goal line.
Notre Dame put another on the board at 12:53, as blueliner Brock Sheahan slapped a floater from the top of the left circle that clanged the crossbar, fell behind Jeff Lerg and squirted across the goal line for the junior's first career tally. The Spartans pressed, but could not draw any closer.
David Brown finished with 26 saves in his ninth victory of the season.
The two teams will face off on Saturday evening in East Lansing, with the puck drop scheduled for 7:06 at Munn Ice Arena.
NOTES: Michigan State is now 1-3-0 on the road this season ... Bryan Lerg's second-period tally was his 30th career goal. He is now tied with Tim Kennedy for the team lead with six ... The Spartans have given up at least three goals in a period four times this season: twice its been in the second period, and twice in the final frame ... MSU was held without a power-play goal for the first time in eight games. The only other time that the Spartans failed to score a PPG was the season opener against Western Michigan ... Tim Kennedy and Tim Crowder saw their five-game point-scoring streaks come to an end ...
