Revenge is a dish best served cold.
The old adage means that revenge is best after time has passed since the original infraction, but in Notre Dame's case against Ohio State, it could have also referred to the temperature of the ice.
Notre Dame, who lost to Ohio State in the first round of the CCHA Super Six postseason tournament to end the 2002-03 season, knocked off the Buckeyes on the road 5-2 Friday night. The celebration was short lived, though, as Ohio State came back Saturday night to split the series with a 3-1 win over the Irish.
The Irish (1-1-0, 1-1-0 in the CCHA) split with the 15th-ranked Buckeyes (2-2-0, 1-1-0) despite the fact that Notre Dame's top goalie, Morgan Cey, was unable to play. Sophomore Rory Walsh picked up the win Friday night, and freshman David Brown played well in Saturday's loss, stopping 36 of 39 shots he faced. Both Brown and Walsh were making their first career start.
"I liked the way we played overall," Irish coach Dave Poulin said. "We were doing lots of the intangible things well. We had two young goaltenders who hadn't played a game at the Division I level play pretty well."
Youth played a large part in Notre Dame's success this weekend, but so did veteran presence - particularly the play of senior forward Rob Globke, who had a hat trick in Friday's victory. It was the first time a Notre Dame player scored a hat trick in a conference opener since 1995.
"It was a nice way to get the season started," Poulin said.
Ohio State started the scoring Friday, getting on the board a little more than six minutes into the game when Rod Pelley fired the puck over Walsh's glove.
The Irish tied the game six minutes later with Globke's 50th goal of his career. Center Matt Amado split the Buckeye defense with a perfect pass to Globke, who then fired the puck over Ohio State goalie Dave Caruso.
Globke gave the Irish a lead with his second goal of the period with about three minutes remaining. With the two teams playing four-on-four, Irish defenseman Tom Galvin sent Globke a perfect pass, allowing the forward to beat Caruso with a shot from the slot.
The Buckeyes tied the game just four minutes into the second period when Walsh gave up a rebound goal to Paul Caponigri. Globke would reclaim the Irish lead seven minutes later on the power play.
Notre Dame added insurance goals in the third period from forwards Aaron Gill and Cory McLean. Walsh made 31 saves in the game.
"Rory's a battler," Poulin said. "He didn't get in any games last year, but he worked hard in practice and his conditioning this season was outstanding coming in.
"He really battled tonight and made some big saves when it was a one-goal game."
The Buckeyes changed goalies for Saturday's game, electing to start senior Mike Betz instead of Caruso. Betz has never lost to the Irish in his career, and Saturday was no exception as he stopped 29 of 30 shots to improve his record against Notre Dame to 7-0-3.
Neither team mustered any goals in the first period, combining for only 10 shots. That changed in the second frame, as they combined for 35 shots. It was Ohio State who scored the first goal, when Daymen Bencharski scored on a deflection a little less than three minutes into the period.
Notre Dame tied the game less than two minutes later when sophomore forward Tim Wallace scored a rebound goal after Betz stopped the initial shot from McLean.
Ohio State's J.B. Bittner put his team ahead for good 11 minutes into the final period, and Dave Steckel scored an insurance goal with a little more than two minutes left in the game.
"Ohio State played a little more desperate in the final period and got the two points," Poulin said. "This is one that we have to find a way to win. We lost one of six periods on the weekend, and it cost us two points."
