Against the second-least penalized team in the CCHA, Notre Dame's power play came up huge as the Irish came away with three out of four possible points against Lake Superior State this weekend.The Lakers, who have fewer penalties than everyone in the league except the Irish, gave up two power play goals and another shortly after an expired power play to Notre Dame, who defeated Lake Superior State Friday 5-3 and tied the Lakers Saturday 2-2."I thought our puck movement on the power play was very good," coach Dave Poulin said after Friday's game. "In tight games like these, you have to take advantage of your chances with the man-advantage."The Irish also got a bit of offense from unexpected sources, as freshman forwards T.J Jindra and Jason Paige each scored their first goal of the season Friday, and defenseman Brett Lebda scored his first of the season in Saturday's tie. Jindra's goal was a game-winner.Goaltending had to come up big for the Irish at several occasions during the weekend, as last year's starter Morgan Cey aggravated an injury Nov. 7 against Michigan State and will be out from four to six weeks after having surgery on his right knee. Freshman David Brown started both games, and played a large part in earning a tie Saturday as the home team was out shot 41-36. He made 16 saves in the win Friday, his offense helping make up for a somewhat sub-par performance. "I thought David Brown was good," Poulin said after the tie. "I thought he did very well and made some big saves to keep us in it."Friday, the Irish got off to a quick start as forward Mike Walsh collected a bouncing puck in the crease and flipped it past Lakers' goalie Matt Violin just a little over a minute into the game. Lake Superior State came back to tie it about halfway through the first after Bo Cheesman fired a shot into the top left corner.Three minutes later, the Irish retook the lead with a power play goal from Globke, who collected assists from defensemen Neil Komadowski and Tom Galvin and slapped a hard one-timer past Violin.Seven minutes into the second period, the Irish would increase their lead to two after some good play by freshmen Josh Sciba, Jindra and Paige. The two-goal lead would be short lived for the Irish, as the Lakers would score goals from Ryan Reid and Derek Smith to tie it up heading into the third period.Notre Dame would go back ahead after Jindra's first career goal. The Irish would get an insurance goal from Globke shortly after an Irish power play goal had expired and before the Laker player was able to get out of the box."That's definitely a set play we've been working on in practice and every time we get a power play we've been trying to set that up," Globke said. "The way their power play set up, we were fortunate to get a few goals off that play."Saturday, the Irish were outplayed early by the Lakers, with the visitors outshooting the home team 14-8 in the first period and then taking a 1-0 lead off a power play goal by Dominic Osman early in the second.About six minutes into the second period, Poulin elected to take a time out with his team being out-shot 19-9."I didn't like what was happening at all," Poulin said of his decision to take the timeout. "It was more energy than the style of play. Our energy level wasn't there at all"Poulin's pep talk must have done the team some good, as they would come out and score the equalizer six minutes later on the power play as defender Wes O'Neill aimed a perfect slap shot just between the post and the left pad of Lakers' goaltender Jeff Jakaitis.Lebda would put the Irish ahead, 2-1, midway through the second, collecting a Jakaitis rebound and putting it in the net. A turnover in the Irish defensive zone would lead to the Lakers salvaging a tie as Cheesman collected a perfect centering feed from Trent Cambpell and whipped it past Brown from the slot.Neither team would get many opportunities in the five-minute overtime, with Notre Dame outshooting Lake Superior State 3-1 in the extra frame. "There's a little bit of a hollow feeling right now," Poulin said Saturday. "Any time you give up a late goal there's a bit of a letdown. "I think the big thing is that in the locker room it felt like a loss, and that's a good thing because the players want more."
