Someone else has already put the box for this game up (2-2 tie).  I thought
post of few of my impressions of the game, as there seems to have been some
interest expressed in both of these teams over the last week or so.
 
This was a good game - much better than one might
expect from these two teams normally.  Both squads came out very hard early
on.  The hitting was particularly hard - so hard that I wondered if there
might have been some nastiness in Friday's 6-4 ND win in Chicago.
 
I won't give a detailed play by play, but Notre Dame was definitely the
dominant team in the first two periods.  There defense was very tough -
challenging UIC at the blue line.  I was also highly impreseed with the ND
transition game.  They moved the puck quickly down the ice with much sharper
passes than I've seen from them in the past.  Notre Dame led 2-0 at one point.
However, UIC also looked pretty good on defense. Notre Dame came up with
several 3 on 2's, even a 4 on 1 in the third period (which they failed to
score on).  But the UIC defensemen handled these very well.  They isolated
the man with the puck and cut off the pass.  It definetly kept the Flames
in the game.
 
UIC owned the third.  They started forechecking very seriously, and ND just
couldn't clear the zone.  I think Notre Dame's inexperience may have hurt them
here. They kept trying to skate the puck out when UIC just wasn't leaving
them this option.  The overtime edge probably went to UIC, but both teams had
good chances.  Overall, both of these teams played very good games.  If these
are second tier CCHA teams then it's going to be quite a season!
Parity all around I guess. It was good to hear that Kent gave MSU a scare!
 
Next week, ND gets another shot at Lake Superior - this time on home
ice.  It should be interesting.  The Irish are 1-2 against LSSU so far this
year.  The win came in the Soo, and one loss (in Alaska) was in overtime. Of
course I'm not sure home ice means as much with an utterly silent crowd that
knows next to nothing about hockey.  Remember,that ain't "Hat Trick Jesus"
on the side of the ND library.
                                                 James Old