A decent game, but neither team covered themself in glory.
Lake Superior took the lead on a first period power play goal.  The shot was
from up near the blue line, but was deflected at least once.  ND goalie
Lorthrup didn't have a chance.  This stood until the third period when
the Lakers went up 2-0, off of a Sean Tallaire unassited goal.  The Irish
scored late to avoid the shut out.
 
The bright spot for both team was goaltending.  The Lakers had Blaine Locher
in net (was this his first game back from the injury or did he play up in
Alaska?).  The Irish were only credited with 4 shots on him in each of the
first two periods, but this seemed like a low count and some of the shots
were quite good.  Locher looked relaxed and on top of his game -except for
when he came out of the net to stick handle, when he looked pretty bad.  The
most dissapointed part of the whole game is when the Laker defense decided to
call it a night with a 2 goal lead at about the 1 minute mark.  The Irish came
on strong and fought for a loose puck in the Laker zone
while the Laker defense mostly stared at their sticks.  The result, Locher
looses his shut out with only :15 seconds left on the clock.  ARGH!!!
 
The Irish played with the Lakers for most of the first two periods.  They
were checking hard and moving the puck down the ice quickly, but they still
had trouble getting the puck out of their own zone.  There were a couple of
dangerous turnovers that really should not have happened.  The Irish didn't
look nearly as sharp in the third period.  In fact they came out so late at
the beginning of the third that ref Petterle gave them a bench minor for
delay of game.  The Lakers didn't capitalize then, but about halfway through
the third, Sean Tallaire intercepted the puck at center ice and had
only one defensemen between himself and the ND goalie.  The Irish
defender played Tallaire VERY badly, he gave him all the ice he wanted - stayed
about ten feet away and gave him a direct shot on net.  Tallaire beat Lothrup
cleanly for a 2-0 lead.  The Irish also completly wasted a couple of power play
chances.  They had three men getting pinned in their own zone by ONE Laker
forechecker.  Not once, this happened a few times.
 
This game had moments (both teams hit the goal posts more than once), but
neither team looked great.  ND seemed more fired up for Illinois-Chicago last
weekend.  LSSU definitely did not look like a #3 team nationally.  They were
sloppy with their passes at both ends of the rink.  They have talented players,
but lack the discipline and intensity which the Lakers consistently showed in
the Anzalone years.  Somebody PLEASE tell me what makes this team so special.
I'd love to know, being a Laker fan since birth.  I sure didn't see it
tonight.
 
James Old
U. of Notre Dame