A tie in South Bend.  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.
 
UIC owned the third.  They started forechecking very seriously, and ND just
couldn't clear the puck.  I think Notre Dame's experience may have played in
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!
 
Someone else usually posts the ND box scores later in the week.  I'll be
looking for this one.
 
Next week, the Irish get another crack at LSSU, and this time its 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 library.
                                                 James Old