The Butler Bulldogs fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 3-1 on November 3rd.
The Dawgs were able to keep the game close against a team that defeated them twice last year. The Dawgs weathered Notre Dame’s initial onslaught in the first period and went into the second period scoreless after some fantastic saves by senior goaltender Jack Sigman. Butler started the second period on the power play, yet couldn’t score despite hitting the post twice. Notre Dame finally broke through on a power play of their own. They quickly scored again on a “knucklepuck” from the point that Sigman couldn’t see. The Irish scored again going into the break to make it 3-0 at the second intermission.
The Dawgs fought back hard in the third period and began to push the Irish back on their heels. Jack Becker was able to score on the power play to cut the lead to 2 but a few key saves by the Irish goaltender and some missed Butler opportunities ended the game with the 3-1 final. Jack Sigman made 33 saves on the night while the Bulldogs totaled 27 shots on the Notre Dame netminder.
While this was a disappointing loss for Butler, the game showed steps in the right direction with a much improved effort which proved to be a hard fought hockey game against a team who swept the Bulldogs last year.
