against Ferris State. Man I hated playing them because they managed to shut us down no matter what, and pounce on every mistake. Ohio State sometimes plays a similar -- albeit more skilled -- version of their game.

The 2-man advantage for a full two minutes is what sunk Notre Dame Saturday in my view. The puck was in the OSU end for nearly the entire two minutes yet the Irish came away with nothing. Then when they scored with 40 seconds left to take a lead into the third period whatever chance Notre Dame had was gone. Between the lift your opponent gets killing off power plays like that and the sapping of your own confidence, it's difficult to recover.

Notre Dame simply needs to find a way to locate some finishers and/or snipers for their power play. You either need someone who can clean up a mess in front (like Anders Lee) or someone with an NHL caliber shot even if they can do little else (like Mario Lucia). As long as Notre Dame hovers in the bottom third of PP efficiency, they will struggle to excel. 5 teams in conference have a better PP.