Saturday, March 25, 2001

Saturday, March 25, 2001, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
NCAA West Regional, Quarterfinals, Michigan vs. St. Cloud

The Wolverines playing their second game of the weekend hit the ice flying again and like the night before the Huskies from St. Cloud were right there with them. Michigan also got the games first penalty to give St. Cloud the first chance of the night on the power play. The Huskies would not be able to take advantage of the man advantage and Michigan killed the penalty off. Play would continue up and down the ice with both teams showing that they had both skill and the ability to play a physical game. The Huskies would pick up their first penalty of the night with just over thirteen minutes remaining in the period. The Wolverines, like the Huskies before them, were unable to take advantage of the man advantage.

About five minutes later St. Cloud would pick up their second penalty of the period and this time it would prove costly to the Huskies. While it looked like the Huskies might kill this penalty off as well Michigan continued to work the puck around looking for the opening they needed. That opening came with just 35 seconds left in the power play (6:30 left in the period) when Komisarek got the puck to Kosick who went top shelf to score the games first goal. Both Mike Komisarek and Mike Roemensky picked up assists on the goal.

It appeared that the period would come to an end with the Wolverines holding the slim one goal lead, but that would all change with 2:01 left in the period. Michigan won a face off to Blackburn's left and Huntzicker brought the puck around behind the Michigan goal. As he rounded the goal he passed it up the ice to Kosick, who in turn passed it ahead to Langfeld. The pass was almost to far, but Langfeld got it right at the St. Cloud blue line and was able to take the puck in all alone on the Husky goal. He came in close to the goal and went top shelf to score the goal and give Michigan a two-goal lead. Assists went to Kosick and Huntzicker.

Scott Matzka just missed scoring a third Wolverine goal just as the clock went under one minute, but the Husky netminder was able to scoop the puck off the ice just before it crossed the goal line. The first period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to nothing. Michigan also held the edge in shots on goal with a 12 to 7 count.

The second period was a little bit slower in pace with both teams moving the puck up and down the ice and continuing to play a very physical game. The first break of this period would come with just over thirteen minutes left to play with a face off to Blackburn's right. This time St. Cloud won the face off and got off a quick shot, which Blackburn stopped. However, he let a big rebound get away from him and he was unable to stop the Huskies from putting that rebound into the net for their first goal of the night.

With just over ten minutes remaining in the period the Huskies would be called for a penalty, but again Michigan was unable to take advantage of the man advantage. However, it looked like Michigan got a huge break when St. Cloud was called for a second penalty just as the first penalty expired, putting Michigan back on the power play. Much to the Wolverines dismay the Huskies were able to kill off the second penalty as well and the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Wolverines.

Once again it looked like the period would end without any further scoring, but the Wolverines had a little something to say about that. Working the puck out of the corner Michigan managed to pass the puck to Cammalleri who was sitting right in front of the St. Cloud goal. As soon as he got the puck he lifted it over the St. Cloud goalie to push Michigan back out in front by two goals. Assists on this goal went to Koch and Hilbert.

As it turned out the action wasn't over yet as Michigan was called for a penalty with just 2:02 left in the period to give St. Cloud the late power play chance. The Huskies would squander that opportunity when they themselves would get called for a penalty with 1:49 left in the period. The teams skated four on four until just 19.3 seconds remained when Michigan was called for a second penalty. This gave St. Cloud a short 4 on 3 power play, but the period ended with both teams skating with four men apiece and the score still favoring the Wolverines, 3-1. Michigan extended their edge in shots on goal with a 25 to 13 count.

The third period started with both teams skating with four men for ten seconds and then St. Cloud returned to the power play for 1:30. With 18:36 left in the period, just 17 seconds in the power play, the Huskies got their second goal of the night. Ironically this goal was setup by an attempt at a short-handed goal by Michigan's Hilbert. Hilbert let a huge slap shot fly, but it sailed high and bounced off the back wall all the way to center ice where St. Cloud picked it up and skated uncontested into the Wolverine zone. With the numbers in their favor the Huskies were able to pull Blackburn out of position and get the puck in the net to get back within one.

It would be just two minutes later when Michigan would score for the fourth time in this contest. With some great passing up the ice Hilbert brought the puck into the St. Cloud zone to the wide side of the goal. Captain Geoff Koch was coming down the ice just to the left of center ice and Hilbert got the puck to Koch who punched it into the net. While the Wolverines celebrated the referee waved the goal off and sent it up for review. After review the goal was ruled good and the Wolverine celebration was back on as their lead was back to two goals.

It looked like Michigan was going to add to their lead a short time later when they were once again on the power play. This time, while waiting to take a face off at center ice, both players taking the draw had false starts, but the St. Cloud player brought his stick up under the chin of the Wolverine player. The St. Cloud player was immediately called for a high stick and sent to the sin bin. While on this power play Michigan missed on two golden chances to score another goal and extend their lead to three goals, but they were could not get the puck in the net.

After several minutes of up and down hockey it would be another Michigan penalty that would open the door for St. Cloud. This time it was Kosick who was called for hooking with just 6:47 left in the game (although it looked like he got a lot of help from the St. Cloud player). Michigan had almost killed off the power play when they got a little sloppy with the puck and St. Cloud got the puck past Blackburn off a deflection. This goal came with just 5:08 left in the game and suddenly the lead was back to one goal.

As each second ticked off the clock the intensity level on the ice grew as Michigan looked to hold off a desperate St. Cloud team. The Wolverines were able to keep the puck out of their zone for a great deal of this time and St. Cloud would finally call time out with 1:16 left to play. Coming out of the time out St. Cloud kept their goalie on the bench to gain the extra attacker (the face off was in the Michigan zone). The puck stayed in the Michigan zone for almost all of the final 1:16 and St. Cloud got a couple of good looks at the net, but Blackburn, along with the defense, turned all St. Cloud scoring chances away. The game came to an end with Michigan winning by a score of 4 to 3. The Wolverines ended the game with a 33 to 21 advantage in shots on goal.

With two pretty solid nights of hockey the Wolverines won themselves a trip to Albany and the frozen four for the first time since 1998 when they won their last National Championship. They will join Boston College and North Dakota, the two top seeds in the East, and Michigan State, the top seed from the West. Michigan is the only team to make it to the frozen four without having a bye game and will be looking for their tenth National Championship. They will play Boston College in the late game on April 5^th, while the Spartans will play defending National Champion North Dakota in the early game on that same day. If both CCHA teams should win they will meet on Saturday April 7^th and play for the National Championship. For CCHA fans that would be an ideal match up, but both teams will have to play outstanding hockey to get there.