Wolverines Out Work Buckeyes

Friday, February 22, 2002
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

After a disappointing weekend last week the Wolverines take to the ice once again in their quest to capture the regular season CCHA title. They start the weekend still tied for first place with the Spartans and as of today they hold the tie breaker.

Last weeks loss also hurt Michigan's NCAA tournament position, once again dropping them to number ten in the Pairwise rankings. Michigan needs to win the remainder of their games to do whatever they can to improve their Pairwise standing and hope that a team or two ahead of them loses. Outside of Ann Arbor there are also some important games being played. Nebraska is traveling to Alaska for a weekend series to try and settle who will claim the number three position in the conference. Also in the running for that number three spot is Northern Michigan who travels to Bowling Green. The best thing that could happen from the Wolverines point of view would be for one of the teams in Alaska to sweep. It doesn't matter which one, but they need a sweep by one of the teams in Alaska. A split, combined with a likely sweep by Northern at Bowling Green would create a tie for third, throwing the tie breaker to the wind. There are only four games left to this years season, but right now that seems like a lot of hockey.

Michigan started this game with an unlikely starting line comprised of Murray, Moss, and Swistak, but they came out on fire. Flying up and down the ice, digging and scrapping for the puck at every turn. All that would work would pay off early and often for the Wolverines as they scored the games first goal with 17:39 left to play in the first period. Relentlessly chasing after the puck in the Buckeye zone, Shouneyia finally got control and circled around in front of the net. From there he took a shot that was blocked, but Ortmeyer was waiting right in front of the goal to slap the rebound into the net for the early Michgian lead. Both Ortmeyer and Burnes picked up assists on the goal.

Barely two minutes later it was an almost identical set of circumstances that saw the Wolverines add to their lead. Once again working hard in the Buckeye zone Werner would take a shot that was also blocked. However, once again the Buckeye netminder didn't cover the rebound and this time Moss was right there to put it into the goal. Werner got the lone assist as Michigan scored their second goal on just three shots taken.

Following the second Wolverine goal Ohio State took their only time out of the game to try and settle themselves down. It worked a little bit as it would take Michigan almost five more minutes to score their third goal. Once again it would be Shouneyia who would get things started and once again it was all started by hard work in the Buckeye zone. This time Shouneyia got control of the puck in the corner and then passed it out to Ortmeyer who was to the goalies right. Seeing that he was blocked Ortmeyer passed the puck over to Nystrom who made the easy shot into the wide open net. Both Ortmeyer and Shouneyia picked up assists on the goal.

Approximately thirty seconds after scoring their third goal of the game Michigan would pick up the first periods only penalty to put Ohio State on the power play, but the Wolverine penalty kill was outstanding. The best scoring chances on this Buckeye power play went to Michigan who missed two golden chances to score short handed goals. The first period would come to an end with Michigan holding a three to nothing lead. Michigan also held a decided edge in shots on goal with a thirteen to six count.

As unstoppable as Michigan looked in the first period, they looked simply ordinary in the second. Michigan would pick up and kill off two penalties, while the Buckeyes were finally called for a penalty late in the second period. Ohio State also killed off their penalty and the second period came to an end with Michigan still holding a three to nothing lead. If it wasn't clear to those watching this period that Ohio State carried the period all you had to do was look at the shots on goal totals. At the end of two the Buckeyes had overtaken the Wolverines and ended the period with a twenty to eighteen shot edge.

Michigan seemed to have a bit more fire to start the third, but they still weren't skating with the authority that they showed in the first period. Barely two and a half minutes into the period the Wolverines would pick up yet another penalty to put Ohio State on the power play once again. This time, however, things would work out differently for Michigan as they capatalized on a Buckeye miscue to pick up their tenth short handed goal of the year. Once again it would be Shouneyia who would trigger the play. Intercepting a pass at the Michigan blue line Shouneyia carried the puck up the ice down the player bench side of the ice. As he entered the Buckeye zone he turned in toward the goal and charged the net. Seeing that Henderson was trailing the play to his right he waited until he drew the goal tender over, then slid a beautiful pass over to Henderson who buried the puck for Michigan's fourth goal of the game.

Just as the Michigan penalty expired Ohio State was called for a penalty to put the Wolverines on the power play (Buckeyes took a penalty to stop what appeared to be a second straight short handed goal). Ohio State would kill this penalty off and just as they went back to full strength Michigan would get called for another penalty putting Ohio State back on the power play. Michigan would kill that penalty off and the game would settle down for several minutes.

With just under ten minutes left to play a Buckeye almost took Ortmeyers head off with a high stick to once again put Michigan on the power play. Unfortunately the Wolverine power play continues to struggle and they were unable to convert with the man advantage. The teams would trade penalties with just over six minutes left in the game and Michigan would end the game on the penalty kill as they picked up their final penalty of the game with 1:33 left to play.

The game would come to an end with Michigan winning by a score of four to nothing. The Buckeyes continued to outshoot the Wolverines in the third period and ended the game with a twenty eight to twenty four advantage in shots on goal.

The Wolverines did their damage early and then played even up hockey for the final fifty minutes to pick up their first win of the weekend. They skated extremely hard in the first period and then seemed to slow down and lose a little bit of their edge in the second and third periods. Even with that they came away with the win and keeping them in the hunt for first place. These two teams do it all again tomorrow night at 7:35 at Yost for what should be an exciting game to wrap up the weekend.