Michigan Advances to Quarter Finals

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

There really isn't much to say as a lead in to this weekends games for the Michigan Wolverines. It's the NCAA tournament and there are no more second chances; not for Michigan, not for any other team playing this weekend. As hockey fans around the country prepare for the beginning of the NCAA Division I hockey tournament there are twelve teams still playing. By the end of the weekend there will only be four and those four teams will meet in two weeks for the Frozen Four, being held in Minneapolis.

There have been big games in Yost Arena over the years and with the large number of similarties between this year and 1998, the Regional final against North Dakota is one that has been rousing memories for many Wolverine fans. Yost was full and there was a definite electricity in the air as the two teams took to the ice in the final minutes before the opening face off. For those that don't know St. Cloud brings along thier mascot when they play (a person in a Huskie suit) and the mascot would play a role in this game before the puck had even been dropped. While the Michigan players were being introduced the Mascot was getting in their face as they skated to the blue line. Finally the officials had to take the mascot in hand and tell it to stay on the St. Cloud side of the red line. With the teams skating around their ends and beginning to huddle up around their respective goalies the St. Cloud goalie skated down the side boards, through the Michigan end, heading for the exit door. As he got down into the corner where there were a lot of Michigan players he skated in front of several players trying to interfere with them. Not taking any nonsense from the mascot a couple of Michigan players bumped it over toward the end boards, but the mascot jammed a stick up under the mask of a Michigan player. That set the Michigan players off and O'Malley was actually going after the mascot, preparing to chase it into the locker rooms. The officials had to hold several Wolverines away from the mascot and as it turned out that was the last time the mascot was seen as it was not allowed on the ice between periods. We'll never know, but things might have gone different for the Huskies in the first period had their mascot not gotten involved with the Michigan players. The crowd, already charged, got downright hostile and you could see the anger in the faces of the Wolverines. Things went down hill from there for the St. Cloud hockey team as the Wolverines, just like last year, jumped all over the Huskies in the first period.

Both teams were skating hard in the opening minutes, but it was clearly the Wolverines who were carrying the play to the Huskies. Just over four minutes into the game that initial fire would pay off for Michigan as they scored the games first goal. Digging the puck out of the corner and moving the puck around the Huskie zone with some great passing Michigan got the puck to Ryznar in front of the net and Jason banged it home for the early Michigan lead. Assists on the goal went to Shouneyia and Mink.

The Michigan lead would be short lived as Woodford was whistled for a retaliation penalty less than a minute later to put the Huskies on the power play - a power play that converts over thirty percent of the time. Less than thirty seconds into the power play St. Cloud tied the game with a power play goal.

About four minutes after the Huskie goal Michigan would get their first power play chance of the night, but they were unable to convert. Barely a minute after killing off their first penalty the Huskies were whistled for a second penalty to Michigan back on the power play. Working the puck hard around the Huskie zone and time running out in their second power play Werner got a pass over to Murray and Murray blasted a shot into the net to once again give the Wolverines the lead.

Barely one minute later, with just under six minutes to play in the period the next Wolverine score would bet set up by a great hip check at center ice by none other than Mike Roemensky. Checking the Huskie off the puck Roemensky passed the puck ahead to Helminen who got it into the Huskie zone. The puck eventually ended up on the stick of Gajic down behind the Huskie goal. Showing great effort Gajic would get the puck out front of the net and just wouldn't stop until he had poked it into the St. Cloud net for Michigan's third goal of the period. Both Helminen and Roemensky picked up assists on the goal.

Michigan would get whistled for a penalty with just over three minutes left in the period and this time they would get it killed off without giving up a score. Then with just over thirty seconds left in the period Michigan was whistled for another penalty to put the Huskies back on the power play. The period would come to an end with Michigan leading by a score of three to one. The Wolverines also had a decided edge in shots on goal with an eleven to four count.

St. Cloud started the second period with 1:26 of power play time and a new goalie. The Huskies were unable to take advantage of the power play as the Wolverines killed of the remainder of the late first period penalty. This period would be a much more deliberate period for the Wolverines. A combination of more tenacious defense and a St. Cloud team that was obviously trying to make up for the slow start, led to much less Michigan offense in this period.

St. Cloud would get whistled for a penalty about half way through the period, giving Michigan a power play chance, but they would not be able to convert. With just over seven minutes to play matching penalties would be called, leaving each team with four men each on the ice. Niether team was able to take advantage of the extra ice space and the score remained three to one in favor of Michigan.

Perhaps the most telling story of how this period played out can be summed up by referencing two huge hits made by the Wolverines. Throughout this period the hitting by both teams had picked up, but Michigan seemed to be really disrupting the Huskie offense with their big time checking. At one time Michigan put a hit on a Huskie player that left him laying on the ice. After several tense minutes his teammates helped him up and over to the team bench, but his time on the ice was over. A few minutes later another hit by Michigan left another Huskie wobbling along the boards. While he made it to their bench under his own power he was clearly shaken.

Through all the hitting and the much improved offensive activity by St. Cloud niether team was able to score in this period as the second period came to an end with Michigan holding onto their three to one lead. The Huskies outshot the Wolverines in this period, but Michigan still held a slight edge in shots on goal with a seventeen to fourteen count.

With both teams seasons on the line the final twenty minutes of regulation time got under way and this period would start out and stay strange all the way to the end. With just over thirty seconds ticked off the clock both teams were hit with a penalty leaving them with four men each on the ice. With just under eighteen minutes to play and nineteen seconds left in the original set of penalties the Wolverines were whistled for another penalty putting St. Cloud on the power play. With time running down in the Huskie power play (twenty seven seconds left) Michigan was again whistled for a penalty to give St. Cloud a five on three advantage and extend their total power play time to start the final period. While they were unable to take advantage of the two man advantage the Huskies did score a power play goal with just over sixteen minutes to play in the game to get back within one. While they tried to argue that they had scored the goal while there was still time on the earlier penalty, they were unsuccessful and Michigan returned to full strength.

About a minute later Michigan was whistled for another penalty to put St. Cloud back on the power play and looking to tie the game. With just two seconds left on the power play it appeared that St. Cloud had tied the game, but the official immediately signaled for a review of the goal. After several tense minutes of waiting the apparent goal was waved off as the review showed the Huskies had a man in the crease.

With just over twelve minutes left in the game a St. Cloud player really went after Michigan and ended up getting called for a double minor giving Michigan four minutes of power play time. The Huskies had killed off over half of the four minute power play and in fact had seemed to bring more pressure down a man than Michigan was able to apply with the extra attacker. In the final two minutes of the extended power play perhaps the best scoring chance of the entire power play went to St. Cloud when the countries leading scorer got lose on a break away and charged into the Michigan zone. Deking Blackburn and having a shot at a wide open net the Huskie scoring machine amazingly shot the puck wide to preserve Michigan's slim one goal lead.

The teams would battle up and down the ice for the next seven minutes until Michigan would finally beat the new Huskie goalie. With just over five minutes left to play and the face off in the Huskie zone (to the goalies left) Gajic stepped in to take the draw. As he has done so many times this year, Gajic won the draw and stepped right through the Huskie player taking the draw against Gajic. Gajic got off a shot that was blocked, but Helminen was in position to poke the rebound into the net to extend Michigan's lead to two goals.

With just over three minutes to play the Huskies would get whislted for a penalty to put Michigan back on the power play, but Michigan would not be able to convert. However, after scoring that fourth goal Michigan seemed to have a bit more jump as they really forced the play into the St. Cloud zone keeping the Huskie goalie in the game. Finally with just thirty five seconds left in the game St. Cloud got their goalie off the ice and the extra attacker on the ice. The Wolverines were up to the task as they tied up the puck all along the boards, never giving St. Cloud a chance to score a goal. The game came to an end with Michigan winning by a score of four to two. At the end of the game the shots on goal were all even at twenty four.

It was an intense game that played out much like the West Regional game both of these teams played last year. Michigan got out early, banged away in the second, and hung on in the third for the win. Michigan got a little extra breathing room by scoring that fourth goal, but it was a tense final period (especially the early going that looked like Michigan would be on the penalty kill the entire period). For the second year in a row Michigan shut down one of the most potent offenses in the country. Last year that win won them a trip to the Frozen Four, this year it won them a game against Denver, the number one seed in this tournament. It should be an exciting game down at Yost tommorrow as the Wolverines try to advance to the Frozen Four for the second straight year.

In the early game Colorado College got on the board first and held off the Spartans to win the game by a score of two to nothing. The Tiger goalie made some incredible saves along the way, but it was perhaps the Spartans that did themselves in. Colorado College looked to be a team that the Spartans could have beaten, but as they so often seem to do once they got behind their whole style of play changed. The end result was that their season came to an end, leaving Michigan as the last team in the tournament from last years Frozen Four. Colorado College plays Minnesota in the early game tommorrow at Yost. Michigan will play Denver in the night cap, with tomorrows winners meeting in the Frozen Four semi-finals.