Michigan Defeats Denver, Advances To Frozen Four

Saturday, March 23, 2002
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Last night Michigan defeated the countries top scoring team, the St. Cloud Huskies, tonight they play the countries second highest scoring team, the Denver Pioneers. While the Pioneers don't score quite as much as St. Cloud they are more evenly balanced and an all around deeper team. They won the WCHA regular season championship as well as the WCHA tournament, something that had never been done before. They have been ranked as the number one team in the country for most of the second half of the season. It won't be easy for the Wolverines to advance to the Frozen Four, but they know what they need to do to earn their trip to Minneapolis.

The first period was a defensive struggle for both teams the teams traded penalties and power plays for most of the period. Denver was whistled for the first penalty of the game before four minutes had ticked off the clock. With just ten seconds left in the Denver penalty Michigan was whistled for their first penalty of the game to end their power play and set Denver up for a power play of their own. The Wolverines would kill this penalty off and the game would remain scoreless.

Just as the clock neared the ten minute mark of this first stanza Denver was again whistled for a penalty to give Michigan another power play chance. The Pioneers killed that penalty off and got a power play of their own with just over seven minutes left in the period. Denver was whistled for a penalty with just over one minute left in the period, but Michigan would be unable to take advantage of the extra man and the first period would come to an end in a scoreless tie. The Wolverines held a slight edge in shots on goal with an eight to five count.

Michigan started the second period with fifty five seconds of power play time left on the clock and they came out flying. It looked like Michigan would score the first goal of the game while on the power play when they got off a great shot, but an equally great save by the Pioneer goalie turned the Wolverines away. That would last long as the Wolverines scored seconds later just as the power play was ending to take the lead. Michigan worked the puck around the Denver zone, finally getting it to Nystrom who sent the puck into the Pioneer net. Assists went to Shouneyia and Ortmeyer.

Just over a minute later Michigan would be whistled for a penalty to put Denver on the power play. The Pioneers would waste little time getting their first goal of the night as they scored a power play goal with over half the time left in the power play. Michigan had been unable to clear the puck and the Pioneers finally got their chance. With Blackburn screened they sent a shot from Blackburns left that beat him clean.

With just over fourteen minutes to play in the period it would be Denver getting whistled for a penalty and Michigan taking advantage of the power play. Just five seconds into the power play Komisarek was positioned straight out from the goal near the blue line. With at least a partial screen on the Denver goalie Komisarek let a shot go that went high over the goalies shoulder into the net. It looked like Nystrom might have tipped the puck and redirected it, but after review the goal went to Komisarek with assists going to Shouneyia and Ortmeyer.

With just under thirteen minutes to play in the second Michigan put Denver back on the power play after being whistled for another penalty. With the power play not quite half over Michigan was whistled for a second penalty as Komisarek, desperate to clear the puck, grabbed it and threw it the length of the ice. This resulted in a throwing the puck penalty that gave Denver a two man advantage for over one minute. Denver called their time out at this point in the game to make sure they knew what they wanted to do with this golden opportunity to take control of the game. Michigan had held the Pioneers at bay while down two men, but just after the first penalty expired Denver got Blackburn to go to the far left of his net leaving the right side wide open. A crisp pass across the ice and Denver had an easy back door goal to once again tie the game. A lengthy review was made to determine if the goal came while any time remained on the first penalty, but after that review the goal counted and all power play time was off the board.

Denver would score their third goal of the period with seven and a half minutes left to play when the Pioneers would get an odd man rush down the ice. While it looked like Blackburn had the puck stopped it just dribbled between his legs and into the net to give Denver the lead at three to two.

With just over five minutes left in the period Denver was called for penalty off a long delay to put Michigan on the power play. The Wolverines were unable to take advantage of the extra man and Denver remained in the lead. With just thirty two seconds left in the period Michigan would be whistled for another penalty in this period when Vancik was nabbed for a cross check right in front of the referee. The second period would come to an with Denver leading by a score of three to two. Michigan continued to hold their advantage in shots on goal with a twenty five to thirteen count.

Denver started the third period with 1:28 of power play time, but they were unable to do anything with it as Michigan killed off the carryover penalty. With fifteen minutes to play in regulation time Michigan tied the game once again. With some great passing around the Denver zone the Wolverines got the puck to Werner who banged it home for Michigan's third goal of the game. The lone assist on the goal went to Cammallari.

For the next thirteen minutes of the game Michigan continued to carry the play to Denver as they disrupted the Pioneer offense and peppered the Pioneer goal with shot after shot. Finally, with just 1:21 left in the game Michigan would would once again take the lead off a beautiful set of passes. Cammalleri got the play started when he stole the puck in the neutral zone. Passing the puck over to Ortmeyer the Captain led the charge into the Pioneer zone. As the defense collapsed toward him Ortmeyer slid a pass across to Nystrom who continued to carry it toward the Pioneer goal. Waiting for the goalie to commit to him Nystrom held the puck until the last minute, then slid it back across to Ortmeyer, who put it into the wide open net to give the Wolverines the lead. Both Nystrom and Cammalleri received assists on the goal.

With fifty three seconds left in the game Denver would pull their goalie to get the extra attacker on the ice, but Michigan didn't allow them to get anything set up as they harrassed the Pioneers at every turn. With just twenty six seconds left to play Michigan would seal the win, scoring an empty net goal. This time it would be Nystrom who would get control of the puck near the Michigan blue line. Being patient, he got across the red line before taking the shot that went into the empty net to give Michigan a two goal lead. A single assist was given on the goal, that to Cammalleri.

Denver continued to play without their goaltender on the ice, but the game would come to an end with Michigan winning by a score of five to three. Michigan would end the game with a thirty eight to twenty one advantage in shots on goal.

For the second straight night Michigan played one of the top five teams in the country and for the second straight night the Wolverines were victorious. The game was the exact opposite of last nights game. Michigan got off to a slow start as they fought a defensive battle in the first period. Like last night, the second period was a bit slow for the Wolverines as they kept giving the Pioneers power play chances at the worst possible times, allowing Denver to hold the lead after two periods of play. However, a ferocious third period saw the Wolverines dominate play, both defensively and offensively. They took shot after shot, tying the game in the first ten minutes of the period. Then they continued to fight and scrap until they finally got the game winner with a little over one minute left to play.

It was a fantastic weekend for the Wolverines, as they defeated two teams that were ranked as the number one team in the country at one time or another this season (with Denver being the number one team for a long stretch of the season). The crowd was electric on both nights, cheering their Wolverines on at top volume on both nights. When Ortmeyer scored the game winner Saturday night the noice in Yost Arena was thunderous. Michigan, the last Frozen Four team from last year still in the tournament, advances to the Frozen Four for the second straight year. There they will take on Minnesota, their third straight WCHA team and yet another team that spent several weeks ranked as the number one team in the country. The Wolverines play next in Minneapolis on April fourth in what should be another great game.