Friday, September 28, 2001

Friday, September 28, 2001, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

With the Michigan Hockey pep band blasting out the fanfare, followed by The Victors, I knew it had to be fall, and it had to be time for the hockey season to get underway. Tonight the Michigan Wolverines opened up the 2001-2002 hockey campaign with the annual Blue/White intra-squad scrimmage. While it was good to see hockey season getting underway, it wasn't all good news as the Wolverines kicked off their season. Out with injuries going into the beginning of this season are Jay Vancik (partially separated shoulder), Mike Cammalleri (hip flexor), David Wyzgowski (swollen spleen) and Mark Mink (broken hand). Obviously the Wolverines don't like to see Cammalleri on the bench, as he is the teams leading scorer from last year (at least returning to the team). It also hurts to have Vancik out as the defense will have to play a pivotal role on this team early in the season.

The Blue team had Josh Blackburn in goal while the White team had Kevin O'Malley in goal.

The first period was fairly uneventful as both teams were getting their game legs back. However, with 8:47 remaining in the period J.J. Swistak popped out of the pack in front of the net and chipped the puck past Blackburn to give the White team a one to nothing lead (even though they had been out shot by the blue team up to that point). The assist on this goal went to Charlie Henderson (a freshman walk-on trying to make the team). That would be the one and only goal scored in the first period and there were no penalties called against either team. The Blue team ended the period with an 11 to 8 edge in shots on goal.

The second period saw both teams skating with a bit more confidence and aggressiveness. It didn't take long for that aggressiveness to result in the games first penalty as Swistak found himself in the sin bin with just 1 1/2 minutes gone in the second period. Even on the power play the Blue team was not able to get the puck past O'Malley and the score remained one to nothing in favor of the White as the power play expired. Roughly one minute later that would change as the White team struck again to take a two-goal lead with 15:39 remaining in the period. The goal was credited to Shouneyia, unassisted, but it wasn't quite that straight forward. Shouneyia got the puck behind the goal line and pushed it out front of the net where Blackburn appeared to have pushed it to the side. However, as John Nadzam (another walk-on playing for the Blue) slid past the goal his leg hit the puck and it slid into the net behind Blackburn. Once again that would be the only scoring in the period. With the second period ending it was the White holding a two to nothing lead and the White also held a 20 to 19 edge in shots on goal.

The third period would see the Blue team replace Blackburn with sophomore walk-on Justin Spurlock in goal and was played with a running clock. Once again it would be Swistak who would lead the way into the penalty box in the final period of this game, but again the Blue would not be able to take advantage. A bit later in the period it would be Andy Burnes, also playing for the White, who would enter the penalty box (I guess he didn't want J.J. to have it all to himself). Unlike their previous two power play opportunities, this time the Blue was up to the challenge as Freshman Eric Nystrom scored his first goal in a Wolverine uniform. Assists on the goal went to Craig Murray and Dwight Helminen (another of the freshmen). With the clock running under one minute the Blue team pulled their goalie, but they were unable to score another goal. The game ended with the White team winning by a score of two to one. The Blue would end the game with a slight edge in shots on goal with a 26 to 23 count.

It was good to see the Maize and Blue on the ice once more, but there wasn't much to be learned from this game. It was just a chance to see the team in action after about six months off. With all the walk-ons in the line up you couldn't get a real sense of what line combinations have been played with in practice. Even though they wanted to get some work done, and probably did; it was still an intra-squad game that lacked the kind of intensity that you would get when they play another team. Our first chance to really see how the team looks will come on Sunday at 2:00 PM when Michigan will play host to the Golden Gaels of Queen's University.