Sunday, September 30, 2001

Sunday, September 30, 2001, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

This afternoon marked the first exhibition game for the Wolverines in this new hockey season as they hosted Queens University. Mike Cammalleri, David Wyzgowski, and Mark Mink are still out of the line up with injuries. Joe Kautz was scratched as Jay Vancik returned to the line up. This game also marks the official beginning of the season, the 80^th season of Michigan hockey. One addition to the line up was freshman walk-on Charlie Henderson. I don't know if he is a permanent addition to the line up or was added because of the players out with injuries.

This year's captain is Junior Jed Ortmeyer and the assistant captain's are Juniors Mike Cammalleri and John Shouneyia. There won't be many chances to see the Wolverines in the first half of the season as they play only five of their first thirteen games at Yost. If you have the chance to see them play in the first half you might want to take it.

As expected Michigan came out with more intensity in this game than they had in their intra-squad scrimmage on Friday and they got the scoring started early. With 18:13 still on the clock Vancik put a shot past the Queens goaltender to give Michigan the early one goal lead. Assists on the goal went to Shouneyia and David Moss.

Following the goal a Queen's player roughed up one of Michigan's players, putting the Wolverines on the power play. With about 40 seconds left in the power play Murray missed a golden chance to increase Michigan's lead, but his shot went wide of the open net. With this power play almost killed (11 seconds left) Queens was called for a second penalty, giving Michigan a short two man advantage and keeping them on the power play for an extended length of time. With 14:46 left in the period and 23 seconds in the power play, Michigan scored their second goal of the game when Komisarek blasted a shot from the blue line that beat the Queens netminder. The lone assist on this goal went to Brandon Rogers.

Queens got the puck out of their zone for only about 15 seconds of almost four minutes of power play time. Immediately following the second goal Queens took a one-minute time out to collect themselves. The teams would trade penalties for the remainder of the period, with matching penalties handed out with just 1:06 left in the period, leaving the teams skating four on four. The first period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to nothing. Michigan ended the first period with a decisive 19 to 3 edge in shots on goal.

The second period began with both teams skating four to a side for 54 seconds. It looked like Ortmeyer was going to give Michigan their third goal of the game. However, after receiving a nice pass from Dwight Helminen his shot missed the open net. With just one second remaining in the penalties (that carried over from the first period) Helminen chipped in a rebound to give Michigan a three-goal lead. The lone assist on this goal went to Rogers. For the next ten minutes the teams traded penalties back and forth, with neither team able to capitalize on the power play opportunities.

That would all change with 7:49 remaining in the period when Michigan would score their fourth goal of the game. After buzzing around the Queens net for the previous minute, Murray finally slapped a shot past the Queens goalie to score that fourth goal. Assists on this goal when to Jason Ryznar and Milan Gajic. Again the teams traded penalties over the next several minutes.

With less than one minute to go in the period Ortmeyer got off a good looking shot that was blocked, but the rebound was not covered. Eric Nystrom was in front of the net where he gained control of the rebound. With the puck on his stick he hammered the puck into the Queens net, extending Michigan's lead to five. Assists on this goal went to Ortmeyer and Helminen. Then, with just 20 seconds left in the period and Michigan on the power play, it was again Nystrom who got a shot past the Queens netminder - extending Michigan's lead to six. Assists on this goal went to Helminen and Roemensky. The second period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of six to nothing. The Wolverines also expanded their edge in shots on goal to a 42 to 5 count.

At the start of the third period Queen's replaced their goalie (Jeff Murphy) with Rob Purdy. Both teams would battle back and forth for the first couple minutes of the period. It would again be Queen's who would give the Wolverines the opening that would put them back on the scoring track. This time a Queen's player wrestled a Wolverine to the ice and wouldn't let him back up. After a short period of time the Queens player was whistled for holding, putting Michigan on the power play. Another Queen's player, taking exception to the penalty, took a shot at a Wolverine that earned him a ten-minute misconduct. The net result was a Wolverine power play that Michigan wasted little time in taking advantage of. With 15:31 left in the game and 1:23 left in the power play Nystrom would complete his hat trick when he put another rebound past the Queens goalie to score Michigan's seventh goal of the contest. Assists on this goal went to Murray and Ortmeyer.

With 13:29 left in the game Queens again put Michigan on the power play and Michigan would score their eighth goal of the game with 35 seconds left in the power play. This time Eric Werner made a nice pass in front of the net to Helminen, who punched the puck into an open net. Both Werner and Ortmeyer received assists on this shot. At this time, with 11:38 remaining and Michigan holding an eight to nothing lead, Kevin O'Malley came in to relieve Blackburn in goal and get some work of his own.

With just over seven minutes left in the game Michigan would get their ninth and final goal of the game, again on the power play. This time it would be Milan Gajic who would skate the puck in and put it past the Queens netminder on his glove side. The game came to an end with Michigan winning by a score of nine to nothing. The Wolverines also finished with an impressive 66 to 10 edge in shots on goal.

The Wolverines certainly looked sharper tonight than they did Friday, but that probably had something to do with them actually skating against an opponent other than themselves. The number of shots on goal for the Wolverines was impressive, as was their low number of penalties - only 6 penalties for 12 minutes in the entire contest (that's fairly low compared to the last couple of years). The defense was also quite good as they only allowed a total of ten shots to get through to the goaltenders, all of them being turned away. The Michigan power play converted at a rate of forty percent, which is exceptionally good.

Perhaps the most significant thing of the night was to see the freshmen all working very hard. They contributed on both defense and offense and were not timid about getting into the action. They took shots when they had them, rather than look for someone to pass to. Michigan's transition game also seems to be working quite well for only their first game of the year.

Of course the real test will come next week in front of 72,000 fans (mostly Spartans) in the outdoor game being played in Spartan Stadium. This will be the conference opener for both teams and while it's worth only two points in the conference, it could prove to be an important two points. The Wolverines and Spartans only see each other twice in conference play this year and every point is going to be precious in what looks like a particularly close CCHA race. Win or loose we'll get an idea of what this team is really made of after next Saturday's contest.