Saturday, November 3, 2001

Saturday, November 3, 2001, Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska

The Wolverines look to complete a weekend sweep of the Nanooks tonight in this, the second game of the weekend between these two teams. With other teams ahead of them in the CCHA losing last night Michigan was able to regain some of the ground they lost after last weekends games. Alaska starts tonight's game with a different goaltender in a bid to give the Michigan a different look.

The Nanooks start this game skating hard, looking to draw first blood early in this contest. Michigan has picked up where they left off last night, not taking care of the puck as they give it away in the neutral zone early in the game. UAF gets a clean break into the UM zone, but Blackburn turns the scoring chance away. UAF had a chance at a second shot, but it went wide of the net.

Michigan picked up the first penalty of the night to put UAF on the power play and the Nanooks are doing everything they can to take advantage of the opportunity. Alaska is getting plenty of pressure on the Michigan goal during this power play. So far the Alaska shots have either gone wide or have been turned away by Blackburn. Michigan gets the penalty killed off without suffering any damage.

Shortly after killing off the penalty Michigan gets a power play of their own as Alaska picks up their first penalty of the night. Just as UAF did, the Wolverines are getting plenty of pressure on the UAF goal. Unfortunately for Michigan none of the shots are making it into the net. As the power play comes to an end Michigan gets a flurry of shots on goal, but the Nanook netminder turns them all away.

Just as the Michigan power play comes to an end Komisarek gets whistled for Michigan's second penalty of the night to put UAF back on the power play with roughly eight minutes left in the period. In this power play the Wolverines are able to keep UAF away from the goal and they mount no real scoring threat in this power play.

As time continues to run down in this period Michigan continues to get pressure on the UAF goal as the Wolverines seem to be getting the upper hand in the game. With just over four minutes left in the period Helminen puts a great move on a Nanook defender and puts the puck in the net going top shelf on the Nanook netminder. This unassisted goal gives Michigan the lead in this game late in the first period. With less than one minute to go in the period UAF got a good scoring chance, but Blackburn turns it away. The period comes to an end with Michigan holding the slim one to nothing lead. Shots on goal for the period were all even at ten shots apiece.

Just eleven seconds into the period Michigan gives the puck away right in front of Blackburn, giving UAF a quick chance to tie the score. UAF gets off a back handed shot, but Blackburn turns it away to hold the Nanooks at bay. UAF continued to get a lot of pressure on the Michigan net in the early going of the period as they carried the play to the Wolverines. Through it all Blackburn came up with some great saves to keep UAF off the board.

As the clock closes in on the fifteen-minute mark it's Michigan's turn to get some scoring chances. UAF turned all of the shots away, but the Wolverines just keep sending the puck to the net. The action continued for several minutes with both teams flying up and down the ice and each team getting shots at their opponent's goal.

With just over ten minutes to go in the period Michigan gets their first penalty of the second period to UAF on the power play. Ortmeyer missed a good chance at a short-handed goal, shooting the puck wide of the goal. Michigan was able to kill off the UAF power play and just as the power play expires its UAF who gets whistled for a penalty to give Michigan a power play chance of their own. Michigan hadn't mounted much of a threat in this power play, but they saw their best chance come late in the power play. With twenty seconds left in the power play Ortmeyer was charging into the UAF zone with the puck when he got slashed. The UAF player received a five-minute major penalty, was thrown out of this game, and received a game disqualification as Ortmeyer spent a span of time on the ice in obvious pain.

Michigan had a two-man advantage for twenty seconds and couldn't take advantage. They then continued with the remainder of the five-minute major penalty. Michigan was really unable to do anything with the long power play, with most of the action seemingly carried by Alaska. With 1:36 left in the power play Ortmeyer got whistled for a penalty to end the Michigan power play and set UAF up for a short power play of their own late in the first period.

The major penalty for UAF ended giving the Nanooks a twenty-two second power play, but UAF gave the puck away just as their power play started. Michigan charged into the Nanook zone and Shouneyia scores a short-handed goal to extend Michigan's lead late in the second period. The lone assist went to Cammalleri.

As the clock moved under one minute Ortmeyer picked up another penalty to put UAF back on the power play to close the second period and start the third. With time running out in the period UAF missed a golden chance to get a score as they missed an open net. The period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to nothing. Alaska gained a slim edge in shots on goal after two periods with a twenty four to twenty three count.

UAF starts the third period on the power play, but the Wolverines are able to kill it off without suffering any damage. UAF continued to put pressure on the Wolverine goal, but all shots are turned away by Blackburn. Out of the flurry of shots by UAF the Wolverines get the puck and head down the ice into the Nanook zone. Shouneyia gets the puck over to Ryznar who puts it in the goal for Michigan's third goal of the night.

As the clock moves under the thirteen minute mark UAF continues to get some looks at the Michigan goal and Blackburn continues to turn all shots away; not letting the Nanooks get anything going as he stops everything that comes his way. Action stops as Gajic goes down to the ice out by the blue line and he was in considerable pain. The Michigan trainer came out onto the ice and had to help Gajic off the ice. In fact they take Gajic right to the locker room, as he was unable to put any pressure on his left ankle.

In the next few minutes UAF gets another set of good shots and Blackburn continues turning those shots away. UAF does retain control of the puck and they continue to put some pressure on the Michigan goal. Blackburn continues to come up with some amazing saves to keep UAF off the board and protect the Michigan shut out.

UAF makes a mistake with the puck in the neutral zone and Michigan again charges into the Nanook zone. This time it's Nystrom who finds the goal to score Michigan's fourth goal of the night, unassisted. As the clock moves under six minutes Michigan picks up a penalty to give UAF a power play late in the third period.

With the clock moving under five minutes UAF gets a shot on the Wolverine zone. While Blackburn turned the shot away he ended up in a wrestling match with a UAF defenseman. This of course led to everybody getting into the action, leading to a scrum on the ice involving all the players on the ice at the time. The end result was Blackburn and the UAF defenseman get four minutes each for roughing and Cammalleri picks up a two-minute penalty for roughing. This left UAF on the power play, but this now they had a two-man advantage. As they prepared to get play back under way Wyzgowski comes onto the ice, skates right over to the UAF penalty box, and slashes the glass. This gets him a ten-minute misconduct and he is gone for the night. Michigan got all the penalties killed off and they got through the game without giving up a goal. The game comes to an end with Michigan winning by a score of four to nothing. Alaska ends up with the edge in shots on goal with a thirty-six to thirty count.

Michigan gets their sweep, their first of this season, but more importantly they pick up four points in the CCHA standings. Blackburn had a great weekend, giving up just one goal in 120 minutes of play. Michigan scored some goals tonight, getting some offense, but they still are having trouble taking care of the puck. The defense was obviously better, but UAF still had plenty of chances at the Michigan goal. All in all a good outing for the Wolverines, but they still have plenty of things to work on before going to Nebraska to take on the Mavericks in two weeks. The Wolverines have next weekend off making their next game against those same Mavericks. Michigan gets two weeks to work on their special teams and overall team discipline - all things they will need heading into Omaha.