Saturday, November 17, 2001

Saturday, November 17, 2001, Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha, Nebraska

After going into the third period with the lead in last nights contest the Wolverines gave up three unanswered goals, then battled back to tie the game and gain a point on the night. While that point is precious and certainly hard fought it was disappointing to see Michigan give up the lead in the third - something they rarely, if ever did, over the last ten years. Tonight the Wolverines look to grab a win and come home with three out of a possible four points.

Tonight's game would again start as a defensive struggle with neither team able to score a goal in the first period of play. Both teams would have power play chances, but neither team was able to capitalize. The first period came to an end with the score tied at zero. Michigan again held a slight edge in shots on goal with a nine to seven count.

The second period would start out far different as Michigan would hit pay dirt with just 2:29 gone in the period. Ryznar received a pass from Werner and then took a wrist shot from the right face off circle that beat the Maverick netminder. It looked like the Nebraska goalie had stopped the shot, but he mishandled the puck, which fell to the ice and trickled, between his legs to give Michigan the lead.

It would again be another freshman who would extend the Wolverine lead as the clock neared the midpoint of the period. This time it would be Nystrom who would set the light to flashing. Taking a pass from Woodford Nystrom flipped the puck into the net over a sprawled Maverick goalie. The second period would come to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to nothing. The Wolverines continued to hold the edge in shots on goal with a twenty to sixteen count.

For the second night in a row the Wolverines started the third period with the lead and for the second night in a row they would see that lead disappear. Blackburn stopped an early scoring chance by the Mavericks leading scorer, Andrew Wong, and he would sweep the puck into the corner. However, with just over two minutes gone in the period it would be Nebraska's Groslie who would get the puck past Blackburn to get the Mavericks within one goal of the Wolverines.

The game would continue for almost twelve more minutes with Nebraska carrying most of the play and Michigan hanging on for dear life when Nebraska finally found that crack and tied the game up. This time it was Maverick Aaron Smith who would hit pay dirt to tie the game. That goal with just under four minutes left to play sent the game into overtime for the second straight night as regulation time ended with the score tied at two goals each. Nebraska would end regulation time with the edge in shots on goal with a thirty to twenty-four count.

The Wolverines would waste no time in the overtime period as they scored the game-winning goal off of the opening face off. From the face off Michigan got the puck deep into the Nebraska zone. A Maverick defenseman tried to punch the puck out of the zone, but Ortmeyer stole the puck, passed it over to Nystrom, who got a one timer past the goalie to seal the win for the Wolverines.

Two nights in a row Michigan gave up leads in the third period, but they came away from the weekend with a tie and a win, taking three of four possible points on the weekend. This was about as good a thing as could happen for the Wolverines (short of taking all four points on the weekend). Nebraska is a very difficult place to play and the Wolverines needed the wins badly to keep pace in the CCHA race. The three points helped to narrow the gap between themselves and the league leaders, but the Wolverines still find themselves tied for fourth in the CCHA.

Next weekend the Wolverines play host in the College Hockey Showcase when they welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers into Yost on Friday and the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. Minnesota is currently the number one team in the country, the second number one team that Michigan will have faced so far this season (playing Michigan State to a three-three tie in the first game of the season). These games will give Michigan, undefeated in their last four games, to make a statement - especially Friday night against Minnesota. Wins in these two games would go a long way to build confidence in this young team, but they will have to play their best games of the year to do it. These two games will also be the first home games since they were swept by Northern at the end of October - check with the ticket office for available tickets.