Wolverines Smacked by Minnesota

Friday, November 23, 2001
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Wolverines returned to home ice tonight for the first time since late October, hosting the number one Minnesota Golden Gophers. This will be a real test for this young Wolverine team, but will give them a chance to measure themselves against the very best that college hockey has to offer so far this year.

This is the opening night of the annual College Hockey Showcase, with Michigan State hosting Wisconsin in East Lansing. After tonights games Michigan will host Wisconsin on Saturday night (start time is an unusual 8:00 PM), while Michigan State will play host to Minnesota Sunday afternoon.

Minnesota wasted no time in this game as they applied pressure early and often, while the Wolverines simply seemed out of the game in the early going. It would take just over two minutes for the Gophers to draw first blood as they outworked Michigan in every phase of the game and got the puck in the net. The shot was somewhat screened, but none the less the Gophers were on top early.

It would take Minnesota barely three minutes more before they would once again put the puck in the back of the Wolverine net. This time the Gophers won a face off, smartly passed the puck around the Wolverine zone, and fired in an easy score pulling Blackburn completely out of position.

A little over one minute later Michigan would be called for the first penalty of the night, putting Minnesota on the power play. The Gophers came into the game with one of the countries best power plays and it didn't take them long to show Michigan why that is. Barely twenty-five seconds into the power play, again passing the puck extremely well, the Gophers banged another easy shot into the net to take a commanding three to nothing lead with barely seven minutes gone in the game.

From this point forward Michigan seemed to wake up and played Minnesota basically even. The Wolverines would see one power play chance with just under nine minutes remaining in the period, but they were unable to take advantage. While they played Minnesota even, they weren't able to score any goals, even though they ended up with more shots on goal than the Gophers. The first period came to an end with Minnesota holding the three to nothing lead. Michigan held the slight edge in shots on goal with a twelve to nine count.

The second period started out as the first period had ended, with both teams moving the puck up and down the ice, but each effectively neutralizing the other. Michigan would get the first break of the period when Minnesota was called for a penalty off a very long delay (Michigan was able to pull their goalie to gain the extra attacker and get at least fifteen seconds of power play time prior to the actual call). Even though they had the extra attacker the Wolverines were still unable to find a crack in the Gopher netminders defense and the score remained three to nothing as the power play expired.

Finally with just under eleven minutes left in the second period Michigan would find a way to beat the Minnesota goalie. Working the puck around the Gopher zone very well Michigan would feed the puck up to Vancik at the blue line. From there Vancik let a shot go that flew past the Gopher netminder to give Michigan their first goal of the night and cut the Gopher lead to two goals. The lone assist on the goal went to Shouneyia.

About one minute later Michigan would again get called for a penalty, putting Minnesota back on the power play, but this time Michigan was able to kill the penalty off without giving up a goal. However, as the clock neared the five minute mark in this period another mental lapse by Michigan would cost them dearly. While making a line change Michigan gave the puck away in the neutral zone, giving Minnesota a clean break on the Michigan zone. The Minnesota player brought the puck into the Michigan zone right at Blackburn, deked him has he neared the goal, and scored an easy fourth goal as Blackburn lay sprawled on the ice.

Again the Wolverines would play Minnesota to a draw for the remainder of the period, but when it was all said and done Minnesota headed to the locker room after two periods of play with a four to one lead. Michigan still held the slight edge in shots on goal with a twenty-two to twenty count.

Michigan came out to start the third period just flying around the ice and putting some real heavy pressure on the Minnesota goal. The Wolverines were able to to get off several good shots, but they missed on all of them. All of that hard work in the opening minutes would be for naught as Minnesota sent another floating shot toward the Michigan net that sailed past Blackburn to extend the Gopher lead to four goals. Less than one minute later Kevin O'Malley would replace Blackburn in goal for the Wolverines.

Once again the Wolverines would play Minnesota to a draw, but that would all change with just under twelve minutes left in the game. This time it would be Komisarek who would receive the puck at the top of the left face off circle. From there he would let fly a shot that just rocketed into the Minnesota net to give Michigan their second goal of the night and once again cut the Gopher lead to three goals. Once again it was John Shouneyia with the assist on the goal.

Michigan got a golden opportunity to get back within two with just over six minutes left when they had a chance at a wide open net, but they failed to connect. Ten seconds later matching penalties would be called, leaving each team with four men on the ice. Sixteen seconds after that Michigan would be called for a second penalty to once again put Minnesota on the power play. Michigan was able to kill off the penalty, with some excellent goal tending by O'Malley. While they continued to pay the Gophers even, it just wasn't enough as the game came to an end with Michigan on the short end of a five to two loss. The Wolverines ended the game with a slight edge in shots on goal with a thirty-four to thirty-two count.

Well Michigan got a chance to measure themselves against college hockeys number one team and they found out they still have some work to do. They played Minnesota very well for about forty-five minutes of this game, but in the other fifteen minutes the Wolverines just weren't in the game. Also, in that fifteen minutes, Michigan gave up three relatively weak goals and those three goals were the difference in this game. On the one hand it was somewhat dissapointing, since you would think having the number one team in the country coming to your arena would be all the incentive a team would need to play sixty solid minutes of hockey. On the other hand it was somewhat encouraging, because it was plain that Michigan can play with this team and could beat this team, if they played an entire game of hockey. From that point of view the Wolverines got a little lesson in what it's going to take if they ever want to see their team once again sitting in that number one spot. Tomorrow night Michigan will look for a split on the weekend as they host the Badgers from Wisconsin.

A little note to the athletic department - those new seats on the East side of the Arena look really nice, but what a waste of seating. First, they are so expensive that you haven't sold them all. Second, I have never once this year seen more than twenty-five to thirty percent of the seats you have sold with actual bodies in them (that includes tonights game against the number one team in the country). When there are people in the seats they are like rooted stumps, but hey, they look nice in those really nice looking seats. What a waste of some excellent seats!

A final note to the coaching staff. O'Malley earned the start tomorrow night against Wisconsin; he probably won't get it, but he earned it. Everyone knew going into this season that we needed outstanding goaltending, especially in the early going with our young roster. No matter what the circumstances you would expect that kind of goaltending from a senior and four year starter. However, our goaltending this year has been, at best, sporadic. Some games it's been exceptional, other games it's been, shall we say, not so good. O'Malley came into this game cold, with only fifteen minutes left. Some might have expected him to be a little bit unfocused after spending the first forty-five minutes on the bench, but he was in the game right from the start. He was, for the most part, in the right positions to stop shots. While he did get pulled out of position a couple of times he didn't let a single shot get past him. If that's what O'Malley can do coming into a game cold, maybe it's time to give him a chance right from the start and let the other guy get some quality time riding pine.