Wolverines Slip Past Redhawks

Saturday, January 4, 2003
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The first period would turn out to be an up and down battle between these two top fifteen teams with special teams playing the deciding factor in the outcome of the first period of play. After five minutes of play and neither team mounting much offense the Redhawks were whistled for the first penalty of the game. While the Wolverines looked to set something up with the man advantage their power play continued to sputter. The Wolverines would fail to score with the extra man and play continued at even strength.

Things would be a bit different for the Redhawks as they received their first power play opportunity of the game with just under twelve minutes to play in the first. Following the Michigan penalty the face off was to Montoyas left. The Redhawks gained control of the puck and pushed it out to the point. A nice pass down low allowed Miami to send the puck through the slot in front of the goal where it was deflected through Montoyas five hole. It barely dribbled through, but some very crisp passing and eleven seconds of power play time was all it took to get the Redhawks on the board.

Continuing their trend from last weekend Michigan would see two golden opportunities to score when they got great looks at open nets, but on both occasions the Wolverines failed to come up with a goal. At one point the players felt they had a goal as they started to celebrate, but the net had come off the moorings and there was no goal. The first period would come to an end with Miami leading by a score of one to nothing. The Wolverines did hold a slight edge in shots on goal with a ten to six count.

Trailing by one to start the second period the Wolverines really turned up the pressure in the opening minutes of the second period. With 18:02 left to play in the game it appeared that Michigan had scored their first goal of the game, but the referee waved the goal off indicating that the net had come off the moorings prior to the puck going in. After a vocal protest by the Wolverines the goal was reviewed and in the end it was disallowed.

With about twelve and half minutes to play Miami would be whistled for a penalty to give the Wolverines a power play chance. The Wolverines wouldn't come close to scoring a goal on this power play as they ended it themselves with 1:18 of power play time left when Ortmeyer was sent to the sin bin. Michigan had turned the puck over in neutral ice, leading to a clean break by Miami. Ortmeyer caught up with the Redhawk player to prevent a short handed scoring chance, but it also ended the Michigan power play and set Miami up for a power play of their own. Once all the penalties had been served neither team was able to score a goal and Miami continued to lead by one.

Michigan would finally get a goal that counted with just over eight minutes left to play in the second. Working incredibly hard in the corner, Ryznar dug the puck out and sent it through the slot, from right to left, to a waiting Wolverine. Wasting no time Gajic put the puck in the net to get the Wolverines on the board. With the goal going to Gajic, Ryznar and Moss each picked up an assist.

With just over four minutes left to play in the period and a couple of great passes would see the Wolverines net their second goal of the game to take the lead. Burnes would get control of the puck and get a great release pass up the ice to Ebbett. Taking the puck into the Miami zone Ebbett would make an equally nice back hand pass across the ice to Kaleniecki. Finishing up the play Kaleniecki would punch the puck into the net and Michigan was in the lead. Both Ebbett and Burnes received assists on the goal.

With just under eighteen minutes to play it looked like Michigan would extend their lead when they once again got a look at a wide open net, but once again the incredibly poor luck of the Wolverines would rear it's head as the opening was missed and the score remained two to one.

The second period would come to an end with Michigan holding a two to one lead. The Wolverines really extended their advantage in shots on goal, holding a twenty-two to nine shot advantage after two.

After practically shutting the Redhawks down for two and half periods Michigan would turn the puck over right at their blue line with just over nine minutes left to play in the final period of regulation time. Finding himself all alone with puck the lone Redhawk would fly into the Michigan zone, attack the goal, and score the Redhawks second goal of the game. It looked like Montoya had stopped the shot, but all of a sudden it squirted past Montoya and into the goal. Michigan had allowed Miami just three shots on goal since the first period and one of those turned into a goal.

While both teams turned up the heat in the final minutes of regulation play neither team would be able to score a goal and regulation time would end with the score all tied up at two goals each. After three full periods of play the Wolverines held a twenty-nine to fourteen edge in shots on goal.

Playing a five minute sudden victory over time both teams moved the puck up and down the ice looking for that opening. It was starting to look like the game might end in a tie, but that would all change with just 2:17 left in overtime. Ortmeyer was charging up the ice down the press box side of the ice, but Shouneyia was just ahead of him. Showing great awareness of where he was in relation to the puck Shouneyia would change course, dragging a foot along the blue line until Ortmeyer had crossed into the Miami zone, thus avoiding an off side call. With the Miami defense collapsing toward the puck, Ortmeyer made a great pass over to Tambellini who got a great shot off that just made it past the Miami net minder to give Michigan the hard fought win.

The final score was Michigan three, Miami two. The final totals in the shots on goal category were Michigan thirty, Miami fifteen.

The Wolverines expected a tough fight from the Redhawks and they certainly got it. While Miami, and every CCHA team, usually plays Michigan hard, this Miami team is probably better than teams in the past. They are currently ranked number fourteen in the country and they deserve the ranking. They were all over Michigan at every turn during this game. Even with the close checking, hard hitting contest, there were only four penalties called in the game (two against each team).

Michigan was certainly better defensively in tonights game than they have been in recent games. The biggest indicator of that was the fifteen shots given up to Miami. This is a Miami team that has been scoring nearly five goals a game and Michigan held them to fifteen shots and two goals. That was the good part. The bad part is that Michigan continued to struggle clearing the puck from their zone and continued to turn the puck over in or near their zone (although they did this far less than they did against Boston University last week). They also continued their inexplicable inability to put the puck into wide open nets. Michigan did look better this week than they did last week, but they still have some work to do. Tomorrow nights game against these same Redhawks should be a great one. Both teams need the game to stay in the hunt for the CCHA championship, if you can, be there.