Wolverines Advance To Quarter-Finals

Saturday, March 29, 2003
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Both teams started this game skating up and down the ice, but the Blackbears were able to keep most of the play in the Wolverine end for most of this period. The first break of the game would go to Maine when Michigan was whistled for a penalty with the clock under eleven minutes to play in the period. The Blackbears had the power play, but the Wolverines penalty kill continued to excel, killing off the penalty without giving up a goal.

With just under eight minutes to play in the period it would be Michigans turn on the power play, but the Blackbear penalty kill was equal to the challenge and held the Wolverines at bay. There would be no more penalties in this period and there would be no scoring as the first period came to an end with the score all tied at zero. The Blackbears had the edge in shots on goal with a twelve to 6 count.

With just under twelve minutes to play in the second period both teams lost a man to the sin bin and skated four on four for the next two minutes. The penalties were killed off with neither team suffering any damage and play continued up and down the ice.

With just under seven minutes to play, after a long delay that approached thirty seconds, Maine was whistled for a penalty to put the Wolverines on the power play. Once again the Maine penalty kill was up to the task even though the Wolverines managed to keep the puck in the Blackbear zone for almost the entire power play and put all kinds of pressure on the Blackbear goal.

With about two and half minutes to play in the period the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty to give the Blackbears their second power play chance of the game. As they have all season the Wolverine penalty killers were all over the opposing teams power play unit and Michigan killed off the penalty. The second period would come to an end with the score still knotted at zero. The Wolverines got closer, but the Blackbears continued to hold the edge in shots on goal with a twenty-two to nineteen count.

With just over fifteen minutes to play Michigan was once again whistled for a penalty to put the Blackbears on the power play fairly early in the third period. Once again the Wolverine penalty kill was up to the task and the Maine power play was ended without a goal being scored. However, with just over thirteen minutes to play, just seconds after killing off the penalty, the Wolverines were deep in the Blackbear zone after starting the break out in the final seconds of the Maine power play. After the initial scoring attempt was blocked Nystrom fought through the crowd and just chipped the puck into the net to give Michigan the first goal of the game. The lone assist went to Woodford.

With just under seven minutes to play Michigan was once again whistled for a penalty to give the Blackbears their final power play chance of the game. While Maine was buzzing around the Michigan net for most of this power play the Wolverines managed to come through unscathed and continued to lead by a score of one to nothing.

With just under four minutes to play Maine would get the game back to even when they managed to slip the puck between Montoya and the pipe. There was a lot of traffic in front of the Michigan net, but the Blackbears managed to get a nice little pass across ice from right to left for the chip in. No matter how they scored it the game was once again tied with less than four minutes to play. With the past history between these two teams in the NCAA tournament the prospect of overtime began to loom large in the mind of many of the Wolverine faithful, but knowing their job the Yost crowd stepped it up a notch to urge their Wolverines on.

With 2:02 to play in the game a Maine player tripped a Michigan player as they were entering the Maine zone and in a somewhat surprising move the referee actually made the call putting Michigan on the power play late in the game. With just 1:31 left on the clock and 1:29 left in the power play Michigan would take advantage of that extra attacker and once again take the lead. With some great passing Michigan got the puck down deep and close where the seemingly ever-present Ortmeyer was in position to tuck the puck into the net. Assists on this power play goal went to Tambellini and Nystrom.

After Michigan scored the go ahead goal Maine took their time out to decide on how to play the remainder of the game. As soon as the puck moved into the Michigan zone the Maine net minder came out of the game, leaving an empty net with just 1:15 to play. Michigan would battle the Blackbears, keeping them off to the side and giving them no real good looks at the net. With 30.8 seconds left to play and a face off coming in the Maine end the Blackbears were forced to bring their goalie back into the game, but they got him back out with just 17.9 seconds to play. While they tried mightily the Blackbears were unable to get the equalizer and the game ended with Michigan winning by a score of two to one. The Blackbears ended the game with a thirty-five to twenty-two advantage in shots on goal.

Once again Michigan and Maine played a classic NCAA tournament game, but for the first time in four attempts the Wolverines came out on top. Maine has had Michigans number in the NCAA tournament, but perhaps now the Wolverines have thrown that monkey off their back.

While the long layoff seemed to be of benefit for Maine late in the game as they seemed to have fresher legs than Michigan, the Wolverines were able to battle through the adversity led by their indefatigable Captain, Jed Ortmeyer, and the teams youngster, Al Montoya. The CCHA tournament was no isolated incident as Montoya continues to show that he, like past Michigan goalies of the last decade, is a big game player. He has played perhaps his best hockey since Michigan started tournament play just three weeks ago. Michigan now must prepare to meet number one seed Colorado College in the regional finals. Just like last year the Wolverines are the under dog to a WCHA team. Tomorrows game, like todays, should be quite an event.