Wolverines Bury Varsity Blues

October 5, 2002
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

After playing an intra-squad scrimmage last night the Wolverines take the ice against an opponent other than themselves for the first time this year. Tonight they take on the Toronto Varsity Blues in an exhibition game; the final exhibition before the regular season begins.

Captain Jed Ortmeyer, after setting out last nights game, will play. Joe Kautz will not play after just having his wisdom teeth removed. J.J. Swistak will not play as he prepares to take the LSAT test. Chris Gartman will not play tonight or the remainder of the first half as he was just declared academically ineligible after some credits from Cornell did not transfer as expected.

One of the big questions going into this season, outside the obvious questions about the blue line and goal tending, was which forwards would play and which ones would end up sitting. Tonight we got our first glimpse of how things are going as the Wolverines look to work their freshman class into the line up. Players scratched from tonights game, other than the ones already mentioned, were Reilly Olson, Mike Roemensky, and Mark Mink. Mink and Roemensky have been pretty solid performers since joining the Michigan team. It was unclear whether Roemensky was scratched to give some playing time to Wyzgowski, who is not a natural defenseman, or if Wyzgowski is simply playing better than he. Of course this is just our first look at a starting line up, but it looks like Henderson has worked his way into the lineup as have all the freshmen.

Michigan started this game really buzzing the Blues net, looking for the early score. It looked like Tambellini was going to get a clean break up the ice in the early going, but he was tripped. While he didn't get a chance to get a one-on-one shot the trip did put Michigan on the power play. The Blues were able to kill the power play, but Michigan did get a couple of pretty decent shots with the man advantage.

Things would get going with 15:40 left to play in the first period. Coming way out of his net Montoya went out to make a play on the puck (his intention was to send it up ice, catching the Blues in a line change). The pass didn't go as far as he expected and he got tied up in traffic away from his goal and it looked like the Blues would draw first blood. However, just as it looked like the Blues were going to score Montoya came diving back into the crease and came up with a great save to keep the Blues off the scoreboard. A short time later Montoya would come up with another great save, this time getting the puck out to his team mates who started a rush up the ice. Breaking into the Blues zone the Wolverines crashed the Blues goal and would get off a shot. The initial shot was blocked, but the rebound was not covered. Once again in the right place Shouneyia put the rebound back into the Blues goal for the first score of the night, just 5:33 into the game. Assists went to Nystrom and Tambellini.

Michigan would continue to attack the Blues goal, but they were unable to tally another score until the final five minutes of the period. With just over seven minutes to play in the period Toronto would be called for their third penalty of the game. This time the Wolverines would not waste the chance. As the Blues tried to clear the zone Werner kept the puck in the Blues zone and passed along the blue line to fellow defenseman Danny Richmond. As he received the puck the Blues defenders around him cleared out of the way and Richmond let loose a shot that came in low, beating the slightly screened Blues net minder. The lone assist on this power play goal went to Werner.

Continuing to buzz the Blues goal, some great passing would lead to Michigan's third goal of the game, less than one minute later. This time Michigan got the puck down low to Moss who made a little move to free himself up to the right of the goal and he put the puck in the net, going top shelf over the sprawled Blues net minder. The assists on this goal went to Woodford and Helminen.

It looked like Michigan would pick up their fourth goal of the period, about twenty seconds later, but that goal was waved off as one side of the net was off the post. Michigan would be whistled for their first penalty of the game with just under three minutes to play, but they would kill the penalty off without giving up a goal. The first period would come to an end with Michigan holding a three to nothing lead. The Wolverines also had a decided edge in shots on goal with an eighteen to three count.

Michigan would start the second period by picking up a penalty in the first minute of play as Nystrom went off for checking from behind. This would prove costly for the Wolverines as the Blues wasted little time in picking up their one and only goal of the night on this power play. Michigan had been dominating the Blues on the penalty kill and had just missed scoring a short handed goal, when the Blues got loose with the puck, skated it into the Michigan zone, and came up with the goal, cutting the Michigan lead to two goals.

Even after giving up the goal the Wolverines didn't let up on the pressure. They continued to work the puck around the Blues zone, with some sharp passing that saw several scoring chances just miss. Finally, with 16:38 left to play in the period that passing paid off as Michigan got the puck down to Kaleniecki who had all the defenders pulled away from him. With the puck down near the net and no defenders in position to get in the way, Kaleniecki scores the easy to goal to move Michigan's lead back to three goals. Assists on this goal went to Ebbett and Ortmeyer.

For the next ten minutes or so the teams would trade penalties and power plays with the Wolverines coming close to scoring several times, but always just a little bit off on the shot. That would all change as the clock moved under five minutes with the Wolverines again on the power play. Working with the puck down low, Tambellini would make an amazing pass through the crease to a waiting Gajic who scored on the easy back door play. Both Tambellini and Burnes picked up assists on the goal (this goal was originally scored as Ortmeyer, from Gajic and Tambellini).

Just twelve seconds later Tambellini just missed getting a back door goal of his own, but the Blues net minder didn't cover the puck and it rebounded out. Picking up the rebound Ebbett made short work of it, scoring Michigan's third goal of the period, and sixth of the game. Assists on this goal went to Tambellini and Nystrom.

Michigan would end the second period while on the power play and came close to scoring on several occasions. However, the second period came to an end with Michigan holding a commanding lead with a six to one score. The Wolverines also expanded their already commanding lead in shots on goal to an astounding thirty-eight to seven difference.

Michigan would start the third period with twenty-seven seconds of power play time and with a new net minder, as they substitute Ruden for Montoya to get both net minders some game experience. It looked like Michigan would score their seventh goal of the game with just under three minutes gone, but the goal was waved off as a corner of the goal was off the pipe. This almost goal was set up by a great little pass from behind the goal, but the Wolverines came away empty.

Barely a minute later, as Michigan continued to hammer the Blues net minder with shot after shot, the Wolverines would get that seventh goal. This goal would come off another rebound and would be the second for Kaleniecki as he just slid the puck past the Blues net minder. Assists on this goal went to Ebbett and Henderson.

The teams would spend the next ten or so minutes working the puck up and down the ice with the play clearly being dominated by the Wolverines as the Blues seemed to visibly tire. Michigan's final goal of the game would come with just over four minutes left in the game while on the power play. Once again Michigan was passing the puck well around their zone waiting for the right moment. Seeing an open Ryznar, Gajic got the puck over to him and Ryznar made easy work of it to close out Michigan's scoring for the night. Assists on the goal went to Gajic and Ortmeyer.

The game came to an end with Michigan beating the Blues by a score of eight to one. The Wolverines ended the game with a fifty-four to thirteen advantage in shots on goal, an unbelievable difference in shots.

There were many good things to take away from this game for the Wolverines. Every forward on the team got at least one point on the night and the defense allowed just thirteen shots to get through. Every freshman on the team tallied at least one point. The goal tending gave up just one goal, that a power play goal, while Michigan lit up the scoreboard for eight goals of their own. Even with those good things Michigan would be wise not to read to much into the win. The Blues were clearly a smaller, slower team and were outmatched from the outset. Everyone on the team should have some good confidence coming out of this game as they go into the regular season next week in Buffalo. Confidence is good, over confidence is not. Michigan rarely seems to get ahead of themselves and lets hope they don't after this weekend as the season gets underway next weekend.

Shouneyia didn't return to the game after the first intermission, suffering what has been reported as a minor wrist sprain. I did see Shouneyia after the game and he already had his wrist in a cast. Let's hope it really is a minor sprain with the cast a precaution to help it heal faster. The one thing that could really hurt this team this year would be a rash of injuries; let's hope that doesn't happen. Next weekend the Wolverines open up NCAA play with a game against Niagara in the Xerox College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo, New York. This game is being played at the HSBC Arena, location of this years frozen four. Here's hoping that this is the first of two trips the Wolverines make to this arena this season.