Wildcats Rip Wolverines

Friday, December 6, 2002
Barry Events Center, Marquette, Michigan

The Wolverines started this game reeling as the Wildcats kept the Wolverines scrambling for much of the first ten minutes of this contest. With barely a minute gone in the contest the Wildcats would draw first blood when they would score a goal off a rebound. Montoya had stopped the initial shot, but he bobbled the puck and Northern didn't waste their second chance.

Michigan would hold the line for another six minutes, but once again a break would directly lead to Northerns second goal of the game. With Northern approaching the Michigan blue line Roemensky dropped his stick and while trying to retrieve it the Wildcats ended up with a two on one rush. The carrying Wildcat drew Montoya to his right where a quick pass across to Montoyas left made an easy shot into an open net for their second goal of the period.

While the Wolverines really dominated the second half of the period, getting several quality scoring chances, Michigan would come up short every time. The first period would come to an end with Northern leading by a score of two to nothing. The Wolverines ended the period with a seventeen to eleven advantage in shots on goal.

Michigan started the second period with fifty seconds of power play time and really put some pressure on the Northern goal right out of the gate. However, even with all the pressure Michigan could not get the puck past the Wildcat goalie.

While they didn't convert on the power play the Wolverines would get a goal on the board when Tambellini scored just 1:27 into the period. Following a face off Michigan got control of the puck in their own zone and carried it out of the zone. Mink would get the puck up to Helminen who would get off shot. The shot was blocked, but Tambellini was right there to stuff the rebound back into the net to get the Wolverines within one. Tambellini gets the goal while Helminen and Mink each pick up an assist.

With just over five minutes left to play in the period the Wildcats would get whistled for a penalty putting Michigan back on the power play. The Wolverines got a little pressure, but could not score and continued to trail by one. Play continued up and down the ice until there were just over seven minutes left to play in the period. At that time Michigan was whistled for a penalty, putting the Wildcats on the power play. With about half the power play over the Wildcats best power play goal scorer got out in front with the puck. He got off a shot that Montoya blocked, but he let the rebound go right back to the Wildcat shooter who didn't miss the second time. Michigan once again trailed by two.

Shortly after scoring that goal Northern would just miss on another chance, while the Wolverines would come close with just under one minute to play. There would be no further scoring and the second period came to an end with Northern leading by a score of three to one. Northern out shot Michigan in the second period, but Michigan still led in shots on goal with a twenty-three to eighteen count.

Michigan came out at the start of the third period really putting the pressure on the Northern goal as they attempted to overcome the two goal deficit. Just two minutes Northern would give Michigan an extra attacker when they were whistled for a penalty, putting the Wolverines on the power play. Midway through this power play Ortmeyer would miss a chance at an completely unguarded net and that was essentially the outcome of the power play; just wide.

The play would continue up and down the ice for the next ten minutes with each team seeing a power play and failing to take advantage. With just over six minutes to go Michigan would get back to within one goal when they gained control of the puck in their end. Carrying the puck up the ice the Wolverines got into the Wildcat zone when Kaleniecki shot it top shelf for the Wolverines second goal of the night. Assists on this goal went to Moss and Mink.

Unfortunately for the Wolverines the Wildcats would get that goal back less than a minute later. Michigan would turn the puck over in neutral ice leading to a Wildcat rush. As the lone Wildcat drove up the ice uncontested he got off a shot that Montoya stopped, but again didn't cover the rebound. A trailing Wildcat would gather up the rebound and punch it right into the Michigan net for their fourth goal of the game.

Michigan would come close to scoring their third goal of the night when Nystrom had a fantastic scoring chance with just under three minutes to play in the game, but he just missed the net. Michigan would get whistled for a penalty with about two and a half minutes to play in the game, putting Northern on the power play for most of the remaining playing time.

With about one minute to play Montoya would be pulled to get five players back on the ice, but that would lead to the Wildcats fifth and final goal of the game. Just lifting the puck out of their zone it rolled down the ice toward the open Michigan net. The puck hit the post and was going to bounce away, but a flying Wildcat got their in time to chip the puck back into the empty net for that fifth goal. The game would come to an end with Northern winning by a score of five to two. Michigan ended the night with a thirty-four to twenty-seven advantage in shots on goal.

Quite the mixed bag for Michigan tonight. While they carried the play for most of the game, they gave up a couple of quick goals that really got them behind the eight ball right from the start. The Wolverines had plenty of chances to score in this game as they missed at least two wide open nets and hit the post on several occasions. This was a night and game when just about anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The Northern goalie stood on his head and got some big breaks. Michigan got scoring chances, but missed on them all. Michigan gave up two power play goals, something they hadn't done in forty-five power play chances prior to last night. Michigan went zero for seven on the power play, also a very poor night for the Michigan power play unit. About the only good thing that happened on this night was that the other conference leaders also lost, with MSU beating Ferris and OSU beating Miami. The Wolverines will try to finish the first half on a winning note tomorrow night as they play these same Wildcats.