Wolverines Beach Lakers

Friday, January 30, 2004
Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The game was expected to be a battle between the Lakers defense and the Wolverines offense. It lived up to those expectations for the first half of the game, but then the Wolverines slowly took over the game. They scored two goals in the second and three in the third for a workman like five to nothing victory.

There was just one penalty in the first period, that one assessed to the Lakers with just over six minutes left to play. The Wolverines failed to score with the extra man. Other than that one power play the remainder of the period was a defensive battle up and down the ice with neither team generating any kind of sustained pressure. The first period would end with the game still score less. The Lakers held a slight eight to seven advantage in shots on goal.

The first half of the second period played much as the entire first period had, slow, defensive struggle up and down the ice, combined with no penalties. With just over ten minutes left in the period the Wolverines would get their first goal of the night using a face off win to setup the shot. Hensick was in for the draw to the right of the Laker goalie. He cleanly won getting the puck back to Kaleniecki who fired a quick wrist shot into the upper corner of the net. Hensick got the lone assist on the goal.

Just two minutes and fifty nine seconds later Moss would score Michigans second goal. As Michigan broke out of their zone Ebbett got the puck up the ice to Moss who carried it into the Laker zone and punched it home over the out stretched glove of the Laker net minder. Ebbett and Ryznar each received an assist on the Moss goal.

There would be no further scoring and the second period would come to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to nothing. The Wolverines held a sixteen to twelve edge in shots on goal through two full periods of play.

The Lakers would start the third period with 1:59 of power play time, but they would be unable to score with the extra man. The Lakers put Michigan on the power play just as the clock moved under the sixteen minute mark. While the Wolverines did not score on the power play, they did score just seconds after the power play expired. With the puck deep in the Laker zone Ebbett drifted to the goalies left, drawing both the Laker defense and goalie along with him. As the defense started to close in he got a pass across the ice to a wide open Kaleniecki who one timed the puck into the wide open net. Both Ebbett and Gajic picked up assists on the goal.

With just over ten minutes to play in the game Michigan would score their fourth goal in much the same manner as they had scored their third goal. They would use an end to end rush up the ice, driving the puck deep into the Laker zone, and finding an opening just big enough to slip the puck through. Helminen carried the puck over the Laker blue line, where he dropped a pass back to Nystrom. Nystrom drove the puck up the ice, getting off a shot that the Laker goalie would stop, but not control. As the puck trickled out of the crease Nystrom skated by and punched the rebound back into the goal. Helminen and Tambellini picked up assists on the goal.

Just over a minute later Michigan would score their final goal of the game, with another rush up the ice. This would be the third different line to put together an up ice rush for a score in this period. Moss received the final up ice pass, carrying the puck past the net, flipping in a back hand shot as he went past. Both Ryznar and Rogers picked up assists on the goal.

The Lakers would avoid the shut out by scoring a goal with just over eight minutes left in the game. Michigan turned the puck over right between the circles in their own zone. The Lakers wasted no time taking the point blank shot, beating Montoya for the score.

There would be no further scoring as the game ended with Michigan winning by a five to one score. The Wolverines ended the game with an twenty-nine to eighteen advantage in shots on goal.

Tomorrow nights game will most likely be a repeat of tonights with the Lakers using tough, tight defense to slow down the Wolverine attack. Michigan on the other hand will try to use their speed to beat the defense up the ice, looking for those scoring chances as they crash in toward the net. If the Wolverines simply take care of business like they did tonight they can complete their third straight CCHA sweep and finish no worse than second place at the end of the weekend.