Blue Team Defeats White Team

Friday, September 26, 2003
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The annual Blue/White game was played this Friday night to kick off the 82nd year of Michigan hockey and the Blue edged the White by a four to three goal.

The Blue team struck first barely four minutes into the game when Kaleniecki found a rebound in front of the net and chipped it past the white teams goalie. The goal was setup by freshman T.J. Hensick who got control of the puck at center ice, put on a burst of speed into the white team zone, and took a shot that was blocked. However, the rebound was not covered and Kaleniecki was there to put the puck back into the net. Assists when to Hensick and Martens.

Hensick would be involved in the second goal of the period for the blue team, this time started the rush from deep in his own zone. Carrying the puck quickly out to his blue line he snapped a great pass across and up the ice to the white team blue line to Rohlfs who carried the puck into the white zone. Once in the zone and in position Rohlfs got off a shot, but it was blocked. However, like the first goal the rebound was not covered and Kaleniecki was right there to put the puck back into the net. Kaleniecki picks up his second goal of the night, while Rohlfs and Hensick each picked up an assist.

There was just one penalty called in the first period, that also went to Kaleniecki with just over four minutes left to play. The blue team killed that penalty off and the period came to an end with the blue leading by a score of two to nothing. The blue team also led in shots on goal ending the period with a sixteen to twelve advantage in that category.

While the first period was somewhat non-aggressive as all the players seemed to getting their game legs, the second period started out with much more aggressive play. Everyone seemed to step up the pace a bit and bodies started flying around.

Both teams took penalties in the early going of the period, but the white seemed to pick up some extra penalties as the period wore on. The white team was skating off a mid period penalty when Jeff Tambellini would come up with the white teams first goal of the night, short-handed. After receiving a pass, Tambellini snapped off a shot that beat the blue team goalie's short side. The lone assist on this goal went to Werner.

The white team would get things all even barely one minute later when Brown received a pass while behind the blue goalie. Wasting no time he slipped the puck right in around the post and the game was all tied at two goals each. Moss picked up the lone assist.

It looked like the period would end with the game tied, but the white team opened the door to the blue team with a penalty late in the period. Wasting no time to take advantage of the man advantage the blue team worked the puck quickly into the white zone from the ensuing face off. Martens would make a nice pass to Hensick who would just chip the puck up over the blue goalies shoulder and once again the blue team was in the lead. Hensick gets the goal, while Martens picked up the lone assist.

With barely five seconds left in the period the blue would extend their lead to two goals with a somewhat strange goal. They had just gotten the puck across the blue line and into the white zone when Hunwick took a shot that hit another player in the leg, causing it to take a strange bounce. A couple of re-directs later and the puck was behind the white goalie and the blue were once again leading by two. The goal went to Ebbett with both Burnes and Hunwick.

The second period would come to an end with the blue team leading by a score of four to two. The blue continued to lead in shots on goal holding a thirty-one to twenty-six shot advantage.

The third period was played with a running clock and was a spirited twenty minutes of play. Both teams pushed the puck up and down the ice, but niether team had been able to find a crack in the others defense until the clock reached the mid-point of the period. As the clock moved under ten minutes the white team got a long feed up the ice to a streaking Tambellini. Tambellini carried the puck into the blue zone uncontested and beat the blue net minder clean to get the white team within one goal. Brown and walk-on Adam Zussman each picked up an assist on the goal.

The white team would fight valiantly, pulling their goalie with about one minute left to play. They would come close to tying the game, but in the end the blue team held on and the game came to an end with the blue winning by a score of four to three. The blue ended the game with a thirty-three to thirty-one advantage in shots on goal.

It was good to see hockey being played in Yost once again and the team looks very promising. They still have some rust to knock off, but we should see a very talented Wolverine squad take to the ice in this years campaign.