Wolverines Complete Sweep of Nanooks

Saturday, January 15, 2005
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

A slightly different way of arriving at an identical score from the previous night leads to a Wolverine sweep over the Nanooks with back to back five to two victories. Like last night the game was close until Michigan exploded for a group of goals to take a decisive lead. This time the goal explosion came in the second period, rather than the third, but the final outcome was the same, a Michigan victory.

The opening period of play was a fairly wide open affair with both teams killing off a couple of penalties, but only team finding a way to score. With just over six minutes to play in the period Michigan would draw first blood in this contest. Breaking free with the puck Tambellini and Kolarik moved the puck into the Nanook zone, working the give and go to perfection. Tambellini gave the puck to Kolarik who held it just long enough to draw the defense. Then Kolarik dropped the puck back to Tambellini who buried it as he sped through the crease. Tambellini got the goal, while Kolarik and Hunwick each picked up an assist.

The first period of play would come to an end with the Wolverines holding that slim one to nothing lead. The Wolverines held a slight sixteen to twelve edge in shots on goal.

Michigan would score their second goal of the game just over four minutes into the second period of play. Three Wolverines would break out of their zone with the puck and close on the Nanook goal. Using some great passing Michigan was able to get the Nanook goalie to commit before he should have, allowing the final chip in to be an easy one as Gajic lifted the puck up over the prone goalie for the score. Moss and Kaleniecki each picked up an assist on the goal.

The score would remain two to nothing for about ten minutes before Michigan would once again find the twine at the back of the net. Hensick pushed the puck to the net, where Ryznar passed it out and over to Rohlfs. As soon as the puck got to Rohlfs he fired off a quick shot into a wide open net for the score. Both Ryznar and Hensick picked up assists on the Rohlfs goal.

With just over two minutes to play an outstanding play by Hensick led to the Wolverines fourth goal of the game. Hensick and Tambellini carried the puck into the Nanook zone, with the puck finally ending up on Hensicks stick. It looked like Hensick was going to have to carry the puck past and behind the goal, when the Nanook net minder relaxed just a little as Hensick got to the goal line. While his feet were at or over the goal line, Hensicks stick was trailing behind him and as soon as he saw the goal tender relax, creating just a slight opening, he flipped a back hand shot up over the goal tenders shoulder for the score. There was just enough room for the puck to squeeze through, but it was an amazing display of awareness and skill on Hensick's part for any goal to have been scored. Tambellini got the lone assist on the goal. The Nanooks replaced their goal tender after this score.

Barely thirty seconds later the Wolverines welcomed the new Nanook net minder to the game, scoring their fourth goal of the period, fifth of the game. Working hard to keep the puck in the Nanook zone Michigan pushed the puck quickly to the net. The initial shots were blocked, but the rebounds were not covered. Eventually the puck popped right out to a waiting Nystrom who stuffed it into the back of the net for goal number five. Both Hunwick and Kolarik picked up assists on this goal.

The second period would come to an end with Michigan holding a commanding five to nothing lead. The Wolverines also held a twenty-nine to nineteen advance in shots on goal.

It looked like Michigan might get a shut out over the Nanooks, but in the final five minutes of play the Wolverines got sloppy leading to a couple of late Nanook goals. Their first goal of the game would come with just over four minutes left to play while on the power play. Michigan repeatedly failed to clear the puck, leaving the Nanooks with a number of shots on goal. While Montoya got most of them stopped, he wasn't getting the rebounds covered and finally the Nanooks poked one of those rebounds into the net for the score.

The Nanooks got a second straight power play goal with just three seconds left to play in the game in pretty much the same fashion as their first one, just four minutes earlier. Michigan continued to struggle in trying to clear the puck, giving the Nanooks repeated shots on goal. Finally there was one attempt to many and the puck was in the net for Alaska goal number two.

The game came to an end with Michigan winning by a score of five to two. The Wolverines ended the game with a thirty-six to thirty advantage in shots on goal.

While the scores in both last nights game and tonights were identical, the paths taken to achieve those scores were somewhat different. Last night the game was close through two periods of play before Michigan finally put it away in the third. Tonight Michigan pretty much dominated play, giving up a couple of late goals when they started to get sloppy. No matter how they got there the bottom line is that Michigan has two more wins as they head into next weeks huge road trip to Ohio State that will see the conferences top two teams go head to head.