Wolverines Survive Huskies Late Charge

Saturday, October 14, 2006
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Wolverines came out firing on all cylinders, but in the final two periods of play they seemed to simply go through the motions as the visiting Huskies kept chipping away at the Michigan lead. The Huskies ended up making it close, but the Wolverines hung on to win seven to five.

Just fourteen seconds into the contest Uconn made the games first trip to the penalty box giving Michigan an early power play opportunity. With the clock just over the eighteen minute mark the Wolverines would find a way to get the puck into the Huskie net with the man advantage. The Wolverines hadn't really been able to mount much pressure with the extra man when Kolarik got off a shot from inside the blue line that beat the goalie to give Michigan their first goal of the game, this one on the power play. The goal was scored as unassisted.

With just over sixteen minutes to play, just over two minutes from their first goal, the Wolverines once again put the puck in the back of the Huskie net. Rohlfs was positioned right in front of the net when Hensick sent a pass through the crease area. Instead of letting the pass go through Rohlfs got his stick on it, redirecting it into the net for the score. Hensick and Porter each picked up assists on the goal.

Another two minutes into the period, with just over fourteen minutes to play Michigan would knock in their third goal of the game. Michigan won a face off to Sauers left, quickly breaking the puck out of their zone, carrying it up the right side boards. When he got to the top of the circle in the Uconn zone Johnson fired off a rocket of a shot that beat the Huskie goalie for Michigan's third goal of the game. Both Cook and Naurato each picked up assists on the goal.

With the clock just under eight minute mark the puck was in the corner to the right of the Huskie goal. Kolarik too a flat shot along the goal line that was more centering pass than shot, but the puck redirected off the back of a Huskie player and into the net for the score. Cogliano and Mitera each picked up an assist on the goal.

The first period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of four to nothing. Michigan had a fifteen to eight advantage in shots on goal.

Michigan started the second period with twenty-four seconds of power play time, but could not take advantage of the extra man. However, with eighteen and half minutes left to play in the second period Michigan scored their fifth goal of the game. This time it came off a little pass from behind the goal line, out to Cogliano as he came through the circle to the left of the Huskie goalie. As he received the puck Cogliano got off a laser of a shot that beat the Huskie goal top shelf for the score. Kolarik had the lone assist on the score.

With just over seventeen minutes to play the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty, putting the Huskies on the power play. The clock would move under the sixteen minute mark, with just thirty-one seconds left in the Michigan penalty when the Wolverines forced a turnover at center ice. Hensick scooped up the puck and carried it into the Huskie zone, closed on the net, deked the goalie and stuffed the puck into the net. Miller picked up the lone assist on the goal.

Just twelve seconds later, following the last Michigan goal, the Huskies marched the puck right into the Michigan zone off the face off. They got off a shot that hit a Michigan defender right in front of the goal, bouncing past Sauer in the process to give the Huskies their first goal of the game.

With the clock just under ten minutes the Huskies took another shot from the corner that was traveling along the goal line. It, like their first goal, took a strange bounce right in front of the goal, perhaps even going off Sauer, and redirected into the goal for the Huskies second goal of the period.

The second period would come to an end with the Wolverines holding a six to two lead. The Huskies out shot the Wolverines thirteen to nine in the second period, but Michigan still held a twenty-four to twenty-one over all advantage in shots on goal.

Once again Michigan started a period with power play time, this time they had 1:09 of power play time that they let slip away without picking up another score. Shortly after killing off this penalty, with eighteen and half minutes left to play, the Huskies sent a floater of a shot toward the Michigan net from the left boards. Once again the puck is redirected right in front of the net and this time it slides through the five hole.

With thirteen and half minutes to play the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty, putting the Huskies on the power play. With just over thirteen minutes to play, just twenty-eight seconds into the power play, the Huskies got off a number of shots in close to the Michigan goal. The Michigan defense was unable to clear the Huskie players or the puck and eventually Uconn got one of those little chip shots past Sauer for the score.

About one minute later, with twelve and half minutes to play in the final period, the Huskies were whistled for a penalty putting Michigan on the power play. Once again sloppy play by the Wolverines would prove costly. Johnson was defending a Huskie player, but Johnson was not being very aggressive. Instead the Huskie player walked around Johnson, closed on the goal, wrapping the puck around Sauer who seemed to be glued to the ice, scoring a short handed goal with just over eleven minutes to play in the final period.

It looked like Michigan was going to escape the game without suffering any more problems, but with just two and half minutes to go the really stupid plays began to happen. First Turnbull was whistled for a slashing penalty when he took a swipe at a Huskie player with his stick after being soundly and legally checked. It was pure stupidity. With 1:38 to play the Huskies called time out and when they returned to the ice their goalie stayed on the bench. With 1:21 to play Mitera was called for a penalty when he took a swing at a Huskie player, connecting with his head. With the loss of another player, Michigan was skating with just three men to the Huskies six. With forty-eight seconds to play Kolarik blocked a shot, gaining control of the puck. With the sudden opening he took a shot that sent the puck the length of the ice and into the open goal to seal the win. Like his game opening goal this score was unassisted.

The game would come to an end with Michigan holding on for the seven to five win. The Wolverines out shot the Huskies seventeen to thirteen in the final period, to end the game with a forty-one to thirty-four advantage in shots on goal.

This was a game of two Wolverine teams. In the first they clearly dominated play and continued that domination in the early minutes of the second period. However, once they scored their sixth goal they seemed to go to sleep, spending the remainder of the game simply going through the motions while the Huskies slowly chipped away at the Wolverine lead. This was more like the Wolverine play of last year, rather than the play of a team that was dedicated to playing solid defense, playing solid hockey along the way. While it had to be difficult to keep emotionally focused in these two games against teams that were clearly over matched, the slip of mental focus in this game nearly cost them the game and will most certainly cost them should they have a similar lapse against a CCHA team or any other team of greater skill than either of this weekends opponents. Michigan has a short week to make the necessary corrections as they host last years CCHA champion Miami Redhawks next Thursday and Friday. These are the only two games against Miami that Michigan will play this year and could have a great impact on the CCHA race. It is imperative that the Wolverines come ready to play in these two games and play sixty minutes of hockey on each night.