Wolverines Survive To Gain Weekend Split

Saturday, December 2, 2006
Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, Michigan

It wasn't pretty as the Wolverines once again fell behind in this game, having to fight there way back from a two goal deficit and then hold off the never say die Bronco's on their way to a six to five victory.

Things looked like they would go Michigans way in the opening minutes of this game when the Bronco's were sent to the penalty box just forty-six seconds into the contest, giving Michigan the early power play chance. While the Wolverines failed to convert on this power play the Bronco's hurt themselves by picking up their second penalty just as the first penalty was ending, extending the Wolverines time with the man advantage. This time the Wolverines took full advantage when Lebler knocked a rebound into the Bronco net. Naurato and Hunwick each picked up assists on the power play goal.

That lead lasted less than a minute when the Wolverines turned the puck over in their zone with the clock still showing over sixteen minutes to play. None of the Wolverines were able to react quickly enough and a Bronco player scooped up the loose puck, walked in on the goal, and banged it home to tie the game.

With just over three minutes left in the period the Bronco's would take the lead in this game when the Wolverines failed to account for a Bronco player coming out of the penalty box. The Bronco clearing pass found the exiting player who charged hard into the Wolverine zone, moved across the net, finishing things off by sliding the puck past Jakiel to put the Bronco's ahead.

The first period would come to an end with the Bronco's holding a two to one lead. Michigan held a slight eleven to ten advantage in shots on goal.

The first period score would hold up until there were just over eight minutes to play in the second stanza when a goal scoring frenzy would ensue. With just over ten minutes to play the Wolverines would be whistled for their second penalty of the period once again putting the Bronco's on the power play. The Wolverines almost killed off the man advantage, but the Bronco's found a crack in the defense in the final seconds of the power play scoring a wrap around goal to go up by two goals.

With about seven and a half minutes to play, less than a minute after the Bronco's had jumped out to a two goal lead, the Wolverines were once again in the penalty box and things were starting to look bleak. With just over five minutes to play Michigan would score a short handed goal to draw back within one. Hensick picked off a pass and broke into the Bronco zone with Rohlfs coming in with him. As he made his way down the slot, Hensick got a pass over to Rohlfs who ended the rush by slipping the puck past the Bronco net minder for the score. Hensick had the lone assist.

With just over four minutes left in the period the Bronco's were whistled for their first penalty of the period to put Michigan on the power play. The Wolverines took just under a minute before finding the back of the Bronco net with the puck. Once again it would be Hensick making the final pass as he found Cogliano at the point. Cogliano got off a rocket that beat the Bronco net minder to tie the game. Hensick and Kolarik each picked up an assist on the goal.

With just over two minutes to play the Bronco's picked up another penalty giving Michigan a late second period power play chance. With just forty-six seconds left to play the Wolverines would get their first lead of the weekend when Porter banged in a rebound for the score. Kolarik had fired off a slap shot from the left face off circle that was blocked, but the rebound came to Porter who banged it home for the Wolverines second power play goal of the period. Once again it was Kolarik and Hensick with the assists in reverse order of the previous power play goal.

The second period would end with Michigan leading by a score of four to three. The Bronco's out shot the Wolverines thirteen to eleven in the period, ending forty minutes of play with a twenty-three to twenty-two advantage in shots on goal.

With twelve and half minutes to play in the final period the Bronco's would once again tie the game scoring off a redirect. A bad angle shot from the right side looked to be harmless, but a Bronco player got a stick on it as it was in the area of the goal, deflecting it past Jakiel and into the net.

Michigan would retake the lead with eight and half minutes to play, once again thanks to the passing of T.J. Hensick. Hensick and Naurato skated into the Bronco zone, with Hensick carrying the puck. Hensick, while looking to his right, made a great pass over to his left to Naurato who was wide open on the left. Waiting for his chance Naurato beat the Bronco net minder to score the go ahead goal. Hensick had the lone assist.

With just over eight minutes to play Cogliano would give the Wolverines some breathing room when he scored what would prove to be the game winning goal. Once again Kolarik got off a shot that was blocked, this time the rebound coming to Cogliano at the bottom of the left circle. Cogliano punched the puck back to and into the Bronco net to extend the Wolverine lead. Kolarik got the lone assist.

The Wolverines would give one back about forty seconds later when the Bronco's cut the lead to one with roughly six and half minutes to play. The Bronco's had rushed into the Michigan zone when the leading skater dropped a pass back to another Bronco who fired the puck top shelf for the score.

There would be a number of penalties and some great saves, especially by the Bronco net minder, in the final minutes of the game. Michigan had several great scoring chances down the stretch, but were turned away each time. The Bronco's hurt their chances of forcing overtime when they took two penalties inside the games final two minutes to leave themselves down two men.

In the end the Wolverines hung on to win the game by a score of six to five. Michigan out shot the Bronco's twelve to six in the final period to end the game with a thirty-four to twenty-nine advantage in shots on goal.

Not the best weekend of hockey for the Wolverines as they end up splitting against a team that they really should have swept. Jakiel got his first start and his first win, even though he gave up five goals. Michigan saw two defenseman go down to injury with Johnson exiting the game after the first period and Dest exiting the game after the second. If one or both of them is still unavailable next weekend against the Irish, the Wolverines could find things that much more difficult against a team that has been winning at a blistering pace for the entire first half.

There are just two games left in the first half of the season, both of them against Notre Dame next Friday (home) and Sunday (away). The Friday loss dropped the Wolverines back into second place and while they still have a game in hand on Miami, they can no longer move ahead of Miami if they should win that game. Notre Dame is in third place just three points behind Michigan and could force a switch in positions should they sweep the Wolverines next weekend. The Spartans are still five points behind Michigan after splitting with Ohio State this weekend. The Irish were the number five team in the nation going into this weekend and will most likely be ranked there or higher going into next weekends games against the Wolverines. Michigan was the number six team and could lose some ground after splitting with the Bronco's. Needless to say next weekends two games against Notre Dame are huge. They will have an large impact on the CCHA and on the national picture. These will be the only two meetings between Michigan and Notre Dame in the regular season giving the games even more weight in the CCHA standings.