Friday, October 17, 2008
Berry Events Center, Marquette, Michigan

The difference in the game was special teams and while Michigans were special, they weren't quite as special as Northerns. A first period power play goal was all the scoring we would see in this game until an empty net goal with with just two seconds left on the clock as the Wildcats dealt the Wolverines their first loss of the season, two to nothing.

The Wolverines were whistled for a penalty with fourteen minutes to play in the opening period, giving the Wildcats a man advantage. With just over twelve minutes to play in the period Northern got a shot off from the right point that Sauer blocked, but the rebound was not covered, bouncing off to his left. A Northern player was right there to make the easy shot into a wide open back door as Sauer was down on the ice, unable to do nothing to stop the power play goal from being scored.

The first period would come to an end with Northern hanging onto a one to nothing lead. Northern out shot the Wolverines ten to seven in the period.

The Wildcats started the second period with 1:48 of power play time, but could not score. Both teams were whistled for a number of penalties in this period, including a five minute major given to Michigan. With all the special teams play neither team could really get any offensive flow as the score remained one to nothing in favor of Northern after two periods of play. Each team only managed to get four shots on goal in the period to give Northern a fourteen to eleven advantage in shots on goal through forty minutes of play.

The Wolverines had a number of scoring chances in the final period, but could not capitalize on any of them. A couple of ill timed penalties late in the game further hurt the Wolverines chances of scoring. They pulled Sauer with just under a minute to play and the Wildcats were whistled for a penalty with just just fifty-two seconds left to give the Wolverines a two man advantage. With roughly thirty seconds left to play it appeared that the Wolverines had tied the game, but the goal was waved off with the officials indicating they had blown the whistle. The Wildcats would slip the puck into the empty net with just two seconds to play to finish off the nights scoring.

The game would come to an end with the Wildcats winning by a two to nothing score. Northern out shot Michigan seven to four to end the game with a twenty-one to fifteen advantage in shots on goal.

Special teams, special teams, special teams, how many times do games come down to special teams play? The Wolverines took far to many penalties, several of them at very bad times, including a dive minute major in last half of the second period, all of which limited Michigan's ability to get any kind of offensive flow going. While their penalty kill was solid, giving up just the one goal on the games first power play, their own power play continues to be non-existent. Once again the Wolverines went through an entire game without scoring a single power play goal, this night on eight chances. Through three regular season games the Wolverines have just one power play goal on twenty-six chances. That's a conversion rate of just under four percent. If the penalties are going to keep coming like they have in these first three games along with their accompanying power play chances, Michigan has to find a way to take advantage. Their power play or lack thereof is the reason they lost this game tonight. They will continue to lose close games until they can figure out a way to start scoring with the man advantage. They simply cannot continue to get eight and nine power play chances per game and continue to come away empty. There was bound to be a period of adjustment as the Wolverines looked to replace last years top line, but this is one adjustment they can no longer wait to solve.