University of Nebraska-Omaha Series Preview

After sweeping the first home series of the year, the Wolverines head back out on the road to take on the UNO Mavericks, in what's usually a fairly hostile environment.

Friday's game will air at 8:05 Eastern for those of you with CSTV (or online at CSTV's website for $8 or so). Saturday's game is also at 8:05 and can be found on the b2livetv.com site for $6-7.

I've enlisted the help of MavRick from the MavPuck message board to help preview this weekend's series.

1) First off, it's still early on in the season, so what were the preseason expectations for the Mavericks? Both the coaches and the media picked UNO to finish 6^th in the CCHA. Was that kind of in line with the fan expectations or did it seem a little optimistic/pessimistic? Can you take anything from the first three games of the season or is it still way too early to notice any trends?

I think UNO got a pretty serious Parse Discount, particularly in view of UNO's fairly mediocre defense last year. After all, UNO was in the top 5 in goals per game all year and finished just above .500. You do the math.

As far as the first three games, two things jump out: First, the Mavericks have a lot more size than before, particularly on defense. Guys like Nick Von Bockern, Alain Goulet, and Pasko Skarica are much bigger than the players they are replacing. But they're only freshmen, and Miami took advantage of that last Friday. Second, UNO still has plenty of scoring around; the senior line of Bryan Marshall, Mick Lawrence and Brandon Scero has looked excellent, as have Dan Charleston and Tomas Klempa.

If the defense can show some thump, the Mavs have a shot at first-round home ice. They won't have the luxury of Friday at Miami-like performances, however.

2) Obviously it's impossible to replace a guy like Parse, who was so good for you guys. With him gone and Nikiforuk gone (don't think that I've forgotten that goal he scored late in the third against us a couple years ago!) who are you guys counting on for offense this season? It looks like Marshall is off to a nice start, and Charleston had a great year as a sophomore last year. Is there anyone on this team that can be "the guy" or are you going to be scoring mainly by committee?

We'll never forget that six-second Nikiforuk goal (around Jack Johnson) either. The top two lines are legit scoring threats all the time. As the season progresses, look for some of the younger players to come on.

Chris Wilson and Dan Swanson were minor role-players in their rookie season but has played with real fire and speed so far this fall. Brandon Scero, who has been brilliant but uneven in his first three years, lost 26 pounds in the offseason and is playing like it.

3) I don't know much about your incoming freshmen apart from the fact that it seems you brought in the entire Aurora OPJHL team and you got a couple of pretty solid USHLers. Who are the new Mavericks that we should pay attention to?

Rich Purslow was last year's top scorer in the USHL. He reminds me a great deal of Bill Thomas for his ability to materialize in open space on the ice. (Ed Note: He also shares Bill Thomas's ability to be a 21 year old freshman) He's an exciting kid and will do well. Alain Goulet and Eric Olimb both look like very talented -- but very green -- young defensemen. Goulet gets a summer in the weight room and he will be a monster. And that's "the entire Canadian Junior A National Champion Aurora Tigers" to you, mister.

4) Kaufman played the first game. Dupont played the second and got lit up. Kaufman played the third. A lot of teams out there are rotating goalies, should we expect this to continue? Will we likely see both of them this weekend? Do they play similar styles? Do you have a preference between the goalies, or are they pretty similar in quality?

Remember Kaufmann was the walk-on who got UNO to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament. He fared slightly better against Miami than Dupont did, but by all accounts UNO played better on Saturday -- several of Dupont's goals were breakaways generated by mistakes at the point. Dupont is a shade more erratic than Kaufmann, but his lower lows are matched with higher highs. To play Michigan, I'd rather have Dupont, who might turn in a lights-out performance, as opposed to the more steady (but not quite as talented) Kaufmann.

5) I didn't think it was possible, but the Mavericks are even younger on defense than the Wolverines (UNO has 1 junior, 2 sophomores and 5 freshmen and the junior (Uotila) hasn't even played due to academics). Is Uotila expected to be cleared in time for this weekend or is this more of a long-term issue? How are the kids on the blue line doing? You've given up 71 shots through 3 games, which actually isn't bad at all. Are they pretty happy with how the young guys have held up, or have they given up a lot of high-quality chances, even though they haven't given up that many shots on goal?

Actually I am pretty pleased with the performance of the defense so far. Miami has the horses to turn mistakes into instant goals - they're as good a CCHA team as I've seen in a while. I saw the Saturday 5-2 game, in which UNO played pretty well, particularly given the score. (And in Friday's 7-2 game, which I did not see, UNO outshot Miami pretty significantly but gave up 7 goals on 24 shots. Miami's good, but they're not the Soviet National Team.)

Uotila's ineligibility is some bizarre comedy about a correspondence course or a summer-school thing. I can't tell whether it's a lazy professor who hasn't turned in a grade or something more serious, so I can't tell you whether he'll play this weekend.

I think these guys are going to be OK, but they may have their hair-pulling moments this season. Their size will help and they have tremendous skill.

6) Does everyone down there still hate Michigan as much as ever, or has the dislike mellowed over the years?

Oh, I'd say it's still pretty intense. It's fueled by a couple of things. Remember, our first eyeball to eyeball experience with Wolverine Fan was at the Joe for the Saint Patrick's Day Massacre in
2000. M fan was in a foul mood and took it out on us. Second, and this may be the larger component, is the idiot Omahan who will come to our rink this weekend dressed head-to-toe in Michigan football gear, who doesn't know Billy Sauer from Billy Mays and will generally make an
ass of himself the entire weekend. Chances he has set foot in Ann Arbor? Nil.

Speaking personally, I will say I have hoisted a beer with a number of well-informed, rational, very classy long-term Michigan Hockey fans. The guys who've been around long enough to know you don't send your four-year-old over to yell "you suck" love the game, the tradition and
their team as well as anybody.

7) Why do you guys have to hit from behind so much ;-) Seriously though, what was up with all the penalties in the second Miami game? How exactly did you manage to get one player ejected for a hit from behind, a completely different player called for boarding, and two others given 10 minute misconducts at the same time? It looks like Brian Aaron did a number on you guys last weekend. Are we in agreement that it's going to be an absolute disaster if the CCHA goes to a two-referee system? I'm of the opinion that they don't have enough good refs for a one-referee system. I hate Aaron, McInchak, and Hoberg—and most Wolverine fans are in agreement that they're the worst (except Wilkins has some "fans" as well). Are there any specific refs that Maverick Nation hates? Just curious if you guys hate the same ones.

To UNO fans, Aaron is the U-M of hockey referees. Our gravest condemnation for any referee is to chant "Aaron, Aaron." (Ed Note: Gotta say, I'm on board with this as well, minus the U of M slam! I despise the guy. Thankfully for him, Steve McInchak exists) He pitched our first superhero, Jeff Hoggan, in game three of a first-round playoff series on a trivial offense, and we've never forgotten it. (I've heard word that he understands all of Omaha hates him.) I only saw the Saturday game against Miami, and of the two ejection penalties, only one was caught on camera. To me it appeared a stationary Jeric Agosta put a gloved hand on Valve's shoulder, and the latter flew into the boards with a force that is otherwise reserved for Warner Brothers cartoons. But it was the second one of the game, and I'm sure Aaron told everybody he was going to crack down, so there you go.

Wilkins is a freak show, Brown is a fascist. It wouldn't be hockey if we didn't hate the refs, eh? But here's where you'll plumb the depths of UNO fan's jilted girlfriend psyche: The league office is in Michigan, most of the refs are from Michigan, and Michigan is from, you know, Michigan. If the Buddha refs this weekend's games, he's probably from Auburn Hills and works for Red's nephew. (We've never forgiven the league for putting Bowling Green in our place in the program for the Joe in 2000, and we've never believed we've gotten a fair shake since.) (Ed Note: So Nebraska-Omaha is basically the Penn State of the CCHA. The only difference is that UNO beats us on occasion. Zing!)

8) Friday's game is on CSTV, which is awesome, but Saturday the game will air on the B2 Network. I've never used that before. Some people on MavPuck were pretty complimentary of the system. Have you ever used it before? Is it worth the money?

I haven't seen a UNO home game on it before, though I've seen others. I suspect it will be worth the money. Our homer announcers are pretty good, too. (Ed Note: It's pretty much unanimous that the B2Network is pretty cool. I haven't seen anyone badmouth it in any of the reviews that I've seen. Barring an unforeseen need to do something with the B&C Saturday night, I'll be watching)

9) Does UNO have anyone that they prefer to throw out there against the other team's top line. You guys have last change, so Kemp can get the matchup that he wants. Will he shoot to get anyone out there against Pacioretty-Porter-Kolarik on most occasions?

He's usually a 1-to-1 guy - not for several years has he had a real athletic checking line to send out against the other side's top guns. (In fact, current assistant coach Nick Fohr, who last played in about '01, ran that line.) So expect to see Lawrence, Marshall and Scero.

10) Finally, do you have any parting thoughts on the weekend?

This will be interesting. Not quite sure what to make of Michigan, what with the close wins at Northern followed by a big weekend in Boston. Bryan Marshall's captaincy is said to have yielded a very disciplined and intense team, and it has shown in the early going. (Ed Note: Sounds like we're both blessed with great captains this year) UNO's going to be fun to watch this year, and I think will give Michigan a couple of great games.

Oh: And lest I forget -- Die weasel scum!

Seriously: Safe travels to Omaha for all who are coming, and good luck this weekend.

Thanks to MavRick for chiming in with his thoughts on the series. It sounds as if these should be pretty good games. UNO always gets up to play Michigan at home, and they've got some talented offensive players who can put pressure on our defense. I'll call a split this weekend. It'll be a tough weekend, we're due for a stinker on the road at some point, and UNO isn't a bad hockey team. 3-4 points would thrill me.

Media Roundup: Boston University Sweep

By this point, everyone knows what my thoughts were on the Boston University series. CSTV has highlights here (including Rust's ridiculous end-to-end breakaway goal), if you weren't able to see the game. Let's see what the MSM had to say:

The Michigan Side:

The much-improved-over-when-I-was-in-school Daily hockey coverage has a nice article about Billy Sauer. The praise has been well-deserved thusfar. The Friday night game against BU might have been his best game in a Michigan uniform. It could've gotten pretty out of hand early on, but he held us in the game until we were finally able to get the offense going.

The weekend in review from the Daily, and the game wrapups (printer friendly version, since their website is having issues) from the Ann Arbor News.

Matt Rust had some problems with the foggy conditions inside the rink. Porter is confident that we'll win a lot of hockey games if we start playing 60 minutes rather than 40.

Evidently Michigan will be heading out to Boston to play single games against BU in 2008 and 2010. Obviously there will be another game each of those weekends--probably one against BC to repay them for coming out a couple years ago--and they'll have plenty of schools to pick from in the Boston area. I love seeing us schedule teams like that. They're always fun games when we square off against the Boston schools.

Red wasn't thrilled about being ranked #3, I'm sure he feels the same way now that we're #2 in one poll.

Mark Mitera won CCHA Defenseman of the Week. I'm kind of surprised that it's the first time that he's been honored in that way. I guess I shouldn't be, given the other defensemen we've had, but it's a well-deserved honor.

Red Berenson's press conference ($ link) revealed that Bryan Hogan is ready to come back to practice after a bout with mono. He's still going to be awhile, as he hasn't really been on the ice with this team, and I expect he's lost some weight and his stamina isn't nearly what it was. But it's nice to hear that he's allowed to practice again. Thankfully Sauer has been solid thusfar and we haven't desperately needed Hogan.

Maize n Brew chimed in with some comments on the game (#8 on his list). He pretty much hits the nail on the head when he writes, "Michigan's never been short on stars, but over the last few years has been a bit short on depth. This year it's the opposite. Personally, I like the make up of the team. I saw a team that's willing to outwork its opponents, and that will translate into a lot of wins."

Stat Hunting: In looking at the stats through 6 games, there are a few things that are interesting:
-All of our freshmen forwards have now tallied their first goal, with Pacioretty and Palushaj scoring last weekend.
-Four of our top six point getters are freshmen--Pacioretty is absent from that list, but he'll be there soon.
-Brian Lebler, Tristin Llewellyn and Chris Summers (!) are the only players on the team who have played and not yet tallied a point.
-The rotation of players at the bottom-end of the roster has been pretty equal. Naurato and Lebler have each gotten into three games, while Llewellyn, Vaughan, and Quick have all played four games. Red Berenson has said that this rotation will continue, but I'd expect Quick to earn a permanent spot in the lineup at some point in the near future. He's going to be the best of the freshmen defenders.
-Our top line is firing away. Porter, Pacioretty, and Kolarik have combined for 70 of our 188 shots on goal through six games, and they rank 1-2-3 (in that order) in shots.
-Five different players have our five game-winning goals. Strangely enough, they're the top five players on our roster in points.
-The special teams are looking very solid. After taking a couple games to get going, the power play is converting at a 20.6% clip, while the PK is killing off 86.7% of opponent power plays.
-Billy Sauer has a very nice 2.49 goals against average.
-We've scored 24 goals. Half have come in the third period. We've allowed 15 goals, nine have come in the third period. Pretty obvious which period you don't want to miss!
-As expected, Rust and Caporusso are our best main faceoff guys. Kolarik and Pacioretty have also been excellent. Porter is fine at just under 50% and Fardig's percentage has gone up ten points from last year, thusfar.

The Opponent's View:

This quote comes from the Daily, but BU Coach Jack Parker said that Saturday's game should've been 8-1 or 10-1.

CSTV's blog from the game has a great quote from Coach Parker about what an impact Billy Sauer had in Friday Night's win:

"We had 51 attempts and hit 27 [on goal] in the first two periods, and we were down 2-0" BU head coach Jack Parker said. "That was tough. When we don't get the 5-on-3 goal [late in the second period], it jacked them up, too at the end of the third period."

Jack Parker was very complimentary of the Michigan freshmen in the BU student newspaper.

"I didn't know how good their freshmen were," Parker said of the Michigan defense. "When you play four freshmen defensemen, usually you can forecheck a team like that. We forechecked them pretty good [Friday] and got chances and got shots and looked like a pretty good hockey team and exposed their defense a little bit.

"[Saturday] we didn't have a chance because they were in our zone all night," he added. "They were storming us. They got the puck so fast and got out, we never even got near them. It was like two different speeds, they were fast and we were dead slow."

But as much I would like it if the Wolverines were undefeated as the writer indicated twice in that article, we're not. Even though that loss felt like a win.

CSTV had a writer roundtable, which included Antoine Pitts. The first question is about Michigan and their chances this year. Consensus: Too early to tell. I agree.

Time to put another great weekend behind us and start looking ahead to Nebraska-Omaha. MavRick from the MavPuck website was kind enough to answer some questions about the UNO team, and I'll have that for you guys on Thursday. Let's keep this freight train rolling.

Michigan 6, Boston University 2

This one was never really in doubt. The Wolverines led 42 seconds into the game, had a two goal lead by the 2:25 mark, and after that the Terriers were only within a goal for about four minutes of game time. Michigan scored early and often on their way to a 6-2 win and their second consecutive series sweep.

Summers, Kampfer, Llewellyn, Naurato, and Fardig were the only players on the ice who didn't tally a point tonight (even Sauer had an assist) and just three players had multiple points in what was a complete team effort tonight.

Ben Winnett scored his second of the season on a great feed from Tim Miller. Shortly thereafter, Max Pacioretty got the first of his career on a very similar play; great feed from Aaron Palushaj, who kept up his strong play this weekend.

The Terriers got on the board after a bad turnover by Sauer behind the net. Michigan took the momentum back just four minutes later on a gorgeous homerun pass from Mark Mitera to Carl Hagelin to spring him on a breakaway. He went five-hole and had me yelling bork bork bork!

They blew the game open in the third with Caporusso knocking the puck out of midair into the cage, Turnbull beating a defenseman to the outside and slipping it into the net, and Kolarik scoring from a bad angle. The Terriers scored with just six seconds left to make the margin a little bit closer.

While last night BU dominated play for the first half of the game, tonight the Wolverines got on the board early and never really looked back. They did a much better job controlling guys like Yip and Bonino (despite his late goal). Those two were all over the ice last night and I barely heard their names during this game.

It was another solid defensive performance, allowing just 24 shots on goal--and more importantly not as many high-quality chances. Billy Sauer played a good game, but he wasn't tested nearly as much as he was last night. The first goal was extremely weak, but I'm more than happy to live with the "weak goal of the game" if he's going to play well the rest of the time. It's a lot easier to take when it's one bad goal out of two rather than three bad goals out of six.

Once again, Mark Mitera played a key role on the blueline. He was a +3, sprung Hagelin on the breakaway that pretty much gave us the momentum for good, and just played a solid overall hockey game. I don't remember any specific play, but I also thought that Kevin Quick was solid tonight. Or at least I think he was. It was hard to see numbers on the internet feed that I had blown up to full screen so I didn't have to hunch over my monitor.

One thing that I noticed this weekend, which was very nice, is that we had an absurd number of breakaways and 2-on-1s. The long passes were connecting. Last night they hit a couple people coming out of the box. Tonight it was more just in the flow of the game. But the "homerun" passes were working. I thought they really passed the puck well as a whole.

It looks like Max Pacioretty is starting to find his game after struggling a little bit in Minnesota. He was quite possibly our best forward this weekend. I had him as one of my stars last night and he was listed as the #1 star tonight by the media. I can't really argue with their picks of Pacioretty #1, Sauer #2, Hagelin #3, though I don't feel like defensemen with good defensive efforts get enough credit in the voting, so here's some love for Mitera as well.

I'm loving the competition on defense. I think it's really bringing out the best in all of them. None of the freshmen got beat badly tonight from what I saw. They're all playing really responsible hockey. And Chad Langlais had a really outstanding weekend. None of them look out of place in the college game, and that's nice to see because they all had their question marks coming into the season. For the record, Vaughan and Lebler sat tonight.

Brandon Naurato also deserves a call. No he didn't score, and yes he was a -1 (though that was on the meaningless goal at the end of the game) but I thought he looked really good out there with Palushaj, and he had a wonderful backcheck to break up a BU 2 on 1 that Llewellyn also played very well.

Matt Rust was solid once again and he and Caporusso were both dominant on faceoffs, winning a combined 21 out of 26.

Overall that was a great weekend of hockey against a team that I do think is much better than their record. We kind of ran them out of the building tonight, but last night they showed that they can be a very dangerous hockey team. As I said before, they're too talented of a hockey team to not get this turned around. I wouldn't doubt that they'll contend for a spot in the tournament by year's end once they cut out some of those mistakes on defense.

Sauer was strong all weekend, probably deserving of a star in both games. The power play connected on a few more occasions, and all our freshmen played well. At this point, I'm really not sure what is the proper level of excitement to have about this team. There's so much to like about the work ethic, the speed, the overall talent level, and the leadership of our captains. The play in net will always be a question mark based on past history, but Sauer has answered the challenge so far this season. I'm still taking it game to game, weekend to weekend, but I couldn't be happier with the start. I'm really enjoying watching these guys play. 5-1-0 for the month of October was pretty unexpected, and I'm thrilled.

Next week, it's back on the road as they head to Nebraska-Omaha, who is 1-2-0 on the season, beating Alabama-Huntsville while getting run by Miami (OH) twice. Friday night's game can be seen on CSTV, while Saturday's game can be viewed on the PPV B2livetv Network. The internet is a wonderful thing.

Live Tape Delay Blog: Michigan vs. Boston University

I'm back from my hockey game, the laptop decided to cooperate after the 23rd time I tried to turn it on, and I'm ready to rock and roll. This is going to be strange watching a game from Yost on TV. I can't remember the last time I did that. This is only about the 6th home game I've missed since the 2000-01 season, and four of those were last season.

I swear that every TV in my house is set on CSTV right now. And I narrowly averted disaster when I accidentally pulled up MGoBlue.com to see what time the football game was tomorrow. Even with friggin' college hockey I have problems not finding out the final score.

Pregame: The Wolverines are coming out in the maize jerseys to go with the Maize Out theme for the evening. I really didn't like the diagonal "Michigan" jerseys last year, but now I kind of want one. For some reason they're a lot less stupid-looking than the Avs old third jerseys that they're similar to. Maybe it's the color scheme. I'm still not sure that I like them--particularly how big our captains' letters are--but I still want one.

It's kind of disappointing that Mike Emerick did the introduction but he's not calling the game. I wanted to see some BIIIIIG DRIVES! tonight.

Tristin Llewellyn is sitting out on defense tonight and Brian Lebler got the hook up front. It appears that Chad Langlais is the favored freshman defenseman since he's the only one who has yet to sit.

First Period:

19:26: Michigan is buzzing early. Porter feeds Pacioretty on a two-on-one and Patch fanned with a wide open net. It looks like he's been paying attention to his linemate. Kolarik finds iron for about the fifth time this season. 3 inches one way and he would've been the hero. But three inches the other way and he would've missed completely. I never thought of it like that. Despite the pressure, we're going on the PK. Sauer's out at the top of the crease and makes a nice save with no rebound.

18:05: CSTV announces that they don't have the power play clock. What they do have are tickers taking up roughly 1/8 of the screen. I really don't care about a Missouri basketball player getting charged with disturbing the peace. Patrick Beverly got benched for Arkansas red-white scrimmage though for not trying on the court or in class. At least he's in a place that reminds him of Chicago.

15:50: Rust's line is doing a nice job on the forecheck. Nothing really comes of it, but that was a nice effort. It's Halloween weekend and students are dressed up. I swear I just saw someone dressed up as a black guy. The announcers congratulate Dick Umile for his 400th win. Wins that meant anything: 0.

14:15: 2 nice stops by Sauer, one on a shot from the point with Billy down on the ice. He's playing well out of the gate. Must be something about playing the Boston schools that gets him all fired up. I'm pretty sure Louie Caporusso just killed Jason Lawrence. It looked worse than it was, but we're probably lucky that our wonderful officials didn't find a way to call that a hit from behind. Another really nice stop by Sauer, bending backwards to get his stick on a puck that was headed by. BU is carrying the play early on.

11:55: Pacioretty is set up very nicely by Kolarik and the goalie made a nice save. Palushaj, or "Palosky" as he was called breaks in all alone and dings it off the bar. It's pretty incredible how many bars we've hit so far this season.

8:21: Shattenkirk misfires on what would've been a BIG DRIVE! if Emerick was calling the game. That rush was started by Chris Summers blowing a tire at the Boston U blueline. Quick made a nice play to make McGuirk give the puck up (I apologize if I get some of the BU players' names wrong. I refuse to pull up any college hockey website to try to get to a roster at this point) and Shattenkirk sent it wide. Nice shot out of that kid.

7:19: Rust made a really nice move at our blueline to start the rush but he's hauled down. That better be a call. Ok it is. Timmy Miller is just offside and Gilroy will be headed off. He's #97. I would love to know how that came about. Is he a Jeremy Roenick fan? We're not quite at the point that he could be going with his birth year, though I'm sure Michigan will start recruiting 97s in the next year or so.

6:50: The announcers point out that BU's PK is at just 75% this season. Even our power play has to be able to pot one or two against that...right? Nice feed by Caporusso through the slot but no one was home. It seems weird to me that we've got a power play unit with Mark Mitera, Steve Kampfer, and Travis Turnbull on it. It makes sense for this year, but I'm not used to those guys being any kind of offensive threat. BU kills it off.

4:45: Miller steals the puck and he's in all alone, but the puck skittered too far off his stick when he knocked it away. Unlucky. That would've been a nice opportunity. Langlais makes a nice play at our blueline to force the Terriers into an offside. Another nice pass by Caporusso into the slot but the defender had our player tied up.

2:53: MacArthur has a slapper from the center of the ice at the top of the circle. Luckily he blew it wide. Less of that. They're saying he has the hardest slapper in college hockey and I can see why. That was very Hartigan. Billy's getting a little feisty. Guys are crowding him in his crease and he's tripped two of them, very innocently. I must say I prefer that method to Al Montoya whapping them with his trapper.

1:05: Palushaj just tried to go wide but he's knocked down. Naurato gets the puck in prime shooting position but the defenseman gets his shin pad on it and Bennett covers. We just saw why Mark Mitera doesn't rush the puck very often. He had his pass broken up and then he hauls the BU player down. The Terriers will have about 1:50 on the PP once the second period starts.

Pretty entertaining period of hockey. BU kept it in our zone for long stretches of the first 13 minutes or so of the game. Sauer made 3 or 4 really nice saves, particularly his toe save on a slapper from the point after he had just gotten back on his feet. Our top line created some good chances, and we rung 2 off the iron. They "won that period" (they outshot us 15-6 and many of those shots were quality) but we're getting our scoring chances as well.

Period 2:

20:00: Our ice looks strange and I can't quite put my finger on why. Has our center line always been solid red?

18:36: How the hell did that not end up in our net? Cohen took a shot, Sauer left a huge rebound (the first bad one of the night), another Terrier got his stick on it and someone on the doorstep tried to tip it in. It skittered out the other side. Another shot from the point gets tipped on the way through but Billy's up to the task. Is this power play over yet? 21 seconds to go.

18:28: Parker pulls the ole "Ann Arbor Hockey Association" tactic. He tries to make a line change right before the puck dropped. Shegos didn't allow it, but it bought his guys some time to rest. In our league, you weren't allowed to change on the PK during stoppages unless the team with the power play was changing (we played with a running clock). You could send guys out, though, and by the time the refs realized that you weren't supposed to be changing and made the original guys come back on, you had killed off a good 30 seconds. The power play ends but BU is still pressuring.

17:20: We're struggling a bit to get the puck out of our zone, but the difference this year is that we're not turning the puck over in the process. They seem pretty calm with it, and are perfectly content to loop back around and regroup. Turnbull takes down a Terrier on the forecheck and we're going back to the box. The announcers think it was a little weak, but to me, that call was a no-brainer.

15:54: Kampfer makes a nice hit in our end to let the Wolverines gain control of the puck. We try to rap it up the boards, but Gilroy makes a great play to keep it in. Wilson gets a chance, Sauer the save, rebound right to the Ewing but Sauer got over. He's been really good tonight. Just saw the replay, that second chance was a great save with the blocker. The band plays Temptation, and if I were there, I wouldn't be saying "Sieve, sieve" rather than "Goalie, sieve". It's kind of nice.

15:20: Bonino gets the puck in the high slot, tries to pass to a forward right in front of the net, but one of the defensemen--I believe it was Summers--does a nice job to block the pass. The announcers think Bonino should've shot, but I can't see how the result would've been any different. Summers had him covered. Summers is all over the ice this shift--another great block and Sauer stops the rebound. We finally get the puck out of the zone and Turnbull's out of the box and Langlais headmans the puck up to him for a clear-cut breakaway. He tries to go backhand and flips it wide. He comes around the net and gets another crack but Bennett makes the save. Great feed from Langlais, and I think Turnbull had him beat. He just misfired. The crowd sounds like they're doing the "Ooooooooh cya" chant as they head to commercial so we might be going on a power play.

14:51: Yup, we are a man up. Pacioretty wins the draw. That's the 12th faceoff he's won in 14 tries. Apparently he's going for the Cy Young. I'm not sure how that made sense. We're getting outshot 23-7 at the moment. Pacioretty with a nice move in tight quarters to get away, gets off a nice shot and Bennett is there.

13:03: We've had possession in the BU end for this entire power play but haven't really had any top-notch chances to show for it. Mitera takes a shot from the point and Naurato tips it wide. That was about the best chance we've had on this PP. Hagelin had Mitera streaking in but he didn't see him. BU is back to full strength.

12:38: That was the first "Oh God, Billy" moment of the night. BU dumps it down the ice, it caroms off his pads and he has to dive forward to sweep it away from the rushing Terrier player. That was way closer than it needed to be. Somewhere, I think Tyler Swystun just had a seizure. Pacioretty with a great outlet pass to Kolarik who looks for Porter in front and the pass just misses or it would've been an easy tip in. Or he would've missed the net since that's how he do.

11:55: Is Jeff Lerg really only a junior this year? They just said that he has 2 years left, but it seems like he should be a senior by now. Again, I'm not risking opening another browser to check, but that's a bummer if he's not ready to leave yet.

11:10: Naurato gets pushed into the goalie and Bennett's shaken up. Langlais brings it back into the zone, getting hooked in the process. He gets it to the winger and either got hooked up high or committed the biggest dive I've ever seen. Bennett makes a nice save, Fardig's checked from behind and the Terriers ice the puck. There could've been at least 3 calls on that sequence, but nothing from Shegos. So much for home cooking. They just showed the replay of the second hook on Langlais. I'm not saying he wasn't hooked, but even Paul Kariya thinks he helped that one. Gawlik the linesman takes one in the face and then gets checked for good measure. Those guys have a thankless job. Why couldn't they have saved that one for McInchak, Hoberg, or Aaron?

10:22: The announcer says that if Gary Bettman ever leaves, Tom Anastos might be in line to succeed him. Imagine having a hockey guy as commissioner of the NHL! Pacioretty with a chance, then Porter, Patch on a wraparound, still nothing goes in. Pacioretty might be the best player on the ice tonight, apart from the two goalies. He's been all over the place. He's shaking his head on the bench over that wrap-around that didn't go.

8:00: Matt Rust breaks up a centering pass in between the circles in our end and he's GONE! Despite getting hooked, he goes 5-hole and the Wolverines lead 1-0!!! What a play by that kid! We got 3 fist-pumps and a glass-punch in celebration. Holy crap that was something! You don't usually see a guy get a breakaway from his own blueline when he's carrying the puck out. Rust showed some nice wheels on that one.

7:05: Fardig with a face-first dive to break up a long BU possession in our end. We're at 6:55 now and the color guy just tried to jinx it, uttering the dreaded "S" word. Nice work in the corner and then along the boards by Palushaj, with some help from Naurato, who failed to get the puck out, causing that BU possession a couple seconds ago. Palushaj gets it into the slot and labels one off the post and in! Nice shot! Gotta love the energy out of these freshmen.

6:48: After a good 30 minutes of BU dominance, the Wolverines now lead 2-0. I've got to give Max Pacioretty credit for swinging the momentum in this game. We've carried the play since he had 3 chances on that shift a few minutes back. It also may have started just before that with some nice plays out of Chad Langlais. And of course, you have to give Sauer a ton of credit for keeping the game scoreless while we played through the early struggles. Hopefully he can keep it up for another 26 minutes.

5:52: Shattenkirk tees one up and it doesn't get through. I'm scared whenever he touches the puck. Wish we had gotten that kid. Holy shit, how on earth did Sauer stop that one? Yip's name has been called a ton of times tonight and he just had another great shift. Higgins had a shot from the hash that Sauer somehow got his pad on, despite 3 guys in the crease. Yip has a chance on the rebound and that one is pushed aside as well.

Great individual effort by MacArthur right there. He laid out our defenseman, took the puck, flipped it over another defenseman and Sauer stayed with him and made him take a low-percentage shot from behind the goal line. We get a much-needed icing. I assume they saw Sauer's lack of aggressiveness on film after the Minnesota game--particularly on Wheeler's goal. He's a completely different player tonight. I think I've got the same look on my face right now that Red Sox fans had when JD Drew hit a Grand Slam the other night.

We're going back on the PK. Can't complain about that one either. Shegos has called a pretty good game tonight.

4:00: Langlais is off. We've closed the shots on goal total to 25-16. Shattenkirk has another slapper blocked. Mitera blocks back to back shots and ices it. Shattenkirk can't get one through it seems. That one was a freshman mistake right there. He shot it right into Mitera's shin pads. There was nothing there. I honest to God don't know where this Billy Sauer has been. This is as good as he has ever played in a Michigan jersey. Shegos decides to call Fardig for face-washing a guy after the whistle. I'm pretty sure that never gets called in hockey. Nevertheless, we're going to be down 2 men for 35 seconds. Wow, Michigan Tech just knocked off NoDak! It's nice to see the Techsters with a program again. BU timeout.

3:04: Leave it to a Sparty announcer to make an App State reference during a college hockey game. "They could've used some of that crowd noise on the gridiron against App State." Or we could've used a defense capable of stopping a spread offense with a mobile QB. Either way, you're going to lose to a team that lost to App State, so blow me, kay? Why don't you beat Northwestern.

2:30: I'm not sure how many shots we've blocked tonight, but it's a LOT. They couldn't get a shot through on the 5 on 3, and now we've got another guy off to the races coming out of the box. It's Langlais this time. Great move, and a nice save by Bennett. That little shoulder fake that Langlais did right there was Jack Johnson-esque. PK is over and there's a minute left in the second period. Turnbull in 4 on 1 takes it himself and sends a wrist-shot over the net. I think it's the number. That was very Gajic (though for the record, I really liked that kid).

0:23: Bonino into the zone, drags on Summers and rings one off the bar. Lucky break there. I don't want to see them put one on the board late in this period. We escape and we're 20 minutes away from a W.

Like I said, the top line isn't on the board yet, but I give Pacioretty a ton of credit for turning the momentum in this game in our favor. He's been outstanding tonight. That period was a lot better than the first. Much more even play, we put a couple on the board, and the penalty killing was outstanding. We've even managed to spring two guys on breakaways out of the box. BU might want to get that fixed. It hasn't bit them yet, but you don't want to give up too many of those. Sparty escapes with a 5-4 win over NMU. Shots on goal through 2 are 27-19 in favor of the Terriers. They've got a slight edge in faceoffs, but nothing major.

3rd Period:

20:00: With the puck dropping to start the third, we're officially the most successful CSTV game so far this year. Great back-check by Kolarik there. Bonino draws another penalty on the Wolverines. That one we had to take. He got around Kampfer and was in cold-turkey. That took a really nice scoring chance away. Brandon Yip is an impressive hockey player. There's something about this BU team that I really like. They're fun to watch. I gotta believe they'll get this turned around sooner rather than later.

17:11: Our defense lost Lawrence in front of the net and he slides it under Sauer's pad with a backhand shot to make it a 2-1 game. Billy would probably like that one back, but it wasn't an awful goal. . Nice play by Shattenkirk to keep it in at the blue line. I think it kind of surprised him since Lawrence's back was to him. I can't even get mad about the failed clear. That was just a great play at the line to hold it in. I would like to see us stop taking penalties at some point.

16:01: Porter's line with another strong shift. One of them just got dumped right next to Shegos, but I guess we're not calling those tonight. Our passing has been pretty crisp tonight. Even the bad passes seem to be handled by our guys. We're playing a pretty good game overall I think.

13:30: Langlais uses his skating ability to draw a penalty on Yip. Quick got taken down as well, but nothing that should warrant 2 penalty calls. Langlais has had a good game tonight. Let's go boys, a PPG here would be really nice. Great shift by Louie Caporusso. Won the draw in the offensive zone, out-muscled a defender to keep possession of the puck and got himself a nice little scoring chance. He's a crafty passer as well.

12:03: A couple of nifty passes, but I think Pacioretty got a little too cute there. I had a mild coronary as CSTV lost the feed for a couple seconds. GOAL!!!!! G-L-A-M-O-R-UST! Amazing what can happen when we win the faceoff. Rust back to Mitera and the freshman tipped it in. Just keep him off the ice in the last two minutes. Winnett in point blank but Bennett made the save, even though he looked behind him.

11:40: And the color man just said that he thinks this team is going to make a run at the Frozen Four. I'm not ready to go there yet, but I love the work ethic these guys have. If they get goaltending like this all season, there's no limit to how good they can be. They badly missed an offsides right there but Mitera got it out. No harm, no foul. And I just ripped on BC for the fog there, but we're getting some at Yost. You can only see it from the ice cam and it's not anything that's going to affect the game, thankfully. CSTV has to be saying, "Sonofa...."

10:18: Nice little give-and-go between Palushaj and Naurato. They didn't connect on the second pass but they had the right idea, and the first pass by Palushaj was very nice. Naurato's been good tonight. I've gotta give a call to Scooter Vaughan and Kevin Quick. I've barely noticed either of them tonight, and that's a good thing. All of our defensemen have been good, particularly Mitera and Langlais, but the other two freshmen in the lineup have been very solid tonight. And they just dropped another App State reference. Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

8:56: Lawrence had a root canal this morning? What? Damn hockey players are tough. He's had a strong game too. McGoff scores for BU on a nothing-looking play. Ohhhh Billy you gotta stop that one, buddy. No screen and it beat him under the glove. Buckle up everyone. It's 3-2.

6:20: Porter beats his man to the outside, hauled down, and he still manages to get a stick on it, chip it up in the air, and over Bennett! His own man might've actually tipped that one in. The net is off the moorings so I assume they'll go upstairs on this one. Shegos is nowhere to be found, but the assistant referee signaled right away that it was a goal. That's going to count. What a weird play! That puck rolled right up Bennett's stick, off his blocker, up in the air, and the defenseman batted it into the net. Shegos gets that one right. It's a goal! 4-2 Michigan, and Kevin Porter's fourth of the year. Way to answer, guys.

5:10: We get a little too cute again. Rust was up on a 3 on 1, fed it to Miller in the slot and he tried to go right back to Rust for the hatter, but he was in too deep. Should've just shot that one. A BU player is hurt and it's MacArthur. He looks to be in some pain. He just lost an edge and went hard into the boards.

4:10: The fog's a lot worse than it looks on TV. I'm not sure what the deal is there. It's not warm in Ann Arbor today and they didn't add a ton of seats in the offseason. I wonder what's possessing CSTV to go to Omaha to do our game out there next week. I'm happy, don't get me wrong, but it seems like an odd game to show.

2:06: BU pulls the goalie down 4-2. Shattenkirk sends one wide. Porter sends one into the empty net. I swear that was offside; BU sure thinks it was. Oh yeah, that wasn't even close. He was off by 3 feet. I'm not exactly sure how you're allowed to discuss that and overturn the goal, but I can't complain because they got it right.

0:45: Under a minute to go now. The Terriers are getting called for a high stick, so that's probably going to do it. Good call. He gave Winnett a pretty good whack while trying to play the puck. That's the first time I've ever seen the penalty box attendant speak to the player. GREAT glove save by Bennett on Porter. And that's the game! Great win for the Wolverines.

We got solid goaltending when we needed it. Great play out of our freshmen. Outstanding work out of our defensemen. The penalty kill was fantastic, despite the one PPG allowed. And Sauer played really well, even if he needs to stop that second goal.

For BU, that's gotta be disappointing. Once again, they're the better team for at least the first half of the game and have nothing to show for it. That's a good hockey team though. Bennett gave up 4, but he played a good game. They've got a surprising amount of offensive talent. I was really impressed with MacArthur, Lawrence, Yip, and Banino, along with Shattenkirk on the blue line.

Shots on goal ended up 32-30 and we actually had the edge in the faceoffs 38-29, which means that we went on a roll there in the third period, when it matters.

We'll see you back here again tomorrow night! It'll probably be a less-detailed account because I won't be able to back up the live feed to rewatch plays. It should be a good game. Like I said earlier, it's been 30 years since BU started a year winless in five and they played a pretty strong hockey game tonight. I'm sure we'll get their best shot tomorrow.

My three stars tonight:
3: Max Pacioretty--While he only had a single assist, I give him credit for turning this game around. He was outstanding in the first two periods and then tallied his first point as a Wolverine in the third.
2: Billy Sauer--Played out of his friggin mind for the first two periods and made a pair of saves that I have no idea how he stopped. He did give up one softie, but he made more than enough tough saves to cancel that out.
1: Matt Rust--2 more goals and his line was strong all night. He made a great play to go end-to-end on the first goal and on the second tally he won the draw and then tipped the shot on the way through. Great game out of the freshman.

Honorable mentions to Chad Langlais, Mark Mitera, Brandon Yip, and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Boston University Series Preview

This weekend the Wolverines take on the Boston University Terriers, who have struggled out of the gate. BU has an impressive group of young defensemen, and a very talented goalie in Brett Bennett, who previously played for the NTDP.

Tonight's game will be on CSTV (they offer a PPV online for $7.95 if you're not getting the game). Tomorrow's game will be aired in live the Boston market on CN8 and on tape-delay in Ann Arbor at 11:00 pm. CN8 streams live on the web.

Since BU isn't a team that we typically get to see, I contacted The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog about answering some questions, and despite the late notice, Terrier Blogger from the site graciously agreed.

1) Obviously BU hasn't gotten off to the start that they would have liked. What's the biggest reason or two for the early struggles of the team? Can you pinpoint a couple of things or are they simply just not playing the kind of hockey that they're capable of playing? Distracted by the Sox & Patriots maybe? What were the preseason thoughts on the team; Is this supposed to be a rebuilding year, or should we still expect to see the Terriers in the tournament come the end of the season?

This is supposed to be a rebounding year, rather than a rebuilding one. Two years ago, BU was sixth in the nation in scoring and won the Hockey East championship. Last year, the offense fizzled, primarily due to injuries and to the loss of the previous year's senior line with no new impact forwards to replace them. This year, with only one forward of consequence to replace, there are three very talented newcomers, Colin Wilson, Nick Bonino and Joe Pereira, all of whom will be in the lineup. Wilson centers the top line.

I'd attribute the slow start to a few things: the forwards are trying too hard to make pretty plays and have passed up good shooting opportunities; some bad puck luck—like BC had against Michigan—when BU shot a puck of one of its own players into the Terrier net, against RMU; the absence of two starting defensemen (Eric Gryba and Dan McGoff); and failure to hold a lead. Of the nine periods played, BU held leads in all but one.

2) You guys are typically a pretty defensive-oriented team (Ed Note: Or maybe not, based on what he said about the goal scoring from a couple years ago). With three senior defensemen graduating, how have the youngsters looked, particularly Kevin Shattenkirk, who I know Michigan was high on? I really liked Brian Strait when he was with USA as well. How is he doing? Who can we expect to see get matched up against the Pacioretty-Porter-Kolarik line?

Brian Strait is playing very well for BU. Very sound and thorough in his own end, Brian has displayed more offensive assertiveness this season and has looked good on the powerplay, teamed with our other rookie blueliner, Colby Cohen. I can't offer an opinion about matchups, especially since as the home team, Michigan gets the last change. But I will point out that Jack Parker insists on getting the same effort from forwards defensively as they produced in the offensive zone—or else they sit.

3) Losing John Curry was obviously a killer, but I saw Brett Bennett play for the NTDP and I was really impressed with him. I'm surprised he didn't make more of an impact last year, but I guess when you have a Hobey candidate goalie, you're not taking him out to play a freshman. Gillespie has gotten two of the three starts this year, however. Does it appear that BU will rotate goalies for the time being--will we likely see both this weekend? Are they similar style goalies?

Curry was indeed a rock, ever since entering the BU-Michigan game in the McFadden tournament three years ago. He had well above average skills but was an ultimate competitor. Gillespie has impressed in his limited opportunities. Two years ago he shut out then-defending NCAA champion Denver and he authored a few gems last year, too. My sources tell me the players are very confident in both goalies. Bennett has a bit of a hybrid style, while Gillespie is a very good positional style. Bennett gets the start tonight and Gillespie tomorrow.

4) Michigan's power play got it going (finally) against NMU last weekend. I would assume that a defensive team like BU has a pretty good penalty kill. How are the special teams? Is BU the type of team that will give us some chances to have a man advantage or are they a pretty disciplined bunch?

BU's ability to stay out of the box and, when they don't, to keep Porter and Kolarik in check will be the critical aspect of the game, IMO. BU has some very good penalty killers up front.—Chris Higgins, Bryan Ewing, Luke Popko, John McCarthy. Having to use some less game-experienced defensemen on the PK certainly hurt against RMU and UAA.

5) What forwards should our fans know about? What player on the team is the most fun to watch?

Peter MacArthur, Bryan Ewing, Chris Higgins and Brandon Yip are the top returnees. Mac has led BU in scoring the past two seasons and Dave Starman says he has the best slapper of any NCAA forward. Higgins has produced a number of highlight reel goals in his two year career. He's fully recovered from an injury that slowed him a bit last season.

Colin Wilson is a projected top 10 draft choice this spring. In comparing him to his U18 linemate James Van Riemsdyk, it's generally agreed that he's less explosive and a shade slower, but a stronger player physically and exceptionally thorough in all three zones. Nick Bonino, according to one respected observer, has "first-round hands, but fourth round wheels." He and Wilson have already improved BU's face-off win percentage.

6) Awhile back there were rumors that Michigan and Michigan State might come out to Boston to play you guys and BC at Fenway. I haven't heard anything about it since the rumor was published. Have you guys heard anything about that--or about a potential Michigan series out there? Red Berenson at least hinted that we might be making an appearance in Boston in the near future since you guys and BC have both come out here.

There hasn't been much written recently about outdoor games at Fenway. IMO, they're a novelty and have been done. I'll just watch reruns of "Mystery Alaska," which was written by David Kelley, whose dad, Jack, coached BU for ten years including back-to-back NCAA titles. [David also is married to this pretty actress :--) ] (Ed Note: I love Mystery, Alaska and I love Boston Legal. Never realized that David E Kelley wrote the former. And I also didn't know that he was related to BU's old coach. I think that's pretty cool)

7) When BC keeps having games fogged out, do you just laugh while sitting in the confines of your gorgeous new arena? I know I'd make fun of MSU all the time if it kept happening to them.

Terrier fans have a cheer [The Song (Ed Note: The music part of "The Song" will be familiar to Michigan fans as MSU plays it as well)] that pretty much covers all matters BC. Hopefully they'll use it a few times this weekend. If not, you can google it.

8) Any parting thoughts on the weekend?

I previously mentioned Brian Strait and Colby Cohen and you noted that BU and Michigan fought tooth and nail over Kevin Shattenkirk. But the best Terrier dman and, right now, the most talented player is 2nd team All-American Matt Gilroy, a Cinderella story if there ever was one. A late bloomer who played a few years of junior after high school, he was recommended to Parker by the father of now graduated defensemen Kevin Schaeffer. Matt had been a forward in juniors, but agreed to walk on as a defenseman. The late-bloomer quickly blossomed and a few games into his freshman year moved into the starting lineup and thrived. He's a strong puck carrier, jumps up into the play well and is very solid in the defensive zone. BU fans can thank their lucky stars that Gilroy, undrafted, told many NHL teams "no, thanks" and returned for another year in Scarlet.

Thanks again to Terrier Blogger from The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog for his thoughts on the weekend. I hope everyone on our team realizes that BU is better than their record indicates and they've definitely got one very good goalie (and another who apparently is good as well).

It's been over 30 years since BU has started a season off winless in their first five games, so a split this weekend wouldn't shock me. I'm hoping for more, maybe expecting more, but the Terriers have too many good players to keep dropping games. And we're due for a stinker of a game at some point.

Matt Gilroy, the defenseman mentioned in Terrier Blogger's thoughts on the weekend, did an interview with CSTV this past week. Here's what he had to say. He sounds like a great story.

I have my own hockey game tonight, so I'll be watching the game on my DVR once I get home. Provided that my laptop will turn on, I'll be doing a tape-delayed live blog of the game, which I will put up after I'm done watching.

Slow Day

Nothing much is going on today, so today's update is going to be a short one.

Mike Spath and Bob Miller have updated the Hockey Hotboard to include some new players, along with comments from Bob about many of the guys.

Also over at the Yost Post, Maize Out said that there may be some good news on the recruiting front after this weekend. I'm sure he'll have it over at WCH if that's the case.

More stuff about the NHL Schedule: Apparently the Red Wings were proposing that the league go back to the 84 game schedule they used to have, and lower the number of preseason games. That would allow for every team to play every other team both home and away at least once. Gary Bettman put the kabosh on that, which is another reason he's a moron. When the Wings and Leafs are both behind a proposal, chances are it'd be good for the game. It's still nice to see the Wings taking the initiative on this, since the league isn't smart enough to do so.

Finally a couple of reminders for some charitable events that are going on right now:
-The U of M Memorabilia Auction to support the Pat Maloy Cancer Scholarship is going on right now. So far, they've raised over $20,000 based on the bids that are in. There's some really great stuff up for bid, including some cool hockey stuff. Also, if you happen to know any San Jose Sharks fans, there are a couple of signed jerseys which have pretty low bids right now. The team signed jersey hasn't been bid on yet, and opens at $200, which is pretty reasonable.

-Christy Hammond from Behind The Jersey is helping out with a campaign to get people to register as organ donors. They're having a competition with Ohio State to see who can get more people to sign up, and we're getting thrashed right now. One feature of the program is to provide red heart stickers for each would-be-donor's driver's license, which played a key role in Jason Ray's organs being donated. He was the UNC Mascot who was killed earlier this year. So if that's something you believe in, please help out the cause.

Media Roundup: Northern Michigan Sweep

Michigan Hockey Net attended both games this weekend and provides recaps for Friday and Saturday, along with post-game thoughts from Friday. MHNet noticed the same thing that Kolarik did: Mark Mitera had an outstanding weekend. He was also impressed with the chemistry amongst the forward lines as well as the lack of turnovers from our blue liners. All positive things to see with such young units.

The Postgame Notes section of the MGoBlue press release indicates that Michigan has now won 14 of the last 16 games against Northern Michigan, with Billy Sauer posting a 7-1-0 mark.

The Michigan Daily blogs during games, and it's a nice way to get a play-by-play when you can't see the game. Friday. Saturday. They point out that Saturday night was the third straight game that Michigan has finished the third period short-handed. From their point of view, it makes me question the strategy of NMU switching goalies even more. The second goal was apparently put into the net by a Wildcat, and just before Michigan scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Janzen apparently made a huge save.

It sounds as if Michigan had some trouble getting the offense going even-strength this weekend. We trailed in shots on goal for most of Saturday's game and the lack of quality chances was a common theme on Friday night as well through two periods. Luckily the power play got going just in time to win us a couple of games.

The Daily also came through with a nice article about the special teams units from over the weekend. Kolarik seems to be embracing the role as a captain, because he's a pretty darn good quote.

When Matt Rust, back in the locker room after being ejected, heard the roar of the crowd, he thought the Wildcats had won the game. This is the second time in three games that he's taken a penalty late in regulation.

Red Berenson was interviewed by The Wolverine ($ link) about the past weekend as well as general thoughts about recruiting, which was pretty interesting. He said that Hogan met with the doctor again yesterday and is no better than a week ago.

The idea that this team is going to be "scoring by committee" seems to be panning out. Through four games, 10 different players have goals and only Hagelin, Porter, and and Rust have more than one goal.

Walt Kyle was disappointed in Janzen's play in net. I'm not sure if it's due to the hit that Stewart took late in Friday's game, or if it's the usual MO for them, but it also seems odd that he'd play Janzen after he praised the heck out of Stewart's play the night before.

Red Berenson said that NMU was the hungrier team on Saturday night and that we needed a little bit of luck to get out of there with a win. He gave Sauer a lot of credit for his play this weekend. Here's the Friday recap from The Mining Journal.

NMUHockey.net ripped the officiating Friday night, saying that it was the worst officiated game he had seen in 30 years. It's nice that others have come to appreciate Steve McInchak as much as I do. CCHA Officiating, folks! They haven't posted comments on Saturday's game yet, but I hope it gets mentioned that NMU received three more power plays than the Wolverines did, including a five minute major to close the game and start OT (oops!) and the result was the same.

One thing that they made mention of in the weekend preview post, which I had completely forgotten about, is that NMU plays on an Olympic-sized sheet. That makes the low shot totals that Michigan held NMU to all the more impressive, since that was the first time on the big ice in college for Michigan's ten freshmen who played.