CLICK HERE for game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

Setting The Stage:  The Wolverines (7-6-2-0) look to sweep their non-conference series at St. Cloud State against the Huskies (8-5) after taking the first game 2-0 on Friday night.

Gearing Up: Here are the Forward Lines, Defense Pairs and Starting Goalie for Tonight's Game

Not Dressed Tonight:

• #2 Rutger McGroarty (Upper Body)
• #21 Jackson Hallum (Season Ending - Lower Body)
• #29 Albano (3rd Goalie)
• #73  Ethan Edwards (Upper Body)
• #94 Mark Estapa (Lower Body)

The Battle: Michigan got off to a great start when Tyler Duke scored his first goal as a Wolverine on a snap shot from the top of the right circle that went in high blocker after a 50-50 faceoff win. The Wolverines extended their lead late in the 2nd to 2-0 on the strangest goal of the year when Jacob Truscott shot the puck towards the St. Cloud goal that was blocked by a Huskies defenseman. He quickly cleared it, but it bounced off a teammates skate blade high into the air and back towards his own goal, over his goalies shoulder and into the net.  Michigan opened up a 3-0 lead with 6:48 left in the 2nd when Dylan Duke found himself all alone in front of the St. Cloud net on the power play and jammed in his own rebound for his 7th of the year. The Wolverines had a chance to seal it away when they went back on the powerplay less than a minute later, but a shorthanded goal by St. Cloud's Veeti Miettinen cut the lead to 3-1. The Huskies cut the lead to 3-2 early in the 3rd when on a power play of their own when Kyler Kupka scored his first of 2 goals when he batted a rebound out of the air into the net. St. Cloud tied the game with 7 seconds left with their goalie pulled when Kupka picked up a rebound on the edge of the Michigan crease and slid it across and had it deflect off of Seamus Casey's skate into the net. In the overtime, the first 4 minutes and 40 seconds were pretty boring then Gavin Brindley got a breakaway chance on a nice pass from Casey but hit the post on the blocker side. On the ensuing transition play, St. Cloud ended up with a 2 on 1 and Barczewski had to make a game saving right pad save with 10 seconds left.  In the NCAA, Shootouts have to be agreed upon by both coaches in non-conference play and both agreed to go for it. St. Cloud ended up scoring two out of three attempts with Seamus Casey being the only Wolverine to score for Michigan as the Huskies won the shootout.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

     (Dylan Duke scores his 7th goal of the year on the Power Play – Bill Rapai)

Forward Notes:

Offensively this was not a banner night for the Michigan forwards. They were unable to create sustained pressure down low in the offensive zone and other than the Dylan Duke's power play goal, there were a negligible amount of second chance opportunities generated. The faceoff numbers as indicated below continue to be very good, and a lot of that success is their ability to win 50-50 pucks which allows them to gain possession. In the defensive zone, the forwards are continuing their commitment to play better defensively and it's showing by their willingness to block shots and good positioning to take away passes through the seams.

Michigan Faceoff Statistics

     (Jacob Truscott’s goal extended Michigan’s lead in the 1st period – Bill Rapai)

Defense Notes:

Two of Michigan's 3 goals were scored by blueliners tonight, albeit Truscott's was a 'fluke', it still counted. The third goal was set up by Casey, another defenseman which tells you that Michigan's defensemen were driving the offence tonight, as they've done on many nights before.  Unfortunately because of lack of depth, they have also had the goat horns hung on them for giving up leads in games as was the case tonight when the tying goal was scored when the puck was deflected off Casey's skate and also on the first St. Cloud goal which was scored while Michigan was on the power play and Casey didn't pressure the puck carrier.

Special Teams:

Power Play:

The power play scored one goal on the night when Dylan Duke was left all alone in front of the St. Cloud net as the Huskies penalty kill had a massive 'brain cramp' and had 3 players go to the point and another go to the wall when TJ Hughes passed the puck to Duke who slid it under Basse. When it looked like Michigan could put the game out of reach less than 2 minutes later in the 2nd period, Veeti Miettinen took advantage of their lackadaisical play and walked into the high slot and snaped a blistering shot over Barczewski's glove to give the Huskies a pulse.

Penalty Kill:

The penalty kill had been a huge issue for Michigan coming into the series and up until early in the 3rd period of tonight's game, had been perfect but they gave up a rebound goal to Kyler Kupka who knocked the puck out of the air into the net to cut the lead at the time to 3-2. Michigan had been solid on the penalty kill not giving up any grade 'A' scoring opportunities and when St. Cloud did get off a shot, made sure that they cleaned up any rebound chances. 

Goaltending Notes:

For the second night in a row, Jake Barczewski was the anchor that kept Michigan from drifting into the depths of defeat with his solid play. Despite the fact the fact that the Wolverines skated off the ice after the first period with a 2-0 lead, they were outshoot 12-5 and most of the shots were high danger opportunities that Barczewski not only stopped, but swallowed up and didn't allow a rebound and got his team a faceoff and a chance to get a line change so they could regroup. When you look at the 3 goals he gave up, the first was the short-handed blast from the slot that went in high glove that was a goal scorers goal. The second was scored early in the 3rd on the power play on a rebound that was knocked in out of the air, and the tying goal was scored with 7 seconds left after it deflected in off one of his defenseman's skates.  All in all, it was as good a performance as you could ask for as Barczewski posted a .923 save percentage tonight and only gave up 3 goals in the 2 games in St. Cloud.

Final Thoughts:

It was a gutsy performance by the Wolverines tonight, but I will say I was disappointed at the end of the game in the way that the players were used. Coming out of a timeout with 30 seconds left and nursing a 1 goal lead you normally would want your best defensive lineup on the ice. As good as Seamus Casey is in the offensive zone, he's not very strong defensively and neither is Jacob Truscott. TJ Hughes had a good night in the faceoff circle, but was the only center on the ice. The two wingers on the ice were Brindley and Duke, both quick, but both a little physically smaller than you needed for a 6 on 5 battle in your end to protect a lead.

It's usually good strategy at critical moments like this to have two centerman on the ice. No coach likes to admit it, but you want to have your first center try and cheat to win the faceoff, if you win it and get the clear, great. If he gets thrown out, you have your second centerman out there to still take the draw. So in this instance having TJ Hughes was good, but you would also want Frank Nazar III, who is also one of your best defensive forwards on the ice.  You also want your biggest defensive winger to clog up the middle once the puck is dropped, and in Michigan's case that would be Josh Eernisse. Back to defense, and again with no disrespect to what Casey and Truscott bring to the team, but in this particular situation of trying to protect a one goal lead with 30 seconds left you want 2 defensemen who are willing to go to war in front of your goalie, and those two would be Tyler Duke and Steven Holtz. It's always said that 'Hindsight is 20-20' but in this case, hindsight may have been right?

Next Game:

Saturday December 1 at Notre Dame (streaming online on Peacock - 7:30pm)