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

 

Setting The Stage: The #8 Wolverines (5-5-1) host the #6 Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-3-1) in the 2nd game of a two game set this weekend. Michigan looks to even the series tonight as Minnesota took a 4-3 come from behind victory on Friday night.

 

The Battle: The night kicked off with a ceremonial puck drop honoring the 25th Anniversary of the 1998 Wolverine National Championship Team and what we got after that was 3 plus periods of championship quality hockey from both teams. Nick Moldenhauer scored the only goal of the first period, his 2nd of the season, on a one-time from the left side of the net on a seam pass from Seamus Casey to cap off a great shift of offensive pressure by the Wolverines. The teams traded power play goals in the 2nd stanza with Brody Lamb scoring for the Gophers to tie the game but less than 2 minutes later and with 11 seconds left in the period, Frank Nazar III scored his 6th goal of the season on a snap-shot that went under the bar blocker side to give Michigan the lead back at 2-1. Minnesota managed to score the equalizer with 4:36 left in the 3rd when Jimmy Snuggerud knocked in a loose puck at the edge of the crease to tie the game at 2. The rest of regulation and 5 minutes of 3 on 3 overtime failed to see either team score so the game went to a shoot-out. The star of the shoot-out was Michigan goaltender Jake Barczewski who stopped all 3 Minnesota shots while Seamus Casey scored what proved to be the winner for Michigan. The often inconsistent Michigan defensive unit collectively played their best game of the season tonight as they did a tremendous job of not allowing Minnesota any second chance opportunities and the team, as a whole, were willing to sacrifice their bodies as they blocked a total of 21 shots tonight. As big as the play of the beleaguered defensive unit was, perhaps what was even bigger was the goaltending of Jake Barczewski who not only proved that he can beat an elite Big 10 team, but he also won a game against the team who humbled him last spring in the his first NCAA Tournament game when his Canisius team was throttled by the Gophers. The psychological effect of Barczewski being able to ‘exorcise that demon’ may prove to be a huge moment in the Wolverines season.

 

JUMP

 

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

 

 

 

                                                                                       (Bill Rapai)

 

Forward Notes:

The line of Frank Nazar III with Garret Schifsky on the left and Josh Eernisse on the right continue to show growth as a unit. The have speed and can freewheel and move the puck as good as any line or they can grind down the defense in the corners, along the boards and in front of the net. All three of them also play an excellent 200’ game and can be counted on to do play solid defensively in their own zone which they did throughout the game tonight. The other line that was a consistent offensive threat was Gavin Brindley along with Dylan Duke and Rutger McGroarty. They had their feet moving all night and they forced Minnesota goaltender Justen Close to make numerous quality saves throughout the night. One forward who did stand out tonight for his play, both offensively and defensively was Mark Estapa. After being ejected in the 2nd period of last night’s game, Estapa was a man on a mission tonight and actually had his play earn him a spot on the 2nd power play unit.

 

Michigan Faceoff Statistics

 

                                                                                                                    (Bill Rapai)

 

Defense Notes:

As eluded to earlier, this may have been one of the best games played by the Wolverines defensemen. Even though Minnesota registered 39 shots in 65 minutes of action, very few, if any were second chance opportunities and goaltender Jake Barczewski was able to see most, if not all shots fired his way. Brendan Miles dressed for his first game of the season and saw 4-5 shifts in each of the first two periods and looked ok. In the 3rd, he only saw one shift, but unfortunately for him it was one where Minnesota scored their 2nd  and game tying goal. Chase Pletzke was listed as the 7th defenseman, but didn’t touch the ice which makes you wonder if he’s nursing an injury from last night? For the most part tonight, Michigan was using a 5 man defensive rotation and it proved to be very effective. They did a good job of boxing out in front of the net and had active sticks to deflect cross-seam passes and didn’t let the Minnesota forwards pull them out of position. Offensively, they did a great job of getting shots through from the point, highlighted by Seamus Casey who had 6 shots himself.

 

 

Special Teams:

 

Power Play: The Referee’s whistle was buried deep in his pocket tonight as the Wolverines only received 2 powerplay opportunities, but they managed to cash in on one of them. That was the goal scored by Frank Nazar III with 11 seconds left in the 2nd period to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead. That goal was scored by the 2nd PP unit and what was surprising was to see Mark Estapa on it, who ended up justifying his position by getting the primary assist on the goal.

 

Penalty Kill: Michigan only found themselves shorthanded twice but through a bit of misfortune, ended up scored on once. The misfortune happened during their first PK in the 2nd period when Michigan looked to clear the puck out of their zone with a high flip but a Minnesota player knocked the puck down with a high stick. The Minnesota player, aware that if he touched the puck the faceoff would go all the way down to his end didn’t touch the puck and left it. Dylan Duke skated to the puck and attempted to slap it off the board and down the ice, but shot it too high into the bench, which resulted in the faceoff taking place in the Michigan end. As ‘Murphy’s Law’ has it, Michigan lost the faceoff and a few moments later the puck was in their net. Michigan did have to kill off a penalty in the 3rd period and did an excellent job on it, so they ended up 1 for 2 on the night.

 

  

                                                                                                           (Bill Rapai)

 

Goaltending Notes:

This was Jake Barczewski’s best night as a Michigan Wolverine and as mentioned above, he was able to extract some personal retribution against the team who thumped him and his Canisius teammates last spring in the NCAA Tournament. Barczewski was in full command all night. His rebound control and placement was excellent. There were numerous times when Minnesota was buzzing around the perimeter, especially in the 2nd period when it’s tough to get a change, that when they got off a shot he was able to freeze it for a faceoff. The spotlight shone on Barczewski after the overtime finished and the shootout started. He faced 3 Minnesota shooters and stoned all 3 of them to allow Michigan to get the Shootout win.  Perhaps the most noteworthy thing to me is that in the 37 saves (plus the 3 Shootout saves) he made, none would be considered ‘Highlight Reel’ worthy. What I mean by that is that none of the saves were spectacular or acrobatic. From a fan’s perspective that may sound a bit boring, but from a coach’s perspective that’s great because if a goalie has to make a ‘Highlight Reel’ type save, it generally means he was out of position to begin with and tonight, Barczewski was not out of position at all.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

From a fan’s perspective it was an entertaining and exciting game and from a coach’s perspective the response from not only the loss on Friday night, but the two losses against Wisconsin was fantastic. The Wolverines know to a man that they have one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the NCAA, but what they didn’t know is that they also needed to combine that offense with a commitment to team defense to win, and tonight they did that. The Wolverines may have just realized that they can’t just play ‘run & gun’ hockey and expect to win every night any more and tonight may have been the first step in that direction.

 

Next Game:

Friday November 17 vs Penn State at Yost - 7pm