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

 

Setting The Stage: After playing 6 games within the Big 10 conference where they went 1-4-1, the 14th ranked Wolverines (6-6-2-0) travel to St. Cloud State (8-4) for a pair of non-conference games against the 17th ranked Huskies who come into the series riding a 6-game winning streak, all against NCHC opponents. This is Michigan's first ever trip to the Herb Brooks arena and Michigan and St. Cloud have only ever faced each other twice before, both in NCAA Tournament play. Michigan defeated SCSU 4-3 in Grand Rapids in March of 2001 and beat them again in March of 2002 in Ann Arbor 4-2.

 

Gearing Up: Here are the 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)
• #73  Ethan Edwards (Upper Body)
• #94 Mark Estapa (Lower Body)

 

The Battle: The undermanned Wolverines played the perfect road game on Friday night as goaltender Jake Barczewski notched his first shutout as a member of the Maize and Blue and TJ Hughes and Garrett Schifsky scored the only goals of the game in the 3rd period to take the first game of the two-game set against the St. Cloud State Huskies 2-0.

 

 

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

 

 

 

     (TJ Hughes scored the winning goal for the Wolverines tonight – Bill Rapai)

 

Forward Notes:

Michigan basically ran with 3 lines tonight using Pletzke and Rowe to spot in as wingers at various times. The Hughes-Duke-Brindley combination generated the most offensive time as Hughes and Brindley drove the defense crazy with they’re ability to cycle the puck down low and up the half wall and Duke being a constant pain at the edge of the crease. The Nazar III-Eernisse-Schifsky line was used a lot against St. Cloud’s top line of Verner & Veeti Miettinen and Zach Okabe and did a really good job shutting them down. The player who stuck out on forward tonight was Kienan Draper who played a regular shift as the 3rd line center and played a solid 200’ game and even though the statistics won’t show it, he probably had his most complete game as a Wolverine.

 

Michigan Faceoff Statistics

 

 

Defense Notes:

The 'KISS' system of defense was employed and extremely effective tonight. If you're not familiar with that sophisticated terminology, is stands for 'Keep It Simple S…'.  Michigan's solid defensive play without the puck was highlighted by sticks in passing lanes, awareness of where opponents were in the zone and boxing out after shots. A noticeable change that was made was when the defense gained possession of the puck, the forwards didn't immediately blow the zone looking for long stretch passes, instead they went to areas on the ice to give the defensemen  good 'outs' and as a result they made good clean exits most of the night when a minimum of turnover. Changing the defense pairs proved to be a good move tonight as Marshall Warren looked much more comfortable on the left side with Luca Fantilli and Jacob Truscott seemed to fit well with Seamus Casey. Even though they dressed, neither Brendan Miles or Josh Orrico saw a shift.

 

 

Special Teams:

 

Power Play: The power play wasn't able to cash in tonight, but missing a major component of it in Rutger McGroarty is hard to replace and full credit has to be given to the St. Cloud PK which did their homework and were in good position and had good active sticks to take away the cross-seam passes Michigan likes to make and their big defense made it difficult to crash the net for second chance opportunities.

 

Penalty Kill: Every coach will tell you that your best penalty killer has to be your goalie, and tonight Jake Barczewski was Michigan's. The numbers say he only faced 3 shots on the 3 power plays he faced, but his foot movement and positioning was forcing St. Cloud to re-load to try and get a better shot and when they did, the penalty killers were doing an excellent job of getting in the lanes and blocking shots or deflecting passes.

 

Goaltending Notes:

Jake Barczewski recorded his first shutout as a Wolverine and 5th of his NCAA career. It was also the first Michigan shutout since Michigan defeated Michigan State 8-0 on March 5, 2022 in Big 10 Regionals. Barz0 was solid tonight. St. Cloud got off to a strong start in early in the first, but his calmness and good positional saves allowed his teammates to get into the game.  Barczewski's positioning was great as he was square to the shooter and his rebound control and placement was excellent. There were a couple of times when you could see some communication issues with his defensemen behind the net, but no damage came from them. He got some from the goalpost and crossbar tonight as a couple of shots rang of the pipes, but like any goalie, he'll tell you that was all he gave the shooter!

 

     (Garrett Schifsky scored Michigan’s insurance goal – Bill Rapai)

 

Final Thoughts:

It was a good 60 minute effort from the Wolverines tonight and it proved to themselves that they can win a low scoring game against a tough opponent. Look for more of the same tomorrow night.

 

 

Next Game:

Saturday November 25 at St. Cloud State (streaming online at NCHC.TV - 7pm)