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

What just happened (TL;DR): For the second night in a row, Michigan showed the wide chasm between them and Wisconsin. Michigan scored 5 goals in under 14 minutes. More goals were score, infinite penalties called, but none of that really impacted the outcome. Michigan did what they needed to do this weekend, sweeping the much maligned Badgers and collecting six points, vaulting them to a tie for second in the Big Ten standings.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-Once again, Michigan just dominated Wisconsin into submission late in the first period. The game was over. Wisconsin could not exit their zone or keep Michigan out of dangerous areas on the ice. In the first period, Michigan took 12 of their 20 shots from the House and scored on 4 of them. The problem was that there was 40+ minutes of hockey to play. So, the game got chippy, sloppy, and way out of hand in a number of ways…including on the scoreboard.

-Eric Ciccolini had a nice night, bagging a couple more goals. He got himself into the slot a couple of times and slammed in two rebounds. Part of getting those goals is getting the dangerous spots. Eric has done that a lot more the last couple of weeks. Nick Granowicz did as well, and he tallied his third goal of the season midway through the second period. Dylan Duke had a tap-in goal. Gavin Brindley unleashed a bombshot to beat Jared Moe. TJ Hughes had a four point night including a deft finish that chased Jared Moe.

Steve Holtz getting everyone LIT (Grace Beal)

Defense Notes.

-It’s really hard to evaluate defense as a whole in this game because there was so little rhythm and flow to the 5v5 aspect of it. There was a stretch of play in the second period that Michigan could not get the puck out of their zone, turning it over at the blue line multiple times. It was also 6-1 at the time. Does that matter? Sure…but to what extent? I’m sure that I don’t think more or less of Michigan’s defense after this game, going into next weekend’s showdown with Michigan State.

-Ethan Edwards had a nice game collecting a nice, puck-moving assist and a slapshot goal, both on the power play. Competition levels, sure, but he’s run the power play pretty nicely and gotten good looks for wingers and shooters. Steven Holtz played half a game before attempting to take on the entire Wisconsin bench. He was given 2 and a game for unsportsmanlike conduct. Before he left, he skated some circles in the middle of the ice and fired up Yost. That was rather entertaining.

So much of this on Saturday night (Grace Beal)

SPECIAL TEAMS CHART

Power Play. Michigan seemed to be on the man advantage every other shift…or so it felt like. They had a number of very well-executed advantages, including their first. Ethan Edwards hit TJ Hughes on the dot, who fired a shot off of Jared Moe…right to Eric Ciccolini. He scored his second rebound goal of the game and his fifth goal of the season. Edwards also entered the goal column after his blast beat backup Kyle McClellen. TJ Hughes had a very nice night on the power play, tallying a couple of assists.

Penalty Kill. Michigan took a handful of penalties, but didn’t really have to kill any power plays because Wisconsin called them and raised them…like a billion. In the end, it looked like Wisconsin had less than two minutes of advantage. The main problem is all of the penalties. Or the calling of them? I’m not really sure what the exact answer is but there have been way too many games this season with way too many penalties…most of them have been the result of extreme post-whistle activities. Philippe Lapointe also got a game misconduct for facemasking. You don’t see that everyday.

It has just gotten really unwatchable too many times.

Erik Portillo in net (Grace Beal)

GOALTENDING CHART

Notes. Erik Portillo started on Saturday night, again. It didn’t matter. Michigan could have started an easy chair in net, and it probably would not have mattered. Not saying anything negative about Portillo at all. He was fine. But unless he faced the wrong way for the entire 60 minutes, it was never going to change the outcome. Tyson Jugnauth is on some sort of heater this weekend, just finding ways to pick posts/corners. Also, Wisconsin sent multiple change-ups at Portillo that got by him. One was overturned. When all of this happened, it felt like the game was well in hand. I have no takeaways from Erik Portillo all weekend except it is good that he didn’t get hurt.

ODD MAN RUSH CHART

Notes. Wisconsin was not quick enough to get behind Michigan’s defense for the second night in a row.
Michigan got a couple of OMRs in the third period. Dylan Duke sent his breakaway chance high over the net. TJ Hughes could not finish his 2v1 chance as the pass jumped over this stick. Neither came back to haunt Michigan in this game. Surprise!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Still. (Patrick Barron)