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

 

What just happened (TL;DR): Michigan blitzed Lake State from the jump. By the end of the first period, it was 3-0 and all but over. Michigan controlled the puck and the ice for long stretches of the game. The second period was played on special teams to a large extent. At even strength, the game wasn’t close. Adam Fantilli blew up. Erik Portillo was good, aside from one play. In the end, it was more than enough.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

	Total Attempts	Even Strength	Power Play	Close (within 1)	Even Strength %
Lake State	34	21	13	4	30%
Michigan	62	50	12	8	70%

Forward Notes.

-At even strength, this was a blowout. The Wolverines overwhelmed the Lakers throughout the game, creating many more scoring opportunities and skating them in circles. Ethan Langenegger played decently well, especially after the first period, keeping the game sorta kinda within reach for a while. Otherwise, it could have been an even bigger margin.

-Adam Fantilli had a coming out party, tallying a hat trick. He finished a 2v1, dusted a defenseman in tight, and buried a shot from his own house into en empty net. He currently leads the nation in scoring with four goals and seven assists for eleven points in five games. Yes, please.

-Kienan Draper made a nice move along the goal line, driving the net for his first goal as a Wolverine.

Defense Notes.

-Michigan’s defense was mostly clean on Friday night. They gave up very little from dangerous areas and protected the house well. Multiple Wolverine blue liners were able to join the rush, as well, and create chances. With a bit of puck luck, Jacob Truscott was able to notch a goal, moving into space, and firing from straightaway. The puck hit a Laker player along the way and snuck inside the iron.

-Ethan Edwards made his season debut. He looked great going forward, getting loose on a breakaway. He also took space well, and moved into the offensive end creating scoring chances. He’s definitely going to be a boon from the back end. Unfortunately, he made one major gaffe, skating behind the net instead of tracking his man in front, leaving him alone. Jordan Venegoni took advantage of this space and redirected a pass from the boards behind Portillo for Lake State’s first goal.

 

 

Adam Fantilli…FOR THREE! (Bill Rapai)

 

SPECIAL TEAMS CHART

	PP Opportunities	PP Corsi For	PP Shots/Minute
Lake State	1/4	13	1.6 (11/7)
Michigan	1/5	12	1.1 (10/9)

Power Play. Michigan’s power play was not up to its usual standards on Friday night. The second unit looked dangerous, moving the puck well, but didn’t pull the trigger enough. They passed up a number a decent looks. They also struggled to gain and hold the zone at times, too. In the final power play Adam Fantilli fired into an empty net from his own zone to complete the hat trick. Perhaps that will jump start tomorrow night. 

 

Penalty Kill. Lake State had a few man advantages, but didn’t really threaten until their third power play. Michigan generally pushed them to the fringes and didn’t give up anything Grade A. Erik Portillo made a couple of very nice saves to finish off the third Laker advantage. Just into the third period, Brandon Puricelli took a mostly harmless shot from inside the house and beat Erik Portillo between the pads. Other than that one flub, the penalty kill was in control all night.

 

 

A whole bunch of solid play and one mistake. That’s fine. (Bill Rapai)

GOALTENDING CHART

	Michigan Shots Faced (House)	Lake State Shots Faced (House)
First Period	6	12
Second Period	16	16
Third Period	6	12
Overtime	n/a	n/a
TOTAL	28	40

Notes. Erik Portillo did not have much to do for the first period. Lake State registered six shots with maybe only one remotely troubling him. In the second period, the Lakers picked up their volume, but Portillo matched them. He made a couple of very strong kick pad saves and did a good job finding pucks near him and freezing them. On the first goal, Edwards made a bad decision that left Jordan Venegoni open in front. Portillo could do nothing with the wide open redirect. He definitely could have done better on the first goal, though. Brandon Puricelli took an unscreened shot from inside the dot that beat Erik five hole. Not great. Overall, not a bad game. One gaffe, but a bunch of solid plays and a handful of very good saves.

 

Fantilli and Duke teamed up to finish a 2v1 before anyone realized the game had started (Bill Rapai)

ODD MAN RUSH CHART

Defense	Rushes	Advs	Escape%	Offense	Rushes	Advs	Scoring%
1st Period	n/a	n/a	n/a		2	2v1 x2	50%
2nd Period	1	4v3	100%		1	2v1	0%
3rd Period	n/a	n/a	n/a		2	1v0 x2	0%
OT	n/a	n/a	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
Total	1	4v3	100%		5	2x1 x3, 1v0 x2	20%

Notes. Michigan gave up only one OMR! Woooo! And…the one they gave up was a 4v3 which is debatably an OMR (I think it is thanks to Cam York). Obviously, Michigan is a much better skating team than Lake State, but not getting caught in transition is a win. Tomorrow seems like a great chance to build upon it.

On the flip side, the Wolverines created 5 (!!) OMRs. Duke and Fantilli connected for the opening goal just a minute into the game on a 2v1. Unfortunately, I was having FloHockey problems and did not see it. Michigan did get a couple of late breakaways for Adam Fantilli and Ethan Edwards. Neither one scored, but creating some chances in transition is a step in the right direction.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Michigan was the better team from the opening faceoff. It didn’t change much throughout, despite the second period being a special teams show. Lake State doesn’t look like they can skate with Michigan very well. The Wolverines got a little sloppy for a stretch and that let the Lakers make the scoreboard look a little better. Barring a no-show or a major run of poor luck, I would expect more of the same on Saturday night. 6pm on Saturday.