I wish I had some witty intro for you all this week but I really don't. It's been a really busy week, and between a tough week of class and a family member who was unexpectedly hospitalized (everything's alright now) I'm just happy to have this done. I still managed to find spots to make fun of both teams, so hopefully you'll still find it enjoyable.

 

#12 Michigan vs. #9 Wisconsin

Friday, January 31^st, 2014

 

1^st Period

UM 1 Wisc 0 13:10 EV

Motte from Nieves

Copp passes to Moffatt in the slot, whose shot is stopped and brushed aside into the corner.

Wisconsin tries to clear but Nieves holds it in along the boards. He moves the puck back to Motte in the corner, but the puck is picked off by a Wisconsin player. He passes into the faceoff circle, where another Badger gains control and flips a backhanded pass...directly to Nieves, who is still along the boards.

Nieves carries in and the goaltender thinks he’s going to shoot. He gets low in his crouch and is about to butterfly, which he does as soon as Nieves passes to Motte.

Motte gathers the puck and backhands a shot into the wide open net. Wisconsin’s goaltender had no chance at getting back across the crease in time to stop the shot.

 

UM 2 Wisc 0 14:30 EV

Guptill from Compher

Nagelvoort has to stop a point-blank shot for this scoring chance to be created. There’s a Wisconsin player unchecked in the slot (surprise, surprise!) who shoots one into Nagelvoort’s chest, and the rebound falls in front of the crease. Guptill gathers the puck and takes off.

Guptill sees the defender’s outstretched stick and knows he has to dish to Compher.

Compher carries into the neutral zone, where Guptill swims around his defender and gets inside positioning on him. Compher’s defender stayed in front of him, which leaves him behind Guptill. Since Guptill has his man beat he just has to gather the pass from Compher and he has a breakaway.

Well, whadda ya know? Guptill is out on the breakaway and has extra space thanks to his defender momentarily combusting, falling to the ice, and then continuing to pursue. Guptill uses a toe drag (the good kind, not the scraped-along-the-bottom-of-the-pool kind) to freeze the goaltender and then, like, scores.

 

2^nd Period

UM 3 Wisc 0 12:05 EV

Hyman from Bennett & Moffatt

Wisconsin has the puck deep in their defensive zone and tries to clear up the boards. Motte does a nice job of hitting the player the pass is headed for, which frees up the puck. Bennett retrieves it and starts to move laterally.

Bennett shoots the puck from near the middle of the blue line into a screened goaltender. The shot is stopped, but there’s a rebound in front. Hyman is able to score because Rumpel crumples himself up on the initial shot, and it’s all he can do to get a leg pad stuck out on Hyman’s shot.

 

UM 3 Wisc 1 13:16 EV

Soleway from LaBate & Simonelli

Michigan has one forechecker putting pressure on the D (circled) and two other skaters in the neutral zone. Wisconsin is able to unload a long stretch pass that goes through the neutral zone to the far side boards.

Wisconsin has a 2-on-1 entering the offensive zone. If Downing is farther over he might be able to dissuade LaBate from passing to the slot, but he isn’t and as it stands Clare is the only D who can possibly prevent a pass.

The pass gets through to Soleway in the slot, who one-time backhands it past Nagelvoort. Downing is turned and wouldn’t be able to do much besides either attempt a poke check or put a stick in Soleway’s stomach if he had held on to the puck any longer. The play was quickly developing and did feature a 2-on-1, but I’ve seen Nagelvoort make way more difficult stops than this one.

 

3^rd Period

 

No Scoring

 

 

Saturday, February 1^st, 2014

 

1^st Period

 

No Scoring

 

2^nd Period

UM 0 Wisc 1 01:02 EV

Mersch from Faust & Navin

Wisconsin wins a battle along the board and Faust passes down low to Mersch.

Mersch then takes the puck and backhands it…

To himself. Yes, himself. I don’t even know, man. You can see from where Nagelvoort’s hand is that he was thinking about going for a poke check here. I get the sentiment but it doesn’t work in this instance.

 

UM 1 Wisc 1 10:10 EV

Motte from Downing & Hyman

Michigan wins the faceoff and the puck goes directly back to Downing. He puts a slapshot on net that looks like it might hit something in front, but it’s initially saved nevertheless.

I drew an arrow pointing to the rebound. Motte has great position in front of the net and, despite being tangled up by a defender, is able to backhand the puck over Rumpel.

The guy with the dress shirt under his hockey jersey likes it.

 

UM 1 Wisc 2 16:14 Penalty Shot

Zengerle

Zengerle takes a wide angle and skate it in. Nagelvoort is playing at the top of his crease, appropriately aggressive.

Zengerle puck handles and then shoots over Nagelvoort’s glove for a goal.

I don’t…like, why do you think they’re going to cheer for you?

 

3^rd Period

UM 2 Wisc 2 07:02 EV

Moffatt from Hyman

Moffatt has his shot blocked, and the puck goes to the corner. Moffatt wins the race for it and regains possession.

Moffatt drags the puck out of the corner and into the slot. It looks like he’s going to put a backhander on net before he puts on the brakes and starts to turn.

He shoots through an incredible screen of players. Rumpel can’t see the puck and gives up the tying goal.

 

Overtime

 

No Scoring

 

Shootout

MICH - Alex Guptill - MISSED

UW - Morgan Zulinick - MISSED

MICH - Luke Moffatt - MADE

UW - Michael Mersch - MISSED

MICH - Andrew Copp - MISSED

UW - Mark Zengerle – MISSED

 

If you want to watch the shootout here’s the link. The shootout portion starts at 1:42

http://www.mgoblue.com/allaccess/?media=431297