November 7, 2009 - 10:57pm
LIVE BLOG: No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 1 Miami (Ohio)--Game 2
By: Nick Spar
UPDATE: Miami defeats Michigan, 5-1
What's up, everyone? Welcome to the live blog for the second game of the Michigan hockey team's weekend series against Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks took the first game of the series by the score of 3-1.
Michigan sports maize jerseys for the first time this season, and Miami is in its usual road reds. The Wolverines are in search of a 1-1 weekend split and their first win against a ranked team.
Here's the lineup for Michigan tonight. No changes from last night to tonight from Red Berenson and the coaching staff.
Forwards
12 Hagelin - 29 Caporusso - 10 Brown
25 Wohlberg - 19 Rust - 27 Czarnik
14 Lebler - 16 Winnett - 21 Treais
3 Vaughan - 23 Glendening - 11 Lynch
Defense
34 Llewellyn - 4 Summers
7 Langlais - 2 Pateryn
6 Burlon - 5 Kampfer
Goalie
35 Hogan
31 Hunwick
Start of the first period People are still filing in. It might be another sellout, but many people might not show up after the latest Michigan football loss.
19:00 It's hard-hitting early. Pateryn just laid two bone crunching hits along the boards in the defensive zone on his first shift.
17:30 Miami captain Tommy Wingels just had a good scoring chance. First shot of the game for either team. He and the other major RedHawks scoring threat Carter Camper were relatively quiet last night. It'll be interesting to see whether the Wolverines defense and Hogan can hold them to no goals again tonight.
Other players were able to contribute for the RedHawks, though. Jarrod Palmer had two of Miami's three goals.
14:49 Summers was just called for hooking with just five minutes gone by. Andy Miele had a head of steam going to the net and almost put it past Hogan on the backhand before Summers hauled him down.
It's an early chance for the RedHawks. Can they strike first as they were able to do last night?
12:30 The Summers penalty is over. And as he exited the box, a two-on-one formed between he and Winnett. Still no shots for the Wolverines though.
It's scoreless, and Miami has four shots to Michigan's zero--despite the fact that Michigan has had a few decent opportunities.
10:00 Michigan is on the board in the shot category. Brown--arguably the Wolverines' best player so far this season--tried to put one past Miami goalie Cody Reichard short side, but Reichard snagged it with the glove.
9:17 Michigan strikes first. 1-0, Wolverines. Wohlberg tipped it in off a Kampfer shot from the high slot. Czarnik also assisted on the play.
And not 20 even seconds after the Wohlberg goal (his first of the season), Miami took a penalty. The Wolverines have their first PP of the game.
8:00 After a blue line turnover by the Michigan defense on the man-up, the RedHawks had a break-a-way stopped by a Hogan chest save.
7:30 Miami answers with a four-on-four goal. Langlais took a slashing penalty after the break-a-way, and soon after Pat Cannone slipped one over the left shoulder of Hogan. Tied, 1-1.
6:01 Another Miami penalty. The RedHawks seized the momentum from Michigan after the Wolhberg goal, answering with a goal of their own less than five minutes later. Let's see if Michigan can grab it back.
5:06 Still over a mintue left on the man-advatage for Michigan. Kampfer had a mini break-a-way, but a pad save by Reichard ended that chance. Shots are 8-5, Miami.
Coincidentals were just handed to Brown and Miele. Still 5-on-4 for the Wolverines.
3:25 RedHawks penalty over. Back to 5-on-5 hockey. Pretty evenly matched here in the first period with the score knotted a goal apiece.
And the RedHawks will have an opportunity late in the period on another PP, after Llewellyn took a roughing penalty. These games have been filled with high PIM totals for both teams, but neither has been particular effective with the extra man.
End of the first period Michigan was able to kill off the Llewellyn penalty. Still a 1-1 game. Miami is still leading in the shots department, 8-6.
Hamster Ball Race Tonight, we have the hamster ball race. The quick summary: One of our contestants fell on his stomach within the first 3 seconds. The two collided as they made the turn for the second half of the race. And one contestant beat the other by half the distance of the ice. Pretty much a blowout.
Start of the second period The student section started booing, and you know what that means. The refs are on the ice and the second stanza is about to begin. The second line is on to start this period, as they were to start the first.
17:20 Physical play and broken-up passes have been the story so far here in the second. The only real chance for either team was a Langlais shot on Hogan. That gave the Michigan fans a little bit of a scare. Still 1-1, shots are 10-7, RedHawks.
14:00 Some good forechecking from the Hagelin-Louie-Brown trio. Three defender were drawn below the goal line, and that led to an open Llewellyn at the point. He ripped a low shot that was just wide of the net.
We've had six minutes of even strength hockey this period. Very few stoppages and no penalties.
13:24 The Miami defense sprung Curtis McKenzie for a break-a-way. Hogan made the stop, but Pateryn is in the box for two minutes. He helped break up the scoring chance.
Summers had a shorthanded opportunity with some elusive stickhandling through the Miami defense on the ensuing PK. Stoppage of play with 1:30 left on the PP, and there's a penalty on Wideman of Miami. Four-on-four, and then the Wolverines will have a 30 second power play.
12:28 Miami has its first lead of the night. 2-1, RedHawks. Andy Miele lit the lamp, and Michigan will have to play from behind for the second straight night.
10:30 Both teams are at full strength again. Michigan thought it had avoided danger by not having to kill a two-minute penalty. But on the 4-on-4, Miami was able to take the lead.
10:13 Penalty on Lebler--unsportsmanlike conduct. Not sure what exactly led to that call. Things haven't gone the Wolverines' way in the last three minutes, that's for sure. Two penalties and a goal against.
8:00 The Lebler penalty is over; another good kill by the Wolverines PK.
Just as that expired, Miami took a penalty of its own. Palmer is in the box for two minutes, and that's a two-man swing in Michigan's favor within 10 seconds. Shots are 14-8, RedHawks. Good chance for Michigan to get back on the board and take back the momentum.
6:00 Miami is back at full strength. Good PP for Michigan. Two shots, but no goals. The first line has had a great weekend, even though it has only one goal in the two games so far.
5:15 Reilly Smith just doubled Miami's lead. 3-1, RedHawks. A nice backhand pass left Smith open to beat Hogan past the glove side. There was little defensive help for Llewellyn, who was left on the 2-on-1 that formed pretty quickly. I don't know where his defensive partner was or where the backchecking help was. Nevertheless, that''s a defensive lapse, and the Wolverines find themselves in the same position that they were in last night at this point in the game: down, 3-1.
4:00 The RedHawks have scored three unanswered goals, and with equal manpower has had the far better opportunities in the danger areas. The Camper-Wingels duo has been held scoreless again, but other guys have stepped up for Miami, and they're in prime position to take both games of this series.
That's not to say a two-goal lead is insurmountable, but against the nation's top team the Wolverines need to bring their 'A' game in the offensive zone, defensive zone, and neutral zone in the final regulation period of the weekend.
1:11 With just over a minute left in the period, Wohlberg is in the box again for elbowing. It's safe to say that's not what Michigan needs right now.
18.1 Less than a minute into the Michigan penalty, Cannone is off for tripping. More four-on-four hockey. Michigan will eventually have a PP in the third period (barring any further penalties).
End of the second period Score: 3-1, Miami. Shots for the period: 10-6, Miami. Shots for the game: 18-12, Miami.
If the Wolverines can't make a third period comeback, consider this a hugely disappointing weekend to start their home CCHA season.
They have mustered just two goals so far through 5 periods. It appeared as if they had answered the persisting questions about their offensive struggles last weekend against Lake Superior State--tallying 11 goals in the two games. But Miami is a different animal, and two goals in five period against the nation's No. 1 isn't going to bolster many 'W' columns.
Switching gears to the defensive end for Michigan, limiting Camper and Wingels is great. Shutting them down will give most teams--and definitely Michigan--a good shot at beating Miami. Except, what about shutting down the other lines? They have made up for the two stars' lack of production.
Palmer, Miele, Smith and Cannone have all made significant contributions against the stingy Michigan defense. That depth could eventually get them back to the title game. That's bad news for the Wolverines and the other CCHA teams.
Start of the third period
18:49 Michigan's penalty is over; they have about a minute-long PP.
18:28 Caporusso wrap-around try denied. And another RedHawks penalty. 5-on-3 for 11 seconds.
17:53 Pateryn shot from the point stopped by Reichard. Good pressure by the second line. And here comes the Caporusso line for the remainder of the man-advantage.
16:30 RedHawks penalty is over. Still a two-goal deficit with almost a quarter of this third period gone by. Michigan has had much better chances so far in this period. Shots for the period, 4-0.
15:14 On Miami's first shot of the period, McKenzie scores. 4-1, RedHawks. He found the five-hole, and that's a softy on Hogan's part. And that will make a potential comeback nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, Rust took a penalty 30 seconds after the goal. 20 seconds later, Llewellyn hit Camper from behind. It's definitely a 5-on-3; let's see if the refs gice Llewellyn more than just two minutes.
And they do. Llewellyn was just ejected and given a five-minute major for checking from behind. Talk about a comeback being impossible. It's a full two-minute 5-on-3, and a PP for five minutes.
13:34 Another goal for Miami on the two-man advantage. And instead of celebrating, a fight began next to Hogan involving all ten players. Hogan also joined the fight, throwing a punch with his blocker and then skating away. That drew a lot of cheers from the crowd. But the score doesn't give them anything to cheer about. It's 5-1, RedHawks.
Winnett and Hagelin are both in the box for Michigan. Vaughan has now also joined them. We'll see how they sort out this mess, because Michigan has four men in the box and Miami appears to have only two.
The play was reviewed to see if the goal counted. It counts--4-goal lead for the RedHawks.
12:44 Winnett just took a penalty, but couldn't go to the box. There wasn't enough room, with 4 Wolverines already occupying it. So Winnett will sit on the bench for two minutes for roughing.
11:30 It's tough to keep up with all of these penalties. Each team has taken at least three or four for each team and we're not halfway through the period yet. It's very chippy out there, with the game out of reach for Michigan. Currently it's 4-on-3 for Michigan.
9:10 Penalty on Steve Spinnell of the RedHawks. Michigan will have a 5-on-4 PP in 3 seconds, once Llewellyn's major expires. Penalties are happening left and right; and we're just getting word that Lynch was given a 10-minute misconduct. This may have occurred during the big scrum after the fifth Miami goal, but it was just announced now.
6:38 This is a little hard to believe. Both teams are at full strength. Still a four-goal RedHawks lead.
5:00 If the score doesn't change in the last five minutes, this will go down as Michigan's worst loss of the season, by far.
4:15 Roughing coincidentals to Brown and McKenzie. Then 15 seconds later Rust was called for boarding. This has been pretty ugly, and it's been that way ever since that Llewellyn major and fifth RedHawks goal.
3:40 Michigan will drop to 4-4 after this loss. For a top-5 team nationally and the preseason CCHA favorite, .500 isn't going to cut it.
The good news for Michigan, however, is that Berenson has been here before. He's encountered any type of team situation in his 20+ years here. These ugly games, especially the ones early in the season, aren't going to take an emotional toll on him. That definitely keeps his team on an even-keel to an extent. But at the same time, Michigan has lost its last six to ranked opponents after tonight's debacle.
1:42 Shots are 29-20, Miami. Kampfer and McKenzie just got tangled up and were given coincidentals. Langlais was just given a ten-minute misconduct and ejected. That's three misconducts this period for Michigan.
End of the game That's all she wrote. Miami wins, 5-1.
