Michigan loses late lead, falters against Badgers in outdoor classic Saturday

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer

The Camp Randall Hockey Classic was everything Michigan thought it would be taking on Wisconsin last Saturday evening at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

A win would have been nice, too, but two late power-play goals by Detroit Red Wings prospect Brendan Smith gave the Badgers a 3-2 victory over the Wolverines in front of 55,031 fans at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.

"Playing at Yost Arena, we have a great atmosphere there, so coming in here it was nice playing outside and it was a great atmosphere here with the fans," said Scooter Vaughan, one of two Michigan goal-scorers. "It was a great event put on. We practiced here yesterday, so we were ready for the game. It was all business when we stepped on the ice."

Kevin Lynch's goal gave Michigan the lead in the third, but then penalties opened the door for Wisconsin as Smith scored at 14:28 and 18:38.

"I thought it was a great event that Wisconsin put on," Michigan head coach Red Berenson said. "These outdoor games are truly classics. Its a great experience for all the players, coaches, fans and so on. As far as the game, the weather was perfect. I liked our team. We came back from a 1-0 deficit on Scooter's goal and went ahead in the third period on Lynch's goal.

"If it weren't for the penalties that happened in the last five minutes we'd be sitting here talking about a victory, but that didn't happen. We couldn't kill their power play."

Bryan Hogan finished with 24 stops for Michigan, now 16-13-1 overall (11-9-1-0 CCHA).

The Wolverines conclude their stretch of three games in six days on Tuesday when they host Bowling Green at Yost Ice Arena. The game is slated to start at 7:35 p.m. and will be televised by Comcast (Channel 900). Michigan then heads to Nebraska-Omaha for a pair this weekend.

MSU has rough go in Fairbanks

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan State Beat Writer

Michigan State ventured to Alaska this past weekend and came away with just a shootout win to show for their efforts.

The host Nanooks blanked the Spartans, 2-0, in the series opener Friday night, but MSU rebounded for a 1-1 tie the next night, winning the shootout after a scoreless overtime.

Bobby Jarosz finished with 22 saves between the pipes for the Spartans, who were shutout for the first time this season.

Saturday night, Jeff Petry scored the lone goal in regulation and Drew Palmisano made 28 saves and then two more in the shootout to help MSU grab two of three points on the night.

Andrew Rowe and Corey Tropp tallied in the shootout for Michigan State (17-10-5, 12-7-5-2 CCHA).

MSU is idle next weekend before playing a home-and-home series with Ferris State Feb. 19-20.

'Cats enjoy successful weekend over FSU

By Tom Morelli/Ferris State Beat Writer

It wasn’t a sweep, but Northern Michigan came awfully close with a shootout win on Friday, followed by 4-0 thumping the next night to grab five of a possible six CCHA points over No. 11 ranked Ferris State.

The Bulldogs used their home-crowd advantage to take the lead late in the first period, when freshman winger Matt Kirzinger knocked-in a rebound on Wildcats’ netminder Brian Stewart. Gaining helpers on the play were juniors Justin Menke and Zach Redmond.

With 52 seconds remaining in the frame, Mike Maltese circled with the puck from behind the Ferris State net to score an equalizer for the Wildcats on Taylor Nelson.

Forward Nate Hennig put the Bulldogs back on the scoreboard at the 6:32 mark of the second to tally his first goal of the season. Hennig used a bit of trickery on the play, blasting a shot from behind the net, where it hit the back leg of Stewart before trickling in past the goal line.

Special teams were a crucial part of the final stanza for Northern, as they scored goals on both the power-play and penalty kill to take their first lead of the game. Ray Kaunisto’s lighter on the man-advantage came from a powerful shot atop the left circle, while Mark Olver recorded his on a breakaway.

Senior Casey Haines breathed life back into Ferris State with just under four minutes in regulation by finishing off a pass from linemate Derek Graham.

Following an uneventful overtime, it came down to a three-round shootout to determine a winner. After some unsuccessful tries on both sides, the Wildcats’ Erik Gustaffson converted in the final round to give Northern the nod.

Stewart held the advantage in saves over Nelson, 43-30.

Despite their 51 shots on net, Ferris State was unable to get any of them to fall in their loss to the Wildcats on Saturday.

Momentum was on the side of Northern from the get-go, as they sprinted out of the gates to take a 2-0 lead just before the midway point of the first period. Once again, the Wildcats managed to convert on special teams, with Justin Florek scoring on both the power-play and penalty kill.

Olver increased the margin on the scoreboard at 10:04 in the second with a back-handed shot that ricocheted off the pads of off Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle.

Northern padded their score early in the third, as Kaunisto finished off a pass from Tyler Gron and Greger Hanson.

With a 51-save performance in the shutout, Stewart was named first-star of the game.

In a losing effort, Nagle racked-up 17 saves.

Up next for the Wildcats (12-10-8 overall, 8-8-6 CCHA) is a weekend series at home against second-to-last-place Western Michigan.

The Bulldogs (17-9-4 overall, 11-7-4-3 CCHA) look to improve their standing when they travel to Sault Ste. Marie this weekend for a two-game set against Lake Superior State.

Michigan Tech wins Winter Carnival

By Andy Bourdeau / MTU Beat Writer

Michigan Tech continued to improve and split the Winter Carnival weekend with #6 ranked Minnesota Duluth, with a 3-1 win on Friday and a 3-2 loss on Saturday.

With the split, the Winter Carnival champion was decided by total goals, so this year the title went to MTU.

Eric Kattelus was named Winter Carnival MVP.

Friday it was UMD that dominated the play in the first and second period, bringing a 1-0 lead into the third. It would have been more, but Kevin Genoe had an outstanding night, stopping all but one of the 31 shots he faced in the first two periods.

Rob Bordson scored UMD's lone goal at 8:07 of the first period.

It was an early power-play goal by Bennett Royer that tied it and 26-seconds later, a tip in by Kattelus that ended up being the game winner for the Huskies. Brett Olson ended the scoring with an empty netter.

Kenny Reiter finished with 20 saves for the Bulldogs.

Saturday, MTU carried the play in the first two periods, but could only muster two goals on seven great scoring chances.

Steven Siego opened the scoring for MTU at 9:38 of the first and then at 17:01, Jordan Baker popped in his eighth of the year on the power-play.

UMD's David Grun scored in the second on the power play to bring it to 2-1.

In the third, it was UMD scoring 2 unanswered to close out the scoring at 3-2.

Drew Akins tied the score with another extra-man marker at 10:26 and Mike Connolly hammered in the game-winner, shorthanded at 12:16 to seal the win.

MTU had a few chances, but were unable to capatalize. The Huskies also took three penalties in the last three minutes that prevented the chance to pull the goalie.

Genoe ended the night with 36 saves and Reiter stopped 21 for UMD.

"We had a great effort of 60 minutes for the second straight night," said head coach Jamie Russell. "We stood toe-to-toe with the No. 6 team in the nation."

MTU (5-22-1, 4-18-0) takes the weekend off, then resumes play at Denver.

Remember to follow me on twitter for live game updates on MTU home hockey nights!

Lakers bombed by RedHawks

By Tom Balog / LSSU Beat Writer

The Lake Superior State Lakers dropped an emotional 2-0 decision to the #1 Miami RedHawks in Oxford on Friday night.

Prior to the contest news broke that Brendan Burke, a RedHawks student assistant and the son of Toronto Maple Leafs and U.S.A. men’s Olympic team General Manager Brian Burke, died Friday as a result of multiple injuries suffered in a car accident in Indiana.

Burke, 21, and a passenger, 18-year-old Michigan State volleyball player Mark Reedy of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., died at the scene of the accident on U.S. 35 north of Economy, Ind., according to the Paladium-Item.

The RedHawks declined media requests following the game.

Miami extended its CCHA unbeaten streak to 19 games courtesy of goals by Carter Camper and an empty netter by Andy Miele.

Brian Mahoney-Wilson stopped 30 shots for LSSU.

On the other end, Miami's Cody Reichard turned away 27 shots for the RedHawks.

Despite outshooting the Redhawks 42-32 on Saturday, the Lakers were hammered 10-4 in their worst loss of the season.

Andy Miele led Miami with 2 goals and 2 assists.

Trent Vogelhuber, Will Weber, Carter Camper, Devin Mantha, Joe Hartman, Vincent LoVerde, Tommy Wingels, and Alden Hirschfeld also scored as the RedHawks won for the fifth game in a row.

Domenic Monardo (pictured) scored a pair of goals for LSSU and Nick McParland and Chad Nehring each contributed single tallies.

The Lakers used a revolving door in net in the blowout.

Senior goaltender Mitch Edmondson totaled 12 saves for the night. Junior goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson recorded three saves, while senior goaltender Pat Inglis made seven and picked up the loss.

Connor Knapp turned aside 38 shots for Miami.

After going 8-1-1 in their previous 10 games, the Lakers have now gone winless in their last four games to fall into an eighth place tie with Notre Dame in the CCHA with just six games left in the regular season.

LSSU (14-11-5, 9-10-3-2 CCHA) will host third-place Ferris State in a pair of games back in the Sault next Friday and Saturday night.

Photo courtesy of LSSU Athletics.

From WSUAthletics.com

A trio of Wayne State University seniors - forward Katrina Protopapas, defenseman Christine Jefferson, and goaltender Lindsey Park- are among the 78 student-athletes on the ballot for the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge, which will be held April 9 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.

The NCAA selection committee will take all voting into consideration prior to making its announcement of the final 16-player rosters by the end of February.

The Frozen Four Skills Challenge will highlight the "Friday Night at the Frozen Four," which also includes the presentation of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, the Hockey Humanitarian Award and the announcement of the American Hockey Coaches Association All-America teams.

The voting period runs until Monday, Feb. 15. Fans can view the ballots and vote at www.ncaa.com.

Michigan tops BGSU Thursday night

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer

The Michigan Wolverines scored two power-play goals in the first period Thursday night and held on for a 2-1 win over host Bowling Green.

Matt Rust (pictured) and Chris Brown scored during a five-minute power play with goals at 12:05 and 13:16 of the first period, while Bryan Hogan made 12 saves for the win in goal.

"It was another close game," said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. "Last time we were in here, it was a 1-0 game. You knew it would be a close game again and it was. I don't know what it is about Michigan or Bowling Green, but when they play in this building it's an exciting game. There were a lot of turnovers and a lot of chances. I can't tell you much more. It was mostly a shinny game more than a hockey game."

Up next for the Wolverines (16-12-1, 11-9-1-0 CCHA) is the outdoor Camp Randall Hockey Classic on Saturday inside Camp Randall Stadium against the No. 3-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at 5:07 p.m. CST. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network and a crowd of over 50,000 is expected.

Michigan and Bowling Green will complete their season series at Yost Ice Arena next Tuesday at 7:35 p.m.

Photo courtesy UM Photo Services

MiCHO Power Poll 02.03.10

Michigan State retains the No. 1 spot in this week's MiCHO Power Poll after a hard-fought split with Michigan last weekend.

Ferris State stays at No. 2, just barely, and the Wolverines round out the top three.

Northern Michigan jumps to the fourth spot after tying and beating Alaska, while last week's No. 4, Lake Superior State, despite being idle, drops to No. 5.

Michigan Tech ended their brutal winless streak by splitting with Minnesota State and moving to No. 6. Western Michigan, swept by Miami, now sit in the basement of the poll.

1) Michigan State (split with Michigan)
2) Ferris State (tied, lost to Ohio State)
3) Michigan (split with Michigan State)
4) Northern Michigan (beat, tied Alaska)
5) Lake Superior State (idle)
6) Michigan Tech (split with Minnesota State)
7) Western Michigan (swept by Miami)

Each week, MichiganCollegeHockey.com staffers will compile the MiCHO Power Poll. Contrary to popular belief, there is no coin flip involved. The poll comprises the seven Division I teams in the state of Michigan.