Michigan and Western Michigan each won in the other team's building in their home-and-home series last weekend.
The Broncos won Friday night, 6-3, in Ann Arbor, while U-M came back with a 6-5 win Saturday in Kalamazoo.
Andrew Cogliano's first career hat trick was not enough as Michigan lost to Western Michigan on Friday. Tyler Ludwig had a goal and two assists for WMU and Mark Letestu added a pair of goals for the Broncos.
"Our goals weren't going in," U-M head coach Red Berenson said. "Some nights they go in, and some nights they don't. That's why defense is so important. That's why we can't give up those easy goals. In the meantime, we're giving up too many quality chances. From our standpoint, it wasn't a good game. From their stand point, it was a great game."
"Michigan has a lot of speed and skill and we wanted to minimize their opportunities," said WMU head coach Jim Culhane. "I think we did a pretty good job of that while playing a puck possession game. For the most part we made good decisions with the puck."
Pat Galivan, Paul Szczechura and Jeff Pierce scored the other Western Michigan goals.
Riley Gill made 30 saves for WMU and Billy Sauer stopped 12 at the other end for Michigan. Gill became the first freshman Bronco goaltender since Marc Magliarditi to defeat the Wolverines at Yost Ice Arena.
Saturday at Lawson Ice Arena, the Wolverines trailed 3-1 in the second period until they exploded for three goals, two on the power play, over a 4:12 span late in the frame.
T.J. Hensick had assists on each of the markers. He later added his career-best fourth assist in the third period. Cogliano scored twice, including the eventual game-winner.
Chad Kolarik chipped in with a career-high three helpers.
"It was a hard-fought game," said Culhane. "I thought our guys battled hard and did a great job of creating opportunities. Riley Gill also kept us in the game late in the third period with some great saves. We would have like the win at home, but we'll settle with the split."
Kevin Porter, Brian Lebler, David Rohlfs and Brandon Naurato also scored for the Wolverines. Freshman Steve Jakiel made 24 saves for the win in net.
Galivan, Pierce, Letestu, Jason Moul and Brett John scored for WMU. Gill stopped 28 shots in his eighth straight start.
Western Michigan (6-7-1, 5-7-1 CCHA) is off this week for final exams before returning to the ice on Dec. 16 for a road contest at Wayne State. Michigan (12-5-0, 8-3-0 CCHA) concludes the first half of the 2006-07 campaign this weekend with a home-and-home series against Notre Dame. Game one will be on Friday at Yost Ice Arena, while the second game will take place on Sunday in South Bend, Ind.
No comments:
Post a Comment