MiCHO Power Poll 10.24.2007

After a sweep of the Northern Michigan Wildcats in Marquette, the Michigan Wolverines remain on top of MiCHO Power Poll.

The Maize and Blue got a pair of goals from Kevin Porter on Friday night and skated away with a 3-1 victory over the ‘Cats. Chad Kolarik was Saturday’s hero, scoring shorthanded with 22 seconds left to give the Wolverines the sweep at the Berry Events Center.

The Michigan State Spartans raised their National Championship banner at Munn over the weekend and celebrated by sweeping out the Colgate Raiders.

1) Michigan, 3-1-0 (swept NMU)
2) Michigan State, 2-1-0 (swept Colgate)
3) Michigan Tech, 3-1-0 (swept Minnesota State)
4) Western Michigan, 2-0-0 (swept Bentley)
5) Northern Michigan 1-3-0 (swept by UM)
6) Ferris State, 1-2-1 (Took 3 of 4 points vs. WSU)
7) Lake Superior 0-1-1 (won exhibition vs. Western Ontario)
8) Wayne State, 0-3-1 (lost and tied at FSU)

Each week, MichiganCollegeHockey.com editors Matt Mackinder and Tom Balog will compile the MiCHO Power Poll. The poll will comprise the eight Division I teams in the State of Michigan. (National rankings and rankings in parenthesis reflect the USCHO/CSTV Division I Men's Poll)

Bulldogs topple, tie Wayne State

by Andy Oliver / Ferris State Beat Writer

The Ferris State Bulldogs took three of four points from the visiting Wayne State Warriors at home last weekend and even got involved in some rough stuff.

In Friday night’s 6-2 FSU win, Matt Case started the scoring at 6:47 of the first period with a power-play goal. Adam Miller passed to Case at the point and he beat Wayne State goalie Brett Bothwell with a one-timer.

Ferris’ second goal of the period came at 8:04 when J.T. Dahlinger started the rush into the Wayne State zone with a pass to Casey Haines who hit Justin Menke racing to the net. Menke tipped the pass over the glove of Bothwell for his first collegiate goal.

But Wayne State came right back with their first goal of the game at 9:27 of the first period. Stavros Paskaris dumped the puck behind the Ferris goal and Ferris turned the puck over to Wayne State forward Bryan Olds, who made a quick pass from behind the net to Tylor Michel, standing all alone at the hash marks for a one-timer that beat Ferris State goalie Pat Nagle.

Aaron Lewicki scored his first goal of the season at the 18:55 mark of the first period for the Bulldogs. Corey Couturier and Adam Miller entered the Wayne State zone passing back and forth and Miller hit Lewicki going to the net. Lewicki tipped the pass through Bothwell's five hole.

FSU freshman Zach Redmond picked up his first goal of his college hockey career at 3:32 of the second period when he received a pass from Matt Frank, made a move around a Wayne State forward and beat Bothwell high blocker side.

Ferris State defenseman Jim Jorgensen scored his first goal of the season at 19:30 of the second period. Case moved the puck to Brendan Connolly who hit Jorgensen at the point for a one-timer that got through traffic and slid under Bothwell. After the goal, Michel skated through the Ferris players celebrating the goal and Case took exception to the move and the gloves came off. Both players received game disqualifications for fighting. Case’s night ended with a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick " (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 fight).

Wayne State started the third period with Kyle Funkenhauser taking over in goal. The first shot Funkenhauser would face was a penalty shot at 1:43 of the third period. A Wayne State player covered the puck in the goal crease giving a penalty shot to Miller. Funkenhauser made a nice save on Miller's deke move and the game remained in FSU’s favor.

Haines would score his first goal of the season at 7:03 of the third period. Cody Chupp made a nice pass to Haines at the side of the Wayne State net and Haines tipped it past Funkenhauser.

The Warriors scored their second goal of the game at the 14:55 mark of the third period while on a 5-on-3 power play. Derek Punches moved the puck to Ryan Bernardi, who hit Brock Meadows at the point. Meadows shot got through traffic to beat Nagle for his first NCAA tally.

Saturday night, the two teams would skate to a 2-2 stalemate.

Chupp scored the first goal of the game at 15:11 of the first period. Connolly passed the puck to Evan Case at the point, who sent a shot on net and Chupp tipped it past Funkenhauser for a power-play goal.

With only 22 seconds left in the first period, however, Wayne State scored a power-play goal of their own. Paskaris moved the puck to Jeff Caister at the point, who hit captain Mike Forgie down low for a tip in five-hole on Ferris goalie Mitch O'Keefe.

Wayne State picked up a shorthanded goal at 9:20 of the second period. Paskaris started the rush out of his own zone with a pass to Caister, setting up a 2-on-1 into the Ferris zone. Caister took the shot and O'Keefe made a pad save with the rebound going right on the stick of Caister who put the puck behind the sprawled O'Keefe.

Ferris tied up the game at 4:41 of the third period with a power-play goal from Blair Riley, his first of the season. Chupp moved the puck to Redmond at the point and Redmond's shot went wide of the Wayne State goal and came out off the boards to Riley, who put the puck in the open side of the net.

The five-minute overtime only saw one shot on net by Wayne State and a trio from Ferris to end the game in a tie.

Wayne State (0-3-1) travels to Robert Morris this weekend, while the Bulldogs (1-2-1) host Notre Dame.

Spartans broom aside Colgate

by Matt Mackinder / Michigan State Beat Writer

Michigan State opened the home portion of their schedule last weekend and swept aside Colgate.

Senior captain Bryan Lerg tied a career high with four assists and Matt Schepke and freshman Dustin Gazley each scored twice as Michigan State rolled in its home opener, 6-3, Friday night.

The Spartans raised their 2007 National Championship banner in a pre-game ceremony in front of 5,926 fans.

Jeff Lerg made 22 saves for the win and Nick Sucharski and Justin Abdelkader also scored for MSU.

“We needed [the win],” Bryan Lerg said. “I think that we came out hard and made a statement, but like Coach said, I think we played 30 minutes real well and 30 minutes kind of sloppy. (Colgate) didn't give up the whole game and they were able to bounce back with a couple of goals. Luckily the time ran out, but overall, I think we played a good game.”

Saturday, Jeff Lerg stopped 23 shots, including a penalty shot, as MSU held on for a 2-1 win. Lerg’s stop on Tyler Burton’s penalty shot was the first since Chad Alban made a stop in the 1996 NCAA Tournament against UMass-Lowell.

“I think he was trying to go low blocker-side, but he didn't get it where he wanted, which made it easier on me,” Lerg said. “I thought he'd put a deke on me. You could tell he's got good hands. Once he shot it, I stood my ground, and it hit me.”

Abdelkader and Tim Kennedy scored for the Spartans (2-1-0).

“I thought we would score a little more, but that is just how the game was,” said Abdelkader. “You just have to grind it out. There were some weird bounces and a lot of penalties, so we were killing a lot of penalties, too. I think that took some of the flow out of the game. We have to be a little bit more disciplined. But that is a key to win, and I am sure we will see a lot of the 2-1, 3-2 games in the future. You have to grind it out, and battle.”

Michigan State opens league play this weekend when they host Northern Michigan at Munn Ice Arena.

Lakers dominate to salvage 3-3 tie

by Mike Burrill / LSSU beat writer

Lake Superior State head coach Jim Roque got a good look at his young hockey team Saturday at Taffy Abel Arena, as the Lakers overcame a two-goal deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie with visiting Western Ontario in exhibition play.

In the second period, sophomore Pat Aubry found the net on a set up by freshman defenseman Dillin Stonehouse to cut Western Ontario’s lead to one while the teams were skating with four men apiece.

Still trailing by two into the third period, the Lakers wasted little time going on the offensive. Sophomore Nathan Perkovich scored this third goal in as many games to make it 3-2. Team captain Troy Schwab earned the only assist on Perkovich’s goal 54 seconds into the period.

Also staying red hot was the line consisting of Dan Eaves, Nik Sellers and Chad Nehring. Nehring scored his first goal as a Laker tying the game at three with just over three minutes remaining. Eaves and Sellers drew the assists.

The Lakers out-shot the Mustangs 43-24 in the game, including 14-4 in the final stanza.

In net, freshman Brian Mahony-Wilson got the start, giving up all three goals and making 10 saves. Pat Inglis took over halfway through the game, making 11 saves and shutting out the Mustangs in his period-and-a-half of work.

Having 3,140 loyal Lakers fans in attendance for an exhibition game is a good sign for the program. Despite it being Great Lake State weekend, exhibition games rarely draw large crowds. Attendance is expected to be high next weekend when the Lakers host seventh-ranked Clarkson.

Wolverines sweep NMU to open CCHA play

By Kyle Whitney/NMU Beat Writer

In the first weekend of conference play this season, the Michigan Wolverines swept the Northern Michigan Wildcats in back-to-back games, 3-1 and 4-3.

After taking a 1-0 lead on a Nick Sirota goal in the first period of game one, the Wildcats committed six penalties in the second.

“You cannot be in the box that much. They had the puck and we took so many stupid penalties,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “They got total control of the game on power-plays.”

Chad Kolarik scored for Michigan during a 5-on-3 and at the second intermission, the game was squared at a goal apiece.

The Wildcats fired just two shots during the second period, both from beyond the top of the circle.

In the final period, Kolarik tacked on another power-play marker, this one the game-winner. The insurance goal came from Carl Hagelin at the 16:16 mark and put the Wildcats up 3-1.

"Right from the get-go we knew it would be a close game,” U-M head coach Red Berenson said. “They got the first goal, which was a big goal in the game. Fortunately, our power play finally connected because in the second period we had a lot of power plays. Kevin Porter finally scored and that kind of broke the ice - that was good. Then in the third period, I thought we played our best hockey. We really played hard. We killed a penalty we needed to kill. I thought we carried the play, especially the last half of the period. Our best period might have been our third period."

NMU goaltender Brian Stewart stopped 27 of 30 Wolverine shots in the loss, while Michigan tender Billy Sauer allowed one goal on 14 shots.

Saturday was opposite day in the Berry Events Center and the two teams switched roles in every aspect but the final score. Northern Michigan was the aggressor while the Wolverines committed penalty after penalty and spent the evening killing off those mistakes.

“We were killing too many penalties, just like Northern last night,” Berenson said. “You can’t get shots when you’re killing penalties in your zone.”

The PK unit stood tall, though, an when the game was over, Michigan had collected nine penalties, 37 minutes in the box and a short-handed, game-winning goal.

The Wolverines led 3-2 late in the contest. After Michigan freshman Matt Rust picked up a 5-minute major for checking from behind, NMU pulled the goalie and organized a 6-on-4 attack in the final minute.

With just 41 seconds remaining, Phil Fox tied the game at three. Stewart returned to the net and the Wildcats maintained a one-man advantage.

The Wildcats won the faceoff before turning the puck over in the neutral zone. A quick tip gave the puck to a streaking Chad Kolarik, who beat Stewart for the game-winning goal with 22 seconds remaining.

“We made a mistake,” Kyle said. “We pulled the goalie, were able to score a goal to tie it and we had a guy make a mistake.”

The goal was the only shot that Stewart faced all night after relieving starter Derek Janzen, who allowed three goals on 18 shots.

“I was really disappointed, honestly,” Kyle said. “[Janzen is] a great kid, I’m sure he will come up with a bigger effort at some point, but I didn’t like any of the three goals that went in on him.”

The third goal snuck past Janzen with just under five minutes remaining in the game and Stewart entered the game cold.

The Wolverines will stay home next weekend as they face off against Boston University. The Wildcats, on the other hand, will head south to take on the defending National Champion Michigan State Spartans .

Boal sets record as Warriors sweep Union

If Wayne State’s 7-1 win over Union Friday night wasn’t impressive enough, Melissa Boal added to the excitement by becoming the first player to score a dazzling seven points in a game. Her five goals and two assists were the backbone of the Warriors’ first victory on the season.

A second win on Saturday rounded out the weekend. The 4-0 victory was senior goalie Valery Turcotte’s first shutout of the season.

On Friday, Union scored their lone goal early in the first period, but Boal retaliated less than two minutes later. Late in the period, Boal joined Chelsea Burnett in setting up Sam Poyton to put the Warriors up 2-0.

Boal then scored her next four goals in a row with the final two coming while the Warriors were shorthanded.

Midway through the third period, Boal and Lindsay DiPietro helped Poyton grab her second goal of the game and seal the team’s 7-1 victory.

Turcotte stopped 12 shots in Friday’s game, but her real moment of glory came in Saturday’s contest. Union, hoping for revenge, peppered Turcotte with ten shots in the first period (16 overall)—she turned away each of them.

Turcotte got some offensive help from her teammates starting in the second period, when Boal and Tina Vanderhoeven set up Poyton for her third goal of the weekend. Late in the period, Katrina Protopapas scored a fast goal off a Brandi Frakie pass to widen the Warriors’ lead.

DiPietro and Emily Berzins also added goals in the third period.

The Warriors maintained their flawless record against the Dutchwomen, and improve their overall record to 2-2-0. The team will hit the road to take on Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., this weekend.

Huskies earn sweep in WCHA opener

by Andy Bourdeau / MTU beat writer

Michigan Tech swept the Minnesota-Mankato Mavericks to open their WCHA schedule. Tech put up nine goals and gave up just one, as the offense of the Huskies showed signs of a healthy offense.

Michael Lee Teslak (pictured left) blanked the Mavericks Friday, stopping all 23 shots he faced. Alex Lord and Jimmy Kerr were the goal scorers for MTU.

Saturday, it was Robbie Nolan's (pictured right) turn. He nearly repeated Teslak's shutout, saving 35 of 36 shots. The Mavericks goal came at the two-minute mark in the third period.

MTU's Malcolm Gwilliam set the pace for the Huskies, producing five points on the night (2-3). Also netting goals in the 7-1 game were freshman Jordan Baker, Ryan Angelow, Peter Rouleau, freshman Eric Kattelus and Justin St. Louis.

MTU moves onto this weekend where they will play host to the No. 1 team in the nation, North Dakota.

Broncos sweep Bentley in weekend series

By Tom Morelli/WMU Beat Writer

Western Michigan University was anything but a letdown against Bentley College to begin the 2007-2008 season, winning both games over the weekend.

Getting shots on goal was the common theme in Friday night’s game, as the Broncos peppered the Falcons with 30, en route to a 5-2 victory.

Sophomore forward Cam Watson began the scoring binge for Western Michigan at the 7:00 mark of the opening period, with Patrick Galivan and Tyler Ludwig helping out on the power-play goal.

Galivan netted one of his own in the following period at 1:21, but Bentley’s Jaye Judd followed suit about six minutes later to break the Falcons scoring drought.

Center Chris Clackson added an insurance goal for the Broncos at 18:21 in the second period, thanks to help from Brian Bicek and Ludwig.

Freshman forward Ryan Watson scored an unassisted goal at 6:22 of the final stanza to put Western Michigan ahead, 4-1.

The Falcons though refused to quit, and drew closer to the Broncos, thanks to Jeff Gumaer’s lamp-lighter with 12:36 elapsed.

With under a minute left in the game, Western Michigan’s co-captains put the icing on the cake as Jeff LoVecchio received a pass from Chris Frank to score an empty-net goal.

Defensively, the Broncos killed off all four of Bentley’s power play opportunities, and sophomore goaltender Riley Gill stopped 18 of 20 shots.

Keeping with their offensive mentality to fire at will, the Broncos had plenty of momentum on Saturday night, winning 3-1 before about 2,800 fans at Lawson Arena.

After a scoreless first period, LoVecchio notched his second goal of the season on the power-play, as Clackson and Max Campbell were credited with the helper at 3:11 in the middle period.

The lead was short-lived however, as Mark Menzione of the Falcons evened-up the score a mere two minutes later.

Campbell, a freshman forward from Strathroy, Ontario, tallied the game-winning goal with only a minute gone by in the third period.

Chris’ older brother, Matt Clackson scored an empty-net goal with 38 second left in the game, with LoVecchio and Ryan Watson providing the assists.

The Broncos fared well once again on special teams, scoring once on three power play opportunities and going 4-4 on the penalty kill.

Gill was much busier between the pipes than the night before, but managed to stop 33 shots.

Western Michigan (2-0-0) will finish out their non-conference schedule next weekend, as they travel to Niagara University for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday night.

Adrian wins inaugural game Friday night

Arrington Ice Arena was officially christened with a win on Friday night as the Adrian College Bulldogs won their inaugural hockey game against Potsdam State University, 9-1.

Chris Stansik scored the first goal for the varsity men's Bulldog program just over 11 minutes into the game, bringing the sold-out crowd to their feet.

After taking the 1-0 lead into the locker room at intermission, the Bulldogs errupted for four second period goals. Shawn Skelly scored back-to-back goals for AC while Brad Houston and Adam Krug both found the back of the net for the Bulldogs in the same period, giving the hosts the strong 5-0 lead.

Potsdam got on the board midway through the third period when Jeff Zatorski converted a power-play opportunity for the Bears. The Bulldogs, however, came back with four unanswered goals by Krug, Eric Miller, Quinn Waller and Jeremy Klaver, giving the hosts the 9-1 victory.

Brad Fogal and Jeremy Cross both played in goal for the Bulldogs in the win. Fogal recorded over 51 minutes of playing time and picked up the victory in goal.

Rob Barnhardt had the loss in goal for the Bears.

Head coach Ron Fogarty commented on his team's performance in their highly-anticipated debut.

"I am happy with the way we preformed in front of the people that made Adrian Hockey possible," Fogarty said.

With the official dedication of the new ice arena taking place before the game, many of the donors who made ice sports possible at Adrian College were on hand to witness the Bulldog victory.

Fogarty is looking forward to the opportunity to see how his players do in the second game of the series against the visitors from Potsdam.

"We know that Potsdam will be ready (Saturday) and we need to be proactive in our play," added Fogarty.

Adrian had to settle for a split Saturday night as the Bears rebounded for a 6-4 win.

The Bulldogs are at Neumann College (Ashton, Pa.) for two games this Friday and Saturday.