MiCHO Power Poll 2.13.2008

How do you keep a firm grasp of the top spot in the MiCHO Power Poll? It's pretty easy really. All you need to do is go on the road and smack around the #1 team in college hockey on their home ice. If you can do that then you're the undisputed top dog in the State of Michigan.

That's exactly what the newly crowned national #1 Michigan Wolverines did over the weekend as they rolled into Oxford, Ohio and handed the Miami Red Hawks a 4-2 thrashing and 5-5 tie.

The Michigan State Spartans suffered their first road sweep of the season as they traveled north and hit a buzz saw in Marquette. The Northern Michigan Wildcats surprised the defending national champs with a 3-1 beating at the BEC on Friday and then followed it up by blanking the Green and White 3-0 on Saturday.

Ferris State continued their roller coaster year by splitting on the road at then #8 Notre Dame to secure fourth place in this week's poll. Other movement saw Lake Superior and Western Michigan swapping the bottom two rungs after the Lakers took 3 of 4 points from the Broncos in K'Zoo.

Complete Poll

1) Michigan, 23-3-4 (took 3 of 4 pts from Miami)
2) Michigan State, 18-8-5 (swept by NMU)
3) Northern Michigan, 12-15-3 (swept MSU)
4) Ferris State, 11-12-5 (split at #9 Notre Dame)
5) Michigan Tech, 10-13-3 (tied/lost to #10 Wisconsin)
6) Wayne State, 8-20-2 (swept at RMU)
7) Lake Superior, 6-16-6 (tied/beat WMU)
8) Western Michigan, 7-20-3 (tied/lost to LSSU)

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.

Wolverines take a bite out of No. 1

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer

Michigan jumped back into the top-ranked spot in the national polls by taking three points at then-No. 1 Miami last weekend.

"Three out of four points coming in here is a lot better than the alternative,” U-M head coach Red Berenson said. “Not many teams are going to do this. We feel that maybe we could have gotten another point out of it, but you have to say the effort was there, the execution was there and a lot of good things had to happen to come in here and get three out of four points."

Friday night, Michigan got four goals in the first period and hung on for a 4-2 win.

Louie Caporusso, Max Pacioretty, captain Kevin Porter and Aaron Palushaj scored to back Billy Sauer’s 18-save outing.

Chad Kolarik added a pair of assists.

"We played really well in the first and then that carried over into the second a little bit,” Porter said. “Our penalty kill was good in the third, but we took too many penalties and they got a couple of goals and got into the game. But we held them off in the end."

The Wolverines were down 2-1 after the first period Saturday night and 3-2 midway through the second period, but rattled off three goals to take a 5-3 early in the third period.

The RedHawks brought themselves to within one goal at 11:39 and then Nathan Davis scored the game-tying goal at 14:57.

“If someone told us we were going to get three out of four points before we came down here, we'd be pretty happy with that,” said Kolarik. “But we had a chance to win. We were up 5-3 with 11 minutes left and then they get a fluke goal and they get the momentum."

Pacioretty scored two goals to go along with singles from Travis Turnbull, Kolarik and Porter, with his NCAA-best 25th goal. Sauer stopped 30 shots in the tie.

"I think it was pretty evident that there is not much to choose between the teams," Berenson added. "They have a great team, no question. I'm sure they won't be happy about some of the parts of their game this weekend and they'll get better. Remember, they didn't play last weekend, so they could have been rusty. We're a young team and we held our own."

Michigan (23-3-4, 16-2-4 CCHA) returns to Yost Ice Arena for a two-game set against Lake Superior State Friday and Saturday. Friday's opener will be an 8:05 p.m. start as the game will be televised by CSTV.

Wildcats sweep away national champs

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan State Beat Writer

No offense generally means no wins and Michigan State found that out firsthand last weekend in Marquette as Northern Michigan took two convincing wins from the defending national champs.

It was the Nick Sirota showcase Friday night as he scored the first hat trick against MSU in more than two years to lead NMU past the Spartans, 3-1.

"We didn't play particularly well tonight," admitted MSU head coach Rick Comley after the game. "I thought we might have struggled a little to adjust to the bigger surface, but Northern did a good job of blocking shots. We just couldn't get them through."

Sirota's goals were even strength, shorthanded, and on the power play.

Jeff Dunne scored for then-No. 6 Michigan State to break up the shutout and Jeff Lerg and Bobby Jarosz, who played the third period, combined for 21 saves.

Brian Stewart kicked out 23 shots for the Wildcats.

“We knew what our competition is and they’re pretty big rivals,” Stewart said to USCHO. “We were all ready before the game and it was nice to see. But you could tell from the start of the game we were out to win.”

Saturday night, Stewart made 32 saves in the 3-0 shutout.

Matt Siddall scored twice and Mark Olver also tallied for NMU.

Lerg finished with 26 saves for Michigan State.

“The team did everything they had to do to block shots tonight,” Wildcats head coach Walt Kyle said of the ‘Cats’ defense, also to USCHO. “If you can imagine, getting hit by a puck is not a great thing and they did a good job getting themselves in front of it.”

Northern Michigan (12-15-3, 9-11-2 CCHA) is at Ohio State this weekend, while No. 8 Michigan State (18-8-5, 14-5-3 CCHA) will engage Western Michigan in a home-and-home series starting at Munn Ice Arena on Friday in a 7:05 start. The game will be televised by Comcast Local.

RMU Finishes Season Sweep of WSU

by Karl Henkel/Wayne State Men's beat writer

Coming off three wins in their last four games, Wayne State men's hockey looked for a much better showing against Robert Morris than their previous three meetings, all Colonial wins. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

The opener consisted of 32 combined penalty minutes, with Robert Morris having nine power play chances.

Sean Berkstresser got the Colonials on the board early in the first period with the man advantage, but Stavros Paskaris fired home a shot from between the circles in the second period to tie the score.

In the third period, with WSU putting the pressure on, Ryan Cruthers broke free on a breakaway, tallying a shorthanded goal to put RMU up 2-1.

Chris Margott added another power play goal late to seal a 3-1 victory for Robert Morris.

“We were out-disciplined and took stupid penalties,” Paskaris said, “That definitely hurt us.”

Saturday night didn't start off much better, with RMU outshooting WSU 19-3 in the opening period. Despite being outplayed, however, the scored was tied after one, as Cruthers and Jeff Caister (power play) provided the goals.

Defenseman Matt Krug's slapshot from the right point was deflected off the stick of Derek Bachynski to put the Warriors ahead 2-1 a mere three minutes into the middle frame.

In the third, though, the tide changed in a hurry.

Cruthers added his third goal of the series for RMU at the 11:01 mark, knotting the game at two. Just 17 seconds later, Nathan Longpre put Robert Morris ahead 3-2.

With less than five minutes to go in regulation, Tylor Michel sent a pass in front of the Colonial goal to Jared Katz, who flipped a backhander over the shoulder of netminder Christian Boucher.

As time expired, both teams got in a scrum in the corner of the Warriors zone. Multiple penalties were assessed, and WSU came out of the fracas down a man.

That's when Margott took a feed from Denny Urban and fired it past CHA Defensive Player of the Week Brett Bothwell, completing the five-game season sweep of the Warriors for RMU.

Like Friday night, the game was marred by 34 penalty minutes, 16 of which went against WSU.

“We had no discipline,” an upset head coach Bill Wilkinson said after the game, “It was very uncharacteristic of us to play that way. We talked about it at the meeting today that we had to have better discipline through the whole game. And what did we do at the end? Take a stupid penalty that cost us the game.”

Next weekend, WSU (8-20-2, 4-10-0 CHA) travels down south to play Alabama-Huntsville (4-17-3, 1-10-3 CHA). Wayne State swept the Chargers in late January, 2-0, and 4-3 (OT).

Wayne women sweep CHA honors

By Susannah Nichols/ WSU Women's Beat Writer

Wayne State swept the CHA weekly awards after beating and tying #6 Mercyhurst on the road.

Junior Sam Poyton was named Offensive Player of the Week. Poyton scored two goals in Friday's game, including the overtime game-winner. She also had a goal in Saturday's game and finished the weekend with a +2 plus/minus rating.

Senior goalie Valery Turcotte's 78-save weekend could not go unnoticed. After stopping 52 shots in Friday's game (including four in overtime) and 26 on Saturday, she was awarded Defensive Player of the Week honors. Turcotte was particularly effective in shutting down Mercyhurst's power play unit--ranked third in the nation coming into the series--she stopped nine out of ten power play shots.

Freshman forward Adrianna Pfeffer earned Rookie of the Week honors. She scored two goals in Friday's game.

This is the sixth straight week a Warrior has earned league honors, and the first time this year that the team swept the league awards.

Warriors remain unbeaten

By Susannah Nichols/ WSU Women's Beat Writer

The Wayne State Warrior's winning streak--a school-record nine games--came to an end on Saturday, when they fought to a 2-2 tie with Mercyhurst. However, the tie, coupled with 5-4 overtime victory on Friday, allows the team to preserve their eleven-game unbeaten streak. Additionally, Friday's win was significant because it was the Warriors' first victory over Mercyhurst.

Junior forward Lindsay DiPietro and senior goalie Valery Turcotte also maintained streak of their own: DiPietro has earned points in each of the last twelve games, and Turcotte is unbeaten in her last eleven starts.

Mercyhurst got on the board first in Friday's game, but DiPietro struck back three minutes later, off assists from Chelsea Burnett and Melissa Boal. Burnett then set up Adrianna Pfeffer for a power play goal, Pfeffer's second of the season. Sam Poyton (pictured) added a goal (assisted by DiPietro and Boal) to put the Warriors up 3-1 heading into the first intermission.

Sammi Bowers and Janet Babchisin helped Pfeffer notch her second goal of the night, but Mercyhurst then scored three unanswered goals to knot the score heading into overtime. Senior goaltender Valery Turcotte was a critical factor in keeping the Warriors alive; she made 36 of her dazzling 52 game saves in the second two periods.

In overtime, Mercyhurst outshot Wayne State 4-1, but the Warriors only needed one: Poyton grabbed Tegan Schroeder's rebound and shot it past goalie Laura Hosier for the victory.

Saturday's game was initially a battle between Hosier and Turcotte, neither of who allowed a goal in the first period. While Mercyhurst was likely looking to score on their power play late in the second period, it was DiPietro who wrested control of the puck and beat Hosier on a breakaway.

Early in the third period, Poyton picked up a pass from Boal to light the lamp. Mercyhurst responded with two goals within the next ten minutes to tie things up (and outshot the Warriors 17-5 over the third period and overtime), but neither team could nail the game-winner.

Turcotte finished with 26 saves.

The Warriors (17-6-3, 5-0-1 CHA) return to Detroit this weekend: they will face Robert Morris on Friday and Saturday at the City Sports Center.

ICE CHIPS…

- By beating and tying Mercyhurst on the road, Wayne State leaped into the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll for the first time in school history. The Warriors are ranked #10 in the current poll and Mercyhurst came in at #7.

- Wayne State University hockey players Ashley King and Mike Forgie and are among the 66 finalists on the voting ballot for the 2008 Frozen Four Skills Challenge, as announced by the NCAA. Fans can vote for their favorites online until Thursday, February 14.

photo courtesy of WSU Athletics

Ferris out lucks the Irish

The Ferris State Bulldogs snapped a season high, five-game winless streak with a 5-3 upset win over the eighth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend on Friday night.

Bulldog Scott Pococke’s first goal of the season, at 7:56 of the third period, won the game for FSU. Netminder Mitch O’Keefe stopped 28 shots for the win and also assisted on teammate Casey Haines’s goal at 6:01 of the third.

Blair Riley, Mike Fillinger, and Justin Lewandowski also scored for Ferris State.

The Bulldogs used solid special teams on Saturday night to hold onto a 2-2 tie with the Irish at the Joyce Center.

Zach Redmond scored a shorthanded marker with two Bulldogs in the box to tie the score at 1 in the first period.

Riley scored his second of the weekend, on the powerplay, at 9:20 of the third to deadlock the score at two.

O’Keefe did the rest between the pipes, stopping 33 shots to help the Bulldogs earn 3 of 4 points from ND.

Ferris State (11-12-5, 8-10-4 CCHA) will return home to the Ewigleben Arena next weekend for a pair of games against the Miami Red Hawks. FSU currently sits in seventh place in the CCHA, while Miami has dropped to second place after giving up 3 of 4 points at home last weekend to Michigan.

LSSU edges Western Michigan

By Tom Morelli/WMU Beat Writer

While much of the spotlight was on the University of Miami and the University of Michigan, the CCHA also featured another intriguing match-up. The storyline to this game between Western Michigan University and Lake Superior State University was the fact that both teams sat at the bottom of the conference standings.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, they drew the short end of the stick this time around.

The first game saw several changes in momentum, as both teams battled back and forth at both ends of the ice. It seemed as if the officials had taken the night off, as both teams combined for only six penalties.

The Lakers’ Chad Nehring broke the scoring silence at 8:40 of the first period by taking a Troy Schwab feed and knocking is past goaltender Riley Gill.

About a minute-and-a-half later, Cam Watson evened things up, as Jeff Pierce and Brian Bicek set-up Watson for his eighth goal of the season.

Lake Superior State regained the lead in the following period, as Steve Olesky took a pass from Will Acton and Jason Blain with five minutes elapsed.

Just before the end of the period, Jeff Pierce notched his seventh goal of the campaign. The power-play marker came while Nathan Perkovich sat in the sin-bin on a roughing call. Patrick Galivan tallied his team-leading 19th assist on the play, and Jeff LoVecchio earned his 10th.

The third period saw another lead change at the 7:10 mark, when the Lakers’ Zac MacVoy banged one home from a Rick Schofield pass.

With less than five minutes to play, freshman forward Max Campbell scored a game-tying goal, with Galivan and LoVecchio helping out on the play.

Sudden death couldn’t declare a winner, thus ending Friday’s game in a 3-3 tie.

Gill finished with 30 saves on the night, while his counterpart Brian Mahoney-Wilson stopped 29.

The second game of the series proved to be a bit more one-sided, with Lake Superior State gaining the upper hand.

Nehring once again gave his team the early lead, notching his fourth goal of the campaign with almost four minutes gone by in the opening period. Helping set-up the score was Dan Eves and Dillin Stonehouse.

After notching an assist the night before, Schwab extended the Lakers’ lead with an unassisted goal in the middle stanza.

MacVoy tallied another goal for Lake Superior State, beating goaltender Jerry Kuhn in the final period of play.

Western Michigan did not go scoreless though, thanks to senior defenseman Nathan Ansell’s goal with less than two minutes to play.

Broncos Head Coach Jim Culhane pulled Kuhn in the final minute of the game, hoping to generate some offense. His plan worked, as LoVecchio scored his eight goal of the season, which ties him with Watson for the team lead. Unfortunately, the goal came with five seconds remaining, and Western Michigan couldn’t force overtime.

Leading the Lakers in their 3-2 win between the pipes was Pat Inglis, who denied 33 shots.

Kuhn stopped 34 shots, most of which came in the opening period.

After taking three of four points this weekend, Lake Superior State improves to 6-15-6 overall, and 4-13-5 in conference play. The Lakers travel to Ann Arbor this Friday and Saturday for a series with the Wolverines.

For the Broncos, their overall record falls to 7-20-3. Despite being in last place in the CCHA standings at 3-17-2, Western Michigan will have an opportunity to better that record with their home-and-home series against Michigan State University this weekend.

The first game will be played in East Lansing, which can be seen at 7:05 p.m. Friday on Comcast Local. Fans can celebrate Hockey Day in Michigan the following night, as the Broncos head back to Kalamazoo for the second game. Puck drop is expected to be at 4:35 p.m., with FSN Detroit providing coverage.