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.

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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.

Krug wins CCHA honors -- again

The CCHA announced today that defenseman Torey Krug of Michigan State has been named the CCM CCHA Rookie of the Month for January. This is the second time he has earned the award this season having won the same honors for December.

Krug, a member of the Spartans’ top defensive pair, tallied two goals and six assists for eight points during January and averaged 2.5 blocks per game. He registered the game-winning goal, his second of the season, against Ohio State on Jan. 22. Krug’s other marker came with less than three minutes remaining in a Jan. 9 matchup with Lake Superior State and served as the game-tying goal. He also registered an assist on Derek Grant’s game-winning goal against LSSU the night before.

The Livonia native was named CCM CCHA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 1 following a series split with archrival Michigan. Krug assisted on Corey Tropp’s first-period power-play goal in a 3-2 win at Munn Ice Arena Jan. 29. He followed that effort with two assists the next night as the Spartans fought back from a three-goal deficit to take a 4-3 lead over the Wolverines before falling, 5-4, at Joe Louis Arena.

Photo by Matt Mackinder/MiCHO

Broncos stymied on road at Miami

By Karl Henkel/Western Michigan Beat Writer

The streak continues.

Western Michigan, which faced the daunting task of playing No. 1-ranked Miami on the road, drew the short stick again, losing back-to-back contests.

The Broncos were hurt by their penalty killing, which allowed two power-play tallies in each game.

In the opener, Miami got out to a 2-0 lead and never looked back in a 4-1 victory, despite a second-period power-play goal from WMU’s Luke Witkowski.

Broncos’ goalie Riley Gill was heavily tested and stopped 39 shots. Miami’s Cody Reichard turned aside 18.

The second game was much closer, but once again Miami came out on top, this time 2-1.

Gill stood on his head for the second consecutive night and made a season-high 46 saves.

Mike Levundusky scored his first career goal early in the third period. The marker tied the game at 1, but Andy Miele’s power-play goal late gave the RedHawks the lead for good.

Connor Knapp made 15 saves for Miami.

Western Michigan remains 0-for-2010. Its last victory came Dec. 4 against Alaska. Since that game, the Broncos have lost seven games in regulation, two more in overtime and tied another (0-0 to Bemidji State; WMU did win the exhibition shootout).

It doesn’t get any easier as Western Michigan (6-15-5, 2-14-4-1 CCHA) gets set to host Notre Dame this weekend. Both games begin at 7:35 p.m.