Ice Hockey LIVE Blog: St. Lawrence vs. Michigan, Game 2
By Michael Eisenstein, written on Oct. 11, 2008
Welcome back for game two of Michigan’s season-opening series against St. Lawrence. The Wolverines squeaked by with a 4-3 win last night, thanks to senior Tim Miller’s third-period goal, in a game that was much closer than many expected.
But the big story last night was senior captain Mark Mitera suffering a severe knee injury. It is very unlikely Mitera will return before the second half of the season, and with surgery being discussed, he may be out for the year.
And with Mitera gone, the Chris Summers experiment is over for the meantime. Summers, the alternate captain and a defenseman the past two seasons, has been moved back to the blue line after playing at left wing last night and throughout the preseason.
We’ll have more breakdown on how the injury will impact the team going forward, who might be named a captain or alternate and how the lines are going to change the rest of the year in the Daily’s SportsMonday edition.
But for now, tonight’s lines, with some big changes from last night:
Hagelin-Rust-Palushaj [same]
Miller-Caporusso-Turnbull [Miller replaces Naurato]
Lebler-Czarnik-Winnett [Lebler replaces Summers]
Fardig-Wohlberg-Glendening [Fardig replaces Miller; Glendening in for Lebler]
Langlais-Kampfer [same]
Summers-Vaughan [Summers replaces Mitera]
Llewellyn-Elmblad [Llewellyn for Elmblad]
And Hogan in goal.
Healthy scratches: Pateryn, Naurato and Ciraulo
Injured: Mitera, Burlon
*line changes from last night are in brackets
Make sure to check back for frequent updates, LIVE from Yost.
First Period:
16:59 remaining: After a few minutes of sloppy play inside Michigan’s zone, we have the first penalty of the game. St. Lawrence center Brock McBride was called for roughing. … The Wolverines weren’t able to must much against a hard-checking Saints penalty kill, and extend their 0-for-9 power play cold streak from last night to 10 missed chances. The best opportunity was defenseman Tristin Llewellyn’s slap shot from just inside the center blue line at the end of the power play.
14:14 remaining: Llwellyn is called for Michigan’s first penalty, also interference, but it’s successfully killed.
10:31 remaining: And we have another penalty, putting the Wolverines back on the power play. St. Lawrence fourth-liner Jake Klancher was called for tripping. … And once again, not much came out of the man advantage for Michigan. Normally this isn’t surprising early in the year, but in exhibition play last weekend, power play goals seemed about as easy to find as candy on Halloween. (Don’t laugh at that one, I know it was horrendous.)
7 minutes or so remaining: Freshman walk-on Luke Glendening just had an amazing one-on-one opportunity with the goalie coming off the bench, but missed high and right on the goalie’s glove side in his first game donning the maize and blue. Now he has a really cool “Oh man, I almost made an awesome play in my first game but didn’t” memory. That counts for something, right
4:54 remaining: Michigan. On the power play. Again. For the 12th time this weekend. … And scratch that, Rust just got called for interfence, so it’s even strength. Oh wait, scratch that again again. St. Lawrence was just called for contact to the head for some classic 4-on-3 hockey that we all just dream about.
3:11 remaining: And this one is getting out of control fast. It’s 3-on-3 right now. Seriously. Turnbull was just called for unsportsmanlike conduct after falling into the Saints’ goal. If I were to describe the Yost cheers right now, family friendly would not be anywhere near that sentence.
43 seconds remaining: I guess the only way to describe a crazy period full of penalties is with an unexpected goal from an unexpected source. Llewellyn just notched his first career goal from the left point on a slap shot that sort of skipped back up near the net, a la a rock on water, if that makes any sense. Either way, the goalie misjudged it and the shot gave Michigan a 1-0 lead.
Michigan 1, St. Lawrence 0
A few seconds later: The Saints just had a big missed opportunity, when they hit the left post and Hogan wasn’t able to clear the rebound which went right up the middle. But Michigan managed to escape the period with a lead.
Shots for the period: Michigan 5, St. Lawrence 3.
Second period:
18 minutes or so remaining: Michigan has had two decent offensive opportunities right out of the break. In the first minute, Summers (back to playing defense) took the puck all the way up the ice, weaving through the Saits before getting a solid shot on goal and displaying the offensive potential that moved him up to forward early in the year. The other chance was a 2-on-1 with Turnbull and Caporusso, but the St. Lawrence defenseman did a great job of blocking the pass a few feet in front of the crease.
15:29 remaining: Assist guru Palushaj just netted the second goal for the Wolverines tonight. Hagelin took the initial shot, Rust tipped it, then Palushaj, positioned on the right crease, wristed it into the top of the net for the score.
Michigan 2, St. Lawrence 0
9:12 remaining: Just as Michigan seems to be getting into a (relatively) better groove offensively, the Wolverines go on the power play to try and end their 0-for-13 drought. … And you can go ahead and make that 0-for-14.
2:53 remaining: Langlais was just called for obstruction (holding), but just three seconds later St. Lawrence forward McBride was sent to the box for high sticking (contact to the head), so it’s 4-on-4 for now.
And that ends the period. Czarnik set Kampfer up very well on an odd-man rush towards the end of the frame, but Kampfer wasn’t able to convert while crashing the net. Overall, a much better period for the Wolverines than the first.
Shots for the period: Michigan 9 (14), St. Lawrence 5 (8)
Third period:
Beginning of the period: Michigan is starting on the penalty kill after Llewellyn was called for roughing at the end of the second. Also of note, St. Lawrence is now using its third different goalie on the weekend.
17:30 remaining: And we have another Wolverine power play with defenseman Derek Keller getting called for tripping. … But once again, Michigan couldn’t muster anything.
14:22 remaining: And those missed power-play chances are coming back to haunt the Wolverines. St. Lawrence just took a nice outlet pass up the ice and snuck a puck by Hogan’s stick side.
Michigan 2, St. Lawrence 1
8:34 remaining: After off-setting penalties made it a 4-on-4 game, Turnbull centered the puck to Caporusso from the right circle, who found the back of the net on a nice-looking shot.
Michigan 3, St. Lawrence 1
Moments later: St. Lawrence struck right back with a score of its own, cutting back into Michigan’s lead and keeping it a one-goal game.
Michigan 3, St. Lawrence 2
6:04 remaining: First off, this place is getting damn loud. Second off, Michigan just got a good break when Hogan was pushed back into the net, making it come loose, and therefore negating the goal that was scored milliseconds afterwards. It stood up under review, and the score remains 3-2 Michigan.
4:58 remaining: Speaking of ugly goals, the Saints just scored after a a centering pass deflected off of Miller, caught Hogan off guard, and found its way into the net.
Michigan 3, St. Lawrence 3
4:01 remaining: I can’t type fast enough, apparently. Palushaj just took the puck up ice, struggled with a defender in front of the net, but as he fell to the ice Palushaj got some air under the puck and lit the lamp for the second time tonight. So much for him just being an assist guy.
Michigan 4, St. Lawrence 3
8.9 seconds remaining: Czarnik had a great setup pass earlier, but this time Lebler was able to convert on the other end, finding the top of the net as he fell backwards for the first Michigan power-play goal of the year. And that just about wraps this one up.
Michigan 5, St. Lawrence 3
Check back online very shortly for an online update on the game, and the Daily’s SportsMonday for our full coverage of the weekend. Have a good one.