Michigan Dominates Alaska on Friday, Loses in Shootout on Saturday

By Sean · Tuesday, January 19, 2010 · 9:03 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

Early on, Friday night’s game between Michigan and Alaska looked like it was going to be another performance filled with lots of shots and very few goals.  Michigan was clearly dominating Alaska during the first period, but as time winded down, there was still no score.  That quickly changed, though, once the clock hit three minutes left in the period.  Michigan got on the board thanks to a goal by Lee Moffie, and it was all downhill from there for Alaska.  Chris Brown tipped a shot from the point into the net for a power-play goal only 27 seconds later, and Brian Lebler sniped a goal 56 seconds later to put Michigan on top 3-0.

The first period came to an end in very surprising fashion with an onslaught of Michigan goals and led to a goalie change when the second period got underway.  Alaska’s backup goalie sieve also allowed 3 goals during his time on the ice, though they came much more spread out instead of all 3 in a span of 1:23.  A.J. Treais knocked in the puck on a centering pass for the second period’s only goal.  In the third period Michigan got another goal from Brian Lebler as well as one from Lindsay Sparks.  In net for Michigan, Bryan Hogan stopped all 17 shots he faced, giving Michigan an impressive 6-0 victory.

Saturday night’s game was much, much more dramatic.  Michigan went down after Alaska scored with 1:15 left in the first period.  The Wolverines answered back when Chris Brown scored another power-play goal by deflecting a shot from the point, but the even score didn’t hold up for long.  Just 7 seconds after Brian Lebler went to the penalty box, Tristin Llewellyn took another dumb penalty of his own, giving Alaska an extended 5-on-3.  The fact that it was an extended 5-on-3 really didn’t matter all that much, though, because Alaska only needed around 40 seconds to break the tie.  Still on the power play, Alaska scored again 29 seconds later to take a 3-1 lead.  Yost Arena suddenly got very quiet.

Michigan began to battle its way back when Kevin Lynch scored a goal with just under five minutes left in the second period, but it felt like an eternity until that tying goal was scored.  Although Michigan clearly dominated play in the third period, the Wolverines didn’t tie the game until 17:41 in when Chad Langlais put a wrist shot past the Alaska goalie.  Yost exploded, and time ran out shortly after, giving Michigan its first overtime game since the loss to Notre Dame in the 2008 Frozen Four.  For Yost Arena, this was the first overtime game since February 2, 2008, when Michigan tied Northern Michigan 3-3 for the second night in a row.  Both of those games were part of a stretch where the Wolverines went to overtime in four out of five games, but there hadn’t been an overtime for Michigan in the regular season since that stretch until Saturday night.

In the overtime period, both teams had chances to end the game.  That was especially true for Alaska, as a Nanooks player had lots of room to work with and shot the puck right off the post.  From the position he was in it looked like Michigan was bound to lose, but then there was the noise of puck hitting iron, meaning the game was to continue.  It did, and eventually the overtime period expired with a still-tied game.  That meant for the first time since the rule was implemented last season, Michigan was finally going to get to participate in a shootout.

To me the difference in experience in shootouts seemed to show on Saturday night.  Unlike Michigan, which was competing in a shootout for the first time ever, Alaska had already been in three this season.  On top of that, the Nanooks were victorious in all three of them, good for the most wins via shootout in the CCHA.

For Michigan, each shooter was stoned by Alaska’s goalie.  Carl Hagelin and Chris Brown both tried to score by unexpectedly shooting, but Alaska’s goalie was ready and made a save each time.  Bryan Hogan did a tremendous job of keeping Alaska off the board for two rounds, but the Nanooks’ third shooter made a beautiful move and put the puck in the net.  Michigan’s last hope was Louie Caporusso, and Alaska’s goalie stoned him after a couple dekes, giving Alaska its fourth shootout victory of the season.

Although it was a disappointing finish, Michigan’s shootout loss is a difference of only one point in the CCHA standings.  Could that one point be big as Michigan fights for a first-round bye in the final month of the season?  Maybe, but for Michigan’s NCAA tournament hopes as an at-large team, the shootout is irrelevant since the game simply counts as a tie.  In that regard, this was a pretty good weekend and a tie is much better than a loss.  Still, Michigan needs to win and win often if it wants to even think about an at-large bid.

Michigan has a home-and-home with Ferris State coming up this weekend and an away-and-Joe Louis Arena series with Michigan State coming up next weekend, meaning the Wolverines have a golden opportunity to jump up in the rankings with a couple of perfect weekends.  Two straight perfect weekends is a bit of a stretch considering FSU and MSU are the third- and second-place teams in the CCHA, respectively, but even one sweep and a split would be more than fine by me.  (Both games against Ferris State — Michigan is home on Friday and away on Saturday — will be broadcast on CBS College Sports starting at 8:05 p.m.)