Wolverines end Wildcats season

The Michigan Wolverines made a statement this weekend at the expense of the Northern Michigan Wildcats. After beating the Cats, 4-1, on Friday night, Michigan embarrassed NMU on FSN Detroit with an 8-3 victory to complete the sweep.

The Wolverines will advance to play Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena while the Wildcats begin looking for pro contracts and new recruits to fill the plethora of holes on this team.

Northern scored three power-play goals from Pat Bateman, Mike Santorelli and Ray Kaunisto. T.J. Hensick had a hat trick for Michigan.

Bill Zaniboni was pulled from the NMU net during the second period after allowing five goals. He allowed four in the second and while he looked shaky, there wasn't much he could do as the Wolverines sliced and diced the NMU defense. Brian Stewart finished the game but was pelted just as hard.

For a more complete look at tonight's game, check out our live game-day blog here. Kyle blogged live from Yost Ice Arena while I piped in from Marquette, watching on FSN Detroit.

Game 2 looms

The Wildcats and Wolverines will face off again tonight in the historic Yost Ice Arena. Northern needs a win to force a decisive game three, while Michigan will secure an 18th straight trip to the Joe Louis Arena with a victory tonight.

The puck drops at 7:35 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FSN. Live blog posts will also be posted on Tech Still Sucks II.

Wildcats drop game one to Wolverines

For the NMU Wildcats, Friday night was a microcosm of the 2006-2007 season on a whole.

After digging a hole against the Michigan Wolverines, falling behind 3-0 in the first period, NMU just couldn't dig their way out, ultimately losing 4-1.

Freshman netminder Brian Stewart got the start for the Wildcats and began the game sluggishly, as did his teammates. In the first period alone, Stewart allowed three goals on ten shots.

After that first intermission, though, Stewart was a different goaltender and he made a plethora of sprawling saves to hold the Wolverine goal total at three. At the end of the night, Stewart had allowed just the three goals on 37 Michigan shots. All of this was done in front of a hostile Wolverine crowd that will call you every dirty name in the book as you head to the penalty box and will give a freshman goalie hell.

“Stewie was fine. They had one goal – their power-play goal – that was from a bad angle and it was something that he potentially could have had," NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. "Other than that I thought he did a great job. This is a tough environment. It’s a hell of a lot tougher place to play than it was down in Columbus last week, based on the crowd.”

Walt would not yet announce tomorrow's starting goaltender.

Trailing 3-0, NMU got a little help from forward Nick Sirota when he opened the second period by netting a goal just 1:20 into the frame. The marker came after he took a pass from Bobby Selden and streaked along the boards toward the net. Coming in alone at netminder Billy Sauer's left side, Sirota fired a perfect shot, top-shelf and past Sauer's ear.

The single goal was all that the Wildcats could muster, despite numerous opportunities in front of the Michigan net and an oft-surprised Sauer.

NMU controlled the pace of play for nearly the entire third period, but every time the Wolverine forwards get the puck, they are a definite threat. UM's Andrew Cogliano finished out the scoring by firing in an empty-net goal at the 19:09 mark of the third.

The NMU power-play got little exercise tonight and the Wildcats were on the advantage for just 59 seconds in the game. Michigan, on the other hand, took advantage of nine NMU penalties. Although they went just 1-6 with the extra skater, the Wolverines fired twelve power-play shots and had a man advantage for 10:22.

If NMU hopes to win game two tomorrow they must control the pace of play and stay out of the box. It will be near-impossible to win a special teams game against the Wolverines. Also, Stewart (or whoever is in net) needs to, once again, stand on his head.

The two teams face off again tomorrow night at 7:35. The game will be brodcast on FSN, as well.

Santorelli Named as CCHA Player of the Year Finalist

Fresh off of his assignment as a First Team All-CCHA forward, Mike Santorelli has been named as one of the three finalists for the RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Year award.

The other two finalists are Michigan forward TJ Hensick and Notre Dame goaltender David Brown.

Hensick, then a sophomore, was a nominee in 2005 for CCHA Player of the Year but was beat out by NMU senior goaltender Tuomas Tarkki, the last Wildcat to win the award.

The full release can be found here.

Other awards include Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Offensive Defenseman of the Year, Defensive Defenseman of the Year and Defensive Forward of the Year.

There are no Wildcat finalists in any other categories.

Live from Ann Arbor: Part Two

"It's been a long four years, Batesy," NMU head coach Walt Kyle said to the Wildcat senior and leader. "Let's make it longer."

After watching an open skate for an hour, the Wildcats practiced for an hour and a half today in the Yost Ice Arena. Then they were able to sit back and watch as Red Berenson led the Wolverines through a practice.

After boarding the bus, Walt yelled the above phrase to NMU captain Pat Bateman, who was in the rear of the bus. And it spoke volumes.

Bateman and the other seniors are 9-7 in the CCHA Playoffs and they have reached the Joe the last three years. But they have never won the year-ending tournament. And this is their last chance. After a skate around tomorrow, the Wildcats will face off against the Wolverines and they will try, once more, to make the 2006-2007 season longer.

That may prove to be a difficult task against a big, fast Michigan team. Miami, another quick team, visited Marquette to round out the regular season and they were hopefully a decent warm-up for the 'Cats.

I will try to make in-game posts, but the Yost internet setup was giving me trouble today. If I can't get the posts up in-game, I will put them up afterwards.

"Old Time Hockey"

Former Wildcat Nathan Oystrick is at it again. In the third period of last night's 4-1 win over the Houston Aeros (and former Michigan Tech goon John Scott), Nathan Oystrick and Ryan Hamilton go at it after Nathan performs a "highlight reel" worthy (and very clean) hip check.



Video captured and posted by 'Wolfkeeper' at www.wolfkeeper.org.

Live from Ann Arbor: Part One

After driving for two hours in the midst of an early-morning snow storm, I arrived in Marquette just in time to board the bus for Ann Arbor. Twelve hours (and two movies) later, the Wildcat bus arrived at Yost Arena.

The team stopped over in Gaylord where they skated at the Otsego County Sportsplex, running through a 2+ hour practice. They looked fairly sharp, with Sardsy displaying his one-time wrister and Stewart looking great in net.

The start is his on Friday.

It's kind of too bad for Zaniboni, too, but everyone says that he is taking the shift well.

The 'Cats will get to skate in Yost tomorrow and will then rest up for the Wolverines.

I'll post more later, I'm exhausted now.