SHORTHANDED WOLVERINES DOWN TECH, 4-2

One step closer. That's what the Michigan hockey team is to capturing their
first Great Lakes Invitational title since
1996 as they downed Michigan Tech, 4-2, this evening at Joe Louis Arena.

The Wolverines were without five regulars--T.J. Hensick, Mike Brown, Kevin
Porter, Matt Hunwick, and Al Montoya--
who are all away at the World Junior Championships. In addition, they were
without defenseman Eric Werner, who
skated in warm up but did not play.

For the most part, U-M used five rotating defensemen and David Rolhfs took a few
shifts on the blue line, too. While
they were sloppy at times in clearing the puck, for the most part they did their
job and played a solid game.

Any doubts that this team can't win the title was put to rest tonight. The
Wolverines pretty much dominated Tech
from start to finish, though didn't pull away until the third period.

U-M took a 1-0 lead 4:58 in to the contest when Brandon Kaleniecki stuffed home
a rebound past Huskie netminder
Cam Ellsworth just after a Wolverine power play expired.

Had it not been for Ellsworth's stellar play, the game would have been over by
the end of the first period. The
Wolverines peppered him with 19 shots, several of which were quality scoring
chances, but Ellsworth held his ground.

Tech would tie the game 9:42 in to the second period after a strange sequence in
which they were awarded the goal
upon video replay. As a pair of players were leaning on the back of the net
propping it up, Tyler Skworchinski's shot
from the slot slid in the net and right out the back. The goal judge didn't
turn on the light, though the MTU players
started celebrating, and play continued. At the next whistle, the referee went
upstairs and gave the Huskies the goalie
after review.

Michigan would regain the lead with 2:19 remaining in the period as a falling
Jason Ryznar to the left of the net spun
on his knees and threw a incredible perfect blind backhanded pass across the
crease to Charlie Henderson, and he
knocked it in to a wide open net for his first goal of the season.

Ryznar would give the Wolverines some breathing room with 6:52 remaining in the
third period when he buried a
rebound off David Moss' shot past Ellsworth. Then 2:27 later on the power play,
Moss would bang in a pass from Eric
Nystrom to make it 4-1.

Tech's Tyler Shelast would get one more goal with 2:29 left in regulation on the
power play. U-M goalie Noah Ruden
made a few stops, but Shelast kept whacking at the puck until he finally got one
past Ruden.

Ruden played a very solid game in net stopping 29 shots, while his counterpart
from Tech stopped 44 shots.

Michigan will face the winning of the Michigan State/New Hampshire game tomorrow
night for the championship.
Right now the Spartans are leading 2-1 in the second period.

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Well, any doubts about this team were laid to rest tonight. Okay, so facing a
1-15-1 Tech team isn't the best way to
really judge them, but any time you're missing six of your top players and you
play as strong as U-M did today, that's
great news.

The Wolverines dominated along the boards all game. Jason Ryznar is just
amazing along the boards. He must have
a 10 foot reach with stick because any time the puck was near him he was
grabbing and controlling it. Now if only
he could use that body strength to carry the puck out front and bury it like
Jason Botterill used to. His line with Moss
and Henderson really worked the puck well all night.

If U-M can turn in another total team effort like they did today, the GLI title
could very well be back in Ann Arbor
tomorrow night.

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And while mentioning the missing Wolverines, I believe their World Junior game
is on ESPN2 right now, so check that
out if you're around. Kevin Porter and T.J. Hensick each scored the other
night. In fact, Porter's goal sounded
something like this... "Kessel... to Porter... scooooore!" The prized recruit
everyone is after, Phil Kessel was just
amazing to watch and he made an incredible one-on-one play to get past his man
then sent a perfect pass for a
streaking Porter to redirect in to the net. I hope we get to hear more Kessel
to Porter in the future!

That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net/