MICHIGAN 3, NORTHERN MICHIGAN 1

Brandon Kaleniecki broke out of his scoring slump and Chad Kolarik continued his scoring streak as Michigan opens their road series at Northern Michigan with a 3-1 victory.

A huge win for the Wolverines as most people expected the Wildcats to put forth a strong game after being swept at Michigan State last weekend.  NMU's defense held the high-powered Wolverine offense without a shot for the first seven minutes of the game.  Both teams certainly had their chances, too.  NMU goalie Bill Zaniboni stoned T.J. Hensick on a clean breakaway, then minutes later an NMU player split the defense and was stopped by U-M goalie Billy Sauer.  The major key was Michigan not only weathered the storm, but escaped the first period without giving up a goal to help deflate some of NMU's momentum and keep the crowd out of the game.

In the second period, Kaleniecki jump started the offense at 4:35 on the power play when he redirected a shot by Matt Hunwick for his second goal of the season.  Two minutes later, Travis Turnbull shoved the puck across the blueline where Kolarik picked it up and went top shelf to put the Wolverines ahead, 2-0.

NMU had several good point blank scoring opportunities, but Sauer continued his strong play turning aside 11 shots in the second period.

In the third period, Michigan started to take more control, but Zaniboni kept the 'Cats in the game.  Then with just under five minutes to go, the Wildcats killed off a penalty and Bobby Selden hit Darin Olver with a home run pass down the center of the ice.  Olver went in on the breakaway and beat Sauer to bring the Berry Events Center to life.

Business picked up following that goal, and the Wildcats had a fury of opportunities.  With a faceoff in the U-M zone with just under a minute to play, they pulled Zaniboni for the 6-on-5 advantage.  They had several chances in front of the net, but finally the Wolverines cleared the zone and Hensick put in an empty netter with four seconds left to ice the game.

Sauer finished with 25 saves for the Wolverines, while Zaniboni kept the 'Cats in the game with 21 saves.

The Wolverines and Wildcats wrap up their weekend series tomorrow night.

I will have video clips of the game online probably by Sunday night.

CCHA SCORES
at Ferris State 6, Western Michigan 0
Miami 3, at LSSU 0
Nebraska-Omaha 7, at Michigan State 4
at Notre Dame 4, Bowling Green 2

THURSDAY SCORE
at Notre Dame 9, Bowling Green 4

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

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