SAUER BACKSTOPS WOLVERINES TO OVERTIME WIN, 4-3

MARQUETTE--Brandon Naurato scored 2:21 into overtime as #2 ranked Michigan sweeps Northern Michigan for the first time ever in Marquette with a 4-3 overtime victory.  The Wolverines take over first place in the CCHA with 11 points, one point ahead of Ferris State and Miami.

U-M goalie Billy Sauer made 28 saves and was simply outstanding.  The Wildcats had a ridiculous amount of breakaways, odd-man rushes, and point blank shots.  Pad saves, glove saves, and a little help from the post, Sauer did it all to keep the Wolverines alive tonight.

The Wolverines got off to an early 1-0 lead shorthanded when Kevin Porter slammed in a cross-crease pass from Andrew Cogliano past NMU goalie Bill Zaniboni at 4:44 of the opening period.

The Wildcats would respond with a pair of goals to take their first lead of the night.  Jamie Milam ripped a shot from between the circles that beat Sauer on the power play at 8:36, then with 6:22 left in the period Matt Siddall picked up a loose puck at the blueline, skated in and fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot that found the far top corner of the net.

Early in the second period, Travis Turnbull would see his night end early as he checked Nathan Oystrick from behind along the boards and received a major penalty and game misconduct.  For those wondering, I was at the game, I videotaped the game, I just watched that moment on tape, and yes, it was a good call.  The puck was along the boards near the blueline, Oystrick went over to flip it back to the corner, and Turnbull smashed him in the back in to the boards.  They're going to call that one every time.

Down 2-1 already, the Wolverines had a huge penalty kill and they came through in a big way.  The Wildcats held the puck either in the U-M zone or on their half of the ice for nearly the first three minutes of the power play, which didn't allow U-M to make a line change.  Those guys must have been exhausted by the time they finally cleared the puck and made it to the bench.  Later on the penalty kill, Dirk Southern fed a pass to Mike Santorelli at the blueline and he went in all alone and Sauer came up with a big glove save.

As the Wolverines started to do a better job of clearing the puck after that and took time off the clock, a frustrated NMU fan next to me said, "Watch, Michigan's going to kill the penalty and score."

Eight seconds after killing off the major penalty, Naurato took a pass at the blueline and scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.  It seemed like a harmless shot, but Zaniboni misplayed it and had the puck go off his glove and in to the net.

In the middle of the period the Wildcats started to get in to penalty trouble.  During a 4-on-3 power play advantage, T.J. Hensick sent a pass across the slot to Jack Johnson at the right faceoff dot, and he one-timed it past Zaniboni to put the Wolverines back ahead, 3-2 with 6:51 left in the period.

Shortly after the Wolverine goal, Jason Bailey got caught by the linesman behind the play checking an NMU player into the boards from behind and received U-M's second major penalty and game misconduct of the period.  This one wasn't as bad, however, as the Wildcats ended up taking a pair of penalties to negate most of the major to Bailey, and the Wolverines would carry their lead over to the third period.

With Brandon Kaleniecki in the penalty box, Andy Contois turned and fired a shot from the left slot that beat Sauer five-hole at 8:43 to tie the game.

Moments later, with momentum back on their side, Milam carried the puck in to the U-M zone, squared up, and fired a bullet off the left post, then Matt Ciancio grabbed a turnover in the left circle and Sauer had to make a quick glove save.

With 8:13 left in regulation, Sauer was called for a horrible delay of game penalty by referee Steve McInchak.  Hensick was behind the NMU net and threw a pass out in front that missed everyone and traveled down ice with an NMU player in pursuit of it.  Sauer was about five feet out in front of the crease when he covered up the puck to draw the whistle, only a delay of penalty came with it.  Apparently the referee claims he was too far out of the crease.  I'm not sure of the exact rule, but Sauer was not in the faceoff circle and nowhere near beyond the hash marks, either.

On the ensuing power play, Sauer came up with another pair of big glove saves and stopped another after losing his stick to keep the game deadlocked.

The game was pretty tame the rest of regulation, so to overtime we go.  A few minutes in to the extra session, NMU had the first great scoring chance.  A shot from the sideboards was stopped and the rebound came out between the circles where Zach Tarkir fired it on net and Sauer came up with the stop.

Soon after that, back out in the neutral zone, Tim Miller caused the Wildcats to turn over the puck just outside their zone.  Naurato picked up the puck, skated in on the left side, and threw a rather weak wrist shot on net that got through Zaniboni again to win the game.  Zaniboni finished the game with 23 saves for NMU.

A huge road sweep for the Wolverines, who had never done the feat in Marquette.

U-M has a bye next weekend then they'll host Minnesota and Wisconsin at the College Hockey Showcase Thanksgiving weekend.

SAUER DENIED

Despite his standout performance tonight, Billy Sauer was not named one of the three stars of the game.  Top honors went to NMU's Andy Contois, who had a goal.  Brandon Naurato and his two goals earned him second star, and Jack Johnson was named the third star.  While not a big deal or anything, how Sauer was left off the list completely, I don't know, but he earned #1 star in my book.  Without his performance tonight, no way Michigan even wins the game.  As I said before, he was simply outstanding.

VIDEO CLIPS

I put up a few clips from last night's game on MHNet and I'll have more from last night and tonight online hopefully by tomorrow night.

CCHA SCORES
Nebraska-Omaha 3, at Michigan State 2 (ot)
at Lake Superior 3, Miami 2
Ferris State 5, at Western Michigan 3

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On one more fun note...  Maybe it's just me, but I saw Tim Cook after the game with his buzz cut and wearing glasses and I swear he looks like Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket!

That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net