WOLVERINES SOAR PAST FALCONS, 6-1
Stop the presses!
COOK SCORES! COOK SCORES!
It was a whole new Michigan hockey team that showed up at Yost Ice Arena tonight. Despite missing Jack Johnson due to his suspension, and Brandon Kaleniecki and Jason Bailey to injury, the Wolverines got off to a fast start and dominated Bowling Green, 6-1.
Freshman Andrew Cogliano had two goals and setup Tim Cook's first career goal, while senior netminder Noah Ruden got his second consecutive start and turned aside 26 shots for the win.
Captain Andrew Ebbett said they needed to get off to a strong start and he saw to it personally. Ebbett put the Wolverines on the board just 1:11 into the opening stanza when he gloved the puck out of air between the circles, put it down and fired a shot through a pair of legs that beat Falcons goalie Jimmy Spratt in the top corner.
The Wolverines then got back-to-back power play opportunities. They didn't score on the first, but Cogliano banged in a centering pass from Travis Turnbull at 4:31 to snap U-M's 0-for-25 power play streak.
Michigan controlled a lot of play in the opening period and looked very sharp. Passes were connecting, they were able to control the puck, move it out of their zone, limit turnovers, and create scoring opportunities. They did take one dumb penalty after the period ended when Brett Pilkington had his stick across T.J. Hensick's stomach and after not letting go for a few seconds, Hensick gave him a chop to the right thigh and Pilkington dropped like a tree. It didn't look like much of a hard chop by Hensick--perhaps he hit a soft spot. But still a bad reaction on his part.
But it turned out to be okay. Early in the second period while killing the penalty, the Wolverines would break out shorthanded. Cogliano crossed into the Falcons zone and dropped the puck off to Tim Miller, who passed it back to Cogliano in the right circle. Cogs cut across the front of the net and did a behind the back drop pass, sending the puck right in front to Tim Cook and a wide open net for the shorthanded goal at 1:56. It took 82 games for Cook to get the monkey off his back and his teammates mobbed him. According to Cook, "It's an honor! It's an honor! It's an honor!" is what setup man Andrew Cogliano said to him after the goal.
Two minutes later Chad Kolarik sent a pass across to Cogliano in the right circle. His shot was stopped, but he got his own rebound and snuck a shot upstairs on Spratt to make it 4-0.
The Falcons finally got on the scoreboard with 8:53 left in the second period. Jonathan Matsumoto skated across the Michigan blueline and passed the puck over to Don Morrison, who fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot that Ruden overplayed and got beat on his blocker side.
The Wolverines would get the goal back 1:48 later when Hensick buried a classic coast-to-coast rush. T.J. skated out of the left side of the U-M zone, put a move around Jon Sitko at center ice, skated in to the BGSU zone, cut in towards the net at the top of the left circle to avoid a sliding Bowling Green defenseman, and put the puck five-hole on Spratt. Just an amazing goal.
Michigan got into their only real penalty trouble right afterwards as Cogliano went to the box for hooking and Mark Mitera joined him 1:30 later, giving BGSU a back-to-back power play with 30 seconds of 5-on-3, but the penalty kill was strong all night and managed to kill it off.
In the third period, a rather tame period until there was 7:53 left and a brawl broke out. Originally there was to be a holding call against the Falcons Kevin Schmidt for holding Cogliano when he carried the puck into the BGSU zone. After the Falcons touched the puck to stop play, Tim Miller bumped into Schmidt a few steps late. But then Tyler Swystun shoved James Unger in the back and Unger fell into Miller, which started the chain reaction. Several players started getting in each other's faces and pushing and shoving. Miller was shown throwing forearms at one BGSU player, and then he grabbed Pilkington around the neck and threw him down to the ice. Schmidt then came in and returned the favor to Miller. Jason Dest and Jon Sitko were shown jabbing each other in the face. Miller and Schmidt were shown together again with each player grabbing the other player's jersey with their left hand circling around. Schmidt didn't have a glove on his other hand and Miller had his stick in his free hand, but nothing more came of it. After all was said and done, all players were lucky to only receive minor roughing penalties and Michigan ended up with a two minute power play.
U-M wouldn't cash in on the power play, but would soon afterwards after some nice passing. Hensick along the left boards passed the puck between the circles to Miller, who sent it to a wide open Kevin Porter to the left of the net. Porter cut across the front and put a backhander between the legs of Spratt to finish off the scoring with 5:15 left in regulation.
A very strong effort tonight by the Wolverines. They were much more focused, minimized their time in the box (save for the third period scuffle), were sharp on the power play, penalty kill, even strength and Ruden was solid in net. The Falcons struggled all night with really sloppy play and tons of turnovers. They didn't seem to be very prepared for the Michigan team they saw tonight. The real test will be tomorrow night at Bowling Green to see if the Wolverines can put together a complete weekend of hockey for the first time since their home sweep of Nebraska-Omaha over a month ago.
Highlights of the game should be available tomorrow on MHNet.
CCHA SCORES
Miami 6, Western Michigan 1
Northern Michigan 5, Notre Dame 2
Michigan State 4, Nebraska-Omaha 3 (ot)
Ferris State 2, Lake Superior State 2
Ohio State at Alaska Fairbanks (late game)
Assistant Coach Powers Honored with Flanagan Award
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Assistant coach Billy Powers of the University of Michigan ice hockey team has been recognized as the Terry Flanagan Award recipient for 2006, the American Hockey Coaches Association announced on Thursday (Jan. 19). The award honors an assistant coach's career body of work. Powers has been an assistant coach for the Wolverines since the 1992-93 season.
Powers has been a very successful assistant coach for 16 seasons, spending the last 14 seasons at Michigan. Prior to returning to his alma mater (Michigan, '88) he coached two seasons at Illinois-Chicago. During Powers' coaching career at Michigan, no other college program has had the success that Michigan has had. Heading into the 2005-06 campaign, Michigan's record while Powers has been an assistant coach was 391-121-40 (.745).
According to Michigan head coach Red Berenson, "Billy Powers is the consummate assistant coach. He is a tireless recruiter who has great concern for his players. He is a very knowledgeable coach in regard to game tactics. He has an outstanding work ethic and is a true leader in every sense."
U-M associate head coach Mel Pearson also won the Terry Flanagan Award following the 1999-2000 season.
The AHCA will formally present the 2006 AHCA major awards in April in Naples, Fla., at the 2006 AHCA Convention. The Terry Flanagan Award is named in honor of the former New Hampshire player and Bowling Green assistant.
That's all for now...
Go Blue!
Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net
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