HENSICK LEADS WOLVERINES TO THE JOE

"How do you stop the Michigan offense?" Fox Sports reporter Shireen
Saski asked NMU head coach Walt Kyle during the second intermission.

Kyle's response: "End the game."

T.J. Hensick capped off his final game at Yost Ice Arena with his
second career hat trick--and his first at home--to lead Michigan past
Northern Michigan, 8-3.

Michigan will face rival Michigan State in the CCHA semifinal, while
top seed Notre Dame will battle Lake Superior State, who completed an
upset sweep of Miami in Oxford tonight.

The Wolverines got off to another strong start. Hensick scored his
first of the night just 3:12 into the game off a defensive turnover in
the Wildcat zone.

Andrew Cogliano found Jack Johnson during a 3-on-2 rush and he beat
NMU goalie Bill Zaniboni with a one-timer to make it 2-0 at 8:21.

The Wilcats would cut the lead in half with 7:21 left in the opening
stanza on the power play when Darin Olver fed the puck to Pat Bateman
all alone in front of Billy Sauer and he beat the U-M netminder.

But the Wolverines would respond 1:20 later when Cogliano circled out
of the left corner back into the slot and threw a backhander past
Zaniboni to give U-M a 3-1 lead.

Late in the period, Johnson would carry the puck coast-to-coast and
put a beautiful move around the NMU defender in which he dropped the
puck between his own legs and swung around him towards the net, only
to have Zaniboni poke the puck up into the air and it landed on top of
the net.

However, on the ensuing faceoff, Hensick won it back to Porter, who
blasted it past Zaniboni in a play reminiscent of Bill Muckalt's slap
shot goals off the faceoff.

The Wolverines would carry the 4-1 lead over to the second period, but
just 2:33 in on the power play the Wildcats caught U-M in a line
change allowing Tim Hartung to find Mike Santorelli, and the CCHA's
leading goal scorer placed the puck past Sauer in the far corner of
the net to make it a two goal game.

But the Wolverines would respond with yet another onslaught. Hensick
would net his second of the night at 8:05 off a Matt Hunwick rebound,
which ended the night and NMU career for Zaniboni. Freshman Brian
Stewart, who played Friday night, replaced him.

And it made no difference. With 4:50 remaining in the second period,
Cogliano setup Chad Kolarik with one second left on a 5-on-3 power
play to make it 6-2.

Then with 23 seconds left in the period, Cogliano netted his second
goal of the night to make it 7-2.

Just how bad was it going for the Wildcats? At the end of the second
period, Michigan had more goals than Northern Michigan had shots on
goal. The Wolverines had seven goals while the Wildcats had only six
shots on net. Yikes!

NMU would get one more goal 4:15 into the third period, yet another
power play goal. Ray Kaunisto put the puck past a screen Sauer.

With 5:27 left in regulation, Hensick would complete the hat trick
with a wrist shot past Stewart.

Sauer would leave the game following the goal and finish the night
with 14 saves. Senior goalie Mike Mayhew would come on in relief and
make two saves over the final 5:27.

So next Friday, March 16 will be another classic Showdown at the Joe
between Michigan and Michigan State. The Wolverines are winless in
their last seven games against the Spartans at Joe Louis Arena, going
0-4-3 over the span. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit.

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

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