WOLVERINES COMEBACK FALLS SHORT, 4-3

For the first 20 minutes, the meeting between Minnesota and Michigan
was resembling their past handful of contests--the Gophers got off to
a strong start while the Wolverines struggled out of the gate.

The struggle allowed the Gophers to jump out to a 2-0 lead midway
through the first period on goals by R.J. Anderson and Blake Wheeler
just 1:20 apart.

But unlike their recent history, these young Wolverines didn't get the
memo that they were suppose to roll over and give up. Instead, they
came out and dominated the second period, peppering Minnesota goalie
Jeff Frazee with 20 shots, and freshman Matt Rust earned his first
career goal at 8:48 to cut the lead in half.

"We got a good forecheck in and some solid offensive-zone play," Rust
said. "We worked it down low and eventually got the puck in front. I
got a couple whacks at it and it went in."

The Gophers Ryan Flynn would strike early in the third to retake a two
goal lead. But Steve Kampfer would answer for the Wolverines just
over two minutes later to make it 3-2.

But again, just over two minutes later, back came the Gophers as
Patrick White put the puck past U-M goalie Billy Sauer.

Not so fast, however. Rust would net his second of the night at 10:32
to make it 4-3.

The Wolverines kept the pressure up by outshooting the Gophers 18-6 in
the third period, but a penalty on Rust with 2:01 left in regulation
all but ended their comeback hopes.

Frazee finished the game with 44 saves, while Sauer had 18 for the Wolverines.

Despite the loss, the young Wolverines put forth their best effort
against the Gophers in recent years, which has to be taken as an
encouraging sign.

"(The loss) told us as a team that having 12 freshmen a lot of teams
are going to try to pick on us, but that we can be a top team," Rust
said. "It's all about working hard. If we stick together as a team I
think there is no limit for us."

"For the second college game for these freshmen, I thought it was
great," senior captain Kevin Porter said. "Obviously we didn't come
up with the win, but I thought battling back was great. We fought back
and we scored a couple of goals, but we couldn't come up with it in
the end though.

"Since I've been here, they've always beaten us by a few goals. It's
finally nice to come close. I know we have them at Thanksgiving, so
hopefully we'll get them back then."

SATURDAY NIGHT CCHA SCORES
at North Dakota 6, Michigan State 0
at Minnesota-Duluth 4, Northern Michigan 0
Ohio State 5, Wisconsin 3
Notre Dame 4, Mercyhurst 0
at Western Michigan 5, Windsor 2
at Union 4, Ferris State 1
at Miami 4, Vermont 1

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net