#1 Michigan 5, Niagara 1

Kevin Porter all but sealed his bid for the Hobey Baker Award by
turning in a four goal performance to lead the Wolverines past
Niagara, 5-1. The Wolverines will face Clarkson tomorrow night at 7
p.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN-U.

It was a slow start to the game as the opening period had no scoring
despite the Wolverines outshooting Niagara 11-4.

But the Purple Eagles got into some late period penalty trouble, which
carried over to the second stanza, and it took Max Pacioretty just 55
seconds into the 2nd period to capitalize and give the Wolverines a
1-0 lead.

From there on out it was pretty much all Porter. He gave U-M a 2-0
lead midway through the second period when he took a pass from Chad
Kolarik and split the defense and went five hole.

Porter gave the Wolverines the all important three goal lead at 8:55
of the third period, then completed the hat trick at 11:02 on the
power play as chants of "Hobey Baker!" rang out.

The Purple Eagles would ruin Billy Sauer's shutout bid with 4:10 left
in the third period after a turnover in the Michigan zone, but Porter
would add an empty netter late in regulation to ice the game.

Porter's four goals give him a nation leading 32 goals on the season.
The last Wolverine to score 30+ goals was Bill Muckalt in 1997-98.
Chad Kolarik and Max Pacioretty also posted four point nights as
Kolarik had four assists and Patch a goal and three assists.

No 'Molly' this year--In the day's early game, #3 seed Clarkson
defeated #2 seed St. Cloud State, 2-1. Associate athletic director
and director of media relations Bruce Madej was a bit disappointed we
won't get a rematch of the infamous mascot brawl that took place
before Michigan's 2002 West Regional contest against St. Cloud State
at Yost Ice Arena which saw the Huskies mascot spear defenseman
Brandon Rogers right next to the Michigan net as the Wolverines were
huddling before the game, which caused a melee to erupt and the entire
team going after the mascot. Backup goalie Kevin O'Malley had the
most memorable moment as he went airborne and tried to jump over the
official down the entry tunnel throwing punches at the mascot.

Irish upset top seed--In another great showing for the CCHA, #4 seed
Notre Dame did something their football couldn't do last year--score
seven points. The Irish knocked off #1 seed New Hampshire, 7-3, in
the West Regional and will face the winner of Colorado College vs.
Michigan State, which is currently ongoing.

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net