MILLER LIFTS WOLVERINES IN OPENER, 4-3
Victory dampened by possible loss of captain Mark Mitera

Michigan opened the college hockey season with a 4-3 win against St. Lawrence.

The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead before Ben Winnett
and Carl Hagelin scored late in the period to tie the game.

The Wolverines took the lead in the second period when Matt Rust found
Chad Langlais for the defenseman's first career goal. But the lead
was short lived when Mike McKenzie redirected a shot past U-M goalie
Billy Sauer 1:07 later.

Senior Tim Miller would be the night's hero, though, as he scored with
2:33 left in the third period to lift the Wolverines to a 4-3 victory.

Sauer finished the game with 28 saves, while SLU goalie Alex Petizian
kept the Saints in the game with 31 saves.

Michigan had several power play opportunities, but couldn't convert on
any of them and finished the game 0-for-9 with the man (and in two
cases, two-man) advantage.

CURSE OF THE 'C' STRIKES AGAIN?

As I noted during last night's game log on MHNet, Jim and Al said on
WTKA that Mark Mitera left the game with a knee injury. According to
U-M head coach Red Berenson after the game, "Mitera is getting an MRI
currently on his left knee. We do not know anything for sure, but we
can tell that it is going to be serious." Son of a ...

Junior Chris Summers, who began last night's game at forward, switched
back to defense as a result and will be counted on to lead the unit.

"He played well. He had to play well?-we needed him," Berenson said.
"Our defense was depleted. We had two injuries going into the game,
and then when Mitera goes down early in a close game like that, [we
needed Summers to step up]. Summers hadn't practiced on defense, but
you can see that he can play it."

The injuries refered to were sophomore Tristin Llewellyn and freshman
Brandon Burlon. Berenson said that Llewellyn should play tonight, but
Burlon is out. Junior defenseman Eric Elmblad played in last night's
game and recorded an assist.

HOGAN GETS THE NOD

Sophomore goaltender Bryan Hogan will also see action tonight.
Berenson said it was decided before the weekend that Billy Sauer and
Hoganwould split duties against St. Lawrence.

STANLEY CUP AT YOST

The Stanley Cup will be making an appearance at Yost Ice Arena tonight
at the north end of the arena. Fans wishing to get their picture
taken with it should get there early. Doors will open at 5 p.m.

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net