October 22, 2009 - 9:02pm
LIVE: Michigan's home opener vs. Niagara
BY MICHAEL FLOREK
We are live from Yost for Michigan's home opener and their first game in 12 days. They take on a pesky Purple Eagles (0-2-1) team who lost 4-3 to St. Lawrence just five days ago. Before we get started: if you haven't read 2009 Faceoff yet, read it. It will blow your mind, it's that good.
We have some breaking injury news, right winger Ben Winnett is out with a lingering groin injury that he hurt last Thursday. Scooter Vaughan (yes Scooter) will take his spot on the first line next to Caporusso and Wohlberg. The full lineups for tonight.
Michigan
25 Wohlberg- 29 Caporusso - 3 Vaughan
12 Hagelin - 19 Rust - 10 Brown
14 Lebler - 21 Treais - 27 Czarnik
22 Rohrkemper - 11 Lynch - 23 Glendening
Defense
4 Summers - 34 Llewellyn
6 Burlon - 5 Kampfer
7 Langlais - Patyern
35 Hogan
Niagara
9 P. Zanette - 21 Moran - 22 Haczyk
23 Goodwin - 11 Olidis - 10 Mironov
29 Iuorio - 26 Ross - 19 Baco
27 Hannan - 8 M. Zanette - 15 Vandenberg
Defense
7 Gotto - 3 Beattie
12 Chartrain - 5 Burichin
28 Weiss - 4 Matthews
1 Avramenko
Niagara has two scorers who put up a majority of the points, Moran and Mironov. Michigan has to keep an eye on them if they want to keep the puck out of the net.
Come back closer to the game for more updates. It will be interesting to see if the student section (which is very sparse right now) can pronounce Avramenko correctly.
We are about ot get this started. The veteran side of the student section, the one by the band has filled up. The freshman side is lacking, but what can you expect out of freshmen.
Rust's line will get the start on offense with Summers and Llewellyn on defense.
19:18 We are playing hockey again in Yost, and the Wolverines came out strong - literally. Summers and Brown had two big neutral zone hits. Niagara took and early penalty. the first opportunity for a power play that has gone 2-for-6 on the season
18:13 That was quick. Langlais jumped made an outlet pass to Czarnik to create a 2-on-1. Czarnik then fed it to a wide open Treais who just tapped it in. 1-0 Michigan
16:32 This one could be high scoring. Another power play goal. After a blocked shot by Pateryn, Rust picked up the puck and fed it to Hagelin on the back door who buried it. 2 shots, 2 goals. 2-0 Michigan
15:15 Hogan (who was the subject of one of the features in Faceoff, really you should read it) makes his first tough stop on the game. He kicked his right leg out to make a pad save on a wide up shot from the point.
11:02 Michigan has kept the physical play up. Even smaller guys like Rust have laid the lumber on the Niagara defense. The play has been in the Purple Eagle zone about 70 percent of the time.
9:22 Niagara has switched to the Box-and-one on defense. They form a box from the top of the circles to the goal crease with one guy in the middle looking to break as soon as they get the puck. It has worked so far, the Wolverines have been relegated to the perimeter of the zone for the past couple of minutes.
8:22 This one has blowout poential. Kampfer jumped into the play and fed a pass to Lebler who went quickly to Czarnik. He put it five hole. It was a text book tic-tac-toe play. 3-0 Michigan.
4:50 Niagara has picked pit up a little bit, after cycling in the corner Olidis picked up a rebound on a shot from the point and put it past Hogan. 3-1 Michigan At least the "ugly parents" chant never stops being funny.
End of Period Llewellyn picked up a cross checking penalty with 1:20 left in the period, so the Wolverines will be shorthanded when the start the second. Other than that and the goal given up it was a solid period for the Michigan. Niagara started pushing the play near the end of the period and evened up the shots at 10.
The tricycle race just took place and not surprisingly the guy in the goofy hat, Ryan, won. The other guy played a more physical game, laying a nice hit behind the net, but you never challenge a guy in a goofy hat. Never.
Second Period
20:00 We are ready to go in the second period. Rust, Hagelin, Kampfer, and Summers will start the period on the penalty kill.
19:18 After an uneventful power play by Niagara, they compounded the damage by turning the puck over. Capporusso and Wohlberg went in 2-on-0 on the goalie, but after a feed from Caporusso, Wohlberg clanged it off the post.
17:04 Pateryn just laid the smackdown on a Niagara forward. In an attempt to get even P. Zanette went in for a check, but got his hand up a little too high. Another powerplay for Michigan.
12:18 Caporusso just snuck behind the defensemen and went in on a breakaway. He chose to uncork a wrister, but Avarmenko was up to the task sprawling out and making a pretty glove save.
11:42 We are about half way through the game and I have to say the for opening night, the student section has been a little disappointing. It has filled up, but there have been only standard cheers and even with Shegos as the ref, a crowd favorite no impromptu cheers have been started. Maybe it is because it's Thursday, but I expected better. Oh and Michigan has another power play.
8:35 Shovel boy makes the rare appearance, and he came to play today. He picked up a nice pile of ice off the benches and didn't dropped any ice at all. He is in mid season form already. Also, another Wolverine power play, that is not a joke.
4:20 The crowd must read the blog. They are getting vulgar now.
3:13 Caporusso must be good. The only way the Niagara defense could stop him was with an all out tackle. It worked, but that's a penalty. One more power play for the Wolverines.
0:46 Hogan stopped a 2-on-1 at the expense of his stick. Langlais gave Hogan his, but he couldn't use it to stop a shot from right in front of him. 3-2 Michigan
End of period There was a little scuffle after the goal and that resulted in Langlais and Niagara's Gotto going to the box. 4-on-4 to start the third. Quietly Niagara is back in this game. Shots: 19-18 Michigan
Score-O is back and Charles Ellis just missed on the first shot of the season, he hit the side of the Score-O hole. That rattled him, he missed his other shot long. Austin, the little kid got a little help from the interns, but give a nice fist pump after scoring.
Third Period
One quick note: Niagara's Gotto also got a 10 minute misconduct for his role in the extracurricular activity after Niagara's second goal. He was playing in the top defensemen pairing before the penalty.
16:32 Uneventful period so far, although Wohlberg have the chance to spray the goalie in the face with on ice when he stopped. It was after an errant pass. Surprisingly, there was no penalty called.
15:43 With Michigan shorthanded, Rust stole the puck and went in on a 1-on-1. He dragged the puck in with the toe of his stick and then pushed the puck back out and the defensemen was lost. He couldn't finish the scoring chance however, putting the puck right into the logo on the goalie's jersey.
10:48 Hagelin and Rust have been fantastic on the penalty kill. The whole PK unit hasn't given up a goal yet, but both of the players mentioned above have generated scoring chances as well. Hagelin just picked up a puck in the neutral zone and put it right on the tape of Rust in the slot, but Rust mishandled it and didn't even get the shot through.
9:21 Llewellyn just caught the puck as the whistle blew and chucked it two rows deep in the parent's section behind the bench. That is an easy way to get a souvenir for your family.
5:58 Red can't be happy with the defensive zone coverage. Niagara already has 28 shots against Hogan.
5:19 I am liking this fourth line. Glendening and Rohrkemper are scrappy guys, while Lynch is the physical prescence. They haven't seen much of the ice, but they have made the most of their opportunities. Glendening just hit the post.
2:40 Glendening stole the puck again (this time 5-on-5) and went in on a breakaway. He faked forehand went high backhand but Avarmenko got the blocker on it.
1:20 Close call for the Wolverines, a miscommunication between Hogan and Kampfer led to Hogan dropping the puck right on the stick of Niagara. Hogan dove back into the net, but the Michigan forwards were able to prevent any harm. Timeout Niagara.
0:42 Empty net for Niagara and faceoff to the left of Hogan.
0:31 Capporusso is having a bad day. Wohlberg fought to get the puck out and Scooter picked it up and dished to Capporusso. Instead of shooting he skated until he was 2 inches from the net and the backchecking Niagara defensemen dove and poke checked it away.
End of Game A solid win for the Wolverines to open the season but Berenson cannot be happy about being giving up 34 shots. The final shots: Michigan 33, Niagara 34. Check the Daily tomorrow for full coverage of this game and then check back Saturday for our live blog in Boston as the Wolverines take on Boston University.
