MICHIGAN COULD DO NO WRONG
DETROIT, Mich. – In a game between a talented team playing for its NCAA tournament life and the No. 2 squad in the country there isn’t a lot of room for error. Lucky for Michigan, two of the few errors it committed in a surprising 5-2 blowout of Miami in Friday’s CCHA semifinal resulted in goals for the Wolverines.
Tristan Llewellyn started the scoring for Michigan
Wolverines’ forward Carl Hagelin notched two of his three assists on passes that were intended for teammate Matt Rust but ended up on the stick of Kevin Lynch, who put both pucks past Miami netminder and CCHA RBC Player of the Year Cody Reichard to help put the game out of reach for the RedHawks.
“Well the first time, when I went around the net, I knew they only had one (defenseman) in front of the net so I was trying to get it to either Rust or Lynch – they were both doing a good job crashing the net,” Hagelin said. “Same thing on the other play, I was for sure trying to find Rust in front of the net and he kind of missed the puck and Lynch is doing a good job getting to the net.”
While the Wolverines’ offensive outburst was certainly surprising against an exceptionally stingy Miami defense, perhaps the most notable part of Michigan’s success was its defensive play. Goaltender Shaun Hunwick continued his streak of excellent play since coming into the lineup for an injured Bryan Hogan during the final weekend of the regular season. He was aided greatly by teammates who blocked 14 shots and broke up countless passes with outstanding stick work.
Throughout the year, too many chances seemed to sneak through to Hogan due to deficiencies in clearing Michigan’s own zone, but Friday the Wolverines took their defensive will to win to a new level and it paid dividends.
“Coach talked a lot about refocusing on everything in the defensive zone, not just getting the stick in the puck lanes and things like that,” Hagelin said. “It’s more the will to block shots and win battles against the other team. We’re doing a good job right now, everyone’s coming back and our (defensemen) are playing terrific and so is our goaltender.”
Michigan coach Red Berenson also noted his team’s renewed focus on defense, and is happy that his team is doing all it can to solidify its legacy during the most important stretch of the season.
“There’s will, we know it’s just a game, but we know it’s a big game,” Berenson said. “These are our keynote games in the whole season, no matter what we did before, all that matters is what we do right now. There’s some urgency, but I don’t think there’s a lot of desperation, but they’re playing hard, they’re playing really hard.”
THE ‘WILDCAT’ ON ICE
The power of the Wildcat offense has been well-documented in the NFL, but the term has an entirely different yet equally intimidating connotation in the CCHA.
Northern Michigan’s offense yet again brought the Wildcats back from mid-season irrelevancy, and showcased just how potent it can be in overcoming a resilient Ferris State team that fought through two separate two-goal deficits. NMU won 5-4 in an overtime thriller to advance to the CCHA championship game for the first time since 1999.
With this year’s upperclassmen making their third consecutive trip to Joe Louis Arena, the Wildcats were determined to overcome their championship game drought. They made good on it with two markers from senior Ray Kaunisto, one each from sophomores Andrew Cherniwchan and Tyler Gron before junior Greger Hanson clinched Northern Michigan’s spot with a memorable overtime winner.
“This is my third year down here and (in the past) we’ve come down here and have been really excited to get here,” Kaunisto, who added an assist on Gron’s goal for a three-point night. “This year, we wanted to focus on getting to the championship game and trying to win it.”
Hanson made that dream a reality, dancing through the neutral zone and slotting the puck past Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle at the 1:07 mark of the first overtime period. After picking the puck up from teammate Erik Gustafsson, Hanson saw the Bulldogs’ defenders fall back and his killer instincts took over.
“I think I caught them a little flat-footed,” Hanson said. “They didn’t really expect me to go into the middle, they thought I was going wide. I just tried to shoot it blocker-side and it went in.”
The overtime winner gave Northern Michigan five goals for the second consecutive game, meaning the Wildcats are averaging 4.67 goals per game in three playoff appearances, numbers that should match them up well against Michigan in the title bout – and, if fate’s on their side, any opponent in the NCAA tournament.
With the offense scoring at such a prolific clip, perhaps the one worry for the Wildcats might have been the play of netminder Brian Stewart – he’s allowing just under three goals per game in the playoffs – who is usually more apt to pick up his offense in a subpar performance rather than vice versa. But when asked about Stewart’s four-goals-against night, coach Walt Kyle was quick to compliment his netminder.
Stewart made a save in the final minute of regulation that prevented a Ferris State victory, and was victim of some own-zone turnovers and knuckling shots that make any goaltender’s job difficult.
After talking about Stewart’s play for the evening, Kyle summed it up simply, perhaps alleviating any fears that Wildcats fans might have.
“He’s a champion,” Kyle said of Stewart. “That kid’s a champion.”
SEEN AND HEARD AT THE JOE
• After Northern Michigan’s second consecutive appearance in the third-place game last year, Kyle, in his sixth third-place game appearance in seven years, joked that they should name the third-place game after him. Having reached the title tilt for the first time, Kyle laughed when asked if he’s relieved his name was no longer at risk of living in infamy, saying he wouldn’t mind the game being named after him, he’d just prefer to never play in it again.
• It would have been understandable if Michigan netminder Shaun Hunwick was feeling the pressure early in the second period, especially when up by just single goal in the opening minutes and again when Tommy Wingels brought the RedHawks within one later in the frame. But Hunwick stood strong in the net, and described the hectic period as his most comfortable since jumping into the lineup three weeks ago.
“Actually early in the second period and throughout the second period was probably the smoothest and the most confident in the net since I’ve been in,” Hunwick said. “I wasn’t really thinking; I was just reacting.”
• Miami’s Cody Reichard has certainly had to deal with some tough losses in his career, and will be forced to try and bounce back once again after giving up five goals and being pulled for the first time this season with 12:43 remaining in the game. Blasi knew that Reichard, even though he may not have been able to stop several of the goals, would take his performance hard.
“The way I know Cody, I’m sure he’s very upset with the way he played and the fact that we lost the game,” Blasi said. “We had to get him out of there, he’s too good of a person, we wanted to get him out of there.”
PLUSSES AND MINUSES
The hard-fought first game was aired on Fox Sports Detroit, hopefully giving some fans who couldn’t make it down to Joe Louis Arena a look at just how exciting two teams they wouldn’t give a second thought to based on name-recognition can be.
All four pep bands showed up, and it added a lot to the atmosphere.
The sparse crowd during Northern Michigan’s victory could be due to beautiful weather, an early start or small fan bases, but definitely not enough people were on hand for a great college hockey game.
It seems a little unfair that top-seeded Miami ended up playing what was essentially a Michigan home game.
INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT
3. Shaun Hunwick, G, Michigan – Hunwick made just 20 saves in the victory, but he made key stops when he needed to and avoided a letdown after Wingels beat him with a spectacular goal in the second period.
2. Ray Kaunisto, F, Northern Michigan – While it was Hanson’s magic that ultimately clinched the victory, Kaunisto was the catalyst who helped the Wildcats seize control of the game with a goal and an assist in that three-goal stretch and then re-extend their lead with Northern Michigan’s fourth goal.
1. Kevin Lynch, F, Michigan – Whether he was the intended target of Hagelin’s passes or not, Lynch finished the chances he got, and notched an additional point with an assist on Brian Lebler’s third period tally.
WHAT’S NEXT
Michigan and Northern Michigan will duke it out tomorrow, with only the winner assuring their spot in the NCAA Tournament. It should be an interesting game with both offenses clicking on all cylinders in their respective semifinals, perhaps with the play of Hunwick and Stewart being the difference.
Miami is forced to try and bounce back from a disappointing performance, and a victory against Ferris State would help put them on the right track for a well-deserved long run in the NCAA Tournament.
