MICHIGAN 2, NORTH DAKOTA 0 | Box Score
By Warren Kozireski
St. Paul, Minn. – It’s been 13 seasons since the Michigan Wolverines have won an NCAA hockey championship, but they will attempt to become the first team to win 10 titles following a 2-0 victory over North Dakota in the second semifinal game at the Frozen Four.
After the game, the Michigan faithful chanted Shawn Hunwick’s name to salute the senior goaltender who made 40 saves in registering his fifth shutout of the season and end the Fighting Sioux’s season.
But he didn’t do it alone. His defense made up of three freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one senior helped hold North Dakota to 0-for-4 on the power play with just five shots on goal and blocked 15 shots in front of him—seven of those in the final period.
In the first period, North Dakota’s Evan Trupp had the first scoring chance of the night when he collected a wrap-around but his shot was stopped by a sliding leg save by Hunwick six minutes in.
Less than two minutes later Sioux freshman forward Brock Nelson was taken off the ice on a stretcher after slamming back first into the end boards, but North Dakota rebounded several minutes later with almost a full minute of sustained offensive pressure leading to senior Brad Malone getting off a backhand shot from the slot that Hunwick got his glove on.
The Wolverines took a 1-0 lead at 13:26 of the first when defenseman Jon Merrill’s shot from the point hit iron and ended up in the slot where Ben Winnett put it over a sprawling Aaron Dell in net for his fourth goal of the season. Luke Glendening was also credited with an assist on the play.
Michigan weathered the second period being outshot 11-3 and with North Dakota getting the only grade-A chance by either team. A little after the midway mark of the period, Matt Frattin set up Chay Genoway with a pass across the slot, but his wrister was knocked aside by Hunwick.
North Dakota continued to apply offensive zone pressure in the third and pulled the goaltender with 1:16 remaining, but Hunwick made several stops and defenseman Greg Pateryn blocked consecutive shots in the closing minute.
Scooter Vaughan scored into an empty net at 19:24 with assists from Louie Caporusso and Carl Hagelin to seal the victory and clinch a championship match against Minnesota-Duluth.
Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth have met just once in the last 30 years—2001 at the Maverick Stampede in a 3-2 Bulldogs win. The all-time series between the two teams stands at 23-17-1 in favor of the Wolverines.
DEFENSE LEADS MICHIGAN TO CHAMPIONSHIP OPPORTUNITY
By James V. Dowd
Still down top blue-liner Brandon Burlon to recovery from illness and reliable forward David Wohlberg to injury, there was only one way Michigan was going to beat the hottest team in the country – team defense.
The Wolverines were outshot 40-20 in their 2-0 win over North Dakota, but spent the evening focused on pressuring the Fighting Sioux on each opportunity they had, pulling together as a team and staying realistic about what this Michigan team needed to do to get to Saturday’s national championship game.
Michigan senior Matt Rust, one of the nation’s most reliable defensive forwards, was a key cog in the defensive effort, skating with Luke Glendening and Ben Winnett against North Dakota’s top line – Evan Trupp, Brad Malone and Matt Frattin – all night long. Rust’s line, a trio that combined for just 16 goals on the year, notched the game-winning goal, a first-period marker from Winnett, while stopping the Fighting Sioux trio that scored 69 goals on the year.
Rust, however, was quick to point out that his line wasn’t the only one that shut down North Dakota in matchups that seemed insurmountable on paper.
“I think most importantly our defensive effort came from our entire team,” Rust said.
“When you’re talking about a team like North Dakota, all four of lines shut down a North Dakota team that, when you look at the stats, is very balanced scoring-wise up front.”
Playing this type of shut-down game has become the hallmark of Michigan’s post season, as the Wolverines have allowed just three goals in three NCAA Tournament games against three teams known for dynamic offensive output. The team has undergone a transition from focusing on its ability to score goals – an area Rust admits they underachieved this year – to realizing that the most effective way for them to compete was through shut-down defense.
“Everyone wants to talk about stats,” associate head coach Mel Pearson said. “Everyone wants to ask about goals. But what they’ve really done has bonded through playing good defense. I think they realized that the only way they would have any success is by everyone buying into that, and they have. I think you’ve seen that the last few weeks.”
Thursday’s win marked Michigan’s 24th of the season while allowing two or fewer goals in a game, a strong indicator of just how effective that focus on defense has been.
SIMILAR STORY, DIFFERENT ENDING FOR SIOUX
By Jess Myers
For North Dakota, so much seemed the same Thursday night as it did three weeks earlier. The venue was the same one where they’d survived a tough game versus a hot goalie and earned a championship trophy, without touching it. Much of the stands were again full with Sioux supporters, just as it had been in this building for the WCHA Final Five.
And just like on that night in March, on this night in April the Fighting Sioux moved the puck down low, got the opposing goalie moving laterally, fed snipers like Matt Frattin, and fired again and again at the opposing net.
And on this night, for some reason, none of it worked.
There was an air of near-silent devastation inside the Sioux locker room more than 20 minutes after the game, as players sat in full gear, some staring at the floor, some wiping back tears, and all searching for answers as to why and how it had all gone so wrong.
“It’s not the way this team envisioned things,” senior captain Chay Genoway said, his voice cracking from the weight of the moment. He reflected on his past 18 months or so, coming back from the concussion that wiped out most of his 2009-10 season. He’d battled back, survived another injury, and headed into the playoffs with his fellow seniors, sure that this weekend would end like it did three weeks ago. But it ended with silence instead of cheers. “It was fun to have a chance to play again, to wear this logo for another year and spend it with these guys, but this is definitely not the way we envisioned things ending.”
The trouble started early in a first period that saw Michigan take a 1-0 lead, and included Brock Nelson being taken off on a stretcher after sliding hard, back-first, into the end boards. Nelson had also been hurt in the NCAA playoff opener versus RPI. It was an all-around rough 20 minutes, and it threw the Sioux off, despite their huge advantage in shots later in the game.
“For whatever reason we didn’t have it in the first period. Things weren’t going our way and we didn’t get back to that baseline play of chipping pucks out of the zone, taking care of the puck – those basic hockey plays that we needed to do to be successful,” defenseman Ben Blood said. “We didn’t get back to that soon enough and kind of let a period slip away. Then we couldn’t get back into it. We had our chances but couldn’t bury. Any momentum we had wasn’t enough.”
It was quiet in the locker room – just a few steps from that same sheet of ice where they’d celebrated a championship three weeks ago. But on this night, everything was different.
