Following a win and a tie on the road last weekend against Arizona State, the Michigan men’s ice hockey team returned home to Yost to welcome the Huskies of St. Cloud State for a two-game series with games on Friday night and Saturday night.
Michigan was looking to build on the momentum it had built last weekend, and wound up settling for a series split at home. Here’s a brief rundown of all the action from Yost.
We’ll fast forward to the second period a scoreless first in Friday night’s game. It was a defensive battle early on, but Michigan was routinely getting to the net and getting shots on St. Cloud State’s Isak Posch. The Wolverine aggression, though, led to two St. Cloud State power plays in the period that were successfully killed by Michigan.
The teams entered the third period still deadlocked in a scoreless tie. Finally, it was Michigan’s Garrett Schifsky that found the back of the net, scoring a shorthanded goal with about 15 minutes left. Michigan added to its lead about five minutes later, as Michael Hage scored an unassisted goal to push the score to 2-0. The Wolverines put the final nail in the coffin with less than four minutes to go, as Philippe Lappointe scored an empty-netter, giving us a 3-0 final score.
The Michigan defense did an excellent job of keeping goaltender Logan Stein clean, as St. Cloud State only managed 21 shots in the first game. Stein held strong and earned his first shutout of the year.
Game two got off to a bit of a faster start, but not in a good way. With just over 12 minutes to go in the first period, Michigan’s Kienan Draper was issued a five-minute penalty for high sticking. The Huskies converted on the power play for the early 1-0 lead.
The teams went scoreless through the second period, but St. Cloud State came out firing to begin the third. Just 25 seconds into the frame, Gavyn Thoreson scored to put the Huskies up 2-0. Michigan pulled Stein late in the game to spark the offense, but St. Cloud State was able to take advantage with an empty net goal to go up 3-0, and added another goal with 22 seconds to play. The Wolverines lost the series finale by a 4-0 final score.
While the weekend ended on a sour note, the Wolverines advanced to 3-2-1 on the season. Michigan won’t have a series next weekend, but will face off against the U.S. National Team Development Program’s Under-18 team on Friday night at Yost. After that, Michigan will head out on the road the following weekend for a series against Boston University.
Leave a Reply