The Northern Michigan Wildcats wrapped up a berth in the semifinals of
the WCHA playoffs with a 6-2 victory over the Michigan Tech Huskies
Saturday evening in Marquette's Lakeview Arena. About 4,200 watched
the 'Cats complete the two-game sweep of the quarterfinal series.
The first two periods of this game were similar in scoring pattern to
Friday night's 9-1 NMU win. The teams were tied, this time at 1-1, at
the end of the 1st period. Tech, as had been expected, played a much
more physical game this time and worked extremely hard. The Huskies
drew first blood with a goal by big defenseman Darcy Martini, who
scored with a nice slap shot from out near the blue line in the center
of the "distant slot" area while Tech was on a power play. Given our
seats (far end of the arena from that goal, low) I had an amazingly
good look at that goal--I don't think NMU goalie Corwin Saurdiff did,
though; it looked like he could have been well screened. This came at
6:01. 1:43 later Dallas Drake scored a beautiful unassisted goal in a
3 on 3 situation when he stole the puck near the Tech blue line and
put a good move on goalie Jamie Ram. That's where the score stood the
rest of the period. The Wildcats had 16 shots on goal to the Huskies'
8.
The second period had lots of action and a fairly lengthy scuffle
which resulted in two penalties being given to each team, with a
double minor to one of the Wildcats. There was no scoring until about
the halfway point, when Tony Szabo took a shot from a very wide, bad
angle, almost on the goal line and way over near the boards. It went
in! The TV replay was not very clear, although the TV broadcasters
speculated the puck bounced off Dallas Drake's skate. The referee
told the PA guy (at the time) he thought it might have been off a
Tech player. Anyway, as of Sunday morning the goal is still credited
to Szabo. At 14:31 Szabo scored again on a wrist shot from the right
circle. The public address announcer was still giving out his last
remarks on that " . . . Szabo from Drake and Ganz at . . ." when
Szabo scored AGAIN, at 14:56, again from Drake, this time on a hard
slap shot from the slot. For the first time in my short memory as a
Wildcat fan at least one hat was thrown on the ice. (In fact, this
was what told me Tony had scored the goal--whoever threw it didn't
need to wait for the announcement about who scored.) At this point
it was 4-1 and Lakeview Arena really exploded, probably the loudest
it had been all year. There was a sustained standing ovation; the
Tech team, probably quite wisely, decided to take a time out. I'm
sure a lot of us were thinking ahead to St. Paul at that point. How-
ever, right at the end of the period the Huskies had a good attack
going on the NMU goal. Jamie Steer fired a shot which bounced off the
crossbar into the air just a bit in front of the net. An NMU player
standing next to Saurdiff had his stick in the air and the puck (I'm
pretty sure about this, although it might have been off his shoulder)
apparently hit the blade of the stick and bounced into the net. Any-
way, this was only fair given what had happened along this line to
MTU the previous night, and Steer was credited with the goal at 19:01.
So at the end of two it was 4-2. Saurdiff had 8 saves in the period
and Ram continued his masterful performance with 13.
The final period was pretty much all NMU, although there wasn't a lot
of scoring and the Huskies never quit. They looked tired, though and
Rick Comley said in the postgame interview that they had used their
(top) Steer line an awful lot. Just as in the Friday night game, Joe
Frederick got a beautiful shorthanded goal on a breakaway. This time
he let the puck go on a slap shot from the top of the right circle.
Ram got a piece of the puck, but not enough--he looked pretty tired
himself at that point. Jim Hiller finished off the scoring with
power play goal at 15:53. An incidental point of interest--Frederick's
goal was his 5th shorthanded one of the season, which ties a team
record achieved also by Dallas Drake this year (maybe it's just this
year's high, not an all-time record). Anyway, all five of those goals
have come in the last seven games!
Ram had a spectacular night, with 42 saves. But it's got to be hard
when you're facing 48 shots on goal. One of the things the TV
announcers commented on was the very high percentage of Wildcat shots
which were on goal, at least through the first period--16 of 18, I
believe. Saurdiff had pretty good help again and only faced 22 shots
on goal; he made some nice saves when he had to.
The Wildcats appear to be close to or at the top of their game; Comley
definitely said so in the postgame interview. It also helps that they
are all healthy. (Lou Mellone was injured and left the game in the
first period; he didn't return. Comley said later it looks like a
(knee?) sprain and he's hoping Lou will be ready by next Friday's
WCHA semifinal contest.) I'm very impressed with the way nearly
everyone on this team seems to be able to score. Six Wildcats now
have 20 or more goals, and lots of others have 5 to 10. More import-
ant, the defensive play is vastly improved. But what I like most is
the current attitude. Both Rick Comley and one of the players said
in separate interviews, "Six more games." They are definitely thinking
about a serious defense of their national title.
One more very pleasant note--HOCKEY-L member Bob Gilreath and his wife
stopped by our section and introduced themselves. That was great!
Bob commented he'd driven to Marquette four times for games this sesaon
and every time had been in the sun! That is *definitely* a statistical
anomaly!
Gee, I just might have to sign up for the booster bus to St. Paul!
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* Steve Christopher, NMU *
* "Go 'Cats!''Going for two in '92!" *
* [log in to unmask] *
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