I attempted to post this from home but the combination of my
less than nimble fingers on a key board and my less than
friendly e-mail editor squirreled this into oblivion. Thuse, I try
again:
Unfortunately, I could not attend the DU at MTU hockey game last
night. I was on the plane out that brought the Denver Univ team
to town, on my way to Lansing. When I got back, Bob Mancini was
waiting at the airport (not for me). He was please pretty happy
about last night's game. We talked for a few minutes before
I had to go outside to meet my wife. He said the team really
came together and did the things that it had to do to win.
Here is a pre'cis of the morning newspaper article on the game:
Summary first:
DEN 0 1 0 - 1
MTU 1 2 4 - 7
1st period:
MTU P. Mikesch 8 (Garvey, Ram) 16.33 [Nice to see both Garvey and Ram on
the assists.]
2nd Period
MTU Machacek 7 (Hanchuk, K. Petersen) 9:16
MTU B. Peterson 18 (P. Mikesch, Lebel) 11:16 ppg
DEN Laaksonen 8 (unassisted) 18:47
3rd Period
MTU Stevens 15 (P. Mikesch, Perrault) 11:55 ppg
MTU Stevens 16 (unassisted) 14:33 shg
MTU Lebel 7 (Perrault, P. Mikesch) 17:01 ppg
MTU Ferguson 3 (Machacek, K. Peterson) 18:53
Saves:
DEN Mullin 10 8 9 - 27
MTU Ram 9 4 6 - 19
Penalties:
DEN 11 - 30
MTU 8 - 16
Powerplays:
DEN 0 of 4
MTU 3 of 6
Refs: Mike Schmitt and Mark Thomas
Commentary:
The newspaper talks more about the pregame motivational speech
given by our fottball coach, Bernie Anderson. Bernie is an outstanding
motivator. According to the paper, his speech was a real tear jerker.
According to Mancini, the paper quotes "This team played with a lot
of confidence and like the wounded animal it needed to." In the first
period, Pat Mikesch broke free of the Denver defense and snapped a
wrist shot from between the circles. In the second period, Marty
Machacek gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead when he put the puck past a
sprawling Mullins. Two minutes later, Brent Peterson put a "gentle"
shot for his 8th ppg of the season. Andy Laaksonen broke the chance for
a shutout by eluding Laim Garvey and putting an unissted goal past
Ram's right side. In the third, Stevens got the first of his consecutive
shots on a 5 on 3 opportunity mid period from the bottom of the left
circle. THen a three minutes later, Stevens beat Ian DeCoby and placed
a shorthanded goal past Mullins from between the circles. Layne Lebel
supported MTU's winning act by booming a slapshot from the top of the
right circle on a powerplay. K. Peterson completed the game with a late
game score.
My commentary:
Reviewing the statistics, several positive points can be made. First and
foremost, several of the players who have not been in the scoring for
a while were there last night. Lebel, Garvey, Machacek, Perrault and
Kyle Ferguson all contributed. Secondly, MTU out shot Denver. I don't
remember when the last time was that we we had more shots on goal then our
opponents. Third, we stayed out of the penalty box. 16 minutes in the box
may be an all time low for us this season. Fourth, we scored on powerplay
opportunities. Goining into last Saturday night's game against Wisconsin,
we have not scored in more than 30 consecutive powerplays. Our powerplay
has been pathetic. But last night, we scored on three. This is a great
improvement which I hope holds through the remainder of the season.
Special thanks to Bernie Anderson for the pregame. Maybe we need to boost
his pay to cover and employ him to speak to all of our atheletic teams
during the football off-season. He has gotten consistent results from our
football team and, if last night was any indication, he has gotten results
from our hockey team.
Tonight, we give it another shot.
Walt Olson
Prof, Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan 49931
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