(Sorry if all this is old news; I only get the digest version of
Hockey-L, for reasons of sanity.)
 
     1  2  3  PPO PPG  PEN PMin Shots SOG Saves
 
NMU  2  2  1   3   0    9   18   47    27  ( 1-5-7) 13 Taylor
 
FSU  2  0  0   6   0    6   12   24    15  (11-3-8) 22 Lisko
 
Scoring Summary:
 
First Period - 1.  FSU, Brad Burnham (Christian), 4:48; 2.  NMU, Jason
Hehr (Hadden); 6:47; 3.  FSU, John Duff (Roach); 4.  NMU, Shayne
Tomlinson, (Green, Smith), 19:01.
 
Second Period - 5.  NMU, Mike Harding, (Carpenter, Karlander), 5:25; 6.
NMU, Kory Karlander, (Tomlinson, Seymour), 14:23.
 
Third Period - 7.  NMU, Scott Smith, (Tomlinson, MacGilvray), 11:22.
 
Comments:
 
Rick Comley was quoted as saying "It was real tough out there, it wasn't
real pretty.  There wasn't a great deal of finesse, but I think you
can't really stimulate that kind of activity in a practice so both teams
are going to get tired.  At times we moved up and down the ice well
tonight.  It was hard fought in the corners, and both goaltenders played
well.  We struggled in areas.  In the neutral zone, we turned the puck
over&had trouble the first two periods.  But our kids got better as the
game wore on."
 
Ferris coach Bob Daniels said, "They competed harder for loose pucks.
When it came down to one-on-one for loose pucks, they just competed
harder.  I thought Northern played a great game."
 
As just a fan observer, I'd say Comley was a bit closer to the mark than
Daniels in their assessments.  To me the Wildcats seemed enthusaistic
and very hard working nearly all the time.  They seldom looked very
pretty.  Ferris fought hard all the way, too.  Their goalie Craig Lisko
looked really good; the 'Cats were turned away on at least four
excellent opportunities by his heroics, including a breakaway or two.
It was nice to see rookie Shayne Tomlinson score 3 points in his very
first game, and two other freshmen, Paul(?) Seymour (who also had an
assist) and Darcy Dallas get a lot of playing time.  One thing which may
not be well appreciated around the college hockey world is just what a
veteran club NMU is.  Yes, the 'Cats lost Joe Frederick who was in some
ways one of a kind.  But they have nearly everyone back from last year's
NC$$ Final Eight team, and many of those players are now seniors who
played (and watched)as freshmen when NMU won the national title in
1990-91.  I believe that although Frederick is gone, they have six
players who scored 30 or more points last season.  As I noted in my
earlier post, at leasttwo of those six, and perhaps a couple of more,
did NOT contribute to last night's goal total.  Given this depth and
experience, it's nice Comley feels three freshmen are good enough to get
significant playing time immediately.
 
Tonight Comley has said he will start in goal another freshman, Canadian
junior sensation Dieter Kochan (I think that's it).  He has been touted
as the best player in the juniors last year by at least some people;
we'll see how he does in his first WCHA outing.
 
Taylor didn't look too good to me on the first Ferris goal last night;
he came out of the net to poke check a puck away from a Bulldog, then
got caught completely out of position when Ferris retrieved the puck and
got it on the stick of Burnham to the left front of the net.  However, I
didn't get to see the replay of that goal, so maybe it was a breakdown
by the defensemen which should get the blame.  The second Ferris goal
was a nice whirlaround shot by Duff when he got control of the puck
right in the slot area, probably another black mark against the Wildcat
defense.  As Comley noted, the NMU defense seemed to get stronger as the
game went along, and the shot statistics certainly indicate a one-sided
game by the end. In general Taylor played quite well, especially when he
started getting a little more action in the final two periods.
 
My one major complaint overall about NMU's first game performance was
the power play unit(s).  I didn't notice very much in the way of real
play making during power play opportunities; most of the time it seemed
more like scrambling.  I realize that this is the part of a team's play
which takes the longest to round into shape, however.  On the other
hand, the penalty-killing by both teams was excellent, obviously.  This
was especially true for NMU; Lisko really was tested in several
shorthanded situations, while Taylor was not, most of the time.  I did
have a moment of nostalgia about Frederick during shorthanded
situations; "Shorthanded Joe"made penalty killing last year the most
exciting--and often the most rewarding--part of a game for Wildcat fans.
 
As for Northern's goals, I claim a bit of credit for the first, since
when Greg Hadden won a faceoff and drew the puck back to Hehr on the
right point I shouted "Let it rip, Jason!" just before he did.  ;-) His
hard shot stayed very low; I'm not sure Lisko wasn't screened on the
play; in any event it got past his left skate into the corner.
 
The next Wildcat goal was Tomlinson's.  He picked up on a good NMU
attack which had been going on for several seconds and drilled a very
nicely aimed shot through a narrow gap between Lisko's left arm and the
post.
 
The third NMU score came when Mike Harding was given a nice feed by
Steve Carpenter on a rush down ice started by Kory Karlander.  Mike got
behind two FSU defensemen and beat Lisko with a backhander.  That gave
Northern the lead for good at 3-2.Right at the end of the second period
(19:01) Karlander took passes from freshmen Seymour and Tomlinson to
score from in close and make it 4-2.
 
The final score came at 11:22 when Scott Smith put it in from out front
during a scramble.
 
The rematch is at 7:05 EDT tonight.  (The weather here is sunny with
temperature in the low '60's--hardly what I think of as Wildcat hockey
weather!  But I'm NOT complaining.)
 
It's great to win the first one!  Was it Casey Stengel who said, "If you
don't win the first one, you can't win them all."? :-) BTW, here's an
amazing statistic which Wildcat radio voice Joe Blake surprised Comley
and everyone else with at the first Blue Line luncheon yesterday: It has
been twelve years since Northern has opened the season with a home win!
Who woulda thought it?!
 
 **********************************************************************
 *  Steve Christopher, NMU  [log in to unmask] - GO CATS!  * * * *    *
 *  NCAA Division I Hockey National Champions  1990-91   * "WE'VE *   *
 *  NCAA Division I Hockey Final Eight 1991-92           *  ONLY  *   *
 *  NCAA Division I Hockey Final Eight 1992-93           *  JUST  *   *
 *  WCHA League Champions 1990-91                        *  BEGUN"*   *
 *  WCHA Playoff Champions 1988-89/1990-91/1991-92         * * * *    *
 **********************************************************************