Since Dave Fischer has posted the box for the game, I will not.
MTU escaped UMD last night with a 3-3 tie. As UMD's Coach Mike
Sertich commented at the Blue Line Luncheon earlier, UMD looks
for ways to lose games. UMD outplayed MTU the first and second
periods. But the third was MTU's. MTU also played the OT better
although UMD looked etter during the last minute of play.
In the first, UMD's Rybarmoved the puck in short of the left side
of the crease on a powerplay. MTU was unable or unwilling to
keep him out of the Grade A shot zone. At 11:59, Rybar took a
wrist shot shot that beat Caravaggio to gain UMD's first score.
While UMD basically played better than MTU in the first, MTU did
have opportunities. Throughout the game, MTU was able to penetrate
from outside the zone by skating past the left side of UMD's
defense down on to the net. In each case, the MTU skater, typically
Pat Mikesch, would take a 5 foot shot that Lendzyck would block and
give up a nice juicy rebound that would sit about 10 feet out in
the slot for about a second before a UMD player swept it aside.
If MTU had a player to sweep down trailing Mikesch a sure rebound
shot could have been made in each of the cases. MTU's young team
has to learn that the play is not over on after the shot is made
on net. Every play has to be followed up. Goalies in this league
are just too good to be beaten by the first shot.
The second was worse. UMD successfully clutched any MTU player who
hesitated in the neutral zone. It would start with the MTU player
being reluctant to cross the UMD blue line, typically on the side
nearest the UMD bench. A UMD player would skate up to the MTU
player and insert his stick into the play while grabbing or clutching
with the other arm. This would further slow the MTU player thus
allowing yet another UMD player to enter the play and ultimately
cause a turnover. When MTU skated through the blue line without
neutral zone hesitation, they played much better were usually more
able to play offensive zone hockey. UMD's Ciccarello scored at 2:41
of the second when he redirected a Federenko shot from the left of
Caravaggio. THis put MTU down by two. However, MTU's Randy Stevens
drove into the slot and hammered a shot past Lendzyck at 8:17. THis
motivated MTU for a short period but UMD's Brad Federenko overpowered
MTU's defense at the the Tech net at 8:50 to remain the 2 point lead.
MTU gave up on looking pretty and started to play hockey in the third
period. [After the game, Coach Mancini joked that he threaten the players
with having to listen to Bob Olson's WZRK radio telecast if they didn't
play better. Someone at Dartmouth from this area will appreciate this
joke.] Instead of making cute little passes, MTU started to hit a little
harder, move to the net a little fiercer and cause Lendzyck a little bit
of anxiety. At 8:30, Pat Mikesch would was aggressive all night finally
beat Lendzyck from the right circle. Then on a powerplay, Randy Stevens
took a pass from the point and scored from the right of the crease to
gain the tying score at 14:59. MTU tried but could not put away the game
as MTU's Harris was called for interference at 16:17 on a cheap call.
The overtime was not spectacular. MTU play the first four minutes well
but couldn't put enough pressure on UMD's goalie. The last minute was
clearly in UMD's hand. The only real threatening shot was a Federenko
blast that beat Caravaggio but was saved by the post in a rink
reverberating "clunk" early in the OT.
Tonight, we do it again. MTU is now 12-9-3 overall and 9-8-2 in the WCHA.
The middle of the lead is so close that there only a handfull of points
separating eight teams; thus every point gained or lost means a shift in
the standings. Last night, we moved up to fourth with the hapless Gophers
who lost to CC last night. I think we are a good third or fourth place
team this year ... thus we need to keep winning to hold this position.
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