I'll keep this brief; I note the Duke of Earl also posted something on
the Friday game in Marquette; wouldn't want Hockey-L readers to feel
over "Wildcatted"!  :-)
 
This was a very interesting and exciting game, unlike Friday's.  It
wasn't decided until the final 15 seconds when NMU received a gift goal
on a very weird open net play.  The game-winner wasn't scored until the
17:27 mark of the final period.
 
In a marked change from Friday's game, which didn't even see a penalty
called until nearly halfway through the first period, from the opening
faceoff this was a very hard-hitting affair, especially the first half
or so.  One bad outcome of this was that Brent Riplinger was injured as
a result of crashing into the boards very early on; the word on the TV
rebroadcast (which was only what was available while the game was still
in progress, of course) was that Riplinger has a broken bone in his
foot.  To my surprise and frustration the newspaper account this morning
makes no mention of Riplinger and his prognosis.
 
Lots of action but no scoring until right at the end of the first
period, when the Bulldogs' John Duff scored again, as he had the
previous night.  Freshman Dieter Kochan was in goal and looked quite
good in general, but he couldn't stop Duff's nice shot from the slot set
up by passes from Burnham and Roach.
 
Ferris made it 2-0 very early in the second period, and it was pretty
quiet in Lakeview.  Not too long after that, however, Mike Harding of
the Wildcats became the first 'Cat to score two goals in the young
season with  a very strong wraparound move to beat sensational freshman
goalie Rich Nagy to make it 2-1.  Then about halfway through the period
Bill McGillivray scored on a really nice shelf shot after a great pass
from Kory Larlander to score NMU's first ppg of the year and tie the
game at 2-2.
 
Ferris regained the lead at 3-2 at the 4:46 mark of the 3rd period
when Doug Smith rifled a very sudden wrist shot past Kochan's shoulder.
Three minutes later it was tied again as the 'Cats were on another power
play and Garret MacDonald let go a slap shot from the deep slot which
Karson Kaeble deflected into the lower left corner of the goal.  NMU got
the game-winner from freshman Dean Seymour (I mistakenly called him
"Paul" in yesterday's post) with a quick shot during a scramble in front
of the net with less than three minutes to go.
 
Ferris pulled Nagy during most of the final two minutes.  With about 20
seconds left the 'Cats got control of the puck and passed it ahead to
Greg Hadden, who first fanned on an attempted slap shot at the empty net
from near the left wing faceoff circle, then slapped it again.  The puck
hit the crossbar and dropped in the crease.  There, Ferris defenseman
Gruden (I think that's his name; he's excellent) had the misfortune to
see his attempt to rake the puck out of the crease result in deflecting
it in for the final NMU score.  The goal was credited to Hadden, of
course.
 
Balance, balance, . . . NMU scored ten goals in this series, and nine
different players had them.  Taylor and Kochan also looked very even in
goal.  Rick Comley was quoted as saying he thoughtthe Wildcats played a
little bit less well on Saturday than they did on Friday, and that
Ferris played much better than they did in the previous game.  I
definitely felt Ferris played better on the second day.  The Wildcat
power play looked a little better to me on Saturday than it had Friday,
and the results certainly would indicate that. Both goalies were
excellent; Nagy was more than that, he was outstanding.  NMU had at
least half a dozen very high quality scoring chances that he gobbled up.
Kochan made a couple of super stops as well.
 
Next week: Round 1 of the Ramada Cup competition as we entertain the
Michigan Tech Huskies and Bob Gilreath et al on Friday, than have the
favor returned in Houghton Saturday.  Bob and I will be there for both.
Fun!
 
 **********************************************************************
 *  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         * * * *    *
 **********************************************************************