Northern Michigan's Wildcats celebrated the end of their long "road
trip" with a win in their first game on Lakeview Arena ice in three
weeks, and only the third one of their previous nine. (I find it
amusing the media calls a stretch of series away from home a "road
trip," as if the teams don't return home for little things like classes
between weekends!)
This time NMU's home ice victim was the St. Cloud State Huskies,
although as has usually been the case this year, it wasn't all that
easy.
Maybe the even-for-Marquette unusually cold weather was the reason for
this being the latest-arriving crowd I've yet seen at Lakeview. When
the puck was dropped at least a third of the seats were empty. Those
who chose to come late regretted it; in a highly unusual burst of early
activity two goals were scored within the first 3:10 of the game
St. Cloud scored first when Adam Rodak got behind Wildcat goalie Paul
Taylor to deflect in a short pass from teammate Hollum on a rush at
2:26. At 3:09 Steve Carpenter tied it with his ninth goal of the game.
Carpenter was part of a power-play-like (but it wasn't) attack the 'Cats
had going for about a minute in the Huskie zone. He took a slap shot
from the top of the left faceoff circle. It was a little wide to the
right, but deflected off a St. Cloud defender into the lower left corner
of the goal behind netminder Grant Sjerven. I had a great view of that
goal; it was right below and in front of me. (Unfortunately five of the
seven goals occurred at the far end of the rink from my seat, and my
glasses are letting me down distance vision wise, so all I can really
relate about the later goals is based on the TV rebroadcast.) Freshman
defenseman Darcy Dallas, who was to score three points in the game, was
awarded an assist.
Dallas then got his first career goal as a collegian at 13:32 as he was
playing the blue line on a Wildcat power play. His slap shot from near
the line on the right side beat Sjerven cleanly to make it 2-1. Assists
went to another freshman, Dean Seymour, and Brian Ganz.
The Huskies tied the game in the same period when Marc Gagnon scored his
14th of the season at 16:52. Gagnon's score came on a very nice
one-time deflection of a pass/shot by Kelley Hultgren. Tony Gruba also
assisted.
The second period was dominated by the Wildcats, who had been on the
short end of a 12-8 shots on goal statistic in the first. In the second
the 'Cats scored two more goals and put a total of 13 shots on goal,
while the Huskies managed only 5. Mike Harding scored his 20th goal of
the season at 7:48 when he parked himself behind the Huskie net on an
NMU power play, took a pass from Karson Kaebel, and in what may well
have been an attempt at a centering pass, put the puck through Sjerven's
legs to make it 3-2. Dallas scored his third point of the night on the
play, getting another assist.
Harding scored again at 15:09 of the second on a similar play. Again
camped on the edge of the Huskie crease, he put in a deflection of a
shot by Scott Green, who had taken a pass from Garrett MacDonald.
The second period and much of the final one looked like it would end up
as a game won by NMU 4-2, although the third period saw the Northern
offense really cool off; the 'Cats had only 3 shots on goal the entire
period. At least part of this was due to a 5-minute major penalty
which the 'Cats successfully killed (unlike what happened in the first
period when a 5-minute penalty on Steve Woog--see below--resulted in the
power play during which the second St. Cloud was scored.
However, St. Cloud recovered its offensive movement, and put eleven more
shots on goal in the third period. One of them made it into the net.
It occurred at 18:28 with the Huskies using a six-man attack, having
pulled Sjerven. This was at the far end of the arena from me, and I was
unable to stay awake for the rebroadcast of the third period, so all I
can say about the score was that it was scored by Gagnon with an assist
from Brett Lievers; and that Comley in the postgame interview noted that
it somehow involved a major defensive lapse by star-until-then Darcy
Dallas.
Apparently unlike last week, this weekend the officials were strictly
enforcing the new emphasis on major penalties for checking from behind
and spearing. In the first period, Wildcat Steve Woog was called for a
5-minute penalty for checking from behind. In the second period a
Huskie whose name escapes received a 5-minute penalty and a
disqualification for spearing. In the third period Wildcat Bryan Ganz
was disqualified for spearing. Much to his credit, when asked in the
postgame interview about the five-minute penalties and
disqualifications, NMU coach Rick Comley said, "If you use a stick to
attack an opponent, you should be disqualified. Those were appropriate
calls." Not that Comley was happy about Ganz's DQ. Sparkplug senior
center Greg Hadden has been out since before last week's Minnesota
series with a serious deep thigh bruise, and it looks like he may be out
for the entire season. To have Ganz, one of the four remaining seniors,
also out for tonight's game adds to the problem of personnel being
short, which was componded by the loss of forward Justin George in
last night's game. George may have a sprained ankle; it does not look
good for him at least in the short term. Hadden, Ganz and George are
all frontliners, and NMU hasn't had the greatest offense in the world
anyway, so it's no wonder Comley expressed considerable concern about
his injury/DQ situation at this point in the season. Hadden, of course,
is also the sparkplug of the team in terms of leadership; Comley noted
someone has to step up and take over this role, and so far no one has,
although the team is playing hard.
Rematch with St. Cloud tonight. (Gee--until about 6 pm today, anyway,
the Wildcats might be tied for first place in the WCHA, depending upon
how Colorado College made out in Alaska.) BTW, given the "Hockey
Coverage" thread, I have to tip my hat to the little 'ol Marquette
Mining Journal; at least the MJ gives the scores of all four Division
conferences the day after each game!
It will be interesting to see who Comley send out to play on the lines
tonight, with Hadden, George and Ganz all out.
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* Steve Christopher, NMU [log in to unmask] *
* CCHA League Champions, 1979-80/1980-81 **** *
* CCHA Playoff Champions, 1979-80/1980-81 * * *
* WCHA League Champions, 1990-91 * GO * *
* WCHA Playoff Champions, 1988-89/1990-91/1991-92 * * *
* NCAA Division I National Runnerups 1979-80 * 'CATS! * *
* NCAA Division I Final Four 1980-81 * * *
* NCAA Division I National Champions, 1990-91 * * *
* NCAA Division I Final Eight 1991-92/1992-93 **** *
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