Michigan Tech 4, Northern Michigan 3
The Michigan Tech Huskies matched the Northern Michigan's 4-3 victory of
the evening before, trading away-ice wins during the weekend series.
The Wildcats started quickly and dominated the first period, coming away
with a 2-0 lead. Greg Hadden made an off-balance slap shot from the
right circle at 3:00 for the first goal. Assists went to Jason Hehr and
Steve Carpenter. It was Hadden's 5th goal of the season. At 4:01 Brent
Riplinger got the second Wildcats' score as he sent a screamer past Tech
goalie Jamie Ram from the left circle. The goal, Riplinger's 4th of the
year, was assisted by Troy Johnson and Kaebel.
The Wildcats seemed to leave their good play in the locker room when
they came out for the second period, while the Huskies were brilliantly
opportunistic. Very sloppy play in their own end cost the 'Cats three
quick MTU goals, as in each case they gave up control of the puck right
out in front of Northern goalie Corwin Saurdiff, who had no chance. The
first Tech marker came at 2:38 on a shot by Justin Peca; assists were
given to Brkic and Osborne. The second, tying, goal was scored at 7:19
by Jeff Hill with an assist by John Young, and the third was put in by
Young with assists by Brkic and Wright just 23 seconds later at 7:42.
The Wildcats tied the score and aroused the quiet Lakeview Arena crowd
at 11:40 of the third period, 3-3. Hadden got his second goal of the
game and sixth of the season in what was essentially a short-handed
situation, when he got away with Garret MacDonald on a 2-2 breakout
during a Huskie power play. The penalized Wildcat had just reentered
the rink when Hadden scored, but had no role in the play. Unfortuantely
for the NMU fans the din was quieted less than a minute later as Huskie
defensman Layne LeBel put a backhander past Saurdiff at 12:34 for what
turned out to be the final score of 4-3.
The Wildcats pulled Saurdiff with a little over a minute to go. NMU was
not able to get many good chances against Ram, nonetheless, and
meanwhile Tech had at least two chances to score on the empty net, but
missed both attempts.
The defensive play of both teams in penalty situations was outstanding,
neither was able to score, despite five power play opportunities for
Northern and eight for Tech. The goalies were, as usual, excellent--the
Wildcats failed to test Ram much at all in the late going, however. Ram
had 19 saves (6-10-3), while Saurdiff recorded 28 (11-10-7).
The NMU perspective is perhaps best summed up by a quote from Steve
Carpenter, who told the Mining Journal "Unfortunately, we only showed up
for 20 minutes tonight. Tech outworked us for 40 minutes, and you can't
give a talented team like Tech a chance to outwork you."
Tech fans can feel very good about the way their team came back.
Wildcat fans, are very disappointed the momentum which had appeared to
be building with the two ties with Minnesota, the road win at Tech the
night before, and the good first period in this contest, was not
maintained. Perhaps, however, they can
take heart with the knowledge that the overall defense and goaltending,
and for that matter (at least to some extent) the offensive work--even
without Joe Frederick--is now competitive with other WCHA teams'.
Hockey-L member Bob Gilreath from Michigan Tech made the trip to
Marquette. We missed connections with him for a possible postgame
dinner--gee, why aren't I sorrier about that, given the game's outcome?!
;-) See ya next time, Bob!
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* Steve Christopher, NMU *
* "Go 'Cats!''Goin' for it again in *
* '93--With a lot less "O" *
* but a little more "D"! *
* [log in to unmask] *
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