Wolverines post convincing 4-1 win over Miami
By Bob Miller –
ANN ARBOR – Michigan’s steady January climb up the CCHA standings successfully spilled over into February Friday night at Yost Arena with the Wolverines’ convincing 4-1 win over Miami.
The victory, on the strength of a pair of goals by junior A.J. Treais and a 24-save performance by Shawn Hunwick, pulled Michigan even with Lake Superior in sixth place in the conference, only one point behind the third place trio of Notre Dame, Ohio State and Miami.
Jon Merrill also added a couple of well-placed assists for the Wolverines, who dominated the special-teams section of the scoresheet with two power-play goals and a perfect six-for-six result on the penalty kill.
Coming off a bye weekend of inactivity, the Wolverines jumped out to a first period three-goal lead, 3-0, and matched Miami’s only goal, scored early in the second period, with another quick one of their own.
Chris Brown gave the Wolverines an early lead that they would never relinquish at 1:40 of the first period, using David Wohlberg as a decoy on a two-on-one break before finding an opening between the pads of starting Miami netminder Cody Reichard.
Treais added his pair of goals only 1:46 apart late in the opening period to create a 3-0 Michigan margin after the first period.
“We liked our start,” said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. “We were concerned about whether we would be a little rusty having had two weeks to get ready for this game. I thought our team jumped well. It was good to get that first goal.”
Miami head coach Enrico Blasi chose to shake things up for the second period by replacing Reichard with fellow senior goaltender Connor Knapp. The shakeup paid near immediate dividends when RedHawk Reilly Smith floated a shot that tipped of the end of Hunwick’s glove into the Michigan cage only 31 seconds into the second period.
Luke Moffatt completed the contest’s scoring a little over a minute later on the power play for Michigan at 1:52 of the second period, tipping Merrill’s carefully placed shot from the blue line up over Knapp to renew the Michigan three-goal bulge, 4-1. In an odd twist, Moffatt’s deflected goal was the only shot Michigan managed in the second period.
The Wolverines managed to kill off three straight penalties in succession to stave off Miami’s attack throughout the remainder of the middle period and played solid team defense in the third to continue to hold Miami off the scoreboard.
“I think we had the momentum in the first period, but then in the second period, they had the momentum,” Berenson said. “They played most of the second period in our zone. They bounced back with a strong period and we were lucky, whether it was a crossbar, the goal post, or Hunwick. With just a couple of bounces, it could have been a different game. That fourth goal was a big goal. Hunwick had to be good. Too many penalties; that’s what cost us that period.”
The game degenerated into a very chippy battle over the scoreless final 20 minutes, setting up what is likely to be a spirited re-match between the two teams in Saturday night’s series finale.
“We need to have discipline,” said Berenson of the physicality of the third period. “I don’t care how hard you play or how physical you play, you have to be able to handle it. I think you’ll see an emotional game tomorrow, but I don’t think it’ll be out of hand.”
“This is not like women’s tennis,” concurred Treais. “This is CCHA hockey. I think we expect that. We might not be the biggest team in the league, but we can hang with those guys (physically).”