Michi-gamer: Pride of the Mitten (Week of Nov. 26)

Welcome to another season of MiHockey’s Michi-gamer, now powered by Bauer Hockey.

We take great pride in our homegrown talent. Whether they grew up in the Mitten or we welcomed them here for college or juniors, they are our own. They represent the best place in the world for hockey.

Every night, we’ll keep an eye on those players, and every morning, we will pick one Michi-gamer of the night – one Michigan player who stood out above the rest.


NOVEMBER 30 – MATT HACKETT

Former Plymouth Whalers goaltender Matt Hackett had himself quite a game yesterday. The netminder for the AHL’s Houston Aeros stopped 23 of 24 shots, helping his team stay in a low-scoring affair with the Oklahoma City Barons. That’s not an easy task when you factor in the firepower the Barons are working with because of the lockout. The Oilers’ AHL affiliate roster displays names like Justin Schultz, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Magnus Paajarvi and Taylor Hall. Yet Hackett’s 23 stops helped stretch the game to overtime and then a shootout. In the series of penalty shots, he stopped Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins and Hall to help the Aeros eventually pick up the win in the sixth round. Not a bad night for one of our ‘adopted’ Michi-gamers.

More MiHockey articles on Hackett:

Michi-gamer: The pride of the Mitten (2011-12 archive)

Plymouth Whalers’ 2011 year in review

 


NOVEMBER 29 – JOSH SHALLA

For the second time in as many days, we’re going with an ‘adopted’ Michi-gamer nod, this time to former Spirit star Josh Shalla. The Saginaw alum had two goals for the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones yesterday, leading them to a 4-1 win over the Evansville IceMen. Shalla opened up the scoring at the 13:35 mark of the first period, then added another late in the second to give the Cyclones a two-goal lead heading into the final frame. Shalla now has seven goals and two assists on the season – in only eight games. He also holds a plus-five rating, showing he can excel at both ends of the ice.

More MiHockey articles on Shalla:

Michi-gamer: Pride of the Mitten (Week of Nov. 12)

 


From zugup.ch

NOVEMBER 28 – DAMIEN BRUNNER

While the lockout drags on, here at MiHockey, we intend to keep you all up to date on hockey no matter what hemisphere the action happens in. Wednesday’s Michi-gamer nod goes to a new face in Detroit – one that we are picking to be Michi-gamer because he should be an ‘adopted’ Michi-gamer by now, if there was NHL hockey to watch. In a Tuesday night game that saw new Red Wings free-agent acquisition Damien Brunner tally a hat trick for EV Zug against the powerhouse HC Davos in National League A action (includes NHL’ers Joe Thornton and Rick Nash) in a 5-4 victory. Brunner, for the record, leads the league in points with 41 in just 24 games. Veteran Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg had quite the game of his own. Zetterberg tallied three assists in the offensive affair for EV Zug to bring his season totals to 11 goals and 11 assists in 14 games.

More MiHockey articles on Brunner:

Griffins roster takes shape after free agency

Red Wings miss out on the prized free agents; now what?

Red Wings announce four signings on July 1


NOVEMBER 27 – ALEX ALEARDI

Farmington Hills native Alex Aleardi receives our Tuesday nomination for Michi-gamer, his first of the season. With limited action in the hockey world Monday night, we turned to the weekend, namely Friday night’s contest between the Plymouth Whalers and the Kingston Frontenacs. The high-scoring affair saw the Whalers fall to Kingston, 7-6, but Aleardi factored in on all but one of his club’s goals, lighting the lamp twice and recording three helpers. With that five-point outing, he now has 12 points in ten November games. On the year, Aleardi has tallied 12 goals and seven assists in 24 games, good for a share of second on the team.

More MiHockey articles on Aleardi:

Michi-gamer: The Pride of the Mitten (Week of Oct. 8th)

MiHockey previews: Plymouth Whalers return with a loaded roster

Michi-gamer: The pride of the Mitten (2011-12 archive)


NOVEMBER 26 – CHAD KOLARIK

Chad Kolarik had a good weekend. The former Wolverines star, currently playing for the Connecticut Whale of the AHL, had a hat trick Saturday night, leading his team to a 5-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals. Kolarik, who is one of our adopted Michi-gamers after spending six straight seasons in Ann Arbor (he played for the NTDP before the Wolverines), scored a goal in every period Saturday night, with the last of which serving as game-winner. He also had 10 shots on goal in the contest – and no, that is not a typo. Kolarik now has six goals and eight assists in 16 games this season; an impressive return to professional hockey after he missed all of 2011-12 from an injury at the New York Rangers’ training camp. It’s great to see him back on the ice.

 


To see last week’s Michi-gamer nominations, click here.