Wolverines manage to hang on to early lead, win Game 1 against Wildcats
By Michael Caples –
ANN ARBOR – After 20 minutes of play, it looked like the Wolverines could start planning for Round 2 of the CCHA playoffs.
Michigan scored three goals in the first 18:30 of regulation to jump out to a commanding 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of play.
And while the Wildcats turned it into a contest – scoring twice in the second period – the Wolverines managed to hang on, and pick up a 3-2 win in the first game of their series at Yost Ice Arena.
“I think our team knows we’re up against a tough team, much tougher than the score appeared in the first period,” coach Red Berenson said. “I thought we were lucky to score three goals on special teams and we were lucky we didn’t give up anything. The second period was all Northern and we were lucky to even have the lead after two periods. After that, I thought we played our best period in the third period. We didn’t give up much, but we were playing with the lead.
Brighton native Jon Merrill scored the game’s first goal, firing a shot towards the Wildcats’ goal during a power play that Northern Michigan’s CJ Ludwig inadvertently knocked into his own goal.
Grosse Pointe native Kevin Lynch added two more in the first period to give the Wolverines the early lead, and the only three goals they would score in the contest. Lynch’s first came on a rebound during a power play; his second came on a shorthanded breakaway.
“I had a pretty good first period,” Lynch said after the game. “I started off not doing too well, and then, I got that first one on the PP. A.J. made a great shot, and it just happened to get right on my stick, and I put it away. And then I kind of caught them off-guard, shorthanded, and ended up scoring probably my first-ever breakaway goal here.
“But you know, still, I look at other things that I played in the game, and I don’t think I had the greatest game tonight. There’s a lot of things that I could have done a lot better, so, I have to clean up some things tomorrow, just like the whole team.”
Kory Kaunisto (Sault Ste. Marie) and Darren Nowick scored second-period goals for the Wildcats, who fought back, but couldn’t overcome the early deficit.
“Yeah, they kind of got in our heels the way it happened a little bit,” Northern Michigan assistant coach Joe Shawhan said. “I thought we had a great start, we thought we had a really good start, the start we wanted to have. Michigan usually comes out of the gate really hard, and we were happy, thought we had settled in a bit. First goal took a couple of bounces, hit Macaulay and then went over and hit Ludwig, and those things happen. Their second goal – much of the same, and then the shortie, we’ve been victimized by that lately, it’s no secret. We had a couple guys run into each other at the red line, and so, special teams caught us a little there, but I thought we settled in well and I thought we played a good game.”
Freshman Steve Racine, now unbeaten in five straight starts for the Wolverines, picked up his eighth win of the season after making 27 saves.
Merrill said the consistent play between the pipes has benefited the entire roster.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Merrill said. “I think we’ve been, not waiting all year but kind of unsure about goaltending, and now it’s good to have somebody back there that who’s got some confidence in him and he’s stepping up and playing pretty well.”
Jared Coreau rebounded from a first period where he allowed three and kept the Wolverines off the scoresheet for the final 40 minutes of play. He ended up stopping 22 in the contest.
“He’s an outstanding goaltender,” Shawhan said. “You could tell he got on his heels a little bit on the way he played that shorthanded goal. Normally he’s much more aggressive on that. But he responded well, his mind was in it, and the team played well around him. I thought he handled it pretty well. He controlled his rebounds pretty well, and I think he’d say that the guys protected him pretty well, didn’t give a lot of second shot opportunities.”
Lynch said that the Wildcats’ rally in the second period was a bit of a wake-up call for his team.
“We found out tonight that no matter how big of a lead you have early, that you’re not safe,” the Wolverines’ senior assistant captain said. “You have to play a full 60 minutes. Any team can come back in playoff hockey. We’ve got a lot of things to clean up tomorrow and get ready for tomorrow night.”