Michigan wins 3-2 over Wildcats, will face Michigan Tech in GLI title game (with photos)

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT –  No. 10 Michigan entered their Tuesday-night Great Lakes Invitational opener with a record 16 titles to its name.

And with a 3-2 win over Northern Michigan, the Wolverines will play for a 17th Wednesday night against Michigan Tech. Shelby Township native Kyle Connor scored the game-winner in the third period and added an assist earlier in the game. Cutler Martin and Justin Selman also scored for the Wolverines, and Steve Racine turned away 35 of 37 shots. Gerard Hanson and Dominik Shine (Pinckney) found twine for the Wildcats, while freshman netminder Atte Tolvanen was solid, making 31 saves.

With the likes of Zach Werenski and Michael Downing out on defense, the Wolverines’ depth on the back end was tested Tuesday night.

“I said it at the start of the year, one thing I like about our team is we have good depth on defense,” Michigan head coach Red Berenson said. “I didn’t know we would be tested like this, but it was tested tonight and I thought our kids played really well.”

Photos by Andrew Knapik/MiHockey

Since the U.S. World Junior Championship roster was announced and Connor’s name was omitted, the freshman forward has posted six goals and two assists now in three games against Minnesota and Northern Michigan. Though it certainly looks like he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, Connor said it hasn’t altered his focus.

“I don’t think that changes any way I approach the game. I think I still go out there and try to play to what I do best and use my speed out there, just try to outwork them,” Connor said. “I think it just started clicking with my line lately.”

In the first period, the Wolverines were awarded the game’s first power-play opportunity as NMU captain Shane Sooth took a seat for tripping at 9:01. Though Michigan came close, it couldn’t beat Northern Michigan freshman netminder Atte Tolvanen.

That is until East Lansing native Cutler Martin broke through at 11:42 with a shot from the point that rode off the blade of a Wildcats defender and went bar-down on Tolvanen to give his Wolverines the 1-0 advantage. Connor drew a helper on the goal.

With a Wildcats 2-on-1 late in the period, Northville native and junior forward Max Shuart soared back down the middle of the ice to break up a pass and negate the opportunity and help the Wolverines take a 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

But the Wildcats came out in the second period and controlled the next 20 minutes.

An incredible pass and finish from Ryan Trenz to Gerard Hanson saw Hanson bring the Wildcats back to even just 2:39 into the second period.

 

With 8:18 remaining in the middle frame, the Wildcats’ Dominik Shine (Pinckney) buried a rebound in the slot past Racine to give NMU its first lead of the night.

But with NMU’s Zach Urban in the box, Michigan forward Justin Selman tipped home a Sam Piazza point shot that evened things up at two.

Not long after, Hanson laid a heavy hit on Michigan’s Joseph Cecconi in the corner, but that earned him a five-minute minor for contact to the head and game misconduct, which gave the Wolverines a lengthy power play they could not convert on.

“I thought that we took that penalty and that put us in a bad spot,” Wildcats coach Walt Kyle said. “The penalty killers did a great job with that and our penalty kill has actually been really efficient, our power play has been really efficient… but I thought the penalty killers did a great job.”

However, just 4:05 into the final frame, Connor struck for the Wolverines, taking a puck wide behind the NMU net before curling out in front and roofing a shot on the short side.

“It started off with a great block by JT (Compher) and (Dexter) Dancs got the puck, moved it up to me, I just tried using my speed, drove wide around the net and saw an opening up top and just shot the puck,” Connor said of his goal.

Troy native Alex Kile was tossed out of the game with exactly seven minutes to play in the third period, another high hit, this one on NMU’s Shine. That set the table for a Wildcats five-minute power play.

With 16 seconds remaining in the man-advantage, the Wolverines drew a penalty to turn momentum in their favor to seal the win, 3-2. The Wolverines will square off with the Huskies Wednesday night.

“I think that’s the goal of all the teams that come down here, to get in that championship game,” Berenson said. “It’s a great feeling. Our freshmen haven’t been through this, but our upperclassmen have, all our returning players were here except for a few that were at the World Juniors… Nevertheless, the returning players, this is their goal, to get in this game and now, we know we’re up against a tough team. This will be a good game tomorrow.”