NMU Game Recap/Scoring Roundup

F2B&G here. So as everyone knows by now, the Huskies got the year off to a good start with a 5-3 victory over rival Northern Michigan.

In an effort to further my hockey knowledge, I'm going to try something new this year (new for me anyway) and give a play-by-play of how each goal was scored. These reports will be based on what I am seeing/hearing via the Huskies Live feed and may not be 100% accurate, but should give readers the gist of the action.


First Period

NMU-1: Fernandez kept the puck in the Tech zone after Doriott sent the puck around behind the net, and passed up the boards to Olver. Olver weaved around a defender to the top of the right circle, and found Gustafsson wide open at the top of the left circle, madly tapping his stick for a pass. Olver quickly made the pass, and Gustafsson moved in and wristed the puck low stick-side past Robinson, who was at least partially screened by his own defender. Gustafsson (1) from Olver (1) & Fernandez (1). 7:26, 1st period. 1-0 NMU.

MTU-1: Pietila entered the NMU zone and fired an easy shot on Stewart, who made the save and pushed the rebound to the corner. A poor passing attempt allowed Pietila to get the puck back, so he darted behind the goal and attempted the wraparound, but Stewart was up to task. The puck drifted to the left boards, where Olson battled for and won it, skating back behind the net and tried to pass to the front while under pressure. A crazy deflection caught Stewart by surprise as the puck skittered five-hole, bounced off his right pad, and slipped into the net. A sievetastic goal by the drama queen. Olson (1) from Pietila (1). 9:18, 1st period. 1-1.

MTU-2: With NMU's Kaunisto and Fernandez off for interference and tripping respectively, and Tech's Gwilliam also off for interference, the Huskies had a 4x3 power play opportunity. They did a good job of maintaining possession and shooting. Olson moved the puck out of the right corner to Seigo, who was waiting in the high slot and one-timed it on net. Two NMU defenders went down to block, but the puck squirted loose, bouncing directly into the low slot right in front of the crease. Baker pounced on the opportunity to clean up the trash and backhanded the puck past a butterflied Stewart's stick-side, off the post and in, before he could react. Baker (1) from Seigo (1) and Olson (1). 13:36, 1st period. PPG. 2-1 MTU.

MTU-3: Doriott forced a turnover in the neutral zone and attempted to pass up the left boards. Gwilliam pinned Fernandez to the boards long enough for Olson to pick up the loose puck. He skated into the NMU zone 2-on-1 with MacLeod, but recognized there was no time to setup a passing play, moved in, and blasted a quick shot past Stewart to the low stick-side. Olson (2) from Gwilliam (1) and Doriott (1). 17:42, 1st period. 3-1 MTU.

NMU-2: An awkward rebound off the post forced MTU's Kattelus to trip an NMU player in the low slot, sending him to the box for an NMU power play. The Wildcats won the ensuing draw and worked the puck around the perimeter briefly. Butcher passed out of the right corner and up the boards to Hanson, who moved into the right circle and fired a wrister just under Robinson's glove on the short side. Hanson (1) from Butcher (1) and Gustafsson (1). PPG. 19:45, 1st period. 3-2 MTU.

Second Period

No scoring

Third Period

MTU-4: Tech began the third period with 1:48 of power play time after NMU's Cherniwchan was whistled for hooking near the end of the second. After a minute or so of Tech's usual coffee break, Cousens and Seigo worked the puck back and forth between them a couple of times, then Seigo passed to Olson in the left circle. Olson one-timed the puck high glove-side on Stewart, who was partially screened on the play and a bit overcommitted, positionally-speaking. Olson (3) from Seigo (2) and Cousens (1). PPG, HTG, GWG. 1:10, 3rd period. 4-2 MTU.

MTU-5: NMU's Follmer went off for interference at 12:58. Seigo worked the puck to Olson at the left circle, who passed to Gwilliam waiting down low near the left side of the net. Gwilliam started to switch places with Olson, but ended Stewart's night when he quickly spun around and fired the puck through the tired/lazy drama queen's gaping five-hole. Gwilliam (1) from Olson (2) and Seigo (3). PPG. 14:12, 3rd period. 5-2 MTU.

NMU-3: Kyle elected to pull backup goalie Reid Ellingson for the extra attacker with 4:22 to play. Tech's Gwilliam took a holding penalty at 16:53 (3:07 to play). NMU worked the puck back to the blueline, where Cherniwchan made a pass to Spady, who moved in towards the right circle and fired a slapshot. The shot went wide to the right, but unfortunately caromed off the end wall and quickly popped out in front and to Robinson's exposed right, where Nugent seized the opportunity and buried it. Nugent (1) from Spady (1) and Cherniwchan (1). EAG, PPG. 18:12, 3rd period. 5-3 MTU.

Final

NMU 3
MTU 5

Links

University Recap
Mining-Gazette Recap
USCHO Recap

I will have a similar post for the LSSU game within the next day or two. Michigan Tech already has its first bye weekend of the season, so naturally there will be no analysis of the upcoming weekend's series. The Huskies will make their first roadtrip of the season to take on the Colorado College Tigers at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, October 23/24.

A Taste of Something New

At long last! The greatness that I have been waiting for all season long has surfaced. Moments like these are why I am such a die-hard Michigan Tech fan. They are far and few in between, but when they occur, they're extra special and put me (and my fellow Tech fans) on Cloud 9 for days or longer. It's kind of like me golfing: I'll get one nice hit every nine holes that will keep me coming back to that game.

Well, we have finally swept Northern Michigan. I've only been following Michigan Tech since the 03-04 season and the last time the good guys swept was back in '94. Ah, the Jamie Ram days.

I must say... the underclassmen are AMAZING. While things are pretty rough this season, especially because of injuries, I'm a lot more optimistic about the future than I may have EVER been. The next two or three seasons are going to be pretty good.

But let's talk about this past weekend.

Both games we scored the first goal, including Friday's ever-so-RARE first period goal. In fact, it's only our FOURTH first period goal this season. I think the team should spend more time focusing on the first period during practices. For sure.

On Friday, especially in the second half of the game, NMU completely took over. As a fan in the stands at the rival game, when we have a one goal lead and the other team is completely dominating the game, it gets a little scary. Why does my team stop playing offense?? I'm sure our goaltender Josh Robinson wonders the same thing... but we'll get back to him in a minute.

So we swept NMU... and to that Coach Kyle said, "They absolutely deserve the wins. They did a great job and were able to score on opportunities when we weren’t. They were solid defensively on both ends of the ice and they beat us.” ... and to Coach Kyle I say... what a load of crap. Eighteen shots against in a single period on Friday? We only had 12 shots the WHOLE GAME on Saturday. We scored 3 times the whole weekend. The winner in this whole thing is Josh Robinson. HE deserved the wins. Michigan Tech was not the clearcut victor if you watched the games. I believe it was a mediocre effort for both teams.

Moving on...

Jordan Baker. Oh man, watching him this past weekend, I couldn't help but think of Chris Conner. He had some crazy moves to keep the puck away from the STD-infested Wildcats. Jordan had but one assist on the weekend, but he currently leads our team in goals and points. And if you watch him play, that fact is not all too surprising. We've got two beautiful seasons left of him. For such a small stature, he's such a physical presense on the ice. He had some massive Batty-like hits this weekend. I hope to see much more of that this season.

OH HEY! How about that Peter Rohn guy?! He might even be shorter than Mr. Baker, but he's definitely one of the hardest working guys on the ice. Much more to come on Little Peter later... including an overdue questionnaire. But for now, keep in mind that since he has been playing in games for the Huskies, we have not lost a game yet....

So for fun, I should comment on NMU goaltender Brian Stewart. Wow, what a TOOL. Although, this is not something new to me. He is the ROBBIE EARL of goaltenders. If you breathe too hard on him, he will flop all over the ice as if he has been shot. I swear, I thought he died about 4 times this past weekend. If I were an NMU fan, I would be EMBARRASSED about the terrible acting that Stewart does on the ice night in and night out. CUT THE CRAP. Just play HOCKEY. Your stupid games aren't fooling anyone, you idiot.

On the opposite end of the goaltender spectrum, we have Michigan Tech goalie Josh Robinson. What a guy! Yep, that's right, readers. My players wear halos on their heads 24/7. ;) Anyway, Josh Robinson, or Robo as he will be referred to from now on, is HOT right now between the pipes. He let only one goal in this weekend on 56 shots. He had a chunk of that goal, but not enough to stop it. After this past weekend, Robo now has an overall save percentage of 90%, the only Michigan Tech goalie that can say that right now. He also picked up his first career shutout as a Michigan Tech Husky on Saturday... I asked him how he felt after helping his team sweep NMU:

"It was very exciting. Northern is our biggest rival and anytime you get a win, it's a special one; but when you sweep, it's an extra special weekend."

Not only did Josh get his first career shut out and help his team to sweep the Wildcats, but he will go down in the record books as the first goaltender from Michigan Tech to have shut out NMU! Here are his thoughts on that:

"It's pretty cool being able to be the first Michigan Tech goalie to shutout Northern. I don't think any of us knew that it had never been done until Marksy told me after the game. I'm excited that I was able to get my first shutout this weekend and it just adds a little more to it being against Northern."

Well, it was quite the exciting weekend, but it's over... and the team is only looking ahead to the GLI right now. We'll be starting out with a rematch of last year's championship game against Michigan. Michigan is sitting in the middle of the CCHA right now. Hopefully we can pull through and take another shot at the championship game on Sunday. After all, this is OUR tournament, dammit. It's too bad that Michigan State has to be there this season though. They may prove to be a bigger cupcake than any of the invites to UMN's yearly crappy holiday tournament that they can't even win.

I'm going to go ahead and take a guess that Robo's getting the nod for Saturday at GLI. This is HUGE for him, as his hometome of Frankenmuth, MI is only a short distance away. I asked Josh about the GLI and who's coming to watch him. Here's what he said:

"Well, the GLI is actually very close to my hometown of Frankenmuth. The Joe is only an hour an a half from my house too. I'm expecting to have quite a few people in the stands for the games. My list of people that are coming is pretty long so here it goes.... Mom and Dad, Brother, possible my grandparents, my goalie coach from back home and his son... and I have quite a few friends who go to State and Michigan who will be there cheering against me haha. Obviously, my goal is to win the GLI and have our banner flying all year in the Joe."

Well, Josh... I hope you make your goal this season (and that you get new friends... like people who DON'T go to MSUcks). It is probably best achieved by letting in very few goals and making your team score more of them. It's going be hard to win a tournament by scoring only three goals all weekend. The rest of the Huskies need to step up and do their part.

Remembering October 18, 2003

Friday 17 October 2003... it was this writer's first road trip, first college hockey game, first hockey game period. That night was also Coach Jamie Russell's first regular season game as head coach of the Michigan Tech Huskies.

The place... Northern Michigan University's Berry Events Center, located in the craphole that is Marquette, Michigan. When the Huskies and Wildcats get together, you KNOW you can expect one hell of a game. This night was no different. And like every Tech-NMU game, it was a close one throughout. Unfortunately, Michigan Tech had two players in the penalty box during overtime, which eventually lead to a 5 on 3 game winner for the 'Cats.

Heartbreaking, indeed. Not what Coach Russell was looking for in his first game as head coach.

Now onto the next night. The night I, and many others like me, will never forget. This is the night that made me who I am today. This is the night that changed my life forever.

The game was started off the right way, with a Chris Conner (Colin Murphy, John Scott) goal coming at 5:46 of the first. The lead didn't last long though, as NMU struck back less than 3 minutes later.

In the second period, Tech scored twice with goals from Brandon Schwartz and Colin Murphy to make the score 3-1. The Huskies thought they were sitting comfortably with a two goal lead; however, NMU wasn't done yet. In fact, they were only getting started. Those pesky Wildcats scored 5 more unanswered goals, 4 of those coming in the 3rd period with the last one at 15:22. Unfortunately, when NMU's 6th goal came around with less than 5 minutes left in regulation, many of the Tech fans decided that there were more important things to do than perhaps witness one of the greatest comeback games ever played in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Not only did fans leave after NMU's 6th goal, but this awful, horrible, ugly and fat Wildcat fan took off his shirt and started waving it around. Maybe that was actually why the Tech fans left. Who knows.

This night isn't looking good for the Huskies, who were desperately seeking revenge for the previous night's game. Four and a half minutes is plenty of time to stage a comeback though, right?

Nick Anderson, with a little help from Jon Pittis, got things moving in the right direction with his goal at 17:55. Two goals to go to force OT... just over 2 minutes left. I looked at my friend with eyes that said, "...well... maybe it can happen..." And although he was happy about the goal we just got, he doubtfully shook his head no. For some reason, I wanted to keep the hope.

18:34 of the third: score one for Colin Murphy, his second of the game. One more goal to go. One minute and twenty six seconds left to do this. Coach Russell thought it would be a good time to call a timeout here to make up a play to push this one into overtime.

Play started back up, and as soon as it was okay to do so, goaltender Cam Ellsworth rushed to the team bench and a sixth skater scurried to the ice. Time was ticking down, but the Huskies kept on throwing shot after shot on NMU netminder Craig Kowalski. With just 28 seconds remaining, assistant captain Colin Murphy completes his hat trick and ties up the game.

What a great feeling that was! In response to NMU's fat, ugly guy who earlier removed his shirt, Michigan Tech had a fatter, hairier guy remove his shirt and start swinging it around. It was disgusting, but it was absolutely sweet.

Going into overtime, MTU held a 44-31 SOG advantage over NMU, with 18 of those coming in the 3rd period.

With the bonus hockey beginning, there was no other option for Michigan Tech other than to win this game. They had come too far to make it a tie or a loss.

And sure enough, at 2:58 in, Colin Murphy, with a little help from Jon Pittis, put the game away for Michigan Tech.

Now, my team has never won a National Championship since I've been following them or even since I've been alive... but I have a pretty good idea of what it might feel like. The feelings that I experienced when this game was said and done have to be at least similar to those one may experience when their team wins a national championship. The euphoria was SO INTENSE. Nothing had ever made me feel the way I felt at that moment.

And do you remember that fat, gross, hairy shirtless Tech fan I spoke about earlier? Oh yeah, he was definitely going nuts waving his shirt around... rubbing it right back in the faces of the NMU fans who were taunting us earlier. Ladies and gentleman, this is the night when the lengendary Shirtless Guy was born.

October 18, 2003 is a night that Michigan Tech fans will never forget. It was a game that it looked like for sure we were going to lose... but with the persevering attitudes of the Huskies and the great coaching by Jamie Russell, a great story was made for the history books. Welcome aboard, Coach Russell.

USCHO Box Score
USCHO Recap

We Want More TV Time!

Michigan Tech fan Richard Hall enjoys watching the Huskies play. He only wishes that he could share the joy with his friends and family back home in Spring Lake, Michigan, which is located in the lower peninsula.

FSN Detroit has great coverage of the Michigan-based CCHA teams, especially Michigan and Michigan State, which is a great hockey rivalry. Hall got to thinking... why not broadcast another great college hockey rivalry here in Michigan. While many people have the same thought cross their mind, no one will take initiative and do anything. Not Hall, however. He is the creator of the Petition to FSD to televise the MTU-NMU hockey series every year.

Who knows whether or not it will work. There can't be any harm in trying though! So whether you're a Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Boston College, Robert Morris fan, or just a college hockey fan in general, support this movement,

Sign the online petition today.

Photo courtesy of Anthony Reynolds