Michigan
15-5-0, 10-4-0CCHA
Lake Superior State
8-9-0, 7-5-0CCHA
Wolverines Advance to GLI Championship in Overtime
12/29/1999 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
The seventh-ranked Wolverines will face No. 5 Michigan State in the GLI championship game on Thursday (Dec. 30) at 7:35 p.m. The Spartans were 6-3 winners over Michigan Tech in the second semifinal matchup.
After several solid scoring chances for both teams in the overtime period, Michigan's Josh Langfeld (Coon Rapids, Minn.) skated down the right side and passed the puck to Dave Huntzicker (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who passed it off to Scott Matzka (Port Huron, Mich.). Matzka fired the puck at the goal, but it hit the post and bounced right to Kosick who poked it into the net for his second game-winning goal of the season.
Michigan took an early lead in the game when Kosick scored just 47 seconds into the contest. It was the first time the Wolverines have scored in the first minute of a game in over 65 games, and Michigan carried the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
However, in just over two and a half minutes in the second period, the game changed as the Lakers scored their first goal of the game against L.J. Scarpace (Dearborn, Mich.) when Chris Thompson fired a shot which Scarpace never saw. Andrew Merrick (Syosset, N.Y.) then scored his fourth career GLI goal on a shot from the left side of the crease to give the lead back to Michigan. Just over a minute later, Lake Superior's Aaron Davis tied the game again with a shot from the left face-off circle to send the game into the second intermission at 2-2.
In the final period, Sean Peach (Langley, B.C.) netted a shot from the right point, his fourth goal of the season. However, the Lakers tied the game with a power-play goal with just 3:11 remaining in the game.
Scarpace made 23 saves in his fifth win of the season, while LSSU's Jayme Platt stopped 32 shots in the loss.
Mike Comrie (Edmonton, Alberta) will be back in Michigan's lineup tomorrow after sitting out a one-game suspension as a result of a game disqualification penalty in the team's last game, against Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 11.
GAME SUMMARY
| Goals By Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | F |
| Lake Superior State | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Michigan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
1st period
1, MICH, Mark Kosick 12 (Scott Matzka, Josh Langfeld) 00:43.
2nd period
2, LSSU, Chris Thompson 1 (Ryan Vince, Chris McNamara) 04:08.
3, MICH, Andrew Merrick 2 (John Shouneyia) 05:24.
4, LSSU, Aaron Davis 5 (Ryan Knox, Ryan Vince) 06:35 (pp).
3rd period
5, MICH, Sean Peach 4 (Jed Ortmeyer, Mike Cammalleri) 13:49 (pp).
6, LSSU, Ryan Vince 3 (Ryan Knox, Aaron Davis) 16:49 (pp).
Overtime
7, MICH, Mark Kosick 13 (Scott Matzka, Dave Huntzicker) 14:13.
Shots on goal: LSSU 10-4-8-4-26; MICH 16-6-9-5-36.
Power plays: LSSU 1 of 7; MICH 1 of 5.
Penalties: LSSU 8 (16 min); MICH 10 (20 min).
Goalies: LSSU, Jayme Platt (36 shots-32 saves); MICH, L.J. Scarpace 5-1-0 (26-23).
Referees: Mark Shegos, Don Cline
Linesmen: John LaDuke, John Pearson
Attendance: 12,999
Time: 3:06
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Red Berenson
On today's game ... "We knew it was going to be a tough game. I was impressed with our team; they worked hard from the very first shift. I think the first goal was important. Lake Superior State is a good team and having the lead after the first period helped. Lake Superior doesn't give much up, so we knew we'd have to stay focused and play hard. I thought everyone played well. Guys who don't play regularly played strong today. Both teams were tired after having a couple weeks off and our depth really helped us."
On the offense ... "I thought it was our biggest challenge. We didn't want to get behind, especially without having our first line here. We were missing five guys so our second line really had to step up, and they did. That was huge. We proved we can play even though we had big guns out of the lineup."
Center Mark Kosick
On the game-winning goal ... "(Josh) Langfeld found a burst of energy and was able to skate the puck into the zone. He made a great pass to (Dave) Huntzicker, who put the puck in front of the net. (Scott) Matzka made a nice shot that went off the post. The goalie was down, so I was able to pick up the loose puck and put it over top of him."
Defenseman Sean Peach
On today's game ... "I thought we had a lot of time off, so we were a bit rusty at the start. It was a very close game from the beginning, though the early lead helped us. It was one of those back-and-forth games where focus is very important. You always have to be focused. We're a third period team and today were able to show we can play in overtime too. We had a lot of guys step up tonight and find their roles."
Contact: Jason Gerdom (734) 763-4423
