Michigan
5-5-2, 4-3-2CCHA
Minnesota
11-0-1, 5-0-1WCHA
Wolverines Drop Showcase Opener to No. 1 Minnesota
11/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In front of the largest crowd since the 1993-94 campaign, the No. 9 University of Michigan ice hockey team suffered a 5-2 loss to the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday night (Nov. 23) in the first game of the ninth annual College Hockey Showcase.
The Wolverines (5-5-2) found themselves down 3-0 after the first 6:51 of the game and never recovered, despite outshooting the Gophers (11-0-1) by a 35-32 margin, including 16-10 in the final period.
Junior forward Jeff Taffe was the catalyst for Minnesota, recording the sixth career hat trick in College Hockey Showcase history, and the first since Wisconsin's Dany Heatly lit the lamp three times at Michigan State in 1999. Working on a one-goal lead off a goal by Keith Ballard, Taffe netted back-to-back markers just 1:45 apart in the first period, including a tally 25 seconds into the Gophers' first power play of the night, to give Minnesota a 3-0 advantage.
Taffe's first score came just over five minutes into the game, when he shoveled a shot along the ice to beat senior goaltender Josh Blackburn (Choctaw, Okla.). Grant Poltuny set up the play, collecting a rebound from Taffe's original shot and feeding it back to him for the score. Taffe opened up a three-goal margin for Minnesota just 1:45 later, slapping home a one-timer from John Pohl from the left faceoff circle, beating Blackburn on his glove side.
Michigan came out in the second period and cut the deficit to two goals off the stick of senior defenseman Jay Vancik (Medina, Ohio), who took a pass from junior forward John Shouneyia (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and fired a shot from the blue line that went under the blocker of Gophers' netminder Adam Hauser.
Taffe completed his hat trick just over five minutes later to put Minnesota up 4-1, beating a sprawling Blackburn with a forehand shot. Taffe received a cross-ice pass at the U-M blueline from Matt DeMarchi, who was deep in the Gophers' zone, then skated in all alone for the score. DeMarchi made it 5-2 early in the third period when he intercepted a clearing pass and fired a shot into traffic, which eventually found its way through Blackburn's five-hole for the score.
Immediately following DeMarchi's goal, Blackburn was replaced by senior Kevin O'Malley (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), who played the final 16:04 and made seven saves. Blackburn finished the night with 20 saves and was credited with the loss.
Sophomore defensman Mike Komisarek (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) added the game's final score of the evening 8:14 into the third period, beating Hauser from the slot off a centering pass from Shouneyia.
Taffe earned the No. 1 star and received Minnesota's MVP honors, while Hauser, who stopped 33 shots, was awarded the No. 2 star. Junior forward Mike Cammalleri (Richmond Hill, Ontario) was named Michigan's MVP and the No. 3 star after peppering Hauser with a team-high five shots.
The Wolverines will close out play in the College Hockey Showcase on Saturday (Nov. 24), hosting Wisconsin at 8:05 p.m. In their Showcase opener on Friday, the Badgers (6-5-0) dropped a 2-1 decision at No. 4 Michigan State.
GAME SUMMARY
| Goals By Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
| Minnesota | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Michigan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
1st period
1, MINN, Keith Ballard/4 (unassisted) 2:09.
2, MINN, Jeff Taffe/11 (Grant Potulny) 5:06.
3, MINN, Jeff Taffe/12 (John Pohl, Paul Martin) 6:51 (pp).
PENALTIES - Eric Werner, MICH (hooking) 6:26; Erik Wendell, MINN (obstruction-holding) 11:11.
2nd period
4, MICH, Jay Vancik/1 (John Shouneyia) 9:13.
5, MINN, Jeff Taffe/13 (Matt DeMarchi) 14:36.
PENALTIES - Matt DeMarchi, MINN (hooking) 4:43; Brad Fraser, MICH (high sticking) 10:06.
3rd period 6, MINN, Matt DeMarchi/1 (unassisted) 3:09.
7, MICH, Mike Komisarek/3 (John Shouneyia) 8:14.
PENALTIES - J.J. Swistak, MICH (high sticking) 13:45; Keith Ballard, MINN (high sticking) 13:45; John Shouneyia, MICH (slashing) 14:01.
Shots on goal: MINN 10-12-10 32; MICH 13-6-16 35. Power plays: MINN 1 of 3; MICH 0 of 2. Penalties: MINN 3 (6 min); MICH 4 (8 min). Goalies: MINN, Adam Hauser 7-0-1 (60:00 minutes, 35 shots-33 saves); MICH, Josh Blackburn 5-5-2 (43:56, 25-20) , Kevin O'Malley (16:04, 7-7). Referee: Steve Piotrowski. Assistant Referees: Kevin Langseth, Bruce Vida. Attendance: 6917. Time: 2:22.
| Individual Player Statistics | |
## Minnesota G A PIM Sh +/- --------------------------------------- 3*Jordan Leopold..... 0 0 0 4 +2 5 John Waibel........ 0 0 0 2 0 6 Judd Stevens....... 0 0 0 0 -1 9*John Pohl.......... 0 1 0 2 0 10 Paul Martin........ 0 1 0 2 -1 11 Erik Wendell....... 0 0 2 2 0 13 Keith Ballard...... 1 0 2 2 +1 16*Nick Anthony....... 0 0 0 1 0 17 Garrett Smaagaard.. 0 0 0 0 +1 18 Grant Potulny...... 0 1 0 3 +1 19*Matt DeMarchi...... 1 1 2 3 +2 21 Troy Riddle........ 0 0 0 2 +1 22 Jeff Taffe......... 3 0 0 7 +1 24 Matt Koalska....... 0 0 0 1 0 25 Pat O'Leary........ 0 0 0 0 +1 26 Nick Angell........ 0 0 0 0 +1 27*Barry Tallackson... 0 0 0 1 0 29 Jake Fleming....... 0 0 0 0 +1 Totals............. 5 4 6 32 +10 | ## Michigan G A PIM Sh +/- --------------------------------------- 3 Eric Werner........ 0 0 2 1 +1 4 Andy Burnes........ 0 0 0 2 -1 7 Brad Fraser........ 0 0 2 2 0 8*Mike Komisarek..... 1 0 0 3 -2 9 Milan Gajic........ 0 0 0 5 +2 10 Dwight Helminen.... 0 0 0 2 -1 12 J.J. Swistak....... 0 0 2 3 -2 13*Mike Cammalleri.... 0 0 0 5 0 14 Craig Murray....... 0 0 0 0 -2 15*Jay Vancik......... 1 0 0 1 -1 17 Michael Woodford... 0 0 0 0 0 18 David Moss......... 0 0 0 2 0 21*Eric Nystrom....... 0 0 0 1 -1 22 Jason Ryznar....... 0 0 0 0 +1 23 Mike Roemensky..... 0 0 0 1 -2 25 Mark Mink.......... 0 0 0 1 -3 26*Jed Ortmeyer....... 0 0 0 5 0 28 John Shouneyia..... 0 2 2 1 +1 Totals............. 2 2 8 35 -10 |
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Red Berenson
On the first period ... "The first period really killed us. We expected Minnesota to be a good team and there was no reason for us to come out and be on our heels like that. They took advantage of every opportunity they had tonight and they had good goals. We turned the puck over on the first one and they scored a power-play goal and they had a face-off goal. They are a very explosive team and we knew that, so it's disappointing that we couldn't defend against them better than we did. After the first period our team played at least closer to their pace, but we couldn't get the goal we needed to get back in the game."
On turnovers ... "We talked about how important turnovers are. We made a couple of weak plays. We had the puck on the first goal and couldn't get it out. One of our wingers had it in the corner and our center, instead of covering the winger's spot on the point, tried to cover someone down low so the point man was alone and just walked in and shot it in. You can't give them those kind of opportunities. We talked all week about how dangerous their defenseman were, and as much as we were aware of them, we still couldn't stop them."
Senior Defenseman Jay Vancik
On being down 3-0 to start the game ... "We came out and they were all over us in our zone, forcing us to turn the puck over and a couple of turnovers ended up in our net. You can't come out and turn the puck over like that."
Junior Forward Mike Cammalleri
On the lack of offense ... "We got a lot of chances, and we had quality ones, a couple of breakaways in the third period, and we got some good shots throughout the game. I don't think it's a matter of our lines not clicking, it's just that there's going to be nights where the puck doesn't bounce for you and that's why defense is so important. On those nights that the puck doesn't bounce for you, if you don't let them score, you win. If you let them score five goals, you're not going to win."
N O T E S
Michigan suffered its first loss when wearing its maize uniforms this season, and skated in them for the first time at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines were 2-0 in maize after sweeping a series at Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 2-3.
Kevin O'Malley made his first appearance of the season tonight, stopping all seven shots he faced in the final 16:04 of the contest. O'Malley's last appearance was in Michigan's 6-2 win over St. Lawrence on Dec. 9, 2000.
Michigan has dropped three straight home games, dating back to a pair of losses to Northern Michigan on Oct. 26-27. The last time U-M lost three consecutive games in front of a home crowd was during the 1999-2000 campaign, when the Wolverines suffered 3-0 and 4-2 losses to Lake Superior State on Nov. 19-20 before dropping a 6-1 decision to Minnesota on Nov. 26 in the College Hockey Showcase.
Michigan is 0-2 this year against teams from the WCHA, a league in which the Wolverines spent 29 years as a member. U-M dropped a 3-2 decision to Minnesota-Duluth in the championship game of the Maverick Stampede on Oct. 13 in Omaha, Neb.
Both of Michigan's goals were scored by defensemen, including the third of the year by Mike Komisarek. Entering tonight's game, U-M's blueliners had tallied just two markers, both by Komisarek.
Tonight's attendance of 6,917 is the largest crowd at Yost Ice Arena since the venue's renovation prior to the 1996-97 campaign. Michigan added nearly 300 club-level seats prior to the opening game of this season as part of a $1.4-million addition.
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
