Michigan
4-4-1, 3-3-1CCHA
Alaska Fairbanks
6-4-0, 2-4-0CCHA
Michigan Shuts Out Nanooks to Complete Series Sweep
11/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team accomplished a number of firsts on Saturday night (Nov. 3) at the Carlson Center, but none more important than its first back-to-back wins of the season, courtesy of a 4-0 triumph over the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks. The win gave the 13th-ranked Wolverines (4-4-1, 3-3-0 CCHA) a sweep in the two-game weekend series, U-M's first CCHA series win of the year.
For the second straight night, senior goaltender Josh Blackburn (Choctaw, Okla.) was the main factor, stopping all 36 Nanook shots for his 10th career shutout, and first of the 2001-02 campaign. Blackburn, who blanked UAF for five of the six periods played this weekend, moved within one shutout of Marty Turco's U-M career record of 12, set from 1994-97.
In addition to Blackburn's play, multi-point games by junior forwards John Shouneyia (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Mike Cammalleri (Richmond Hill, Ontario), as well as freshman defenseman Eric Werner (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.), moved the Wolverines to a .500 mark for the season.
Alaska Fairbanks (6-4-0, 2-4-0 CCHA) opened the game with a barrage of shots on Blackburn, but the Wolverine defense held and retaliated with an offensive surge in the final 10 minutes of the opening stanza, resulting in a goal by freshman Dwight Helminen (Brighton, Mich.) at 15:40 to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. Cammalleri kicked the puck to a streaking Helminen at the Nanook blueline and Helminen skated into the UAF zone and beat a defender before shelving a shot over the right shoulder of netminder Preston McKay.
The Wolverines struck again late in the second period during a Nanook power play, as Shouneyia poked the puck past McKay at 18:27 to give U-M at 2-0 lead. UAF appeared to block a Michigan attempt to clear the down the ice, but Shouneyia stole the puck at the red line along the far-side boards, then passed it off to Cammalleri, who created an odd-man rush into the Nanook zone and fed it back to Shouneyia for the score.
Michigan expanded its lead to 3-0 just over three minutes into the final stanza when freshman forward Jason Ryznar (Anchorage, Alaska) wristed a shot past McKay, beating him on his stick side, after receiving a pass from Shouneyia. Freshman forward Eric Nystrom (Syosset, N.Y.) gave U-M a 4-0 advantage 11:38 into the third period on a similar goal to Ryznar's, taking the feed from junior forward J.J. Swistak (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Werner, who had two assists on the night.
McKay made 26 stops in the losing effort for UAF, as the Nanooks outshot Michigan for the second straight night, 36-26. Both teams were scoreless on the power play, as Michigan had just three opportunities, including a five-minute segment, while Fairbanks had seven.
Michigan will now take a week off before finishing its four-game road trip on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16-17, traveling to Omaha, Neb., to take on the No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. Opening faceoff for both nights of the two-game CCHA series is slated for 7:05 p.m. CST at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in downtown Omaha.
GAME SUMMARY
| Goals By Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
| Michigan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Alaska Fairbanks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1st period
1, MICH, Dwight Helminen/3 (Mike Cammalleri, Eric Werner) 15:40.
PENALTIES - Brad Fraser, MICH (high sticking) 6:41; Cory Rask, UAF (boarding) 9:16; Mike Komisarek, MICH (roughing) 11:42.
2nd period
2, MICH, John Shouneyia/3 (Mike Cammalleri) 18:27 (sh).
PENALTIES - Brandon Rogers, MICH (holding) 9:31; Ryan Lang, UAF (interference) 11:31; Jared Sylvestre, UAF (disqalification) 13:11; Jared Sylvestre, UAF (slashing) 13:11; Jed Ortmeyer, MICH (tripping) 16:36; Jed Ortmeyer, MICH (interference) 19:12.
3rd period
3, MICH, Jason Ryznar/3 (John Shouneyia, Jed Ortmeyer) 3:09.
4, MICH, Eric Nystrom/3 (J.J. Swistak, Eric Werner) 11:38.
PENALTIES - Jed Ortmeyer, MICH (elbowing) 14:07; Mike Cammalleri, MICH (roughing) 15:22; Josh Blackburn, MICH (roughing) 15:22; Josh Blackburn, MICH (roughing) 15:22; Aaron Voros, UAF (roughing) 15:22; Aaron Voros, UAF (roughing) 15:22; David Wyzgowski, MICH (10-minute misconduct) 15:22.
Shots on goal: MICH 10-13-7 30; UAF 10-14-12 36. Power plays: MICH 0 of 3; UAF 0 of 7. Penalties: MICH 10 (28 min); UAF 6 (23 min). Goalies: MICH, Josh Blackburn 4-4-1 (60:00 minutes, 36 shots-36 saves); UAF, Preston McKay 4-2-0 (60:00, 30-26). Referee: Kevin Hall. Assistant Referees: Jonathan Morrison, Todd Lacina. Attendance: 3936. Time: 2:25.
| Individual Player Statistics | |
## Michigan G A PIM Sh +/- --------------------------------------- 3 Eric Werner........ 0 2 0 0 +2 4 Andy Burnes........ 0 0 0 0 +1 5 Brandon Rogers..... 0 0 2 0 +1 7 Brad Fraser........ 0 0 2 0 +2 8 *Mike Komisarek..... 0 0 2 2 +1 9 Milan Gajic........ 0 0 0 1 0 10 Dwight Helminen.... 1 0 0 4 +2 12 J.J. Swistak....... 0 1 0 0 +1 13*Mike Cammalleri.... 0 2 2 4 +1 15*Jay Vancik......... 0 0 0 0 +1 17 Michael Woodford... 0 0 0 3 +1 18 David Moss......... 0 0 0 2 0 21 Eric Nystrom....... 1 0 0 3 +1 22*Jason Ryznar....... 1 0 0 4 +1 24 David Wyzgowski.... 0 0 10 0 +1 25*Mark Mink.......... 0 0 0 2 +1 26 Jed Ortmeyer....... 0 1 6 3 0 28 John Shouneyia..... 1 1 0 2 +2 29*Josh Blackburn..... 0 0 4 0 0 Totals............. 4 7 28 30 +19 | ## Alaska Fairbanks G A PIM Sh +/- --------------------------------------- 4 David Keough....... 0 0 0 1 0 7 Ryan Campbell...... 0 0 0 8 -2 9 Bobby Andrews...... 0 0 0 1 -2 10 Jared Sylvestre.... 0 0 15 0 0 11*Daniel Carriere.... 0 0 0 1 -2 12 Cramer Hickey...... 0 0 0 2 -2 13*Blaine Bablitz..... 0 0 0 2 0 14 Scott Vockeroth.... 0 0 0 0 -2 15 Jason Grinevitch... 0 0 0 2 0 16*Cam Keith.......... 0 0 0 1 0 18*Felipe Larranaga... 0 0 0 1 -2 20 Ryan Lang.......... 0 0 2 2 -2 22 Scott Farrell...... 0 0 0 3 0 23 Drew Bailey........ 0 0 0 3 -1 27 Corbin Schmidt..... 0 0 0 2 -2 34 Aaron Voros........ 0 0 4 2 -1 37 Tom Herman......... 0 0 0 1 -1 39*Cory Rask.......... 0 0 2 4 -1 Totals............. 0 0 23 36 -20 |
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Red Berenson
On the weekend ... "We've really been inconsistent defensively and we haven't had this kind of weekend all year. We've been giving up an average of three goals a game, and coming off the two losses at home, to come up here and take two games against a team like Fairbanks -- and they're a real good team now -- is a big accomplishment for us."
On the Michigan stereotype ... "I think a lot of people up here think that Michigan is a powerhouse perennially, but we're not. We're a team that's got a lot of young players, and we've got some players that are missing as well. We've had our backs to the wall this year it seems, so this is the best weekend we've had."
On the play of goaltender Josh Blackburn ... "Josh Blackburn was a big reason for our success this weekend, with one goal against and making so many great saves that kept us in the game when the game was on the line. This wasn't a 4-0 game, this was more like a 1-0 game."
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
