Michigan
U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team (ex)
Michigan Beats U.S. NTDP Under-18 Squad in Exhibition
11/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Yost Ice Arena)
Score: #5 Michigan 8, U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team 2 (exhibition)
Attendance: 6,091
Next U-M Event: Friday, Nov. 8 -- at Bowling Green (Bowling Green, Ohio), 7:05 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team eased by the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team 8-2 in an exhibition contest on Friday (Nov. 1) at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan's leading scorer was freshman forward Brandon Kaleniecki (Livonia, Mich.) with two goals and one assist, and six other Wolverines finished with multi-point efforts.
Michigan and Team USA played a tight-checking game during the opening minutes of the first period before the teams took matching minor penalties at 8:06. Another USA penalty created plenty of open ice for the Wolverines, who earned the first power play of the game with a four-on-three advantage; however, U-M only mustered a single shot. Michigan's offense opened the scoring first minutes later at the 13:21 mark. Sophomore forward Eric Nystrom (Syosset, N.Y.) created the play when he brought the puck into the offensive zone and was forced by a USA defender to turn toward the left circle. Alertly, Nystrom waited to make a backhanded pass to the trailing sophomore Dwight Helminen (Brighton, Mich.) in between the circles, and Helminen then banked a shot off of goalie Chris Holt into the goal.
Michigan scored again just under four minutes later when freshman forward Kaleniecki banged the puck into the net following Danny Richmond's (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) point shot that was wide of the goal but bounced directly to the stick of Kaleniecki. Team USA was given a power play at the end of the first period but U-M held its lead at 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Goaltender Noah Ruden (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) was inserted in place of starting goalie Al Montoya (Glenview, Ill.) to start the second period. At 4:22 of the second period sophomore forward David Moss (Dearborn, Mich.) picked up a goal to increase the Michigan lead to 3-0. Moss took a saucer pass from Kaleniecki in the right faceoff circle and snuck a shot through Holt's five-hole for the tally. Sophomore forward Joe Kautz (Des Plaines, Ill.) added Michigan's fourth goal of the game as he chipped in a pass from senior forward J.J. Swistak (West Bloomfield, Mich.), who was circling behind the net from the left side and fed Kautz in the low slot. After two periods of play Michigan was outshooting Team USA 27-8.
Sophomore forward Milan Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) got on the board for the Maize and Blue 4:03 into the final period of play with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle. Nystrom fed Gajic from the high right slot. Gajic's second goal, with 12:38 left to play, chased Holt from the game in favor of Wylie Rogers. Less than two minutes later, senior forward Jed Ortmeyer (Omaha, Neb.) scored while planted at the right side of the net to give Michigan a 7-0 lead.
Team USA's Steve Mandes snapped the shutout 11:24 into the stanza while on a two-man advantage. Seconds later, Josh Sciba notched USA's second consecutive power-play goal, off a rebound in front of the net. The scoring flurry ended when Kaleniecki put the puck in the net at 13:30 as he skated through the low slot right to left.
The Wolverines will return to CCHA play next weekend on Nov. 8-9 as they travel to Bowling Green for their first conference road trip of the season. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Red Berenson
On tonight's game ... "Well, I think they got good competition, certainly there were some special team opportunities. Players got to play, got some ice time that they maybe haven't had in earlier games. I think we realized that if you don't play hard, it doesn't matter who you play against. You could see that we were getting outworked and out-muscled, even though they weren't getting good scoring chances, they were working hard, and remember those are 17-year-old kids but they gave our team a good workout in terms of having to battle for every inch and earn our chances."
On getting other players ice time ... "I thought they were pretty good, they just needed some ice time and some confidence. There's competition on this team. As slowly as everyone gets back, we're going to have to make a decision."
On building confidence by scoring ... "You hope that there are some players in that locker room that got some honest confidence from that game. There's nothing wrong with winning, even though you're playing against a younger team. I asked Jed (Ortmeyer) about is the net the same size when we play Michigan State as it is tonight and he said it was. Well, I said there's nothing wrong with scoring, no matter who you play, and you want to get into good habits."
N O T E S
David Wyzgowski saw time on the Michigan blue line for the first time since he was converted from a forward earlier this year.
Six players on Michigan's roster have ties to the U.S. National Team Development Program. Forwards Dwight Helminen, Eric Nystrom and Jason Ryznar, defenseman Eric Werner and goaltenders Chris Gartman and Al Montoya played for the U.S. NTDP during their junior hockey careers.
Michigan has a 3-0 record in its exhibition meetings with Team USA.
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
