Michigan
7-1-1, 4-0-1CCHA
Lake Superior State
3-8-0, 0-7-0CCHA
Shouneyia's Play Carries Michigan to Victory over LSSU
11/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 5-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team upended Lake Superior State by a score of 4-1 on Friday (Nov. 15) at Yost Ice Arena. Senior forward John Shouneyia (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) led the Wolverines with two goals and one assist to tie career highs in goals and points. Freshman forward Jeff Tambellini (Port Moody, B.C.) set a career high with three assists and goaltender Al Montoya (Glenview, Ill.) made 28 saves, just one shy of his career best.
| | Shouneyia (28) notched two goals, his first of the season, in the second period. |
The Wolverines earned another power play just under two minutes later and this time capitalized on the opportunity. Shouneyia carried the puck into the LSSU zone and after evading a defender set up at the left half boards. Eyeing a seam in the defense, he sent the puck cross-ice to Tambellini at the right faceoff dot, and after settling the puck, Tambellini centered it to Eric Nystrom (Syosset, N.Y.) in front of the goal for a tip that just barely crossed the goal line at 8:18. Michigan finished the first period with 15 shots on goal while giving up just seven attempts to LSSU.
Michigan stretched its lead to 2-0 just 28 seconds into the second period on Shouneyia's first goal of the season when he picked up a tipped pass in the high slot and slapped it by the blocker of Violin. U-M received its third power play midway through the period and Shouneyia notched his second power-play tally of the game at 9:03 as he flipped the puck into the net after a scramble in the crease. The Maize and Blue held its 3-0 lead after two periods due in part to the play by Montoya's steady play in net. Montoya made two key stops in the stanza with a kick save when Michigan led 2-0 and a save on a breakaway attempt late in the period.
To start the third period, the Lakers got on the board by virtue of a shorthanded goal by Jon Booras at the 1:13 mark. Booras took the puck off of the stick of a Michigan defender in the U-M zone and put the puck between Montoya's pads on a short breakaway. The Wolverines regained their three-goal advantage at 7:10 when Gajic's slapper from the left half boards snuck through the pads of Violin with U-M having an extra attacker on the play due to a delayed penalty against the Lakers. U-M and LSSU exchanged chances throughout the rest of the game with LSSU totaling 28 shots, nearly catching up to Michigan's 29.
Michigan will conclude the weekend series against LSSU on Saturday (Nov. 16). Game time is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. at Yost Ice Arena.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Red Berenson
On tonight's game ... "The difference in tonight's game is that we were able to put our chances in at the right time. They had their chances; they had a good portion of the game in our zone and we were lucky that it never cost us. We were able to kill off a four-on-three penalty; that was huge. We got timely goals. (John) Shouneyia's second goal was a timely goal and then the next power-play goal to get a two-goal lead. Then we gave up a bad goal. This was not a 4-1 game is my point. They're a good team, they played hard and the puck could have easily gone in at the other end."
On senior John Shouneyia ... "He skated with the team (during his injury). The good thing about his injury is that he could skate, where sometimes with a knee injury obviously that keeps you off the ice. He's been skating with us, his skating is fine. He's right back to where we expect him to be."
On sophomore Milan Gajic's return to the lineup ... "He played parts of the game really hard. That's the way he has to play. He can be a good player. He needs to learn how to be a good player every shift and every game."
Sophomore Defenseman Andy Burnes
On his return to the lineup ... "I was off for three weeks, just not doing anything, no physical activity whatsoever. Obviously I knew it was going to take a while, and to tell you the truth, maybe I felt a little better last Saturday when I played just because I had three weeks to rest. Getting back this week took a little out of me but obviously it takes a few shifts to get back into the swing of things and to get your timing down."
On Lake Superior State's play ... "I think [cycling] is part of their game plan, just to outwork their opponents. They played physical tonight and we weren't ready for it right from the start. They took it to us the first couple of shifts and kept it deep in our zone and were banging us and maybe we were back on our heels a little bit, not ready for it. That's their game plan, to work hard. What we have to do to counter that is to work just as hard as they do."
Senior Forward John Shouneyia
On finally scoring ... "It's nice to finally score a goal, kind of two lucky goals, two lucky breaks. The puck just bounced out to the slot on the first one and the second goal was centered by their captain. They're lucky goals but I'll take them."
On Lake Superior State's play ... "They were just really trying to get the puck in behind our 'D' and were trying to get a cycle going. They're s pretty big, strong team and they were trying to get a cycle going, trying to break us down down low."
N O T E S
Michigan is enjoying an unbeaten streak of 14 games (13-0-1) in the CCHA regular season dating back to last season. The Wolverines' current unbeaten streak of seven games (6-0-1) this season is the fourth longest in the country.
U-M has won all five of its home games this season and extended its home unbeaten streak to nine dating back to the 2001-02 season.
With the two-goal output in the second period the Wolverines have now outscored their opponents 18-3 in the second period.
U-M has outscored Lake Superior State 10-1 in the teams' last three regular-season meetings. Michigan had 5-0 and 1-0 wins during the 2001-02 regular season.
John Shouneyia earned his first two goals of the season in the second period. He has played in just three games this year as a result of a wrist injury.
Shouneyia tied a career high with two goals, which he last did against Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 17, 2000. He also tied his career high for points (3) with two goals and an assist. The last time he recorded three points in a game was against Western Michigan on March 2, 2002.
Andy Burnes notched his first points of the season, assisting on two Michigan goals. The points were his first in 15 games (2/22/02, assist vs. Ohio State). Also, the two assists tied a career high for points by Burnes as he last accomplished the feat on Dec. 29, 2001.
Jeff Tambellini set a career high for assists as he helped out on three U-M goals against LSSU. The freshman had just one assist on the season coming into the game.
Milan Gajic recorded his first goal of the season in the third period.
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
