Michigan
12-4-1, 6-2-1CCHA
Michigan Tech
3-9-3, 0-6-2WCHA
Ortmeyer, Power Play Lead Michigan Into GLI Title Game
12/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
| | Ortmeyer's career-high four points included two goals and two assists in the 5-3 victory. |
The teams skated four players a side after minor penalties at the 11:15 mark. Michigan took advantage of the open ice as Ortmeyer stole the puck from the Huskies and fed fellow senior forward John Shouneyia (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) at center ice before streaking down the right wing to receive the return pass in the right circle behind the MTU defense and lifting a shot high over the goalie's left shoulder for a 1-0 lead at 11:48.
MTU picked up its first power play with less than five minutes remaining but U-M killed the chance successfully. The Wolverines broke out with a four-on-one advantage with just under two minutes left to play but failed to capitalize, allowing Michigan Tech's Chris Conner to tie the score at one with 24 seconds left when he corralled a long rebound and skated in to stuff it past Montoya's right pad.
Michigan Tech took the lead at 4:10 of the second period when sophomore defenseman Eric Werner (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) forced from behind his own net a pass that hit Colin Murphy in the leg and then fell to his feet, permitting him to slam the puck past a surprised Montoya at the left post. Michigan Tech earned another power play at 7:52 but Michigan held the Huskies at bay.
Michigan knotted the score at 2-2 at 10:35 with a power-play marker from Ortmeyer for his second goal of the game. Freshman defenseman Danny Richmond (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) fired a shot from the point that went wide and ricocheted off the end boards, and Ortmeyer alertly gathered the puck and banked it into the net off of Ellsworth's right skate.
Michigan retook the lead, 3-2, at the 15:07 mark when it cashed in on another power play. The Wolverines quickly head-manned the puck up the left boards to the MTU blue line following a turnover to start the play where Ortmeyer and Tambellini had ample room to work in the left circle. Ortmeyer dropped a pass to Tambellini as a Michigan Tech defender went down to prevent a shot, giving Tambellini a clear path to the net to wrist a shot through the goalie. Michigan killed off the Huskies' third man-advantage of the night to leave U-M with a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. U-M outshot MTU 11-5 in the second stanza.
The Wolverines appeared to score a goal at 4:03 into the third period but the net was ruled to be off its moorings before the puck crossed the goal line. Michigan did, however, receive a power play as a result of the previous opportunity. Sophomore defenseman Brandon Rogers (Rochester, N.H.) scored the third straight power-play goal of the night for U-M with assists from Ortmeyer and Shouneyia. Ortmeyer slid the puck from the left half boards in the left corner to Shouneyia, who then fired a pass cross-ice through the crease to a cutting Rogers at the back post for the tap-in goal at 5:19 to stretch the lead to 4-2.
Inside of 10 minutes to play, Michigan Tech got a few valuable scoring chances, including some while on the power play, but Montoya was up to the challenge as he made the necessary saves and smothered the puck quickly. Two penalties taken by Michigan Tech with three minutes left virtually sealed the victory for Michigan as freshman forward Andrew Ebbett (Vernon, B.C.) scored on the power play at 17:35. Ebbett received a feed from sophomore forward Milan Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) through traffic in the mid-slot for a one-timer goal. Michigan Tech added a goal with 27 seconds left to make the final score 5-3 in favor of Michigan.
The Wolverines will compete for their 12th GLI championship against No. 14 Boston University on Sunday (Dec. 29) at 5:05 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena. U-M has a 10-7 record all-time against BU, but lost its last game against the Terriers, 3-2 on March 27, 1997, at the Frozen Four.
In the first semifinal Boston University scored 13 seconds into the game and never looked back, netting four first-period goals to take a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes en route to a 6-1 victory over Michigan State. BU's Ken Magowan (1-3-4) and Frantisek Skladany (2-2-4) each had four-point efforts as five different players had multi-point efforts. In net, Sean Fields stopped 28 Michigan State shots, with David Booth's tally being the only one that reached the Terriers' goal.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Red Berenson
On the game ... "It was a good game and I think an entertaining game for the fans. They saw a lot of scoring chances, some big hits, some entertaining hockey and a close game. Michigan Tech played really well, and the difference in the game was our power play capitalized on four chances and the other goal was a four-on-four, so five-on-five the teams were very even."
On the power play ... "I think we got some bounces on the power play that we haven't been getting of late. They're not necessarily finesse goals, but there was a couple of nice goals and good passing plays. Hopefully our power play will get better now that we're getting our team back together. Hopefully we'll get some confidence in that area."
On Jed Ortmeyer ... "This was a big game and we needed players to step up and we all knew it and Jed made a statement tonight. He scored some huge goals and played like a leader out there and that helps our team. This is a big tournament for us and we're the local team that wants to do better in this tournament and now we're giving ourselves a chance to play in the championship game."
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
