Michigan
26-14-1
North Dakota
23-13-5
Michigan Falls to North Dakota in Offensive Firestorm
3/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
DENVER, Colo. -- The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team let a pair of two-goal leads slip away as it fell by a 8-5 final score to No. 6-ranked North Dakota on Saturday (March 24) in an NCAA West Regional semifinal. T.J. Hensick (Howell, Mich.) led the Wolverines with a pair of goals and a helper, while Kevin Porter (Northville, Mich.) and Andrew Cogliano (Woodbridge, Ontario) each chipped in a marker and an assist.
Michigan led 2-0 after the first minute of regulation, as well as 3-1 early in the first frame, but then allowed three goals in four minutes to trail 4-3 after the first period. Again, U-M scored two goals in the first minute of the middle period to regain the 5-4 lead. Unfortunately, the Fighting Sioux retailiated with another three-goal outburst over a five-minute span. Altogether, UND notched five power-play goals on eight chances.
Michigan wasted no time in breaking onto the scoreboard, notching a pair of goals less than a minute into the contest. Just 26 seconds into the game, Jack Johnson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) kept the puck in the U-M end and sent it to Hensick standing below the right faceoff circle. Hensick laced a pass to Porter in the slot, and the junior roofed a one-timer over Phillippe Lamoureux's shoulder for the 1-0 lead. Porter's marker, his 24th of the season, gives him the team lead for goals.
The Maize and Blue pushed its advantage to 2-0 at 58 seconds. Cogliano received a clearing feed and raced into the zone with just the UND netminder to beat. Cogliano's initial shot was stopped by Lamoureux, but Chris Summers (Milan, Mich.) was trailing the play. Shadowed by a Fighting Sioux defenseman, Summers crashed into the net with the puck in tow for his sixth goal of the campaign.
With Chad Kolarik (Abington, Pa.) in the box for a tripping penalty, North Dakota used its man advantage to cut the Michigan lead to 2-1. Chris VandeVelde's shot ricocheted off the post, but Chris Porter was there to stuff the rebound home for the power-play marker at 3:05. Chay Genoway also drew an assist on the play.
Hensick's 22nd goal of the season gave the Wolverines back the two-goal lead. David Rohlfs (Northville, Mich.) chipped the puck out of a scrum in the corner, and Hensick picked it off a UND stick, walked around Taylor Chorney, and slid the puck through Lamoureux's five-hole at 4:58. Johnson also notched an assist on the play.
The scoring frenzy continued with North Dakota's second power-play marker in as many attempts. Genoway fed a pass to Brad Miller at the point. Miller's laser shot was deflected in front of the net by Porter at 14:36.
The Fighting Sioux tied the game at 3-3 with their first even-strength goal of the night at 16:28. Ryan Duncan grabbed the puck behind the net and slipped a pass to T.J. Oshie, who carried it to the post and lofted a backhand shot between Billy Sauer's (Walworth, N.Y.) stick and body.
North Dakota took the lead with a five-on-three advantage at 18:47. Robbie Bina corralled a Chorney dish and relayed it to Jonathan Toews stationed at the left post. Toews stuffed the puck home before Sauer could cross the crease. The bang-bang play gave UND the 4-3 edge.
After 20 minutes of play, North Dakota had outshot the Wolverines by a 13-7 margin.
Michigan came out and, repeating its feat from the previous period, took the lead in the first minute of the middle session. Off the faceoff, Matt Hunwick (Sterling Heights, Mich.) scooped up the puck and relayed it to Porter, whose feed found Hensick deep in the UND zone. Hensick deked around a defender and lit the lamp for the Maize and Blue 14 seconds into the period.
Lamoureux strayed from the net into the right corner and attempted to shoot the puck around the boards and out of the UND zone, but Cogliano tracked down the puck behind the net and beat the Sioux goalie back to the net for the wraparound goal and the 5-4 lead at 58 seconds.
The Fighting Sioux quickly answered at 3:16, knotting the game at 5-5. Bina received an Oshie pass at the point and rifled a shot that sailed over the blocker of Sauer for the man-advantage marker.
UND reclaimed the lead at 4:53 with Rylan Kaip's fifth goal of the season. Matt Watkins threw a pass out in front of the net, where it was grabbed by Kaip. The junior waited until he had a clear shot, then fired a shot that found the back of the net for the 6-5 lead.
North Dakota extended its lead to a pair of goals on Oshie's second goal of the night at 8:03. With the man advantage, Bina dumped the puck down to Oshie, who backhanded a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle for the 7-5 edge. The tally was UND's fifth goal on the power play.
After two periods that were marked by a plethora of goals, the final frame produced a sole marker when Oshie completed his hat-trick bid at 17:49 with an unassisted, shorthanded tally into an empty net to push the UND edge to 8-5. North Dakota advanced to face Minnesota in the West Regional final.
The Wolverines finished the season with a record of 26-14-1. They will graduate seven seniors from the 2006-07 roster.
Contact: Matt Trevor (734) 763-4423
