Michigan
2-0-1, 2-0-0-0
Bowling Green
0-2-0, 0-2-0-0
Caporusso Aids Michigan's Weekend Sweep at Bowling Green
10/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Oct. 9, 2010
| Site: Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena)
Score: #4 Michigan 4, Bowling Green 2
Records: U-M (2-0-1, 2-0-0-0 CCHA), Bowling Green (0-2-0, 0-2-0-0 CCHA)
Attendance: 1,513
Next U-M Event: Tuesday, Oct. 12 -- vs. U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team - exhibition (Yost Ice Arena), 7:35 p.m.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team (No. 4 USA Today/No. 5 USCHO) doubled up Bowling Green, 4-2, to complete a road weekend sweep on Saturday (Oct. 9) at BGSU Ice Arena. Michigan scored three goals over eight-plus minutes in the first period and never looked back, leading by at least two goals for the remainder of the penalty-riddled contest.
Senior center Louie Caporusso (Woodbridge, Ontario) led the Wolverines with a shorthanded goal and two assists to complete his five-point weekend (1-4-5). Freshman defenseman Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich.) scored the first goal of his career and also chipped in an assist, while junior defenseman Brandon Burlon (Nobleton, Ontario) and junior left wing David Wohlberg (South Lyon, Mich.) had a goal and an assist each, with Burlon's goal counting as the game-winner. In the cage, senior goalie Bryan Hogan (Highland, Mich.) had 16 saves for the win.
Wohlberg staked U-M to a 1-0 lead at 9:11 of the first period. Regrouping in the neutral zone, Merrill made a smart pass to the BGSU blue line, where Caporusso chipped the puck behind the Falcon defense. Wohlberg skated onto the puck in the high slot and beat BGSU goalie Andrew Hammond to the blocker side.
Two minutes and 40 seconds later, Merrill sent a wrist shot high through a double screen and into the Falcon goal. Caporusso and Wohlberg picked up the assists.
Burlon made it 3-0 at 17:36 when he beat Hammond cleanly through the five hole from the right circle. Junior right wing Luke Glendening (Grand Rapids, Mich.) blocked the goalie's view of the shot with a perfect screen at the edge of the crease.
Bowling Green's Chad Sumsion posted a power-play goal at 19:11 on a goalmouth scramble, but U-M took a 4-1 lead five minutes into the second period on Caporusso's first career shorthanded goal. Burlon scooped up a loose puck in U-M's zone and moved it ahead for Caporusso and senior left wing Carl Hagelin (Sodertalje, Sweden). With BGSU scrambling to get back on defense, Hagelin sped down the right wing and fed a backdoor pass to Caporusso in the left slot for the one-touch goal.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas narrowed the U-M lead to 4-2 when he scored from the low slot on a rebound at 8:40 during a delayed penalty.
Before and after the teams exchanged second-period goals, penalties bogged Michigan down as the second period finished with U-M being assessed seven penalties for 25 minutes. Senior left wing Scooter Vaughan (Placentia, Calif.) was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind. U-M caught a break, however, as a Falcon took an offsetting major penalty for facemasking.
Each team took a minor penalty in the first seven minutes of the third period and Michigan's two-goal lead was in jeopardy once again when freshman defenseman Mac Bennett (Narragansett, R.I.) was charged with a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind with 3:52 remaining in the game. Hogan was sharp, though, never letting BGSU see a rebound.
The Wolverines are back in action on Tuesday (Oct. 12) when they host the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team in exhibition action at 7:35 p.m.
Contact: Matt Trevor (734) 763-4423
