Liveblog: Hockey at Sparty, 12/6/2008

Good to see we're getting the same level of great Comcast broadcasting we all know and love. Art Regner is nearly inaudible as the Spartan band is still getting miked.

Michigan gets a nice opportunity on Lerg in the first minute, but he stops the initial shot and the rebound. Gazley then gets a chance, but Hogan (yep, he's out there) stops it. And Scooter Vaughan's going off for a bit of a hook on Leveille.

Oooh. Michigan gets a shorthanded opportunity courtesy of Tim Miller and Lerg dives across to stop him on a long wraparound. Then Hogan makes a nice save on the other end. 1:15 left in the penalty...and it's killed.

Even without the power play, MSU is spending a lot more time in the Michigan zone tonight than last night. 15:30 left. Palushaj's line is out there, and now we see some sustained time in the MSU zone. Ooh, drop pass from Caporusso, but Palushaj can't get a clean shot off. Shift change. Winnett intercepts a pass at the MSU blue line, but can't keep his feet. Naurato passes to behind the net, a shot is made, but Lerg has the post covered. We're at the first break.

And we get our first scuffle of the night. Lerg juggles a shot, and Turnbull is engaged with Turek, who directs him into the post, and then takes offense.

Langlais breaks up a potential 3-1, thank goodness. And now Naurato takes an penalty for interference, in putting his elbow through Shelgrens head. And it's Summers, again, having a great opportunity to drive the net, but Lerg stays with him and denies the shorty.

Fardig bulldogs around the MSU net again, with Miller backing him up, and forces Lerg to freeze the puck again.

Things have just gone Comcastically pear-shaped with the broadcast here. But we've got a draw in the Michigan zone, 0:41 left in the penalty, and 8:59 remaining in the first. Michigan sends it down the ice, but State comes back quickly and the shot is deflected into the netting.

We're bak at full strength now. 5:45: Llewellyn gets a nice shot on Lerg with a little traffic, but it bounces off. Lot of back and forth action now. Summers tries to go from blue line to goal, but MSU's going to get a hooking call, I think. We'll find out when we come back.

1. Cable in the Classroom is still a thing?
2. You have to give MSU credit for getting a Nick Drake song for their university spot

Hagelin gets a sweet opportunity from the right faceoff dot on a pass from Burlon, but in the time he needs to settle the puck, Lerg gets over to make the stop and freeze the puck.

Oh my goodness. Fantastic wraparound opportunity from Kivisto hits the post and drops into the crease for Hogan to freeze. Final break of the period, under 3:00 to go.

MSU icing. 1:21 left in the 1st. I noticed Glendening out there for the first time on that last shift. Lebler's out. DQ? Hogan stops a long shot from the blue line with 9.6 seconds left in the period. The period ends without further heroics.

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Last night's box score lists Lebler with a game misconduct, so this seems like Red's decision, and I have to agree with it. Lebler has a history of taking hitting-from-behind penalties and should have figured out what not to do by now.

Carl is late for his inter-period interview with Art Regner. Carl slams the Wolverines' level of intensity in the first period, so I think Red's looking for a little more out of them in the second stanza.

They don't show it very well at first, but MSU's exuberance gets the best of them and Tropp goes to the box for cross-checking with 19:18 left. After a Michigan opportunity, Crowder gets a shot in on Hogan. MSU's concentrating on defending right in front of Lerg, keeping 3 guys down there and one man up, harassing the man with the puck. One more rush. Couple shots on the power play, but nothing too dangerous.

Llewellyn and a couple of Spartans exchange pleasantries. Rust tries to shake a defender, but the defender picks the right side and bodies him away from the puck.

Apparently this game may or may not still be an official sell-out. Really?

COMCAST, SHOW THE GAME, NOT THE GRAPHIC.

We're at the break. 12:36 to go in the 2nd.

Caporusso took a rising shot that Lerg gloved, but he dropped the puck. However, he covered up before anyone had any chance at it.

Fightin' round the world! Llewellyn decks Crowder with a clean hit, but then follows it up with an extra elbow to the head. Crowder then goes off and winds up in the box too. And Llewellyn gets the extra pair, so MSU has a powerplay for the next 2:00. About 11:00 to go. And Petry immediately scores on a shot from the high slot. He put it just under the crossbar. I hate dumb penalties. MSU 1, Michigan 0.

Another penalty coming up, but this time it's MSU in the box. 10 minutes to go now. We look like we're dragging here. Turnbull drives the net, but MSU cuts off the pass to center. Summers has a shot from just inside the blue line. Powerplay ends after State clears a loose puck in front of Lerg. Oy. With Merrifield coming out of the box, MSU gets a 2 on 1 that morphs into a 3 on 2. The trailer gets the puck and shoots wide. Michigan takes the puck up offsides, and we're at the middle break.

Hogan steps up as MSU takes another mid-wrange wrister in transition. We haven't won at Munn since '04-'05. Scooter Vaughan comes in to take a short wrister, then Lerg has to slide over quickly to handle the second chance from the other side. Naurato gets demolished by Petry, but the elbow is borderline and he gets whistled for it. Eh. I'll take it, I guess. 1:30 left in the PP, 5:41 in the game.

Ooh. MSU gets a jump up-ice, but Langlais takes the puck away. As he tries to come back up, Crowder cross-checks him right in front of the ref and he's going to the box. On the delayed penalty, Caporusso comes in on Lerg, but it goes wide.

YES! Shot from the blue line by Pateryn is handled by Lerg, but Turnbull is in the right place to put home the rebound. Michigan 1, MSU 1.

We have an additional 1:42 left on the Crowder penalty and keep the puck in the MSU zone after the draw. You can hear the goal chant. AND HERE WE GO AGAIN! Wohlberg's pass from the red line to Turnbull is deflected, but Lerg can't cover up before Turnbull pops it past him. Michigan 2, MSU 1.

2:06 left after an MSU icing. Michigan's got a much better jump to their step following Turnbull's goals.

With about 40 seconds left, Winnett digs one out of the corner, but neither of his linemates are ready for the centering pass.

The puck goes in the back of the net behind Lerg again, but the whistle had clearly blown.

And so we have another end-of-the period fisticuffs session. Petry took a shot from Czarnik right after the buzzer to kick it off.

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Red thinks we've been trying to get too cute with the puck, and he's definitely looking for more effort and more intensity from his team in the third.

Man. Schepke's shot leads to a huge rebound, but Michigan clears the zone. MSU's next shot bounces off Hogan, but this time off to the side. The next time we aren't so lucky. Hogan stops the initial shot, but Gazley is left entirely alone as he comes up and neatly fires it behind Hogan after it rolls off his stick on a clear attempt. Michigan 2, MSU 2.

Oof. Wohlberg almost gets one with a defender hanging all over him.

OH COME ON. We give up a 3 on 1 to MSU and it's Gazley again. Vaughan made a horrible steal attempt and ended up hanging Hogan out to dry when Llewellyn ends up being the only man back. MSU 3, Michigan 2.

We've just crossed the 18:00 mark. MSU's getting physical around their own goal. At 16:28, Vaughan gets back this time to break up a 3-on-2 and sends Petry sprawling into the post.

MSU wins the draw. Wohlberg leads Caporusso too far on the outlet, but Michigan gains the zone anyway. Icing on MSU at 15:50. Fardig loses the draw, but Michigan keeps it in the MSU end for a little while longer. After an exchange of possessions, Langlais fires one in on Lerg, but Fardig can't collect the rebound. Hogan hangs on in the Michigan zone to set up another face-off, which Michigan wins. Burlon stickhandles up and passes off to Naurato, but Lerg handles the one-timer.

Rust tries a spin-o-rama to pass to an open Hagelin in the slot, but it rolls off his stick. On the other end, Llewellyn decks his man. Play comes back the other way and Llewellyn's in the middle of it on that end too when extracurriculars erupt around Lerg.

We're playing 4-on-4 after everything is sorted out. Wohlberg and Sturges are in the box. Palushaj is a stickhandling monster, but we're back to full strength on both sides without incident.

7:44. Nothing much has happened in the meantime. Not a lot of dangerous chances on either end. MSU is dedicated to protecting that 1-goal lead. Even with the puck deep in the Michigan zone, only three Spartans are anywhere near UM territory.

Palushaj gets his stick held, and that sets up a Michigan powerplay. Michigan gets some pressure on the delayed penalty, but Lerg freezes it and, with 5:59 left in the game, Michigan goes on the power play. Wait, what? We're 4-on-4? Ridiculous.

OHH, Tim Miller couldn't put one away behind Lerg. Hagelin circles and fires, but Lerg handles it. Hagelin to Rust, who deflects it, but it goes over Lerg. Vaughan can't hold it in after a Langlais shot and we get a shift change. Back to 5-on-5 with 3:55 left.

WOOO!!! Burlon's been doing a lot of handling the puck. He jumps up and gets the outlet pass. When Crandell jumps over to attack him, he slides the puck across the goal mouth to who else but Carl Hagelin who bangs it home. Michigan 3, MSU 3.

Vaughan follows up a missed shot and digs the puck out of the corner. Palushaj gets the puck near the middle of the Spartan zone and passes over to Wohlberg in the slot, who immediately passes to Caporusso on the backdoor and that puck is BURIED. Michigan 4, MSU 3.

1:31 left in the game. The puck gets tied up behind the MSU goal under Czarnik with 1:04 left. Lerg is pulled as soon as MSU can clear the zone. It's a mess down by the UM goal. DAGGER! Winnett lifts it out, Turbull collects it near the MSU blue line and puts it in the back of the net for his hat trick. Michigan 5, MSU 3.

17.9 seconds left. Turnbull's first career hat trick, which sounds about right. Michigan wins at Munn for the first time since 2004. Nice comeback effort, twice eclipsing an MSU one-goal lead. Turnbull had a great game, Hagelin stepped up, and Michigan overcame what had been a sluggish performance. What a fantastic weekend to be a Wolverine.

Approve

(Julian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free Press)

Posts Full of Links Are Easy

Last chance to enjoy this as the reigning image in the rivalry:

Former Wolverine Mike Van Ryn felt the need to tear down some of the barriers between fans and players last night in Boston.

That's gotta smart. (HT: Awful Announcing)

Michael Rosenberg talks more about Dantonio and in-state recruiting. A reminder from Craig (who took it from an MGoDiary by chitownblue): Of Michigan's 10 career leaders in rushing yards and receiving yards, respectively, only one of each has come from the in-state ranks (Tyrone Wheatley and Braylon).

Yost Built on Niagara and the upcoming tilt at BU, including ways to actually watch the game.

Finally, WHY CAN'T I STOP CLICKING HERE? (HT: EDSBS)

The Best Seats in the House

I know I'm late on this one, but by the time I got home on Saturday night I didn't want to bury Jeremy's excellent band post, and then the Ferentz thing exploded, overshadowing everything else. But I was at both College Hockey Showcase games last weekend, playing in the Alumni Pep Band.

Game 1:  Michigan 3, Wisconsin 2

MGoBlue.com highlights

Michigan played 59 minutes of dominating hockey. They were far and away the better team when matching up against the Badgers, who were kept in the contest by their goalie, Connelly, and a few posts. Michigan got decent pressure from the start, but nothing was going in. Then Lebler took a weak but somewhat legitimate-looking 5:00 major and game misconduct for hitting from behind. This was a huge turning point in the game. Our penalty kill came out and denied the Badgers time and again. Then, with :07 left in the Lebler penalty, Kolarik took a great feed from Steve Kampfer, carried it in, and solved Connelly for our first goal of the night. On the powerplay in the second, Palushaj sent a puck back to Kolarik behind the net who fed Porter in the slot to push the lead to 2-0. Soon after, Kolarik was again sitting behind the net when he found Pacioretty out in front for another powerplay goal.

As time in the 3rd started winding down, I began to relax just in time for Wisconsin to finally dig in and get a powerplay goal of their own that I can't fault Sauer on. Then, just seconds later, our defense entirely abandoned the entire left side of the ice, hanging Sauer out to dry and giving Wisconsin an easy goal. In 0:18, we've gone from cruising to the finish to fighting for our lives. The second goal finally refocused everyone and they hung on for the win.

One other thing about the game was that McInchak called a ton of penalties; 17 in all for nearly 60:00 (40 without the misconducts). Everything felt broken and choppy. At least he called them consistently, but strict enforcement like that got old.

Game 2:  Michigan 5, Minnesota 1

MGoBlue.com highlights

OH, IT WAS GLORIOUS. After the first goal, I was thrilled. After the second, ecstatic. After the third, I thought we might be able to win this thing after all. Then I started screaming at the defense to clear the zone, but time and again they couldn't get it done, and Sauer had no chance on a fluke goal where the puck bounced off Kevin Quick's skate and into the net. I swear, they must have spent a full minute and a half set up like they were on the powerplay. But Michigan stepped up again and banged home a fourth goal. And then in the third period they added a fifth one to kill any hope Minnesota might have had.

We opened this game a lot slower than the one against Wisconsin. Two early powerplays went nowhere; in fact we spent a lot of time in our own zone fighting the Gophers off. Our best early chance came when Porter had a shorthanded breakaway. He couldn't get the goal, but he drew a slashing call. Near the end of the first, he had another breakaway opportunity, this time on the powerplay, but the Gopher defender wrested the puck away...only to have it land on Chad Kolarik's stick before being deposited in the back of the net.

In the second, the Wolverines pulled away. Porter found Kolarik wide open near the faceoff circle on the powerplay. Like The Blog That Yost Built says, he had to be perfect on his shot or we'd be wondering about that decision. Porter's goal just a few minutes later is one of those ones that make you want to kill your own goalie, because it really was all his fault. He whiffed on the clear and was dead from that moment.

Ben Gordon's flukey goal put the icy knot back into my stomach. Michigan couldn't find a way to clear the zone without taking an icing call, so they kept letting the play go and it finally bit them. As you can see, he just flung the puck vaguely in the direction of the net and it bounced off Quick's skate. A minute and a half later, the Gophers took another penalty and started killing it really well, denying the Wolverines the zone. I was complaining to the trumpet next to me that we weren't getting any pressure with our powerplay. He started to say that Minnesota's PK was really aggressive, but it left them vulnerable– And then Porter got loose and scored. Way to illustrate a point, Minnesota.

Five minutes into the third, Ben Winnett's goal basically ended the game by making it 5-1. This was amazing. Michigan beats Minnesota for the first time since I was a student and I get to play "The Victors" for them. Fantastic.

We have an Ohio State University for two at home this weekend and then a home-and-home with Bowling Green the next before the break preceding the GLI. We're perfectly capable of going into it 17-1-0, which is ridiculous, but possible. We're still better than a much-improved BGSU and OSU sucks on toast. OSU did beat Wisconsin early in the season, but since then they've been swept by the likes of Ferris and UNO, and they salvaged a tie with Robert Morris to avoid being swept by a CHA team (OSU fans have heard about it and they want this Robert Morris guy to know that he should watch his back. Who does he think he is?). 16-2-0 with a split against the Falcons is what I'm hoping for, because I desperately want to pound OSU in SOMETHING and you have to have a bad night somewhere in there.