Connor Nets Two Goals in Michigan Home Opener; Wolverines Win 6-4
Michigan begins the season with two wins at home. Topher Nowak/The Pit
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he first game of the season is in the books as the Michigan Wolverines win 6-4 over the Mercyhurst Lakers. Michigan freshmen sensation Kyle Connor scored his first two goals as a Michigan Wolverine in the victory.
This game showcased two coaches who have built their own legacies at their respected schools; Coach Berenson is entering his 32nd season behind Michigan’s bench and Gotlik is entering his 28th season behind Mercyhurst’s. These two coaches have faced off three previous meetings and Michigan leads the series 2-0-1.
You could feel the energy level inside of Yost Ice Arena tonight, you could tell the crowd was excited to for the season to start. T
The line of Connor, Nieves and Selman came out with energy and excitement tonight and you tell they were ready to get the season started. At 4:45 of the first period Cristoval “Boo” Nieves got the scoring goal scoring going when he scored on a backhand top shelf off a rebound past Mercyhurst’s goalie Brandon Wildung. The Lakers senior right winger Kyle Cook tied the game up at 1.
Throughout the first the Wolverines were applying the pressure but weren’t able to capitalize on the scoring opportunities. At 9:13 of the first freshman center Josh Lammon knots his third goal of the season to give the Lakers the lead 2-1.
While killing the Selman penalty at 16:58 mark of the first freshman Kyle Connor scored his first goal as a Michigan Wolverine while on a breakaway to beat Wildung and tie the game 2-2 going into the second period.
The first period saw many penalties on both sides but neither were able to capitalize on their power play opportunities. Michigan Senior goalie Steve Racine saw only 10 shots in first while Mercyhurst goaltender Brandon Wildung saw 21 shots in the first.
As the second period began Michigan came out of the gates flying spending half of the period in the Mercyhurst end but were unable to capitalize on the many scoring opportunities. Mercyhurst’s players were doing a very good job of blocking shots from the point and getting in the shooting lanes. At 12:37 of the second Mercyhurst sophomore Jonathan Charbonneau scored to give the Lakes a 3-2 lead. Just a minute later Michigan sophomore Tony Calderone was setup by his teammates Cooper Marody and Brenden Warren to put the puck past Wildung and get the moment back on the side of the Wolverines.
Just as you thought momentum was on the side of the Wolverines, Michigan junior right winger Tyler Motte was called for tripping. Moments later Mercyhurst freshmen and Michigan native Lester Lancaster scored on the power play to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead.
As the second period was coming to an end, Michigan was taking a lot of shots on Wildung, a shot came from a Michigan player while both teams were fighting for the rebound the puck trickled over the goal line as the net was coming off. After a long goal review, the refs and booth declared that the goal would stand and was credited to Michigan freshman Cooper Marody who scored his first goal as a Wolverine. This goal changed the momentum for the rest of the game.
At the end of second period both teams were tied and Michigan only had one more shot than Mercyhurst.
Both teams came into the third period hitting and trying to get that go ahead goal. At the 2:57 mark of the third Michigan’s Tyler Motte shot from the top of the slot, the puck was deflected and fluttered passed Wildung. For the rest of the period each team had many opportunities to score but both goalies and defenses stood tall. With just a minute left in the game coach Gotkin pulled Wildung for an extra attacker. Michigan’s freshman Kyle Connor netted his second goal of the game this time with the empty netter to seal Michigan a season and home opening victory.
After the game Coach Berenson was asked what the team will have to improve on for the next game and he said “Faceoffs, penalty killing, d-zone coverage, back checking and goaltending. We need to get better in that area.”
The Wolverines were only 38 of 82 on faceoffs tonight and Mercyhurst was 34 of 82.
Coach Berenson said during the press conference “Felt good about the freshmen’s potential terms of scoring goals. Kyle Connor is a legitimate goal scorer and Cooper Marody is a talented young player has got good hands and he’ll find a way to score. They are putting the pressure on the upper classmen. They all have to be better than they were last year.”
Michigan senior goaltender Steve Racine let in 4 goals on 26 shots, while Mercyhurst sophomore goaltender Brandon Wildung let 5 goals in on 47 shots. Racine earned his first win of the season to 1-0-0 and Wildung recorded the loss going 3-2-0.
The team gets an off day today and will host game 2 of the game on Sunday. Michigan needs to improve on the things that Coach Berenson talked about but the season is still early but from what I saw last night Kyle Connor is a special player and has the skills along with the rest of his teammates to take this team far.
Michigan beats Mercyhurst 3-2; Starts Season 2-0-0
Center ice at Yost Ice Arena before Michigan’s 3-2 win over Mercyhurst Sunday. Topher Nowak/The Pit
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Michigan Wolverines begin the season 2-0 sweeping a series at Yost Ice Arena against the Mercyhurst Lakers. Michigan’s star freshmen Kyle Connor scored the go ahead and game winning goal to give the Wolverines a 3-2 victory
Yost Ice Arena had a very different energy in the air but the Wolverines and Lakers came out looking for a win tonight. Scoring didn’t come as quickly as it did in Friday night’s game. Friday night the Wolverines and Lakes combined to score 10 goals. Each team came in with a different game plan as how to change that. The Wolverines decided to start Junior Zach Nagelvoort in net. A decision that Coach Berenson said “they made the decision on Saturday night.” The Wolverines started the line combination of Compher, Kile and Motte.
As the first period began the Wolverines spent plenty of time in the Lakers zone and firing pucks on sophomore goaltender Brandon Wildung. Michigan had 5 shots on net in the first seven minutes of the period but was not able to capitalize on the opportunities.
At 17:03 Michigan’s junior left winger Alex Kile opened the scoring. Kile hammered home a Wildung rebound to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. Michigan ended the period on the power play when Mercyhurst’s sophomore center Nathan Ferreiro went to the box for elbowing.
Both goaltenders played well in the first period. Mercyhurst’s Wildung stopped 18 of 19 shots he faced; while Wolverines junior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort only faced 5 shots in the first period and stopped all of them.
Michigan entered the second period with a .37 second power play but was unable to capitalize with the man advantage. Just as the Mercyhurst was going back to even strength, Michigan’s Tyler Motte went to the box for slashing.
At the 1:52 mark of the second Mercyhurst’s redshirt sophomore left winger Jack Riley tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal hammering home a rebound past Nagelvoort.
Right when it seemed that Mercyhurst gained some momentum the Wolverines bounced back and at the 5:08 mark the Wolverines junior right winger Evan Allen answered the call. Michigan was on a quick break out, on a 2 on 1, Michigan junior center Max Shaurt fed right winger Evan Allen in the slot for a one timer to beat Wildung and give the momentum back to the Wolverines.
Mercyhurst’s sophomore right winger Jonathan Charbonneau came back to tie the game at 11:03 of the second period to score his 3rd goal of the season to tie the game 2-2.
The Wolverines took the momentum back at the 15:21 mark when on a 2 on 1 when Wolverines freshmen right winger Kyle Connor was setup by his line mate senior left winger Justin Selman who beat Wildung with a wrist shot from inside the right faceoff circle to score his third goal in two games and put the Wolverines up 3-2. Connors goal rejuvenate Yost Ice Arena, and was the eventual game winning goal.
Towards the end of the second period Justin Selman took a rough and would not return for the rest of the game. Coach Berenson was asked about the condition of Selman.
“Selman had a headache but doesn’t think it had anything to do with the hit,” he said. “He’s had some chronic headache problems and they sat him out for precaution.”
The second period ended with Michigan leading Mercyhurst 3-2. Michigan was unable to capitalize on was unable to capitalize on their one power play of the period and Mercyhurst was able to capitalize on one of their two opportunities. Shots on goal in the second were pretty even Nagelvoort pushed stopped 8 of 10 shots faced in the period and Wildung stopped 12 of 14 faced.
The third period saw no goals in it but each team came out playing hard until the very last whistle. The Wolverines were tested late in period when Michigan junior defenseman Cutler Martin went to the box for interference. The Wolverines were able to kill off that crucial penalty kill and keep the lead 3-2. Mercyhurst played with desperation at the end of the game but were unable to capitalize on any opportunities.
Michigan won the game 3-2 to give them a 2-0-0 record to begin the season. Michigan Nagelvoort earned his first victory of the game, he allowed two goals on 21 shots faced. With the loss it moves Mercyhurst’s record to 3-3-0 on the season. Mercyhurst’s Wildung recorded his third loss of the season, he allowed three goals on 45 shots faced.
My take from this weekend’s games against Mercyhurst is that the Wolverines showed what they need to work on. The team showed great improvement from the 6-4 they had on Friday night. You can tell that the team came in with desperation and just wanting to secure this victory. Michigan goes on the road this week to take on Union(N.Y) and Rensselaer. These will be two games that could show us exactly what the Wolverines have to offer.
Michigan’s next game is Friday against Union (N.Y). Puck drops at 7:30 PM EST.
