[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ichigan headed to New York to play Union College Dutchman and the Rensselaer Engineers in one game matchups over the weekend, winning both.
Michigan entered the weekend with 2-0-0 record with both wins coming against the Mercyhurst Lakers. During the road trip, the Wolverines saw offensive production from a mix of veteran and freshmen players. While Friday’s game saw an offensive thriller, Saturday’s game saw Michigan getting the lead and keeping it.
On Friday night the Wolverines headed to Schenectady, N.Y to take on the Dutchman of the Union College. Union College entered the game with a 2-0-2 record. Both teams entered the game unbeaten and neither team wanted to earn their first loss of the season. Michigan started senior goaltender Steve Racine and Union College started junior goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos.
The first period started with both teams playing stellar defense. Both teams combined to only total twelve total shots, with Michigan only getting four shots on net the entire period.
As the second period got under way, Union College jumped out to an early lead when the Wolverines were on the attack and Union College freshmen forward Mark Dulfour broke up pass and headed on a breakaway to beat Racine with a backhand to give the Dutchman a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines tied the game 1-1 when junior left winger Alex Kile deflected a shot from Nolan De Jong past Sakellaropoulos.
Union College scored two late period goals in the second to give them a 3-1 lead in the second period. At 17:32 while the Wolverines were on the Power Play, Dutchmen sophomore Ryan Scarfo scored on a 2 on 1 to give them a 2-1 lead. As the period was ending Mark Dulfour added his second goal of the night when he fired a shot to be Racine to give Union the momentum entering the third period. The second period ended with both teams about equal in the shots on goal with Union having taken 2 more shots than the Wolverines.
The Wolverines came out after the intermission with a sense of urgency and resiliency. At the 1:23 mark junior right winger Tyler Motte brought the Wolverines one goal closer to tying the game. While on the power play senior Justin Selman notched his first goal of the game to tie the game 3-3. The Wolverines gained the lead with a goal by freshmen center Cooper Marody.
Halfway through the third period the Union junior forward Michael Pontarelli tied the game at the 10:24 mark. Union took the lead on a goal by junior forward Roman Ammirato scored at 14:32.
Michigan pulled Racine for an extra attacker and with just thirty seconds left in the game Justin Selman scored his second goal of the game and tying the game at 5 apiece.
The game went into overtime but neither team could capitalize on any scoring opportunities and the game ended in a 5-5 tie.
Wolverine’s senior goaltender Steve Racine stopped 33 of 38 shots to bring his record to (1-0-1); Dutchmen junior goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos pushed away knocked away 36 of 41 shots faced to give him a record of (1-0-3).
Michigan headed from Schenectady, N.Y to Troy, N.Y to take on the Rensselaer Engineers Saturday.
Rensselaer is 1-4-0 on the season. The Wolverines are coming into this game coming off an exciting game against Union College which ended in a 5-5 tie the night before. Michigan junior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort got the nod in the game and Engineers senior goaltender Jason Kasdorf got the start.
Michigan opened the scoring quickly into the first period as freshmen left winger Brendan Warren scored his first collegiate goal for the Michigan Wolverines to give them a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines ended the first period with the momentum. Both teams combined for 10 shots in the first.
The Wolverines came out of the first intermission flying and at the :28 second mark Michigan junior right winger Tyler Motte scored his third goal of the season to put the Wolverines up 2-0. RPI got on the board at the 5:03 mark when RPI senior forward Zach Schroeder scored his first goal of the season and put the Engineers within one.
Wolverine’s sophomore right winger Tony Calderone scored his second goal of the season to put the Wolverines on top 3-1 and give them the momentum heading into the second intermission.
As the third period began the Wolverines came out of the locker room with a 3-1 lead and all the momentum. At the 10:54 Cecconi went to the box for holding and gave the Engineers a power play. At 12:27 Engineers junior forward Jake Wood scored his second goal of the season on the power play to bring them within one goal.
Brendan Warren and Tyler Motte both added another goal apiece at the end of the game to give the Wolverines a 5-2 win. Michigan moved to 3-0-1 on the season, junior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort earn stopped 21 of 23 shots he faced to give him his second win of the season. Jason Kasdorf stopped 28 of 33 shots and took his fourth loss of the season.
The Wolverines return to Yost Ice Arena and keep their unbeaten streak alive in a weekend series with Robert Morris. The puck drops for Friday’s game at 7:35 PM EST.
