2008 College Hockey Report now playing: Jughead
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Every time Michigan State faces Michigan, their fiercest foe, one glaring reality remains: the champs are still the champs. Despite the Wolverines' gaudy record and top ranking, the Spartans failed to be impressed, again knocking off their in-state rival and pushing their head-to-head record to 2-0-1 this season. Jumping out to a two goal first period lead in East Lansing, the defending national champion Spartans convincingly controlled the nation's number one team throughout a 5-2 victory. The win, the sixth ranked Spartans third in a row after being swept by Northern Michigan, ended Michigan's seven game unbeaten streak.
Game 2: U-M Answers Coach's Missive
The Ann Arbor News
DETROIT - Two losses and a tie in three hockey games against Michigan State had University of Michigan coach Red Berenson really angry.
After a morning meeting on that topic, the top-ranked Wolverines responded Saturday night with three first period goals on the way to a 5-2 victory over the Spartans.
Michigan (26-4-4, 19-3-4 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) hadn't scored three goals in any of the previous three meetings and hadn't scored in the first period against the Spartans.
"(Coach) was pretty upset,'' Michigan captain Kevin Porter said. "He hates Michigan State more than anyone else and to not have beaten them this year is disappointing. He told us we better be ready to play or there would be some consequences.''
Michigan's win eliminated the Spartans, who have not won a CCHA title since 2001, from the race for first place. The(Ohio) with two games to play.
"We played with more emotion tonight, we played more physical,'' Berenson said. "We went to the net, and as a result, we were rewarded.''
With early and late goals coming from unlikely sources in front of a sellout crowd of 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena, the Wolverines had a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
Tim Miller scored his first goal of the season 5:20 into the game when he followed up a chance by Chris Summers. Miller has played in all 34 games this season but had not scored since Feb. 24 of last year.
"I think my teammates were more excited than I was,'' said Miller, who also scored an empty netter with 33 seconds left in the game. "They were going nuts on the bench. That was exciting.''
Freshman Carl Hagelin helped the Wolverines gain a two-goal lead at 10:38 when he pilfered the puck from Jeff Petry behind the net.
Hagelin directed it out front, and Aaron Palushaj scored his eighth goal of the season.
Junior Brandon Naurato finished the period by converting a power-play goal on a rebound with 19.8 seconds left. It was Naurato's first goal since Dec. 8 and his third of the season, all on power plays.
The Spartans (21-9-5, 17-6-3) were being outshot 21-10 several minutes into the second period when they got a break to turn the game's momentum.
Chris Mueller shoveled a turnaround backhand shot at the net and it went in at 8:53 to put Michigan State on the board.
Moments later, the Spartans got a power play, and Tim Kennedy scored when goalie Billy Sauer gave up a rebound off his glove into the slot.
Michigan State continued to pressure and nearly got the equalizing goal. Max Pacioretty stopped the bleeding for the Wolverines when he re-directed Mark Mitera's point shot into the net with 35 seconds left in the period.
Meanwhile, Miami swept Western Mi. and remains mere percentage points out of first place.
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Logan and I took a trip to Oxford, Ohio on Feb 8 & 9 to visit cousin/nephew Alex Stagg and see the long awaited CCHA showdown between the M’s – Miami University and the University of Michigan. Dave Stagg joined us from Chicago.
The whole town was abuzz with the arrival of U of M. It was anticipated that the Wolverines would be soundly drubbed and sent packing. Michigan had lost the first of two games to Michigan State two weeks before, and tied in overtime in the second game to avoid being leapfrogged in the rankings by State, last year’s national champ. The following weekend U of M twice tied lowly Northern Michigan U 3 – 3.
Meanwhile, Miami split a series with Alaska, and had a bye week in the dramatic buildup to the duel of the titans.
At Miami, admittance is free to all events for students, but they must receive a wristband to get in. Normally this is no problem, but demand far outstripped supply for this series.
Early in the day Friday students lined up at the arena to get their free wristbands, taking shifts to hold a spot for friends in class, then being relieved. Some even pitched tents outside the arena on Thursday night.
The excitement was palpable in the throng as game time approached.
Miami had been nationally ranked, solidly in first place all season, thanks to its high flying, high scoring offense. Coached by former Detroit Red Wing 'Red' Berensen, the Wolverines kept getting ‘lucky’ in its big games and gradually edged into a national rank of #2, just a few percentage points behind the Redhawks.
Within three days after game tickets went on sale last fall, both games were sold out but we managed to get some SRO tix and went to Goggin arena more than an hour early to get a good vantage point.
In game one, Michigan scored early and often, making a four goal first period hold up for a 4 – 2 win. Game two on Saturday was back and forth with leads exchanged and resulting in a 5 – 5 overtime tie. The Ann Arbor News said Michigan fumbled away the second game, but coming away with three out of four possible points for the weekend nixes that notion.
Overall, despite the score, the caliber of play was outstanding, about what you’d expect from the two best teams in the nation.
Today North Dakota is coming into the picture with an eleven game win streak, bumping Miami, who lost to a bunch of dentists from Ferris State last weekend, out of the number 2 slot, but are still in the top five nationally. Michigan State is also lurking at # 6.
Click here to to follow the leaders, get live game updates, complete standings, rankings, and schedule information, and much more, as this exciting season draws to a close.
Next up: College hockey at the Joe - Michigan vs Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena Friday and Saturday February 22 & 23, 2008 at 7:05 & 7:35
February 18, 2008
| Team | (First Place Votes) | Record | Points | Last Poll | |
| 1 | Michigan | (48) | 25- 3-4 | 998 | 1 |
| 2 | North Dakota | ( 2) | 19- 8-2 | 952 | 3 |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 19- 7-2 | 876 | 4 | |
| 4 | Colorado College | 21- 8-1 | 843 | 5 | |
| 5 | Miami | 25- 6-1 | 828 | 2 | |
| 6 | Michigan State | 20- 8-5 | 715 | 8 | |
| 7 | Boston College | 16- 7-7 | 685 | 7 | |
| 8 | Denver | 19-10-1 | 663 | 6 | |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 21-10-3 | 557 | 9 | |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 14-12-6 | 504 | 10 | |
| 11 | Minnesota State | 16-11-4 | 484 | 13 | |
| 12 | Clarkson | 17-10-3 | 469 | 11 | |
| 13 | Minnesota-Duluth | 12-10-6 | 424 | 12 | |
| 14 | Northeastern | 14-11-3 | 259 | 15 | |
| 14 | Providence | 13-11-4 | 259 | 14 | |
| 16 | St. Cloud State | 14-13-3 | 255 | 19 | |
| 17 | Princeton | 15-10-0 | 251 | 17 | |
| 18 | Mass.-Lowell | 13-11-4 | 139 | 18 | |
| 19 | Quinnipiac | 17- 9-4 | 116 | 16 | |
| 20 | Niagara | 16- 8-4 | 62 | 20 |