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Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Big Ten Tournament Preview

By Eroc Wolverine

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Posted at 6:00am — 3/19/2015

Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Big Ten Tournament Preview

Michigan Icers Fall Short In B1G Ten Title Bid; B1G Ten Tourney Is Only NCAA Hope Now

What: B1G Ten Hockey Tournament
When: Thursday-Saturday March 19th-21st
Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
#4 Penn State (18-14-4) vs. #5 Ohio State (13-18-3) Thursday @ 4:30 p.m. Winner vs. #1 Minnesota (21-12-3) 4:30 p.m. Friday.
#3 Michigan (20-14-0) vs. #6 Wisconsin (4-25-5) Thursday @ 8 p.m. Winner vs. #2 MSU (17-15-2) 8:00 p.m. Friday.

Championship Game 8 p.m. Saturday.
TV/Radio: Thursday/ Friday/Saturday: BTN
WTKA 1050 a.m. with Al Randall & Bill Trainor. www.mgoblue.com

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Rewinding Last Week’s Action:

Michigan entered the weekend with an opportunity to secure their first B1G Ten regular season title and have the #1 seed in the B1G Ten Conference Tournament. In order to keep destiny in their own hands and win the title outright they needed to sweep MSU. On Friday, Michigan defeated the Spartans 5-3 in East Lansing, ending a five game road winless streak.

The Wolverines jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before yielding one back to lead 2-1 at the end of one period. The Spartans tied the game on a terrible miscue by goaltender Zach Nagelvoort who was slow to come out of his net and was beaten to a loose puck by a diving Spartan. The puck bounded behind the Michigan netminder and into the open net.

Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

The Maize and Blue responded by re-taking the lead in the third period on a Dylan Larkin snipe, only to be re-tied on a quirky goal that was steered in past Nagelvoort by defender Mike Downing. But, late in the game, senior Travis Lynch buried a one timer off of a pass from the right corner from Captain Andrew Copp. The Wolverines secured the game with an empty netter after surviving a frenetic scramble in front of Nagelvoort in the closing seconds.

The Wolverines were poised to seal the deal on Saturday in front of a Senior Day packed house at Yost Arena, but the Spartans had other ideas. MSU played well from the beginning, catching a sluggish Michigan team in the first period. They took a 1-0 lead just after the Wolverines killed a penalty on a turnover in the neutral zone and a quick counter attack.

MSU Captain Michael Ferrantino surprised Nagelvoort with a high shot from the right circle that the sophomore goalie never moved on. The shot went over his shoulder and just under the crossbar. Michigan finally solved All-Big Ten and Player Of The Year netminder Jake Hildebrand with a Zach Werenski second period PPG. The All-Big Ten First Team defenseman accepted a pass at the top of the slot, found a shooting lane as he moved in and snapped a wrist shot over Hildebrand’s shoulder to tie the game.

The game came down to the final period, though and MSU capitalized on one of their few chances. Michigan held the play in the Spartans offensive zone as the period began, but lost control of the puck. Sophomore Mackenzie MacEachern spotted junior forward Matt DeBlouw sneaking behind the Michigan defensive pair of Michael Downing and Brennan Serville and feathered an outlet pass that he took in stride. He moved across the slot from right to left and fired a shot over Nagelvoort’s blocker for the lead inside of the first: 30 of the period.

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    • Michigan fired 38 shots on Hildebrand, but could not beat him. He robbed Zach Hyman twice up close and Justin Selman clanked a shot off the post. The best save of the game, though, occurred with six minutes left. Tyler Motte snapped a shot off of a rebound that was labeled for the top corner only to have Hildebrand go side to side cross crease with a sprawling, reaching save to keep the game in his team’s favor. The Wolverines pulled Nagelvoort in the last two minutes but couldn’t solve the Spartan netminder.

    It was MSU’s first win at Yost since 2009, and enacted revenge for spoiling their own Senior Day. MSU would have won the conference had Minnesota lost to Penn State, but fell into 2nd place following the Gopher’s title clinching win. They are seeded 2nd in the B1G Ten tournament and will receive a bye until Friday where they will face the winner of the Thursday tilt between #3 Michigan and #6 Wisconsin.

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    Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Yostmeister

    Go Blue — Wear Maize!


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