Another good start for Michigan tonight. They scored early in the first period and almost made it 2-0 a while later when Kile looked like he was going to put the puck into a wide open net, but somehow he missed it. After the first period it was 1-0 Michigan.
Second wasn't as good, a couple of penalties they had to kill, one of which led to a power play goal as the game approached the midway point. It looked like BU had taken the lead late in the second, but the goal was waved off for a high stick. The period ended with the game tied at one. So not a great period, but not the worst period either. Michigan did seem to pick up the pace a bit through the middle and end of the period.
Third period was another story all together. Michigan held in there, but they did seem to be tired and they seemed to get slower and more tired as the period went on. It didn't help that BU really picked up the pace in this period, they wanted this game bad. In any event the game stayed tied at one until right around the 10 minute mark when BU scored their second of the night. This lead didn't last long as Dancs scored less than 30 seconds later to once again tie the game, this time at two. It was with 7:32 to play that the game turned, that's when BU scored their third goal of the game to take the lead for good. This one was particularly disappointing as one BU player just blew through our defense and put the puck in the net. Everyone just seemed to stand and watch as he danced between them (see comment on Michigan looking tired above). About 2 minutes later BU finished off the scoring when they buried a shot under the cross bar to make it 4-2. Michigan didn't help their cause any when they took a stupid penalty with about 3:30 to play and had to kill that off. Shuart did have a short handed break away, but the BU goalie came up with a pretty good save to keep Michigan down by two.
All in all I would say this was a positive weekend. If you would have told me prior to the weekend that we would split and be in the running for a sweep late in the third period of the second game I would have called you crazy; Michigan just hadn't been playing that well. Somewhere along the way the team seems to have found something as this was the best weekend of hockey they have played to date. Whether they are just starting to put the pieces together or it was the level of competition that came into Yost that brought out the best in them, I don't know, but they played a much better brand of hockey this weekend than they have been playing. Let's hope that continues through the remainder of the first half (and season) which is now down to basically four weeks (the first half is down to four weeks)
I won't lie when I say I was a bit surprised to see LaFontaine get the start tonight. I thought Lavigne made a pretty strong case for getting a second straight start last night. I don't know what they will do next week with the US-NTDP team in for a game. Give it to Nagelvoort, split periods like they did in the first exhibition game, but in my opinion, after seeing both Lavigne and LaFontaine in games against BU, starting with Lake State Lavigne should get the nod and see where he goes with it. He looked to be the better goalie this weekend. His rebound control was better and he just seems to be more under control than LaFontaine. Of course the coaches may see something completely different, I'm just a guy in front of a computer, but we'll see what happens in a couple of weeks.
Second wasn't as good, a couple of penalties they had to kill, one of which led to a power play goal as the game approached the midway point. It looked like BU had taken the lead late in the second, but the goal was waved off for a high stick. The period ended with the game tied at one. So not a great period, but not the worst period either. Michigan did seem to pick up the pace a bit through the middle and end of the period.
Third period was another story all together. Michigan held in there, but they did seem to be tired and they seemed to get slower and more tired as the period went on. It didn't help that BU really picked up the pace in this period, they wanted this game bad. In any event the game stayed tied at one until right around the 10 minute mark when BU scored their second of the night. This lead didn't last long as Dancs scored less than 30 seconds later to once again tie the game, this time at two. It was with 7:32 to play that the game turned, that's when BU scored their third goal of the game to take the lead for good. This one was particularly disappointing as one BU player just blew through our defense and put the puck in the net. Everyone just seemed to stand and watch as he danced between them (see comment on Michigan looking tired above). About 2 minutes later BU finished off the scoring when they buried a shot under the cross bar to make it 4-2. Michigan didn't help their cause any when they took a stupid penalty with about 3:30 to play and had to kill that off. Shuart did have a short handed break away, but the BU goalie came up with a pretty good save to keep Michigan down by two.
All in all I would say this was a positive weekend. If you would have told me prior to the weekend that we would split and be in the running for a sweep late in the third period of the second game I would have called you crazy; Michigan just hadn't been playing that well. Somewhere along the way the team seems to have found something as this was the best weekend of hockey they have played to date. Whether they are just starting to put the pieces together or it was the level of competition that came into Yost that brought out the best in them, I don't know, but they played a much better brand of hockey this weekend than they have been playing. Let's hope that continues through the remainder of the first half (and season) which is now down to basically four weeks (the first half is down to four weeks)
I won't lie when I say I was a bit surprised to see LaFontaine get the start tonight. I thought Lavigne made a pretty strong case for getting a second straight start last night. I don't know what they will do next week with the US-NTDP team in for a game. Give it to Nagelvoort, split periods like they did in the first exhibition game, but in my opinion, after seeing both Lavigne and LaFontaine in games against BU, starting with Lake State Lavigne should get the nod and see where he goes with it. He looked to be the better goalie this weekend. His rebound control was better and he just seems to be more under control than LaFontaine. Of course the coaches may see something completely different, I'm just a guy in front of a computer, but we'll see what happens in a couple of weeks.
