By Matt Slovin –
ANN ARBOR – The first period of Michigan’s 6-2 victory over Northern Michigan strongly resembled that of the Wolverines’ Friday night win.
Michigan forechecked as hard as it had all season, peppered shots at Wildcat junior netminder Jared Coreau and kept the puck in the offensive zone for much of the frame.
But unlike the series opener, Northern Michigan lacked the late-game fight to keep up with the Wolverines, who put together a full 60 minutes of quality play and advanced to the CCHA quarterfinals.
“Well, I was really impressed with our team tonight,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “I thought after last night’s game, we didn’t play that well. Their team out-played us for big parts of the game, and even though our team won the game, I thought if our team came in there overconfident tonight, we were in trouble. Even before the game, I couldn’t have told you how ready this team was, and they were ready, and they showed it. That was a convincing, convincing victory right from the start.”
Ann Arbor native and freshman forward Andrew Copp scored twice, while Alex Guptill, Jacob Trouba, Mac Bennett and Luke Moffatt all chipped in goals for the series-clinching victory at Yost.
Sophomore forward Guptill opened the game’s scoring at the 4:02 mark of the first period when he cleaned up a loose puck in the crease with a backhand through Coreau’s five hole.
But the Michigan offensive pressure didn’t stop there — Coreau had to make save after save to prevent the Wolverine lead from growing, until freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba decided he’d had enough. After a long sequence of puck possession in the Northern Michigan zone, the Rochester, Mich., native Trouba rifled a slapshot from the slot that found twine for the 2-0 advantage.
Even though Michigan out-shot the Wildcats 23-6 in the first period, Northern Michigan would get on the board before the first 20 minutes were up. A puck took a bad Michigan bounce off the boards behind goalie Steve Racine and freshman forward Darren Nowick put his own rebound into the net in the closing minute of the first period.
The Wolverines’ lead grew back to two at the 6:06 mark of the second period when junior defenseman Mac Bennett scored his sixth of the season off another slapshot — a power-play tally 23 seconds into the man advantage.
With 7:45 to play in the second period, Michigan elected to take a penalty shot after the referees ruled a Northern Michigan player covered the puck with his hand in his own crease. Coreau made the save on Treais’ attempt, however, keeping it a two-goal game.
Finally, the dagger came with 2:35 to go in the middle frame when Ann Arbor native and freshman forward Andrew Copp weaved through the crease after a Trouba slapshot and beat a sprawled-out Coreau.
Michigan added one more at the 2:16 mark of the third period when Treais won a faceoff right to junior forward Luke Moffatt who sniped from the left circle for the 5-1 lead.
And to get to the six-goal final, Copp was awarded a penalty shot, the Wolverines’ second of the game, and he capitalized for Michigan’s first penalty-shot score since 2004. Northern Michigan would get one back on a tally with one minute remaining as Racine was beat low glove side.
All game, the Wildcats struggle to get anything going in the Michigan zone, and even on the power play, the space to work with simply wasn’t there. In fact, it took until about 15 minutes were left in the third period for Northern Michigan to muster its 10th shot. By that point, the Wolverines had fired off 43.
Michigan will now travel to either Notre Dame or Western Michigan, both of which received first-round byes. If Michigan State closes out its series with Alaska (the Spartans hold a 1-0 lead), the Wolverines will visit the Broncos. If Alaska stages a comeback, Michigan and the Fighting Irish will square off in South Bend.