Michigan vs Nebraska-Omaha Live Game Blog

Final Score: Michigan 2 Nebraska-Omaha 1
Michigan will move on to play the winner of Notre Dame/Ferris State series next Friday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The crowd sends the Wolverines off the ice with a "thank you seniors" chant directed at Chad Kolarik and Kevin Porter, as those two have played their last game here at Yost. The crowd also requests a second encore performance from the band which obliges! It's about five minutes after the final horn and the students are still here dancing. Thanks for checking out tonight's blog...be sure to leave comments!

GO BLUE!
--9:56--
Michigan on the Power-play
Mick Lawrence was penalized for holding, giving the Wolverines their second power-play chance of the game.

UPDATE: Caparusso JUST missed putting Michigan up 3-1 as his slap shot from the right wing rang off the post. 0:48 left on the power-play.

UPDATE #2: Nebraska-Omaha able to kill of the rest of the power-play as the teams are back to full strength as there are now 2:00 left in the game
--9:50--
Great Crowd Tonight
The Student Section brought their "A" game tonight as they've moved on to a "fire Shegos" chant in reference to the poor officiating in tonights game. Shegos is a crowd favorite here at Yost, especially with the students. As Andrew just pointed out, Verizon has even installed "Shegos" as a preset word in their texting dictionary. 5:28 to go, Michigan still holding onto a 2-1 lead.
--9:42--
Northern Michigan defeats Michigan State 2-1!
They just posted the final score of Northern Michigan 2 Michigan State 1 which set off rousing chorus of "If you can't get into College go to State" by the student section. I love hockey fans. If you read Andrew "Swami" Seid's CCHA Tournament preview you'd see that he's been spot on in his predictions. He had Ferris St. beating Notre Dame in game one which they did and he's done it again tonight correctly predicting this upset.
--9:34--
2nd Period Intermission:
As the band played the traditional 2nd period intermission song: "Can't turn you Loose" by the Blues Brothers the students changed up their tradition a bit. Instead of one fan doing the dancing, the entire student section broke out in dance. Then, an unprecedented event occurred as the student section chanted for an encore from the band. This was followed by "Best Game Ever" chants...and I'd have to agree.

--9:23--
End of 2nd Period: Michigan 2 UNO 1
What a period! Michigan didn't score a goal, but they sure put up a good fight...literally! UNO seemed fired up after the brawl but Billy Sauer has been great in the goal as he's saved 18 of 19 UNO shots
--9:07--
3:20 left in 2nd period, still 2-1 Michigan
Nebraska-Omaha seems to be playing much more aggressively after that fight as they have gotten a couple of good shots off on Billy Sauer but he's been up to the challenge, keeping the score at 2-1 in favor of the Wolverines.
--9:00--
Fight! Fight! Fight!
A Brawl has broken out in the far corner of the UNO zone. There are about 10 players involved as Pacioretty is exchanging punches with a UNO player. Helmets are off, gloves are off and players have hit the deck. The officials finally drag everyone apart after about two or three minutes of brawling. Pacioretty for U of M and Nick Von Bokern for UNO have been kicked out as we'll see how all the penalties shake out

UPDATE: Now a fight has broken out in the stands between a UNO parent and U of M fan! The student section is loving it as the UNO parent is being escorted out by the Ann Arbor Police while being serenaded with the standard vulgar penalty chant.

UPDATE #2: Thanks to Christian's alertness and ability to find a pen, here's the final tally of penalties levied out after the brawl:
Michigan:
Tristin Llewellyn: 2 minutes for roughing
Kevin Porter: 2 minutes for roughing
Aaron Palushaj: 2 minutes for roughing plus another two for interference
Max Pacioretty: 5 minutes for fighting and a game misconduct
Nebraska-Omaha:
J.P. Platisha: 2 minutes for roughing
Dan Charleston: 2 minutes for roughing
Mike Phillippi: 2 minutes for roughing
Nick Von Bokern: 2 minutes for roughing and a game misconduct

YIKES!
--8:40--
Michigan 2 UNO 1
UNO has finally converted on a power-play opportunity as Michigan got a little bit too aggressive looking for a short-handed goal. Tony and Andrew had the call
--8:31--
Yet another penalty on Michigan
This time Chris Summers is the guilty party as he's pegged with a blatant cross-check. Two more minutes coming for UNO on the power-play

UPDATE: Billy Sauer is amazing
--8:31--
Early power-play chance for UNO
Michigan must feel bad for UNO because they keep committing penalties in order to give UNO a chance to put the puck in the net. That latest culprit is Chad Langlais who was called for hooking as the UNO man was in all alone on a breakway at the 18:00 mark.

UPDATE: Penalty killed off with ease by the Wolverines
--8:28--
End of first period - Michigan 2 UNO 0
End of the first period from Yost, Michigan leading it 2-0. Tony Bolton, WCBN's voice of Michigan Hockey says that the last Hagelin goal of the night really took any fight that UNO had left completely out of them. Tony even pointed out the body language of the UNO players showed a lack of energy...and that was for the pre-game introductions! Michigan is rolling right now and it sure is fun to watch.
--8:19--
Michigan 2 UNO 0
GOAAAAAAALLLL!!! Michigan's Carl Hagelin pushes the U of M lead out to 2-0 on a spectacular backhanded shot to beat the UNO goaltender. Hagelin got the puck all the way back at the Michigan blue line and took it himself, beating two UNO defensemen on his way to the net. Travis Turnball on the assist, Tony and Christian on the call
--8:10--
Power-play for Michigan
Now Michigan will have an opportunity with a one man advantage as Mick Lawrence is sent off for tripping. The crowd has filled in nicely as now just about all the seats are full with the exception of the edges of the student section-side
--8:02--
Another power-play opportunity for UNO
Another Michigan penalty, this one called on Brandon Naurato for goaltender interference. Michigan able to kill it off, making UNO just 1-8 on the power-play for the series. All we heard about coming in was that vaunted UNO power-play unit, but so far the Wolverines have met the challange.
--7:55--
Penalty on Michigan give UNO game's first power-play
Caporusso draws the game's first penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct - contact to the head, but the Wolverines have killed it off successfully. Crowd was upset with a no-call on a suspect hit put on Michigan alternate captain, Chad Kolarik.
--7:46--
Michigan 1 UNO 0
Palushaj is out on the ice and appears to be skating well as Michigan is off to another great start. Brandon Naurato has just put the Wolverines on top 1-0 at the 3:14 mark. Brian Lebler found Naurato streaking down the right side of the ice and threaded a pass off the boards to the wide open forward. Naurato made his move across the crease before wristing a backhanded shot into the upper-left corner of the net. Assists credited to Lebler and Mitera. Here's Tony and Christian on the call.
--7:41--
The crowd is slowly trickling in as we are about 10 minutes from faceoff. So far the student section is about half full with the rest of the arena not much better. On an unrelated, but equally disappointing note, the press row has already run out of pizza.
--7:25--
And we're back for game two of the 2008 CCHA quarterfinal matchup between #1 seed Michigan and #8 Nebraska-Omaha. Hopefully I can do as good of a job as Jeremy did for you last night, I know I have big shoes to fill.

We'll see if Michigan has any goals left after scoring 10 in the 10-1 victory last night. It seemed like everyone that hit the ice registered a point for the Maize and Blue so hopefully the boys saved a few for tonight as they look to complete the sweep and move onto the CCHA semifinals next friday night at the Joe.

More bad news on the injury front for Michigan as Aaron Palushaj will be a game-time decision as he battles a cold. So far he looks ok in the pre-game skate. More on this to come...
--7:03--