January 7, 2008
Hat Trick Hockey hosts the 4th MCRHL event of the Season
As the season winds down towards the mid-season break the MCRHL goes west to the suburbs of Chicago where Hat Trick Hockey was the host. This event had some interesting match ups, but over all many games turned out to be one sided. I am not sure if it was the cold weather that blew into town or the central time zone change but the outcome of some of the games was not expected. Saying that there were some great games as well as great moments.
Michigan (6-2) vs. 
Purdue (6-7-1)
Two of the MCRHL’s well-established teams met on Saturday December 1st at 5:30 pm. This meeting was important for both Michigan and Purdue because it was the first of two regular season meetings and neither team wanted to lose this first match up.
Michigan’s Brandon Johns would open the scoring of this match at 8:34 of the first period from Derrick Boroski. The Boilermakers would strike back when Ross Dunavant was able to beat the Wolverine goalie, Adam Goldberg, at 4:50 of the first period. This was a huge goal for Purdue to even the score at one a piece. The Boilermakers were not able to enjoy the tie for long when Chuck Nguyen caught the pass from Scott Janowiak at the 4:12 mark of the first period to give the Wolverines back their one goal lead. Not long after the same combo from the first goal of the game would hook up for another Wolverine goal, giving Brandon Johns his second goal of the game and Michigan their first two goal lead. Johns second goal came at 1:37 of the first period. Purdue wanted to gain back some momentum before the break and they were able to when Greg Braun and Eric Fujikawa were able to hook up with only 15 seconds left in the first period for the second Boilermaker goal of the game to bring the game back to 3 to 2 Michigan. Michigan’s Brandon Johns and James Arakaki took a look at the clock and saw more then enough time to give the Wolverines back their two goal lead and that was what they did when Johns got his hatrick with only 5 seconds left in the first period. After a crazy end to the first period the two teams exchanged some shots in the second but both Adam Goldberg for Michigan and Ethan Manon for Purdue were not giving anything up until the 8:16 mark of the second when Jimmy Cruse took a pass from Ross Dunavant and beat the Michigan goaltender. This brought the Boilermakers within one at a score of 4 to 3. This had the Boilermakers pumped up and less than two minutes later they struck again when Greg Braun scored his second goal of the game to tie the score up at 4 a piece. Before the second period ended Johns would put up his forth goal of the game on the board when he scored with only 1:37 on the clock to give his team back the lead at 5 to 4 in favor of the Wolverines. The third period was unlike the first two when both teams were more defensive resulting in more neutral zone play. As the game neared the end Purdue was forced to be more aggressive because they were down by just a goal and that opened up a scoring chance for Chuck Nguyen to put the Wolverines up by 2, and that was what he did when Scott Janowiak would find him for the second time of the game with only 45 second left in the game. This gave Michigan a strangle hold on the game and only 14 seconds later Eric Drucker sealed the deal when he scored to give the Wolverines a 7 to 4 win over the Purdue Boilermakers. By just looking at the score box you would have never known that this game was a close as it was, but the Boilermakers really took the Wolverines to the edge. Look out for both of these teams in the second half of the season as they both have solid teams. The three stars of the game were #1 Brandon Johns (UofM) #2 Greg Braun (Purdue) #3 Chuck Nguyen (UofM). On the goaltending end Michigan’s Adam Goldberg faced 30 shots and made 26 saves and on the other side Purdue’s Ethan Manon faced 31 shots and made 24 saves.
Eastern Michigan (7-5-1) vs. 
Oakland Community College (2-2-2)
Coming into this weekend many people had this game circled on the schedule because of the anticipation of the competitiveness of both of these programs. And, true to form these two teams gave the fans a good game. Eastern Michigan would get on the score sheet first when John Schultz scored at 5:58 of the first period giving the Eagles the early one to nothing lead. The Eagle’s lead would be short lived when OCC’s Colin Sipperley would find teammate Jason Yokubison to even the score at one a piece only 54 seconds after the Schultz goal. The two teams would exchange a number of shots but the first period would come to an end with the game tied at one each. Oakland Community College would get a jump on the Eagles when Justin Ascenzo caught a pass from Andrew Pargoff to beat the EMU goaltender Jamison See. This goal came at 9:42 of the second period and gave them a 2 to 1 lead. OCC looked to continue the momentum when Colin Shiperly and Jason Youbison hooked up for another goal give the Warriors a two-goal lead at 3 to 1 at 3:09 in the second period. The Eagles really could not get anything going in this second period only getting 3 shots on the OCC goaltender Danny Bara. As the third period opened the Eagles looked to challenge the Warriors, and at 10:34 they were able to get within one goal when John Schultz would get his second goal of the game bring the score to 3 to 2 in favor of OCC. The Warriors found themselves in some penalty problems in the final period of the game taking a total of four penalties and the Eagles got their opportunity to challenge Danny Bara but the Eagles were not able to get a power play goal past the OCC goaltender but at the 5:47 mark of the third period Eastern Michigan was able to get the equalizer when Andy Minielly and Jason Shifferd were able to team up to beat Bara to even the score at three each. OCC found themselves having a similar problem getting shots in the third as EMU had in the second and as a result the two teams would play to a 3 to 3 final. Over all this game lived up to its hype and both teams walked out of the rink with a point. The three stars of the game were #1 John Schultz (EMU), #2 Colin Sipperley (OCC), and #3 Jason Yokubison (OCC). On the goaltending end Eastern Michigan ‘s Jamison See Faced 23 shots and made 20 saves and on the other side Oakland Community College’s Danny Bara faced 24 shots and made 21 saves.
After all of these exciting match-ups, unfortunately the weekend had to come to an end. The end of the weekend marked the half way point of the MCRHL’s season. The first half of the season has left some teams feeling confident about themselves and has left other teams yearning to improve. Fortunately, in the next few weeks as the season plays out we will be able to see the growth and development of all the teams. Hopefully, the amazing action we have seen in the first half will continue on. So, prepare for a cold and blistery winter as we anticipate the next weekend at the JCC in West Bloomfield, Michigan on January 18-20.