Kicking off the second half of the season in Detroit

The MCRHL kicks off the second half of its season in West Bloomfield, Michigan.  The first half had some surprises games and I would expect many more to come.  This weekend started on Friday and it began with some great games.   The first game that comes to mind was Western Michigan vs. Michigan. 

 

 

Western Michigan (4-6-2)   vs.                Michigan (9-3-0)

 

 

The Western Michigan Broncos and the Michigan Wolverines we matched up on Friday night.  The Broncos were looking to get a statement win for there season while the Wolverines were looking to continue to battle for the top of the league.  This game got off to a slow start but when the two teams got going this game became one of the best of the weekend.  The Wolverines would score first when Brandon Johns and James Arakaki would hook up on the power play at 1:23 of the first period.  Less then one minute later the two Wolverines would find each other to give them a two to nothing lead at 34 seconds in the first period.  The Broncos went into the break down two but not looking to change their game plan.  The two teams came out of the first break and exchanged shots to start the second period but neither team gave up any goals.  At 8:18 of the second Scott Janowski would take an elbowing penalty.  This would be the second power play opportunity for the Broncos.  Kyle Potocki of the Broncos caught a pass from John Ledford and was able to beat the Wolverine net minder, Adam Goldberg to bring the score back to two to one in favor of the Wolverine’s.  The goal sparked life back into the Broncos.  Later in the second period Mitch Palazzolo would take a hooking penalty that would put his team down a man.  Western Michigan didn’t sit back on the kill they took it to Michigan and it resulted in a Bronco goal with just 16 seconds left in the period.  The goal was scored by Jason Schave tying the game at two a piece going into the third and final period.  The third period is where the Wolverines would show why they are battling for the number one seed and the Broncos would show why they are struggling at this point of the season.  Michigan would strike at the 8:24 mark when Chuck Nguyen would find Eric Drucker to put the Wolverines back up by a goal.  Later in the third period Chuck Nguyen would find the net himself this time the pass was from Scott Janowski at 4:14.  You could feel the air come out of the Broncos after the Nguyen goal and Western Michigan would get into penalty trouble and would not be able to find a way to battle back thus giving the Wolverines a four to two win to start the weekend off on the right foot. 

 

 

 

 

 Ohio State (11-2-0) vs.            Michigan State (14-1-0)

 

 

This game was by far one of the best games that I have had the pleasure of watching in many years in the MCRHL.  It was fast, hard hitting, and the two teams battled hard.  The way the game started no one could have known what was to come.  Michigan State jumped all over the Buckeyes when they scored first at 8:03 of the first period.  The goal came off the stick of Tony Ascenzo from Kyle Steinberg.  The Spartan fans were going crazy and the Spartans didn’t wait long to add to they lead when Mitchell Rybick and Garett Radford hooked up to give them a two to nothing lead.  Not even one minute later the Spartans would add another goal and this time Radford would find the net giving Michigan State a three to nothing lead.  The Ohio State coach, Jeff Nolan looked to stop the Spartan momentum by calling his teams time out early in the game but it looked like nothing was going to stop the Spartans on this day because at 2:55 of the first period Eric Lubanski and Garett Radford would add a forth goal.  Once the period ended I am sure many of the fans thought that the game was over because I know that those thought went through my mind.  Something else was going through the minds of the Ohio State Buckeyes because when they came out of the break they didn’t look like a defeated team but more like a team on a mission.  The start of the come back happened when David Holingshead and Max Dobler were able to break the ice when they beat the MSU goalie Joe Wurst at 10:38.  Not much more then a minute later Travis Grohoske and James Bush scored to make the score four to two in favor of the Spartans.  Ohio State was not even close to being done and at the 5:06 mark of the second period Holingshead would get his second goal of the game this time from Brian Holz bring the Buckeyes within a goal and before you knew it they had tied it up when Grohoske earned his second goal of the game at 4:11 of the second.  After Travis goal both teams would go into the break tied up at four a piece but you could see that the Michigan State fans were not sure what happened.  Coming out of the break the Buckeyes didn’t look back scoring at 9:16 of the third giving them their first lead of the game.  This goal was scored by Max Dobler giving him his third point of the game.  The Spartan players were hanging their heads after losing the four-goal lead but they would not pack it in.  Their Captain, Eric Lubanski and Evan Pomish would pick their teammates up when they beat the Ohio State goaltender Matthew Smith to even the score back at five.  The fans at the JCC where back into this game after the Lubanski goal but I don’t think that they were prepared for the finish that they would get.  With only 38 seconds to go in the game Lubanski would get a break away but Matthew Smith would come up with a huge save but he was unable to keep the rebound and Tony Ascenzo would follow up and punch home the go ahead goal but the oddest thing was still to come.  With only 11.9 seconds to go in the game one of the Michigan State Spartans went into the board and his knee went throw the boards.  This would delay the game for almost 45 minutes.  The delay caused many fans to leave the rink but once the board were fixed the Spartans sealed the deal by winning the all important face off and dumping the puck down the floor giving the Michigan State Spartans the one goal win by the final score of 6 to 5.  Looking back at this game you really could see either team winning this game but the Spartans added this quality win to their record.