March 25, 2008

The No. 1-ranked University of Michigan hockey team eliminated Nebraska-Omaha from CCHA Tournament play with a 2-1 win Saturday (March 15) at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period with goals by Brandon Naurato (Livonia, Mich.) and Carl Hagelin (Sodertalje, Sweden) and held off a late-charging Maverick team to advance to the CCHA Tournament semifinals.

Naurato opened the game's scoring, netting his second goal in as many games at 3:14. Naurato snagged a pass from Brian Lebler (Penticton, B.C.) in neutral territory and skated in alone on Jerad Kaufmann. The junior pulled the puck across the front of the net on the back of his stick and then snapped a forehand wrister over Kaufmann's glove for the 1-0 lead.

Michigan extended its lead to a pair of goals at 18:57 on a tally by Hagelin. Travis Turnbull (Chesterfield, Mo.) fed the puck to the center, whose backhand attempt marked his 10th goal of the campaign.

Dan Charleston cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal at 5:25 of the second stanza. J.J. Koehler carried the puck into the zone, shrugged off pressure from a pair of Wolverine defenders, and flicked the puck to Charleston, who stuffed it under Billy Sauer (Walworth, N.Y.).

Tempers flared just over a minute after the Maverick tally. Three players from each side were assessed roughing after the whistle penalties, while Max Pacioretty (New Canaan, Conn.) and Nick Von Bokern were cited for fighting and received game disqualification penalties.

Both teams played stingy defense for the remaining 35:35 of the game, not allowing another goal. Michigan and UNO had their chances with U-M out-shooting the Mavericks by a 16-13 margin.

Aaron Palushaj (Northville, Mich.) had the Wolverines' best chance of the third period but could not capitalize. The freshman broke free of a Nebraska-Omaha defenseman and raced in unchallenged on Kaufmann, but his shot was kicked aside by the UNO netminder.

With time winding down in the third period, Sauer made a pair of key saves to preserve the lead. The first, a blast by Mick Lawrence, was knocked straight up in the air by the goalie but no UNO player could handle the puck in front of the net. Juha Uotila followed it up with a hard shot from just inside the blue line, but Sauer absorbed the shot to deny the chance.

Given a power-play opportunity at 15:19, Michigan buzzed in the UNO zone but could only register a single shot in the two-minute span. Louie Caporusso's (Woodbridge, Ontario) attempt ricocheted off the post; however, Michigan was able to hold onto the lead and pull out the 2-1 win.