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Ann Arbor, Michigan- The Eastern Michigan Eagles completed the sweep against their in-state rivals at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, with a hard fought 6-4 victory over the Western Michigan Stallions. 

The first period's first few minutes were a physical, very defensive oriented affair with both sides nailing each other with hard hits and playing very tight in their own zone. The Eagles however were able to open the scoring up 8:55 into the first period on a Power Play Goal from Aaron Diez with assists to Justin Shaw and Charlie Jones. The power play goal was set up very patiently with the Eagles taking their time and getting an open lane to shoot the puck in on the Western Goalie and were able to pound it home without any problems. This goal seemed to incite both teams offenses has the game got extremely entertaining soon afterwards. Western Michigan tallied the tying goal on a goal from Dan Smyth that just managed to flutter past Eastern goaltender Jake Pruss. Western followed this up a minute later with another goal on a breakaway goal from Michael Podelnyk, with an assist credited to Garrett Becker to give the Stallions a very short lived 2-1 lead. The Eagles tied the game 44 seconds later with a nice goal from Jeff Jepson, with assists to Jeremy Majszak and Voelker. The goal was set up with a nice cross ice pass and with a hard slap shot, Jepson was able to pound the puck past the WMU Goaltender Chris Serra. However, as the story of the first period went, Western was not going to give up and took the lead for the second and final time of the evening on a goal from Josh Hines, with an assist from Mike McMahon. The Eagles with a mere 1:39 left on the clock took advantage of their second power play and concluded the scoring in the first period on a wonderful wrap around shot from Justin Shaw, witth an assist to Aaron Diez. 

This concluded the scoring in the first period, which was a hard fought, evenly played period in which the goals were scored on very nice team oriented plays; and a couple of breakdowns on both sides. It was easily one of the more evenly played and entertaining first periods that we have seen at the Cube.

The second period is when the Eagles took control of the game somewhat. Seven minutes into the period the Eagles took the lead for good on a goal from Dan Olgren with an assist credited to Matt Opyd. With the score now 4-3 in the favor of the Eagles, the game became more in control for the Eagles with Eastern controlling the puck in the Western end for large periods of the period. Western after the fourth EMU goal also seemed to be playing a bit more on their heels and allowed for the Eagles to continue to press the advantage. This advantage eventually lead to another goal for the Eagles, their fifth on a goal from Dave Stewart with assists to Jepson and Matt Opyd. The second period then concluded with the Eagles ahead by the score of 5-3. The second period was marred with some chippy play on both sides which resulted in several penalties and caused for some delay in the flow of the game. 

The third period began in favor of the Stallions as they came out early on in the period looking like they were on a mission to get back into the game. The Stallions took control and put the Eagles on their heels for the first few minutes of the third period, but to the Eagles credit they held in strong and did not allow for the Stallions to put the puck into the net during this key time. The icing on the cake for the Eagles came with 8:15 left in the game on a goal from Jeff Jepson, his second on the night. Assists for the sixth and final Eastern Michigan goal were credited to Matt Opyd, his third of the night and to Dave Aliff. The scoring concluded after an incident on the ice which led to a spearing penalty against the WMU Broncos, and in conjunction with previous offsetting penalties to both teams led to around a minute of time of 3 on 3 hockey. The Eagles had the puck and had a great shot against the WMU Goalie, who made an incredible save and then off of the rebound Western proceeded to get a 2 on 0 breakaway back the other way and pounded the puck home for the final goal of the night. Give credit to the goal to Sean Balatazar, and a well deserving assist to Western Michigan's goalie Chris Serra. Again, the third period was marred with a couple of chippy incidents which is almost to be expected in a game between two in-state rivals. The game then concluded with the Eagles victorious and completing the sweep 6-3.

The Broncos of Western Michigan are a young hockey team with their core being mostly freshman and sophomore players. This team plays very hard and plays a very physical game. This team to me also seems to have the talent to be quite a dangerous team in the near future. Considering too that Serra, the WMU Goaltender who played a very good game is also a freshman, Western will be an interesting team to watch over the next year or two. They definitely to me look better than a team that is 5-21 on the year. So to their credit, Western played a solid game but were just outplayed.

Eastern Michigan looked a lot better tonight than they did the last time we saw them. The first major thing to emphasize was their defensive scheme that I felt did an excellent job in improving their ability to block the net. The Eagles defensively were able to more or less trap Western against the boards in the offensive zone and were able to form a moving box around the net allowing for them to get at rebounds and help clear the front of the net for Pruss. Western was able to get a few solid passes through this system, but Pruss was able to come up big as he has all year long. I find this system to be an excellent decision as it allows for the Eagles to save some of their energy defensively and to also offer some excellent support in front of the net. 

Offensively the Eagles did a very good job playing a patient game and setting the puck up well with good cross-ice passes and good individual moves to set themselves up in good positioning. The Eagles for the most part had good spacing all night and gave themselves many opportunities for good scoring chances. Western however, to their credit also played decently defensively limiting some of these opportunities. However, push come to shove the Eagles were definitely the better team tonight. 

The Eagles won tonight by playing a tight defensive game, and managing their tempers against Western Michigan and took advantage of the opportunities early on to give themselves control of this game. Really, in a game against a rival, that's all you can ask for.

Looking Ahead:

Speaking of the CSCHL Regular Season Championship, the Eagles can put themselves in a really great position if they can win their final four games of the season. However, despite the fact that three of these games are at home at the Ice Cube, the teams they are playing are no pushovers. Next week, the Eastern Michigan Eagles will be taking on the Iowa State Cyclones in two key four point matchups that will most likely determine whether or not the Eagles will remain with an opportunity for the CSCHL Championship.

The season then concludes with a home-and-home series against our other favorite Michigan Club Hockey Team, the Michigan-Dearborn Wolves with the home game and senior night at the Cube being on Saturday, February 12th.

A win over Western Michigan is always music to my ears.

Until Next Time, 

GO GREEN!

-Kevin  

A-
Offensively I felt that the Eagles did a solid job, putting up 45 shots on the WMU goal and played consistently well throughout the whole game. I thought the passing was a quite a bit better than their previous effort against Illinois, and overall their longer passes across the ice that set them into the offensive zone were solid and accurate as well.

B+
I really like the new scheme that the Eagles employed as it helps them in several aspects of their game. I felt that the Eagles did a solid job against the Stallions defensively. However, there were a couple of lapses that cost the Eagles two goals in which Western was able to get a couple of breakaways and in which Western took advantage of. However, overall solid and good enough.

B
The power play started off strong with two quick goals and were unable to do anything the rest of the night. This includes at the end of the game a 5 on 3 that the Eagles could not capitalize upon. Penalty Killing was solid however as well, as the Stallions did not score a single PP goal on the night.

A-
Again, a solid job from Jake Pruss as has been the case all year. It's hard to really fault Pruss for any of the four goals that were given up, as two of them were due to small lapses defensively, a third was on a flutter puck that somehow snuck by him and the fourth just being a really nice play. It's hard to be perfect against really good plays or breakaways.

B+
A solid performance from the Eagles. Could there be improvement? Definitely. However, in a game that was as physical as this one, it is nice to see the Eagles play consistently well for a large majority of the sixty minutes. The Eagles have been on a roll of late, and look like they are in pretty good position to make a good charge at the CSCHL Regular Season Championship. 

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