First Period:

MSU: Letourneau(Unassisted) 6:33[1-0 MSU]
MSU: Drewyor(Perkovich, Flynn) 18:33[2-0 MSU]
MSU: Sitarski(Letourneau) 19:54[3-0 MSU]

Second Period:

EMU: Jensen(Preston, Opyd) 9:51[3-1 MSU]
EMU: Connolly(Preston, Drdek) 10:33[3-2 MSU]
EMU: Olgren(Porter, Koester) 12:02[3-3 Tie]

Third Period:

EMU: Olgren(Koester, Henning) :21[4-3 EMU] * Power Play
EMU: Snook(Olgren) 13:52[5-3 EMU]
MSU: Drewyor(Hergt, Hernandez) 19:59[5-4 EMU]

Ann Arbor, Michigan- The old adage goes that one should never judge a book by its cover. Tonight proved that the same sort of thing can apply on the ice. The Eastern Michigan University Hockey Club overcame a 3-0 first period deficit to defeat the Michigan State Spartans by the final score of 5-4 in the home opener of the 2006-2007 campaign here at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. 

The Eagles and Spartans both came out flying high at the beginning of the game as both teams really were moving the puck across the ice and both teams were struggling to gain an advantage. At the 6:33 mark however, Michigan State opened up the scoring on a puck handling error behind the net by the Eastern Michigan goaltender, in which he couldn't get back into position to recover and the Spartans had a 1-0 lead. The lead ballooned to 2-0 12 minutes later, on a 2 on 1 breakaway in which Adam Drewyor was able to sneak the puck by Brian Markowicz. Michigan State concluded the scoring with only 6 seconds left in the period as the EMU defense looked as if they were waiting for the clock to run out before getting the puck out of their zone. Very sloppy defensive play, allowed the Spartans to close the first period with all of the momentum on Jonathon Sitarski's goal to take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room.

The second period began with the Eagles and the Spartans both looking again to try to establish the momentum for the period. However, very few including myself were expecting the barrage that was about to begin at the 9:51 mark in the period. They say that the first goal is quite often the hardest goal to get in hockey, and on this night that old adage couldn't be more right on point. Sophomore Defensemen AJ Jensen, scored the first Eastern Michigan goal of the 2006-2007 campaign to get the Eagles back into the game and to get the large EMU contingent fired up. Eastern Michigan then decided to push the initiative and were rewarded just a mere 42 seconds later on Ryan Connolly's goal to send the crowd into a larger frenzy to push the deficit to only a single goal. Michigan State failed to regain their composure and a mere minute and a half later Dan Olgren, scored the equalizer and the game turned 180 degrees in the span of a mere 3 minutes and 11 seconds. The period concluded with Michigan State committing two penalties to give the Eagles a 5 on 3 Power Play to start the third period.

The start of the third period was what I felt was going to determine the ultimate result of the hockey game, and I was right. With the Eagles having that 5 on 3 power play, they needed to take complete advantage of the opportunity to swing the door wide open and to walk right through. Michigan State came out very slow, and Eastern took advantage of it extremely quickly as Dan Olgren scored his second of the night on the power play, EMU's only power play goal on the night to give the Eagles a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish. The Eagles dominated the third period, disrupting Michigan State's attack throughout, and really played with the necessary grit that was required to finish off a game like this. Eastern was able to get an insurance goal with 6:08 left on a nice individual play from Dan Olgren to get the puck out to freshman Jeff Snook who was able to pound the puck past the Michigan State goaltender to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead. Olgren's goal was due to be the game winning goal until the last second of the game in which Michigan State was able to end the string of EMU goals on Drewyor's second of the game to conclude the scoring at 5-4.

Tonight's home opener was also Parents Night at EMU, and the crowd definitely was in full bloom as the Ice Cube had one of their larger crowds in recent memory, and not to mention probably the most vocal crowd I've seen at the Ice Cube, since the #1 EMU vs #2 Penn State affair from a few years back. Honestly, I credit the crowd a lot for helping to will the Eagles to victory tonight. 

To describe the Michigan State Spartans, I would have to use two words, precise and fast. However, ultimately I think this preciseness is what ended up being their downfall on this evening. As soon as the Eagles began to caught onto the patterns of the Spartans offense, they were able to shut the Spartan attack down completely and were allowed to focus their own energies on the offense. Michigan State however looks like they have a quite a few talented players, and the Swoop Zone wishes them luck in their 2006-2007 campaign in Division II.

I saw a lot of things that give me a lot of hope and encouragement about how the EMU Hockey club will be able to perform over the upcoming months on this year's campaign. It was very, very encouraging to see the Eagles battle back from a significant deficit early on, and in particular the way in which they did it. They took advantage of a key element that Eagles teams of the past took advantage of quite frequently as well, and that was the seconds immediately following a goal. It seems to me that most teams after they give up a goal, look to go on the offensive immediately to try to get that goal back as soon as possible, but in this situation a team is most vulnerable, so thus EMU attacked and pushed forward and were rewarded with three goals in a short time frame. It almost felt as if after that first goal, the switch turned on that they could score when they wanted to, and away they went.

Eastern's special teams were also solid on this evening, as I thought the Penalty Kill did about as good of a job as could be expected of them on this night. It's really impressive when the Eagles are able to spend half of the penalty kill in their opponents zone, to really limit how much time their opposition can get in the EMU Zone. The EMU Power Play also showed a quite a bit of creativity on this night, a great change from what we saw a year ago.

There were really own two minor qualms that I could make mention of for the Eagles first game, and in a lot of ways it's really hard to justify them considering it was the very first game. However, the slow start is a bit disturbing as it seemed as if MSU was able to use EMU's over aggressive nature against them, and also seemed to take advantage of a little bit of nerves early on. The Eagles also had five great opportunities to score on 2 on 1 breakaways and on a clean breakaway against the goaltender. The greatest of teams, always take advantage of most of the chances they are given. Beyond a flat period though, as soon as the Eagles got the first goal, they almost seemed home free.

Overall, a great start to the 2006-2007 Campaign!

Looking Ahead:
The Eagles remain in the friendly confines of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube next weekend for a pair of games. Next Friday Night, Eastern Michigan takes on Niagara University @ 7:45 PM and on Saturday Night, the battle of the education schools as Grand Valley State comes to town for a 7:45 opening face off.

Not to mention as well, the Eastern Michigan University Football plays their only home game of the month tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 PM vs Central Michigan at Rynearson Stadium. Come on out and support the EMU Football team as they try to do what the EMU Hockey team did in one attempt, and that is win a game.

Until Next Time, GO GREEN!
-Kevin