First Period:

No Scoring.

Second Period:

IUP: Sarsfield(Heilman, Willett) 4:00 [1-0 IUP] *5 on 3 Power Play Goal
IUP: Robertson(Lutz, Lutz) 17:19 [2-0 IUP]

Third Period:

EMU: Kerch(Pinkerton, Opyd) [2-1 IUP] 4:36 *Power Play Goal
IUP: Willett(Kuhlman, Ryan) [3-1 IUP] 14:03 *Power Play Goal
IUP: IUP Goal(Kuhlman, Shriver) [4-1 IUP] 18:28 *5 on 3 Power Play Goal
IUP: Ferrogine(Kuhlman) 19:09  [5-1 IUP] *Power Play Goal

Dearborn, Michigan- Ah, Thanksgiving. It's a time of year for families across the country to get together, to celebrate great times, to eat tons of turkey and to just finally get the opportunity to relax. It's also a time of year when the Detroit Lions lose in heartbreak, and also apparently the Eastern Michigan Hockey Club goes to Dearborn to lose hockey games. The Eastern Michigan Eagles fell to 3-10-1 since 2002, in Thanksgiving Games over the past four seasons with a 5-1 loss to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, in a game that probably should have been 10-1, considering the fact that IUP hit 5 posts throughout this game.

If you're looking for one of the two bright spots in this game, take a look at the first two minutes of this hockey game. The Eagles came out flying and had a couple of great opportunities to score on IUP but IUP maintained their defensive position and their goaltender David Himes did a solid job. The remaining eighteen minutes of the first period consisted of IUP holding the puck consistently in the EMU zone, numerous penalties and repeatedly good saves from EMU Goaltender Jeremy Kaleniekci. Despite the fact that the Eagles were outplayed in its entirety and all of the really good scoring opportunities went the way of IUP, the score remained scoreless after one period. As I said, full credit for the EMU success here in the first period goes to the Goaltender, making save after save, after save, and kept the Eagles in it. However, the backstory of the game was the number of penalties that were called, and to end the first period Eastern found itself down 5 men to 3.

The second period started off relatively promising as well, as the Eagles were able to kill off the first 5 on 3, but then shortly after they got out of that series unscathed, the Eagles found themselves in yet another 5 on 3, and this time IUP took advantage with Andrew Sarsfield finally stumping the EMU goaltender and giving IUP a 1-0 lead. The Eagles remained bottled up in their own zone for a majority of the second period as well, and to the credit of the Eagles they did manage to keep the score at 1-0 for a long time despite the consistent pressure, and the fact that the Eagles could get absolutely no flow whatsoever, even on the power play. IUP managed a second goal with only 2:41 left from Ben Robertson that sent IUP up 2-0 after two periods.

The third period began with a quite a bit of promise as well for the Eagles, as they had three power play opportunities, and they finally took advantage on this night on a power play goal by Brad Kerch with assists to PJ Pinkerton and Matt Opyd which was scored almost flukishly to give the Eagles a shot at 2-1. Then the penalties began to pile in, one after another, after another, after another. IUP scored the backbreaker with 5:57 left in the game on Brian Willet's goal. IUP added two garbage goals in the final two minutes after the Eagles received three more penalties, and then a fourth for good measure to give the Indiana University of Pennsylvania a 5-1 victory.

Let's be frank first of all, IUP looked like a talented team. They were big, strong, and they literally bottled up EMU in their own zone for about 45 minutes of the game. I understand that the onslaught of penalties that were called made a big deal in preventing this from happening, but IUP had numerous opportunities and without the goaltending from EMU, this game should have been 10-1 easily in their favor, perhaps even 10-0. They got back quickly, and they gave Eastern absolutely no chance to do anything. It reminded me very similarly to the Lindenwood game from a year ago, where Lindenwood just dominated a period.. add a period and a half, and you had a good look at today's game plus a lot of penalties. IUP is at least a top 16 team in my view; they played just as good as a lot of teams that I have seen over the past several years. Matter of fact, I think I heard that I received a 2 minute Interference Penalty for writing this review. I'll serve the time tomorrow, I promise.

Where to begin with the Eagles struggles on this day. They turned the puck over in their own end numerous times. They committed a lot of dumb penalties. They had no flow offensively. They were outmuscled for the puck. They became frustrated. Unfortunately, I can't think of a game in recent memory where I thought that the Eagles looked this bad. Don't get me wrong though there are a couple of things that were ok. I thought the effort was pretty good for the most part, and the goaltending from Kaleniecki and Rutherford was excellent, they saved this score from being a lot worse than it was and really considering everything, it should have been a 3-1 loss.

Here is my analogy of this hockey game. Boxing match. Eastern spent the entire game in its corner, covering up, allowing for IUP to maintain the aggression and to wear down the Eagles.. EMU fight backs and then ultimately gets knocked out by a couple of really nice punches. I seriously feel bad about saying it in such a negative light, but I honestly don't think there is any real way that I can sugarcoat it.

Another depressing day in Dearborn. The looks on the faces of the EMU fans sitting there said it all. 

Looking Ahead:
The Eagles thankfully only have one more game to play in the Thanksgiving Tournament in Michigan-Dearborn and they have a very, very, very good record against the team they are playing. They will play West Virginia tomorrow, a team that EMU has NEVER lost to in its history. They will play tomorrow at 1:00 PM. The Eagles then travel to Lindenwood University for a pair of CSCHL Games in Missouri. Game times have been changed to 7:00 PM Friday Night and 3:00 PM Saturday Afternoon. 

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable thanksgiving and that these weekend games didn't sour the mood too much. As a necessity, a change in the conclusion.

GO EMU!
-Kevin