First Period:

No Scoring.

Second Period:

UM-D: Crowley(Donovan[1-0 UM-D] 2:30 *Power Play Goal
EMU: Koester(Kerch, Porter)[1-1 Tie] 11:55

Third Period:

EMU: Olgren(Henning, Koester) [2-1 EMU] 11:53 *Power Play Goal
EMU: Porter(Opyd, Koester) [3-1 EMU] 13:22 *Power Play Goal 5 on 3

Ann Arbor, Michigan-  Michigan-Dearborn. Eastern Michigan. Simply put, when these two teams get on the ice against each other, you know what you're going to get. You know you're going to get lots of physical play. You know you're going to get a competitive, fast paced, action game. You know that you're going to get a bit of controversy. In the final game of EMU Hockey for the Fall Semester and for the year of 2006, the Eagles completed their first CSCHL sweep of the season  with a 3-1 victory at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube over the Michigan-Dearborn Wolves.

The first period of the game set the tone for the rest of the game despite the fact that there was no scoring in the period. Michigan-Dearborn seemed to have a lot of the better opportunities early on the period, but Eastern had their moments as well. The scoring began in the second period  just 2:30 into the second period. Michigan-Dearborn had an early 5 on 3 advantage, the Eagles were able to kill off all of both penalties except for one second when Michael Crowley(a name that I swear I have said just about every recap in this series), pounded the puck home on a picture perfect pass that Patrick Roy wasn't going to stop to give the Wolves the opening goal of the game. The game's intensity however quickly became enhanced on a really huge hit in the Eagles zone that seemed to amp up the intensity, and the Eagles seemed to really do an excellent job controlling the puck after that hit. The Eagles were rewarded 11:55 into the second period with a goal from, who else? Kelly Koester. The Eagles had excellent sustained pressure for a good minute and a half in the Dearborn zone, and quite often when you get a team running around in their own zone like that, you will get a good opportunity and the Eagles found a way to pound the puck into the back of the net to conclude the scoring at 1-1 after two.

The third period of the game continued in the same vain as that of the second period as the Eagles for the most part seemed to control the play and did an excellent job controlling the puck. The Eagles couldn't take advantage of a "tripping the goalie" penalty early on the period. However, 11:50 into the period, Dearborn gets called for another running into the goaltender penalty which gave the Eagles a power play, that they took advantage of just three seconds later. Dan Olgren off of the rebound from the initial slapshot from Koester pounded the puck past the Dearborn Goaltender to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. The Wolves seemed to lose their composure from this point, as they then proceeded to have a player get ejected from the game and a 5 on 3 power play ensued for the Eagles, which Derek Porter scored on to push the scoring to 3-1, which ended up being your final score of the contest.

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat. I'm never a huge fan of seeing a game that turns on a call that was a bit questionable, which I think is what happened in this game that was otherwise dead even. However, I think the referees did a solid job keeping the flow of the game at a high level and really they called the penalties that were necessary to be called. They let Dearborn play their physical style and really didn't call a ton of ticky tack calls which can really eliminate the flow(see IUP game).

Michigan-Dearborn is a good hockey club, period. As I said previously, I swear to god I have said Michael Crowley's name in every single one of these recaps, and Dearborn goaltender Stephen Yu did an excellent job in net as well. This is a fine hockey club that plays a really good brand of physical hockey that fits so condusively against the Eagles. I admit I feel bad that they lost this game in the way that they did as they played the Eagles tough throughout the contest and really had a lot of numerous chances. However, there's the key. They had their chances and they lost their cool at a really poor time in the game, and it ended up giving the Eagles the chance that they needed to take this contest. This team will give teams fits down the line, bar none. I'm looking forward to the contest February 2nd.

Flipping the script over to the home side, it was a much more spirited effort than was seen during Thanksgiving. Simply put, tonight I thought that the Eagles did an excellent job playing as a single unit, offensively, defensively and everything in between. The puck control was excellent and I thought that the Eagles continued to get stronger throughout the game starting from the first period to the end of the third period. It was a much more welcoming sight than seeing what I saw in Dearborn two weeks ago. Regardless of the result of this game, I feel a lot better about the way that this team represented themselves tonight. Jeremy Kaleniecki in goal tonight however, was also phenomenal as he really has been in every game I have seen thus far, as he made a lot of key saves early on to keep the game scoreless and to give the Eagles the chance to win the game. You can tell that Coach Norwood's experience as a defenseman is starting to rub off on this team as I thought defensively the Eagles did an excellent job against Dearborn. 

Bottom line it was a great hockey game, played between two evenly matched teams. 

Looking Ahead:
The Eagles are now off for the rest of the year of 2006. It is now time to study, to cram for final examinations and to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with family. The Eagles return to the ice with a pair of home contests versus an improving Kent State Club on January 5th, 2007 @ 7:45 PM here at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

From the Swoop Zone to your home. Have a safe and wonderful holiday and as always..

GO EMU!
-Kevin