Hockey splits with Wildcats

MARQUETTE - Traveling to Michigan's upper peninsula, a few things stand out - colder weather, funny accents and, of course, casinos.

Had the Michigan hockey team been playing the slots when it went up north this weekend, it would have broken even.

After netting five goals on only 16 shots in a 5-3 victory over Northern Michigan on Friday night, the Wolverines were shut out Saturday, losing, 1-0, to the Wildcats.

Saturday night's contest was scoreless until 15:41 of the third period, when Northern Michigan's Fred Mattersdorfer put a rebound past Michigan goaltender Marty Turco to score the game's only goal.

"I went to knock (the initial shot) into the corner," Turco said. "But it was like a knuckle ball and it went the opposite way.

MALLORY S.E. FLOYD/Daily Greg Crozier and the Michigan hockey team split the weekend series with Northern Michigan, 5-3 and 0-1.

"Mattersdorfer flubbed (on the rebound), but I was already down and he went right over top of me."

Turco kept Michigan in the game for most of the night, making numerous clutch saves. In all, he stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced.

"When Turco plays like that, we shouldn't be on the losing side of the scorer's sheet," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.

Michigan struggled to generate offense, posting only 22 shots on goal.

"Northern checked well and worked hard," Berenson said. "I thought were on top of us for most of the night. We never really generated a lot of offense."

Michigan's best scoring opportunity came five-and-a-half minutes into the second period, when Bill Muckalt broke in alone on Northern goaltender Duane Hoey. Muckalt tried to beat Hoey up high, but his wrist shot missed, grazing the top of the cross bar.

"We had a couple of chances to bury the puck, and we didn't do it," Michigan forward Dale Rominski said.

One reason for Michigan's scoring difficulties was its performance on the power play. It went 0-6 with only three shots with the man advantage.

On Friday night, however, the Wolverines made good on their chances, scoring five goals, including three power play tallies. The biggest goal of the game came just two seconds after a Northern penalty expired. Twenty seconds into the third period, Muckalt slammed a Josh Langfeld rebound into the open side of the net to give the Wolverines a 4-3 lead.

"It was 3-3 going into the third period, so the next goal was a huge goal," Berenson said.

Four minutes later, Bobby Hayes added a short-handed tally, giving the Wolverines a 5-3 victory. The victory was Turco's 100th, making him the second goaltender in NCAA history with 100 wins. Former Wolverine Steve Shields holds the NCAA record with 112 wins.

The Wildcats pressured Michigan from the start, taking an early 1-0 lead when Brad Frattaroli scored on a breakaway six minutes into the game.

But the Wolverines evened the score at 1-1 five minutes later on a power play goal by Mike Van Ryn.

"We knew they would come after us and they did," Berenson said. "They were right on top of us from the start."

After Frattaroli's second goal gave Northern a 2-1 lead in the second period, Michigan answered with power play goals by Mark Kosick and Chris Fox. Northern's Mike Sandbeck then tied the game at three going into the third period.

"We won three games on the road," Rominski said. "It would have been nice to finish out with four, but they pulled one out in the end."

11-10-97