Taking Care Of Business

The Wolverines handle pesky AIC and get ready for their next round matchup against Quinnipiac

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan photography

Friday’s strange yet convincing win over American International College was the first box that needed to be checked on this Michigan team’s ultimate goal. These are the games they all came to Michigan for. To play against the best teams in the country on the biggest stage in college hockey.

It was clear within the first couple minutes of the AIC game that there was a noticeable gap in talent between these two squads. The Wolverines scored two quick goals from Garrett Van Wyhe and Ethan Edwards and made a clear statement to AIC about their chances in this one. Now to be fair, many teams would’ve packed it in at that point and played to just not get embarrassed, but AIC seemed unfazed by that punch in mouth and came back with their own brand of aggressive hockey. AIC knew they weren’t going to be able to skate with Michigan for three periods, but if they could tie the puck up on the boards a bit and jump a few passes in the neutral zone and have a couple pucks bounce their way… who knows…

Well something went very much the way of the Yellowjackets in the twelfth minute of the first period, when a puck played plinko off of several players in front of the Michigan goal and somehow landed in the net, breathing new life and confidence into AIC.

The second period was all Wolverines early, but the Yellowjackets refused to go away and had a strong push at the end of the second and played a scrappy, but inspired third period. The game ended 5-3 Michigan, but at no point did you feel that the outcome was in doubt.

The Wolverines had to wait until later Friday to see who their next round opponent would be.

2nd seed Quinnipiac bested 3rd seed St. Cloud State 5-4, so the stage is set for the second round quarter final tomorrow with Quinnipiac at 6:30 Eastern Time on ESPN 2.

The Wolverines will be the favorite again, as they would be in any game in this tournament as the #1 overall seed, but it’s always going to be about playing your game. Winning this tournament is tough for any team in any year, but as with any tournament favorite, there’s an added dimension of difficulty when everyone is gunning for you. You’re going to get every team’s best game from here on out.

Not to mention that there could very well be two Big Ten rivals waiting for them on the other side of the bracket in Minnesota and Notre Dame. Which would be huge for the conference to have three of the four teams in the Frozen Four. But I’ll leave it at that for now. Plenty of hockey left to be played. Plenty of boxes left to check.

Take care of business, boys.