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Posted on Sat, Feb 4, 2012 : 11:50 p.m.

Michigan hockey completes sweep of Miami, 3-0, behind two Lee Moffie goals

By Pete Cunningham

Updated 11:50 p.m.

A fight put about a 20-minute delay on it becoming official, but the Michigan hockey team completed its sweep of Miami with a 3-0 win at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday.

The win came at a steep price for Michigan. Co-leading scorer Chris Brown was ejected from the game for a fight with Miami captain Will Weber with one minute remaining. Brown had put the game on ice with a highlight-reel goal earlier in the period, juking left and then right on Weber before going between his legs and beating goaltender Connor Knapp.

UMHock_Moffie.jpg

Michigan defenseman Lee Moffie, shown in a file photo, scored a pair of goals in the Wolverines' 3-0 win against Miami Saturday at Yost Ice Arena.

Brown will miss next Friday's series opener with Michigan State as a result of the fight.

"Brownie’s gotta learn to be a little more disciplined," said Lee Moffie, who scored Michigan's other two goals. "But, I mean, that guy (Weber) was kind of going after guys all night. If Brownie felt that’s what he had to do to stick up for his team, send a message or whatever, then good for him.

"He’s playing like a man out there, so obviously it’s going to really hurt missing him, but we’ll fight through it."

Michigan coach Red Berenson called the fight "disappointing."

"There’s no fighting in college hockey, let’s face it," he said. "You want to have a fight, go out in the parking lot after the game."

Berenson said he thought the game got to a boiling point because of the way the referees were handling the game. The teams combined for 27 penalties (96 minutes).

The fact that Miami (15-13-2, 11-11-2-1 CCHA) plays against non-conference Alabama-Huntsville next weekend may have contributed, Berenson said.

"A smart coach knows ... how important his players are that have to stay in the game, and when a team has a non-conference weekend the next weekend, they might take liberties and maybe they did," Berenson said. "But we’re the ones who are going to pay for it."

"My hat goes off to (the referees)," said Miami coach Enrico Blasi. "When two good teams are going at it like that and you've got to handle that stuff, I'm glad it's not me."

The Michigan penalty kill was the story of the night and weekend, successfully killing six penalties for the second night in a row.

"The PK’s just been huge," said Moffie. "We’ve gotta do a better job staying out of the box, but I think you’ve noticed since Jonny’s (Merrill) come back that PK has really stepped up a lot."

Michigan spent 7:57 of the game's first 14 minutes on the penalty kill. One night after successfully killing off six power plays in a 4-1 win, Michigan staved off an extra Miami skater four times in the first period and even got a shorthanded goal from Moffie 7:17 into the period.

Luke Glendening created a turnover just outside the Miami zone, resulting in a two-on-one rush. Moffie trailed patiently as Glendening waited to draw the defender before sliding the puck across ice to Moffie, who went upstairs on Miami goaltender Knapp's glove side.

Moffie gave the Wolverines a 2-0 lead 3:13 into the second period, capping a five-pass sequence by sliding an A.J. Treais centering pass under Knapp’s leg pad.

Though an offensive defenseman, Moffie's more known to make an assist (he leads the team with 18) than do the scoring, but he had a nose for the goal Saturday, nearly netting the hat trick with a tap-in on the backdoor as the buzzer sounded.

Moffie also helped preserve Hunwck's 29-save shutout, clearing the puck from the goal line after a Hunwick save on a breakaway. The play would be reviewed twice by the officials.

Asked if he thought the puck went in (Hunwick instructed him to say no), Moffie said he wasn't sure.

"It was pretty close," he said. "I have no idea."

Alden Hirschfield was left with an unimpeded path to the goal in a shorthanded situation after Merrill broke his stick in the Miami zone. Hunwick made the initial save, but lost track of the puck as it creeped from underneath him toward the goal before Moffie cleared it at the last second.

It was Hunwick's fourth shutout of the season (plus one shared) and the ninth of his career, moving him into fourth place in team history, ahead of Billy Sauer.

Michigan (17-9-4, 11-7-4-1) is now in third place heading into the Michigan State series, just three points back of first place Ferris State.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.

Comments

knotch

Mon, Feb 6, 2012 : 12:47 p.m.

I wish Hockey would be given more air time on the Big Dumb Network. I miss more UM hockey. I respect the talents of all athletes.....When the Big Dumb Network is showing a basketball game and their is, Oh lets say 11 people in the arena....come ON.... Go blue

Doink

Sun, Feb 5, 2012 : 4:23 p.m.

Brown needs to learn to control himself. No reason to slash the goalie when you're up 3-0 with a minute left. I'm sure Red gave him an earful after the game and hopefully he will learn from it. The fight was clearly the most entertaining part of the game. Shame on the league for sending 2 midget linesmen to a game that was clearly going to be very physical. Hilarious watching one of them try to move Miami goalie (who I looks to be about 6'7") away from the scrum - looked like he was talking to his belly button. Oh, and whomever is running the video replays at Yost should be fired. They actually showed the replay of the "no goal" on the big screen and the puck was clearly in. That is what led to 2nd review - the linesmen watched the replay on the big screen and skated over to the ref to tell him he screwed up and to go look again. Watched the DVR of the game when I got home and the announcer said that the refs never saw the overhead view. Which begs the question - why not? Stuff like this can help or hurt you, luckily this time it helped. If Miami had gotten it back to 2-1 might have been a whole new game.

Sarah

Mon, Feb 6, 2012 : 8:28 p.m.

Brown didn't slash the Miami goalie - Alex Guptil did and was immediately jumped by 3 Miami players. Brown just jumped in late, which is never smart. And besides, I'm not sure a single slashing is even close to the knock-the-helmet-off-Hunwick game that Miami had played the previous night. I saw a different version on the big screen than you did, as did any number of people who watched slo-mo replays at home! It never crossed but, man, it was close.

knotch

Mon, Feb 6, 2012 : 1:13 p.m.

wish I could have at least seen it. I thought fighting was against the Law in College hockey. Chris Brown is a marked man now. The refs will be on the Hunt for every little thing he does. I hope Red shows the team....One player isn't this team and sits his ass for a cpl extra games.

Engineer

Sun, Feb 5, 2012 : 3:11 p.m.

The Miami coach should be suspended for several games for his teams behavior. The refs are to blame also. With what went on all weekend there is NO reason Michigan should be headed into a series with moo u down a man. I hope these refs never work again. GO BLUE!!!!!

Edward R Murrow's Ghost

Sun, Feb 5, 2012 : 4:07 a.m.

Another thuggish performance by Miami with its team captain, Weber, playing the lead role again. The fight at the end of the game was simply his payback for being embarrassed that Chris Brown had scored a goal through his legs. Also, for the second night in a row, the refs lost control of the game--more concerned, apparently with the etiquette of the face-off circle (didn't seem there was a single face-off where someone wasn't thrown out of the circle) than they were the goonish behavior of the Miami Thugs. Great game by Hunwick!! GN&GL