Wolverines upend Eagles 4-2

The Michigan Wolverines upended the Boston College Eagles 4-2 Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena for one main reason. They capitalized. All of UM's goals happend thanks to large mistakes on BC's part. On the first goal, UM made a good play in their own zone that resulted in a 2-1. Bang. 1-0 just a minute into the game. The first period might as well have been the worst period BC played all season. A bigger and stronger UM team controlled the pace the entire 20 minutes and that led to BC players getting tired and taking stupid penalties. BC then managed to get two stupid penalties that led to another easy UM goal. In terms of offense, the Eagles created a couple of chances but really had no grade A ones in the first stanza. The lines of Linell-Smith-Brown and Straight-Sit-Whitney were completely invisible as they got no offense going. I thought the line of Almeida-Hayes-Carey was exceptional tonight as they created a lot of good chances but were not able to capitalize. As for the first line, they were good but I could not have been more impressed with UM's line of Brown-Guptill-Wahlberg as they created so many odd man rushes and probably should have had another three goals. I liked BC's Power Play tonight as they were able to go 1/4 but only has two full length PP's. In terms of pairwise, this lost does not hurt to much. This was technically a home game for UM as I have never heard a crazy crowd before in my life. If BC were to some how lose to Michigan Tech tomorrow, that would be a killer in terms of the pairwise so the Eagles need to be ready to go. 

Why BC Lost- 

1. To many mistakes. To many times a defenseman miss handeld the puck at the blue line and a Wolverine was able to come away with it. Also, the backchecking was horrendous. 

2. UM's first line. As I said, that first line of Brown Guptill and Wahlberg was amazing. Won the game for them. 

3. Nothing going in the third. It was only a one goal game in the third but BC couldn't seem to get anything to the net. UM did a good job of getting bodies and sticks in passing lanes. Also good goaltending by Hunwick. 

Positives- 

1. Take out the first 20 minutes and BC wins. The second period was one of the better period all year but the third was another dull, nothing happening period. 

2. I thought BC played well on the defensive side of the puck. Although Wey was not great, he certainly helped out in many area including the PK 

3. Theres always tomorrow. Michigan Tech is going to bring their best. BC must be ready. 

Notes- I would think Milner might get a shot tomorrow. Billett was not bad but you may want to give Milner a try.