One of the strangest sequences — maybe “unique” is a better word, not sure — of the UMD season happened in the Saturday game at Kalamazoo on Dec. 6. The Broncos tied the game 2-2 early in the third period. With 9:22 left in regulation time, UMD goalie Adam Gajan stopped a shot from Western forward Grant Slukynsky.
That number (9:22) is significant. Because for that amount of time, up to the end of regulation, the teams combined for three shot attempts (two were blocked, one went wide), and there were only two whistles, the last of which came with 6:28 to go.
A few years ago, someone would have looked at such an occurrence as the teams were playing for overtime. In this case, it never felt like that, and Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler flat-out rejected such a notion.
“100%, we were not playing for overtime,” he said with a mild chuckle. “I don’t think anybody looks over and goes, ‘Hey, I would love (Max) Plante, (Zam) Plante, (Jayson) Shaugabay out there in overtime.’
“I think you’d have to have your head checked if you thought that was to your advantage. We were trying to score. They were trying to score. I think it was just quality play rather than cautious play on both sides.”
Hard to imagine this repeats itself this weekend, but Ferschweiler made it clear that these teams are similar enough that it could, even if only for a small stretch of a game.
“Both teams are organized,” he said. “There’s details in our game defensively. There’s sticks on pucks. It’s hard to get shots through nowadays. It’s hard to create, especially with how much pressure we’re each putting on each other. There’s a lot of similarities to our styles as far as playing fast, being hyper competitive, taking away time and space in a great way with our D corps and our tracking forwards. There’s just very little ice in this series when we play each other.”
If you’re a hardcore hockey fan, this is the series for you. Two quality teams fighting for every inch of ice, chances maybe at a premium, but both teams have the skill on hand to make those chances count.
Adam Gajan vs Hampton Slukynsky. As per usual with Western, the Broncos are dressing 20 for the warmup, and will scratch one of those players before faceoff. UMD changes nothing except the starting goalie from Saturday, and Grayden Siepmann returns from injury. Jake Toll is scratched.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Plante (Max) – Plante (Zam) – Shaugabay
Truman – Gaffney – Anderson
Shlaine – Arnott – Bentz
Bibby – Kovich – Bechen
UMD defense
Hanson – Kleber
Pionk – Pierce
Cleveland – Siepmann
Bodnarchuk
UMD goalies
Gajan – Dahlmeir – Sheffield
Western Michigan forwards
Henricks – Michaels – Whitelaw
Valente – Slukynsky (Grant) – Nehring
Cowan – Hakkarainen – Wisdom
Sluys – MacKenzie – Szydlowski
Bade
Western Michigan defense
Sjolund – Bookman
Sharp – Gallatin
Wallberg – Woogk
Calbeck
Western Michigan goalies
Slukynsky (Hampton) – MOffatt
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