Michigan 5, MTU 0

A quick wrap-up:

Louie Caporusso gave Michigan all the offense they needed. He scored twice in the first four minutes and completed the natural hat trick just past the midway point of the first period. Anthony Ciraulo added another and the Wolverines went to the dressing room up 4-0.

They kind of put it on cruise control after that, from the sound of things. There was no scoring in the second period and Brandon Burlon scored his second of the year in the third, and the Wolverines advanced to the GLI Championship Game with a 5-0 win.

Caporusso now has 17 goals in 19 games to start the season (after scoring 12 a year ago). To compare, Kevin Porter scored 19 in 20 a year ago. It's amazing that Caporusso could actually match Porter's torrid start with a big game tomorrow night.

David Wohlberg kept up his stellar offensive play with a trio of assists (do they have such a thing as a Natural Playmaker to go with Caporusso's Natural Hat Trick?). He apparently stole the puck in the Tech end on both of the first two goals.

Luke Glendening scored the first two points of his Michigan career with assists on Ciraulo's and Burlon's goals. I think those were actually the first two Michigan goals he's been on the ice for, if I'm not mistaken. So congrats to Luke! Danny Fardig assisted on both of those goals as well.

Bryan Hogan made 15 saves for his second shutout of the season, but it didn't sound like he was ever tested. Tech had seven shots in the first, was held to just one shot in the second, and put another seven on him in the third. It didn't sound like any were of a "Grade A" variety, however. So an outstanding defensive effort--or just complete offensive ineptness on the part of the Techsters. MTU had several power plays and couldn't get anything going (Michigan didn't do anything on the PP either).

Steve Kampfer made his return to the lineup and absolutely lit up a Huskie in the third period. Nice to see that he's not gunshy about hitting after returning from that injury.

The Wolverines will get a chance to defend their GLI crown against either MSU or North Dakota in the Championship Game at 6:30 tomorrow night. The game will air on Fox Sports Detroit. It'd be good for the conference (and our strength of schedule) if MSU won tonight, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing North Dakota, who has gotten it together after a bad start. And the masochists who get to the Joe early would be seeing MTU/MSU. Take the under if that game happens.

Edit: It's Michigan/MSU. The Spartans got out to a 2-0 lead and held on for a 2-1 win. Good for the conference, good for attendance purposes, it's always good to quell some WCHA woofing, and it's good that one of the CCHA teams will win the GLI Championship. It's bad for Goon. It should be a fun one. I just hope that the Wolverines will bring a strong effort. They've had a couple of real stinkers against MSU in the GLI before and I don't understand how you could possibly NOT get jacked up for a game like that.

Scoring early would be big. Don't let Lerg get any momentum. Don't let the team start thinking that Lerg is unbeatable. Make State play from behind. If Lerg comes out and makes some big stops early, MSU could win one of those typical 2-1 games where Lerg makes 52 saves (30 of which were actual shots on goal). I would expect that Lerg will have to play a great game for MSU to have a chance, but then again, I fully expected to play North Dakota tomorrow, so that shows what I know.

It's strange that after back-to-back shutouts in the GLI last year, Sauer won't be making an appearance (barring a collapse--so let's hope he doesn't make an appearance) in the tournament, since the radio reported that Hogan would be starting tomorrow if he won today.

The Wolverines move to 1-0 when I wear my new white jersey! Hopefully it's got some luck in it.

Michigan. MSU. GLI Championship. Gotta love it!