Michigan tips Saints on late goal, 4-3

Senior wing Tim Miller snapped a 3-3 tie with a rebound goal with 2:33 to go in regulation time, lifting the University of Michigan to a 4-3 victory over St. Lawrence University in the NCAA hockey opener for both teams at Michigan Friday night.

The Saints had to kill off nine Michigan power plays in the game, five of them in the third period, and had only four power play chances of their own, two of them lasting a combined 36 seconds and had a goal waved off in a game which was wide open from start to finish.

"That was a great game for us and one we can take a lot out of," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "It was a great effort across the board in a very tough place to play. Obviously we had a big night on the penalty kill, but there were a lot of other things that we did well. Michigan is a highly skilled team that can turn things around in a hurry, but I thought we competed very well with them."

The Saints actually outshot Michigan in the third period 10-6 despite being down a man for nearly half the period, but Miller came up with the game-winner for the second ranked Wolverines when Saint goalie Alex Petizian made a pad save on Travis Turnbull, but the rebound went right to Miller in the slot and he hit the open net at 17:27.

The Wolverines went into Friday's game with a 9-2-1 all-time series lead and had won the last five in a row, three straight at Yost.

While Michigan dominated the shots early in the game, Petizian came up big and the Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Kevin DeVergilio scored the first goal at 9:33 of the first period when he picked up a rebound of a shot by Brock McBride and snapped it into the empty net with Zach Miskovic also assisting. Miskovic set up McBride's first shot in the short slot and while Wolverine goalie Bill Sauer was able to kick that one out, the rebound came right to DeVergilio, who sidestepped a defender and hit the empty net.

The Saints then forced a turnover in the Michigan end and rookie Brandon Bollig rifled a shot just under the crossbar for his first collegiate goal off a great feed by junior transfer Augie DiMarzo. Aaron Bogosian also assisted on the goal which came at 13:23.

It took Michigan just 29 seconds to cut the Saint lead in half as the Wolverines took the puck into the Saint zone after the faceoff and defenseman Steve Kampfer snapped a shot toward goal which Ben Winnett deflected up and under the crossbar at 13:52 to make it a 2-1 game. Petizian kept it that way with a great two-on-one save on Carl Hagelin with just over three minutes to go in the first, but Hagelin got his revenge when he took a pass from Aaron Palushaj and put the puck away from point blank range with Matt Rust also assisting at 18:25.

Michigan took a 3-2 lead at 12:45 of the second when defenseman Chad Langlais one-timed a shot past Petizian, but the Saints came back to tie it at 3-3 at 13:52 on a power play as Shawn Fensel found Mike McKenzie who was all alone in front and McKenzie put a shot into the upper corner with Jeremiah also assisting. The Saints had an apparent go-ahead goal waved off when referees ruled that the whistle had blown before Casey Parenteau tucked the puck under Sauer, and the Saints had to kill off a five-on-three late in the period to come out of it tied at 3-3.

Petizian had a number of spectacular saves for the Saints, finishing with 31 for the game while Sauer had 28 for Michigan.