Michigan came out and scored six goals in the first period and cruised to a 13-5 victory over Canisius on Saturday. Six different Wolverines scored those goals, too, one of whom was Parker McKee, who not only scored the first goal of the game, but the first goal of his career as a Wolverine.
As seems to be the norm with Michigan lacrosse, each game is led by a different guy. Saturday's contest was junior attackman Kyle Jackson's day. Jackson scored three times in the first half and one time in the second, tying him with Mikie Schlosser for second on the team in goals scored in 2015.
The Griffs' Ryan McKee scored with 5:14 to go in the second period, making the score 7-2 in favor of Michigan, but Canisius would never get the margin any closer than five the rest of the way. Michigan's pace in the first period kept Canisius at bay.
Gerald Logan made eight saves on the day, while Robbie Zonino and Tommy Heidt also got in net and combined for another six saves for the Wolverines.
Tim Edwards did what I expected at the face-off X and went 7 of 11 for Canisius, while Brad Lott was 4 of 6 for the Wolverines. Michigan's Mike McDonell and Will Biagi also got into the dirt, getting another six wins out of ten chances. It turned out to be an even day at the dot, with both teams going 10 of 20.
There were a few other areas I wanted to keep an eye on Saturday--Clears: Michigan was 19 of 21, Canisius was 10 of 13; goals per period: Michigan continued outscoring their opponents in the third period, notching two to the Griffs' zero; caused turnovers: heading into Saturday, Michigan had turned their opponents over 36 times to Canisius' 21. The Wolverines walked away with the plus-5 (12 to 7) margin.
Next up for the Wolverines is a road match-up against Jacksonville at 7 p.m. on March 3. Check out WatchESPN for the live stream.