CBJ PR

The Ann Arbor Wolverines nearly lost tonights game as they came into Gambler country. The Wolverines spotted the Gamblers a 3-0 lead after the first period came to an end.

The Gamblers scored three times in a 11:22 span of the first period, and the Wolverines bench was silent. Mike Fisher became the hero for the Wolverines when he deflected a shot by Rob Globke that beat Kevin Nastiuk in overtime to give the upstart Wolverines a 6-5 victory over the Gamblers.

“That was a wild one,” Wolverines coach Daryl Sittler said. “There was wide open hockey out there, way too loose for my liking. If we had walked out of here with nothing, it would have been pretty hard to swallow.”

Ann Arbor rallied to send the game to overtime as rookie Justin Jokien scored on a clean breakaway at 17:49 of the 3RD period. Fisher's goal at 3:41 of overtime had to be reviewed after Nastiuk complained that Fisher kicked the puck into the net. A video review confirmed that the puck crossed the goal line from Fishers stick and not his skate.

“With how things went for us last season, it was an important two points,” Sittler said.

“We showed a lot of character and persistence the way we fought back from a 3-0 deficit, but there were a lot of Gamblers who didn’t get contested the way they needed to be from our team,” Sittler said. “To be a good team, we’ve got to be a lot tighter.”

“Even though we played pretty bad in the first, we fought back to win the game” Fisher said. “But if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.”

Cupp A Joe