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Saturday, January 9, 1999
Saturday, January 9, 1999, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor Michigan
Well here we are on Saturday night getting ready for the second of three straight contests against the Ferris State Bulldogs. The Wolverines took a win from Ferris in a rather sloppy game on Friday night, but hey a win is a win. It was originally released that Mike Van Ryn, our lone missing Wolverine, would be in Ann Arbor Saturday night, but would not play. Well Mr. Van Ryn was in town, but he also was playing. It was good to see him on the ice in a Wolverine uniform again. He really does add a presence on the ice for our team. Both Van Ryn and Jillson seem to have benefited from their experience in the World Junior tournament, though neither one has really had any time off since the middle of December.
The first period started out much faster and much better played than almost the entire game Friday night. In fact it appeared that the Wolverines were picking up where they had left off on Friday night. In Friday’s contest they seemed to come together in the last ten minutes of the game and on Saturday this play continued. They were skating hard, but more importantly they were working as a team. With just over three minutes gone in the first period Jillson broke the puck out of the Michigan zone and made a fantastic feed pass to Matzka who took the puck in and slammed it past the Ferris goaltender. This was Matzkas first goal in seventeen games (since before Halloween), with assists going to Jillson and Huntzicker. The pass that made this play was a thing of beauty. Both teams continued to press generating some offensive pressure. Just minutes later Ferris got the puck past Blackburn to tie the game. This happened right in front of me and I swear Blackburn had this one stopped, but somehow it seemed to trickle under his stick and into the net. With the game now tied both teams again were going back and forth looking for that opening. About midway through this period the next opening presented itself when Dave Huntzicker intercepted an errant Ferris pass and just boomed a slapshot over the Ferris netminders shoulder and into the corner of the net. This was an unassisted goal power play goal and returned the lead to Michigan. A couple of minute’s later Michigan was called for a penalty putting Ferris on the power play. A mere 30 seconds into the power play Bobby Hayes was called for slash giving Ferris a five on three advantage for 1 ½ minutes. I don’t know where this call came from as Hayes was by himself on the ice as I saw the call being made. Even with the advantage Ferris was unable to get a goal and the Wolverines successfully killed the penalties. A dangerous moment came a bit later in the period when Jillson gave the puck away right in front of Blackburn, but Blackburn again turned the Ferris shot away. With about three minutes left in the period Comrie was driving in on the Ferris goal when three Ferris players mugged him. The entire crowd thought Michigan was going on the power play, but the officials not only whistled Ferris for a penalty, but they also gave Comrie a penalty. Here was the second call in the first period alone that I simply didn’t understand. Comrie got mugged out there and they put him in the box. Anyway neither team was able to get a score for the remainder of this period and the first was over with Michigan leading two to one, but Ferris had the edge in shots on goal eight to seven.
The second period started with Michigan getting back to back power plays. Ferris was called for the first penalty seconds into the period and called for the second penalty seconds after the first power play expired. Even with a man advantage for the first four minutes of the period Michigan was unable to get a score. A minute or two later it appeared that Michigan had gotten another goal – the light went on and crowd went wild, but the officials waved the goal off saying the net was off the posts. To me it looked like the net went off the posts after the goal, but what do I know. Shortly after this Ferris tied the game, getting what was probably the best goal for Ferris of the night. The tie held until just over eight minutes remaining in the game when Sean Ritchlin made a fabulous play to put Michigan back in the lead. Ritchlin took a pass and powered in on the Ferris net, holding the puck until the Ferris goaltender committed himself to a position and then Ritchlin brought it around to his back side and flipped it into the net. Like the Jillson pass in the first period this was a thing of beauty. The assist was originally given to Crawford, but was later changed and given to Justin Clark. This was the end of the scoring in the second period, but not the end of the offensive pressure. There were several chances for both teams with the goaltenders for both teams making some unbelievable saves. The period ended Michigan leading three to two and the shots on goal all even at thirteen apiece.
The Wolverines started the third period at a blistering pace. They applied a great deal of pressure, but the Ferris goalie turned them away. Then Michigan came in with more pressure and just thirty seconds into the period Comrie worked his way through the Ferris defense and put the puck in the net to give Michigan a four to two lead. This was an unassisted goal and was Comries second goal in as many games. As with the entire game both teams continued to work very hard looking for an opening, but the goalies weren’t providing many opportunities. At about the midpoint of the period it was evident that Michigan was settling into a defensive posture. They were still pushing the puck when they could, but they would immediately fall back into defensive positions at the slightest hint of Ferris taking the puck. They kept up the pressure, but it just wasn’t as intense as it had been for the first 2 ½ periods. With about six minutes to go in the period Ferris did add another goal to get the score to 4-3, but that was it for the game. Michigan got a power play opportunity late in the period (around 4 minutes to go), but they were unable to get a goal. With about one minute left in the period Ferris pulled their goalie to add an additional attacker, but it did them no good. Michigan was unable to put the puck into the empty net, even though they had several opportunities. The game ended with Michigan winning four to three and both teams still even in shots on goal with twenty-two apiece.
Well this game and Friday’s game were all they were expected to be. Ferris has a very good team and if you don’t take them seriously they will beat you. It was good to see all the players back on the ice and it was especially good to see some offense coming from many players. We got points from defensmen (Jillson had three points Friday and another point Saturday, Huntzicker got two points tonight with a goal and an assist). Matzka got a goal for the first time in a long time. This was real nice for him because he has been one of the hardest working Wolverines on the ice all year. Comrie ended with two goals in two nights to continue his campaign for rookie of the year. The passing and movement of the Wolverines was much better tonight than the previous nights games and this was good to see. With Blackburn having a somewhat off night we needed some scoring and we were able to get it.
Next week we play Ferris for the third and final time on Friday night, this time on their ice. Expect this to be a very tough contest. Michigan is back at Yost on Saturday to meet the Bronco’s of Western Michigan for the first time this year. Well this weekends events caused a few changes in the league. Michigan State still sits at the top of the league with a tenuous one-point lead over second place Michigan. We still have a game in hand and we still have two league games against the Spartans. Ohio State still sits in third, but with the unexpected win by Lake State over the Buckeyes Saturday night (at the Buckeyes new arena no less) has given us a little bit of breathing room with them. Notre Dame has now moved into the fourth spot in the league with a one-point edge over fifth place Ferris. The top four finishers get home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs and this is something Ferris really wants. As you can tell the CCHA race is tight, very tight. Every game Michigan plays now is a must win. They are one point behind the Spartans and if MSU wins UM must win to keep pace. Our next game against MSU is later this month on the Spartans home ice – that game will be very important. However, we still have some difficult hockey to play and the whole month of January looks real tough. Just to give you an idea the last three games we play in January are at Ohio State, at MSU, and at Notre Dame. All three of these teams are in the top ten in the country. We also have to play Ferris at Ferris and have Western Michigan and Bowling Green thrown in for good measure. January is going to be a long hard month for the Wolverines so I hope these flashes of offense are signs of things to come. Well Wolverine fans that’s it for now so until next time C-ya!!
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