Friday, February 5, 1999

Friday, February 5, 1999, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Well here we are again for another weekend of MEEEECHIGAN HOCKEY!! The Wolverines are coming off a brutal road trip that saw us take only 2 of a possible 6 points against the other three teams in the top four of the CCHA. We remain in second place, two points behind Michigan State and are still in a fairly good position, but we cannot afford to loose any more games with only nine remaining until the playoffs begin. I thought the Wolverines could have won all three of their last games, but with an incredible lack of offense (regardless of the number of chances we might have had get those points) and some unexpected lapses in defense really hurt the cause. Five of our last nine games are on the road so these home games are even more important – WE MUST WIN THEM!! I think the team will be ready to play and sooner or later we have to start getting a few breaks on the bounces of the puck.

Before getting into tonight’s game some updates from around the world of college hockey. The head coach of the Western Michigan Bronco’s, our opponent next week, was removed as head coach and assigned as a special assistant to the Western AD. The Bronco program has been experiencing problems on the ice for the last couple of years and this year was especially trying with some off ice problems. Michigan still sits in the top ten in the national polls, being ranked number 6 in the regular USCHO poll, dropping one spot after the two tie, one loss road trip. The power wise rankings (used to determine the participants in the NCAA tournament) has Michigan at number eight.

This weekend has Michigan playing Lake State tonight and Ohio State tomorrow night. LSSU is a team that has a surprisingly bad year, but has really been coming on in the last couple of weeks. Expect the Lakers to play Michigan tough as they are fighting for their very playoff lives. The Lakers haven’t missed the playoffs in quite some time and will not want to start now. Of course the Buckeyes are one of the top teams in the league and the country and tomorrow will be the third and final regular season game between these two teams. The Buckeyes are also the only team, who we have played, that we have not beaten, having one loss and one tie with them. I can’t say this enough, this game is on our ice and is a game we have to win. We cannot give MSU any additional breathing room at the top of the standings. As I mentioned earlier we are still in a fairly good position. We are only two points behind MSU, we still have one head to head game with the Spartans (at Joe Louis), and MSU has to play all of their games against Ferris and Notre Dame. Michigan has seen all of the tough competition in the league where MSU still has a lot of tough competition ahead of them. Well enough of the pre-game rambling, it’s time for the game to start and we’re off.

Michigan gets off to a quick start by getting a couple of good scoring chances in the first minute of the game with Berenzweig just missing the net and Hayes following up with a chance. A quick turn around sees a LSSU player get a break away, comes in all alone on the Michigan net, but his shot is smothered by Blackburn ending the early LSSU scoring chance. Michigan is still working extremely hard, continuing the pressure on the Lakers defense. Now LSSU gets a quick scoring chance showing that the Lakers have come to Ann Arbor to play. With the first five minutes of the period gone the game is still scoreless and both teams are playing some fast paced hockey. There was a great scoring chance that was poke checked away, but Kosick and Comrie came close to working the puck into the net. There was a quickie by the Lakers. A LSSU player looking for a pass, couldn’t find one, took a shot, and beat Blackburn up high into the corner of the net. The LSSU score comes with just under twelve minutes to go in the first period and once again Michigan finds itself playing a game of catch up after already missing some golden scoring opportunities of their own. Michigan was moving the puck into the Laker zone with some authority looking to get a shot off when the Laker player decided the best way to stop the scoring threat was to commit a penalty. Result, Michigan gets their first power play of the night. Now normally you would say this is good, but if you look at the power play over the last couple of weeks you know that it has been, shall we say poor. Let’s hope they get off to a good start with the power play this weekend. Well the power play remains poor. The Lakers have killed the penalty with Michigan unable to mount any kind of offensive threat. The best scoring chance in the last couple of minutes came moments after the power play ended when Hayes got off a good shot. There we go, Michigan was working the puck around in the Laker zone on a power play when Van Ryn blasts a shot from the point with just under 8 minutes left in the period to tie things up. Assists on the goal went to Comrie and Berenzweig. Since the Michigan goal neither team has been able to do much. There have been a couple of shots, but nothing much to write home about. In the last couple of minutes there have been a couple of good scoring chances by Michigan, but no points on the board as we move under one minute in the period. Well that is just terrible. After an icing call the Lakers get a quick goal off the face off with just ten seconds left in the period to take a 2 to 1 lead. That’s where it ends, Lakers 2, Michigan 1. What a disappointment to give up a goal so close to the end of the period. It looked like Michigan was going to end the period all tied up on the score board, even though they were being out shot, when yet another late mental lapse costs us a goal and puts us behind again. The one upside is that the Wolverines completed an entire 20 minutes of hockey and had no penalties called against them – when has that happened this year??

As we get started in the second period the stretch of time without a penalty quickly comes to an end as Crozier is called for a penalty putting the Lakers on the power play. Right at the start of the power play Michigan gets a chance to get a short handed goal, but the Laker goaltender grabs up the puck, removing any chance of a goal off the rebound. Michigan kills of the Laker power play without giving up any real scoring chance to Lake State and we are now back to full strength. Michigan with a couple of real good chances that just miss the net. Michigan continued to work hard through the LSSU zone, when Jillson put some fancy moves on and put the puck in the net to once again tie the game for the Wolverines with just under fifteen minutes left in the period. Assists go to Koch and Berenzweig. Just when you think they’re getting things going Michigan lets another LSSU player get behind them, the Laker gets a break away, and just like that the Lakers once again lead the game 3 to 2 (this was less than 30 seconds after the Michigan goal). To make matters worse we have penalties – at least both teams lost players to the penalties and we will skate four on four. Well there is a break for the Wolverines, we got down into the Laker zone and got off a shot. We missed the goal, but the Lakers get called for a penalty putting Michigan on the power play with a four on three advantage. This effectively kills the LSSU power play just seconds into it so we will get this power play for almost the entire 2 minutes. Michigan is taking advantage of this and is applying a great deal of pressure on the LSSU goalie. Michigan continues to put pressure on the LSSU goal, but so far hasn’t been able to get the score. Oh man that was again so close with Langfeld clanging the puck off the goal post. The Lakers and the Wolverines back to full strength as another great power play chance gets away. After several minutes of back and forth hockey Lake State once again gets off a shot that beats Blackburn to take a 4 to 2 lead. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they do. Yes it can get even worse. The Lakers just continue to beat the Wolverines up as they score once again to move into a 5 to 2 lead. That’s three unanswered goals, the last two unassisted. The Wolverines are just plain getting outplayed this night. If they were looking ahead to OSU tomorrow night they picked the wrong team to take for granted. Oh yea, lest I forget the Wolverines of course commit a penalty to put LSSU on the power play. My god what is going on, Michigan just gives up a power play goal to take a 6 to 2 lead. I think we need to think about switching goaltenders, because Blackburn is obviously not having one of his better nights. A small rush by Michigan with Comrie almost getting one past the LSSU goalie, but the score remains 6 to 2, LSSU. Michigan gets another penalty putting the Lakers on the power play right at the end of the period. So the period ends with the Lakers leading 6 to 2 and they are going to have a good chunk of power play time to start the third period.

Well we are now ready to start the third period and the Wolverines have indeed changed goaltenders putting O’Malley in net in relief of a poorly playing Blackburn. Let’s see if we keep the Lakers from scoring any more goals so we can perhaps play our way back into this game. We need one goal every five minutes in this period to get back to even. Of course LSSU started the period on the power play and while still on the power play Jillson gets called for a penalty giving the Lakers a 5 on 3 advantage. Not a real smart play. The penalty left over form the second period has been killed off, cutting the Laker advantage to 5 on 4. Well Michigan was able to kill off all of the Laker power plays, but they still trail 6 to 2. Koch tried to get something going for Michigan, but the puck got deflected out of play. Michigan’s defense continues to make it rough on their goalies tonight as they give the Lakers another breakaway chance. O’Malley comes up with the stop, but the Wolverine defense seems to have stayed in the locker room in tonight’s game. As you can tell there is not much action in this game from a Wolverine point of view. They keep playing, but they are not getting any kind of offensive pressure and they need bushels of pressure. Well they finally cracked the LSSU goal getting their third goal of the night just after both teams lost players to penalties. With both teams skating four on four Langfeld got loose and punched the puck into the net with assists going to Peach and Koch. There was a big chance with Matzka and Berenzweig rushing right in on the LSSU goalie. Matzka got off a good shot, but it went right into the goalies pads where it stuck. There are now just under nine minutes to go and we still need three goals. We need one goal every three minutes to at least move to overtime to give us a chance to pull this one out. With just six minutes left in the game Jillson is again called for a penalty putting the Lakers on the power play once again. This is the Lakers fifth power play of the night and four of those power plays have been compliments of Jeff Jillson. Well play continues, the penalty has been killed off without any more goals by the Lakers, but we are about out of time as there is now just one minute left in the game. Well that’s the game, the Lakers beat up the Wolverines 6 to 3 – I do mean beat up. This was the first win for the Lakers in the Yost arena since December of 1990.

I just don’t know what to think about this team. Usually in February as you begin to drive to the playoffs Michigan is playing like a well oiled machine, but as each week goes by they seem to reach new lows, not new highs. They were in a tight spot and now find themselves in an even tighter spot. Michigan has just lost so they gain no points. If MSU wins they will then lead the Wolverines by four. In addition, since OSU was only 2 points behind us if they win tonight they will move into a tie for second with Michigan and they come to Yost tomorrow night. If those two teams win, and that is presently in question as they were both in tie games late in their respective third periods, we will suddenly go from a not so bad spot as the night started, to a very bad spot as we move into February. Well to close I do have some updates. MSU skated to a tie, so they are now three points ahead of us. OSU won, they are now tied with us for second in the league. Notre Dame is only four points behind with 27 points. If Michigan keeps playing like this we could end up without home ice in the first round of the CCHA – this has suddenly become a possibility. Perhaps not a real big possibility, but you can’t discount it when you look back over the last four games – not a win to be found. Well until tomorrow, when things will hopefully go a whole lot differently, C-ya!