Saturday, March 6, 1999

Saturday, March 6, 1999, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, Michigan

This is Michigan’s last regular season game and it will be a tough contest. Last night’s game should have been the easier of this weekends two games, but it turned out to be a big, fat, loss. Now we have to venture into Wildcat territory and take on a team fighting to get home ice in the 1st round of the CCHA tournament. Can Michigan finally win a road game? Can they eliminate the penalties that have killed them time and time again this year? Can they play a focused 60 minutes of hockey? These are the questions that Michigan has to answer and the answers will determine the outcome of this game, and perhaps the remainder of this season. Of course with last night’s loss Michigan once again has to rely on the Buckeyes of Ohio State to loose if they want to move into second place in the CCHA.

Well we have the answer to our first question. Just seconds into the game Bobby Hayes gets called for a penalty and puts Northern on the power play right off the start. If this is what Hayes calls Senior leadership, I say put Hayes on the bench. Michigan is able to kill off the Northern power play, but Northern did get a couple of good looks at the net. They simply cannot play this whole game on the defensive. They have to play this game under control. Michigan, when skating at full strength, has had a couple of good runs at the Northern goal. Now Northern gets called for a penalty and Michigan will get their first power play opportunity. Michigan unable to do anything on the power play and Northern has killed it off. Michigan is putting a great deal of pressure on the Northern goal, but they cannot get the puck in the net (boy does this sound familiar). We are now down to nine minutes to go in the game and still no score. Both teams skating back and forth, up and down the ice. Michigan is sharper tonight than they were last night, but can they maintain it through the entire game. As we go under seven minutes in the period Northern gets a couple of good shots off, but Blackburn is able to stop them. Michigan picks up their second penalty of the game giving Northern their second power play of the game. Well that was brilliant, with just under one minute to go in this power play Rominski picks up a penalty and gives Northern the two man advantage for about a minute. They will of course have the additional power play time even if Michigan manages to kill off the two-man advantage. They just keep digging themselves into a hole that gets deeper and deeper. Northern gets off a couple of great shots and Blackburn answers with great saves. Now we are only down by one man as the first penalty expires. Another great save as Blackburn gets his glove around the puck and turns away what looked like a power play goal for Northern. While still skating short handed Michigan busted the puck out of their own zone; Matzka got the puck ahead to Koch who got off a shot. The shot rebounded off right to a trailing Matzka who buries the puck in the net to give Michigan the one goal lead late in the first period. The Michigan penalty has now expired and both teams are back at full strength. Michigan continues to apply pressure with shot after shot. There’s the horn ending the period with Michigan in the lead with a 1 to nothing lead on the shorthanded goal by Matzka. Michigan also holds the advantage in shots on goal with a 14 to 6 edge.

Michigan starts off the second period by continuing to apply the same offensive pressure that they were applying at the end of the first period. A little altercation between Ritchlin and a Northern player putting both of them in the penalty box. We now skate four on four for the next two minutes. The penalties are over and both teams continue to fly around the ice. Ritchlin gets held down as he was making a big push to the Northern goal and Michigan goes on the power play. Well that ends the power play as Michigan gets called for a penalty just seconds into the power play. We now skate four on four for the better part of two minutes. That looked like Michigan was going to get a goal, but the puck ended up in the goalies pads. Rominski thought it was in as he raised his stick and the goalie thought it was in as he turned around to sweep the puck out of the net. Neither of them was right of course as the puck was in the pads. Now Northern gets called for a penalty once again putting Michigan on the power play. Let’s see if we can get through this power play with either a score or at least with no penalties of our own. There we go we finally made use of the power play. Peach took a shot from the point, it gets past the goaltender, clangs off the pipe and for a change we get the bounce and the score. Jillson and Hayes get the assists on the goal as we take a two to nothing lead. Michigan almost got their third goal of the night as it looked like a shot was going in, but a Northern player hit it before it got in the net. Northern got a couple of shots off there, one on their own and one off of a Michigan give away. They were turned away both times, but it was a close call. Off the last shot by Northern Comrie was breaking clear when he was dragged down to again put Michigan on the power play. Let’s get another goal on this power play. Well we put some good pressure on, but were unable to score a goal during that power play. We return to action with both teams skating full strength and both teams continue to fly up and down the ice. It looked like Michigan was going to get a goal as they broke in on a two on one break, but Van Ryn shot it wide. We continue with a two to nothing lead with just over one minute left in the period. Oh man, Michigan gets called for a penalty with under a minute to go in the period. Northern will end the second and start the third on the power play. Hopefully this mistake won’t cost us a dearly as they have in games past this year. Yup, it cost’s us. Northern gets on the board with a power play goal with seven seconds left in the second period. This is so stupid it makes me want to scream. Great, more fantastic Senior leadership by Hayes as he gets called for another penalty. At least a Northern player went off as well so we are skating four on four. Well that ends the second period with Michigan holding a 2 to 1 lead and they continue to lead in shots on goal at 23 to 11.

The third period starts with both teams skating four on four and as we here that Matzkas father has been removed from the Arena for something, we’re just not sure. Michigan comes out and continues to apply the pressure on Northern. Northern taking their shots now at the Michigan goal, so far neither team has put any goals on the board. We are now back at five on five. Both teams had been trading shots at their respective opponent’s goals when suddenly Michigan broke out on a three on two break. As they moved into the NMU zone it suddenly became a four on two break as Jillson came flying up, took the final pass, and scored the goal. This gives Michigan a three on one lead, with Trainor and Merrick getting the assists. There are now just over 14 minutes left in this game as both teams continue to play very hard. Northern has been really putting some pressure on the Michigan goal. Michigan was attempting to clear the puck, but couldn’t. The only thing between Northern and another score there was Blackburn. Northern was working hard around the Michigan net when Michigan again got a hold of the puck, pushed it out quickly to a breaking Langfeld and Berenzweig. On some great passing and a nice give and go Langfeld gets the Wolverines fourth goal with the assists to Berenzweig and Koch. This goal gives Michigan the 4 to 1 lead and comes at about the mid point of the third period. Now Michigan continues to apply pressure and Comrie almost got the score, but the NMU goalie got in the way of the puck. Michigan was continuing to put the pressure on when Trainor got a shot past the goaltender to give Michigan the 5 to 1 lead. This came less than a minute after the last one and was Trainor’s first goal of his Michigan career, way to go Bill!! Kosick and Berenzweig get the assists on this goal, I think Bill owes them some pizza. Northern does change goalies after that fifth goal. There are now just about four minutes left in this game as Michigan continues to inch closer to this win. With only about two minutes left in the game Peach UM gets a penalty to give NMU a late power play. Hayes once again argues the call with the officials and gets a 10-minute misconduct penalty; some day maybe he will learn to keep his mouth shut. As bad as the penalties have been for Michigan tonight (as far as timeliness goes) they penalty kill tonight has been very good and is a big reason why Michigan holds this commanding lead. There was a shot that Blackburn stopped, but he didn’t cover the rebound and NMU comes up with the late power play goal to get the score to 5 to 2. There is the end of the game and Michigan finally wins a road game with a 5 to 2 decision over Northern.

This was the first Michigan road win in ten games and it couldn’t have happened at a better time as the regular season ends and we move into the playoffs. Not only does it give Michigan a big win on the road, but it could have great significance a bit later this month when the NCAA hands out invitations to the NCAA tournament. If we don’t win the CCHA tournament we will have to wait for an at large bid and this win could be the one that puts us over the top on that score as we continue to hover around that twelfth position in the pairwise power rankings. This win also continues one of the longer streaks in the NCAA as Michigan continues to go unbeaten when leading going into the third period for this their 104th game. They are now 100-0-4 when leading after two periods. This streak goes back into the 1995 season. Michigan really did skate a much better game tonight as they gave it everything for all three periods. While the score was close going into the third the continued hard work paid off in the third as the Wolverines exploded for three goals to put this game away.

Let’s see if we can’t sort out the 1st round of the CCHA tournament, who will play who and where they will play. Ferris beats MSU 2 to 1 tonight to end all of MSU’s unbeaten streaks. While this won’t have any affect on MSU’s playoff position it does end the streaks and if Miami beats Notre Dame Ferris would move into fifth place. Of course if Notre Dame wins they will move into fourth place, take the last home ice spot, and drop NMU into fifth place. Bowling Green has been beating OSU all night and was leading 2 to 1 with about two minutes left in the game. If BG can beat OSU for the second straight game that would once again move Michigan into second in the CCHA. While normally second would (and is) a bit sub par for Michigan when you look at their record it’s amazing they are still that high in the league. Now we wait for some finals to sort this thing out. Well we know this much now. Michigan as beaten NMU and Notre Dame has beaten Miami so Notre Dame gets 1st round home ice and NMU goes to Notre Dame. Bowling Green has beaten (I should say shut out) OSU so Michigan takes sole possession of second place and will play Bowling Green at Yost next weekend. Remember UM may put some additional tickets on sale (SRO) for the playoff games so check with the ticket office. OSU sets in third place and will host Ferris next weekend who held on to the sixth position with their win over MSU. Lake State did just pound Western to take over eighth place. So here are the pairings for next weekend’s 1st round.

  • #8 Lake Superior @ #1 Michigan State
  • #7 Bowling Green @ #2 Michigan
  • #6 Ferris @ #3 Ohio State
  • #5 Northern Michigan @ #4 Notre Dame
So next weekend I’ll see you all at Yost and until then C-ya!!