Friday, March 12, 1999

Friday, March 12, 1999, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Well after a month of "here it comes" it’s finally here. Tournament time!! Tonight marks the first game in a best of three series against Bowling Green in the 1^st round of the CCHA tournament. This weekend marks the last time any team in the CCHA and college hockey for that matter gets a break. After this weekend it’s win or go home. The semis and finals of the CCHA may not be the last word for a couple of teams if they don’t win, but the mindset these teams have to be in now is "win or go home". For the first time in a decade Michigan finds itself in a very different situation. Usually at this time of year we are wondering if we are going to get a #1 or #2 seed and a first round bye in the NCAA tournament. This year we are wondering what it will take to make the NCAA tournament. Will winning the first round and getting to Joe Louis be enough? Would it be better to loose a game this weekend and take three to beat Bowling Green (because of the weird calculations used by the NCAA)? Do we have to win the CCHA tournament to get to the NCAA? These are all interesting questions and give all us "what if’ers" plenty to talk about, but here’s what I think Michigan needs to do. They need to sweep Bowling Green this weekend and go to Joe Louis on a hot streak. Bowling Green is a good team and they usually play Michigan tough. Michigan swept the season series against Bowling Green and if you just look at the scores it looks like they won handily, but if I remember correctly in a couple of those games the scores were very tight until late in the game. I only remember one game against BG this year that Michigan really had in hand from start to finish (and that was early in the year). The other ones were fights until middle to late third period. Once at Joe Louis I think Michigan can get into the tournament (even though a sweep of BG could actually hurt them). I do firmly believe that Michigan has the team to win the CCHA tournament, it depends on which Michigan team shows up to play. Will it be the focused, aggressive team we saw/heard play Northern Michigan this past Saturday or will it be the unfocused, barely functioning team we saw/heard play Lake State this past Friday. Michigan has had a tendency in the last couple of years to really come on strong in the playoffs and they will need it this year. I’m hoping for the sweep, so lets fill up Yost and cheer them on to Joe Louis. Then lets fill up Joe Louis and see Michigan once again start down the path toward CCHA domination.

Before we get to tonight’s game I want to make sure I give special mention to three members of this year’s freshman class. Mike Comrie, Jeff Jillson, and Josh Blackburn were all named to the CCHA all rookie team giving Michigan a dominant presence on this team. Michigan State placed two players on the team, Notre Dame one, and Northern Michigan one. Jillson and Blackburn were unanimous selections and why Comrie wasn’t is beyond my ability to fathom. He only led all rookies in points this season and placed sixth in the league overall. If that doesn’t merit a unanimous selection to the all rookie team I don’t know what else the man has to do. His cause was not helped by at least one CCHA coach who didn’t even place Comrie on team (I don’t know who that coach was, but that’s unbelievable to me). Anyway, congratulations to the three Michigan freshmen on the CCHA All-Rookie team and may they continue to do themselves and Michigan proud.

Well you know the old saying about the "best laid plans of mice and men". It bit me tonight, I had a late afternoon meeting that ran late making it impossible to attend tonight’s game between the Wolverines and the Falcons of Bowling Green. What follows is a recap of the game derived from other sources.

As expected Bowling Green came into tonight’s game ready to play. They don’t want their season to end any more than Michigan does. BG took the early lead when they when they got a goal just 2:23 into the first period. They held onto that lead until over half the period was over. With just over 13 minutes gone in the period Huntzicker got a pass down the ice to a breaking Rominski who took it in and fired it past the BG goaltender to tie the score at 1 apiece. This was a short-handed goal with both Huntzicker and Blackburn receiving assists on the goal. With only a few minutes left in the period Comrie almost got Michigan the lead, but his shot bounced off the cross bar. The first period ended with tied at 1 goal apiece. This was a rough and tumble first period with a total of 11 penalties called 6 against BG and 5 against Michigan.

The second period was a little less action packed. There were only three penalties called per team, however, Bowling Green did take the lead late in the second period. This goal came with less than two minutes to play in the period and Bowling Green went into the second intermission with the 1 goal lead.

The third period was all Michigan. Michigan put the pressure on the BG goal from the start and twice it looked like they might get points on the board. Both Bill Trainor and Josh Langfeld had odd man rushes in the first half of this period, but the BG goaltender stood tall and turned the Michigan scoring opportunities away. Finally with 11 minutes gone in the period Senior Bobby Hayes came up with the game-tying goal. Bill Trainor got things going by making a cross ice pass to Justin Clark, who slipped the puck between a defensemans legs to Hayes who drove the puck home. Both Clark and Trainor got assists on the goal. The game winner came with almost 15 minutes gone in the game. Again skating short handed (4-3) Clark worked the puck out of the corner. Bobby Hayes came rushing over to help, dove across the ice, and knocked the puck out of the zone. Huntzicker, just coming out of the penalty box, picked the puck up at center ice, drove hard and strong into the BG zone and banged the puck home to give Michigan the 3 to 2 lead. Bowling Green didn’t go quietly as they generated some good scoring chances of their own going down the stretch, but Blackburn turned them all away. The third period was again a penalty filled affair with a total of twelve penalties being called 7 against Michigan and 5 against BG. Even with all the penalties Michigan still comes away with a big win in the first game of this series.

In Saturday night’s game Michigan must look to have fewer penalties than they did on Friday. Bowling Green scored more goals this season than any other team in the CCHA and they had the best power play of any team in the CCHA. With all the penalties scored I’m frankly amazed that BG only scored two goals. Kudos to the penalty kill unit, the defense, and to Josh Blackburn for only giving up two goals to this high powered offense. Michigan will look to complete the sweep of this series Saturday night at 7:00 PM at Yost Arena in Ann Arbor (no I have no meetings on Saturday, I will be at the game).

Let’s take a quick look at the scores from the other Friday night games. Michigan State beat Lake State by a score of 3 to 2. This game looks to have been closer than many would have thought, myself included. Notre Dame took the first game against Northern Michigan with another 3 to 2 score. Finally, the Buckeyes seemed to have snapped out of their offensive slump at just the right time as they beat Ferris by a 4 to 2 score. Can you tell that it’s playoff time? Three of the four games played Friday night were decided by one goal and the fourth by two. Look for more of the same on Saturday. Until tomorrow C-ya!!