Saturday, March 20, 1999

Saturday, March 20, 1999, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Well this is the night, the finals of the CCHA tournament. A win tonight and we can complete this weekend of play on the note that we Wolverine fans want to end it. A win tonight and we go to the NCAA tournament without waiting for some at large bid. The Wildcats got here with a win over Michigan State last night and Michigan got here with their first win of the year over the Buckeyes of Ohio State. The win last night moved Michigan up a notch in the Pairwise rankings to #11, with Northern right behind them at #12. OSU dropped to #13 in these rankings. The Wildcats have an explosive offense and even though the scores between these two teams have been lopsided the teams are more evenly matched than you might think. This should be a close game and Michigan cannot take it for granted. They have to come out play hard, work hard, and just take the game to Northern. I like Michigan’s chances in this game; they have been playing very well the last few weeks and appear poised to make yet another run toward the NCAA final four. I know that’s getting a little ahead of things, hopefully the teams not thinking that way. So lets get this game underway and see how things go tonight.

While Michigan got the puck off the opening face off it’s Northern that is getting the first shot’s on goal, but Blackburn has stopped a couple of good shots by the Wildcats. Both teams seem to be feeling each other out as Michigan has had some pretty good opportunities of their own, but so far no one has been able to get the puck over the goal line. We are just over seven minutes into the game and there is still no score. Both Michigan and Northern have had a couple of rushes toward the opposing nets, but these were stopped before they got to the respective goalies. We are now under the midway point of this period and the game remains scoreless. While some shots are being taken there have been no real scoring threats since the couple of good looks NMU got early in the game. There was some great stick work and passing by the Wolverines and they feed the puck to Matzka who finds twine and Michigan takes the lead 1 to nothing. This goal came almost 12 minutes into the period, but it feels real good to get the first goal. Assists on this goal went to Van Ryn and Peach. There was a great chance for Michigan. Michigan got a shot off that the NMU goalie missed, but lucky for them the shot went just wide or NMU would be down two to nothing. Now Ritchlin and Crozier put some pressure on the NMU goal and make the Northern goalie earn his keep. Now it’s Northern’s turn to get some pressure on the Michigan net, but Blackburn comes up with some great saves. Michigan finally clears the puck and pushes into the NMU zone. Van Ryn feeds the puck up to Rominski (with some zip) and Rominski slams it into the net before the NMU goalie even knew what hit him (Van Ryn got the lone assist). Michigan now holds the 2 to nothing lead with time beginning to run out in this period. Northern with a big rush on the Michigan zone, but Blackburn comes up with another big save. Blackburn has been solid in goal so far this weekend and is really making a big difference in this tournament (you might even have to consider him for MVP if he could pitch a shut out in this game). We’re under one minute to go in this period and Northern makes a big rush, but Blackburn comes up with a huge glove save. A goal here by Northern could have given them some momentum going into the second period, but that save by Blackburn should help Michigan. Michigan moves off the face off and makes their own rush, but Matzka got hauled down before he could get a shot off. The period comes to an end with Michigan leading this game 2 to nothing, but Northern holds the edge in shots on goal at 14 to 8. This was a pretty good period of straight up hockey, there were no penalties called against either team so both Michigan goals were even strength goals.

Starting the second period Michigan has to keep in mind that NMU came from behind to beat MSU so we have to make sure we play this entire game. Michigan starts off the second period by getting off a big shot on the NMU net. The NMU goalie stops the shot, but not the rebound. NMU gets to the puck before Michigan can and they move the puck into the Michigan zone. NMU gets off a big shot, but Blackburn again comes up with a really big save. Well Northern finally gets a goal, but it was a freebie. NMU got a host off, but it hit Van Ryn and deflected into the net past Blackburn. So give credit for the NMU goal to Michigan, but this does pull NMU within one goal. Michigan can’t let that get to them; they just to crank it up a notch and get it back (with a couple of others). There we go, Michigan gets a freebie from NMU as Huntzicker takes a shot, it goes off a defenseman, and into the NMU goal. So just a couple of minutes after the NMU freebie, Michigan gets their own – Huntzicker, unassisted. Both teams have now traded rushes, but there have been no more scores since Michigan went up 3 to 1. Great passing and hard work by Michigan in the transition. Van Ryn gets the puck, passes it up to center ice where Kosick picks it up. Kosick takes it into the NMU zone, looks for some help, waits until Crozier catches up, feeds it to Crozier, and Crozier gets the puck in the net to give Michigan the 4 to 1 lead with about 8 minutes gone in this period. Northern takes a time out to talk this over as it looked like they might be getting back into the game, and now Michigan suddenly has a three-goal lead. Kosick and Van Ryn both pick up assists on this goal. Both teams just whistling up and down the ice right now, but no further scores at this point. Michigan continues to apply pressure and work the transition game, and it continues to pay off. Michigan pushes into the NMU zone off the transition and this time Kosick is the trailing player. They get the puck back to Kosick who gets it just inside the post and gives Michigan the 5 to 1 lead. Ritchlin and Crozier pick up the assists on Kosick’s goal. Northern got a good rush and again Blackburn came up with the stop, but this time Michigan gets called for a penalty (the first penalty of the game). This gives Northern their first power play chance of the game and their power play has been their best offensive weapon against Michigan in this seasons games. This penalty comes with just under five minutes to go in the period. Northern makes a fairly bad decision as they get called for boarding Van Ryn just seconds into this NMU power play. Now both teams are skating even strength at four apiece. Michigan will get a very short power play chance at the end of their penalty. Oh, Oh look out. A second penalty against NMU as they send Kosick to the ice. Michigan gets their first power play chance of the night skating 4 on 3. This would be a great time to extend this lead and really tighten the screws on NMU. We will skate for about 25 seconds with the one-man advantage, but then we will have about 40 seconds of two-man advantage, we need to get a goal right here. We’re in the two-man advantage now and Michigan is working the puck around the NMU goal looking for the opening. Now we down to a one-man advantage still with no goal. So far the power play hasn’t meant anything as far as scores for either team as Northern kills off their penalties and we are now inside one minute to go in this period. That brings the second period to a close with Michigan holding the 5 to 1 lead. Northern still holds an edge in shots on goal at 21 to 20.

Michigan needs 20 more minutes of focused hockey and they can reclaim the CCHA tournament title. Let’s hope they come out smokin’ and bury the Wildcats under a barrage of scores. Northern started with a quick rush at the UM net, but the UM defense turned them away. A bit later Berenzweig gets the puck ahead to a breaking Kosick, but it’s just a little to far and it bounces off his stick before he can get control of it. This just over 2 minutes gone in the period a penalty is called behind the play, one against UM and one against NMU. We will now skate at 4 on 4 for the next two minutes. Well after going almost two complete periods without penalties the end of the second and the early going of the third has become a penalty fest. This time UM looses two (Van Ryn and Hayes) and NMU looses one so NMU now has a power play opportunity. Not the kind of thing to do when your looking to put an opponent away. All penalties have expired and both teams are once again skating at full strength. The UM defense in that last set of NMU power plays was just to good for NMU to crack. More penalties with just over 6 minutes gone in the period, this time there is one player from Northern in the box putting Michigan on the power play. Michigan got off a good shot, the NMU goalie came up with the stop, but lost it someplace in his pads so play is stopped and their will be a face off in the Northern zone. Northern has killed of this Michigan power play without giving up any more scores. We close on the mid point of this period and Michigan gets called for a penalty giving Northern another power play chance. Michigan has killed off this penalty is now only about 8 ½ minutes away from the CCHA tournament title and that NCAA tournament bid. With just under 6 minutes to go Koch made a big run and got off a big shot. The NMU goalie stops it, but that was the first real scoring chance by either team in quite a while. Of course shortly after this UM and NMU both get penalties and now we skate 4 on 4. There was a short-handed chance for the Wolverines that the NMU defense just gets stopped. We are now only a couple of minutes away from the championship and still holding the 4-goal lead. We are now under 1 minute to go and there is a face off in the Northern zone. Northern makes a late rush at Blackburn and he comes up with another fantastic save in goal, what a tournament he has had. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – WIN, WIN, WIN!! Michigan has just won the CCHA tournament with a score of 5 to 1. Northern did win the shots on goal contest by 31 to 26.

Well that was just a great game Michigan played, completely dominating Northern in this contest. If it weren’t for the fluke goal early in the game Blackburn would have gotten a shut out in this game after putting out a great effort last night. This completes this weekend’s effort and this step on our march to Anaheim to defend last years National Championship. This win also extends that astounding Michigan streak of being unbeaten in over 100 games when leading going into the third period. After tonight’s win that streak goes to 107 games, 103-0-4. This win puts them into the NCAA tournament and they probably go to the West Regional. The announcement of the pairings for the NCAA tournament will be announced tomorrow afternoon and should be interesting. Will the CCHA place three or four teams in the tournament (I think it should be 4, but it’ll probably be 3). Will Michigan go to the West or the East, they usually go to the West, but we’ll find out tomorrow. There’s just not much more to say about this game or this weekend except it was just an outstanding effort by Michigan to take the tournament and remove all doubt about their entry into the NCAA tournament.

Now some news on CCHA tournament team. Michigan places four players on the CCHA all tournament team. They are Mark Kosick, forward; Sean Ritchlin, forward; Mike Van Ryn, Defenseman; Josh Blackburn, goalie. A Michigan player also took the CCHA tournament MVP honors with that award going to Mark Kosick. I thought it had to go to Kosick or Blackburn, I thought Blackburn should have had it, but they with the player with all the points. Not trying to take anything away from Kosick, because he had a fantastic weekend also, but I thought Blackburn was just outstanding.

Well the NCAA tournament pairings will be handed out tomorrow and once those are known I’ll have a little something to say about that (early next week). We need to get four more wins to complete this year off, I know they have the team to accomplish that and right now they are playing very well. Lets Go Blue!! Until next week, C-ya!!