November 20, 1998

November 20, 1998, Ann Arbor, Yost Arena

Well this is my first crack at writing any kind of article, let alone an article dealing with the Michigan Wolverines so you all should know this. I’m not a professional writer, I’m a college sports fan. More specifically I’m a Michigan Wolverines fan. Have been all my life. So for these next several months I’ll give you my opinion of the Michigan hockey games. I don’t pretend to be a great hockey strategist so these opinions will be from the gut, so to speak – how things looked, felt like, or seemed to me. So on with my first review.

Friday night, November 20, 1998 UM took on their arch rival Michigan State at Yost arena. This was not just a game between rivals, but a game between two of the top teams in the CCHA and two of the top teams in the country. It was a game with big implications for being so early in the season. Going into Fridays game we knew this much. The Spartans had swept us last year, the Spartans were above us in the CCHA, and the Spartans were above us in the National polls. This was also a night that pitted two new goalies against each other. Two goalies named Blackburn, Joe from MSU (Sophmore), and Josh from UM (Freshman). Both of these goalies are taking over for goalies that set record after record at their respective schools (Chad Alban for MSU and Marty Turco for UM).

The crowd at Yost was its usual boisterous self. For those of you who attend football games and hear the constant complaints about the home football crowds being the quietest 110,000 fans in the country or attend basketball games where the same is often said about a full Chrysler arena, you have to come to a hockey game. I swear the 6,500 fans in Yost make more noise than the 110,000 fans in the big house. Yes, I know, Yost is an enclosed arena and the fans are right on top of the ice, but the atmosphere in Yost is one of the reasons we all love college athletics. There was an attendance record set at this game of just over 6,600 fans. Not the most that have ever attended a game in Yost, but the most that have attended a game since the reconstruction was finished last year.

From the face off it was evident that this was going to be a classic game involving MSU (at least as far as the last few years are concerned). They are a defensive team. They fore check, they harass, they do anything they can to slow the tempo of the game. They wait for their opening and then stick the puck in the net, limiting their opponents opportunities to score. While there were penalties in the first period, there were relatively few, but the power play and penalty kill teams would play a pivotal role in this period.

The first score of the night came on a MSU power play. The Wolverines had just about killed the penalty, when with less than 15 seconds in the power play Josh Blackburn got out of position, giving Mike York an open back side net, which of course Mr. York took full advantage of. MSU 1, UM 0. Josh either lost site of the puck or got tied up in traffic. It looked to me as though he got tied up with some other players in front of the net, but in either case we were down by a goal. However, this lead was not going to last long. A short time later, with MSU again on the power play, Dale Rominski took the puck from an MSU player, took off down the ice, and with a great burst of speed outskated the MSU defenders, juked Joe Blackburn and put the puck in the net for a UM short handed goal. Assists went to Bobby Hayes and Mike Van Ryn. MSU 1, UM 1. I n many respects this goal was similar to the one scored by MSU earlier in that the goalie got out of position and the puck was put into the net through an open back side. The big difference was that Josh was hung up in traffic, and Joe just plain got beat by Rominski, one on one. With just under four minutes left in the first period the intensity of this rivalry showed itself with a bit of a scuffle that saw no less than three players from each team go to the penalty box. The teams finished the period skating 5 on 5. The score at the end of the period was UM 1, MSU 1, with UM outshooting MSU 8 to 5.

The second period was long and basically uneventfull unless you like to see penalties called. Can you say “2 minutes for hitting after the whistle”. There were so many of these penalties called, on both sides, during this period that I’ll probably hear it in my dreams for the next month or so. It was a defensive struggle, with lots of penalties and no scores. Niether team could mount a scoring push, and niether teams power play was effective (especially UM’s). Josh Lanfled had at least two great scoring chances but just couldn’t get the puck to go into the net. After missing his last good scoring chance (and he should have buried the puck) his frustration was so great that as he was skating off the ice (for a TV time out) he broke his stick. One scary point in the period involved defenseman Mike Van Ryn. He came in after the puck very fast, ran out of ice, and crashed into the boards behind the north goal. He did not move. I don’t know if he knocked himself out or if he just got the wind knocked out of him, but it is always scary to see the player not move on the ice. He was apparently ok because he was back on the ice after a couple of line changes, but it sure didn’t look good for a minute. The period ended with UM leading MSU in shots 18 to 10.

I must take a minute here and say that though there had been very little scoring through two periods I thought everyone was working very hard. With Bobby Hayes, Dale Rominski, and Josh Langfeld looking especially impressive. They were aggressive all night and just kept working. Langfeld in particular seems to have really stepped his game up this year. In addition, I don’t know if it was just this game, sun spots, or some other unknown phenomenon, but I’ve never seen so many skaters fall in open ice as I did last night. These were skaters from both teams, skating down the ice, no one around them, and boom – there on the ice. And the puck what were those things made of last night. Talk about a night of really weird bounces. I think all the pucks used in last nights game were made out of the stuff they make super balls out of. These things were taking some really weird bounces all night long.

On to the third period. This was again a very defensive period (as the entire game had been), with few scoring opportunities for either team. They went back and forth waiting for their chance. There were some penalties called, but not as many as in the second. Finally, with under ten minutes left in the period the chance came and this time Mr. Langfeld did not miss the net. While on the power play Josh took a rebound in front of the net and went high to get the puck past the MSU goalie. Assists were given to Jeff Jillson and Mark Kosick and UM now had the lead 2 to 1. The sense of urgency for MSU at this point went up, but Josh was up to the task. He made some great saves in net. Needless to say the last eight minutes of this game were tense. With one minute left in the game MSU pulled their goalie and the scoring frenzy was on. Again Josh was up to the task turning away every attempt by MSU to get the puck in the net. It was an exciting finish with the entire crowd on their feet for the last minute screaming and hollering. It was great. The game ended UM 2, MSU 1, with UM outshooting the Spartans for the night 23 to 18.

Well this was the first of three big games for UM this weekend. They beat the Spartans to move into second place in the CCHA. This afternoon (Saturday), in about three minutes in fact, UM takes on the hated OSU buckeyes in football, and this evening Michigan hosts Notre Dame at Yost. While Notre Dame has been a whipping boy in recent history within the CCHA, this is not the case this year. This game Woverine faithfull is nothing short of playoff hockey. Notre Dame leads the CCHA by two points over UM. Notre Dame is ranked higher nationally than UM, and Notre Dame gave UM all they ask for last year in the playoffs and skated UM to a 2-2 tie in South Bend last weekend. If we win this game tonight we move into a tie for first in the CCHA and we have a game in hand against Notre Dame. I don’t know how it happened but you don’t usually see a weekend series have this much importance in the CCHA or nationally as this one does.

Well it’s time I stop rambling and go watch a football game and then go back to A2 for the hockey game this evening. Until next time GO BLUE and C-ya.