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Friday, December 11, 1998
Friday, December 11, 1998, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Before I get into tonight’s game I must correct an oversight. Some three weeks ago, November 24, 1998 to be exact, I should have pointed out that our very own, Josh Blackburn, was named the national defensive player of the week, for his exceptional performance against then #5 MSU and then #4 Notre Dame on the weekend of November 20 and 21, 1998. This was not just for the CCHA, but was for all of Division I hockey, no small feat. Way to go Josh!! I promise I’ll keep a closer eye on these things in the future.
Ok, now that I’ve righted a past wrong, let’s get on to this evenings contest between the Michigan Wolverines and the Northern Wildcats. The last time these two teams met was here on the ice at Yost Arena when the Wildcats came to our house and laid a spanking on us, the likes of which you do NOT see very often on our home ice. By the time it was all said and done Northern had beat us, whipped us, and completely thumped us to take a 6 to 1 decision back into da U.P. eh! Well let met tell ya, I don’t think we’re going to see that tonight. This is our last home game of 1998, this is the last game before the GLI tournament, and I think it’s pay back time.
The first period seemed to start out at a pretty fast clip with both teams skating, but both teams playing some pretty good defense as well. It seemed to me that for most of this period Northern was getting the better shots and actually had a couple of good scoring opportunities, however, Josh Blackburn was once again standing tall in goal and turned these shots away. About four minutes into the period the first penalty of the night was called against the Wildcats putting UM on the power play. Just seconds into this power play Crozier put the puck in the net to give the Wolverines an early one to nothing lead. Assists on this goal were given to Hayes and Berenzweig. It was good to see the early goal, but even better to see it come on the power play (ours hasn’t been real productive of late). The pace of the game stayed about the same with both teams going back and forth, but neither team getting any goals, but again it continued to look like NMU were getting the better looks and it was Blackburn keeping them off the scoreboard. About eight minutes into the period UM got called for their first penalty putting NMU on the power play. If there is one thing that this team does well right now, it’s play defense – and that includes the penalty kill. About 2 minutes after killing off this Northern power play the Wolverines again got on the scoreboard when Rominski took a pass from Kosick and slammed the puck home, Michigan 2, Northern 0. Assists on this goal went to the aforementioned Kosick and Peach. With this goal we finally got ahead of Northern in the shots on goal department and we did seem to be getting a bit more control over the flow of the game. Less than a minute after this goal Michigan was penalized, but the UM penalty kill unit again killed the Northern power play. With eighteen minutes gone in the period NMU snuck the puck past Blackburn to cut the Wolverine lead to one. The Northern player (Theuer) got a good look at the goal and slammed the puck past Blackburn on his right side, burying it in what was for him the far corner of the net. The only other action in this period were a set of penalties one set at 18:35 and the second set at 19:05. The end result of this is that both teams finished the period skating four on four. At the end of the first period Michigan led the game 2 to 1 and had outshot the Wildcats 8 to 7.
The second period started with both teams skating four on four for about a minute and a half, however, just seconds into the period, off the opening face off, Michigan got a break away Langfeld buried the puck to give Michigan a 3 to 1 lead. Assists on this goal were given to Hayes and Berenzweig. After, what ended up being a very long first period, this period seemed to move at a bit faster clip. There was still a largely defensive battle going on, but Michigan started to increase the checking pressure and was disrupting what little offensive movement Northern could put together. The first penalty of the period came with 8 and a half minutes gone in the period, it was against, NMU and Michigan was again on the power play. Although we got a couple of opportunities, there was no real threat to score on this power play and Northern killed it off. The period progressed with a whole lot of defense, including a much more physical presence by the Wolverines. There was very little offense throughout the majority of this period. As time was beginning to run down in the period Northern got perhaps their best chance to score of the night. Northern got a shot off through a bunch of players. After making it through most it appeared to hit someone to slow it down and then it hit the post, but instead of bouncing out or away from the net it just dropped to the ice, sitting all alone right in front of the goal line. Blackburn appeared to loose site of it for a moment, probably expecting to find it out on the ice in front of him. Blackburn finally saw where the puck had ended up and cleared it out. If a Northern player had found it first, it would have been a sure goal. If they would have scored there it would have again cut the lead to one, but they missed the opportunity and Michigan retained their two-point lead. Then with just over a minute left in the period Van Ryn, from a point about half way between the blue line and the goal, sent a medium speed shot in that slipped past the NMU goalie. The period ended with Michigan leading four to one and holding a fifteen to ten edge in shots on goal. The majority of the shots on goal in this period, for both teams, came late in the period. Like I said there was a whole lot of defense going on and very little offense. There was again a pair of late penalties in this period with both teams ending it skating four on four.
The third period, like the second, started out with the teams skating four on four. However, there was one noticeable change – Northern had changed goalies. While I’m sure they changed goalies to try to jump-start the team, it was all for nothing. Just over a minute into the period Kosick got a pass from Comrie and walked the puck in, making a couple of nifty moves, and putting the puck past the new goalie. Comrie and Berenzweig both got assists on this goal. This game Michigan a five to one lead and things were really starting to look good. This period was again a little faster paced than the second (which was faster than the first), but it was mostly a defensive battle. There were a couple of offsetting penalties called in the first half of this period, but it was really just a hard hitting stretch of hockey. With about 8:30 left in the game Langfeld got tangled up with a NMU player and Langfeld got called for a penalty putting Northern on the power play for the last time of the evening. First of all, I don’t know why any penalty was called at this point, but I especially don’t understand how Langfeld ended up being the only player penalized in this situation. While it was annoying Michigan again killed off the penalty. With about six minute’s left in the game and with the game well in hand, Michigan put O’Malley in at goal, to get him some experience. He made some real nice saves in the last six minutes, not bad after setting the entire game and then coming into late and cold. With just over two minutes left in the game the Wolverines put the finishing touch on their night of pay back hockey when Comrie got the puck past the NMU netminder. Assists went to Rominski and Jillson and the goal gave Michigan a very familiar sounding six to one lead. That is how the game ended – Michigan 6, NMU 1. Even though NMU outshot the Wolverines in the third period, Michigan ended the game with a 21 to 18 edge in the shots on goal department.
Well tonight we saw a six to one final score, but it was in favor of the Michigan Wolverines, not the visiting team. I say it again PAY BACK IS SWEET. As you can tell by the final shots on goal counts it was not a big offensive night, even though we ended up with six goals. We got one goal on the power play (out of three). Outside of that Northern gave us a couple of openings each period and we were able to take advantage of those openings. This was a real good way to finish the first half of the CCHA season and end the year of 1998. The next contest for the Wolverines is on December 26 and 27 at the GLI tournament. I’ll see if I can’t put together a little pre GLI look, but until then C-ya!
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