Saturday, January 15, 2000

Saturday, January 15, 2000, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Well things ended up the way we wanted them to last night, Michigan got the "W"in, but they really need to pick up their level of play tonight. Michigan State beat Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan simply blasted Notre Dame so we still have a three-way tie for first place in the CCHA. Northern does not play tonight so with a win we can move ahead of them; although they will still have a game in hand against the Wolverines. Michigan State has already played two games this weekend against UNO, but the schedule says they play their third straight game of the weekend against those same Mavericks. I don’t know if they are really playing three games this weekend or if the schedule is wrong. If Michigan wins and the schedule is wrong, meaning Michigan State does not play, Michigan would move into first place all by themselves. If the schedule is right and Michigan State does play tonight UM and MSU would remain in a first place tie if both win, or UM could move into first place alone if they win and MSU looses, you get the picture. I find it hard to believe that the CCHA has anyone playing three straight games, but stranger things have happened.

In last nights game I thought the first ten minutes belonged to Michigan and the last ten minutes belonged to Michigan. Everything else in between belonged to Miami. They carried the play to the Wolverines, they passed better, they handled the puck better, they just couldn’t get past Blackburn. Now they know how we felt after loosing in the GLI finals. Miami is a good team that has to look at last nights game and be thinking they can play with these guys. They will undoubtedly come out looking for a win of their own in tonight’s game. Michigan also needs to get the win tonight. With the number of regular season games rapidly decreasing you have to at least win all of your home games. As tight as this conference race is they really need to win out, it’s going to be a long, tough stretch run. After playing perhaps their best game of the season last week against Michigan State, Michigan’s defense played perhaps their worst game of the season last night. They allowed 39 shots to get through to Blackburn that is way too many. Blackburn was up to the task, making a bunch of truly spectacular saves, but you can’t do that to him every night without it coming back to bite you sooner or later. Michigan’s power play was just horrendous last night; they need to stop playing with the puck and start pushing it toward the net. They cycle it around the net quite well, but nobody is taking a shot. Basically there is a lot of room for improvement over last nights game. From one point of view you don’t like to hear things like that at this point in the season. On the other hand when you’re saying that coming off a three-goal win something has to be going right. Last night it was Blackburn, hopefully tonight the entire team will pick it up and Michigan can complete the weekend sweep.

Since they were leading after two periods last night Michigan once again put their long win streak on the line when leading after two. With the win Michigan is now 116-0-4 when they lead after two periods of play – that’s 120 games without a loss when leading after two periods, simply amazing. Mike Roemensky did make his first appearance as a Wolverine last night. He played good sound hockey and looks like he will be a welcome addition to the Michigan defense. Roemensky comes to Michigan from Compuware where he did play with fellow Wolverines Mark Mink, John Shouneyia, and J.J. Swistak. Already knowing some of the players on Michigan’s team has helped him mesh with the team, welcome to Ann Arbor Mike! Let’s look for a weekend sweep over these Redhawk’s tonight.

This game started out as expected with Miami and Michigan both flying all over the ice. Miami came out breathing fire as they picked up the first 3 shots on goal early in the first period, but the Wolverines took a little wind out of their sails when Craig Murray notched his first career goal as a Wolverine. Murray picked up this goal with less than three minutes gone in the first period. The lone assist on this goal went to J.J. Swistak, his first career assist. The remainder of the period was a wide open skate race with neither team able to mount any real scoring threats. Each team had two power play chances in the first, and neither team was able to do anything with these chances. Getting on the board first in this contest was a big factor in this contest. Miami was looking like they might get the upper hand in the momentum department, but Michigan took it all away with the early goal. The period ended with Michigan leading 1 to nothing. Michigan also held a slight edge in shots on goal with a 6 to 4 count.

The second first part of the second period went much the same as the majority of the first period had gone. Both teams flying up and down the ice, but neither team really mounting any scoring threat. Miami managed to tie the game about midway through the period with a power play goal. From where I was sitting this was a mighty strange penalty. Miami’s Ortmeyer (Jed’s older brother Jake) had J.J. Swistak down on the ice and kept pushing him down trying to merge J.J. into the ice. The referee was standing across the ice looking right at this attempt at human to ice merging and did nothing. Only when the other Michigan players decided that they had to come to the aid of their teammate did a penalty get called. Naturally that penalty went against Michigan, putting Miami on the power play, and leading to the Redhawk’s goal. It just seemed a rather strange turn of events to me, but hey, maybe that’s just me. The goal came with less than 20 seconds remaining in the power play. Miami got in close and fired a point blank shot past Blackburn. It looked like the period would end in a 1-1 tie, when Mark Mink got a quick goal with under 1-minute to play in the period. Ortmeyer took a shot (that’s Jed) that was going wide, but Mink was able to deflect the puck. The deflected puck sailed past the Miami netminder and just like that Michigan was back in the lead. This was a little unexpected as both teams were breaking out as if they expected the puck to push back up the ice toward the Michigan zone. The period ended with Michigan leading by a score of 2-1. Michigan continued to hold a slight edge in shots on goal with a 12 to 6 count.

For the second night in a row Michigan had their long unbeaten streak on the line. Going into tonight’s game Michigan has not lost in 120 games when leading after two periods (116-0-4). The first half of the third period was much the same as the previous two periods. A lot of skating up and down the ice with neither team really getting any good looks at the opponents net. All of that changed in a two-minute stretch of time with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Once again it was a member of the fourth line that got the Wolverines going. Krikor Arman took a pass from Mike Comrie when the two of them broke out of our zone against only one Miami defender. Krikor received the pass and made the most of it as he buried the puck in the Miami goal. Assists went to both Comrie and Hilbert. This was a really big goal as it gave Michigan some much-needed breathing room. Things were looking even rosier when Craig Murray notched his second goal of the night and career less than one minute later. Michigan got one last goal about 1-½ minutes later when Comrie got loose, with Michigan on the power play, and beat the Miami netminder to give Michigan a four goal lead. This was a power play goal (yes, I did say power play goal) with an assist given to Jillson. This also ended the scoring in this game as the Wolverines complete the weekend and season sweep of the Redhawks with a 5-1 win. Michigan also ended the game with a decided edge in shots on goal with a 22 to 10 count.

Wow, this was kind of a nail biter for most of the game with Michigan holding a slight edge for most of the game before blowing it wide open in a two minute span of time midway through the third period. Michigan played a much better game last night than they did on Friday. Their passing and puck handling was much crisper, they looked to be skating with much more energy, and it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) their defense was superb. After allowing 39 shots to get through to Blackburn on Friday, they allowed only ten shots for the entire game on Saturday. It should have been nine, but Miami did get a shot late in the game to get to 10. Still that’s the lowest shots on goal count allowed by Michigan this year. I don’t know if Michigan was a little rusty Friday after playing only one game the week before or if it was just a little emotional let down after that huge win against the Spartans. In any case they looked much, much better on Saturday night. When you look at the shots on goal counts for this game, either in total or period by period, you would think that this was a real slow, clutch and grab kind of game. In reality it was not, it was really a wide open, free wheeling kind of game. Both teams defenses just did a great job pushing potential shot takers wide of the net before they could get their shots off. The only real down point from last night’s game was the power play. It continues to stink; it stinks so bad right now that standing hip deep in untreated sewage would smell sweeter. Tonight’s power play goal was the first one since the loss to the Spartans in the GLI finals. They seem to be right on the verge of getting this going, but lets face it; Miami is not a penalty-killing monster in the CCHA. Michigan made them look real good this weekend. If the Wolverines can get the power play working, they could really start to light up the scoreboards.

Well next week is another in one game weekend as the Wolverines strange January schedule continues. Michigan travels to Ohio State next Friday night for a 7:05PM face off with the Buckeyes. This is the only game that Michigan will play next weekend and is a conference cluster game. Ohio State continues to struggle this year and a win over Michigan could help them save some face. This means that Michigan must go down there, forget about the Buckeyes record, and play them hard. I’m sure they will, but it is a key to next week’s game.

Special congratulations to Craig Murray on his first and second career goals in Saturday night’s game. Murray came to Michigan with a lot of promise, but has been bothered by injuries most of his career. He has come very close to scoring on several occasions this year and was just really good to see him get those goals and gets that scoring monkey off his back. If Murray can become a scoring threat in the stretch run, it only helps Michigan.

There is some strange stuff on the CCHA web site right now. According to the CCHA web site Michigan State played their third straight game of the weekend last night against the Mavericks from Nebraska and won by the identical score that they won by on Friday. By virtue of this third game it leaves Michigan and Michigan State tied for first place in the CCHA, with Michigan having a game in hand against the Spartans. I think the CCHA web site is wrong. I don’t believe MSU played three straight games, nor do I think they have played one more game than Michigan. Basically I think Michigan sits all alone in first place in the CCHA with Michigan State and Northern Michigan tied for second, two point’s back. I’ll try to get this confirmed this week and recap things next weekend.

Around the country some interesting results are in. Rensselaer dropped a game, perhaps making room for Ferris to move up in the poll. Boston University beat Maine, with a second game being played today. Wisconsin swept North Dakota this weekend with a pair of overtime wins. There will probably be some movement at the top of the poll again this week, we’ll have to wait and see if works in the Wolverines favor.

In a stunning announcement Friday evening Vermont cancelled the remainder of their season. I don’t know how much anyone here knows about the problems at Vermont this year, but there were allegations made earlier in the season about some fairly bizarre hazing incidents at the beginning of the season. This had all appeared to be dying down after the University recently concluded an internal investigation, however, on Friday new information was received that apparently indicates that several players lied about what did or did not take place during these hazing incidents. The University had made it clear when they started their investigation that any indication of players not fully disclosing the truth would be dealt with quickly and harshly. Friday’s action certainly shows that Vermont University was not kidding. This sudden cancellation has left the ECAC in turmoil. There are questions about scheduling, what to do with games played, will the games be forfeited or simply cancelled, and of course there will be an impact on ECAC teams with regards to the NCAA tournament. The conference will attempt to get answers to all of these questions and many more on Monday during a conference call. This has been a fairly strange story since it first appeared last fall. The sudden cancellation of the remainder of the season only adds one more strange event to the whole mess. How does that saying go – real life is stranger than fiction, in this case it certainly seems to be true.

I think that’s it for this weekend. Until next weekend, C-ya!