Saturday, February 26, 2000

Saturday, February 26, 2000, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Tonight is the second in this weekends back to back contests between the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans. I enjoyed the win until I woke up this morning and I hope that is how the Michigan team treated last nights win. It was a great win, an emotional win, but the Wolverines have to forget it and refocus on the task at hand – winning tonight. While this game has no bearing in the CCHA standings you can bet the Wolverines would like to get the win. They haven’t beaten the Spartans at Joe Louis in five tries so it would give the Maize and Blue a good mental boost. This game does have some implications for the Wolverines beside simple bragging rights. We need to improve our PairWise ranking as we look for that top seed and the first round bye that comes with it in the NCAA tournament. As strange as it sounds this could be a must win situation for the Spartans if they want to get into the NCAA tournament. Their PairWise ranking has them in bubble country although two teams are ahead of them that may or may not get NCAA bids (Niagara and Quinnipiac both from newer conferences that have to work extra hard to get tournament bids). Right now it looks like the CCHA will only place two teams in the NCAA tournament, even though I think they should get three. You would have a hard time convincing me that Michigan, Michigan State and Northern Michigan don’t all deserve a shot at the tournament. With all this in mind you can bet MSU will come out of the locker room looking for an early, quick start (as much of a quick start as a clutch and grab team can get anyway). MSU will start Miller in goal tonight as the Wolverines stick with Blackburn. The one area of the game that Michigan needs to improve on is the special teams play. The penalty kill units gave up a short-handed goal and a power play goal, while Michigan was shut out on the power play for the second straight game. If Michigan can get all the pieces together for one game they could be really dangerous, let’s see if they can do it tonight. All right it’s time for the game so let’s get to it.

The Wolverines break out on a stolen puck and get a quick shot on goal, but as the play ends Comrie commits one of those stupid penalties that have killed Michigan all year giving Michigan State an early power play opportunity. Michigan is able to kill off the penalty without suffering any damage, though State did get a couple of shots while on the power play. Things had been going fairly predictable, Michigan trying to break through the MSU trap and MSU trying to keep things moving slow. All of a sudden, from out of the blue (no pun intended), Roemensky lets a shot go that deflects off a player down in front and puts Michigan on top early in this game. Strike that; they give the goal to Swistak who apparently tipped it down low, with assists going to Roemensky and Shouneyia. That goal seems to have given Michigan a bit of a boost as they have been bringing some pressure to the MSU goal. UM got a pass up ahead to a breaking Hilbert who got off a shot and a rebound shot, but Miller stopped them both. Now a stop on Comrie, another stop on Hilbert, Michigan really brings the heat. We have moved under the ten-minute mark in this game as Michigan continues to fly up and down the ice. Michigan State is without the services of Mike Weaver tonight, one of their top defensemen, and it seems to be hurting them quite a bit. Michigan is having much more success breaking through center ice and getting pressure on the MSU goal. There was a shot by Hilbert that bounced off he goal post, just missing another scoring opportunity. Michigan again gets off a couple of shots to keep the pressure on. Now MSU comes back the other way, but Blackburn comes up with a great save to keep the Spartans off the board. We have been waiting for a delay penalty to be called against the Wolverines and Michigan finally touches the puck, stopping play as Peach heads to the penalty box. Michigan State will get their second power play of this period and the game. Michigan State has been getting a couple of shots on this power play and so far Blackburn has turned away all comers. Another great series of saves by Blackburn to keep the Spartans scoreless as Michigan kills off the power play. So far Blackburn is turning in another outstanding performance. Wow, Blackburn is standing on his head as he stops a big shot by Hall. State has been applying some pressure of their own, but now Michigan gets a break away. Michigan State is able to break up the rush in center ice, but it did relieve the pressure on the Michigan goal. This period is almost over and Michigan continues to hold their one goal lead. The first period comes to an end with Michigan holding a 1 to nothing lead. Michigan State holds the slight edge in shots on goal with a 10 to 8 count. Michigan State was getting a lot of pressure and several shots in the last quarter of the period.

The second period gets under way with teams skating at full strength. Right off the start MSU is doing a good job of keeping the play in the UM zone. Michigan got a goal, but it was immediately waved off, because of another called high stick. The replay seems to show that Hilbert, the one who supposedly hit it with the high stick, did not hit the puck; however, the replay was not conclusive. The number one line comes through again off a face off. Michigan wins the face off, Ortmeyer makes a beautiful pass down low, and Hilbert makes no mistakes (and no high stick), putting the puck in the MSU net. This moves Michigan out to a two-goal lead fairly early in this second period. Jillson comes in all alone on the goal; he waits around trying to find the opening, finally gets a shot off, but Miller comes up with the stop. Right off this blocked shot MSU breaks down the ice, they get off a shot, and the puck gets into the Michigan net and Michigan’s lead is once again down to one goal. This has all happened in less than a minute of time, now let’s see if Michigan will respond and get this goal back. Blackburn comes up with yet another great save to maintain Michigan’s lead. Michigan now putting some pressure of their own on the MSU goal and the Spartans ice it to relieve that pressure. The face off will come in the MSU zone, let’s see if we can get a set and goal off this face off. Both teams have been working the puck up and down the ice when Michigan State draws their first penalty of the night, giving Michigan their first power play chance of the night. Michigan trying to get something going but so far the MSU penalty kill has prevented the Michigan power play units from getting anything going. Now MSU is getting a break, they finally lost the chance, but it momentarily brought back memories of last nights short handed goal. MSU kills off the penalty as we move under the 10-minute mark in this period. Michigan notches another penalty to give Michigan State their third power play chance of the night. So far tonight the MSU power play has been closer to scoring than the Michigan power play. The power play is half over and Michigan State has been working hard, keeping the puck alive, and getting a couple of real good shots. Blackburn just made two great saves to preserve Michigan’s lead, Blackburn holds the puck, and the face off will come to Blackburn’s right. Another great chance for MSU and another great save by Blackburn, and another save by Blackburn. More penalties being given out, this time there is one apiece, so now the teams skate four on four. The last penalties were coincidental so we skate five on five once the original penalty ended. Michigan State draws their second penalty of the period by cross checking Comrie giving Michigan another power play chance. Michigan really needs to get something going on the power play here as time begins to run down in this period (only about 3 ½ minutes left in this period). A couple of UM shots there, but Miller stopped them both. Well after the initial burst of offensive pressure Michigan was unable to get anything else going on that power play as MSU kills off the penalty. We move under one minute to play in this period with both teams trying to work their way toward the other teams net. With just over 30 seconds left in the period MSU gets called for the penalty putting Michigan back on the power play. This is exactly the situation that MSU hurt Michigan late in the second last night as they picked up a short handed goal with 6 seconds left in the second period. Let’s hope that tonight Michigan at least protects their goal if they can’t get a score at the end of this period. The second period comes to an end with Michigan holding a one-goal lead with a score of 2-1. The Spartans again out shot the Wolverines and their edge in shots on goal is now 20 to 17.

Michigan will start the third period with about 1-½ minutes of power play time. Michigan needs to come out flying and try to get that cushion goal while on this power play; again it would simply be nice to get a power play goal at this time. Finally, after a huge power play drought the Wolverines come out with fire in their legs and get the quick power play goal to move back to a two-goal lead. Cammalleri picks up the goal and the lone assist goes to Comrie. This will take the Spartans out of their normal mode of play as they face a two-goal deficit in the final period. Comrie, Hilbert, and Jillson make a rush at the MSU net, Jillson gets off a shot, but it misses and the puck goes behind the Spartan net. There is a penalty call, I’m not sure who it’s against, waiting for the call and the call goes against Jillson and Michigan puts the Spartans back on the power play. There was a great save by Blackburn and he holds the puck to remove any chance of a rebound goal. The Spartans score off the face off and once again they are within one goal as the Michigan penalties continue to put them in bad situations. We just moved under the 15-minute mark in this period as the teams have started another period by trading goals. Mink gets loose and he was crashing the MSU net, he got pulled down from behind and Michigan will again go on the power play. Let’s see if they can get two in a row. Michigan made a bad pass and the Spartans break out, but Michigan puts a stop to that before any damage done. I thought Michigan was on the power play, but so far it’s MSU putting all the pressure on the Michigan net as Blackburn has to come up with yet another great save. MSU has killed off the penalty and they are really juiced up right now, Michigan needs to hold steady here and not let the Spartans get any more momentum. Matzka just missed a golden opportunity to get another goal and we go back to up and down hockey. Michigan gets called for another penalty and Michigan State goes back on the power play looking to tie this game up. These penalties are just killing the Wolverines (as usual). Half the power play is over, but most of this power play has been in the Michigan zone. Michigan finally clears the puck out of their zone with about 30 seconds left in the MSU power play. Comrie gets loose and gets off a shot, but it is blocked. Then Comrie gets leveled behind the net, but there is no call made against the Spartans. The penalty is killed off and the action is really starting to heat up as the Spartan’s sense of desperation grows. We are down to about nine minutes to go in this period and the game. Both teams are really wheeling up and down the ice right now and the clock continues to tick minutes away as we near the seven-minute mark. That’s exactly what we didn’t need as the Spartans tie this game up with about five minutes left in regulation. Michigan needs to refocus and get an answering score. We close in on the two-minute mark in this period and both teams are looking for the winner. The game clock is down to 1:04 and it’s still all tied up with a face off at center ice. Miller gets control of the puck and we will have a face off in the Spartan zone with 41 seconds to go in regulation. Michigan gets a shot off the face off, but it sails high. Again Miller ends a Michigan rush by gloving the puck and we get another face off in the Spartan zone as Michigan looks for a late winner. Michigan again pushed the puck to the net and again Miller grabs onto it and we have another face off in the Spartan zone. Regulation time comes to an end with the score all tied up at 3 apiece.

We have a two-minute rest and then a five-minute sudden victory overtime period. Michigan needs to look to jump out hard and fast and get the quick winner, let’s complete this weekend with a win over the Spartans. The overtime is under way and Michigan is really buzzing around the MSU net and MSU finally ices the puck to relieve the pressure. Kosick and Mink almost got the goal, but the puck settles right on the goal line and there is no goal. Now it’s the Spartans chance for a goal, but Blackburn comes up with a big save. A pair of matching penalties are called and the teams will skate four on four. There are now three minutes left in the overtime period with 1:20 left in the penalties. MSU gets called for icing and the face off will come back into the MSU zone. With 1:39 left in the overtime we are back to five on five. We move under one minute in this overtime period and now Michigan is looking to break through center ice, but the puck comes back into the Michigan zone. Down to thirty seconds as the puck moves back into the MSU zone. With .2 seconds left the Spartans get called for icing, this gives UM a slim chance, but they probably can’t get the draw and a shot in that amount of time. UM does pull their goalie to get the extra man, but the overtime period comes to an end with the game tied at three apiece. The game ends with MSU holding a slight edge in shots on goal with a 28 to 27 count. While I wanted to see UM get a win in this game the tie certainly doesn’t hurt us to much, again last nights game was the crucial game in this weekend’s activity.

There are of course things for Michigan to work on. There special teams were again less than satisfactory tonight as they give up a couple of power play goals and could only get one of their own. In addition, Michigan had a two-goal lead in the third period, but allowed State to tie things up. The third period, which used to belong to Michigan, has suddenly become an adventure, not the time of year you want to see things like that happening. However, all things considered I think this was a great weekend for Michigan. We got the big conference win on Friday night and the tie tonight, while not what we wanted to see won’t hurt them in the PairWise. In fact this weekend’s games should in fact improve Michigan’s PairWise ranking by several places at least – I’ll have an update on that next week. Now it all comes down to next weekend as we still don’t have this thing wrapped up. Northern has indeed won their game against Miami and this draws them even with the Wolverines and Spartans in games played. That win also moved Northern into sole possession of second place and dropped the Spartans back into third. I believe the Wildcats will be three points behind the Wolverines going into next weekend (although a quick look at the CCHA page would indicate they would only be two points back). I will of course have an update on the exact position of each team next week. Bowling Green beat the Buckeyes and we go to Bowling Green for our next game – that’s not going to be an easy game at all and it’s a game we really need to win. Tonight’s loss eliminates the Buckeye’s from playoff contention. Well until next week when things will finally be settled one way or the other, C-ya!