Friday, March 3, 2000

Friday, March 3, 2000, BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, Ohio

Let’s look at the calendar. Hockey started back in mid October and we are now in March. That’s roughly 4 ½ months of hockey and going into this final weekend of the regular season the only thing settled in the CCHA is that Alaska-Fairbanks and Ohio State are NOT going into the post season tournament. Their seasons will end after this weekend. The only other thing I guess you could say is fixed is that the top ten teams in the conference will remain the top ten teams and will make up the post season CCHA tournament. Other than that none of those top ten positions are fixed going into this weekend. As a Michigan fan you could sit back and say that we sure would have liked to see Michigan clinch the conference title at the start of February in an absolute run away, but in this conference that simply isn’t going to happen. As a fan of college hockey I don’t think you could ask for anything more than we’ve seen in the CCHA this year. A neck and neck race right down to the last weekend with three teams still with a shot at the conference title and most other spots up for grabs.

Before we start into the conference we will start with a look at the national scene, as usual. First, the PairWise rankings, Michigan now sits in position number seven. There is only one team in the PairWise with more wins than Michigan and that’s number one Wisconsin. I was really surprised that the win last weekend over Michigan State didn’t improve Michigan’s standing in the PairWise more than one position. Even if we sweep Bowling Green this weekend we are not going to move in the PairWise. Bowling Greens record is under .500 and any wins against teams below .500 do not count as wins in the PairWise rankings. Thus the scourge of the cluster configuration in the CCHA this season. While the teams in Michigan’s cluster are good, there in the middle of the pack of the CCHA where teams beat each other up on a regular basis. Each of the three teams in Michigan’s cluster are under .500 so none of the wins over them count in the PairWise. Since they are in our cluster we had to play them four times and could only play teams with better records twice over the course of the season. This inability to play more than twice against the conference’s better teams has hurt us as far as the PairWise rankings are concerned. Actually, I don’t think the cluster configuration has done any CCHA team any favors as far as the PairWise is concerned. Wisconsin still sits in the number one position, with Michigan at number seven (as I said before). The next best CCHA team is Michigan State who still sits at number twelve. After that it’s Ferris at number sixteen, Northern Michigan at seventeen, and Lake Superior moving steadily up at number twenty three. Only one poll actually changed this weekend, the other two didn’t publish new polls this week. In the two unchanged polls Michigan stayed at number four. In the poll that did change Michigan’s position in that poll did not change. We still sit at number five, with the only change in the top five of this poll was Boston University trading places with North Dakota (BU is now 2^nd while North Dakota drops to number 3). Maine (up 1), St. Lawrence (up 2), Boston College (down 2), Michigan State (down 1), and Colgate (unchanged) fill positions 6 through 10. Northern Michigan is the only other CCHA team receiving points in this poll.

OK, now we are ready to move back into the CCHA. While no positions are settled yet there are some things we can say about the race. Michigan is certainly in the driver’s seat for first place as everyone says they need a single point to win the conference outright. I don’t quite see how that is so let me explain. If Michigan were to get a single point this weekend (meaning a tie and a loss) and Northern were to sweep their weekend both teams would end with 40 points and records of 18-6-4. Now the tiebreakers in the CCHA are as follows.

Most league wins – tied, so still tied for first.
Head-to-head competition – tied, so still tied for first.
Goal differential – tied, so still tied for first.
Record vs. other CCHA teams – the only possible thing I can think of here is that we swept Michigan State. The rest of the head to head things look pretty even.
Coin toss, we don’t even want to go here.

The bottom line here is that I can’t believe Michigan is thinking about getting a point. I expect Michigan to come out tonight with all guns blazing, going for the win at Bowling Green, and clinching the title. Now there are plenty of what if games that could put either Northern or MSU in first place. MSU obviously needs the most help to get into first place, but they do have a mathematical chance of winning the conference. Neither Northern nor MSU have easy weekends ahead of them. Northern plays a home and home against Lake State who currently sits in fourth place. Lake State is fully capable of beating Northern and in fact if they got some help from MSU’s opponent they could move up a position in the CCHA standings. MSU takes on Notre Dame who is fighting to hold onto the last home ice position and really cannot afford to drop a game. Notre Dame has been playing pretty good hockey lately, they want that last home ice position, and they are capable of beating MSU. Both of these series should be hotly contested and quite exciting. Ferris is sitting at number six, tied with Nebraska and is drooling over the prospect of taking the fifth home ice position away from Notre Dame. They have a home and home series against the Bronco’s and in that I would certainly give the edge to Ferris. Nebraska has played all of their CCHA games and can do nothing but wait for everyone to get done to see where they eventually end up in the standings. Bowling Green, Miami, and Western are the last three teams in the top ten of the CCHA and all of them are playing to end up anywhere but tenth. The tenth place team has to travel to Yost for a first round showdown with likely number one Michigan and I wouldn’t think any of those teams want to do that. Right now it looks like Western will make the journey to Yost as they play Ferris this weekend and I don’t see anything better than a split for the Bronco’s. Miami only has one game left, since they already lost once this week to OSU so you can bet they will be trying to get the win tonight over OSU to give themselves a couple more points and a little cushion from that tenth place finish. Bowling Green is the one of the three probably in the worst position. If Miami can get a win over OSU and Western could pull off the unlikely sweep over Ferris, Bowling Green could find themselves dropping from seventh to tenth. This would assume a Michigan sweep over Bowling Green. As you can see there are still a lot of scenario’s to play out before we know how the league positions are really going to end up. One last thing about two of Michigan’s players. Jeff Jillson and Mike Comrie are both up for All-American honors; keep you posted on that one as time goes by. It should be a heck of a weekend with all kinds of fire works so gather around your TV’s, radios, or in your favorite ice rink and let’s get ready for one last weekend rumble, CCHA style.

You know I’m all for Women’s Basketball, but they are blowing Northwestern out, I want hockey. In case you haven’t figured it out I was going to listen to tonight’s hockey game on WTKA’s internet broadcast, but they are broadcasting the Women’s Big 10 tournament game and the hockey coverage won’t start until this game is over. I expect we will miss about half of the first period, unless this game end’s like the last Men’s game against Iowa, then we’ll catch the last half of the third period. Finally, we get to the hockey game with 3:00 minutes gone in the game and no score (must have started late since 15 minutes have ticked off the clock from the stated starting time). We get here just in time for Michigan to pick up the first penalty of the game putting Bowling Green on the power play. BG comes close to picking up a quick goal in the first seconds of the power play. Now Matzka steals the puck and breaks into the BG end where he is one on one. The puck gets poke checked away, but Michigan putting the heat on BG even though they are short handed. Michigan has killed off the power play and is now back at full strength. It would seem that Matzka has been put back with Kosick and Langfeld, all on the same line once again. Bowling Green is playing a real physical game in the early going. They are going to make things as tough on Michigan as they can. Cammalleri almost comes up with a goal as he breaks free in front of the BG goal. Delay penalty coming to Bowling Green and Michigan will get their first shot at the power play. We move under the mid-point in this period as BG kills off the penalty and both teams are again at full strength. Michigan seems to have the icing play down solid tonight as they once again ice the puck bringing the face off back into the Michigan zone. Another penalty called against Bowling Green putting Michigan back on the power play, this was called right at the same time icing was called. This does move the face off outside the Michigan zone. Michigan working the puck around the BG zone. They get a shot off and Langfeld just misses on a bouncing rebound. Michigan retains control of the puck as they keep working the BG zone. The penalty is killed and both teams are again at full strength. There is some pushing and shoving going on right now and some penalties are being called, this could turn into a rough game if this continues. A pair of matching penalties are called and we will now skate four on four. There we go a goal from an unlikely source as Vancik takes a pass from Matzka and Michigan takes the lead by a score of 1 to nothing. Matzka broke up the ice and Vancik recognized the two on one possibility. Jay cranked up the speed and Matzka made the great pass to give Jay the scoring opportunity, which he did not waste. Hilbert picks up a checking from behind penalty putting BG back on the power play. Right off the face off that followed the penalty Swistak stole the puck and just missed picking up a quick short-handed goal. That would have been a huge lift for the team and would have caused quite a bit of discouragement to the BG team had it gone in. We move under two minutes to go in the period as about half the BG power play is over. Michigan continued to pester the Falcons when Koch got the puck, fed it over to Matzka, and Matzka picks up the short-handed goal to take a 2 to nothing lead late in the first period. Now it was Ortmeyer’s chance to steal the puck and get off a shot. The BG netminder just covers up the rebound and if he hadn’t Matzka was right there to punch the rebound into the BG goal. We move under one minute to go in this period and Michigan kills off the BG power play. The period comes to an end with Michigan holding the 2 to nothing lead. Some pushing and shoving again after the whistle that ended the period. We’ll get the penalties in a minute. Michigan holds the edge in shots on goal with a 9 to 4 count.

There were two penalties called at the end of the first period, one against each team. They were coincidental as both teams skate with five men apiece. Blackburn comes up with a save that keeps BG off the board, he might not have even seen the puck, but he hit it. Now Michigan picks up a penalty that puts BG on the power play with only a couple of minutes gone off the clock. There was a big rush by BG, but Blackburn comes up with a big save that snuffs the BG scoring chance. Michigan kills off the penalty, but BG takes advantage of the transition from penalty kill to offense and makes a rush at the UM net. Michigan breaks it up and we are back to full strength hockey. Michigan was looking to clear the puck out of their zone when BG stole it and got off a couple of big close in shots. Blackburn came up with a couple of huge saves and finally swats the puck out of play to relieve the pressure on the UM net. Michigan not protecting the puck very well right now, they need to do a better job of keeping track of the puck to stop these point blank chances by BG. Jillson picks up a penalty which gives Bowling Green their second power play of this period. Bowling Green putting some real pressure on the Michigan net, Michigan finally clears it out to relieve the pressure. Michigan kills off the penalty and both teams return to full strength. Just as we get back to full strength BG makes a big rush on the UM net, they get off a big shot, and Blackburn comes up with another great save. Bowling Green picks up an interference penalty out at center ice and Michigan will go back on the power play, their first power play of this period. Michigan now working around the BG zone looking for that opening to the BG net. BG kills off the Michigan power play without suffering any more damage as we move under the mid-point of this second period. Michigan goes back on the power play shortly after their last one ended looking to stretch their lead. Comrie just misses a shot as it sails over the cross bar. BG has killed off the Michigan power play, but Michigan still has possession in the BG zone and is putting some pressure on the BG goal. Finally the BG netminder covers up and a face off is coming in the BG zone. With less than seven minutes to go in the period Michigan gets called for a penalty putting BG back on the power play. Matzka almost comes up with another short-handed goal as he steals the puck and gets off a shot that just goes wide. So far Matzka has had a great game. Michigan has killed off the BG power play and we are once again at full strength. As Michigan was transitioning from penalty kill to full strength BG gets in and finally gets one past Blackburn to pull within one goal seconds after their last power play expired. BG smelling a little blood right now, they get off another shot that hits the side of the net, just missing the tying goal. Michigan on a three on one break away, Langfeld waiting for the shot, then he fans on it. The net comes off the posts and they will set up for a face off. We move under two minutes to go in this period as Michigan looks to hold onto their slim lead. Blackburn comes up with a huge save after a Michigan give away at their blue line. This save holds the Michigan lead as the second period comes to an end with Michigan leading by a score of 2 to 1. Michigan still holds a slight edge in shots on goal with a 15 to 13 count.

It comes down to the third period as Michigan goes into this period holding a one goal lead just twenty minutes away from the outright CCHA championship. Michigan starting this period with a little more fire than they had in the second period. Michigan rushing the BG net once again as the BG goes off the posts to bring the UM rush to an end. Both teams have been moving up and down the ice the last few minutes with neither team coming up with any great scoring chances. Now a face off in the BG zone, as UM gets the puck off this face off, and UM gets the goal. The goal is waved off with the referee saying a high stick tipped it. This is the third goal in as many games waved off because of a high stick tip. Michigan has been putting some real pressure on the BG goal the last couple of minutes, but so far they have been unable to get that cushioning goal. Now it’s BG putting some pressure on the UM goal, but the defense comes up strong to end the threat, which is finished off by Blackburn. Quick shot off the face off that Blackburn turns aside. Cammalleri does another dance around the BG defense, broke loose, and the only thing BG could do was drag him down to the ice. Michigan goes back to the power play as we approach the mid-point of this period. We haven’t gotten a power play goal in four attempts in this game and this would be a great place to pick up one of those power play goals. Big shot by Langfeld there that the BG goalie just stops to keep his team within one. There it is as Michigan continued to work the puck around the BG goal and they finally pick up the power play goal with just under 10 minutes to go in this game. UM gets a three on one break and Michigan just misses the goal and their opportunity to take a three-goal lead. The last goal went to Jillson with assists going to Mink and Shouneyia. BG comes up with a hard rush, Blackburn comes up with the save, but Michigan also comes up with the penalty giving BG a power play chance as time starts to become a factor for the Falcons. BG almost came up that power play goal, but Blackburn comes up with another big save to settle things down. Another shot tipped away by Blackburn and UM rolls the puck down the ice. Michigan comes back to full strength and as Cammalleri comes out of the box they try to get the puck up ice to him. They just miss on the chance and now BG playing with a bit more abandon trying to get something happen while Michigan looks to hold the line as they can now feel the championship in reach. Michigan just missing on a scoring chance and BG commits another penalty giving Michigan another power play chance as we approach the five-minute mark of this period. We move under four minutes to go in the game as Comrie picks up a penalty at center ice ending the UM power play and BG will move to the power play in about 30 seconds. The Falcons are now back at full strength and go to the power play. BG tries the same thing as they get the puck up to the player coming out of the box, he gets a shot off, but Blackburn holds on and we’ll take the face off. Waiting for the delay penalty as Michigan takes another penalty to give BG a 22 second two man advantage. Bowling Green will just about end the period on the power play. You can expect them to pull the goalie pretty soon, to get the extra attacker (probably after their current two man advantage ends). We move under two minutes to go in the game as Bowling Green looks to get one of the two goals they need to get back in this game. The first UM penalty is over and Michigan now has four players on the ice. BG gets off a shot that Blackburn sees right at the last minute and comes up with another big save. The face off will come to the right of Blackburn. BG takes a time out to figure out how they want to play the last 1:41 of this game. BG did pull their goalie to give themselves the extra attacker. Comrie gets loose and has a shot at the open net, but it goes wide (how often does that happen). BG brings their goalie back in as the face off is near the BG blue line. We move under one minute to play as BG again pulls their goalie to get the extra attacker. That ends the game as Michigan wins by a score of 3 to 1 and lays claim to the CCHA regular season title and the automatic NCAA bid that goes with it.

Well that’s exactly the way we wanted this weekend to go, start with a win and get the championship locked up in the first night of play. They win the game and lock up that championship by winning the game, though they would have won it outright given the fact that Northern lost to Lake State this evening. This is the Wolverines fifth CCHA championship in the last decade and their tenth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Now the seniors can come back to Yost tomorrow night with all the pressure off and have some fun on their night – senior night. I’m sure they want to end their careers at Michigan on a winning note. I certainly would like to see them pick up the win tomorrow night, but I think UM needs to take the chance to give as much playing time to players that might not usually get it. With the championship locked up you can just about bet that both Magnuson, Merrick, and Arman will all be playing tomorrow night. It wouldn’t hurt to work the top players for a period or period and a half and then give them some extra rest (avoid injuries and DQ’s). As I mentioned earlier Lake State beat Northern. In addition, Western beat Ferris and Notre Dame played MSU to an overtime tie. The Western win ties things up between themselves, Bowling Green, and Miami for the last three spots in the playoff picture. We reset and do it all again tomorrow night, but this time we do it at Yost. Until then, C-ya!