Saturday, March 11, 2000

Saturday, March 11, 2000, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Last night Michigan started the game out strong, got a bit complacent in the middle, and finished the game strong. Tonight we can hope that they put together a more consistent performance and not allow the Bronco’s to get anything going in the contest. Before we talk a little bit about Saturday night’s contest lets take a look at the CCHA all conference teams.

Again Michigan places a member on the second team and this time it was Junior Dave Huntzicker. It is great to see Dave get the recognition; he has really had an outstanding year. Other Michigan players receiving votes were Andy Hilbert, Mark Kosick, and Josh Blackburn. Congratulations to all the Wolverines who got votes and especially to those who made the first and second all conference teams. A few notes about some of the players on the above teams. This is Northern Michigan’s first appearance in the all conference teams since rejoining the CCHA. Jayme Platt is the first Lake State goaltender to make first team since the 1991-1992 season. Jeff Jillson is the first Michigan defenseman to receive first team honors since the 1992-1993 season.

Michigan will look to wrap up this first round series tonight against the Bronco’s from Western Michigan. As Michigan learned last night Western has come to Ann Arbor to win and they will not simply lay down and play dead. This bunch of Bronco’s certainly seems to be a different team than the one we saw a few short weeks ago, as they continued to bring the heat to Michigan even when they got down by three. After moving out in front by three goals the entire Michigan team seemed to go to sleep and Western picked up a couple of quick, easy goals. Suddenly Michigan found itself in a dogfight with the other team holding all the momentum. This did finally seem to jolt the Wolverines out of their lethargy and they did finish the game strong, but they need to stay focused for the entire game. This is the last time they will have the possibility of a second chance since the first round is a best 2 of 3 series. After this it’s win or go home; Michigan needs to regain the mindset of winning each game they come to. They are now three wins away from the CCHA tournament championship with the first step being tonight in Yost. I would expect to see the Wolverines come out and take it to the Bronco’s for a full sixty minutes tonight rather than the thirty or thirty-five minutes of intense hockey they played last night. I don’t think there is any question that Michigan is the stronger team, but they must not take the Bronco’s lightly; if they do they could find themselves on the loosing end of the score. Look for Michigan to come out reinvigorated tonight and finish this series off in two. For anyone going to the game, let’s get there before the opening face off. The crowd was it’s typical late self - getting to Yost late last night (things didn’t really fill up until sometime during the first period). Everyone needs to be there before the opening face off, wearing his or her Maize, and doing our part to bring this series to a Michigan completion. Until tonight, C-ya.

Before the game even started Michigan took a blow when it was announced that Junior defenseman Dave Huntzicker was scratched from the game. With Huntzicker out with an injury to his shoulder Bob Gassoff stepped right in a played a good game to keep Michigan’s defense strong. It looked like things were really going to go poorly for the Wolverines when the Bronco’s got control of the puck off the opening face off and brought all kinds of early pressure to the Michigan goal. After getting a couple of quick shots Blackburn briefly trapped the puck and the referee immediately blew the whistle. This was a good thing because the never say die Bronco’s kept digging for the puck, got it away from Blackburn, and pushed it into the Michigan net. The apparent Bronco goal was immediately and decisively waived off by the referee keeping the score tied at zero. The first penalty of the game came with 15:25 left in the period and like Friday night it went to the Wolverines. Putting Western on the power play at this point of the game seemed particularly troublesome since both the crowd and the team had been very flat to start the game. Western had definitely carried the play and Michigan just seemed a bit off. This was all going to change during this Western power play. With about 40 seconds left in the Western power play Michigan stole the puck near their blue line. The puck was then passed up ice to a breaking Scott Matzka who broke in clean on the Western netminder. As he crashed the net Matzka made a great move with the puck to deke the Bronco goalie and Michigan was suddenly up by one on a Matzka short-handed goal. The lone assist on this goal went to Geoff Koch. This short-handed goal seemed to ignite both the team and the crowd as the energy level in Yost cranked up for the rest of the night. Michigan killed off the remainder of the Western power play and soon found themselves on the power play. After working the puck around the Bronco zone and putting a flurry of shots on the Western goal at the end of the power play Western seemed to dodge the bullet as they killed off the Wolverine power play. However, seconds after the power play ended a pack of Wolverines positioned in front of the Bronco net dug the puck out and punched it past the Bronco netminder. Shouneyia picked up the goal with assists going to Kosick and Roemensky as Michigan took a 2 to nothing lead. With just over nine minutes left in the period Michigan was again called for a penalty giving Western another power play chance. This time the Bronco power play was short lived as Western picked up a penalty of their own with 1:18 left in their power play. This ended the Bronco power leaving both teams with four players apiece. Michigan had a short power play at the end of this, but was unable to notch another goal. With 3:39 left in the period Western got a clean break on the Michigan net. When the crashing Bronco got off a clean, point blank shot on Blackburn, Blackburn came up with a great save to keep Western off the board. With 1:15 left in the period Michigan picked up yet another penalty and Western closed out the period on the power play. The period ended with Michigan holding the 2 to nothing lead and the edge in shots on goal with a 10 to 5 count.

By virtue of the late first period penalty by Michigan Western started the second period with 45 seconds of power play time. Michigan killed off this penalty, but almost as soon as they killed this carryover penalty off they were whistled for another penalty. This was a delay call and by time it was actually called 1:13 had run off the clock. Delay or not Western was back on the power play and this time Western was not letting the gift get away. About 30 seconds into the power play Western notched their first goal of the night to get shrink the Michigan lead to one. It looked like Michigan might get the goal back when with 16:39 left in the period Comrie was loose in front of the Western net with the puck. Mike made a move or two to get the goalie out of position and had a clean shot at the net, but just held the puck a smidgen to long and the Bronco goalie was able to cover up and block the shot. Mike immediately knew he had waited to long and a golden opportunity had slipped away. Right after this missed chance Western was whistled for a penalty and Michigan was back on the power play and really in need of a goal to get some breathing room back. The location of the penalty call put the face off in the Bronco zone and off the face off Hilbert got the puck, moved into position, and got off a booming shot. The Bronco netminder was able to block this shot, but the rebound came out to his left. Comrie just happened to be to the Bronco goalies left, where he picked up the loose puck, and buried it in the net (no holding the puck this time). Michigan picks up the power play goal to push their lead back out to two goals. Assists on the Comrie goal were given to Hilbert and Ortmeyer. Another 45 seconds into the period and Michigan was again called for a penalty; with less than five minutes gone in the period Western was getting their third power play chance of the period (first one was a first period carry over). With almost a minute of this power play gone Western picked up a penalty of their own killing off their power play chance. The teams skated four on four for about 1:07 and then Michigan had a short power play. At about the midpoint of the period Michigan’s Mark Mink was called for an interference penalty that just boggled my mind. First, Mink took stick to the face in front of the referee and no penalty was called. Then Western had to many men on the ice and no penalty was called. Then they make an interference call against Mink – I didn’t like it then and I still don’t like it. With 49 seconds left in the Western power play Michigan picked up a second penalty and the Bronco’s suddenly had a 5 on 3 advantage for 49 a good stretch of time. As Michigan was getting close to killing off the original penalty Hilbert’s stick broke so we had only three players on the ice, one without a stick. Michigan killed off the first penalty and Hilbert continued to work hard on the penalty kill by pushing Bronco’s out of the slot and trying to dive on the puck to stop play. He was basically all over the place trying to make the best of a bad situation. Finally, with about 39 seconds left in the Western power play we got the stoppage in play as Michigan again got the puck and fed it up ice to a streaking Matzka. Matzka again rushed the Bronco net and again beat the Bronco netminder to pick up his second short-handed goal of the night. The lone assist on this goal went to Jillson and Michigan’s lead was now three. With about seven minutes left in the period a pair of matching penalties were called and the teams skated four on four. About ten seconds later Western was called for a penalty as they hooked Langfeld to the ice to stop a golden scoring opportunity for the big guy. Michigan now had a power play as the teams skated four on three. About a minute later Cammalleri was called for tripping on what was perhaps the worst call I’ve seen all year. Mike made a great play to catch up with a Bronco and stretching ahead he poke checked the puck away to break up any possible play. As he completely the great defensive play he lost his balance and ended up on the ice, which left his stick on the ice, held out in front of him. The Bronco player did run into Cammalleri’s stick and fell, but if that’s the new standard for tripping in the CCHA next year is going to be real long. Needless to say the teams were now skating three on three for 49 seconds, then they had a nine-second stretch where they were four on four, and Western finally ended up with a power play for 1:01. Michigan killed this power play chance off and with 3:17 left in the period Western was called for a penalty putting Michigan back on the power play. Michigan was unable to score on this power play and looked like they were going to end the period with a three-goal lead. However, with a late period burst of energy the Bronco’s picked up a goal with just 30 seconds left in the period. That ended the scoring in an extremely ugly second period and Michigan went to the locker room maintaining their two-goal lead with a score of 4 to 2. The shots on goal were now tied up at 18 apiece as Western out shot Michigan in this period 13 to 8.

After that penalty filled second period everyone was kind of numb and we just wanted to see some hockey and we got back to that a little bit in the third period. Both teams were skating well up and down the ice in this period when the Bronco’s picked up the first penalty of the period with 16:20 left in the period. A Michigan goal on this power play would have a huge impact on the game and this was not lost on the Wolverines. However, this was not to be as Michigan was unable to get a goal. Michigan didn’t pick up a penalty in this period until about seven minutes were gone. This time though the penalty was a good one as it broke up a great scoring chance by the Bronco’s; if you have to take penalties these are the kind you want to take. Michigan killed of the penalty and the teams continued to skate up and down the ice. Play continued to move up and down the ice and as we moved under seven minutes to go in the game you could tell that Western was getting a bit desperate. They were giving it all they had to try to get back into the game. With 5:52 left in the period Western picked up a tripping penalty to put Michigan back on the power play in the late going. About a minute into the power play Langfeld or Hilbert (I’m still not sure) got off a big shot, but the Western goalie was able to block it. The rebound went behind the net where Comrie was positioned. Mike picked up the puck and moved across to the goaltenders left side behind the net. Comrie came out from behind the net and with a beautiful wrap around shot punched the puck into the Western net to stretch Michigan’s lead out to three goals. This was a great play and the lone assist was given to Hilbert. I’ll try to convey this as best I can; after each Western goal a couple of spirited Bronco fans had run up and down the aisles in the North end zone seating waving a Bronco flag trying to pump up their team and their followers. I believe it was after this fifth Michigan goal that a Michigan fan suddenly appeared in the north end zone aisles with Michigan flag in hand. As he went through the seats, stopping to say hello to the Bronco fans, the crowd at Yost went into a frenzy. It was all downhill from there for the Bronco’s as chants of "seasons over", "warm up the bus", and "go home Bronco’s" (to the rhythm of "let’s go Bronco’s") were bouncing off the rafters. To make matters worse for Western about 30 seconds after this Michigan goal they were again whistled for a penalty and Michigan was back on the power play. It took Michigan all of about 20 seconds to drive the last nail in the coffin as Mark Kosick got on the board with a power play goal of his own. Assists on this goal went to Matzka and Koch and the celebration kicked into high gear. Western spent most of the last 2 ½ minutes of the game on the power play as Michigan picked up a couple of penalties, but the Wolverines killed them all off. The game came to an end with Michigan sweeping the series by a score of 6 to 2. Western again out shot the Wolverines in this period 9 to 6 to give them the edge for the game with a 27 to 24 count.

It seemed to start off a little bit slow, but once Matzka picked up that early short-handed goal everything seemed to get on track and Michigan is on their way to the CCHA semi-finals for the eleventh straight season. It was a good night for Michigan in every phase of the game; they played a solid game with strong defense, explosive offense, and even some decent production on the power play. Matzka’s two short-handed goals tied a CCHA tournament record for short-handed goals in a game and series. Strangely enough Troy Ferguson of Michigan State had set that record on Friday night. I can’t say enough about Matzka; he had another great weekend and has really turned into a scoring threat whenever he is on the ice. Michigan played a better game tonight than they did on Friday and this should help them build confidence as they enter the final weekend of the CCHA tournament. From this point forward it’s win or go home as there is no longer any room for error. No more best of series, no two game total goal matches, it is simply win or go home. If Michigan plays their brand of hockey they will be fine whoever they face in Detroit next week, but they have to come prepared to play.

I can’t tell you who Michigan is going to face on Friday, I can’t even tell you who the two teams will be who play on Tuesday night as the strange goings on continue in CCHA first round action. Let’s start with the easy stuff first shall we. Both Michigan and Michigan State ended their first round action by completing sweeps of their opponents on Saturday night. The number one and two seeds advance to Joe Louis and now wait to see whom they will face. In what might be the biggest surprise of the first round Bowling Green swept the Lakers on the Lakers home ice. This ends any hope the Lakers may have had for getting into the NCAA tournament, basically ending their season. This was quite a shock to me as the Lakers had been pretty hot lately and I certainly didn’t see Bowling Green beating them on home ice, let alone sweeping them. Bowling Green will play in the Tuesday night game, as they are the lowest seed remaining in the tournament. Northern Michigan got back on track by spanking the Mavericks from Nebraska 5 to 1 and Ferris revived their playoff hopes by jumping all over the Irish 6 to 1. Both of these series will have a third game starting at 7:00 PM Sunday evening. We won’t know who plays Bowling Green on Tuesday until we see how these two games end up. If both the home ice teams loose Bowling Green will go to Nebraska and Michigan State will play Ferris in the first round with Michigan getting the winner of the Nebraska-Bowling Green game. If Northern and Ferris win then Bowling Green will travel to Big Rapids where the Falcons and Bulldogs will pound on each other Tuesday night. Michigan State would play Northern and Michigan would get the winner of the Ferris-Bowling Green game. If Northern and Notre Dame win then Bowling Green would travel to Notre Dame Tuesday. Michigan State would get Northern in the semi-finals and Michigan would get the winner of the Bowling Green-Notre Dame contest. As you can see we won’t know how any of this works out until tonight’s games are played and Michigan won’t know their opponent until late Tuesday night. They will know the two possibilities tonight, but they won’t know their specific opponent until Tuesday night. Well for Wolverine fans the first round is over and all we can do now is wait and see who our semi-final opponent will be. Then we strap on the skates and settle it on the ice at Joe Louis next weekend. Until then, C-ya!