Saturday, March 25, 2000

Saturday, March 25, 2000, Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York

After a full regular season that had many ups and downs and a post season conference tournament that certainly didn’t go very well Michigan finally gets their shot at the National Championship along with eleven other teams. Before we get into today’s tournament game let’s take a quick look at the final polls for this year. The first indication that things had gone wrong was the PairWise rankings. After the loss to Nebraska Michigan fell to twelfth in the PairWise. This drop, in and of itself, is probably the number one reason why Michigan was a five seed in this year’s tournament. In fact that loss, coupled with Michigan State’s winning the CCHA title game, moved Michigan State into eleventh in the PairWise. The first time all year that another CCHA team was ahead of Michigan in these rankings. The only other CCHA teams to make the PairWise rankings were Lake Superior at twenty, Ferris at twenty-one and Northern Michigan at twenty-three. While this drop wasn’t such a surprise, it’s mathematical after all, the drop in the polls was a surprise – and it hurt. The week before after sweeping Western we dropped one place in the polls (even though the team that jumped over us (Maine) hadn’t done anything spectacular in their tournament win). After the loss to Nebraska Michigan dropped another three places into ninth – an entire season of hard fought wins out the window because of one terrible night of hockey. The final top ten, in order is Wisconsin, North Dakota, Maine, Boston University, St. Lawrence, Boston College, New Hampshire, Michigan State, Michigan, and Colgate. Again for the first in many weeks, another CCHA team moved ahead of Michigan in the polls. All that movement really doesn’t mean anything since Michigan is in the tournament; however, it was very disappointing to see them receive so little respect for the season they. This season, when you consider all the things that happened to this team, was a great one. Enough of that, let’s get into the tournament and today’s game.

First, let’s get caught up on what happened in yesterday’s West Regional. New Hampshire, last years tournament runner up, was handed their ticket home and an end to their season by Niagara. Niagara, a team making it’s first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament sent one of the pre-season favorites packing. This could have very well been a Michigan-Nebraska frame of mind problem. It would have been easy for New Hampshire to overlook Niagara and look ahead to an expected match up with North Dakota. No matter what way you look at it New Hampshire was soundly beaten by a score of 4-1 and their season is over while this tournaments Cinderella meets North Dakota for the right to play in Providence. In the days other game Michigan State let a game get away that they probably should have won. This was a game completely out of character for the Spartans. First, they allowed Boston College to get 42 shots on goal. I don’t know when the last time was that a Spartan team allowed 42 shots on goal, but I bet it was a while ago. Then there was the score, a 6-5 overtime win. Michigan State isn’t known for getting into shootouts. They would rather play in a low scoring game, winning by a goal on defense. Finally, it was special teams that failed the Spartans, in particular their penalty kill. Their special teams are typically very good and that was certainly true of their penalty kill, but all – ALL – of Boston Colleges goals came on special teams. The Eagles picked up 5 power play goals and one short-handed goal; again I bet it’s been a long time since a team did that to the Spartans. Even with all of that Michigan State probably should have won this game and really have no one but themselves to blame. With under one minute to go in the game and a one goal game MSU got called for a bench minor – the dreaded to many men on the ice. This penalty was called at 19:03, at 19:10 BC scored a power play goal to tie the game and send it to overtime. At the 11:53 mark of the overtime period MSU was called for a five minute major when Sean Patchell checked Gionta into the boards. With just 6 seconds left in this five minute power play BC picked up the power play goal to win the game. With the first two games in the books, we’ve had two strange games. Let’s hope the strangeness stays in the West.

At the start of the year the Wolverines had high hopes and before the season really got underway they lost their number one goalie. Suddenly the all those hopes seemed to be at risk; enter Kevin O’Malley and L.J. Scarpace, Michigan’s two untested backup goalies. As the weeks and games went by both of these goalies stepped in and stepped up to keep Michigan’s hopes alive. Yes they lost some games, but as Michigan made the turn into the second half of the year and Josh Blackburn returned to the starting lineup Michigan found itself in the thick of the hunt for the CCHA regular season title. As we know that regular season title found its way to Ann Arbor and it seemed as though Michigan was going to roll right into the NCAA tournament. They had only lost one game in the second half of the season, winning big games at home and on the road, doing everything they needed to do to get into first place and retain their hold on first place. Then they clinched the title and the wheels seemed to come off.

After clinching the title on the road at Bowling Green they returned to Yost for the final regular season game also against Bowling Green. This being the last regular season game it was senior night and many of the fans in the stands, including myself, expected Michigan to win one for the seniors and put their final stamp on the conference championship. Surprise of surprises Michigan, a team that prides itself on playing hard every game seemed to be lost on the ice and Bowling Green walked away with the win. This win had no affect on the outcome of the regular season championship it certainly was a moral victory for the Falcons of Bowling Green. At the time this loss didn’t particularly worry me; it was really the first game all year that Michigan had played that meant nothing and it just looked like the team kind of took the night off. Using that wonderful thing called 20/20 hindsight that loss seems more important. While Michigan swept Western Michigan in the first round of CCHA tournament they struggled doing it. Then came the semi-final game against Nebraska-Omaha where once again the team’s bodies showed up, but their ability to play hockey stayed in Ann Arbor. Nebraska handed Michigan one of the most embarrassing losses in the schools history. It’s one thing to loose a game when you get the end and know you gave it your best shot; nobody can win everything all of the time. It’s another thing altogether to loose a game because you simply didn’t show up to play that game. Suddenly that mental let down in the last regular season game seemed to become a permanent state of mind for the Wolverines. We were no longer rolling into the NCAA tournament, but stumbling into the tournament. The Wolverines state of mind is the key to their ability to win or loose in this year’s tournament.

All the words coming out of Ann Arbor this week stated categorically that the loss to Nebraska and the loss of focus for this team were behind them. The intensity and focus in practice were both raised to new levels and the team was ready to play in this tournament. If Michigan plays in this tournament the way they played most of the second half (the two conference Michigan State games come to mind) they should be in every game they play and have as good a chance of playing on April 8 as any team in this tournament. If they play like they have since that second Bowling Green game their stay in this tournament is not going to be very long. Personally I believe we will see the real Michigan team show up in Albany this week. First, I just can’t imagine a Michigan team not being ready to play a NCAA tournament game. Second, it was a bit of a slap in the face for Michigan to be given a five seed. I believe that’s the first time a regular season conference champion has ever been seeded that low. When you take that along with the way they lost that game against Nebraska I have to believe that the Wolverines will be focused and primed to win their way to Providence. In a way that loss and this seed may have been the best thing to happen to Michigan. Suddenly they were a team not getting the respect they deserve and also finding themselves in the role of underdog. When does Michigan play their best hockey? When they go into games where they aren’t given any respect and especially when they are underdogs. If, after the last couple of weeks, the Michigan hockey team needed any further motivation to play at the level they are capable to playing all they have to do is look at yesterday’s NCAA tournament games. Overlooking an opponent perceived to be weaker and making stupid mistakes will cost you games – just ask the Wildcats and the Spartans. Their seasons are over, all they can do now is look ahead to next year and think about what might have been this year. When it’s all said and done Michigan simply has to play their brand of hockey. They need to remain focused, limit the penalties and silly mistakes, and just attack the opponents net. If Michigan plays Michigan hockey they will do just fine today and this weekend. In about six hours we’ll know which Michigan team is in Albany. My guess is the real Michigan team is in Albany, hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow Colgate and Maine will both know that as well.

In the first game of the East Regional Boston University defeated St. Cloud by a score of 5-3. The Wolverines play in the second game of this regional. They look to put the last two weeks behind them and carry the banner for themselves and the CCHA. It’s game time, let’s get to it.

With 2 ½ minutes gone in period Michigan just killing off early penalty and the score is still tied at zero. Colgate gets early power play opportunity, but is unable to get the early score. Blackburn comes up with a save after a strange angle shot by Colgate to keep the Red Raiders off the board. Michigan comes up with a big shot with the rebound coming all the back to the blue line. Michigan misses on a pass and they get called for icing bringing the face off to the right of Blackburn. This time Colgate does the icing and now we have a face off in the Colgate zone. Colgate gives the puck up and Michigan gets a break down on the Colgate goal, but the Red Raider netminder covers up and we still have no score. Langfeld drives into the Red Raider zone and the puck gets to Roemensky. Roemensky gets off a slap shot that slips under the crossbar to give the Wolverines the early lead with 6:42 gone in the first period. The assists on this goal go to Langfeld and Kosick. On a line change shortly after this goal Huntzicker was coming off the bench when he dropped to the ice grabbing his left leg. It is unknown at this time just what the problem is, but loosing Huntzicker would be a blow to the Wolverines. Hilbert just misses on a backhand shot that would have given UM a two-goal lead early. We do get the face off in the Colgate zone as Michigan looks to extend their lead. Colgate gets the puck and tries a long pass, but they ice it and the face off comes back into the Colgate zone. Michigan putting some pressure on the Colgate goal as we move under the ten-minute mark of the period. Colgate ices it to relieve the pressure and the face off comes back into the Colgate zone. Comrie brings the puck down into the Colgate zone and gets tied up once he gets into the Red Raider zone. Michigan doing a good job of keeping the puck in the Colgate zone as they look for a little cushion on the scoreboard. There is 7:36 left in the period and Michigan continues to lead by one. Colgate now getting a bit of pressure on the Michigan goal, but the puck gets hung up in Swistak’s equipment and the face off will come in the Michigan zone. Michigan almost got an easy one as the puck took a funny bounce off the glass and drifted toward the Colgate goal. Michigan dodges a bullet there as they allow the puck to come out in front of the goal twice. It appeared that Colgate might have gotten a goal. However, the puck went off the crossbar (confirmed by replay) and there was no goal, face off comes outside the UM blue line. Michigan will get their first power play chance of the game with about five minutes left in the period. Off the face off Hilbert gets off a huge shot that just misses. Another shot by Hilbert that goes over the crossbar and Colgate dodges another bullet. That time they didn’t miss the shot as Cammalleri gets a pass down to Comrie who bangs it past the Red Raider netminder to give Michigan a power play goal and a two goal lead in the game. Michigan makes another drive at the Colgate goal, but this time the Red Raider netminder comes up with the save. Michigan continues to harass the Colgate net. The Colgate goaltender falls down behind his goal and Michigan just misses getting an easy one. Then Colgate gets a breakaway and what looked to be a great play by Vancik gets called as a penalty with 57 seconds left in the period to put Colgate back on the power play. Even though I don’t like penalties this was a good one to take as it ended what would have been a very good scoring chance by Colgate. Michigan needs to get out of this period with their two goal lead in place, get the between period rest, and then kill this penalty off. Blackburn comes up with a big save and then Koch lifts the puck out of the period and this period is in the books with Michigan holding the 2 to nothing lead. Colgate out ended the period out shooting the Wolverines by a 9 to 8 count.

Michigan starts the second period having to kill off 1:03 of Colgate power play time. The word on Huntzicker comes in as the second period starts; he went down with a sprained knee and is out for at least this game. Michigan kills off the penalty and it looked like a break away by Michigan, but they lost the puck. Michigan has been unable to get a line change and they need one badly. The Colgate netminder just barely stops a Michigan shot as the Wolverines look to extend their lead in this second period. Ortmeyer got a fist in the face and it appears a penalty will be called. The penalty doesn’t go as expected as a pair of penalties get called, one against the Red Raiders and one against the Wolverines. Hilbert and Comrie were rushing the Colgate net when Comrie got hauled down – the penalty goes against the Red Raiders and Michigan will go to the power play for the second time in this game with just under 15 minutes left in the game. Mink comes up with a great play to handle the puck, get a shot off, and get Michigan’s second power play goal of the game. This goal comes with 6:39 gone in the period with assists going to Cammalleri and Shouneyia. Michigan now has a three to nothing lead and they are looking for more. Michigan gave the puck away right in front of Blackburn who comes up with a great save. Gassoff takes a man down to help out Blackburn and Michigan finds itself killing off their third penalty of the night. There was a quick Colgate shot that grazed the goalpost. Michigan gets called for another penalty giving Colgate a two-man advantage for 1:02; these are the kinds of things Michigan cannot do. They have Colgate down right now and don’t want to do anything to give them a sense of life in this game. Another penalty gets called, but this time it is called against Colgate. That evens things up a little bit as we now will skate down only one man. Matzka comes out to help kill the penalty and this would be a great place for a Matzka short-handed goal. Blackburn comes up with a fantastic save as Colgate looked to chip into the Wolverine lead. In four seconds we get Gassoff back to return to even strength. Wow, both teams are rushing up and down the ice right now as they trade rushes and shots. Matzka gets loose on a break away and gets a shot off that just misses. Then Langfeld gets off a shot that the Colgate netminder stops, and then Matzka gets off another one that clangs off the goalpost. If things get any hotter in that Pepsi Arena the ice will melt. Some sort of penalty is being called and it looks like Koch is going into the penalty box. This gives Colgate another power play chance in this period. Blackburn comes up with another save to keep Colgate off the board. It looked like Swistak had cleared the puck, but Colgate is able to keep it in the UM zone. It had to happen sooner or later, Michigan kept giving Colgate power play chances and they finally connected on one to get on the board and cut into Michigan’s lead. Colgate pulls down a Michigan player and with a little over five minutes left in this period Michigan will go back to the power play. The power play has been good today and this would be a great time to get that goal back. Hilbert lets fly with a wrist shot that bangs off the cross bar and out of play. Ortmeyer just misses getting the puck into an open net as someone stuck a stick in the way at the last second. There are now forty seconds left in this power play and Michigan gets called for to many men on the ice. Again, these are the kinds of mistakes that will just kill you – they can’t loose their focus now. At the end of this four on four stretch Colgate will have their sixth power play of the game for about 1:10. Colgate now on the power play looking for their second goal of the game. Exactly what Michigan doesn’t need as Peach gets called for tripping and now Colgate as a two-man advantage for 1:12. The face off is coming in the Michigan zone and Colgate is really getting some momentum with a lot of help from the Wolverines. It didn’t take the Red Raiders long as they get the power play goal to get to within one and they remain on the power play for 1:21 looking to tie this game. Stupid mistake after stupid mistake and Michigan has opened the door wide for an opponent that they should have knocked out. Two sets of penalties get called; however, the Colgate player picked up a double minor. When Peaches penalty expires Michigan will move to the power play needing to get some cushion back and take some wind out of the Red Raiders sails. Michigan now on the power play looking for that late goal. Michigan working the puck around the Colgate zone looking for an opening. The Red Raider netminder comes up with a great save on a Cammalleri shot that was on its way into the net. There are just under two seconds left in the period and that would have been a huge goal. Michigan pulls Blackburn to get an extra attacker with just 2 seconds left. They almost got it done, but the period ends with Michigan holding a 3 to 2 lead. Michigan now has a small edge in shots on goal with a 17 to 16 count.

Michigan comes into the third period with only a one-goal lead as they got pretty sloppy in the second half of the second period. They need to get their heads back into this game and finish this one up. They have enough power play time left to get a good shot at extending their lead, they need to take advantage and do it. We’re back under way with Michigan looking for that goal, but Colgate gets back to full strength with Michigan unable to score a goal. Michigan getting some pressure on the Colgate goal but so far have been unable to find twine. Colgate was able to clear it out, but Michigan got it back and is once again working the Colgate zone. Colgate just got off a shot that just went over the crossbar. After getting the puck Swistak was breaking out of the Colgate zone when he was pulled down. Colgate picks up the penalty and Michigan goes back on the power play looking for a little breathing room. So far Michigan has been unable to mount any kind of pressure on this power play. That time Langfeld almost jabbed the puck into the Red Raider goal, but it just got blocked. With just 22 seconds to go in the power play we have a face off in the Michigan zone. The Michigan power play ends as we move under the 15 minutes to go in this final period. Right off a face off Michigan got off a quick shot, but the Colgate netminder comes up with another great save to keep his team in this game. Both teams have been moving back and forth, up and down the ice in this second five-minute stretch of the game. We move under ten minutes to go in this period with Michigan still hanging onto their one goal lead. You can expect Colgate to start taking a few more chances as time begins to run down in this game. As we approach the eight-minute mark in this period a face off will come in the Colgate zone. From the face off Michigan got a shot that just missed going into the net. Koch and Hilbert were rushing the Colgate net, Koch had the puck and while being dragged down got a shot off. Michigan will go on the power play with about 7 ½ minutes to go with the face off in the Colgate zone. Michigan could really use a goal right here and they are using four forwards to try and make it happen. Comrie gets a shot off that hits the goal post – oh that would have been big. Colgate kills off the penalty and Michigan is still holding onto the one goal lead with about 5 ½ minutes left in the game. Colgate tried to hit the player coming out of the box; however, they missed him icing the puck bringing the face off back into the Colgate zone. We move under five minutes and Colgate begins to play with a bit more desperation. If the score stays as it is you can expect Colgate to pull their goalie somewhere in the 1 to 1 ½ minute mark. Blackburn comes up with a save and some pushing and shoving takes place. Now it appears there will be penalties called, but now it appears that they won’t call any penalties and we continue to skate five on five. We move under three minutes to go in regulation time and the action continues to move up and down the ice. We move under two minutes to go in the regulation and play moves back into the Colgate zone. Now Colgate breaks out and Blackburn comes up with a save. Michigan breaks down the ice and they are just offside with 1:30 to go in the game. Look for the Colgate goalie to come out at any time. Michigan takes their time out to decide how they want to handle the end of this game. The face off comes outside the Colgate zone so that keeps the Colgate netminder in the game. Michigan gets a two on one break away, but the last pass up the ice is a little far, no goal gets scored. Colgate comes back down the ice and ties the game with just 48 seconds to go in the game with a soft shot toward the net. They had just pulled their goalie, but the sixth attacker was not yet into the game. Now Michigan needs to get that goal back or get ready to go into overtime. Regulation ends with the game tied up at three goals apiece. Michigan maintains their one shot edge in shots on goal with a 26 to 25 count. We move into a sudden victory overtime game.

Michigan should have won that game in regulation, but they decided to follow the MSU game plan and give the game away. Now we have to see if they can come away with the win or if they will follow the Spartans into the off season. There is a full fifteen-minute break between the final period and the overtime period so we have a bit of time to catch our breath and regroup. That was the first time in 115 attempts that an opponent was able to score on Michigan with their goalie pulled. Mink got off a shot that rebounded out in front of the goal. Ortmeyer was there to take a shot, but the Red Raider netminder came up with a big save. Gassoff tried to clear the puck out, but gave it away instead. The pass to the rushing Raider went behind him and that was close to ending Michigan’s season. Michigan would do well to finish this game off; the longer Colgate hangs around the more momentum swings to them. We are also short a defenseman so that will start to take a toll pretty soon as well. Michigan has dodged a big bullet there. Colgate got a shot off that Blackburn blocked, but didn’t cover. Then Colgate got off another shot that Blackburn stopped, then the whistle blew, but Colgate stuffed the puck in the net anyway. The light went on, but the referee immediately waved off the goal. Michigan needs to end this game, now! Michigan just missed as the Raider netminder dives across the crease to block the shot. Kosick got a pass up to Langfeld who got off a shot that the Raider netminder just got. That was so close to giving Michigan the win it hurts. It looked like Michigan was rushing into the Colgate zone when they gave it away at the red line. Colgate got a look at the Michigan net, but Peach ended up on top of the puck and the face off will come in the Michigan zone. Blackburn comes up with a great save to keep Michigan’s season alive, face off in the Michigan zone. Both teams moving the puck up and down the ice as we approach the mid point of this first overtime period. Michigan gets a goal with about just a little over seven minutes to go in the game as Comrie takes a shot from the slot. I don’t know if he got the goal or if it got deflected, we’ll sort that out in a minute. Michigan wins the game with a 4 to 3 score and we move on to face Maine for the right to go to Providence. The goal was given to Koch with the assist going to Comrie.

That was a lot harder than it should have been, but Michigan extends their season by one game as they come up with the hard fought win against Colgate. Hat’s off to Colgate. They are a school that does not give hockey scholarships and were led this year by a fairly large group of seniors. With their campus only about 100 miles away they brought a large crowd with them to this game, making it a somewhat hostile environment for the Wolverines. When it looked like Michigan was going to run away they hung in and fought back goal by goal to finally tie things up with under one minute to go. It took almost thirteen minutes of overtime before Michigan finally was able to score the winning goal. There was a waved off Colgate goal in the overtime period and several close calls by both teams. Comrie’s goal early in the game was the 100^th point of his Michigan career. He is the first Wolverine to reach 100 points in two years since Brendan Morrison did it his sophomore year. Well Michigan certainly came out playing much better hockey in this game than they have the last couple of weeks. They pretty much controlled the first period and a half, but then after moving to a 3 to nothing lead they got sloppy giving Colgate the opening they needed. Colgate got within one goal by the end of the second period setting the third period up for some good intense hockey. The period was scoreless until Colgate got the tying goal with under one-minute to play. To their credit the Wolverines did not fold up the tent after seeing their game long lead disappear and came out in the overtime playing to win. Finally, with just over seven minutes left in the overtime period Michigan got the game winner to set up their quarterfinal game against Maine. We do it all again tomorrow starting at 3:30 PM and the winner of that game goes to Providence. Until then, C-ya!