Saturday, March 26, 2000

Saturday, March 26, 2000, Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York

Michigan joined Boston University as the two first round winners in the NCAA East Regional after taking a hard fought contest against the Red Raiders from Colgate. That the game was so close was not a surprise as Colgate has always given Michigan everything they can handle. That sets up a date on Sunday with the defending National Champion Maine Blackbears.

The West Regional came to an end on Saturday as the first two quarterfinal games were played sending North Dakota and Boston College to the frozen four. North Dakota took on the Cinderella Niagara Purple Eagles who were making their schools first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. They kept this game very close, as it was 2-1 in favor of North Dakota going into the third period. North Dakota got an early third period goal to get a little cushion, but hats off to Niagara. They represented themselves and their conference extremely well in this tournament. More importantly they may have gone a long way toward gaining acceptance for the newer conferences, like the CHA and MAAC, in this tournament. North Dakota proved to be too much for the Purple Eagles in this game, but something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Niagara. In the nightcap the current favorite gave to the pre-season favorite. Way back in October when this season first began everyone’s choice for the team to win it all was Boston College. While the Eagles had a good season they ran into a few bumps, especially early in the season, dropping them in the polls and their standing in the prognosticators eyes. As the season went along Wisconsin edged closer to the top spot and for the last month and a half to two months the Badgers have had a strangle hold on the number one ranking in the country. Going into the tournament they were the number one seed in the West and a favorite to win the whole thing. They stumbled somewhat getting into the tournament as they lost to North Dakota in the WCHA tournament finals, but still got their number one seed and first game bye. Saturday, when it came time to win a game, the Badgers didn’t get the bounces (can a puck bounce?) they needed as they saw the Eagles end their season. Both teams put a point on the board in the first five minutes of the game and you had to wonder if this was going to be a shoot out. The scoring ended after those opening goals until Boston College notched their second with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first period. Neither team was able to score in the second period and going into the third Boston College held the 2-1 lead. In the third Boston College didn’t waste any time adding a little cushion when they notched their third goal of the game just 16 seconds into the third period. Wisconsin did what they could to catch up with the Eagles, but they couldn’t overcome the high flying Eagles. Boston Colleges final goal came with just 4 seconds left in the game into an empty net.

Let’s move back to the East Regional where our Wolverines prepare to face the Blackbears from Maine. Maine got the first round bye and was resting up while Michigan was doing battle for a little more than 3 ½ periods of hockey. There has been some talk of fatigue playing into this game and while I expect it to have some impact on the game I don’t see it as being a huge impact. These players are used to playing two games per weekend so this is nothing new. To top it off lets not forget they are young, young bodies heal and recover quicker than do older ones. Let’s not forget that Boston College played a tough overtime game against Michigan State the day before beating Wisconsin; it didn’t seem to adversely affect them. I simply don’t believe that it will play that big a factor, let’s hope I’m right on that one. While it was disappointing to see them get into the overtime period, they need to dig a little deeper and get constant focus for the entire sixty minutes of the game. Last night after playing pretty darn good through the first 30 minutes of the game Michigan lost a little focus and got a bit sloppy for the last 10 minutes of the second period. They gave Colgate far to many power play chances and finally paid the price – twice. If they would have played that 10 minutes like the previous 10 and the last 20 Colgate’s last minute goal wouldn’t have mattered. They can’t afford to have a let down like that against Maine. That win yesterday should have given the Wolverines an emotional lift that they should be able to ride into this game. A win in the Regional finals would certainly give them a boost into the frozen four. While none of the players on this year’s team were involved Michigan and Maine certainly have a history in recent NCAA tournament play. Back in 1993 Maine beat the Wolverines 4-3 in the semi-finals to end the Wolverines championship hopes for that year. Then two years later in 1995 Maine again defeated the Wolverines in the semi-finals by the same 4-3 score. However, the 1995 game was an overtime game and still holds the record as the longest NCAA tournament game in history at 100 minutes 28 seconds. This year’s team can get a little back for those Wolverine teams by beating Maine in this quarterfinal game. Let us not, however, overlook the Blackbears. They are the defending National Champions and recently won the Hockey East tournament in the final seconds of the game (controversial goal, but they got the goal). They are also perhaps the hottest team coming into this tournament; it’s been a while since they lost a game. Maine is a team that can be beat. Michigan is a team that can beat them. Michigan has to play 60 minutes of hockey today to get the win. They need to limit their penalties, take advantage of opportunities when they are presented them, and Blackburn has to be a rock between the pipes. Maine can be beat, Maine hasn’t lost in a while making them ripe for a loss, Michigan owes Maine a little pay back for past defeats making the Wolverines due for a win over Maine, and the team won a tough game yesterday that should give them an emotional boost. All in all I feel good about this game. I expect it to be close, but I expect the Wolverines to get their ticket to Providence.

On a final note before we move into game coverage. At the end of yesterday’s article I mentioned that Mike Comrie had scored is 100^th career point. I failed to draw special attention to one of the teams other Mike’s. The newest Wolverine, Mike Roemensky, scored his first career goal in yesterday’s game. Congratulations to Mike and Mike.

Well as we all know the start of the Michigan-Maine game was pushed way back by the marathon game played between Boston University and St. Lawrence. One thing that I know right now as we get started in the third period Michigan has no longer played in the longest game in NCAA hockey history. Boston University and St. Lawrence have. The longest NCAA hockey tournament game ever finally ends after 123 minutes and 53 seconds (I think I heard that right). St. Lawrence wins the game to gain their ticket to Providence and Boston University looses a heart breaker. Now that’s a game you know someone had to loose, but you didn’t want to see anyone loose. Now we can finally get on to the game that should just now be winding down, the Michigan Wolverines against the Maine Blackbears. The one thing that the marathon just completed should put to rest is the issue of tired legs. I know BU lost the game, but they had enough gas to play two entire games of hockey before loosing so again I don’t see a real big fatigue factor in this game for Michigan. Listening to the pre-game show and it is now confirmed that Huntzicker is gone for the year and Fraser will take his place in the line up. David will require surgery to put his knee back together. Its finally time for the game so let’s move to game coverage.

After several line changes and a minute or so of play this game looks like it’s going to be a fast moving, free wheeling contest as both teams fly up and down the ice. Michigan takes their first penalty of the night as Ortmeyer gets called for interference just 1:50 into the game. These are the kinds of things Michigan cannot afford to do in this game; they have to keep out of the box tonight. So far Michigan is successfully keeping the puck out of their zone. Michigan kills off the penalty and keeps Maine from getting any shots on goal during their power play. Just seconds after Michigan kills off the first penalty a pair of penalties are called and the teams will skate four on four. Maine has gotten a bit of pressure in this situation and Blackburn finally covers the puck to force a face off. There was a penalty called behind the play and it goes against Michigan giving Maine a 4 on 3 advantage for about 15 seconds, then 5 on 4 for the rest of the penalty. Three penalties in a little over five minutes of play, exactly what Michigan cannot do (I know I’m a broken record). Michigan finally clears the puck as Maine was again getting a little bit of pressure. Swistak steals the puck, makes a rush on the Maine goal, but he gets poke checked. Then he runs into the Maine goal (with a Maine player steering him into the goal) and he gets called for a penalty so now Michigan is down two men for 1:02. This is just ridiculous. Blackburn just makes a great save and Maine is again putting pressure on. Then Maine gets off another shot that Blackburn turns away with his stick, then another great save by Blackburn. Peach is back and Michigan is down only one man for the next 50 seconds or so. Michigan escapes all the penalties without giving up a goal, but how much energy did they expend doing it. Trainor misses as he found himself all alone in front of the goal. Finally Maine gets called for one of their takedowns and Michigan will get their first power play chance of the night. We move under the ten-minute mark in this first period as Michigan looks for a score on their first power play. The Michigan power play is over and they were unable to get a score, both teams back to full strength with about nine minutes left in the period. The teams had been burning up and down the ice when the puck got loose in front of Michigan’s net on a Blackbear rush. Blackburn comes up with another save to keep Maine off the board. This time the puck came loose in front of the Maine net and Hilbert got dragged down as he was trying to get a shot off. Cammalleri also got hauled down a couple of minutes earlier, but the officials just aren’t making calls against Maine. Mink gets off a big shot that the Blackbear goalie just stops. There is now just 4:15 left in this first period and the game remains scoreless. Peach just misses getting a shot into an open Maine net and then a Maine player gives him a shot and he is down on the ice. What a huge loss that would be if we would loose our second defenseman in two games. Sean is back up and moving around and the Maine player did get called for a penalty giving Michigan their second power play of the night. Comrie gets off a shot that gets blocked, the rebound comes out, and Hilbert was right there to take a swipe at it. Yates takes the puck right off Hilbert’s stick to end the Michigan threat. The Michigan power play ends and once again the Wolverines were unable to score, but that time they were getting some better pressure on the Blackbear goal. The first period comes to an end with the score all tied up at zero. A couple of seconds after the horn had blown a Maine player came up behind Comrie and hit him in the head. This particular player is known for baiting players, trying to get them to loose their heads, and commit bad penalties. It appears that some sort of penalty was being called, lets hope it’s against Maine and let’s also hope that Comrie turns the other cheek, so to speak, and doesn’t let this guy bait him into doing something dumb. Maine holds a pretty big edge in shots on goal with a 12 to 7 count. Penalties were called against both Maine and Michigan at the end of the period and the second period will start with both teams skating with just four players.

Michigan got a 3 on 2 rush and Ortmeyer just missed getting the goal that would have given Michigan the lead. The penalties called at the end of the first period end as Maine rushes the Michigan net and Blackburn comes up with another save. A quick shot off the ensuing face off and Blackburn comes up with another save. Comrie stole the puck right in front of the Maine net, but couldn’t get the puck in the net. Oh, I bet he wishes he had that one back. Ortmeyer gets off a shot that hits the goal post. Michigan has gotten some great shots so far in this period and they are just missing. On the rush out of the zone following the Ortmeyer shot Maine crashes in on Blackburn and Josh again comes up with a save. They are apparently going to a replay on the Ortmeyer shot to see if it did in fact go into the net. The replay confirms it as a no goal, play will continue with the score tied at zero. Langfeld gets off a shot that Yates just gets stopped. Michigan continues to come close. Maine gets a shot off that hits the goalpost and then goes wide. This shot apparently hit both goalposts so they will now review this shot to see if it is a goal. Confirmed as a no goal, play continues with the score tied at zero. Maine gives the puck away again and again Michigan misses on a shot. They need to connect on one of these pretty soon. Michigan was looking to get a shot off and Maine dropped either Comrie or Hilbert and Michigan will go to the power play for the first time this period. They have been coming awfully close in this period and it would be a great time for them to get a goal. Maine almost got themselves a short-handed goal, but Blackburn comes up with the save. Maine gets another odd man rush with only Ortmeyer back and Blackburn comes up with yet another save. This time Matzka fans on a shot that might have produced a scoring chance. Michigan was unable to do much of anything on that power play as Maine returns to full strength. Blackburn comes up with another great save, but Michigan picks up a penalty as Maine was setting up for that shot. It’s Fraser going to the box, not the way we would have hoped for his first shift to go. Holy Cow! Maine gives the puck up just as their power play is starting; Comrie gets it, rushes the net, and scores a short-handed goal to give Michigan the lead in this game. What a big goal, but Michigan can’t forget that Maine is still on the power play. That goal comes with about 7 ½ minutes left in this period with Ortmeyer and Peach picking up assists. Michigan kills of the penalty, picking up a goal in the process and with just over five minutes to go in this period Michigan ices the puck bringing the face off back into their zone. After a bit of something by WTKA (I don’t know what) we come back to action just in time to find out that Maine is going to the penalty box and Michigan is going on the power play with the face off in the Maine zone. Michigan has been getting some decent pressure on the Maine goal during this power play, but so far they have missed. With just 3 seconds left in Michigan’s power play Matzka gets called for interference ending the power play and setting Maine up to finish the period on the power play. Maine moves to the power play with about 1:35 left in the period, we need to hold them off here to finish this period with our one goal lead. The second period ends with Michigan holding a slim lead with a score of 1 to nothing.

Maine will start the third period with 18 seconds of power play time with Michigan looking to bring a quarterfinal win home. The Maine power play is over, as it was expiring Michigan got the puck to Matzka who got a shot off, but it was blocked. Michigan gets off a couple of shots, with a big Jillson shot that rebounds back out to Trainor who can’t quite get it home. Blackburn comes up with yet another save as a Blackbear goes down in the crease. Vancik gets called for a penalty giving Maine another power play chance in this final period of regulation play. The penalty kill will have to step up yet again to turn Maine away. Maine comes close right off the face off, but Roemensky gets in the way and breaks things up. With about half the power play gone Maine comes up with a score to tie this game. Michigan’s been playing with fire all night long giving Maine plenty of power play chances and they finally pay the price. Now they have to regroup and retake the lead to make sure Maine doesn’t get any real momentum going. I don’t know who’s running the board back at WTKA, but they just about gave me heart failure by mixing in a replay of the Maine power play goal. I thought they just went ahead, but they didn’t. Michigan is giving up the puck in front of their net right now giving Maine to many chances. Maine gets called for a penalty giving Michigan a power play chance. Michigan hasn’t connected on the power play tonight and this would be the time and place to do just that. Michigan working the puck well around the Maine zone and with a very short period of time gone in the period Michigan picks up a power play goal to answer Maine and retake the lead. The goal goes to Comrie and the assists going to Cammalleri and Ortmeyer. Maine is climbing all over Michigan right now and Michigan just can’t get control of the puck. Michigan couldn’t get any line changes and all that Maine pressure paid off as Maine scores their second goal to answer Michigan and tie the game back up. The game continues to be played in the Michigan zone and finally we get a whistle to give Michigan a chance to change lines. Well it has certainly busted loose in this period after a couple of fast paced, but low scoring periods. We move under the ten-minute mark in this period with the score all tied up at two. We move under the eight-minute mark in this game with the score still tied at two. I have to believe that Michigan doesn’t want to go into a marathon overtime game like Boston did today. They need to come up with a score here in the last seven minutes of the game to finish this thing up in regulation. Maine got loose in front of the UM net, got a shot that Blackburn stopped, but he didn’t cover the rebound and Maine punches it past Blackburn to take the lead for the first time in this game with time running out. That about does it as Maine gets loose on a break away and they score their fourth goal of the period to put two goals between them and Michigan. There is now just 3:53 to go in this period and Michigan still needs two goals just to get to overtime. Maine again gets loose on a break away, but this time Blackburn comes up with the save to keep Michigan within two. We move under the two-minute mark in this game and Michigan takes their time out. Maine gets called for a five minute major with about 1:15 left in the period. If Michigan pulls Blackburn they would have a two-man advantage, but Maine is awfully quick and they would be at risk of an empty net goal. Michigan does pull Blackburn to give them the two-man advantage looking for two goals. Michigan almost got a score, but Maine got the puck cleared it out of their zone, and it floats into the empty net. That seals the Maine win and ends Michigan’s season as Maine wins the game by a score of 5 to 2.

Michigan gave it all they had tonight, but they did seem to run out of gas about midway through the final period of this game as Maine earns the final ticket to Providence and Michigan’s season comes to an end. Tonight was the first time since November of 1998 that Michigan allowed 40+ shots and their curse when they meet Maine in the NCAA tournament continues. Blackburn did set a career high for saves in this game as Maine got a lot of them through. Three times in the last decade they have met Maine in the tournament and three times they have come up on the short end of the stick. Well I just don’t have a whole lot to say about this one. It did appear that Michigan was going to get this game for two and a half periods, but then Maine just ran past them. I didn’t think yesterday’s game would cost them as much as it apparently did as Michigan just ran out of gas in the last ten minutes of this game. Michigan put up the good fight, but comes up short.

Well keep the faith Michigan faithful; we have a very young team and only loose one regular player to graduation. If everyone stays at least next year and perhaps for the next two years our chances of making the frozen four are very good. Well I guess that’s about it for this game, I’ll send Greg a season wrap sometime this next week, so until then, C-ya!!