Saturday, November 6, 1999

Saturday, November 6, 1999, Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Tonight is the second in a two game weekend series against the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Last night the Wolverines put the hurt on OSU taking the contest with a 6 to 1 score. The game was all tied up at one apiece at the end of the first period, but the Wolverines blew it wide open in the second. That was the Buckeyes eighth straight loss and you can bet they will be coming out all charged up on their home ice. The Wolverines have to be looking for the sweep to start gaining some ground on the CCHA front runners and to just keep their good start to this season going. This game is also one of the conference games that will have four officials, rather than the normal three. There will be an extra referee in this game.

I missed the first 15 minutes of the game because I was on the road coming back from the football game. I have some scoring information from the start of the game that I will pass along first. Cammalleri put the Wolverines on top first when he picked up a power play goal to start the scoring in tonight’s contest. Shouneyia picks up an assist on this goal. The Buckeyes were the next to get on the board when they pick up two quick goals a couple of minutes later. Down by a score of 2 to 1 and skating on the power play UM ties up the contest when Jillson gets the puck past the OSU netminder. This was a power play goal with assists going to Comrie and Kosick.

I pick up action in the first period where the Wolverines and Buckeyes are all tied up at two apiece. The Wolverines were down 2 to 1 at one time in this game as OSU came out with a bit of fire in this game. Michigan is on the power play with about 55 seconds left. Both of their first two goals have come off the power play. OSU kills off this power play and UM fails to score on the power play for the first time this evening. The Wolverines working around the Buckeye zone get the puck to Comrie who gets off a quick shot that almost gets past Aho, but not quite. Shouneyia almost gets a goal, the Wolverines are getting some shots on goal, but Aho is keeping the Buckeyes in the game. The period is nearing its end and both teams are looking to get something going. OSU is called for a penalty, UM has pulled O’Malley to get the extra attacker on the delay penalty. The Wolverines are working the puck around the OSU zone, they get the puck to Comrie off to the left of the goal, and Comrie puts the Wolverines ahead in this game with his tenth goal of the season. That is two nights in a row that the Wolverines have scored a goal while working on the delay penalty. Cammalleri and Peach pick up assists on this goal. The period ends with Michigan in the lead by a score of 3 to 2. Michigan ended the period with a slight edge in shots on goal with a 16 to 12 count.

Comrie picks up an early penalty in the second period putting Ohio State on the power play, but so far the Wolverines have pretty much been all over it. Once again Swistak is being a real pain the Buckeyes behind on their power play chance. UM has now killed off the OSU power play. There was a great feed from Gassoff to Ortmeyer who got off a great shot, but Aho stops the shot to keep OSU within one. Michigan has been all over the OSU zone and has gotten off a couple of good shots and missed on a couple of others. Now OSU gets loose with the puck, moves into the UM zone on side, and they get off a great shot, but O’Malley comes up with a great save of his own. UM now has the puck behind the OSU net. Ortmeyer gets off a backhand shot, but Aho blocks it aside. OSU picks up a penalty with about 5:45 gone in the period putting UM on the power play for the first time this period. So far the Buckeyes have kept UM from really working the power play well. Langfeld gets off a shot, but it hits the pipe and bounces wide. Now the Wolverines are really putting some pressure on the Buckeye goal. So far Aho has kept the Wolverines out of the goal. With the UM power play killed Langfeld picks up a penalty putting OSU on the power play (this was just after the UM power play expired). OSU working the puck around the UM zone, they get off a shot but it goes right past the goal. OSU was working around the UM goal, but they loose track of the puck. Matzka picks up the puck, steps around a couple of OSU defenders, and picks up a short-handed goal to put the Wolverines up by two. Just like that the Wolverines go to sleep a little bit and OSU comes right back down and scores a goal bringing the Buckeyes back to within one. This was a power play goal right off the face-off following the UM goal. Wow this is really getting crazy. Off the face-off following the OSU goal Langfeld gets the puck, feeds it down to Shouneyia who gets off a shot. It is blocked, but Shouneyia picks up his own rebound and scores a goal pushing UM’s lead back to two. Assists on this goal were under review. We finally get some information and the assists were given to Langfeld and Hilbert. Along with the goal Langfeld picks up another penalty (hitting after the whistle) and again OSU is back on the power play. This is how the scoring frenzy started! O’Malley just made a great save as OSU got a shot off that looked pretty good. UM kills off the penalty without OSU picking up any goals. Back at full strength the Wolverines are getting all kinds of pressure on the Buckeyes. There a shot by UM goes off the post as the Wolverines just miss picking up another goal. Kosick gets alone down in front, gets off a shot, but Aho catches it, dodging another bullet. Off the face-off Cammalleri gets a shot off that gets past Aho, putting the Wolverines up by three. This was an unassisted goal. The Wolverines got this going by winning the face-off, something they have been very good at this year. That’s enough for the Buckeyes, they bring in a new goalie, replacing Aho with freshman goaltender Peter Wishloff. We are down to the last five minutes of the second period. The Wolverines get this going by putting some pressure on the young netminder. As we approached the three-minute mark OSU picks up a goal to get back within two. UM working around the OSU zone, they get the puck out front to Ortmeyer, who gets off a shot, but the goalie hangs on. The face-off comes in the OSU zone, Comrie feeds the puck down in deep, but Wishloff breaks up the pass. Now Koch gets off a shot that sails over the net. Comrie tries to get a break away, but a Buckeye defender catches up to Comrie and pokes the puck off his stick. Off setting penalties are called so both teams are now skating four on four. UM tries to get something going, but time runs out on the period and the Wolverines end the period up by two, at 6 to 4. The Wolverines have also increased their lead in shots on goal, now leading by a 30 to 18 count.

As the third period starts we are still skating four on four as both teams still have a player in the box. The penalties expire with no real scoring threat by either team and we are back at full strength for both teams. Michigan picks up another penalty putting the Buckeyes on the power play fairly early in this final period. OSU tries to get a break away but Meloche looses the edge on his skated and goes down. UM kills off the OSU penalty with OSU mounting no real scoring threat. The Wolverine penalty kill continues to be quite effective, as it has been for this entire series. We move under 15 minutes to go in the period with Ortmeyer getting off a shot that goes just wide. The Wolverines are working the puck around the OSU zone looking for the opening they need to notch another goal and OSU ices the puck to relieve the pressure. With Hilbert making a move on the OSU net he gets pulled down and OSU goes into the box. UM gets their first power play of this period, looking for a bit more cushion on the score. Half the power play is gone for UM; they’ve started to get a couple of things going, but so far they haven’t been able to get a real scoring push going. Moving the puck around the OSU zone quite well and we get a stoppage of play as offsetting penalties are called. They are coincidental penalties with neither team loosing a player from the ice. This leaves UM on the power play for another 4 seconds and then we will skate at even strength. The Buckeyes almost get a goal off Shouneyias pad, but it bounces wide. UM picks up another penalty putting the Buckeyes back on the power play. Red can’t be real happy about this as UM continues to give the Buckeyes power play after power play. UM almost picks up their second short handed goal, but Wishloff makes a save to end the threat. Well we almost got one a second ago, but now we have one. Ortmeyer picks up the puck in the UM zone, sees Matzka breaking, gets the puck to him, and Matzka goes in alone to pick up UM’s second short handed goal of the night. Right off the face-off following this goal Gassoff gets his stick on the puck and takes a long shot from center ice. Even though it had to travel over half the ice it goes past Wishloff to give UM their third short handed goal of the night and UM suddenly has a four-goal lead. These two short handed goals were scored within four seconds of each other. Ortmeyer picked up an assist on the Matzka goal and I believe Matzka picked up an assist on the Gassoff goal (he was the player taking the face-off). At this time UM put Scarpace into the game to get him some additional work in goal. Finally the OSU power play expires and I’m sure OSU is glad about this as UM picked up two short handed goals on that OSU power play. With eight minutes to go in the period OSU picks up a penalty putting UM back on the power play. Now an OSU player takes a cheap shot, hitting Peach from behind with a vicious hit. This brings all kinds of players to Peaches aid and the OSU players respond by meeting them on the ice. We have to be careful here as OSU might be trying to get some UM players a DQ for next weekend. Langfeld, Peach, and Jillson for UM are gone, as is Meloche and Titus for OSU, all of them with ten-minute game misconducts. There is a five-minute major against OSU for the hit on Peach. The end result of this is that UM is now on the power play with a two man advantage, but I would think right now we just want to get this game over with and get out with the win. Ortmeyer is right in front of the OSU net jabbing at the puck trying to get the puck into the net when an OSU player mugs him. Both of the players are sent to the penalty box, but I don’t know why they sent Ortmeyer. He just stood there and got his helmet torn off. OSU has killed off the two-man advantage, but UM has 3:19 left in the five minute major. Hilbert gets off a shot that flies over the top of the goal. The Buckeyes pick up another penalty as they get called for a high stick to give UM another two-man advantage for 1 minute 49 seconds. UM working the puck around looking for the opening. They get off a shot that doesn’t make it home. Now they get it down to an all alone Kosick, but Mark can’t get it in. Again UM has the puck all alone in front of the OSU net and again they don’t get the goal. With the two man advantage almost gone off setting penalties are again called. UM stays on the power play, but the officials are calling penalties if a player breathes on another player right now. OSU has killed off all of the UM power plays and we are again skating at full strength. We are down to the last 1-½ minutes of the game and we just need to skate this one out. There, that ones in the books as Michigan gets the win by a score of 8 to 4. Michigan also increased their edge in shots on goal ending the game with a 39 to 21 count.

Michigan picks up the weekend sweep over the Buckeyes, which gets them another four points in conference play. This is also the ninth straight loss for the Buckeyes and they are really hurting as far as conference play is concerned (and any other tournament possibilities for that matter). Michigan State will probably sweep the Nanooks, but you never know, maybe Alaska will sneak up on the Spartans tonight. Regardless of how they do tonight against the Nanooks MSU will retain sole possession of first place in the CCHA after this weekend. They have a six-point lead over UM right now, but they have played two more conference games than we have. Western lost to Northern last night so UM will move ahead of them in the standings. Also WMU is currently beating Northern and if that were to hold up UM would move into sole possession of second in the CCHA. Well all of this is what if and maybes but I’ll have all the information for you next week. Next week we travel to Miami (Ohio) for a weekend series that will probably be a tough series for the Wolverines. Miami is a bit short handed as several of their top players are currently injured, but you can expect Miami to be ready to play. The first game in this series is at the Cincinnati Firstar Center (I think that’s what it is called). This is the same building that Michigan won the 1996 National Championship in so you might think it would be a homecoming of sorts for Michigan. The only problem with that is that no one on the current Michigan team was on that championship team. Well all of that is for next weekend so until then, C-ya!!