Saturday, December 11, 1999

Saturday, December 11, 1999, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tonight is the second of a two game series against CCHA newcomer Nebraska-Omaha. Last night the Wolverines won the first ever meeting between these two teams and tonight they look to get the series sweep. The Mavericks were game in last night’s contest, but they were simply overpowered by the more talented and speedier Wolverines. It didn’t hurt that Comrie was in a zone that mere mortals can only dream about. The CCHA conference standings are beginning to tighten up as Michigan got back one of their games in hand against the Spartans last night and will get back their second tonight. If Michigan completes the sweep they will only be two points behind the conference front runners. Let’s get to the game.

While Michigan played almost thirty minutes of penalty free hockey in last night’s contest it was not to be in this night’s game. Comrie started the Wolverine march to the penalty box with just 32 seconds gone in the first period when he was called for high sticking. UNO was flying all over the ice looking to crack the Wolverine penalty kill and it appeared that they had. With 1:59 gone in the first period and about 30 seconds left to the UNO power play the puck trickled behind Scarpace and ended up in the net. Much to the Mavericks dismay and the Wolverines delight that goal was waved off as the whistle had blown prior to the puck crossing the goal line. The game remained zero to zero. The reason the whistle had blown was that Billy Pugliese of UNO was called for cross checking down in front of the goal. This cost the Mavericks a goal and their power play. The teams skated four on four for about 30 seconds when Michigan went on a 1-½ minute power play. About one minute into their power play Langfeld picked up the rebound from a Kosick shot and put the puck in the net. The Wolverines drew first blood while on the power play. Assists went to Kosick and Cammalleri. With just under six minutes gone in the period the Wolverines were again on the power play and again with about one minute gone in the power play Michigan struck. Once again it was Langfeld who was in scoring position as the puck ended up on his stick and he put the puck the net. Assists on this goal went Kosick and Jillson. This was the second power play goal out of two power play opportunities to this point of the game. About midway through the period Michigan had just killed off an UNO power play when Comrie sent a beautiful pass through the crease to Hilbert. Hilbert didn’t waste the opportunity and slammed the puck past the UNO netminder. Gassoff and Comrie both picked up assists on this goal. The teams traded some penalties and power plays for the remainder of the period, but no one could come up with a score. It looked like Comrie was going to get a goal just before the end of the period, but a UNO defender caught up to him and dragged him to the ice. This of course put Michigan back on the power play with 22.4 seconds left in the period. They were unable to get a score, but they would start the second period on the power play. The first period ended with Michigan leading by a score of 3 to nothing and holding the edge in shots on goal with a 12 to 8 count.

While Michigan started the second period with 1 minute 38 seconds of power play time they were unable to mount any serious challenge, as the rested Mavericks were able to break up the Michigan power play flow. However, the Wolverines were not to be denied. With 3:53 gone in the period Jillson took a fantastic pass from the "kid" and powered the puck into the net extending the Wolverine lead. The lone assist on this goal when to Cammalleri (the kid – and no I don’t mean that in a bad way, he’s just so darn young for a college hockey player). I thought for a minute that Nebraska was going to get a big advantage with about 12 minutes left in the period while they were already on the power play. With 1:32 left in an UNO power play it appeared that Gassoff was going to be sent to the box. While Gassoff was sent to the box an UNO player was also sent in so UNO did not get the two-man advantage. Just past the midpoint of the period UNO player, James Chalmers, was put in the box. I only say this because his penalty ran out, he came back on the ice, and was promptly whistled for another penalty and put back in the box. This was really the last bit of interesting play in the second period. There were no more goals scored by either team and the second penalty against Chalmers was the last penalty called in the period. The second period ended with Michigan holding the 4 to nothing lead and stretching their edge in shots on goal with a 21 to 13 count.

You could see that frustration was starting to build in the Nebraska players by the end of the second period and they were starting to get a bit more physical. I wrote myself a note at the start of the third period that things could get interesting as tempers started to flare. It didn’t help the UNO feeling of frustration any when with just 54 seconds gone in the period Kosick buried the puck in the Nebraska net to extend the UM lead by another goal. Assists on this goal when to Matzka and Langfeld. Michigan continued to work hard and I thought they were going to pick up another score about 1-½ minutes later off some great puck handling and passing, but they just missed the mark. The teams started to trade some penalties as the period continued, but neither team was able to pick up a score. There is one particular call that sticks out in my mind as particularly bad. With just over 8 minutes gone in the period a UNO player came up behind Mink and hit him, sending him off balance, and as you might expect he flung his arms out trying to stay on his feet (or is that skates?). For some reason that still escapes me the referee decided to whistle Mink for slashing putting UNO on the power play. UNO was unable to get a score, but this certainly rankled the UM players and definitely didn’t set well with the crowd at Yost. It was also the bit of kindling that really set the stage for events to follow. The penalties started to come fast and furious after this and for a while we were actually skating 3 on 3. At the 10:38 mark Michigan struck for the sixth and final time of the game when Kosick picked up his second goal. This goal was scored while on the delay penalty; if they didn’t score UM was going on the power play. Cammalleri was breaking clean toward the UNO net when he was dragged down from behind, causing the delay penalty. Assists on this goal when to Cammalleri and Jillson. About two minutes later, with 12:17 gone in the period, all kinds of chaos erupted on the ice. A scuffle was started, I didn’t see who the initial trouble started with, and then suddenly all the players on the ice were paired off, with sticks, gloves, and helmets flying everywhere. For UM Comrie picked up a minor penalty and Magnuson picked up a double minor. Two UNO players picked up the same. Magnuson picked up misconduct as did an UNO player. The real damage was done when Comrie and Chalmers from UNO both picked up Game Disqualification’s for fighting. More on this later, let’s finish up the game first. The end result of all this was that UNO ended up on the power play. With just 1 second left in this power play UNO scored a goal, avoiding the shutout. That was the end of the scoring and there was only one more penalty in the game and that was given to Huntzicker with just 12 seconds left to play. The game ended with Michigan winning by a score of 6 to 1 and Michigan holding the big edge in shots on goal with a 33 to 20 count.

Well Michigan got the win tonight and the sweep for the weekend. This was VERY important in relation to conference standings and to mind set going into the mid-season break. There was some good and bad from tonight’s game so I guess I’ll get the bad out of the way first. The real bad is the DQ given to Comrie. This means that he misses the next game and there is some confusion on how this will apply. Michigan’s next game is on December 29 at Joe Louis when they take on Lake Superior (can you say revenge) in the first day of GLI play. However, Mike leaves today (Sunday) to tryout for the Canadian Junior National team. If he makes the Canadian team he will not play in the GLI (Great Lakes Invitational) because he will be in Sweden playing in the international Junior tournament. Does his DQ apply to the Lake State game, regardless of his availability to play in that game, or will it carry over to the first game that is available to play in. This is a huge question and I will follow it and post something on the forum when I can find a definite answer. The reason this is so huge is this – if it carries over that would mean Mike would miss the first conference game of the first half. That game happens to be on the road against Michigan State. A team that we only play twice in the conference this year (because of the cluster configuration in the CCHA). Right now MSU is two points ahead of us in the conference standings and for us to move ahead of them we need to sweep the conference series against the Spartans. This will be tough enough with Comrie, let alone without him. There was also some question as to whether the referee kind of over reacted in the game by giving out the DQ’s. Misconducts were certainly in order, but perhaps the DQ’s were a bit of overkill. I would consider fighting the throwing of fists, flattening of noses, loosening of teeth, you get the picture. While Comrie and Chalmers were certainly rolling around on the ice wrestling they were no punches thrown by either player (none that I saw anyway). I expected the DQ’s simply because both players dropped their gloves, but the WTKA announcers were of the opinion that the DQ was too harsh (listening on my way home after the game). They did raise the question that it might be possible to appeal the DQ using video, since you can use tape to get a DQ when one isn’t called in a game and should be. Like I said this is an important issue for the Wolverines and as soon as I can find an answer I will pass that along to you all via the forum.

That’s enough of the bad let’s talk a little about the good. Michigan is now in second place in the CCHA, just two points behind Michigan State. We play the Spartans for the first time in conference on January 7^th at Munn Arena. Since the Spartans were idle Friday night and out of conference Saturday night we have now played the same number of conference games as they have so we are down to the real deal. As they say, our destiny is in our hands. We now lead Northern by one point since they were idle this weekend, but they now have two games in hand on us. We haven’t played them yet, but if we were idle and they swept a weekend we would be only three points behind so we can catch and pass in head to head competition. This all means that as we start the second half we must win and win a lot. With all that said it is still good to be back in second place and to be in position to go for the conference championship in the second half. In case you didn’t notice both Kosick and Langfeld had good nights. Hopefully this means they have finally broken out of their slumps. Kosicks has only been going on for about a month, but Langfeld has been struggling all year. Kosick reached two milestones in tonight’s game. First he had four points in the game – his highest single game point production for his Wolverine career. He also reached the 100-point mark for his career. The line of Kosick, Langfeld, and Matzka seems to be a real good combination. Comrie has now scored a point in five consecutive games. In addition, the pairing of Comrie with Hilbert and Koch also seems to be make a real good line. Hilbert has come to life skating with Comrie, while the entire line is a threat whenever they are on the ice. Scarpace picked up his third consecutive win and has won the starting job for the time being.

Michigan is now off until after Christmas when they skate in the 35^th annual Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena. As far as I know there are still tickets available. Come on out and support your Michigan Wolverines as they look to return the GLI trophy to Yost Arena. Until the GLI happy holidays Wolverine fans, GO BLUE, and C-ya!!