Thursday, December 30, 1999

Thursday, December 30, 1999, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

All right, the Wolverines won their opening game in the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) tournament as expected. It was as tough a game as expected, but very encouraging considering the number and caliber of people that Michigan was missing. Also as expected Michigan State beat Michigan Tech in the nightcap to set up the first meeting between the Wolverines and Spartans of this hockey season. Before I spend any more time on the GLI let me cover some of the other tournaments around the world.

First, let’s start in Sweden with the World Juniors. To recap team USA’s games so far they tied the Czech Republic 2 to 2 on the 26^th of December. On the 28^th they beat Slovakia by a score of 1 to nothing. On the 29^th they lost to Finland by a score of 3 to 1. That leaves them with one game before the medal rounds are filled. They play on Friday the 31^st at 10:00 AM ET against our friends from the North, team Canada. Team USA has a record of 1-1-1 so far in this tournament, while Team Canada has a record of 2-0-1 in this tournament. Of course the Canadians are already drooling over their victory over this US team. Since both teams have played the same set of opponents I would have to give the edge to the Canadians. The only thing I have to go on is the scores of the three games played by each team, the Canadians seem to have had a slightly easier time against their three opponents. If Team USA wins it would probably be considered an upset, but I’m pulling for the USA to beat those Canadians. They need the win – a win against Canada would give them both identical records at 2-1-1 – USA USA USA USA!!

Ok, back to the United States and the numerous holiday tournaments going on around the country. I’m not going to mention each and every game being played, just the ones that involve CCHA teams. First, congratulations to the Bulldogs of Ferris State who won the Silverado Shootout in Duluth Minnesota by beating Boston University 4-3 on the 27^th and North Eastern 4-0 on the 28^th. At the Badger Showdown in Milwaukee Wisconsin Nebraska-Omaha lost to Wisconsin 6-4 on the 27^th and beat Miami 4-3 on the 28^th. Also in the Badger Showdown Miami lost to North Dakota 5-2 on the 27^th. At the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis Minnesota Northern beat Massachusetts 3-0 on the 29^th and they will take on Minnesota today. At the Sheraton/USAir Classic in Burlington Vermont Ohio State beat Vermont 3-2 on the 29^th and will take on Dartmouth today. At the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament in Troy New York Rensselaer beat Bowling Green 3 to 2 on the 29^th and Bowling Green will play Union today. Man I wish the Falcons could have come up with the win against Rensselaer. Finally, at the Denver Cup in Denver Colorado, which doesn’t start until the 31^st Notre Dame will play Denver on the 31^st and then will play either Maine or Colorado College on the 1^st.

All righty then, that wraps up the other holiday tournaments leaving us with just the GLI. As I said before the Wolverines will be taking on the Spartans in tonight’s final’s in this 35^th GLI. We do get Mike Comrie back tonight which is really good. I’m not sure how Red will rearrange the lines to fit Mike in – the rest of his line is either hurt or playing in other tournaments, but it should be interesting. A likely combination would be to put him with Kosick and Langfeld, but the Kosick, Langfeld, Matzka line has proven to be quite effective. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with Cammalleri and Shouneyia – that could produce some good things. Michigan State has beaten Michigan only four times in the GLI, two of those wins coming in the last two finals. That of course means that MSU is going for their third consecutive win in this tournament. Michigan has only lost twice in their last 23 GLI games, those losses being to Michigan State. Because of the CCHA cluster configuration this is the first time that these two teams will meet this year. MSU has pretty much owned the Wolverines over the last two years and I look at this game as a test to see if the Wolverines are ready to take the upper hand in this battle between these two teams. The people who are supposed to know don’t give Michigan much of a chance in this game. It is expected to be close, but they also expect MSU to win. The Wolverines skated a lot longer than the Spartans did last night and they are still short handed. Although this shouldn’t be much of a factor every player on that team must be ready to leave it all on the ice. As I have already said I like Michigan’s chances in this tournament simply because they are the underdog. My keys to a Michigan win are much the same as last night. First, the Kosick, Langfeld, Matzka line must step up again tonight and be a force (assuming of course that Red leaves it intact). Even if Comrie gets inserted into this line, it must produce. Second, we need some production from Mike Comrie. Whoever is skating with him needs to be ready, because Mike will pass the puck just as easily as shoot. Third, Scarpace must again have an on game. Both goaltenders for MSU are very good and we must get the same kind of game from Scarpace. Fourth, Michigan must make use of its team speed to keep the Spartans off balance and chasing all night long. Get ready for a nail biter, this game will be a close one. I’m looking for a Wolverine victory, but it will probably go right down to the wire.

Michigan State is the designated home team in tonight’s contest as we get ready to go. Comrie will be skating with Cammalleri in tonight’s game. With about three minutes gone in the first period this game is going about as expected. A lot of fore checking and back checking and other sorts of checking. Neither team has gotten any real looks at the net yet as both teams try to get a feel for each other. There’s the first penalty of the night as the Spartans get called for high sticking giving Michigan the first power play chance of the night. Now a pair of penalties, one to each team as things get a little ugly down low, Michigan will remain on the power play. Mink comes up with a good shot, but Blackburn comes up with the save to keep Michigan off the scoreboard. We still have about 45 seconds left in this power play. The Spartans kill off the penalty and both teams are now back to full strength with just under 14 minutes left in the first period. Scarpace just came up with a huge save to keep MSU off the scoreboard; however, Michigan gets called for a high stick. MSU will get their first shot at the power play and we get to see how our penalty kill is working tonight. Michigan stole the puck and got a long pass up ice which just missed Comrie, that could have been a big goal if we could have picked up a short handed goal. Michigan kills off the penalty and get the puck cleared just as it expires. Now Michigan on the attack looking to draw first blood. Another great save by Scarpace – he hangs on so there is no rebound, face off in the Michigan zone. Yet another big save by Scarpace, so far L.J. is giving Michigan the kind of game they need between the posts. Don’t know what it was, but Mink gets called for Michigan’s second penalty of the period. Kind of a cheap penalty for a game that hasn’t been to rough. Once again Michigan almost comes up with a short-handed goal, they are just missing on these; if they keep it up we might see one tonight. Scarpace comes up with another great save, but Michigan didn’t get to the puck and clear it out of the zone; MSU takes advantage and picks up the first goal of the night with a power play goal with 6 ½ minutes left in the period. For all you statistics people so far this year when MSU scores first they have not lost a game, here’s hoping that tonight will see an end to that streak. Well we had a goal, but the whistle had blown before the goal was scored. Michigan just missed a goal their as Murray got a great shot and Blackburn lost sight of it, however, the MSU defense cleared it out of the danger zone. With about three minutes left in this period Ortmeyer gets hauled down as Michigan was looking to score giving Michigan their second power play opportunity of the period. Let’s see if we can tie this game up with a power play goal of our own. One-minute left in the period, Michigan has been moving it around fairly well, but just can’t get a look at the net. MSU clears the puck and that about ends the power play. MSU gets called for icing, but there are only three tenths of a second left in this period. The period ends with MSU holding the 1 to nothing lead over our Wolverines. However, Michigan holds a slight edge in shots on goal with an 8 to 7 count.

Right off the opening face off Langfeld drives in, gets a shot off, but it sails over the top of the goal. Both teams have been up and down the ice so far in this period. Michigan has had a couple of chances, but so far they just cannot crack the Spartan net. The first penalty of the period goes against MSU and Michigan will get another shot at those Spartans on the power play. That’s what we needed right there. Just seconds into the power play a group of freshmen put on a big charge and get Michigan even with the dreaded Spartans. Cammalleri gets the first Michigan goal of the night with assists going to Mink and Shouneyia. Oh that was a big score, its got me geeked!! Michigan dodges a bullet there as Scarpace lost the puck, but the Spartans were unable to do anything with the chance. There are now 12 minutes left in this second period with the score still tied at one apiece. Another save by Blackburn as Michigan comes close to getting the go ahead goal. Michigan has really been putting some pressure on the MSU goal in this period, but now they have to get focused for a penalty kill as Peach gets called for a penalty putting MSU on the power play with a little over half the period gone. This is the first power play chance for the Spartans in this period. Michigan has to clear that puck out of their zone to take the pressure off Scarpace. Cammalleri gets a steal and gets in all-alone, but can’t get a clean shot – the Spartans dodges a bullet on that one. Michigan kills off the penalty off and Scarpace comes up with a big save just as the penalty expires. There are now 6 minutes 35 seconds left in this period and we still skate with a one to one tie. Michigan getting some good pressure on the MSU goal looking for that go ahead score. Michigan continues to buzz around the net keeping the pressure on the MSU goal. We keep coming close, just keep the pressure up and sooner or later we’ll crack that goal. We are down to the last minute of the period as Kosick makes a charge and gets a shot that goes wide. Inside one minute to go MSU gets called for a penalty giving Michigan a chance late in this period to get ahead. This penalty was caused by the speed of the Michigan team. We have about 30 seconds left in this period. The period ends with no goal and the game tied up with 1 goal apiece. Michigan still holds the one shot edge in shots on goal with an 18 to 17 count.

Michigan starts the third period with about 1-½ minutes of power play opportunity. If they can come out and put another score on the board right off the bat that would be just huge. Well I don’t know what happened to WTKA all I know is I’ve lost the game (this is killing me). I just called my brother and got an update. MSU has apparently killed off the Michigan power play. With 18 minutes left in the third period it is still tied up a 1 goal apiece. I’ve got the feed back and there are 24 seconds left in a MSU power play. Well that’s not what I needed to hear, just as the power play was winding down MSU gets a power play goal to take a 2 to 1 lead. Great the Spartan player who gets the go ahead goal in this games gets the first point of his career, those are things you just cannot allow. Michigan was just all over the Spartan goal, but they were unable to get a goal. Merrick is down on the ice in front of the Spartan net. After the face off Kosick gets hit from behind and now the Wolverines go on the power play. Kosick got drilled face first into the boards and got up a bit slow. Oh this is a bunch of hooey; they just put Langfeld into the box so there won’t be any power play. Correct that the Spartan player got a double minor so they have put a second Spartan in the penalty box. Michigan will indeed get a power play. With about half the power play over Michigan really hasn’t been able to get anything going on this power play. There were a couple of chances for Michigan, but they were turned away. MSU kills off the power play, but Michigan is still putting great pressure on the goal. The only thing that kept Michigan off the board was the MSU goalie Blackburn. They might be looking at the replay on that flurry of activity. The replay shows that it is a goal, will they give it to Michigan? Apparently they are not using the replay to look at the goal, even though they used it in the early game today to wave off a Lake State goal. There is just over 11 minutes to go in this period and Michigan is just all over the MSU net. MSU gets called for cross checking and Michigan will again go on the power play. Michigan is still all over that MSU goal, but Blackburn is just stopping everything that comes his way. Well that ends the power play as Michigan gets called for yet another killer penalty. This will end up with MSU getting about 1-½ minutes of power play time of their own. Well that could be the nail in the coffin; MSU just picked up another power play goal as Michigan’s penalties continue to kill them. There are now nine minutes to go and Michigan has to make up two goals just to get to overtime three goals to win. We are now down to eight minutes to go in the game and Michigan still needs two goals. Merrick just barely missed getting a goal, but MSU is called for the penalty putting Michigan back on the power play. We really need to pick up a goal on this power play. Another great chance for Michigan and another great save by Blackburn. We are down to 5 ½ minutes to go in the game and the power play is about over. There was a trio of chances for Michigan and they all missed. We move under five minutes in the game and MSU has killed off the power play. We are now under 4 minutes to go in the game and still down by two goals with a face off coming down in the Michigan zone. We move under three minutes to go in the game and still we need two goals. Another shot and a chance at the rebound, but Michigan just can’t find the net in this game. Michigan has now pulled their goalie to get the extra attacker on the ice with about 1-½ minutes to go in the game. There were a couple of shots by the Wolverines, one went wide and one clanged off the post. If the Wolverine’s inability to score weren’t so depressing it would be funny. We are now under one minute to go in the game. This game ends with MSU winning their third consecutive GLI with a 3 to 1 win over Michigan. Michigan outshot the Spartans in this game by a 38 to 23 count.

Wow what an incredibly disappointing and depressing loss. The MSU curse over the Wolverines continues as Michigan really outplayed the Spartans, but just couldn’t get any of their shots into the net. Even missing all the players we were missing we still put all kinds of pressure on the Spartans. I just can’t believe UM couldn’t pick up more goals. They have been scoring over 4 goals per game this year and could only manage one in this game, even though they got almost 40 shots on goal. Well we get these same Spartans in about a week as we play them at Munn Arena on the 7^th of January in the first regular season game of the 2^nd half. This game counts in the conference and Michigan cannot afford to loose another one. Hopefully this loss will help propel Michigan to a win in East Lansing. The Wolverines played a pretty darn good game tonight making this loss all the more painful. Dave Huntzicker and Mark Kosick were both selected to the all tournament team, but that probably feels pretty hollow right now.

I’ve got a few scores to give to you from some of the other games around the country. Bowling Green beat Union 5-4 in an overtime game. Ohio State tied Dartmouth 2-2 also in an overtime game. Michigan Tech beat the Lakers in the GLI consolation game by a score of 5-4. If I heard correctly this was also an overtime game.

Until the 7^th, C-ya!!