Friday, January 5, 2001

Friday, January 5, 2001, Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

It was apparent right from the outset that Michigan was going to do what it had to in order to get back to winning. The starting line for this game consisted of Craig Murray, Geoff Koch, and Josh Langfeld. As the night went on there were a variety of different line combinations. Walk on Rob Kohen did dress and play in this game and Brad Fraser also played even though he re-injured his knee at the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI). Michigan was still short two of its top defensemen as David Huntzicker and Jay Vancik are both out with knee injuries (knee injuries do seem to be injury of the year for the Wolverines). Mike Cammalleri, Andy Hilbert, and Mike Komisarek were still out of the lineup as they wrapped up their time in Russia at the World Junior Championships. They should be back in Ann Arbor Saturday or early Sunday. The last word out of Michigan regarding their playing status for Sunday was that it would be left up to the players. If they feel ready to go after a long and grueling return trip they will play. Even if they played a limited role on Sunday it would be a boost to the team to get them back on the bench and ice.

The Wolverines started this game with much more intensity and emotion than they exhibited in either of last weekend’s games. The tone for the night was set just seventeen seconds into the game when each team saw one of their players sent to the sin bin for two minutes. A little more than a minute later Lake State was called for a second penalty and Michigan found itself on the power play. With some good puck handling and passing Michigan worked the puck out in front of the net where Jed Ortmeyer was waiting. Ortmeyer wasted no getting the puck past the Lake State netminder who left the net open to his left side. Assists on this goal went to Geoff Koch and John Shouneyia.

Both teams continued to skate up and down the ice with Michigan really attacking the net. Both teams also continued to trade penalties when Lake State picked up a penalty with just over thirteen minutes to play. There were two seconds remaining on a prior penalty forcing the Wolverines to wait a short time before going on the power play. Michigan got their second power play goal of the game with just eleven seconds left in the power play. Once again it was good puck handling and passing that got the puck out in front of the net where the Wolverines again found an opening to the Lake State netminders left side. This time it was Murray, Matzka and Langfeld with the assists, that got the goal.

Both teams continued to trade penalties and power plays for the remainder of the period. Lake State almost got a goal with just over thirty seconds left in the period, but they missed a completely wide open net. Blackburn had gone out of goal to play a puck behind the net, but he got tangled up with other players and was late getting back to the crease. A Laker got the puck, but another Michigan player got in the way to break things up just enough to keep Lake State off the board. The first period came to an end with Michigan holding a 2 to nothing lead. Michigan held a commanding lead in shots on goal after the first period with a 17 to 6 count.

The second period was a bit different. Michigan continued to work hard, but they worked hardest on defense. Both teams got several power play chances, but neither team was able to capitalize. Lake State out shot the Wolverines in this period 12 to 5. The second period came to an end with the score still 2 to nothing in favor of the Wolverines. Lake State did close the gap in shots on goal, but Michigan still held a slight edge with a 22 to 18 count.

Lake State started the third period with 1:03 of power play time, but they were unable to score a goal. There were only three penalties called in the third period, two against Michigan and one against Lake State. Neither team was able to score while on the power play. Michigan continued to work very hard on the defensive side of the puck, while Lake State continued to get the shots on goal. The game ended with Michigan winning by a score of 2 to nothing. At the end of the game the shots on goal were even with each team having 29.

The Wolverines came up with a good, hard working, hard fought victory in their first CCHA game of the second half. It wasn’t their best game of the year, but it was significantly better than either game they played last weekend. The second game of this two game series will be played Sunday afternoon starting at 3 PM. There is a little longer wait than usual to see if Michigan can come up with a weekend sweep, a sweep that they badly need.

Week in Review

Michigan’s less than stellar play last weekend cost them dearly in the polls, though they did manage to stay in the top ten. In fact the only teams in the CCHA that played well last weekend were Michigan State and Western Michigan. That play kept Michigan State in first place and allowed the Bronco’s to move a couple more spots into the top five.

The USA World Junior team has had its ups and downs over the last week. On December 29 they lost to the Czech Republic by a score of 2-4. They followed that loss with a win over Sweden on December 31 with a 3-1 decision. On January 2 they lost a quarterfinal game to Canada by a score of 2-1, this was followed January 3 with a 3-2 win over Sweden. The final game for team USA will be on Friday, January 5, 2001 against Switzerland to determine fifth place in the tournament. Michigan’s two missing forwards are having a pretty good tournament. Andy Hilbert is tied for second on team USA (8^th in the tournament) in total points with seven (4 goals, 3 assists). From the Canadian side of the border Mike Cammalleri leads team Canada in points with six (4 goals, 2 assists). Canada also plays their final game on January 5 against Sweden, but they play for the Bronze medal.

Moving closer to home some things have changed on the injury front for the Wolverines. There was good news for David Huntzicker as he found out there was no damage to his ACL. David just needs to work on his rehab and he could return to the line up sometime in the next couple of weeks (exact timing is not yet known). The bad news was to another defenseman as Jay Vancik hurt his knee in the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) and he will be out for at least a couple of weeks. To make up for the thin defense Bill Trainor may be asked to move to the blue line (at least for a week or two).

There wasn’t really anything good to say about last weekend. To give you an idea just how bad it was consider this. The fifteen goals given up by the Wolverines last weekend is the most since they gave up sixteen goals to Minnesota over a weekend back in December 1986. This was the first time since 1983 that Michigan has been swept at the GLI and the first time the Wolverines have been swept this year. This is also the first senior class to end their careers at the GLI without winning at least one championship in at least a decade. While the team was somewhat depleted with some injuries and some players in Russia at the World Juniors, there was simply no reason why they were so non-competitive in these games. They played about as poorly as a team can play and they got the results one would expect from such poor play.

While these two losses sting right now there real impact may not be felt until the middle of March when the NCAA hands out the bids to this years tournament. If they should get the ship righted enough to make the tournament, these two losses could send them back to the East Regional as a four or five seed. With the West Regional in Grand Rapids this year, just two hours from Ann Arbor, seeing Michigan go East would be a real disappointment.

Michigan returns to CCHA play this weekend with a pair of games against Lake Superior. When you look at the records you would certainly think that Michigan would win these games. However, when you look at how poorly they played last weekend and consider that Lake State has given the Wolverines all sorts of trouble the last couple of years, these two games suddenly don’t look so easy. While Cammalleri, Hilbert, and Komisarek should return to Ann Arbor this weekend, it is still not known if they will play. Remember that this weekend’s second game, originally scheduled for Saturday night, has been moved to Sunday afternoon at 3:05PM. The decision to play in the Sunday game will be left to the players, after a very long day of travel from Russia back to the United States. With or without these players Michigan has two games to play this weekend and they must win these games. If they want to keep pace in the conference race they simply cannot afford to loose either one of these games. Michigan State plays out of conference this weekend so these two games will bring Michigan even with the Spartans in games played. If we win them both we will move to within two points of the Spartans, loose them both and the team will be six points out of first with no games in hand. This is a weekend where the fans find out what this team is made of, whether good or bad. Let’s hope they decide to come to play and win these two games to start the second half of CCHA play off in good fashion.