Saturday, January 13, 2001

Saturday, January 13, 2001, Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio

The Wolverines once again try to right the ship tonight as the play the Buckeyes of Ohio State for the second consecutive night in Columbus. Last night Michigan played an inconsistent game and ran into a freshman goalie, who had a career night, stopping everything that came his way. The losses for the Wolverines continue to mount, with any chance for a regular season CCHA championship dimming with each loss. If they want to challenge for this seasons championship they have to start playing consistent hockey every single night out; tonight could well set the tone for the Wolverines for the remainder of the season.

Michigan started this game really flying around the ice getting pressure on the OSU goal right from the start. Ohio State got the first penalty of the game, early, to give Michigan the first power play chance of the night. You know things just aren’t going your way when you start a power play by giving the puck away and allowing the opponent to get a quick shot at your own goal. That, however, is exactly how Michigan started this power play. Michigan’s power play ended after just fifteen or twenty seconds as they pick up a penalty of their own, leaving both teams skating four on four.

The initial flurry was just about the only good thing that happened for Michigan in this period as they continued to turn the puck over in bad places giving the Buckeyes odd man rushes and shots in close. Around the middle of the period Michigan got a break to take the lead in this game. Hilbert was out in front of the net when the puck ended up right in front of him with no Buckeye defenders around. He took the puck and blasted it into the Buckeye goal to put Michigan ahead. Cammalleri and Koch made the initial pass and shot, but no assists were handed out – that may change in the official statistics.

It was only fifty-eight seconds later when Ohio State tied the game when a Buckeye was left all alone in front of the Michigan net. Ohio State got a shot off which was blocked, but Blackburn did not cover the rebound and another Buckeye was right there to put the rebound into the net.

There were a couple of other penalties called in this period, but there were no further goals scored. The first period came to an end with the score all tied up at one goal apiece. After the initial flurry of activity by pressure Ohio State carried the bulk of the play for the remainder of the period. It showed up in the shots on goal totals as the period ended with Ohio State doubling Michigan’s shots with a 12 to 6 count.

Michigan started the second period with sixteen seconds of power play time left, but Ohio State killed that off and both teams returned to full strength. Not long into the period Ohio State was called for roughing to put Michigan back on the power play. While on the power play it appeared that Michigan got their second goal of the game, but it was waved off – the officials saying it was hit by a high stick. With 4:26 gone and still on this power play that second goal was to come for the Wolverines. Hilbert made a drive at the Buckeye goal and got off a shot, but the shot was blocked. This time the Ohio State goalie did not cover the rebound and Langfeld was right there to put the puck into the net and return Michigan to the lead. Assists on this goal went to Hilbert and Cammalleri.

A couple of minutes after that goal a pair of matching penalties was called sending one Wolverine and one Buckeye into the sin bin. With both teams skating four on four and a face off in the Buckeye zone Michigan would strike again. Michigan won the face off and got the puck back to Jillson who let loose a slap shot that made it into the net and gave Michigan some breathing room. The assists on this goal went to Matzka and Koch. The goal came while the teams were even strength so the players stay in the box. Ohio State, perhaps sensing that the game was starting to get away from them, turned up the pressure on the Michigan goal. While trying to hold off the Buckeye charge Jillson picks up a penalty to give Ohio State a 4 on 3 power play. Michigan almost picked up a short handed goal while killing this penalty, but in the end the Wolverines were able to kill off the penalty with no goals scored by either team.

A very short time after Michigan had killed off all of their penalties the Buckeyes picked up a penalty and gave Michigan power play opportunity. Michigan gets a flurry of chances from Ortmeyer and Komisarek early in the power play, but all of those shots were turned away. As the power play was beginning to run down Hilbert made a big drive into the Buckeye zone and got a shot off. His shot was blocked, but the Buckeye netminder did not cover the rebound and Koch was right there to put the puck into the Buckeye goal. It was Koch from Hilbert to Michigan up by three goals.

Michigan continued to apply some pressure in the late going of the second period, but the period came to an end with Michigan holding a 4 to 1 lead. In this period it was Michigan carrying the play and it showed in the shots on goal column as Michigan ends the period in the lead in shots with an 18 to 16 count.

The final period got off to a slower start than the second period with both teams getting a couple of chances each, but none of them real good scoring chances. With almost four minutes gone in the period it looked like Michigan might get a good scoring shot when Matzka came into the Buckeye zone, skating hard for the goal. However, he got a little tangled up with a Buckeye and ended up crashing into the Buckeye goaltender instead and that earned him two minutes in the sin bin.

While trying to kill off this Ohio State power play Michigan was called for a slash and the Buckeyes suddenly had a two-man advantage for 1:23. The Buckeyes knew a great opportunity when they saw it and got their second goal of the game while skating with that two-man advantage. They remained on the power play after scoring the goal. The goal gave the Buckeyes some extra jump and they got some pressure on the Michigan goal, but the Wolverines were able to kill off the penalty without suffering any more damage.

Ohio State continued to apply pressure on the Michigan goal for the next several minutes, but it would be the Wolverines who would draw blood next. With eleven minutes gone in the period Matzka got the puck, cranked up the speed and blew past the Ohio State defense. Once clear of the defense he skated right in on the Buckeye goal and scored Michigan’s fifth goal of the night to get the Wolverines their three-goal lead back.

That goal shifted the momentum back to Michigan and the Wolverines skated with more zip than they had been for several minutes. With about six minutes remaining in the period it was John Shouneyia who skated hard into the Buckeye zone, drew the defense to him, passed the puck over to Ortmeyer, who wasted no time putting the puck in the net. The lone assist on this goal went to Shouneyia.

There were some penalties handed out in the final minutes of the game and each team got a couple more looks at the opponents goal, but neither team was able to score another goal. The game came to an end with Michigan winning by a score of 6 to 2. Ohio State got more shots on goal in this period and ended the game with an advantage in shots for the game with a 29 to 25 count.

Michigan was able to salvage something from this weekend as they come up with a win tonight over the Buckeyes. They played a much better game than they did last night, playing for the entire game. They were also a more physical team tonight than they were were last night, taking care of things defensively and letting the scoring chances come to them. That sets up a showdown next weekend with the Bronco’s of Western Michigan who are now tied for second place in the CCHA after this weekends games. The Friday night game is being played at Yost in Ann Arbor and the Saturday night game will be played at Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.