Thursday, April 5, 2001

Thursday, April 5, 2001, Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York

With the possibility of only two more games for each team you would have expected both teams to come out flying, but the only team flying at the start of this game was the Boston College Eagles. The Eagles put pressure on the Michigan goal from the very start and never let up. In the first four minutes of the game the Eagles had already out shot the Wolverines 4 to 1 and that was just counting the shots that got through to the goal. It wasn't just an offense that the Wolverines were lacking it was a lack of fundamental hockey that hurt Michigan as they turned the puck over several times to give the Eagles easy chances at their netminder. It would take half of the first period, but Boston College finally got one past Blackburn as Chuck Kobasew slid the puck into the net off a pass from Tony Voce.

About three minutes after giving up the first goal of the game the Wolverines took the first penalty of the game as Mike Cammalleri was called for holding to put Boston College on the power play. Michigan had done a fairly good job of killing of this power play until there were just twenty-nine seconds left when their penalty kill faltered. Michigan lost track of the puck in their own zone, Boston College defenseman Bobby Allen took a shot from the left point, and the puck was redirected past Blackburn by Ben Eaves. This goal came with five and a half minutes left in the period and suddenly the hole the Wolverines were in got a little bit deeper.

Michigan would get a power play chance of their own when Brian Gionta was called for tripping when he dropped Scott Matzka to the ice to stop what might have been a great scoring chance for Michigan. The power play came to naught and the first period ended with Boston College holding the 2 to nothing lead. Michigan got a little closer in shots on goal, but the Eagles still held the edge with a 14 to 10 count.

The second period would start differently as Michigan finally seemed to realize they were playing in a hockey game and at least in the early going carried the play to Boston College. In the first four minutes of the period Michigan had out shot the Eagles 3 to zero and with the Wolverines getting some decent pressure on the Boston College goal. With just over 13 minutes to go in the period Boston College had gotten a few shots of their own, but they committed the first penalty of the period to put Michigan on the power play for the second time in the game. While the Wolverines were able to get a couple of shots off late in the power play it was not very well run and Boston College killed it off with relative ease.

Just as the Wolverine power play ended both teams were called for penalties leaving both teams with four men on the ice for two minutes. With 46 seconds left in this pair of penalties Michigan's Mike Komisarek was called for roughing to give the Eagles a 4 on 3 power play. Michigan was able to get through that 46 seconds to get four men on the ice, but the Eagles still had 1:14 of power play time remaining. With 26 seconds remaining in this power play Boston College scored again as they had Blackburn diving all over the ice trying to stop a flurry of Boston College shots. Once again it was Chuck Kobasew who would get the puck past Blackburn to stake the Eagles to a three to nothing lead.

Less than a minute later, just when it looked like Michigan might be down and out they finally get a goal. After working the puck into the Boston College zone Jeff Jillson found John Shouneyia alone in front of the Eagle net and Shouneyia put a back hand shot over Clemmensen's shoulder to get Michigan back within two goals. Assists on this goal went to Jeff Jillson and Josh Langfeld and it looked like Michigan might be ready to fight their way back into this game.

Both teams would loose a player to penalties with just over six minutes to play in the period, once again leaving both teams with four men. About a minute into this pair of penalties it looked like Michigan was going to get their second goal of the game when Andy Hilbert got free on a clean break. However, Hilberts shot went high and wide to keep the Boston College lead at two goals. The period would come to an end with Boston College leading by a score of 3 to 1. Both teams managed nine shots on goal in this period leaving Boston College with a 23 to 19 shot advantage after two periods.

Boston College would get the first really good scoring chance in this period, as Michigan would let an Eagle loose right in front of their goal. Blackburn came up with a huge save to keep Michigan in the hunt. With the Wolverines playing with a certain degree of desperation David Huntzicker found Mike Cammalleri in front of the Eagle goal where Cammalleri got off a shot that beat Clemmensen with just over five minutes gone in the period.

With almost fifteen minutes left in the game it looked like Michigan was in good shape to at least take Boston College to overtime. However, Boston College was going to have something to say about that. Just after the second Michigan goal the Eagles would come up with another great scoring chance, but again Blackburn turned the shot away. Blackburn also turned the rebound shot away to keep Michigan within one. Michigan's Josh Langfeld would get a great chance of his own less than a minute later, but again Clemmensen came up big for the Eagles. Boston College would again get a couple more shots at the Michigan net, which Blackburn again turned away. Within 45 seconds of Michigan's second goal there was a flurry of scoring chances at both ends of the ice with the goaltenders coming up big for both teams.

Both teams battled back and forth, up and down the ice for the next several minutes when the Eagles would again get a great scoring chance with just under three minutes left in the game. This time Brian Gionta intercepted a pass at the blue line and charged in all alone, only to see his shot gloved by Blackburn.

With just 1:04 left in the game Michigan took a time out to determine their course of action in the final 60 seconds. Coming out of the time out the face off was closer to the Michigan net so Blackburn had to stay in the game. However, the Wolverines got control of the puck and headed for the Boston College end of the ice with Blackburn following them up and off the ice. Michigan was looking for that tying goal with the extra attacker, but it would bet the Eagles who scored the next goal. Michigan lost control of the puck and with 20.2 seconds left in the game Ben Eaves would get his second goal of the game, into the empty Michigan net, to seal the win for Boston College. The final score was 4 to 2 in favor of the Eagles. Michigan did outshoot the Eagles 14 to 13 in the final period, but the Eagles ended the game with a 36 to 33 advantage in shots on goal.

The Wolverines once again had to end a game wondering what might have been had they played a full 60 minutes of hockey. The Eagles were just to good a team to spot them three goals, two of them in the first period. It was perhaps poetic justice for the Eagles as they had two freshmen score all four of their goals to beat Michigan. It was two Michigan freshmen who beat Boston College back in 1998 for the National Championship. Perhaps in four years a couple of new Michigan freshmen will get a chance to beat Boston College in another big game. While it was disappointing to loose at least the Wolverines made it back to the frozen four for the first time since 1998. This allowed the three classes that had never been to a frozen four to find out what it takes to get there and to find out just how hard it is to win. Perhaps this will provide them with a bit more motivation going into next year. The Wolverines will have a large and talented freshman class of their own next year. Perhaps they will get a chance to make a little bit of history of their own in next years frozen four.