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Saturday, October 14, 2000
Saturday, October 14, 2000, Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska
Michigan goes into the second night of the Johnson Nissan Classic looking to stake their claim to the championship as they take on the host Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. The Seawolves lost 5-4 to the Spartans on Friday night in a tough fought contest. If I understand the criteria being used to determine a tournament champion Michigan State holds the edge over Michigan because they scored one more goal in Friday nights games than did Michigan. If both teams win their contests tonight the championship will belong to one of the two Michigan teams. It will come down to the intangibles; how many goals, how many goals allowed, etc…
Michigan played a fairly aggressive game last night and they seem to be getting some rhythm in their game. Look for Michigan to come out firing on all cylinders in tonight’s contest as they prepare to begin CCHA play next week against Bowling Green. The Seawolves had their best year in quite some time last year and they believe this year could be a break through year for them. Michigan can expect their best shot in this game as Michigan State found out last night. The Seawolves gave the Spartans everything they could handle last night, so the Wolverines must come out ready to play. I do expect a Michigan win by a score similar to last night (the 4-2 or 5-2 range). It’s about time for the game to get underway so let’s move right to the action.
I have had incredible bad luck finding a web site that I can listen to the game on so I don’t know how much of this game I’m going to hear. Finally, WTKA tells me what is going on. The Merrimack-Michigan State game went a little bit long so the Michigan game is running what looks to be about one half hour late. We haven’t missed any of the action and we are almost ready to go. It’s about 11:50 PM and we are finally under way. The Seawolves go with a different goalie in tonight’s contest. Michigan starts out quick by getting the puck into the Seawolf end off the face off. Michigan gets off a quick shot, the puck goes to center ice, and then they bring it right back into the Alaska zone. Alaska breaks out and they crash the UM net getting off a shot of their own that Blackburn turns aside. Koch is playing in tonight’s game, but I haven’t heard yet whether Jillson is playing. Michigan came close to picking up a score right their as they get off another shot in close. Both teams pick up roughing penalties just over four minutes into the period so we will skate four on four for two minutes. These two teams are really skating up and down the ice in the early going of this game; as expected the Seawolves have come to play. Both teams are back to full strength as we move under the fourteen-minute mark in this contest. The Seawolves have a flurry of shots at the Michigan net, but Blackburn is able to turn them all away. They came close to getting an early lead right there and we don’t want to give them any early success given the intensity with which they are skating. Like Michigan the Seawolves are a fast hockey team and both teams continue to wheel up and down the ice. As we near the midpoint of the first period the Seawolves draw first blood as they get the puck past Blackburn. Michigan left an Alaska player all alone in the slot trailing the original players and Michigan pays the price. Alaska almost got a second goal right there, but this time Blackburn comes up with the big save. An icing call will bring the puck back into the Alaska zone for a face off with just under nine minutes left in the first period. Alaska continues to bring it right at the Wolverines, as we seem to be having a few problems with the speedy Seawolves. Michigan gets back to even as Jed Ortmeyer gets his first goal of the season to put Michigan on the board. Ortmeyer’s shot was a speeding bullet and the assists on the goal went to Mark Kosick and Mike Cammalleri. Alaska picks up a penalty to give Michigan the first power play opportunity of the night with just under five minutes left in the period. Michigan working the puck around the Seawolf zone looking for the shot that will give them the go ahead goal. Ortmeyer gets off a one timer, but the Seawolf netminder stops the shot. Michigan kept the puck in the Seawolf zone for most of the power play, but they were unable to score. The Seawolf goalie was down on the ice and Mink was coming at the goal with the puck, but he couldn’t get the puck over the prone netminder. A great chance is missed, but the face off comes back to the Seawolf zone as the Seawolves ice it to relieve the pressure on their goalie. Michigan gets hit with a cross check penalty with about 1 ½ minutes left in this first period to put the Seawolves on the power play for the first time tonight. It didn’t take them long as the Seawolves get the quick power play goal to regain the lead. Blackburn stopped their first shot, but didn’t cover it and the Seawolves punch the rebound into the Wolverine net. Michigan just misses getting a goal in the final seconds of the period and the period comes to an end with the Seawolves holding a 2 to 1 lead. The Seawolves also hold the edge in shots on goal with a 12 to 10 count.
We are back under way as Michigan looks to get this game back to even. The Seawolves continue to bring the action to the Wolverines as they get an early shot off, but Blackburn kicks it aside. Michigan ices the puck to relieve the pressure and the face off will return to the Michigan zone. The Seawolves continue to apply pressure early in this period and Michigan gets called for a hook to put the Seawolves back on the power play. The first time Alaska went to the power play they made Michigan pay, let’s see if we can kill this one off and then get our game going. Michigan gets a two on one break, but the Seawolf goalie turns the shot away. Michigan kills of this penalty and both teams are back to full strength. Michigan breaks free of their zone, crash the Seawolf net, and Andy Hilbert scores with a backhand shot to tie this game up for the Wolverines. Assists on this goal went to Josh Langfeld and Mark Kosick with 6:13 gone in the period. Michigan had another scoring chance, but passed the puck one time to many and the chance slipped away. While fighting for the puck in the corner Michigan gets called for another hooking penalty and Alaska will get their second power play chance of this period. Michigan kills off the power play and returns to full strength without suffering any more damage. Alaska gets a break away and they get a shot off right at Blackburn. Blackburn stops the shot, but Michigan gets called for another hooking penalty and Alaska gets another power play chance in this period. The Seawolves are buzzing around the Michigan zone looking for the open shot. Michigan is able to kill off this penalty without giving up a goal and we again skate at full strength with just over five minutes left in the period. It’s late in the second period and now it’s Michigan buzzing the Seawolf net. The Seawolves get a two on one break, but Huntzicker comes up with a great play to break things up. We move under one minute to go in the period with the score still tied at two goals apiece. The Seawolves come up with the late period goal to regain the lead in this game just as it appeared the period would end with the score tied. Michigan is going to have to play a great third period if they want to put this Alaska team away in this game. The second period comes to an end with the Seawolves holding a 3 to 2 lead. Michigan drew closer in shots on goal, but Alaska still holds the slight edge with a 21 to 20 count.
Michigan starts the third period down by a goal so let’s hope they come out flying. Michigan just got two shots at the Alaska net, but they were unable to get one past the Seawolf netminder. With just over four minutes gone in this period Alaska gets called for a penalty and Michigan gets a power play chance as they look for the tying goal. The power play ends with Michigan unable to take advantage of the power play opportunity. Shouneyia got off a shot that was blocked, but the rebound came out front where Mink just missed getting to it. Michigan continues to put pressure on the Seawolf goal. The Seawolves finally get out of their zone and get what appears to have been a goal, but it is waved off as the officials call Alaska for being offside. Both of these teams continue to play a wide-open style of hockey as we approach the midpoint of this period. Right now Alaska is putting the pressure on the Michigan goal as the Wolverines look for an answer to this Seawolf team. Michigan again gets a shot off that is blocked and again they can’t get to the rebound. We move under the ten-minute mark still trailing the Seawolves by a goal. Kosick was zooming into the Seawolf zone with the puck when the Seawolves interfered to put Michigan on the power play. This would be a good time for the Wolverines to pick up a much needed power play goal. Again Michigan is unable to take advantage of the power play as they continue to trail by a goal. Alaska almost got the puck to their player coming out of the box, but Blackburn ends up with the puck and the face off will be to Blackburns left. Langfeld finally gets past the defense and scores Michigan’s third goal of the night to draw back to even. The assist on this goal went to Jay Vancik as the game approaches the final five minutes. The action continues at a fast and furious pace as both of these teams look for the winning goal. As we move under four minutes to play the puck takes a funny hop on its way toward the Alaska goal. The bounce makes the Seawolf goalie miss the puck and suddenly Michigan takes the lead for the first time tonight. The goal went to Jed Ortmeyer with the assists going to Mike Roemensky and Mike Cammalleri. Andy Burnes just came up with a great defensive play to break up a Seawolf scoring chance. Michigan continues to hang onto their one goal lead as we go under three minutes to play. As we approach the two-minute mark the Seawolf goalie nabs a shot and we will get a face off in the Alaska zone. Alaska gets off a shot of their own and Blackburn grabs that one and now we have a face off in the Michigan zone with 1:32 left in regulation time. With about one minute left in the period the Alaska goalie is pulled to give the Seawolves an extra attacker. Hilbert misses a shot at the open net, which would have given Michigan the insurance goal. Blackburn comes up with two great shots to preserve Michigan’s lead and he finally gets control of the puck with just 17 seconds left in the period. Alaska calls time out so they can determine how to attack the Michigan net. Whew, the game comes to an end with Michigan winning by a score of 4 to 3. Michigan overtook the Seawolves in shots in the final period to end the game with a 32 to 26 shot advantage.
The Seawolves give Michigan all they wanted to see tonight in this game after they gave the Spartans a whole lot of trouble last night. I think the Seawolves may have some surprises in store for the other teams in the WCHA this year. Geoff Koch did return to the line up in tonight’s contest, but Jeff Jillson missed his second consecutive game with an injury. Several key players had big weekends for Michigan and most of those players come from the senior and sophomore classes (as we would expect). Michigan comes out of the weekend with two wins, which is what they really needed to do. As a bonus Michigan wins the Johnson Nissan Classic tournament, but the most important item of the weekend was the two wins for Michigan. Andy Hilbert makes the all tournament team, as does Josh Langfeld. Langfeld also picked up the tournament MVP award. Michigan begins CCHA play next weekend with two games against Bowling Green. Both games will be at Bowling Green with the first game on Friday and the second game on Sunday. Until next week, C-ya!
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