Friday, October 20, 2000

Friday, October 20, 2000, BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, Ohio

Michigan starts the defense of their regular season CCHA championship tonight against the Bowling Green Falcons. After a couple of weeks of tournament play, in which Michigan played fairly well, we get started in conference play. Before we get into any of this conference play let’s take a quick look at the national scene.

A couple of teams started CCHA play last weekend, while most teams continued to play out of conference. The end result of last weeks games is some unfamiliar teams sitting on top of the CCHA. Those Bronco’s need to enjoy their position at the top, because I don’t think it will last very long. I believe the rest of the conference starts conference play this weekend, while most of those teams that played conference games last week, play out of conference this week. Other than that there wasn’t really that much activity in the CCHA this week.

Michigan’s task this weekend, as they begin the defense of last year’s CCHA championship, will be to play hard and sweep the weekend. Bowling Green gave the Wolverines all kinds of trouble last year. In general Michigan seemed to have problems last year with teams they should have beat (like the Falcons). While they ultimately survived these problems in the conference those losses did hurt Michigan at the end of the year. They got the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and probably would have gotten an at large bid, but they were right on the edge at the end of the year (going by the RPI). Other than skating hard I believe Michigan must have good special teams play in these games. Michigan's power play has improved to a point where they are converting at a 20% rate, but they need to improve this over the year. They should really be somewhere around a 25-30% conversion rate by the time this season comes to an end. The penalty kill is where the Wolverines really need to improve. They are only killing penalties about 74% of the time and they need to get this up to 85-90%. On the weekend the overriding priority is to win both of these games. They only play Bowling Green twice this season and these two games are it – they need to win them both. Over the course of the weekend Michigan needs to improve on special teams and just take it to these Falcons. I do look for the Wolverines to pick up two wins on the weekend, but I expect the Falcons to make Michigan work for every inch of ice. Let’s move to the action.

We are under way in CCHA play as Mark Kosick takes a big hit early in the game; there were no penalties, but Mark is not real steady on his feet as he goes to the bench. Michigan, holding true to form, takes the early and first penalty of the game giving Bowling Green the early power play opportunity. With time running out on the Falcon power play Blackburn comes up with a great save to keep the Falcons off the board. The BG power play comes to an end without any damage to the Wolverines. Well Michigan must have decided that one early power play wasn’t good enough for the Falcons as they take yet another penalty putting Bowling Green back on the power play with 3:46 gone in the first period. The Falcons are really buzzing the Wolverine net right now as Blackburn comes up with another great save to keep Michigan in the game. Michigan kills off their second penalty as well as play moves into the Falcon zone. With the face off in the Falcon zone Langfeld comes close to giving Michigan the early lead, but the BG netminder comes up with a big save to keep the game scoreless. Kosick, back on the ice, takes a pass and he comes close to getting a backhand shot into the BG net. On the down side UM missed the goal, on the upside BG finally gets called for a penalty giving Michigan their first power play opportunity of the night. Right at the start of the power play Michigan almost bangs one into the net, but the BG netminder stopped the shot and he also stopped the shot off the rebound. Michigan again attacks the Falcon net and they again just miss getting the quick power play goal. Michigan continues to cycle the puck well in the Falcon zone as the Falcons take a second penalty giving Michigan the two-man advantage for 59 seconds. What a time to take advantage of Bowling Green. Get a goal in this first 59 seconds and we will still have at least one minute of power play time to get the buffer goal. The first penalty was close to expiring when Mark Mink went top shelf to get the first Wolverine goal of the night. The assists on this goal go to Shouneyia and Komisarek (his first point as a Wolverine). Michigan remains on the power play for about one minute looking for a little cushion on their one goal lead at the mid-point of this first period. Michigan really flying around the Falcon goal right now, as the Falcons hang on by a fingernail. Well the Michigan power play comes to an end; as that happens Langfeld gets called for a penalty. The Wolverines have certainly been applying all kinds of pressure early in this game, but they once again find themselves killing off a penalty (their third in the first ten or so minutes of this period). Just seconds into this Falcon power play BG gets called for a penalty of their own to put the teams at even strength, four on four. Of course we have to look that gift horse in the mouth and commit yet another penalty putting the Falcons back on the power play (skating four on three). The teams had returned to even strength, four on four, when Michigan cleared the puck out of the Falcon zone. Matzka picks the puck up at center ice, flashes into the Falcon zone, and smashes the puck past the BG goalie to move the Wolverine lead to two goals (it’s also Matzka’s first goal of the season). The assists on this goal goes to Langfeld and Trainor. Michigan is all over the Bowling Green goal right now as the Falcons move back to the power play. Hilbert just missed on a shot as Michigan got a two on one break. Late in the first period Bowling Green picks up an interference call to put Michigan on the power play. Jillson just clanged a shot off the goal post as Michigan continues to apply pressure to the Falcon goal. Cammalleri gets off a shot, that is blocked, but it rebounds. Michigan looks to get at the rebound, but they just can’t quite get there. Bowling Green just gets out of that power play and with five seconds left in the opening period the face off moves into the Michigan zone. The first period comes to an end with Michigan holding the two to nothing lead. Michigan holds the commanding edge in shots on goal with a 17 to 3 count.

Michigan started this period just like they ended the first period by jumping all over the Falcon goal. Bowling Green had dodged the bullet and were breaking out of the Michigan zone when they turned it over right at the blue line and suddenly Michigan was flying back toward the BG goal with a three on one break. Michigan beats the Falcon netminder to move their lead to three to nothing early in the second period. Mark Mink notched his second goal of the night on this play with the assist going to Shouneyia. Following that Michigan goal the Wolverines get called for a penalty putting the Falcons on the power play looking to cut the Wolverine lead. Bowling Green got a couple of looks at the Wolverine net, but Blackburn turns them all away to maintain Michigan’s three-goal lead. It looked like Trainor had picked up another Wolverine goal as he had the Falcon netminder looking behind him into the net, however, the puck got hung up in the goalies pads and Michigan will have to settle for no goal. With 7:01 gone in the second period the Falcons get called for a penalty putting Michigan back on the power play. The Falcons get this penalty killed off without suffering any more damage, but Michigan did come close a couple of times. Michigan gets called for their second penalty of the period to put the Falcons back on the power play as they try to claw their way back into this game. The Falcons trying to make everything they can of this chance as they are buzzing the Michigan net, but Blackburn has come up with a couple of big saves to maintain his shutout. Michigan’s penalty has expired, but the Falcons came awfully close to notching their first goal of the season. Things are starting to get a little chippy as the frustration factor starts to set in for the Falcons. We get some matching penalties as we see two Wolverines and two Falcons head into the penalty box. Not long after this penalty Michigan gets called for another penalty to put Bowling Green on the power play. Just 19 seconds into the Falcon power play Michigan’s Cammalleri comes up with a short handed goal to extend Michigan’s lead to four goals. The assist on this goal went to Ortmeyer. Bowling Green finally cracks the Wolverine goal line as they score their first goal of the night while on the power play. This was the Falcons first goal of the game (and the season) and came on the same power play that just saw Michigan pick up their short-handed goal. Michigan continues to attack the Falcon goal as they look to get that Falcon goal back. The Wolverines have come so close in the last minute or so and they finally hook Cammalleri to stop his scoring chance and Michigan moves back to the power play late in the second period. Bowling Green has committed another penalty to give Michigan the two-man advantage for 1:09. Michigan is just hammering at the Falcon goal with their two-man advantage. The Falcon netminder finally grabs the puck and we will have a face off in the Falcon zone. The two-man advantage comes to an end, but Michigan continues on the power play, as we are under one minute to go in this second period. Michigan’s Matzka gets called for a retaliation penalty right at the end of the second period; Matzka should know better than that. Well we will have to deal with that at the start of the third period as this second stanza comes to an end with Michigan holding the 4 to 1 lead. Michigan still holds the commanding lead in shots on goal with a 33 to 16 count.

The two teams will start the third period skating four on four for about 16 seconds. Then Bowling Green will move to the early third period power play. Michigan has escaped any damage by killing off this most recent Falcon power play and the Wolverines return to the attack. Michigan was flying into the Falcon zone and just missed getting their fifth goal of the night. Jillson lets a shot go from the point off the face off that beats the Falcon goalie to move Michigan out to a five to one lead with 14:39 to go in the period. This was a power play goal with assists going to Kosick and Cammalleri. We have an injury on the ice as a Michigan stick finds its way under a Falcon face mask and into his wind pipe area. There could be a penalty, but no penalties are called after the short injury delay. Michigan gets called for a bench minor (to many men on the ice) to put Bowling Green on the power play for the tenth time tonight. Matzka and Hilbert got a break just at the end of the Falcon power play, but they were unable to get a shot off. Michigan has killed off the Falcon power play and Michigan returns to the attack as soon as they return to full strength. Michigan just misses on another scoring chance, but they don’t let the opportunity to commit a penalty go by. Bowling Green returns to the power play as Michigan adds yet another penalty to their long list of penalties for the night. Michigan kills off this penalty and we approach the five-minute mark in this game. Hilbert was making a move on the Falcon goal, but he gets dragged down and Michigan gets a power play chance with less than five minutes left in the game. Michigan taking the occasional shot as we move under the three-minute mark of this game. The Falcons were able to kill off the Michigan power play, but Michigan just hammered the Falcon net. The Falcons were able to hold the Wolverines at bay, but that was so very close. Shouneyia gets a goal for the night as the Wolverines just fly around the Falcon net with 1:05 left in the game. Mink and Komisarek pick up the assists on this goal. We are in the final minute of play in this game sitting on a five-goal lead. This game comes to an end and Michigan wins by a score of 6 to 1 as they open their defense of the CCHA championship. Michigan ends the game with a big edge in shots on goal with a 47 to 27 count.

Well Michigan did what they needed to do in this game. They skated hard and just flew around the Falcon zone all night long. This game was never in question as Michigan just dominated the game. The play of the key players in both the senior and sophomore classes continues. At least for tonight the sophomores seemed to lead the attack. Michigan got a couple of power play goals as well as a short-handed goal and they certainly improved their penalty kill percentage. However, Michigan has got to get this penchant for penalties under control. They were able to survive tonight because of who they played, but if they give the better teams in the conference (or country) all these power play chances they are going to get hurt. Penalties, and the resultant power play goals, hurt the Wolverines last year at key points in the season, and that will happen again this year if they continue to rack up the penalty minutes. That being said Michigan does seem to be coming together. Those early season games against top notch competition does seem to have made quite a difference; the Wolverines appear to be getting things rolling just as we enter conference play. The hockey team will take Saturday night off and then return to Bowling Green Sunday evening to finish this series. The rest will be good for the team as they work off the jet lag from that trip to Alaska last weekend, but they must come back to Bowling Green and play just as hard on Sunday. Until Sunday, C-ya.