College Hockey Showcase, Thursday, November 23, 2000

College Hockey Showcase, Thursday, November 23, 2000, Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin

It didn’t take long for Michigan to get something going in this game as Cammalleri came across the Wisconsin blue line and let loose a shot that went top shelf and into the net. Just twenty seconds into the game Michigan takes a 1 to nothing lead. Assists on this goal went to Hilbert and Jillson. Michigan made another great push into the Wisconsin zone and Ortmeyer just charged toward the net, but got dragged down before he could get a shot off. Ortmeyer is skating on a line with Langfeld and Kosick tonight. Wisconsin takes the first penalty of the night and Michigan will get their first chance on the power play in tonight’s contest. Michigan has been trying to get something set up on this power play, but so far Wisconsin has kept them from really getting any good chance. About five minutes of this first period have gone by and the first Wisconsin penalty was just coming to an end when Wisconsin picked up their second penalty of the night to keep Michigan on the power play. It did look like Michigan was starting to solve the Badger defense as that first power play was ending. Michigan really starting to put some pressure on the Wisconsin goal right now, a second goal would really boost the Wolverines. Michigan just peppering the Badger goal with shots and Mink just got one past the Badger netminder as Michigan got several shots off in a row. Cammalleri and Shouneyia pick up assists on this power play goal. Shortly after this goal Komisarek picked up a penalty for tripping to give Wisconsin a chance with their power play. This is what Michigan cannot afford to do as they get called for too many men on the ice to give Wisconsin the two-man advantage for 33 seconds. The first Michigan penalty is over and the Wisconsin advantage is down to one man. Now Michigan gets a break out and comes close to picking up a short-handed goal. Wisconsin ices the puck to relieve the pressure on their goal and the face off comes in the Wisconsin zone. Michigan kills off their penalties and they are again at full strength – real good penalty kill. Just after killing off these last two penalties the Wolverines pick up a third straight penalty to put the Badgers back on the power play. I don’t know what they are thinking; they are short of defensemen, yet they continue to put Wisconsin on the power play. Michigan again kills off the penalty, let’s see if we can get through the rest of this period without any more of those as there are just a little over seven minutes left in this first period. A delay penalty coming up against Wisconsin. Wisconsin touches the puck, the penalty is called, and Michigan goes back on the power play. Wisconsin is able to kill off the penalty without giving up any additional goals as we move under the two-minute mark in this period. Blackburn comes up with a big save right at the buzzer to keep Wisconsin off the board so period one comes to an end with Michigan leading by a score of 2 to nothing. Michigan also leads in shots on goal with a 17 to 10 count.

It’s been pretty much a back and forth contest as both teams move up and down the ice in the first five minutes of this second period. It looked like Wisconsin was going to come up with a goal, but Blackburn comes up with a huge save to keep the Badgers from notching their first goal of the night. Kosick was charging into the Wisconsin goal when he was dragged down from behind, putting Michigan on the power play for the first time in this period (4:08 gone in the period). Michigan works the puck into the Wisconsin zone nicely and they get a shot off, but it hits a post. Michigan is just pumping the puck at the Badger net right now as they continue to look for that third goal of this game. Michigan had let the puck out of the Wisconsin zone, then after clearing the zone Kosick got behind the Wisconsin defense and they got a pass down the ice to him. Kosick went in on the goal all alone and put a nice little backhand shot into the Badger net to put Michigan up 3 to nothing. Assists go to Cammalleri and Jillson on this power play goal. Wisconsin starting to get a little bit physical, Michigan has to keep their cool and look for those power play chances. Michigan was crashing the Badger net again when Hilbert went down and into the net to end the scoring chance. The face off will come in the Badger zone when play resumes. Michigan got a shot off the face off, but it hit the post as they just miss getting their fourth goal of this game. Wisconsin getting a little pressure of their own right now as we approach the midpoint of this period. Kautz just gets blasted into the boards and Wisconsin puts Michigan back on the power play. That was awful close to a five minute penalty so let’s make them pay with a power play goal. Michigan is unable to convert on that power play as Wisconsin returns to full strength. We are down to the last 5:07 of this period with Michigan still leading by a score of 3 to nothing. Wisconsin got a good rush on the Michigan zone and Blackburn comes up with another great save to keep the Badgers off the board – you don’t want to give them one this late in this period. Michigan takes a penalty to put Wisconsin on the power play late in the second period (this was one of those stupid penalties). Nice penalty kill they’re as the Wisconsin power play comes to an end with just 1:52 left in this period. With just a little over 1 minute to go in this period Wisconsin is called for a penalty to put Michigan on the power play. The second period comes to an end with Michigan leading by a score of 3 to nothing. Michigan extended their advantage in shots on goal with out shooting the Badgers 15 to 8 in this period, giving them a 32 to 18 shot advantage for the game.

Michigan starts the third period with about 20 seconds of power play time from that late Badger penalty in the second period. Michigan is unable to get the quick power play goal and both teams are again skating at full strength. Just as the power play ends Wisconsin comes into the UM zone hard and Blackburn comes up with a great save, but he got pulled out of position. A great play by Michigan to shut down the chance for Wisconsin to get a goal past Blackburn before he could recover. Things have been fairly routine through the first 6 or 7 minutes of this period as both teams move the puck up and down the ice. With 13:18 left in this final period Michigan picks up the first penalty of this period to put Wisconsin on the power play as they look to overcome the three-goal Michigan lead. That will end the Wisconsin power play as Wisconsin picks up a penalty with roughly 30 seconds left in their power play. The teams will skate four on four until Michigan can get back to full strength and go on the power play. Michigan now on the power play looking for a little extra cushion for their lead. Michigan really moving the puck around the Badger zone, but so far they haven’t really gotten many shots. Michigan came close their as they get a flurry of shots as this power play begins to wind down. We are under the ten-minute mark of this period as the action certainly has picked up in intensity the last minute or so. As we approach the five-minute mark in this period Michigan gave the puck away and Wisconsin got off a shot, but Blackburn was right there to smother the shot. With just under five minutes to go Michigan again gives the puck away in their zone and Wisconsin had a clean shot that gets past Blackburn to put the Badgers on the board. Michigan needs to buckle down right now and get through this last five minutes of the game without any more defensive mistakes. That goal put some jump in the Wisconsin team’s legs and certainly woke up the crowd, which has been pretty dormant in this game. We move under the three-minute mark in this period as Wisconsin continues to look for that second goal. That was close as the shot from the face off hit the Michigan post, but it bounces away to maintain Michigan’s two goal lead. We now have less than two minutes as Michigan gets called for a penalty. Then a Badger takes a punch at a Michigan player to put himself in the sin bin to leave the teams skating four on four. Check that, two Wolverines go into the box so Wisconsin is going to have the 4 on 3 power play with 1:50 to go in the game. Blackburn comes up with a great save, but doesn’t cover the rebound. Wisconsin punches the rebound into the net to get within one goal with 1:17 left in regulation time. We have a one-goal game as the teams skate four on four – now look for Wisconsin to pull their goaltender. The Badger goalie comes out with 56 seconds to go in the period. Wisconsin calls a time out with 45 seconds to go in regulation time – Michigan could really use an empty net goal to seal this deal. Wisconsin came close with the two-man advantage, but the clock runs out and Michigan hangs on for the 3 to 2 win. Wisconsin was all over Michigan in this period as they outshoot the Wolverines 15 to 4. This left Michigan with a slight edge in shots on goal for the game with a 36 to 33 count.

Michigan played a pretty good game tonight, with the exception of the last five minutes. They got a little sloppy in the late going, whether it was a little over confidence with only five minutes to go and a three goal lead or they just got tired because of the missing defensemen I don’t know. Maybe Wisconsin just decided to skate for the last five minutes; whatever the case Michigan comes away with the win in the first game of this years College Hockey Showcase. We have a day off so the team will travel to Minnesota tomorrow, then practice on the Minnesota ice. Then they will play the Golden Gophers on Saturday night. It’s kind of weird to see this Thursday night game, then a day off, then a Saturday night game, but given Michigan’s current injury problems this day off is probably the best thing for them. It gives them a chance to rest up before the next game and travel at their leisure. The Wolverines come up with a solid game on Friday night, let’s see if they can put solid games together for two games in one weekend – something they have had problems doing in November. Until Saturday, C-ya.

Week in Review

Michigan’s stunning loss last Saturday night certainly didn’t do them any favors in the CCHA standing (just as it did them no favors in the national polls). The Wolverines still sit in second place, one point behind Michigan State; however, Michigan State played a conference game this past Tuesday and really put the hurt on Lake State. This puts the Spartans a full three points ahead of the Wolverines (with both teams having played nine games). Ohio State is only two points behind Michigan and the Buckeyes have also played one less game than Michigan so they could be considered a second place team. All that being said, Western Michigan is really the team currently in the driver’s seat. They are currently in fifth place five points behind Michigan State, but they have played three fewer games than Michigan State. If they win those extra three games they will move into first place by one point. If that were to happen Michigan would suddenly find itself in third place. Just like last year losing a couple of games that they shouldn’t is going to cause the Wolverines a lot of trouble. Some of those teams in the CCHA who have played fewer games than the Wolverines and Spartans will start to close that gap in games this weekend. Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska play out of conference this weekend, while everyone else plays in conference. We will start to see where Western is going to fit in this weekend as they will close to within one game of Michigan State (in games played).

Jay Vancik was the lone Wolverine being recognized for anything in CCHA play this past weekend as he went +5 in the Wolverines weekend split against the Nannooks. As the end of the first half of the season draws near Michigan has very few players in the top of the league in any category. We have a couple of players in the top in scoring, but only a couple. Blackburn is merely a middle of the pack goaltender when you look at save percentage. The Wolverines are the second highest scoring team in the conference and give up the second fewest goals per game. Our power play percent is currently at 24%, but our penalty kill percent is only 83%. That of course is probably because there is only one other team in the conference (Ferris) that gives their opponents more power play opportunities than the Wolverines. There were two things; out of many, that I mentioned as key components for Michigan to be successful this year. One of those was to win the games they should win. We have lost two of those games in the last couple of weeks so we are not exactly doing things correctly on that count. The other was to keep penalties down. Time after time last year we would commit a penalty at the worst possible time and then give up the power play goal. That same thing seems to be starting this year. We have got to take fewer penalties to keep out of those penalty kill situations. The Wolverines have to learn to take the hits, smile at the other player, and then make them pay with power play goals of our own. It might not be easy to do, but I don’t remember anyone ever saying anything about things always being easy.

One final note of CCHA news regarding the game disqualification’s handed out for the brawl that happened after the Saturday night game against Ferris. Kevin O’Malley was given two additional games of suspension time, meaning he won’t be eligible to play again until the second game this weekend. Ferris goalie Vince Owen was given one additional game of suspension time. The conference also gave Ferris State defenseman Chad McIver a one game suspension for coming off the bench in the Friday night Ferris game and jumping Huntzicker. O’Malley and Owens were given the extra time for starting a second fight after their initial confrontation ended.

Before getting into game information a little update on the venerable Yost Ice Arena. Michigan will embark on a $1.4 million dollar expansion starting on April 23, 2001. The construction job will complete on October 2, 2001, just in time for the start of next year’s season. In the last construction project Yost lost about 900 seats. This construction phase will put about 300 of those lost seats back in the Arena in the form of a balcony along the east side of the Arena (opposite the press box on the west side).

As I said before this weekends games are in the College Hockey Showcase which includes Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Michigan and Michigan State will not play each other, but will swap opponents over the weekend. Michigan starts off with Wisconsin this Thursday night, while Michigan State starts out against Minnesota on Friday night. Michigan will then take on Minnesota on Saturday night while Michigan State will take on Wisconsin on Saturday. For obvious reasons I want Michigan to win both games, but I also want the Spartans to win both of their games. The CCHA could use some additional wins against non-conference opponents – especially top-notch opponents like Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have some statistics, which I got from the CCHA web site, regarding both of these teams and their WCHA opponents.

For the Spartans MSU owns a 2-5-0 record against Minnesota in College Hockey Showcase play. The Spartans have not won at Mariucci Arena since the start of the Showcase series and have 12 wins against the Gophers in Minneapolis in 66 tries. On the other hand, MSU is 6-1-0 vs. Wisconsin in Showcase games, including a perfect 4-0-0 in Madison. The Spartans’ lone loss to the Bagders in the Showcase series came at Munn Ice Arena last year, when UW handed MSU a 5-1 defeat. MSU has swept both of its Showcase games just once (1997) since the series began in 1993. The Spartans have never been swept in the Showcase.

For the Wolverines Thursday’s game will be the 112th meeting between the Wolverines and the Badgers. Michigan leads the series 56-48-7. In Madison, Michigan is 16-29-1. The lone tie (1-1 on Nov. 29, 1998) came in Michigan’s last trip to Wisconsin. Michigan is unbeaten in the last seven games (6-0-1) against the Badgers, dating back to Nov. 25, 1994. Saturday’s game will be the 247th meeting between the Wolverines and the Golden Gophers. Michigan trails in the series 113-119-14. In Minneapolis, the Wolverines are 39-70-7 against Minnesota. Michigan has lost just once - a 6-3 decision at Yost in last year’s College Hockey Showcase (Nov. 26, 1999) - in the last seven meetings.

Michigan leads in the all time series against Wisconsin and could really use a win against the Badgers this Thursday night. Wisconsin, like Michigan, has run into some rocky going in the last few weeks. Since the Badgers were ranked number one in the country they have been on a downward spiral – so have the Wolverines. Michigan really needs to get a big win on the road to start this weekend off on the right foot. Minnesota, I believe, is an even tougher opponent and the Golden Gophers are one of the few teams to hold an advantage in their overall record against the Wolverines. Minnesota is currently ranked number one in the USA Today poll and a win on the road by the Wolverines would do wonders for the Wolverines confidence going into December. While things can get tense on the ice between all of these teams, because of the Big Ten competition in other sports, Michigan needs to stay on focus this weekend. Use their speed and skill and play wide-open hockey. We do not want to get into a clutch and grab, rock-em, sock-em type of game. We want to skate, skate, skate!! They need to avoid stupid penalties, take the hits if they must, and make them pay on the power play. We need a solid two game weekend out of the Wolverines. That might not be so hard to do this weekend as the Wolverines have done well against top-notch competition or against competition that makes them work in the first game of the weekend. Where Michigan seems to get into trouble is when they dominate an opponent in the first game of the weekend. Then they seem unable to focus sufficiently or play efficiently on Saturday night. So for Michigan use their speed, use their skill, and keep the penalties down and we should be in there in each game. All of the teams playing in this years showcase are excellent so nothing is a given on the weekend, but Michigan has as good a chance as anyone. This would also be a great time for a couple of seniors to come back to life and have some good games. Last year Michigan beat Wisconsin quite handily and got absolutely beat up by Minnesota. Let’s hope we can end up on the winning side of things in both contests this weekend.

While I believe Michigan has the players to win these two games, the team must play all sixty minutes every night and they will have to do it with two less defensemen than usual. David Huntzicker went down in last Friday night’s game and it has now become official. Huntzicker is out for at least six weeks as he has torn his MCL. While Brad Fraser came back from his early season knee injury last Saturday to fill in for Huntzicker we lost Fraser this week in practice. Fraser also tore his MCL and is out with Huntzicker for at least six weeks. Perhaps with both of them rehabbing the same injury they will push each other a little harder. Bob Gassoff will get a shot at playing, but according to Coach Berenson his play has been inconsistent this year so it remains to be seen how much he actually plays. Michigan may find it necessary to go with five defensemen, playing more minutes, or moving Ortmeyer to the blue line to fill in. While I hate to see injuries of any kind at any time during the season perhaps these injuries will serve to focus the team a little bit more this weekend. At the start of last year we were short on defensemen and it seemed to rally the troops – perhaps we get the same mileage out of these injuries (just looking for something good in a bad situation). I guess that’s about it for the week in review, see you at game time.