Michigan Advances To CCHA Final

Saturday, March 16, 2002
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Michigan survived to play this weekend after winning two games in the best of three game series against Lake State last weekend. The Lakers gave Michigan all they wanted and more, winning the first game of the series, while pressing Michigan in the other two games. With their playoff life on the line the Wolverines won their games and advanced to this weekends CCHA semi-final as the number one seed.

Their one loss last weekend hurt the Wolverines badly in relation to the NCAA tournament. It dropped them five spots in the Pairwise ranking from number four to number nine. On Saturday, even though they won, they dropped an additional spot to number ten, where they sit as this weekends games get under way. A loss today could knock them out of the NCAA tournament for the first time in over a decade. A win today could just about lock them into the NCAA tournament field. Michigan has a lot on the line going into this weekend and that usually helps focus the team. If Michigan wins todays contest they will advance to the CCHA tournament finals to be played on Sunday at 3PM.

As the game gets under way Jason Ryznar returns to the line up and Charlie Henderson sits for the first time since the GLI. Michigan starts this game by bringing the pressure early and often to the Ohio State goalie. In the first six minutes of the game Michigan had an eight to three advantage in shots on goal. In that span of time both Mink and Gajic missed golden opportunities to put the puck into a wide open net and both missed the chance.

With about twelve minutes left to play each team saw two players go into the penalty box as a scrum erupted in front of (or perhaps in) the Michigan goal. After the officials got the players separated they relegated the offending players to the sin bin and play resumed.

With just under eleven minutes to play in the opening period Michigan would draw first blood as Ohio State turned the puck over in their zone. Gaining control of the puck to the Buckeye goaltenders right Michigan slid the puck across the ice to a wide open Cammalleri who wasted no time putting the puck in the net through the five hole. The loan assist on the goal went to Ortmeyer and Michigan had that all important first goal.

With about eight minutes left to play in the period another scrum would erupt, this time in the Buckeye zone, down near a corner. The end result of this would be a Buckeye power play. Both teams lost a player to the penalty box, but Nystrom was hit with an additional minor penalty giving the Buckeyes the power play. The best scoring chance on this Buckeye power play would go to Michigan's Helminen as he just missed scoring a short handed goal on a break away. The first period would come to an end with Michigan holding onto a slim one to nothing lead. The Wolverines ended the first period with a slight advantage in shots on goal with a twelve to ten count.

The second period moved a slower pace than did the first and seemed to be a more physical brand of hockey right from the start. The first real break of the period would come with just under fourteen minutes left to play when the Buckeyes were whistled for a penalty giving Michigan their first power play chance of the game. The Buckeyes would kill off the Michigan power play without giving up a goal as Michigan never was able to mount any kind of real scoring threat.

It looked like Michigan had extended their lead with just over nine minutes left to play in the period when Helminen punched a rebound into the net for what looked to be Michigan's second goal. The referee waved the goal off saying that a Michigan player was in the crease. After review the "no goal" was allowed to stand with the reviewing officials saying there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the ice. I don't know what replay they watched, but one I saw clearly showed no Michigan player in the crease when the goal was scored. Whether it was a goal or not it did not count and the Wolverines continued to cling to their one goal lead.

It looked like the second period would end with Michigan still hanging onto that one goal lead, but with just thirty-three seconds left to play the Buckeyes got a shot past Blackburn to tie the game. With the puck taking a wierd hop over the Michigan defense the Buckeyes got control of the puck right in front of Blackburn without any assistance from the Wolverine defense. Trying to block the shot and cut off the passing lane to a second Buckeye on the other side of the goal the puck banged through the five hole, off a leg pad, and the game was all tied up.

Ohio State would be whistled for another penalty with just under two seconds to play in the second period. With the face off in the Buckeye zone Michigan pulled Blackburn to try and get a quick shot off the draw, but they were unable to score. The second period would come to an end with the score all tied up at one goal each. Michigan would increase their advantage in shots on goal during this period, ending it with a twenty-four to sixteen advantage.

Michigan started the third period with 1:58 of power play time, but they were unable to score. Once again they were ineffective in their attempts to mount any kind of scoring threat. Michigan would continue to bring pressure as this period advanced, but they were unable to score. In fact, both teams missed chances to score the game winner, but both teams continued to misfire when those chances presented themselves.

With just over eight minutes to play in the game Michigan would get a second power play chance in this period and again they came up empty. With just under two minutes to play both teams would lose a player to the penalty box, leaving them with four men each on the ice. Through it all niether team was able to score and regulation time came to a close with the score still tied at one goal apiece. Michigan had a thirty-one to nineteen advantage in shots on goal through sixty minutes of hockey.

With just forty-two seconds gone in the overtime period the Buckeyes were whistled for a penalty putting Michigan on the power play. Michigan got close to scoring a game winner as Nystrom just missed on a great chance, but they were unable to score while on this power play.

With just over sixteen minutes left to play in the first overtime period Ohio State would again get whistled for a penalty, this time for dragging Vancik to the ice to stop a break away. It would take almost the entire power play time, but with just under fifteen minutes to play Michigan would score a power play goal to win the game. Once again it would be Cammalleri, this time from right in front of the net, who would get the one timer into the Buckeye goal. Getting the puck in the high slot, Cammalleri fired a shot that just made it inside the post to the goal tenders left. Michigan would win the game by a score of two to one. They would end the game with a thirty-four to twenty advantage in shots on goal.

With this win Michigan advances to the CCHA finals to be played Sunday at 3PM at Joe Louis Arena. They will face the winner of the game between Northern Michigan and Michigan State. This win has improved Michigan's standing in the Pairwise as they now sit in the number eight spot with all other conference games complete. Michigan should make it into the NCAA regardless of the outcome of tomorrows game, but a win would help vault them into Regional play.