Saturday, October 6, 2001

Saturday, October 6, 2001, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan

Tonight marked the opening game of the regular season for both the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans. As great as this rivalry is and as many ups, downs, twists, and turns that it has taken over the years, tonight will see a new twist to this storied series. The Wolverines and Spartans will play inside Spartan Stadium on a temporary sheet of ice in front of what is expected to be a world record crowd for a hockey game anywhere, ever. There are some that have called this game a gimmick or a publicity stunt that has taken away from the game. While on some levels those people would be correct, when you get past the hype it will still be Michigan and Michigan State playing a hockey game. The game itself, regardless of all the surrounding events, is what really matters.

Both teams come into this game perhaps looking more at their team's potential than trying to make any claims to the conference and national championships. Michigan State comes into the game the pre-season pick as the number one team in the country. Michigan is picked as the number four team in the country. The CCHA is a very competitive conference, as is college hockey in general at this level. There isn't much of a difference between any of the teams in the top ten or twelve so if the pre-season pollsters are correct this should be a great game. Both teams have experience on defense and in goal. Both teams have a large freshman class and that is probably where most of the question marks can be found. How well will these freshmen respond when thrust into real game conditions between two of the conferences and countries best teams? These young men will not only have to deal with normal nervousness of their first game, but will have to deal with the setting; a setting rarely seen in hockey at any level. All these questions will be at least partially answered by about ten o'clock this evening - all we can do now is wait for the puck to drop.

Michigan seemed to be feeling the effects of the setting at the beginning of this game as they mishandled the puck in their own zone and turned it over to the Spartans. To stop the clean break on their goaltender the Wolverines took a penalty putting the Spartans on the power play less than one minute into the game. With 53 seconds remaining in the penalty the Wolverines were again whistled for an infraction giving the Spartans a lengthy two-man advantage. The Wolverines were able to kill off the initial penalty and looked like they were going to escape unscathed when the Spartans found a crack in Blackburn armor and scored the games first goal with 5 seconds left in the second penalty.

Michigan would get their first power play opportunity with about thirteen left in the first, but they were unable to take advantage of the extra attacker. Michigan would finally get on the board with just under three minutes left in the first period. There was a face off in the Spartan zone to Millers left. Cammalleri was in to take the draw and he won it clean, getting the puck to Ryznar. Ryznar punched the puck past Miller to get his first goal as a Wolverine and tie the game at one goal apiece. The lone assist went to Cammalleri.

With 16 seconds left in the first period there was a bit of a scuffle that ended with two players from each team going into the penalty box. All penalties were called as coincidental and the teams continued to play five on five hockey. The first period came to an end with the score all tied up at one goal apiece. The Wolverines held a small edge in shots on goal with a 7 to 5 count.

The second period started with the Wolverines skating in high gear and it would be long before they would draw blood. With just over three minutes gone in the second Cammalleri juked a Spartan defender, twice, then deked Miller in the goal and flipped the puck into the net to give the Wolverines a one goal lead. This goal was scored unassisted.

Less than a minute after scoring the go ahead goal the Spartans were whistled for a penalty putting Michigan on the power play. While the Wolverines had a couple of scoring chances they were unable to take advantage of the man advantage. About mid way through the period the Spartans would get called for a second penalty, but half way through this power play Michigan was whistled for an infraction of their own. This ended their power play and gave the Spartans a short power play of their own. Neither team was able to score in this stretch and in fact neither team was able to score the rest of this period. The second period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of two to one. Michigan still held the slimmest of leads in shots on goal with a 16 to 15 count.

With the game on the line the third period started much as the first period had, with Michigan getting whistled for a penalty in the first minute of play. This time the Wolverines were able to kill off the penalty without taking any damage. That would all change a couple of minutes later in the period. With just under sixteen minutes left in the period Michigan was whistled for another penalty putting the Spartans back on the power play. This time with 59 seconds left in the power play Michigan was whistled for a second penalty giving the Spartans a two-man advantage for the second time in this game. With 22 seconds left in the first penalty the Spartans scored a power play goal to once again tie the game, this time at two goals apiece. The Spartans still had 1:24 of power play time; however, the Wolverines were able to kill this penalty off.

For the next seven or eight minutes the game remained tied, but that would all change with just less than nine minutes left in the game. With the Wolverines digging the puck out along the boards, refusing to let the Spartans clear it out of their zone, it would once again be Cammalleri who would move the Wolverines back in front. Coming away from the boards Ryznar made a beautiful cross crease pass to Cammalleri, who finished it off by slipping the puck past Miller for the second time in the game. Assists on the goal went to Ryznar and Vancik.

The teams battled back and forth in the closing minutes of the game with neither team able to get the puck past their opponent's goaltenders. With 1:04 left in the game the Spartans called time out to decide how best to attack the Wolverines. Coming out of the time out Spartan goalie Miller stayed on the bench giving the Spartans the extra attacker. With 47 seconds left in regulation play the Spartans would score their third power play goal of the night to once again tie the game. The game would end with the score all tied at three goals apiece, sending the game into overtime. The Spartans ended regulation play with a slight edge in shots on goal with a 23 to 20 count.

Overtime would be a five-minute sudden victory period to decide the outcome of the game. Both teams would battle back and forth looking for that break that would end the game with a victory for their team. Through five minutes of play neither team was able to find that break. With four seconds left in the overtime period and a face off coming in the Spartan zone Michigan called time out to set their plan of attack. The Wolverines pulled Blackburn to get the extra attacker on the ice. The face off once again came to the left of Miller. This time the Wolverines didn't get a clean win on the face off and the Spartan taking the draw simply fell on the puck holding it until time ran out. Needless to say it was a somewhat anti-climatic end to what had been a nerve wracking overtime period. The game came to an end with the score tied at three goals apiece. The Spartans ended the game with a two shot edge in shots on goal with a 24 to 22 count.

If it was anything this game was a typical battle between the Wolverines and the Spartans. Tough defense, some timely offense, some monster hits, and several lead changes. There were certainly plenty of extras going on before the game and between periods. In many ways the extras weren't needed; the competitiveness of the game was all the show the crowd needed. A new world record was set for attendance at a hockey game with 74,554 fans in attendance, but in the end it was the game itself that was the most memorable. Both teams got a feel for how their young teams will play this year; from that point of view both teams are probably happy. While neither team is probably overly excited to have seen this game end in a tie in the final analysis perhaps a tie was a fitting end for this game. The Wolverines next take to the ice in the friendly confines of Yost Ice Arena on Tuesday, October 9, 2001 when the host the U.S. under 18 national development team.