Friday, October 19, 2001

Friday, October 19, 2001, Lawson Ice Arena, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Michigan returns to CCHA action this weekend as they play a home and home series against the Bronco's of Western Michigan. Friday night will find the Wolverines in Kalamazoo; Saturday will find both teams making the trip to Ann Arbor for the second game of the weekend at Yost. For anyone interested in seeing the Wolverines prior to Thanksgiving weekend you will want to get down to Yost on Saturday or next weekend for one of the two games the Wolverines will play against Northern Michigan. After next weekend the Wolverines will head out on the road and will not return to Yost until Thanksgiving.

The unexpected loss to Minnesota-Duluth last weekend dropped Michigan from 3^rd to 5^th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll, while they held their number five ranking in the USCHO poll. Michigan State still sits at number one in both polls and Nebraska-Omaha is the only other CCHA team in the top fifteen. Several other CCHA teams are getting points in both polls. The USA Today poll has Ohio State, Alaska-Fairbanks, and Miami all receiving points, while the USCHO poll has Northern Michigan, Alaska-Fairbanks, Ohio State, and Western Michigan receiving points.

Michigan State sits in first place in the CCHA, with Alaska-Fairbanks number two, Western Michigan number three, and Michigan at number four. While the Wolverines are sitting in fourth place they have only played one conference game. Michigan State has played three and both Alaska and Western have played two games each.

This weekend we get to see if this team comes ready to play for one night or for two nights. Michigan cannot afford to give away either of these games. While Western is certainly a good team, the Wolverines should be victorious in both of these games. The conference race is going to be so tight this year that Michigan must get every point in games they should win and win their fair share of those games that would be considered more of a toss up. Once again how Michigan fares will depend in large part on how they handle themselves on the ice. They have been taking an alarming number of penalties in the last few games. The Wolverine penalty kill has not been terrible, but it hasn't been good either. The Wolverine power play has also been a bit under par. All of this adds up to a fairly basic and simple formula for the Wolverines if they want to come away from these games with wins. They need to play a disciplined game of hockey, taking as few penalties as possible, while getting some action on their power play.

As usual this game starts out with both teams playing very hard, with 4:30 gone in the first period there has been just one shot on goal between the two teams. The Bronco's pick up a penalty with about 16 minutes to go in the period and just 30 seconds into the power play the Bronco's pick up their second penalty to give Michigan a lengthy two man advantage. The Wolverines were able to get some shots, but as the first penalty expired they had not yet scored. However, just as the first penalty expired Nystrom was able to get a shot past the Bronco goalie to stake Michigan to the early one goal lead. Assists on the goal went to Shouneyia and Woodford.

Shortly after scoring the goal Michigan picked up a penalty of there own to give Western their own chance on the power play. The Wolverines were able to kill this penalty off, but just as the penalty expired they were whistled for a second penalty to put the Bronco's back on the power play. With less than a minute left in this Bronco penalty Blackburn came up with a tremendous save as the puck was deflected off Ortmeyer and almost got behind Blackburn and into the goal. Michigan was able to kill off this penalty with 4:05 remaining in the period.

With just over three minutes remaining in the period Western was again called for a penalty, giving Michigan a late period power play opportunity. Even with the extra man the Wolverines were unable to score a second goal and the period came to an end with Michigan leading by a score of 1 to nothing.

The second period started with both teams continuing to skate hard and just like last week the Wolverines missed a golden opportunity when they missed a shot at a wide open net. A couple of minutes later Michigan picked up another penalty to put Western back on the power play. This time the Bronco's wouldn't waste the opportunity as they put a flurry of shots on goal, finally getting one past Blackburn. Blackburn was able to stop several of the shots, but he didn't cover the rebounds and the defense didn't clear the Bronco's from in front of the net.

Almost immediately following the Western goal the Bronco's were whistled for a penalty giving Michigan a power play chance of there own. Michigan was never able to mount a scoring threat on this power play and Western easily killed the penalty off. Both teams continued to battle up and down the ice as the time in the period moved under ten minutes.

With about seven minutes left in the period both teams lost a player to penalties. While skating four men to the side Western was able to score their second goal of the period and game to take the lead. This time the Bronco's passed between defenders and reached around a defender to take the goal scoring shot. The Wolverines seem to be completely confused on the ice as the Bronco's look to be taking over this game.

Right from a face off, with 3:27 to go in the period, the Wolverines take an absolutely stupid penalty to put Western back on the power play. While trying to kill this penalty it looked like Cammalleri might get a short handed goal, but he was tripped up sending a Bronco to the penalty box. As the time left in the period moved under the one-minute mark Michigan was getting ready to go on the power play and went for a line change. However, they didn't pay attention to the Bronco's and didn't take care of the puck. The Bronco's got a clean break up the ice, drove toward the Michigan goal, and scored their third goal of the period and game. Just another example of just how out of this game Michigan seems to be in this second period. The second period would come to an end with Western leading by a score of three to one.

Michigan started the third period with 44 seconds of power play time, but they were unable to mount any kind of a serious threat. It looked like Western would get their fourth goal of the night with about 17 minutes left to play, but this time Blackburn was able to turn the shot away.

With just over fifteen minutes to play in the period Michigan was whistled for yet another penalty putting Western back on the power play. While the Wolverines were able to turn the Bronco's away they were also whistled for a second penalty just as the first one expired extending the Bronco power play time. This time Komisarek picked up a double minor giving Western four additional minutes of power play time. The Wolverines were able to escape without giving up a goal, but they lost six minutes of time when they had to protect their goal rather than attack the Western goal.

With just under nine minutes to go in the period each team was called for a penalty leaving each team with four men on the ice. With 7:21 left in the period Western picked up a second penalty giving Michigan a four on three power play. Western killed the first penalty and the Michigan power play moved to a five on four-man advantage. Michigan was unable to get the puck past the Bronco netminder as he made save after save to protect his teams two-goal lead.

Michigan managed to get some decent pressure on the Bronco goal late in the game, but the Bronco goal tender was just to much for the Wolverines turning away every shot, no matter how unlikely the save looked to be. The game came to an end with Western beating Michigan by a score of three to one.

The Wolverines drop another game on the road and seem to be continuing the poor play they exhibited against Minnesota-Duluth in last weekend's second game. They continue to take far to many unnecessary penalties. There penalty kill might have been a little better this week, but it really had to be as it seemed the Wolverines were constantly on the penalty kill in the final two periods of this game. The Wolverine power play continues to be anemic. The youth of this team is fairly obvious right now, just as it is obvious that the Wolverines have a lot of work to do before anyone can say they are a good team. They have plenty of talent and have shown flashes of how good they can be, but they are still a long ways from being a good hockey team. Tomorrow night at Yost these two teams tangle again. With Michigan playing just their third conference game they already find themselves in a must win situation if they want to keep pace in the conference race. Western was already ahead of them in the standings, Michigan State isn't loosing to teams they should beat, and Michigan has just one point in the conference standings. With several teams playing conference games this weekend Michigan could find itself sitting in ninth or tenth place in the conference should they loose to Western on Saturday night. While it's very early in the season, Michigan hasn't been that low in the standings in about a decade. Perhaps that's just what this team needs to focus their attention on playing the game - we shall see starting tomorrow night in Yost.