Friday, October 26, 2001

Friday, October 26, 2001, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Michigan has their final home stand for the month of October as they host the Wildcats of Northern Michigan in a two game series starting today. Michigan comes into the weekend after having split with Western Michigan last weekend (each team winning on their home ice). The Wolverines will be looking to improve their special teams play and their overall defensive effort as they have struggled in both areas in the early going this year.

Last Saturday's win over Western Michigan gave coach Red Berenson his 450^th career victory, but the split dropped the Wolverines in the national polls. They go into this weekend sitting at number six in the USCHO poll, while they are tied for seventh in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll. This weekend's opponents, the Northern Michigan Wildcats, are knocking on the door in both polls. The Wolverines find themselves tied for third in the CCHA with the Wildcats and the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Last weeks opponent, Western Michigan, sits all alone in second place, while the Spartans already look to be running away with the conference three points ahead of second place Western and four points ahead of the third place Wolverines.

Michigan finds itself in a strange position this weekend, playing two games on home ice, that they really must win if they want to keep pace in the conference race. With the Spartans already pulling away and with the Wolverines going on the road after this weekend, they need these home ice wins. In order to get those wins against a talented Wildcat team the Wolverines must improve on defense, especially in goal, and their special teams have to improve. The penalty kill is less than stellar and the power play is essentially non-existent. The Wolverines have the players to win both of these games, the question yet to be answered is can they put things together for two straight nights and get a weekend sweep.

This was a defensive game right out of the gate as both teams wheeled up and down the ice, but neither team finding a way to get a puck in the net. After the first five minutes of play each team had one shot on goal, but neither team had a goal. This pattern stayed basically the same through the next five minutes of play, but there were a few more shots. Through ten minutes of play Michigan had a six to four edge in shots on goal.

With 7:52 left in the period Michigan took the first penalty of the game to give the Wildcats the first power play chance of the game. In their first test of the night the Michigan penalty kill was outstanding, disrupting the Northern power play, allowing no shots on goal for the duration of the power play.

With 4:02 remaining in the period the Wildcats picked up their first penalty of the game to give Michigan their first crack on the power play. The Wolverines got off a couple of decent shots in this power play, but they were unable to get that important first goal. It looked like Northern might get an easy goal in the last minute and a half of the period when Michigan turned the puck over near their blue line, but Blackburn was in good position to turn the chance away. The first period came to an end with the score tied at zero and the shots on goal all even at nine to a side.

Things got exciting as the second period got under way when Northern got a clean break right up the center of the ice with 18:39 left to play. The defense recovered and along with Blackburn turned the scoring chance away. There were also a number of penalties called at this same time with Michigan picking up one more penalty than the Wildcats to give Northern an early power play chance in the second period. Once again the Wolverine penalty kill would come up big and the Wolverines killed off the Northern power play.

Shortly after the Northern power play ended, with 16:11 left in the period, another group of penalties were called, but this time Northern picked up the extra penalty to give Michigan a power play. Unfortunately the Michigan power play continues to struggle and Northern kills off the penalty with no goals scored. The next five minutes of play saw both teams continue to battle up and down the ice with neither team able to find that elusive first goal.

With just over twelve minutes left to play another group of penalties were handed out, but once again Michigan picks up a double minor to put Northern on the power play. With 11:39 left in the period, 1:25 left in the Northern power play, the Wildcats picked up a penalty to end their power play and set Michigan up for a short power play. While neither team was able to score it looked like Michigan would finally get on the board, but freshman Gajic missed a shot at a wide open net just as the power play was ending.

With 5:04 left in the period Michigan picked up another penalty, giving Northern a late power play chance. Michigan is able to kill this penalty off, but both teams pick up matching penalties with just 2:24 left in the period. With 1:50 left in the period, 1:27 in the original penalties, Michigan picks up a second penalty to put Northern back on the power play, skating four men to three. The second came to an end with the score still tied at zero, but Northern had gained a slight edge in shots on goal with a twenty-one to nineteen count.

Northern started the third period with ten seconds of power play time, but Michigan was able to kill that off without any difficulty. With 19:20 left in regulation time Northern was called for a penalty to give Michigan a power play chance, but the Wildcats killed the penalty off. The defensive struggle continued as the time remaining moved under ten minutes, with both teams missing chances to score, but neither team capitalizing.

With 7:17 left to play Northern was again called for a penalty, giving Michigan another power play chance in the final period of the contest. Once again Northern killed off the penalty, as the Wolverines were unable to mount any serious scoring threat from the power play.

With just under five minutes to play Cammalleri picked up a penalty that was just absolutely uncalled for putting his team back on the penalty kill at the worst possible time. The penalty kill again stood tall and got off the hook as Northern picked up a penalty of their own with 1:04 left in the Cammalleri penalty. Michigan got a short power play, but was again unable to do anything with the man advantage. The game came to an end with the score still tied at zero. The Wolverines did dominate the Wildcats in shots, picking up nine to Northerns one in the final period giving the Wolverines a twenty-eight to twenty-two edge in shots on goal at games end.

A five-minute sudden victory overtime period got under way after a two-minute rest and overtime didn't last very long. Just fifty three seconds into the overtime period Northern got a shot past Blackburn top shelf to take the win and stun the Wolverines. The game goes to the Wildcats by a score of one to nothing. Northern had two shots on goal in the overtime period, while the Wolverines had no shots on goal. Michigan still ended the game with a slight edge in shots on goal with a 28 to 24 count.

After playing sixty solid minutes of hockey the Wolverines inexplicably don't show up for the overtime period, mishandling the puck in their own zone, giving the Wildcats a straight shot at the Michigan goal. In what was probably one of the easiest shots he faced all night long Blackburn just watches the puck sail over his shoulder and into the net watching the game and the two conference points go up in smoke. Michigan now finds itself tied for fifth with two other teams as they continue their slide down the CCHA standings. Saturday night we'll get a look at what this team is really made of, as they have to come back ready to play after a heartbreaking loss to the Wildcats.