Poor Play Dooms Wolverines, OSU Wins Season Finale

Saturday, February 24, 2007
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Turning in perhaps their worst performance of the second half the Wolverines ended the regular season by stumbling and bumbling their way to a six to five loss at the hands of home standing Buckeyes. Twice in this game Michigan built two goal leads and twice the Buckeyes pulled even before finally taking the lead in the early going of the third period as the Wolverines were seemingly couldn't do even the simplest of things right. In the end that lack of self discipline sent the Wolverines down in embarrassing defeat.

Michigan got the scoring started with just over six minutes to play in the first period when the Wolverines got a pass up the ice to Porter at the blue line. Porter took the puck up the left side boards and into the Buckeye zone, then crashed to the net, slipping the puck past the Ohio State net minder for the games first goal. Both Hensick and Mitera picked up assists on the goal.

It would take the Buckeyes just a couple of minutes to tie the game when they scored their first goal of the game with the clock just under four minutes. A Buckeye player got off a shot from the slot that was blocked, but the same player was able to gather up the rebound and send another shot at the goal. The puck appeared to bounce off a players skate, then off Sauers skate, before finally coming to rest in the net for the score.

The first period came to an end with the game all tied at one goal each. The Wolverines out shot the Buckeyes ten to three in the period.

With just over eighteen minutes to play the Wolverines regained the lead when Turnbull knocked a rebound into the net before the goalie could recover. Naurato got off a shot that drove right into the Ohio State goalies chest, but he couldn't hang onto the puck, letting it fall to the ice. Turnbull got their just as the puck hit the ice and snapped it back into the net before the goalie could recover. Both Naurato and Miller picked up assists on the goal.

With the clock just under fifteen minutes the Buckeyes were whistled for a penalty putting Michigan on the power play. Less than a minute later, with the clock showing just over fourteen minutes to go the Buckeyes were whistled for a second penalty giving the Wolverines a two man advantage for over a minute. With the two man advantage Michigan got a shot off from the top of the left circle that was redirected down in front of the net to snake its way past the net minder for the goal. Naurato got credit for the power play goal, while Mitera and Kolarik each picked up assists as Michigan opened up their first two goal lead with just over thirteen minutes to play in the second period.

With eleven and a half minutes to play the Buckeyes cut the Wolverine lead back to one when they get off an uncontested shot from the right circle that beat Sauer clean for the score.

With just over eleven minutes to play the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty putting the Buckeyes on the power play. With the clock just under eleven minutes the Wolverines would score a short handed goal to once again build a two goal lead. Michigan forced a turn over at the blue line, getting the puck to Kolarik who quickly carried it up the ice and into the Buckeye zone. Fardig put on a burst of speed to catch up to the play and at the last minute Kolarik passed over to Fardig who buried the puck for the goal. Kolarik got the lone assist.

With just over two minutes to play the beginning of the end got under way. The Wolverines once again turned the puck over just outside their blue line, allowing a Buckeye skater to break into the Michigan zone uncontested. As he crossed through the right circle he fired off a shot that beat Sauer, cutting the lead to one.

Off the following face, with the clock now just under eighteen minutes Michigan turned the puck over again, once again allowing the Buckeyes to charge into the Michigan zone uncontested. This time there were two Buckeyes in on the play, with one crashing the net with the puck on the left. He held the puck long enough to draw Sauer to his left, before passing over to his teammate on the right who had an easy time sliding the puck into the open net.

The second period would come to an end with the game all tied at four goals each. Michigan out shot the Buckeyes sixteen to thirteen in the period to hold a twenty-six to sixteen advantage in shots on goal.

With seventeen and half minutes to play in the final period the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty, giving the Buckeyes an early third period power play. With the clock just one tick under seventeen minutes the Buckeyes scored their third unanswered goal to take the lead. Ohio State got off a shot from the point that sailed right past Sauer, scoring the power play goal by squeezing into the net just under the cross bar.

With just over four minutes to play Michigan briefly got back to even when Miller was able to use the Ohio State goalie to deflect the puck into the net. Miller had the puck behind the Ohio State goal, looking to pass out front. The goalie got into a position that allowed Miller to bounce the puck off his back and into the goal for the score. Summers and Mitera each picked up assists on the goal.

With just a minute and half to play in the period Michigan turned the puck over in their own zone, once again giving the Buckeyes a perfect scoring opportunity. As they had all game long the Buckeyes took the gift and shoved the puck past Sauer to retake the lead for good.

Michigan pulled Sauer with a minute to play, giving them an extra attacker. With forty seconds to play the Buckeyes were called for a bench minor giving Michigan a two man advantage. However, every time the Wolverines got the puck over the Buckeye blue line a Buckeye player would scoop up the puck and clear it down the ice. Michigan never really mounted any kind of scoring threat in the final minute, coming up short for the thirteenth time this season.

The game came to an end with Ohio State winning by a score of six to five. The Wolverines out shot the Buckeyes ten to seven in the period to end the game with a thirty-six to twenty-three advantage in shots on goal.

Hats off to the Buckeyes for never letting up, even when it looked like Michigan was going to eventually blow this game open, that is until the end of the second period. Even up to that point Michigan hadn't been playing all that well, they had simply been surviving. When it came down to crunch time though it was the Ohio State seniors who stood tall, scoring most of the teams goals and most importantly providing the leadership that you expect from Seniors. Which of course begs the question - where were Michigans Seniors in this game? They turtled up and disappeared completely when they were needed most. One Senior got an assist in this game and that was on the opening goal. From that point forward they were nowhere to be found.

This was certainly not the way Michigan wanted to finish the regular season and enter the playoffs. You want to win your last game to enter the playoffs with a little bit of confidence and momentum. Michigan will be hard pressed to have any. The goal tending was awful, first half awful, giving up six goals on just twenty-three shots. The defense was awful, first half awful, turning the puck over time after time after time in the worst possible places, making it easy for the Buckeyes to stay in the game and eventually win it. While the offense scored five goals, and that should be enough to win a game, they didn't do enough to hold up their defensive responsibilities as they were rarely in position to back up the defense when they turned the puck over. All in all you would be hard pressed to find a worse way to finish your regular season. Keep this in mind, if the seedings hold true and the four teams with home ice win next weekend, Michigan will be hosting this same Buckeye team in two weeks. Who's going to be more confident going into that weekend series, Michigan or Ohio State?