All IMHO...
MICHIGAN 3 Cornell 3 OT (January 7)
(1) Nine CU fans, mostly pep band members including
Hockey-L-er Larry Weintraub, kept 6000+ UM fans at bay
for most of the night. One of the most disappointing games
for the Yost crowd in the 1990s. The rise and fall (which we
are in the middle of, unfortunately) of the Yost faithful is
bookended by Cornell appearances in Ann Arbor. UM fans
had been picking up steam for a couple of seasons and
hit a fever pitch for the CU-UM NCAA first round series in
1991. The riotous atmosphere has continued since, but
two things are noteworthy.
(a) The fans (students?) can easily be taken out of a game,
as witnessed by this contest. As a whole, the crowd was
unusually silent.
(b) Possibly more irritating than (a), the UM fans no longer
have any sense of timing. They once did. Now, visiting
goaltenders get the "black hole" cheer even if they've stopped
24 of 26 and are singlehandedly keeping their team in the
game. The once great chants/cheers are overused and
improperly used.
(2) As for the game, Cornell looked good. Michigan didn't
look bad, but I wouldn't say they had a good game, either.
New line combinations and special team units looked out
of synch. Couple that with a spirited (and talented) opponent
and you get a 3-3 tie.
(3) The CCHA referees can be summed up with two categories:
(a) Roger Graff.
(b) NOT Roger Graff.
I don't know what game he saw, but it wasn't Cornell-Michigan.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that Graff is the most
incompetent person associated with sport. Any sport. Any level.
The beauty of it is, he can be equally bad for both teams.
Example: UM player grabs CU player and falls backward, pulling
CU player on top of him. Result? CU for holding. Hey, in Roger's
world the guy on top gets the penalty. I'm stopping now, or I'll
never get to any other topics.
(4) Dave Kronenberg had an equally bad game doing lines.
According to friends in another section, he blew at least four calls...
all in Michigan's favor.
(5) One classic moment, which I'll never forget and all three
zebras will never see: A UM player is cruising up left wing with
the puck. He's across the red line, almost to the blue. All of a
sudden, a CU player comes off the bench and checks him. No
CU players went to the bench for a change. It was so blatant it
was funny. If the three zebras could each count to two, maybe
they could see six skaters on the ice.
(6) I enjoyed seeing the Big Red and their obnoxious (in a fun
way) fans. One negative? Vinnie Auger. Someone should
hit him...hard and repeatedly. What a punk. He looked like
the ex-UIC Flame, not Darren Tymchyshyn. Auger had a box
trick in the first period alone (tripping, cross checking and
roughing). He saved his best/worst for the third period when
he picked up a rouging minor while on the bench. Call me
crazy, but when someone from the bench gets involved in the
play they should be tossed. I hope someone in the ECAC
sees that Auger gets what's coming to him later this season.
(Fwiw...the CU-UM box previously posted did not contain all
of the penalties.)
MICHIGAN 13 Alaska Fairbanks 1 (January 10)
(1) Not much to report. UAF defense is an oxymoron. As for
the UAF net, Ian Perkins didn't look good and received no
help. Chris Marvel looked OK and received even less help.
I felt bad for Marvel, but not too bad. :-) I even got a chuckle
out of him when I told him that since the game was on TV,
he should hold up a sign that said, "Hi Mom - Send Defense!"
(2) Solid officiating from Steve Piotrowski. If I'm going to be
critical, I'll also try to be complimentary. The early calls were
good. Once the outcome had been decided, Pi maintained
control of the game and didn't allow it to get chippy.
MICHIGAN 8 Ferris State 4 (January 11)
(1) Four goals for Mike "The Goal" Legg, capping a 5-3--8
weekend.
(2) Michigan held a 5-0 lead after one and squandered it
to 6-4 after two. Gregg Malicke replaced a struggling Marty
Turco in the UM nets and made 13 third period saves to
hold on for an 8-4 victory.
(3) Being in net for the game-winner, Turco gets the W and
moves his career record to 80-15-4 midway through his junior
season. Steve Shields' victory record of 111 continues to
get closer.
(4) The refereeing (Kelly, a recently converted linesman) was
adequate. Not overly great, but not Graffish either.
SENIOR STATISTICAL UPDATE
Unofficial.
NO POS NAME GP G A PTS PIM PP SH +/-
9 C Brendan Morrison 135 85 156 241 143 29 2 88
18 F John Madden 140 65 92 157 85 14 20 89
19 LW Jason Botterill 130 84 70 154 412 41 1 56
28 RW Warren Luhning 137 64 78 142 342 27 8 85
15 F Mike Legg 139 53 74 127 76 17 2 64
6 D Harold Schock 144 12 66 78 209 5 0 111
27 D Blake Sloan 140 10 50 60 199 2 0 103
4 D Chris Frescoln 81 3 21 24 157 0 2 53
5 D Peter Bourke 69 2 12 14 40 0 0 42
TOTALS 378 619 997
Michigan's senior class should notch it's 1000th career point
versus Western Michigan this weekend. The forwards (821)
have an outside chance, albeit slim, of reaching 1000 points
as a fivesome.
PENALTY MINUTES
Michigan continues to have a boat load of penalty minutes.
Partly because they can be a physical team. Partly because
their opponents try to get rough with them every game. Partly
because UM has a knack of picking off 10 minutes at a time. :-)
Anyway, after 23 games, it's quite a race for the (dubious?)
honor of leading the Wolverines in penalty minutes. THANKFULLY,
we don't have any Brian Fuss' (the diminutive Laker with 123
PIM in 24 games), but UM sports the following:
Bill Muckalt (59) Botterill (58) Schock (57) Luhning (56) Sean
Peach (52) Frescoln (51) Chris Fox (47) Matt Herr (45) Bobby
Hayes (40) Justin Clark (36) Morrison (36) Sloan (36) Andrew
Merrick (32). All are within reach of the team title.
John Haeussler ([log in to unmask])
20-1-2 and looking to defend in Milwaukee
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