Scott Quakkelaar writes...
>looking at the box scores of michigan's games against western
>michigan last weekend, marty turco did not have a stellar
>weekend.
>
>was he as bad as the box scores indicate, or did western
>michigan just make him look bad?
 
Yes and yes.
 
WESTERN MICHIGAN 5 Michigan 5 OT (Friday)
Fantastic game by referee Matt Shegos.  Should be one of the
three stars.  He put his whistle in his pocket for OT, but called
everything well through three periods.  He handed out some
very deserved 5-on-3's in both directions.  He called UM's
Bill Muckalt for delay of game when Muckalt refused to quit
dinking around before a faceoff.  He didn't take any lip from
the players...WMU's Brendan Kenny received 2 plus 10 plus
game and shortly thereafter UM's Jason Botterill went for 2
and 10.  (Botterill should have known from Kenny where Shegos
had drawn the line.)  So, there you have it.  It's nice to report
truly wonderful officiating, IMO, especially so given that it was
a close and intense game.
 
As for the game, UM took and early 2-0 but allowed WMU and
the WMU crowd back into the game.  Some defensive lapses
and maybe a goaltending lapse or two (Turco has looked much
better) were the Wolverines' undoing.  WMU took a 5-4 lead
late in the third period on an absolutely fabulous goal by Mike
Melas, to complete his hat trick.  On a faceoff to the left of Turco,
Melas won the draw to himself and ripped a shot off the inside
of the outside post.  Very sweet even if it was for the wrong guys.
UM tied it up in the final 15 seconds as Brendan Morrison beat
Matt Barnes on a rebound down low with Turco pulled.  Michigan
had the better offensive chances on the evening, but were often
stymied by Barnes (especially his poke checking) and unfavorable
bounces of the puck.  WMU dominated UM on faceoffs all night,
twice scoring from faceoffs in UM's zone.
 
UNOFFICIALLY, Mike Legg's assist on UM's second goal was
the 1000th career point scored by Michigan's senior class.
 
MICHIGAN 8 Western Michigan 5 (Saturday)
Not as close as the score indicates.  UM had 4-0 and 5-1 leads
in the first period.  It was 7-2 after two.  UM seemed to put it in
cruise control and WMU capitalized to get within 8-5.  Brendan
Morrison had a hat trick and now has 51 points in 25 games.
 
I felt that referee Steve Piotrowski did a nice job over the first
half of the game, but then began to referee the score and not
the game.  He made a couple of questionable calls on UM,
at least one resulting in a WMU goal, and missed some really
blatant stuff on WMU...specifically a Tony Kolozsy spear that
floored Mike Legg.  I know people are sick of hearing it from
me, but you have to be aware of the cheap stuff from ex-UIC
players such as Kolozsy.
 
There was a scuffle late in the game involving Jason Botterill
near the WMU bench.  Piotrowski probably could have handed
out a DQ on each side, but decided instead on minors coupled
with misconducts which effectively sent the guilty parties to the
showers.  Obviously I don't know what Pi was thinking, but it seems
possible that he didn't hand out DQ's because he realized that
HE had lost much control of the game.
 
Btw...linesman (they'll always be linesmen to me) John LaDuke
whistled UM for being offside when a UM player carried the puck
into his DEFENSIVE zone.  Oops.
 
NEXT
Michigan plays host to Miami for a pair.  The Blue must retighten
the defense between now and Friday if they intend to stake claim
to first place in the CCHA.
 
 
John Haeussler ([log in to unmask])
 
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