I see that there have already been a number of posts on the Friday
night Kent-Michigan game, but I'll post this anyway.  I typed it up
this morning but just made it to my office. :-(
 
Friday, 11 March 1994, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor MI
MICHIGAN 5 Kent 4 OT
 
UNOFFICIAL
Kent      1  2  1  0 -- 4          10  10   8   ? -- 28+
Mich      0  2  2  1 -- 5           7  11  17   ? -- 36+
 
 2:14 K Thornbury 8 [Fair]
21:47 K Sabo 3 [unassisted]
23:09 M Wiseman 16 [Oliver]
33:18 M Oliver 25 [Wiseman] ppg
38:19 K Pain 1 [Drouin,Sabo]
41:01 M Knuble 30 [Morrison,Schock]
42:32 K Raygor 9 [Muldoon,Mitchell]
53:33 M Wiseman 17 [Botterill]
60:31 M Oliver 26 [unassisted]
 
Goaltenders: KSU Shaw UM Shields
 
Attendance: 4462
 
Three Stars: 1 - UM David Oliver [2-1--3]
             2 - UM Brian Wiseman [2-1--3]
             3 - UM Rick Willis [hitting everything in sight]
 
FIRST PERIOD
The Flashes did what they had to do early, taking it to the
Wolverines and jumping to a quick 1-0 lead.  Shortly after the Kent
goal, Michigan had a stretch of 6:00-7:00 on the power play but
never really tested Scott Shaw.  The Wolverines were uninspired as
was the minimal crowd until Rick Willis burst onto the ice and
crushed all five Kent skaters on the same shift.  The crowd noise
intensified with each hit.  Willis was called for roughing on the
final blow, and received a sizeable standing ovation on his way to
the penalty box.  I have NEVER seen the crowd applaud that much as
one of their own was heading for the sin bin, but Willis was HUGE.
He fired up the crowd for the rest of the night and, more
importantly, he woke up some of 17 sleeping beauties wearing maize
and blue.
 
SECOND PERIOD
Deja vu.  This time it took the Flashes less than two minutes to
light the lamp.  Freshman D Steve Sabo picked up the puck at the
right point and slid it toward the Michigan net.  How it missed
everyone between Sabo and Shields is a mystery, but Shields didn't
appear to see it and it slid right into the corner.  Kent 2
Michigan 0.  Shields was hot, but it didn't get him anywhere.  The
traffic in front of him was heavier than downtown Chicago on our
way to Milwaukee last Spring, but I didn't see anyone in the crease
or anyone interfere with him.
 
Brian Wiseman answered quickly for the Wolverines and ten minutes
later David Oliver flat-out drilled a shot past Scott Shaw to make
it 2-2.  Michigan began to control the puck more often and for
longer periods.  But Kent again found the perfect tonic, this time
a 2-on-1 break.  Michigan defenseman Mark Sakala did almost
everything I would have done in his position.  He didn't make a
decision, he screened Shields and he didn't get down to block the
pass.  The recipient of Sakala's goodwill was Jason Pain, who
notched his first career goal.  I flashed back to Milwaukee and
Maine's Jason Weinrich stymieing a pair of Michigan 2-on-1's.
Apparently the Wolverine defensemen weren't paying attention.
 
BTW, no ill intent in singling out Sakala.  The entire Michigan
defense had an off night.  It happens.
 
Kent lost co-captain Kevin McPherson during the period to what
looked to be an ankle injury.  He was on crutches following the
game.
 
THIRD PERIOD
Can you say empty net?  That's all Mike Knuble had to hit after the
puck rolled onto his stick while Shaw was down on the other side of
the goal.  Michigan 3 Kent 3.
 
But, once again, the Golden Flashes showed resiliency I hadn't seen
in them before and regained the lead within 91 seconds.  Now it was
time for Michigan to take over.  And they did.  And they did so
with more desperation than they showed in their recent three week
slide.  The result was a thing of beauty.  Jason Botterill hit
Wiseman for a diving head-first, fully-extended tip-in.  It was
Wiseman's second such effort in as many games.  It also marked
back-to-back to games that Wiseman has hit the net twice.  Don't
pencil in any names on the Hobey just yet.
 
The period ended with a mini-flourish for Kent near the Michigan
net, but we were headed to overtime.
 
After Wiseman's second goal, several people in my section were
wondering what the overtime format would be.  I told everyone that
they would resurface the ice and play twenty minutes, and continue
to do so until someone scored.  As the buzzer sounded to end
regulation, is was announced that there would be a two-minute break
prior to a five-minute "sudden victory" period.  I was puzzled, big
time.  The two minutes went up on the clock and slowly ticked away
while both teams were at their bench engaged in strategy sessions.
Finally, someone handed the on-ice officials a rule book and
pointed out that this IS the playoffs.  Duh!  Both teams were sent
to the lockerrooms so the ice could be resurfaced prior to our
twenty minute sudden victory period.
 
OVERTIME
Itwasaboutthislong.
David Oliver picked up the puck behind the Kent net and beat Shaw
with a wrap around just 31 seconds in.  The place went bananas.
The goal was announced as unassisted.  Kent had possession and
someone poke-checked it behind the net where Oliver pounced on it.
I don't remember if Ollie himself created the turnover or if
Botterill made the poke-check, which should get him an after the
fact assist.
 
OFFICIATING
I'm still trying to figure out what correspondence school Jeff
Shell and John Dobrzelewski graduated from.  Can you say
inconsistent?  Can you say incompetent?  I'd guess that Michigan
received more power play opportunities, but there were some
horrible no calls in both directions.  Mitchell cross-checked
Wiseman to the head after the whistle, right in front of
Dobrzelewski.  No call.  Knuble landed a right jab to the chin of
a Kent player.  No call.  Shields was ran into throughout the
evening.  Frankly, I'm amazed that Shields didn't haul off and
whack somebody.
 
And, we were getting ready to face-off for a five minute overtime
period.  Hello.
 
MICHELLANEOUS
Two topics, attendance and three star selections.  Once again Yost
is infested with 3000 empty seats for the CCHA first round.  It's
damn embarrassing if you ask me.  The crowd booed when the
attendance was announced.  On the bright side, it was one of if not
the most energetic crowd of the entire season.
 
And how does Michigan get all three stars in an overtime game?
Oliver played well at times, but I thought Wiseman had a better
game overall.  And Willis was HUGE.  You won't find him in the
boxscore but Michigan wouldn't have won without him.  I'd have to
say Willis #1, Wiseman #2 and Steve Sabo #3.  But, it's tough to
keep out Oliver with two goals including the game winner.  Shields
also played well.
 
As for Sabo, I'd like to pop him one myself.  But he played a
strong game, had 1-1--2 and was a physical presence.
 
 
  John H
  U Mich