Various comments from my notes during the game:
 
As good luck would have it, I sat in the UM band section right above the goal
that every goal of the game was scored in - couldn't ask for better seats.
 
First 5 minutes of the game, UM is carrying the play.  Neither team is
hitting each other very hard.  I think CC has only one shot on goal and that
was a long shot.
 
11:33 Brilliant work by Morrison around the boards to get the puck out and
over to Muckalt was broke for the net.  My friend sitting next to me could
see it developing and started to scream, "That's it, that's it!"  This score
happened just when I had written down that both teams seemed to be slowing
down, that maybe the original rush of adrenaline had worn off.
 
3:33 CC on its first power play.  UM plays a sagging type of defense instead
of their aggressive charging defense.  CC controls the puck most of the
penalty in UM's zone but never gets off any real great shots.  Nice passing,
but then UM was letting them pass around the perimeter the whole time.  This
was the first time UM played this sagging type of defense all season and
maybe it caught CC by surprise.
 
First period 3 shots on goal by UM and 5 by CC - lowest period total in NCAA
history for championship game.
 
Second period was all CC and midway through I wrote that it would be nice to
get out of this period 2--1, regroup and see what we could do in the third
period.  On CC's second goal, no one has mentioned that Frescoln who played a
decent NCAA series was checking and pushing a CC player from the side of the
net through the goal crease, pushing Marty a little out of the way.  Marty
could not get back in position quick enough to stop the second goal - at
least that's the way I saw it.
 
CC's second goal opened the game up for a while but UM could never get
anything going ever during the second period.  It was like we were playing
short handed the whole time.  I've never seen a team control UM as well as CC
did for a whole period like that.   Because of all of the penalties, we
actually were playing short-handed a substantial amount of the time.
 
It's funny how the game would end up, but at this time, I wrote down that CC
had Brendan's number now and he couldn't do anything.  Halko also seemed to
be making mistakes, which he has rarely done.
 
Third period - Legg's goal sparked the fans who kept it up throughout the
third period.  Both teams seemed to have a few quality scoring opportunites
this period but neither could score.  Except for a couple of charges by CC,
UM seemed to have the control for this period.
 
At the end of the third, I looked through the UM crowd that I was sitting in.
 Something to know is that these fans were the fanaticals of the crazies
screaming and yelling like the earth was ending for most of the game.  When I
looked around at this time, there was nothing but long faces and a quiet
sadness.  I think because we have lost in OT the last 3 years that everybody
expected that to happen again.  I made several comments to my friends around
me about the crowd and the faces.
 
You can't ask for a beter ending for UM - OT victory by Brendan.  What's
interesting is that more than Brendan said this championship was for all the
other kids who played the last several years and didn't win it but laid the
grounds for it.
 
I watched the team leave the dressing room and meet family and friends at the
end of the game - about an hour or so later.  Every single player had smiles
from ear to ear that were neverending.  I don't know that I've ever seen a
happier group of kids in my life.  Each player came out of the dressing room
-one at a time - to the roar of all the fans, families, and friends.  Lots of
celebration, hugging, laughing, congratulations, and pictures.  It was very
touching to be there with the team, a time I will never forget.
 
The CC team was loading on the bus right behind UM and most of their players
watched the whole UM celebration thing going on.  For what it's worth, they
held their helds up high and proud.  I was impressed with them on the ice but
even more so at the end of the game.  You CC fans have a good buch of kids to
cheer for and to be proud about!!
 
I have comments about the arena on another post.
 
Steve Bartley
 
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