MICHIGAN 8 Alaska Fairbanks 1 (Friday)
Box has already been posted.  It was a close first period
and then UM slowly pulled away.  Not much else to say.
Mark (Duke) Shegos was the referee.  He came close to
losing control of the game...at one point he put all ten skaters
into the box, presumably to send a message...but the teams
seemed to keep fairly level heads.  UAF put UM on the
power play too much to stay with them, and then took a
couple of frustration misconducts late in the game.
 
MICHIGAN 11 Alaska Fairbanks 0 (Saturday)
Box already posted for this one as well.  Michigan exploded
for six third period goals to make this one look even worse
than it was.  Frankly, some of the UAF players gave up.  I'm
not saying I blame them...it must be tough knowing you're in
the final 20 minutes of your season...but they had a big hand
in letting this one get out of hand.  Freshman defenseman
Dwayne Zinger may have played the worst period I've seen
in the CCHA.  I think he took four shifts, and on three of them
he personally escorted a UM forward to the net for a goal.
We started calling him "red carpet" in our section.  He was
really rolling it out.
 
UAF managed to hold Brendan Morrison (1-3--4) in check
fairly well, but they forgot about Morrison's wingers.  Jason
Botterill (6-2--8) and Bill Muckalt (3-6--9) both exploded on
the Nanooks.  Botterill netted the 100th goal of his career
on Saturday.  Muckalt, a junior, passed the 150 point mark.
 
On Saturday, following a UM goal, a couple of octopi hit
the ice.  UM forward John Madden scooped one up on his
stick blade and took it to the Michigan bench where he
tried to deposit it *on* equipment man Ian Hume.  Ian
managed to scramble in time, however, and Madden
simply dumped the critter at the end of UM's bench.
 
Michigan finishes the 1996-97 season at 18-0-2 at Yost
Arena.  According to the PA announcer (and, presumably,
Sports Info staff), this marks UM's first ever undefeated
season at Yost...which became home to the icers in the
early 1970s.
 
In ACHA (club) action, Ohio University won their third straight
Division I national championship by defeating Iowa State,
2-1, right here in Ann Arbor.  Former Ferris State Bulldog JJ
Bamberger notched the championship winning goal.  Fwiw...
unofficially I have former Ohio Bobcat star Jarret Whidden
finishing his Ohio State career with 16-11--27 and a -13 in 55
games over 2.5 seasons with the Buckeyes.  Pretty good
numbers after making the jump from D-I club to D-I varsity.
 
 
John Haeussler ([log in to unmask])
May the next 129 minute game be Miami-Michigan State
on Friday night. :-)
 
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