MICHIGAN 3 Michigan State 0 (Friday)
Very exciting/intense game.  Ron Mason and MSU deserve a
lot of credit.  The Spartans hung tough all night with only four
defenseman and eight or nine forwards.  On the blueline, Tyler
Harlton and Jeff Kozakowski played about 35 minutes with
Chris Bogas and Chris Smith getting the other 25.  And, I have
to say, after seeing the Spartans three times in three weeks,
Jeff Kozakowski is much better than Chris Bogas among MSU's
highly touted pair of freshmen D's.  Bogas has the offensive
numbers (mostly assists), but he was routinely undressed by
the Wolverines.  (Goaltender Chad Alban routinely covered
his butt.)  Kozakowski logs more minutes and does the dirty
work defensively, going relatively unnoticed.  An injured Jon
Gaskins and the punter from the football team (Salani?) were
dressed as the third defensive pair, but I don't remember them
taking a shift.  Considering they had played BGSU the night
before, the effort by MSU's four D's was admirable.  Likewise,
Chad Alban was stellar between the pipes.  Anson Carter was
also on the ice for almost 40 minutes...including a few three
minutes shifts.  Anson worked his butt off and won almost every
faceoff before wearing down, but he showed very little offensively.
Anson played most of every power play and penalty kill.  MSU
shut down UM's power play, but UM returned the favor including
escaping a couple of 5-on-3 situations in the first period.  Even
with two 5-on-3's, MSU only mustered three shots on goal in the
first.  (Another three in the second and seven in the third.)
 
The goals were very nice.  John Madden knocked in a baseball
backhand over Alban's shoulder for the winner late in the second.
(It was disputed, but Madden's stick was well below the crossbar.)
The second goal was a great three-way effort, started by Bobby
Hayes.  IMO, Hayes' deserved the first star purely on hustle.  In
this instance, there was a faceoff outside of the MSU zone.  Hayes
won the draw forward, picked up the puck and carried it deep into
the MSU zone before dumping it back to Chris Frescoln at the left
point.  Frescoln uncoiled a blast that was intended for a re-direction.
Mike Legg supplied the re-direction.
 
Michigan's final goal came from Bill Muckalt into an empty net.
However, it WASN'T an empty netter.  Alban was trying to get to
the bench when Muckalt outworked an MSU player for the puck
near UM's blue line.  To me, it didn't appear that Alban got back
as quick as he could.  Maybe he thought Muckalt wouldn't shoot
so soon.  But, seeing Alban returning home, Muckalt risked the
icing and fired from behind the red line, cleanly burying it.
 
All in all, an enjoyable college hockey game.  Referee Steve
Piotrowski did some whistle swallowing...hey, it is playoff time...
but did OK for the most part.  His two worst calls were split between
the teams.  In the first period, he called coincidentals on what was
totally an MSU mugging of a UM player.  In the second, he missed
UM defenseman Chris Frescoln take out MSU forward Mike York
with a high cross-check to the shoulder/chops.  York looked to
be badly injured, but eventually skated off and quickly returned
to the game.
 
Hats off to Michigan for getting a gritty, "must" win.  Hats off to
Michigan State for a smart game plan that was well executed.
Given their short bench, previous night's play and hostile environment,
MSU's monster defensive effort was what they need to leave
Yost with a point or two.  They weren't going to outgun Michigan.
Had MSU gotten the first goal, the game would have been REAL
interesting.  (Btw...plenty of credit to Michigan's netminder Marty
Turco as well.  He didn't see a lot of action, by he made the key
saves that had to be made.  The game was 0-0 late into the
second period and still 1-0 five minutes into the third.)  My lone
beef (there always has to be one, right?) is with the MSU fans.
Make that AN MSU fan.  Michigan's longtime traveling secretary
recently passed away and was honored with a moment of silence
prior to the game.  Unfortunately, one classless MSU fan used
the moment of silence as his personal stage for screaming "GO
GREEN!"  Go home.
 
MICHIGAN 7 Bowling Green 5 (Saturday)
The Wolverines tried to let this one slip away following a 7-2
lead early in the third period.  Michigan carried the play for pretty
much the entire evening, outshooting the Falcons 42-16.  IMO,
it appeared that *some* of the Falcons knew all too well that they
were playing for the right to return to Yost next weekend.  A BGSU
win would have left Michigan in fourth place, and since the Falcons
had already clinched fifth it would have meant BGSU@UM in the
CCHA first round.  I honestly think that some of the Falcons didn't
care to win this one...and they almost did!  Where was All-America
defenseman Kelly Perrault?  He was never in the game defensively,
which isn't totally new, but he didn't show up offensively until UM
had the comfortable(?) five goal lead.  Perrault handed UM quality
scoring chances shift after shift.  If I were in net for BGSU, I think I
would have cracked Perrault with my goal stick just hard enough
to get him out of the game.
 
Michigan had an outside shot at capturing the CCHA title outright
with a victory and a Lake Superior loss or tie at Miami, which prompted
a loud chorus of "LET'S GO, REDSKINS!" at Yost, but the 'Skins
didn't oblige.  However, I'm SICK of hearing that UM disappointingly
has to settle for second.  No way.  Lake Superior and Michigan are
CCHA co-champs!  LSSU gets (and deserves) the #1 playoff seed
for winning the head-to-head season series.  But this doesn't end
Michigan's streak.  They've captured three straight CCHA regular
season titles and four of the last five.  For Lake Superior, it's their
first
regular season title since 1990-91.  However, the Lakers have
managed to sandwich two NCAA titles in there in the meantime! :-)
(Btw...along with the #1 CCHA seed comes the pseudo-automatic
NCAA bid for the Lakers.)
 
Lastly, freshman defenseman Bubba Berenzweig tallied his fourth
goal for the Wolverines on Saturday night.  Unfortunately, unlike
Chicago (where he notched goal #3), I'm not aware of a local Ann
Arbor eatery that offers a Hubba Bubba on the menu.  I'll be
discussing the matter with a local restauranteur (sp?) soon. :-)
 
 
John H ([log in to unmask]) GO BLUE!  1995-96 Co-Champs!
 
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