Michigan (34-9-3)               0     0     1   -   1
    Boston University (26-10-2)     3     0     1   -   4
 
    BU completely dominated an obviously intimidated Michigan team in the
    first period tonight, opening up a 3-0 lead on route to a 4-1 win, giving
    the Terriers a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series.  While the second
    and third periods were played pretty evenly after Michigan got their
    jitters out, it was the first period that cost them.  Tomorrow night's
    second game should be a good one.
 
    Walter Brown Arena had an SRO crowd tonight and it will be the same
    tomorrow.  Officials were the same as last week's UAA-BC series:
    referee Shepherd from the WCHA and Demers & Earle from the ECAC.
    Goalies were Scott Cashman for BU and backup Chris "Flash" Gordon for UM.
 
    BU roared out right from the opening faceoff and simply outskated
    the Wolverines for much of the period.  A bad Michigan line change
    with Aaron "Hospital" Ward in the penalty box helped BU get on the board
    first at 7:04.  After UM dumped the puck in, Cashman quickly sent it right
    back to center ice, where Petteri Koskimaki redirected it to David
    Tomlinson at the UM blue line.  He went in alone and beat Gordon for his
    27th goal, a PPG.
 
    Next, there was a possible two-goal swing when Michigan couldn't capitalize
    on a great chance, but BU came right back and did.  Mike "Hamburger" Helber
    stole the puck from BU's Scott Lachance and fed Denny Felsner, who shot
    it over the crossbar.  Then BU's David Sacco robbed Mark "Remember When"
    Ouimet at the point, went in alone, faked and beat Gordon for his 18th goal
    and a 2-0 lead at 12:15.
 
    Just 1:39 later, there was another such two-goal swing.  Felsner shot the
    puck just wide, then BU's feared Red Line cranked up and blitzed their way
    down the ice.  Shawn McEachern carried the puck up the right wing and
    passed in front to Keith Tkachuk, who knocked it by the diving Gordon for
    #17 and a 3-0 lead.  I thought Amonte was also in on the play, but he did
    not get an assist.  McEachern now has 32-45--77 on the year.
 
    Michigan started to play more physical to slow down the quicker Terriers.
    It worked for the rest of the game, as BU was held to only Tom Dion's
    empty-netter with 39 seconds left.  But the Wolverines themselves were
    also unable to generate many scoring chances.  BU outshot UM 16-6 in
    the first period, but combined over the final two periods, UM had the
    edge 15-14 (for the game, BU 31-20).  UM broke the shutout with 2:44 left.
    Coach Red Berenson had pulled Gordon with three minutes left down three
    goals - interesting since I had read an article stating that the optimum
    time to pull the goalie was with three minutes left in the game (contrary
    to what usually happens).  It paid off.  David Roberts and Ouimet were
    battling for the puck in front of Cashman, and Ouimet slid it over to Don
    Stone who shot it by the Terrier goalie for his 21st goal.  Gordon
    returned to the net for about a minute and then came out again at about
    18:14, but Dion nailed the empty-netter at 19:21.
 
    Michigan needs to keep up the style it played over the final two periods,
    especially their strong forecheck which gave BU a bit of trouble.  The
    Terriers appeared to be off to a rout early on, but when the real Michigan
    team showed up, BU began to have more trouble pressuring Gordon.  Both
    goalies played pretty well, but I expect we'll still see UM's Shields and
    BU's Bradley tomorrow.
 
    Other notes:
 
    Jack Parker spent the game in the BU radio booth.  Kap suggested that he
    should have done in-between period interviews that could have been picked
    up in the BU locker room ("I really think we need to pressure the points a
    little more, Bob...").  We didn't see him in the press box in between
    periods, which made me wonder if he was disguising himself as the BU
    Terrier and slipping into the locker room.  Anyway, both Maine and BU
    won tonight with their coaches suspended.  Maybe this should happen
    more often.
 
    During the game, when the score of the Maine-Minnesota game was announced
    with Maine ahead, there was a pretty good ovation given the Black Bears.
    Not only that, Clarkson got a big cheer when it was announced they were
    leading LSSU.  I thought the Maine & Clarkson people would like to
    know that.  The only score that was booed was NMU over UAA; BU fans
    were not about to root against any team which had just beaten BC!
 
    The message that Adam mentioned from Parker to the BU fans in the Daily
    Free Press was printed up and a copy was left on each seat in the arena.
    It urged the fans to shun rude language while thanking them for their
    support.  To their credit, they abided by Parker's request, even when
    BU was hit with a questionable delay of game call.  That was the first
    game I had been to in a while at BU where I did not hear the famous
    "Bullsh*t" chant.
 
    The Wolverines had a pretty good fan showing tonight.  I'd guess the
    crowd numbered about 4,000, with some 400-500 UM fans.
 
    Michigan dressed only three seniors; their combined stats are 21-40--61.
    Wow.  No matter what they do this season, look out next year.
 
    Congrats to Clarkson, Maine, BU, and NMU fans.  Will three Eastern teams
    make the Final Four for a second straight year?  We'll know soon, maybe
    in 24 hours.
 
 
    - mike