If I may, I'd like to go back to something I was saying a while back.
After watching the first night of the College Hockey Showcase last night, I
still think that Michigan is a disappointingly chippy team.  They could
have put the Badgers away in the first period, but instead let them back in
by running over Kirk Daubenspeck a few times.  This is not a matter of
responding to other teams slowing them down.  Simply put, Michigan is big
and strong and likes to try to intimidate and get other teams out of their
game by taking a few penalties.  Botterill and Luhning in particular aren't
finicky about their actions being legal.  Going back a decade, this is what
I think of as Michigan State hockey, and it's why I have such a dislike of
Ron Mason's teams.
  Speaking of the Spartans, they look like a much improved team from last
year.  There weren't anything like the sloppy breakdowns that were the
dominant characteristic of their play every time I saw them last year.
(How many times did they let a Badger get behind the defense in last year's
regional?)  In the third period last night, they reverted to the incessent
and boring icing of the puck that I saw in the same game last year, but
that was two periods less than previously.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.