I made it to Ann Arbor for the weekend to see the banner go up at Yost.  Also
had a chance to run into John H, who was much perturbed at the Gopher jersey
I wore to Saturday's game.
 
The ceremony itself was a disappointment.  I would have like to see all of
the players introduced instead of just this year's captains and two of last
year's seniors (Arnold and Sakala).  The whole thing felt very rushed.  Also,
the banners at Yost are just plain ugly: simple rectangles of blue vinyl with
block lettering.  Nothing like the cloth pennants with actual effort put into
them that most places use.  I had warned my wife that I would probably cry,
but the whole thing was too cheesy for that to happen.  Sigh.
 
After watching Michigan for two games, I can see why people have been saying
that they're not up to full speed.  Two things were particularly noticeable.
 The Wolverines are constantly turning the puck over in the defensive zone.
 It almost looks as if they are prepared for it; most were kept from being as
dangerous as they could have been because one defenseman was hanging back,
ready for the puck to be given away.  Turco can't even complain that he's not
getting support, because he's the number one culprit.  It seems that he's
wandering away from the net with even more frequency than in the past and
then suffering from indecision once he gets to the puck.  Hey, Marty, with
all that padding, it's really easy for the opposition to pluck the biscuit
off your stick and feed it to someone in front of the net, twenty feet from
where you're standing.
 
The other thing plaguing Michigan is poor shooting.  Connerly may have
stopped the Crozier's breakaway on Friday, but there was another time Greg
missed the net from four feet with 22 of the 24 square feet to shoot at.  Up
and down the lineup, Wolverines were doing the same thing, from Morrison down
to the freshmen.
 
Ohio State is definitely on the way up.  Michigan got up 3-0 early but
couldn't put the Buckeyes away until late.  Granted,  OSU only stayed in it
because Michigan got lazy.  Still, there was a time when that didn't stop the
goals from coming frequently.  OSU now has the skill to exploit the openings
that are left to them.  I don't think this year's team is as solid as last
season's, at might not win as many games.  I do think that there is more
talent there to work with and that they'll be getting better.
 
The Saturday night game was both very exciting and very ugly.  It was 1-1
until about the 12 minute mark of the third.  BGSU did not play like a team
on a four-game losing streak, at least not in terms of pushing the scoring
chances.  Michigan combined some nifty play with the same problems mentioned
above.  On the whole, they certainly looked like the team more likely to put
it together and be dominant, but that probably doesn't surprise a whole lot
of people.
 
The chippiness started long before the last few minutes.  Late in the first
period, Brendan Morrison took several runs at a Falcon until Roger Graff
finally called him for roughing.  As this is uncharacteristic of Morrison, I
would be interested to know if this was the same player who broke his wrist
last year.
 
In the second period, two Falcons left the game with injuries.  Andy Ilvonen
left the ice holding his arm such that I'm suspecting he has a seperated
shoulder.  Brett Punchard was left in a heap on a play that I didn't see and
looked like it was his knee.  I don't know that either of these were caused
by uncalled infractions, but they probably didn't contribute to good
feelings.
 
Again, without calls, there were several times that Michigan players remained
doubled over in front of the Bowling Green crease after the play was over.
 In all, I was left with the sense that there was a fair amount of dirty play
going on without having seen it or getting any calls.
 
The game completely jumped the rails in the sequence where the Michigan goal
was waved off.  Firstly, waving the goal off was a horrible call.  It was
clearly in the net and both Graff and the goal judge signalled goal at first.
 What the justification for the change of mind was, I have no idea.  (The
same thing happened to Michigan the previous night, but I'll get to that.)
 
The real probelms, though, started after the light went on.  The Falcons
seemed to object to the celebration and started roughing someone up in the
slot (I think it was Morrison, which would only have made things worse.)
 This was your standard roughing after the whistle, and pretty cheap, to I
thought.  Botterill took matters into his own hands and delivered a vicious
cross-check to the shoulder blades of one of the culprits that left him down
for a few moments after he banged his head on the ice.  Jason should have
gotten the gate right then instead of the minor he got, but a couple of
Falcons should have followed him with misconducts.  This is the point where
Graff lost the game.
 
Michigan then scored two goals in a short span.  At this point Bowling Green
completely lost their composure and Michigan followed right nehind them.  Dan
Faulkner broke Greg Crozier's arm with a wicked slash behind the play that
went uncalled.  This is the second meeting in a row that a Wolverine has left
with a slash-induced fracture, going back to Morrison's.  Kelly Perrault then
decided to take his frustrations out on Brendan Morrison right next to the
Bowling Green bench.  This is the action most likely to produce a Michigan
reaction, and Deputy Botterill duly responded by taking on Perrault and then
the entire BG bench.  I still maintain that Jason needs to learn how not to
lose his temper, but this was a situation that called for excessive violence.
 I can understand why the rest of the CCHA doesn't like Michigan and games
might tend to get chippy.  However, they are targetting Morrison not just
with heavy play around the puck but all sorts of abuse after the whistle.
 Until it starts getting called, Botterill is going to have to keep picking
up suspensions coming to his defense.  This incident might have remained
simply Botterill and Perrault getting DQs except for the location.  In
addition to everyone on the ice, all of the Falcons on the bench lined up to
take shots.  Bill Muckalt for Michigan skated all the way across the rink and
took a flying leap (I exaggerate not) into the fray, earning his DQ.  The
calls from this altercation puzzled me Botterill, Muckalt, Perrault and Todd
Kelman from BG all got the gate.  Chris Frescoln from UM was uncalled despite
active participation and the BG bench didn't get a thing, depsite 5 or 6 guys
taking swings.  I can understand Graff not wanting to eject anyone else for
the next game, but he should have passed out 10-minute misconducts like
Halloween candy.  The only recipient was Warren Luhning, who took an
opportunity when Graff was at the scorer's table to skate past the BG bench
and explain his views of the proceedings.  A couple of Falcons almost came
out to get the whole thing started again.
 
The last scuffle came shortly thereafter.  Bowling Green shot the puck into
the Michigan end.  In the pursuit, two Wolverines took cheap shots at someone
down on the ice: Andrew Merrick delivered a cross-check to the back of the
head and Justin Clark punched someone in the same place.  They got two and
five minutes respectively, but no disqualifications.  This was also the point
where the Berenzweig fight took place.  Bubba ended up getting his five
minute's worth, but a linesman stood there and watched him take six punches
to the head without stepping in.  It's the kind of thing where I would hope
someone at the central office would take a look and rescind the suspension
since he didn't have a whole lot of choice but to fight back.
 
The whole weekend was a major statement against the assisstant referee
concept.  The whole purpose of it is to catch infractions like the slash that
broke Crozier's arm.  There was a play in the Friday night game where Bobby
Hayes was checked from behind into the boards right behind referee Shell's
back.  One of the assistants must have seen it, but there was no call.  I
don't know where the problem is, but these calls absolutely, positively have
to be made.  There is no excuse for a game as physical as hockey to leave
significant expanses of ice unpatrolled in which mayhem can occur.  The
linesmen/assistant referees have to step up and call penalties.
 
On the whole, though, I had a great time this weekend.  I enjoyed being at
Yost again (and am fortunate enough to know someone with the connections
necessary to get tickets.  Thanks, Mom.) and caught up with friends outside
of the hockey world as well.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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