As Eric Rickin said, weird.  Strange.  Should have been
a Halloween night game.
 
Unofficial:
Bowling Green  0 2 1 - 3     8  9 12 -- 29
Michigan       1 2 1 - 4    10 12 14 -- 36
 
16:44 M Knuble 24 (Legg,Herr)
29:59 M Hilton 15 (Luhning,Legg) PP
30:32 B Hall 11 (Johnson)
35:18 M Morrison 17 (Hilton,Knuble) PP
36:26 B Punchard 12 (unassisted) PP
41:02 B Lune 11 (Punchard,Ackerman) PP
48:40 M Madden 16 (Morrison,Knuble) ?PP?
 
Goaltenders:
  B - Clarke
  M - Turco
 
Three Stars:
  1 - John Madden, Michigan
  2 - Mike Knuble, Michigan
  3 - Will Clarke, Bowling Green
 
CCHA's finest:
  Perry Petterle, referee
 
Very enjoyable game with lots of strange happenings.
Michigan came out flying and had 2-4 high quality scoring
chances on the first couple of shifts, including some second
and third shots off of Clarke rebounds, but Clarke kept the
puck out of the net.  Midway through the first period, UM's
Matt Herr drilled BGSU defenseman Kelly Perrault into the
boards with a cross check and received (justifiably so) a
five minute major.  Michigan managed to kill the major with
some solid defense and leniency on Petterle's part.  Late
in the power play, UM defenseman Harold Schock cleared
the crease with a series of cross checks that went uncalled.
Not to long after that, UM's Brendan Morrison attempted to
undress one of the Falcons by getting his stick well into the
opponent's wardrobe, but the hook wasn't called.  Late in
the period, Mike Knuble ended the shutout-fest with his 24th
goal (in 25 games).  I felt that Michigan was easily the better
team in the first, and benefitted from some non-calls...so
having only a 1-0 lead was disappointing.
 
More of the same in the second...quality Michigan scoring
chances with little to show for them.  Also, Matt Herr again
sent Kelly Perrault to the ice with a cross check to the back
(Matt must have a personal vendetta with Kelly :-), but it wasn't
as flagrant as before and Petterle didn't blow the whistle
(should have been a minor).  Midway (literally) through the
period, Kevin Hilton snapped in a power play goal from down
low to give Michigan a 2-0 lead.  (Aside: the line of Hilton,
Madden and Warren Luhning has been Michigan's best
line of late, especially at even strength.  Combining offense
and defense, they've become one of the top lines in the
country.)  Everything looked good for the blue following the
Hilton goal, then BGSU trickled the puck into the Michigan
zone toward Turco.  Mike Johnson was moving in for the
Falcons, but Michigan had a defender between he and the
puck, which was slowly making its way to the crease.  At
first, I thought that Turco was going to shoot the puck to the
boards and out of the zone.  Then it looked like he was
going to drop and cover it.  Then it looked like he might
push it behind the net for his defenseman.  He did none of
the above.  The puck, in slow motion, made its way through
Marty to the side of the UM net.  Turco scurried (and scurried,
and scurried...) to play it, but Johnson managed to poke it
in front where Mike Hall banged it into the now empty Michigan
net.  Very weird.  Normally a non-dangerous play, it just
appeared that Marty had a hole in his stick when he eventually
tried to play the puck.  Turco was visibly embarrassed.
The Yost crowd is often on pins and needles because Marty
likes to roam around the zone, often leaving Michigan in a
three forward, three defenseman, zero goaltender alignment.
This wasn't the case here...Marty just fanned on it, repeatedly.
Five minutes later, Morrison drilled a point shot past Clarke
to again give Michigan a two goal cushion.  At this point,
Petterle traded in his maize and blue glasses for orange
and brown.  Within 1:08 of the Morrison goal, BGSU's Brett
Punchard dumped the puck into the Michigan zone by
sending it high off the glass.  Unbelievably, the puck hit one
of the support posts and seemed to gain speed as it
whistled into the empty Michigan net...Turco had moved out
to stop the puck as it wrapped around the boards.  Marty
must have walked under a ladder on his way to the game,
because fortune was not shining on him.
 
We move to the third period with a 3-2 Michigan lead, and,
IMO, Michigan clearly being the better team.  Then, the
inevitable happened.  Kevin Lune scored with Turco IN the
net, and suddenly it was a tie game in the third period.
Thankfully, at 8:40, Mike Knuble fed the puck from the side
of the BGSU net out to Morrison at the point.  Brendan
wound up to drill a shot at Clarke.  He got about 10% of
it.  The puck skidded  12-15 feet over to an awaiting
John Madden, who lined up and blew a slapper over
Clarke for a 4-3 Michigan lead.  I'm 95% positive it was a
power play goal, but I didn't record it as such in my notes.
There was to be no more scoring.
 
In a nutshell, I think the better team won.  And I think both
coaches were likely none-too-pleased with Mr Petterle.
After turning the cheek on early Michigan infractions,
Petterle, at times, seemed to call (or not call) the second
half of the game as if his life depended on BGSU coming
away with at least a tie.  To his credit, only one non-call
directly resulted in a scoring opportunity.  In the second
period, Michigan defenseman Tim Hogan was hooked
in the neutral zone as he carried the puck forward, creating
a Falcon breakaway that turned out to be less dangerous
than it immediately looked when the BGSU player picked
up the stranded puck with nothing between himself and
Turco but the blueline.
 
In the-game-within-the-game, Morrison again gained
points on BGSU Hobey Baker favorite Brian Holzinger.
Following Friday's action, the CCHA scoring race looks
like this:
 
  NAME       GM   G   A  PTS  REMAINING
  Holzinger  22  19  21   40  WMU/OSU/OSU/LSSU/FSU
  Morrison   22  12  27   39  MSU/FSU/UND/Miami/OSU
 
Also, for the first time I can recall, I saw something that
worried me about Holzinger...as a Brian Holzinger fan.
(He worries me every time he's on the ice from an
opposing fan perspective.)  Michigan defenseman Blake
Sloan seemed to man-handle Holzinger in the Michigan
zone all night.  Sloan knocked him down, knocked him to
the wall and basically moved him wherever he wanted to.
Blake Sloan is 5-9, 180.
 
Enough.  Michigan closed the season series versus
BGSU at 3-0-0.  The Wolverines can clinch the CCHA
title with a win versus Michigan State tonight.  (Or a tie
and a BGSU non-win.)
 
 
John Haeussler
Univ of Michigan
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