I'll try to answer the question about why Michigan State and Michigan
played their second pair of regular season games at Joe Louis Arena in
Detroit.  Normally, CCHA teams play each other four times during the
regular season -- a pair of games in the first half of the season, and a
pair in the second half.  If the schools are close enough to each other,
each pair of games is usually split between the two sites.  Since East
Lansing and Ann Arbor are so close to one another (about 60 miles), the
games are always run as a "home-and-home" series, and they're usually sold
out (including several hundred standing-room only tickets).
 
I think the two schools agreed to move the final pair of games to Joe
Louis in order to permit more fans to attend the game, and also to bolster
interest in college hockey in the Detroit area.  Joe Louis seats about
20,000, while Munn (MSU) seats about 6,500 and Yost (UM) seats about
8,000.  Detroit is about 90 miles from East Lansing and 30 miles from Ann
Arbor, so it's easy for fans from the schools to attend the games.  Plus,
the Detroit area has a large contingent of alumni from both schools.  I
don't recall the exact figures, but I think attendance was 13,000+ for
Friday's game, and 15,000+ for Saturday's game.
 
Joe Louis is also the site of the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament
during the Christmas holidays, and the second round of the CCHA playoffs.
Attendance at both events is usually quite good.
 
Now for my two cents worth about Steve Piotrowski, the referee for Friday
night's game:  he did a reasonably good job for most of the game, but
messed up royally at the end.  He was pretty consistent during most of the
game, and I guess I'd agree that he is one of the better refs in the CCHA.
 
However, he failed to make a player for UM serve a delayed penalty during
the last two minutes of the game.  Late in the game, the score was tied
5-5 and the teams were skating three on three (because of two earlier
pairs of penalties) when Piotrowski called a UM player for a two minute
minor.  UM scored to go ahead by one goal, and MSU was trying hard to tie
the game (obviously).  When the original penalties had all expired, nobody
from UM was left in the box.  MSU noticed this and tried to get Piotrowski
to make the guy serve his delayed penalty, but to no avail.  It took about
five minutes, with the ref talking to the officials at the penalty boxes,
before play resumed.  However, the newspaper report I read the next day
(in the Ann Arbor paper, no less!) claimed that Piotrowski refused to call
the official scorer and ask about the penalty.
 
Clearly, being on the power play during the last two minutes of the games
increases your chances of scoring a goal and tying the game, so I'd say the
ref's actions (or inactions) did have a significant impact on the game.
However, I'll freely admit that MSU should have been playing much better in
the first and second periods of the game -- they never should have been in
that position in the first place.
 
Mark McCullen