First, the Box Summary from JLA: Michigan State vs. MICHIGAN Joe Louis Arena January 30, 1993 Detroit, Michigan FINAL: 1st 2nd 3rd Total Michigan State 1 0 0 1 Michigan 5 2 4 11 SAVES: MSU: Buzak 9 16 x 25 Kruse x x 11 11 Total : 36 UM: Shields 3 7 x 10 Gordon x x 2 2 Total : 12 SCORING SUMMARY: SCORE: UM 1:54 Oliver (22nd) from Stewart & Hilton 0-1 UM 7:27 Ouimet (9th) from Ward & SHIELDS 0-2 UM 11:05 Neaton (8th) from Stewart & Hilton 0-3 MSU 11:56 Woodward (8th) Unassisted 1-3 UM 14:59 Hilton (10th) from Stewart & Neaton 1-4 UM 17:46 Stiver (14th) from Roberts 1-5 UM 21:55 Oliver (23rd) from Neaton & Wiseman 1-6 UM (PP) 33:52 Knuble (13th) from Roberts 1-7 UM (SH) 44:27 Stiver (15th) from Roberts & Harlock 1-8 UM 49:05 Knuble (14th) from Roberts & Tamer 1-9 UM 52:27 Wiseman (7th) from Harlock & Roberts 1-10 UM 54:57 Roberts (11th) from Sinclair & GORDON 1-11 OFFICIALS : Referees: Brent Rutherford & John LaDuke Linesman: John Kelly ATTENDANCE: 18,275 (*****NCAA non-tourney ATTENDANCE RECORD*****) Comments: For the first time in years, the Maize and Blue fans OUTNUMBERED green and white fans at Joe Louis. But then, the Wolverines never gave the Spartan fans a chance to make any noise. State was flat the entire game. I don't know why, but from the beginning they did not play good hockey. As the score really shows, they would have been better off not showing up. It was an incredibly enjoyable hockey game to watch (that is, of course, if you're not a Spartan fan). Michigan played their hearts out, and showed (me, at least) that they truly are the team to beat in the CCHA (sorry, Miami). With stellar performances last night and tonight, the Wolervines are in high gear for the March tournaments. On the unusual side, Both Michigan goaltenders scored assists in the game at the Joe. Steve Shields helped Aaron Ward get the puck to Mark Ouimet before he was ejected from the game (more later...) for Michigan's second goal of the game. Late in the third, a bored Chris Gordon passed the puck up the ice to Al Sinclair who gave Roberts a crisp pass for Robert's 11th goal of the season (Is Robert's really having that bad a scoring season? 11 Goals seems really low?!). Gordon was unaware of his point until rink announcer Budd Lynch announced the goal. Besides the Michigan goals, the game was relatively uneventful (honestly, there were no or _very_ few State highlights...). THOSE *()&%&^ OFFICIALS... On the other hand, Brent Rutherford and John LaDuke's (hereby referred to as Mr. & Mrs. Consistency -- you pick which one is the misses -- and no offense meant to all those awesome female hockey fans :-) performance over the entire weekend was ... At the end of the first period the consistency twins called a 5:00 major + game DQ on Michigan's Ouimet for sphering. At the same time a State player (whose identity I've long since forgotten) received a 2:00 minor for roughing. The State player clearly tried to climb OVER the linesman to get at a Michigan player (probably Ouimet) and IMHO deserved a misconduct for his abuse of officials. Now, before you flame me for being biased...I did not see Ouimet's alledged sphere. Neither did any of those I was sitting with, nor a good friend who is a non-biased CCHA on-site official. He even mentioned that the call _could_have_been_ a carry-over from Friday's UM-UIC melee's. NOW...If Ouimet did indeed sphere someone, then HE SHOULD GET THE PENALTY AND MISCONDUCT. PERIOD. You will get no argument from me, because I think that sort of stick work is disgraceful and dangerous. Other than that, Saturday's game was relatively clean and uneventful. You almost didn't need ref's there which is unheardof for a UM/MSU hockey game. FRIDAY...THE CONSISTENCY TWINS STRIKE FIRST... During the previous night's game, however, Rutherford and LaDuke clearly had NO CONTROL over the game. I will not get into whether or not UIC's actions were premeditated or anything like that because I don't believe it. BUT, had the referees taken control of the game the TWO SEPERATE melee's in the third period WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. Both ref's were incredibly inconsistent throughout the entire game--and how many times can everybody say...call it tight or loose but call it the same the ENTIRE game and for BOTH sides. After the first brawl, LaDuke and Rutherford sent 8 of the 10 players off for _roughing_. IMHO, one or two 10 misconducts should have been called. I honestly think if the consistency twins had made a stand then, the players would have been less likely to brawl a second time. As for the second brawl, it was CLEARLY started by UIC Flame Derek Knorr (and in today's _Michigan_Daily_, UIC coach Larry Pedrie admitted to this: "One of our players was at fault. It was just pure frustration. That's not the way to handle frustration.") However, neither LaDuke nor Rutherford were looking in that direction when Knorr crosschecked Ouimet--BUT linesman Kelly was staring STRAIGHT at it. I understand the penalties that were called (6 fights & DQ's) and actually agree with them, but Michigan should have been giving a 5 minute power play for Knorr's clearly intentional X-check. How the penalties ended up evening out I will never know. IMHO, the CCHA supervisor of officials should have noticed the incredible violence of Friday's game and that both LaDuke and Rutherford were contributors to it. Thus, I firmly believe, and would have done so if I were in that position, that the ref assignments fro Saturday should have been changed. I can't understand why, for what is known to be a really intense and possibly vicious rivalry (MSU/UM), the CCHA would not assign it's best officiating pair to it. Clearly, Rutherford and LaDuke were out of there league Friday night and should never have been at the Joe Saturday. Thank God nothing happened Saturday night. Who knows what they would have called. My Opinions These Are All...Please Don't Take My Generalizations Personally... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ____ ____ Roger L. Spurgeon [log in to unmask] |_ \ / _| Michigan Engineering `94 | \ \ / / | | |\ \/ /| | MICHIGAN HOCKEY -- 1992 GLI CHAMPIONS! 5-IN-A-ROW! _| | \ / | |_ DETROIT RED WINGS - THANKS NORTHERN FOR DALLAS DRAKE! |__| \/ |__| MUDDY THE MUD HEN SAYS THE STORM WILL RAGE IN TOLEDO! Go Blue!