Motivated by the thread about declines in posting, I will put in
my $.01 worth. Normally, you would get $.02 worth, but I readily
admit to being biased in favor of Michigan, so I'm giving you 50%
off. :) [AT THE END, AFTER I WAS DONE, I SAW HOW MUCH I HAD
WRITTEN AND DECIDED I BETTER CHARGE $.02 AFTER ALL!]
Michigan was completely dominating in the first period. It was
perhaps as thorough a period as I have seen them play since I
have started watching them in 1988. I believe the shots were
24-6 and the goals were 5-0. It was shaping up as a 13-1 or 10-2
game people at Yost are accustomed to. The first minute or so of
the second period was similar with Brendan Morrison shooting way
high of (what looked to me to be) an open net and then a rebound
attempt by one of the other Michigan players came closer to
hitting the roof than hitting the net. However, one thing I was
impressed with was the physical nature of the Notre Dame team.
They stood up to the larger Michigan players even when being
overwhelmed in the first period. I'm not talking about
after-the-whistle stuff or pushing in front of the net. I'm
talking about great open-ice hits that were very clean and
thrilling to watch from the stands. While I have already
admitted to being biased for Michigan, I get just as fired up
over a great hit whether it is a Michigan player doing the
hitting or looking for the license plate of the dump truck that
just ran him over.
A few minutes into the second period, the tide shifted. Part was
due to penalties taken by the Wolverines. Harold Schock was
given a major for hitting from behind. I had a very tough angle
to see the play from where I was sitting. It was clearly a very
hard hit with the player hitting the boards very hard. I could
not tell at all whether his back was turned or what the intention
of the hit was. The South Bend paper called it a scary hit. The
Ann Arbor paper quoted the Irish player as being surprised it was
a major because he didn't think it was that bad a hit. The
recipient of the hit was not injured and in fact, had 9 shots on
goal in the second period (again, according to the South Bend
paper). Other Wolverines paraded to the penalty box during the
rest of the period. Notre Dame scored several power play goals
and took the physical play to the Wolverines. Some might say
Michigan was up by 5 and let up because of the score. I thought
the Irish played much better and were skating even with Michigan.
This continued for the remainder of the game as the Irish won
the second and third periods 3-1. Final shots were something
like 49-35 or so. Check the CCHA web site (an excellent site)
for exact numbers.
I thought Notre Dame looked much quicker and more skilled than
ever before. I don't believe there will be any 12-2 thrashings
in Yost anymore. I don't know if Dave Poulin is the difference,
but their program certainly seems to have made the turn. The win
over Bowling Green on Saturday only confirmed my suspicions. A
definite drawback is that the hockey program is not considered to
be on the same level with some of the other sports at ND. This
comment was made to me by a former captain of the ND women's
soccer team. There are new soccer fields and baseball diamonds,
but the hockey arena still occupies half of a larger building and
uses portable grandstands. That said (and given our knowledge of
the ND resources), I would not be surprised to see ND in the top
half of the CCHA within 3-4 yrs or so. It might have been the
blood rushing away from my head for standing throughout the whole
game, but I thought ND reminded me somewhat of the Michigan team
from 1988-89 albeit less skilled. Michigan was much more
physical then and enjoyed crashing into opponents and watching
them squirm to get up. I always thought that was a fun style to
watch and ND fans should get their share of entertainment if that
style is their regular game and not just anti-Michigan
adrenaline.
Other comments about the game experience. No band. It may have
been because the football team took all available musicians to
Ireland, but they played a very strange assortment of disco and
dance music. At one point the ND fans were chanting "NO MORE
MUSIC...NO MORE MUSIC..." I am not a big fan of the bands
personally, but those were weird musical selections. Also, the
place was about 40% filled with Michigan fans. That surprised
me. But, considering it only holds 2500 or so and probably 1000
of them were Wolverine supporters, it was fairly loud whenever ND
did something positive. I was impressed with the fans there.
Also filled with bright lights making it easier to watch.
Nothing personal, but I recall WMU and BG having dimmer lights
than I like to watch a game under. All in all, a nice place to
see a game. The students sang the Michigan fight song with
alternative lyrics, but hey...I was a student once too. Nothing
wrong with that. I don't like the confrontational bashing of
visiting fans which you find in some places. There was none of
that at least at this game. Finally, I had been told the hot
chocolate was the best in the conference. It was good but I only
had the one and wasn't obsessed to get another one.
Wow, after being a lurker for about 3-4 years now and only a very
occasional poster, I guess I had some things to say. Depending
on time constraints, I will try to share my insights with those
who care to read it in the future. Don't expect me to comment on
how the Ohio State forwards were not in position on the breakout
pass in the second period, but I can share whatever impressions I
left the game with. Box scores are usually floating around and I
don't write things down at the game so I will generally not post
those.
While I generally don't read the long posts about games between
Wisconsin and North Dakota (other than a cursory glance), I think
it serves a purpose for it to be there. I will check out stories
on the Vermont games and BU games and the like. If ever I leave
Ann Arbor, I would be desperate for game reports on Michigan even
when they return to the bottom half of the conference. I can say
that I have wanted to state some opinions before but weighed the
benefit it would provide against the possibility of getting angry
responses and chose to read and not write. Hopefully, we can
avoid that unless I say something stupid! :)
Go Blue!
Glenn Auerbach
[log in to unmask]
University of Michigan 1988-1993
Ann Arbor townie 1993-????
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Michigan / Notre Dame?
Author: Eric Rickin <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Date: 11/3/96 17:09
Since I'mnot in ann arbor any more, I have a hard time following michigan
hockey. I noticed that the score of the michigan / ND game was only
6-3. Usually (over the last four years that I had season tickets) we
used to blow them out 13-1, 13-0, that tpye of score, especially if it's
the first meeting of the season between the two. (And we always seem to
play them, at yost, early in the season).. Sooo.. .
Is notre dame much better this year?
---
University of Cincinnati Medicine Class of 2000
University of Michigan Class of 1995
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/~erickin University
of Michigan -- 1996 NCAA Hockey Champions!
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