Sunday, March 23
Grand Rapids was kickin this weekend! In front of a huge Michigan crowd
the Wolverines smothered the Gophers at Van Andel Arena today. Final score:
Michigan 7, Minnesota 4. We got off to an early start, with Brendan Morrison
scoring 33 seconds into the first period. Jason Botterill and Brendan just missed hat tricks
with two goals each, and Bill Muckalt, Matt Herr, and Greg Crozier each added
one to the Michigan talley. We played better tonight than I've seen us play in
a long time. We picked up the intensity and everyone added to the play. I was
particularly happy with Greg Crozier's play tonight. Maybe he won't be changing
that number after all... Next stop: Milwaukee. Pack those bags and get ready to
watch some good hockey. Good luck guys! Go Blue!
Saturday, March 15
Revenge is sweet! As I predicted, we came out on top. The Wolverines
defeated the Spartans with a score of 3-1, capturing the CCHA Championship
title for 1997. We were pumped tonight as we finally showed MSU what
we were made of. We came out ready to play and Warren Luhning scored the
first goal of the game at 2:20 into the first period during a Michigan
power play. It was Warren's 7th power play goal of the year. Brendan
Morrison followed closely behind with a seemingly impossible goal off a breakaway
a mere 60 seconds later. Bang! 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the
first period. The Wolverines continued tough play, only allowing one
Spartan goal all night. Near the end of the third period, MSU pulled Alban and
sophomore winger Dale Rominski took advantage and scored the third and
last talley of the night. It was good, solid hockey...too bad I can't
say the same for the reffing. Matt "I call nothing but crap" Shegos was
his usual self, calling three incredibly bad penalties during the game. The first
of the three I am referring to was the 5 minute major AND game misconduct
for Greg Crozier. Now, while I understand the 5 minute major call for cross
checking, I do not agree with the game misconduct call. The next
bad penalty came in the second period when Shegos gave Brendan a 2 minute
roughing penalty for basically doing nothing while he got the crap beat out
of him by an MSU defender. The third was also in the second period, while we all saw
clearly on the overhead replay that Mike Legg's arms were raised in the air at his sides, trying
to show Shegos that he was doing nothing to pull down the tumbling MSU player,
Shegos called him anyways for holding. Now, how this could happen when Mike's
arms are in the air is beyond me, but I'm not bitter, because the game
ended exactly as we wanted...a ceremony and a trophy for the best team...Michigan.
Up next, Regionals in Grand Rapids. Let's keep the streak going, guys! Go blue!
Friday, March 14
Michigan played an outstanding game at "the Joe" tonight, blowing out
Bowling Green 7-2. It was an intense game, remaining scoreless at the
end of the first period. However, Michigan kicked into gear and scored
three in the second period and four in the third, leaving BGSU wishing
they hadn't shown up. The third period must've been frustrating the Hell out
of BGSU as they picked up about twice as many penalties as in the first
two periods combined. Among the scorers of the night was Justin Clark, who
I would like to give special attention to because it was his third
goal of the season, all of which he's scored in the past two games. He's really
picking up his play, and that's just what we need out of him. He could prove to
be a very valuable part of the Michigan squad, both in the NCAA tournament and
on next year's team. Keep up the great work Justin and the rest of the Wolverines! Tomorrow
night we face up to our arch nemesis MSU again...my prediction? We will win this one!
Let's go blue!