4B -- The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 7, 2000 Puck talk "That's how hockey goes sometimes; the team that plays the best doesn't always win. The bounces went their way tonight. " - Michigan captain Sean Peach on he similar but ironic results of this weekend. K3 r Michigan 4 ~FerrsState 2 Ferris State iiI Michigan 4 2 Key play Friday, 19:05 left in the third. Michigan freshman right-winger Andy Hilbert hats the puck out of mid air past Ferris State netminder Phil Osaer for the game winner Ih ivlchigan Daily hockey writers picks for the three stars of the week- end. - ANDY HILBERT RIGHT WING The freshman scored three goals on the weekend, including the game winner on Friday night JOSH LANGFELD- RIGHT WING Tied the game Fnday night against Ferrs State with less than five minutes to play. - MIKE COMRIE - CENTER The CCHA's leading scorer recorded two more points to bring his confer- ence total to 35; his overall total is 41. Icers split weekend series with 'Dogs. Michigan 4, Ferris State 2 Michigan 1 0 3 -4 Ferris State 0 1 1 -2 First period -1. UM, Trainor 1 (Merrick, Blackburn), 2:30. Penalties - FSU, Basile (roughing), 4:48; UM Gassoff (cross-checking), 4:48; UM, Hilbert (obstruction-hook- ing), 12:05; FSU, McIver (holding the stick), 16:54. Second period-1. Basile 4 (Wishart), 13:40 (sti). Penalties - FSU, Evans (obstruction-hooking), 3:22; UM, Peach (slashing), 8:01; FSU.Swider(slashing), 11:48; UM, Swistak (high-sticking), 13:46; UM Hillbert (slashing), 19:50. Third period-2. FSU, Swider 13 (Wishart), 0:49 (pp): 2. UM, Langfeld 7 (Shouneyla, Hu ntzicker), 16:15; 3. H ilbert 13 (Mink, Cakmaller),19:05 (pp); 4. UM, Hilbert 14 (Comrie), 19:56 (en). Penalties - FSU, Ricciardi (high-sticking), 4:14; UM, Langfeld (slashing), 10:45; FSU Milan (roughing), 17:28.' Shotsongol-FSU, 3-915-27; UM,28-18. Poer Plays - FSU,1 of 5; UM,1 of 5 Saves - FSU, Osaer 1-85 -14; UM, Blackburn 3-& 14-25 Referee - Brian Aaron Unesmen - Chis Davis, Paul Tunison, At: Ewigleben Ice Arena Atteudance: 2,457 Five -year streak ends in oss By Chris Grandstaff Daily Sports Editor On February I1, 1995 the Michigan hockey team carried a lead into the third period against Illinois-Chicago, but lost the game 5-4 in overtime. At that time, current Michigan senior captain Sean Peach was playing for Team British Columbia in the Canadian Winter Games, Michigan coach Red Berenson was still looking for his first of two national championships and Illinois- Chicago was still one season away from cutting its hockey program. That date was the last time the Wolverines lost a game when leading after two periods. But on Saturday night at Yost Ice Arena, Michigan's streak of 123 consec- utive victories when leading after two periods was broken by Ferris State. In the game, the Wolverines jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind power play goals from right wingers Scott Matzka and Andy Hilbert. But the' Wolverines could not hold on despite outshooting the Bulldogs, 33-17. Ferris State seemed to get all the right bounces and surprised the Wolverines with four straight goals, three of which came in the game's final stanza to win the game, 4-2. With the win, the Bulldogs earned a split for the weekend with the Wolverines. Michigan won Friday night's game, 4-2. with three straight goals in the game's final five minutes. "It's a game of bounces," Berenson said. "It's a game of, breaks in close games like these last two were. All the rest of the games in the past three years have been close, so this was not an upset. If you look at the standings it's an upset, but Ferris State matches up well against Michigan." But midway through the second period on Saturday night, the Bulldogs had doubts about whether or not they could match up with the Wolverines. Already trailing 2-0, and the memory of Friday night's collapse still fresh in their minds, SksDAVID KATZ Diy Scott Maka, pictured here earlier this season, scored the Wolverines first goal on Saturday night, but the Wolverines still lost, 4-2. Ferris State 4, Michigan 2 Ferris State 0 1 3 -4 Michigan 1 1 0 -2 First period--1. UM, Matzka 6 (PeachOrtmeyer), 19:05 (pp). Penalties - UM, Matzka (obstruction-holding), 2:08; UM, Jillson (cross-checking), 2:33; FSU, Lewis (high- sticking), 8:19: UM, Roemensky (trtppng), 11:19; FSU, Schroder (roughing after the whistle), 11:19. FSU, Wishart (tripping), 17:00; FSU, Lewis (obstruc- tion-?making), 1829. Second period --2. Hbert 15 (Comrie, Jlison),10.05 (pp); 1. Lightfoot 5 (McCullough, Collins), 14:46. Penaties - FSU, Dube (obstruction-hooking), 5:49; FSU; Wishart (obstruction-tripping), 9:30; UM, Trainor itrippingl, 16:39. Third peiod-2. FSU, Kunitz 14 (Lewis), 2:09; FSU, McCullough 17 (Dube, Collins), 9:28 (pp); FSU, McCullough (Kozak, Dube), 19:48 (en). Penalties - FSU, Mclver (10-minute misconduct), 2:18; FSU, Kunitz (slashing), 4:36; UM, Team (too many on ice). 7:35; UM, Jilson (cross-checking), 9:28; FSU; Collins (interference), 13:39; FSU, Mclver (rough- ing), 14:29; UM, Jillson (holding the stick), 14:29: FSU, McIver (roughing), 18:46; UM, Gassoff (10- minute misconduct), 19:48.. Shots on goal - FSU, 4-7-6-17; UM, 13-10-10 - 33-. Power Plays - FSU, 1 of 5; UM, 2 of 8 Saves - FSU, Owen 12-9-10 - 31; UM, Blackburn 4- 63-13 Referee - Mark Wilkins liresnen - John Pearson, Brent Gawlik At: Yost Ice Arena Attendance: 6,579 on the Ferris State bench, many of the Bulldogs hung their heads, devoid of hope. With just over five minutes to play in the period, though, things started turn- ing around for Ferris State. Forward Brian McCullough made a great curl move to get into position in front of the net and fired a wrister at Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn. Blackburn, who suffered his first loss of the new millenium on Saturday, knocked down the shot but forward Rob Lightfoot was there to send the rebound into the back of the Michigan net and lift the spir- its of the Bulldog bench out of the dol- drums. "Our first goal in the second period sparked us," Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. "On the bench it was very quiet; it was a pretty solemn group. When we got that goal to pull within 2-1 you could feel the belief spread through- out the team." Chris Kunitz then tied the score for the Bulldogs redirecting a Scott Lewis shot from the point, which deflected off of a shoulder pad and was sent flying past a surprised Blackburn. McCullough, the Bulldogs' leading scorer finished off the Wolverines with a power play goal midway through the third and an empty netter in the game's final moments with the Wolverines hold- ing a six to four man advantage. The game was strangely similar to Friday night's contest when it was the Wolverines who scored three straight goals to win the game. Freshman Andy Hilbert netted the game winner with just under one minute to play when he batted a shot from forward Mark Mink out of the air and past Ferris state goaltender Phil Osaer. This weekend's tough contests may have been the result of injuries. Michigan was without the services of Mark Kosick for the entire weekend and forwards Craig Murray, Geoff Koch and Josh Langfeld all missed game action because of injury or illness at some point during the weekend. The biggest game? Not for Mickhikan hey looked at me as if I had just asked if the world was round. "It's the biggest game of the season they replied. "Tickets have been sold out forever." The question I had asked: Why was there all this hype Friday night in Big Rapids over the Michigan-Ferris State hockey game? Six freshmen from the auto-body- technician depart- ment at Ferris State used an old banged-up car for what they called Smash Michigan' It cost fans one dollar to take a swing with a STEPHANE sledgehammer at the vehicle painted OFFEN maize and blue. Off tie They only do Record thSonce a year- for their biggest game of the season. But you probably don't even know where Big Rapids is. Don't worry, each and every person at Friday night's game knew exactly where Ann Arbor is. The Ferris State fans even made up their own obscene version of "The Victors" to taunt Michigan players. Does anyone at Michigan even knowW a single line from the Bulldogs' fight song? And more than that, how many people at Michigan even knew that Ferris State's mascot is a Bulldog? The biggest-game-of-the-season theme is quickly becoming redundant. This season the Michigan hockey team travels to Bowling Green, Michigan State, Miami, Ferris State, Ohio State, Northern Michigan and Alaska. And without a doubt, the other team's arena will be sold out, the fans will be at their loudest for what they say is "their biggest game of the season." And maybe it is - for them. But L hate to break it to all the fans in Ohio - even those down in Columbus - and the ones over in western Michigan, you can't all be Michigan's biggest game of the season. You can pound on the glass, smash cars, scream obscene chants and claim that you are the loudest fans that the Wolverines have ever encountered, but the fact is that Michigan can only have so many rivalries - sorry. Michigan-Michigan State, that is a hockey rivalry. These are two teams that split confer- ence games and conference champi- onships, and continue on to the NCAA tournament. These are two teams that are consistently atop the CCHA. That's what constitutes a rivalry. And to those fans in Columbus, this year you just didn't make the list. Michigan's No. 1. You're No. I I - that's out of 12 in the CCHA. While the Buckeyes hooted and hollered after they managed a tie last weekend in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines treated the tie more like a loss. While these two schools may be listed as the greatest rivalry in sports history, each individual team has to prove itself in order for Michigan to consider it a foe. Most of the players from these less established programs would have given an arm and a leg to play at Michigan. In fact, Ohio State goalie Ray Aho wanted . to go to Michigan but was not recruited by the Wolverines. Who could ask for ' more then a prestigious educational rep- utation combined with one of the best hockey teams in the nation? The Wolverines are consistently in the spotlight with regionally televised games and games at Joe Louis. But that's natur- al. With success comes national recogni- tion. And with success and national recognition come admiration. That admiration spawns the competi- tiveness of the opposition. The Wolverines take it as a comnpliment that every CCHA school will be gunning for them. Everyone is on their "A" game facing Michigan, forcing the Wolverines to play the same caliber of hockey. So I have one message for the rest of the CCHA, Keep it coming. Sell out your arenas with only your loudest fans (a perfect example is the Ferris State Dawg Pound), bring your "A" game and k .:- nc i n Same script, two different stages for M' icers By Uma Subramanian Daily Sports Writer NEXT WEEKEND Friday: Westem Michigan 7:35 p.m. Saturday: vs. Western Michigan 7:05 p.m. The Wolverines play host to the Broncos for a two game set at Yost Ice Arena .10. 1 Wisconsin (21-6-1) aet. MichiganT ec, 5-3; dd. Michigan Tech,3-0. No.2 North Dakota (18-7-3) lost to St. Cloud,3-0 tied St Cloud, 1-1 No. 3 New Hampshire (1942) tied Merrimack. 2-2; def. Maine -0 No. 4 Boston University (16-6-6) clef. Mass. Amherst 3-2. No. 5 Mhigan (20-7-1) def. Feris State, 4-2; lost to Feris State, 4-2. No.6 Boston College (17-7-1) def. Mass. Lowel, 5-2. No.7 Maine (15-6-4) lost to New iampshie 1-0. No.8 Michigan State (18-2) def. Lake Superior' 3-0; lost to Lake Supeior, 3-1. No.9 Rensselaer (16-7-1) def.Dartmouth,24. No. 10 Northern Michigan (19-7-2)def.Westem Michigan, 6-3; def. Western Michigan, 7-1. Dave Huntzicker lay sprawled on the ice in front of the Michigan bench for nearly a full minute while play continued around him. Though Huntzicker later returned to action, the image of him struggling to crawl toward his bench painted a chilling picture that Michigan fans detested. But in a way, the image was almost representative of Michigan's struggles this past weekend against Ferris State. In both contests, the home team rode a volatile 2-1 lead into the late going before the visitors rallied to score three goals in the third period. Adding to the irony was the fact that in both contests, the crowd favorites seemed destined to win and outplayed their opponents. "That's how hockey goes sometimes," Michigan captain Sean Peach said. "The team that plays the best doesn't always win." For instance, on Friday, Ferris State outshot Michigan, 27-18; Saturday, the Wolverines outworked the Bulldogs tak- ing 33 shots to Ferris' 17. Yet in both contests, the home team fell, 4-2. In fact, the games played out so similarly, they could almost have been scripted, telling the same tale with its ironic ending in favor of the traveling team. "I felt that Friday night we were the better team, and we had the majority of scoring chances," Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. On Saturday, "Michigan had the better chances - maybe because they were at home and they are hot. Maybe they deserved (Saturday's) game a little bit more than they did (Friday's)." Yet despite these similarities, there were significant, tangible elements that twisted the tales. The biggest difference in the games was stellar play by the vic- torious goalie - Josh Blackburn on Friday; Ferris State's Vince Owen on Saturday And then there were injuries. Throughout this campaign, Michigan has had a series of injuries to prominent players, but thus far they had not been simultaneous. This past weekend, center Mark Kosick, who has 14 goals on the season, suffered a knee sprain against Ohio State and did not play in either game against the Bulldogs. But on Saturday night, Michigan was even more severely shorthanded having lost starting winger Geoff Koch to back spasms and Josh Langfeld, who scored the tying goal late in Friday's game, to a sprained ankle. Not a single line that played Friday remained intact on Saturday. "We've got injuries to blame - we lost Koch, Kosick and Langfeld and with them a third of our goals," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Tonight they might have made a difference in the game; but I can't blame that. We should've been able to win this game." The home-and-home series turned out unpleasantly for the local fans. But though both crowds probably felt the same when it was all said and done, dur- ing the game was a different story. DAVID KATZ/Daily Even Jeff Jillson, pictured here earlier this season, and his return to the lineup after a one game suspension could not propel the Wolverines to a sweep this weekend. Ferris' blue-collar crowd knows how to have a good time. The student cheer and jeer as they see fit. Encouraged by classmates, Ferris senior Nate Richmond decked out in Steve Urkelesque attire, ridiculed the Michigan faithful and their supposed intellectual superiority. The Ferris fans even rewrote 'The Victors, but the new rendition, is not suit- able for publication. On Saturday night, the Yost crazies were out in force, but even in their chant- ing, you could see a difference. The cheers at Yost are organized and well thought out and everyone learns them. Does that make a difference? Perhaps. Regardless, the two contests ended in exactly the same manner. A lone player from the visiting team skates toward an empty net and fills it, resoundingly bringing the game to a close. Team Michigan Northern Michigan Michigan State Lake Superior Notre Dame W 15 14 13 13 9 L# 5 4 7 8 8 T 1 2 1 5 CCHA Pts GP 31 21 30 20 27 21 27 22 23 22 GF 83 75 62 57 46 GA 48 48 32 50 58 OVERALL W L T 20 7 1 19 7 2. 18 9 2 14 13 1 12 14 6- By relinquishing their 2-1 lead in the third peri- od, the Wolverines broke a 123 game streak. They had not lost a game in which they led head- ing into the thiri period since February 11, 1995. . With the three tallies he notched this weekend, e __. . -. U.I. . -. U,,."Lyes[ i i i