Bowling Green blanks Michigan, 3-0

By On January 16, 2009 · 2 Comments

Quick update…

  • Coming off a big weekend sweep of Miami, Michigan faced the dreaded potential “letdown game” when they faced Bowling Green, one of the bottom tier teams in the CCHA, tonight at Yost Ice Arena.  Sure enough the Falcons capitalized on the Wolverines sloppy play and got solid goaltending from Jimmy Spratt to upset #6 ranked Michigan, 3-0.  I’m reminded of last year’s “letdown game” against Ohio State following the big sweep at the College Hockey Showcase that the Buckeyes won, 3-2.  The Buckeyes were just 1-7-0 in CCHA play at the time, too.
  • The loss certainly hurts Michigan in both the CCHA standings and the PairWise Rankings.  The Wolverines fall to 6th place in the CCHA with 18 points.  They are two points behind Ohio State with no games in hand on the Buckeyes.  They are three points behind Nebraska-Omaha with two games in hand, and five points back of Alaska with four games in hand.  Michigan will face UNO and Ohio State on back-to-back weekends in February in what will no doubt be critical games in deciding the CCHA standings heading into the playoffs.  As for the PairWise Rankings,Michigan dropped from 6th to 9th after tonight’s loss.
  • The first period was lackluster but saw the Falcons get on the board 9:18 into the contest when Tommy Dee banged in a shot from between the circles.  It was one of just three shots on goal for BGSU in the opening stanza.  Michigan only had four shots, three of which came during their two power plays.
  • U-M looked sloppy in the early going and throughout the night passes were off target and pucks were hopping sticks.  Their intensity picked up throughout the game and Michigan outshot BGSU 25-14 over the final 40 minutes and had their chances, but couldn’t convert.  Spratt made a couple of excellent stops late in the game.  Late in the third period Travis Turnbull had the best chance, a wide open net just off to the right of the crease, and he hit the post.
  • Michigan’s attempted comeback hit a snag early in the third period when Scooter Vaughan nailed a BGSU player into the boards and got a major penalty and game misconduct.  The Falcons scored on the man-advantage.  While Vaughan can play tomorrow night, I won’t be surprised if he’s back on the bench and Greg Pateryn is back in the lineup.
  • One of those odd ball things… there were back-to-back penalties called during the third period involving an infraction and a dive.  Louie Caporusso was whistled for tripping at 7:14 and Josh Boyd was given an embellishment penalty on it.  Then at 13:47 the Falcons Kevin Schmidt was called for interference and Tim Miller was given an embellishment penalty.  I’ve never been a big fan of such calls.  Either it’s one or the other.  As Stephen Colbert would say, “pick a side, we’re at war!”
  • Despite the loss, I must say it’s always enjoyable watching the work ethic of guys like Tim Miller and Carl Hagelin, especially when we’re a man down.  Miller’s really found a role this season as a shorthanded specialist.  Last weekend against Miami he got a couple of standing ovations for singlehandedly killing off a good 15-20 seconds battling along the boards and tying up the puck in the Miami zone, and he was at it again tonight.
  • The weekend series wraps up tomorrow night at Bowling Green.  The game starts at 5:05 p.m. and can be seen on Comcast Local and taped delayed on the NHL Network.
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  • Eric

    It IS possible to have a penalty and a diving/embellishment call on the same play. For example, at center ice, Player A uses his stick and gives Player B a bit of a tug. Not enough to make B fall but enough to impede his motion and clearly a hook. If I’m reffing, arm goes up, we’ve got a penalty. B doesn’t see me or wants to make sure I call something, and pulls one of those “sideways barrell roll while falling to the ice” moves that we’ve all seen before. As he hits the ice, he adds an extra flop just for emphasis. B has now earned himself an embellishment penalty in addition to the original hooking call, which is still a penalty. End result, A gets 2 for hooking and B gets 2 for diving.

    (Unless Mark Wilkins is calling the game, in which case A probably gets a penalty for “obstruction goalie interference” while B would be called for “contact to the head boarding” … But that’s Wilkins, and as we all know, the calls he makes very rarely have anything to do with the actual play that happened)

  • http://michiganhockey.net Jason Paul

    Yeah, I know, but for instance last night a BGSU player is heading to the corner with the puck and Caporusso is chasing him and gives him a weak ass chop on the skate/ankle. BGSU player falls down. Caporusso gets the trip, BGSU player gets the dive. To me this seems like one of those ones where if the BGSU player never falls down, Caporusso doesn’t get called for a penalty to begin with. Because he does go down, now they both get a penalty, even if perhaps the ref wasn’t going to call one on Louie to begin with (though based on the officiating I’m sure he would have anyway). In this case that’s why I felt it should either be a trip or a dive, but not both.