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The roll is over

Once-hot Wolverines barely tie Buckeyes, lose to Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN -- If Michigan's bus broke down on the way back from Ohio, the whole weekend may have been lost. As it was, the Wolverines' two-day excursion to Ohio State and Bowling Green ranked somewhere between total disaster and nuclear holocaust.

Michigan managed to salvage just one point on the weekend, dropping a 6-5 decision to the Falcons the day after they escaped Columbus with a 4-4 tie.

The Wolverines (15-4-1 CCHA, 20-5-1 overall) played as poor a defensive series as they have all season and had trouble solving two constricting defenses as well.

"This is a feeling that I know I'm going to remember when I strap on the skates Monday," Michigan center Mike Legg said of the disappointing weekend. "We'll be skating hard then. We'll all be working harder at least I know I will."

Michigan is coming off a two-game series without win for the first time since the 1993-94 season when they dropped a pair to Miami (Ohio). Even worse for the Wolverines, with just one point this weekend, they fall into a third-place tie with Lake Superior State, five points behind league-leader Michigan State. The loss to the Falcons (10-8-1, 16-10-1) was Michigan's first since a Dec. 9 setback at Western Michigan.

The Wolverines' biggest problem was their defense, or lack thereof. The 10 goals Michigan surrendered equals the amount of scores it gave up in the previous eight games.

It wasn't exactly a career weekend for Michigan goaltender Marty Turco. The sophomore allowed all 10 goals on just 38 shots. Bowling Green did a decent job setting up its scores, but Turco was less-than-average against the Buckeyes, who sport the league's worst offense.

"After the kind of goals (Ohio State) got on me, I admit, I got I got a little down on myself," Turco said. "It hurt me a little bit the kind of goals they were getting.

"As a goalie, you love an opportunity to have an impact on the game. Both nights I got that and I didn't perform."

Michigan had trouble getting its offense going both nights. Ohio State (3-13-4, 5-13-4) extinguished Michigan's red-hot offense with a tight neutral zone trap and kept the Wolverines from getting any offensive momentum at all. In fact, the Ohio State outplayed, outthought and outhustled Michigan all night.

If it weren't for two Michigan goals in the games' final two minutes, the cellar-dwelling Buckeyes would have toppled the No. 3 team in the country. To the Wolverines' credit, they played a hard-fought game against a skilled Falcon team.

Saturday's game saw the lead change hands three times. John Madden tied the game at five, sliding Bill Muckalt's rebound under Bowling Green netminder Mike Savard's outstretched arms for Michigan's only power play goal of the weekend with seven minutes remaining.

But Falcon forward Mike Hall fought off Michigan defender Harold Schock, made a nifty move around Turco and scored the game-winner with just under five minutes left.

The Wolverines had at least a half dozen prime scoring chances during a power play opportunity with three minutes remaining, but either Savard came up big or Michigan failed to bury its chances.

"That was a huge kill for us," Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers said. "Its amazing with the lineup they put out there, but we managed to do it. This is a huge win for our program."

In fact, it was the first time the Falcons upended Michigan in four years.

Legg allowed Michigan to hang with the soaring Falcon offense for the first part of the game. The junior erased a 2-0 deficit by himself, scoring two goals exactly one minute apart -- one while shorthanded.

Legg then set up Greg Crozier, threading a pass between two Bowling Green defenders, to make the score 3-2, the only time the Wolverines enjoyed the lead all weekend.

But the Falcons scored three straight goals and Michigan couldn't draw within one until Schock's blast from the point was tipped by Brendan Morrison past Savard.

Friday, Blake Sloan, back for his first game after sitting out two with a leg injury, picked up a loose puck between the circles and sent a shot that whizzed past Buckeye goaltender Kurt Brown's shoulder with just 1:04 left.

Muckalt's shot ricocheted of Buckeye defenseman Taj Schaffnit's skate to pull Michigan within one just 20 seconds after Ohio State forward Randy Holmes gave the Buckeyes a two-goal lead.