If what people were saying were true, Saturday night's hockey game between Michigan and Michigan State would signal a changing of the guard in the CCHA.
After dominating the CCHA for several years, the Wolverines were supposed to have their collective grip loosened on the CCHA crown.
Looking at Spartans' 4-2 victory over the Wolverines on Saturday, that just might have been the case. But Michigan coach Red Berenson said it's a long season, and this is just the beginning for his young team.
"Our team realized tonight that you can't make mistakes or give a team those opportunities and expect to win a game," Berenson said.
Mistakes ravaged the play of Michigan's special teams for most of the evening. Both the Wolverines' power play and penalty killing lines failed to be effective.
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| JOHN KRAFT/Daily Michigan center Andrew Merrick gets tripped up by Michigan State's Mike Weaver in Saturday's 4-2 loss at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines were unable to capitalize on any of their eight power play opportunities against the second-ranked Spartans.
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Michigan State coach Ron Mason said his team needed to start strong in a hostile environment such as Yost Ice Arena.
"When you're on the road, you want to get ahead if you can and take the crowd out of it," he said.
On the other side of the ice, Michigan was struggling with its power play, going 0-for-2 in the first period while getting off only one shot. On the other hand, the Spartans managed eight shots in their four first-period power plays.
"(Special teams) is something we need to work on," Michigan center Bobby Hayes said. "I don't feel like we're as strong as we should be in that area, but we have some new guys working in there, and they're not going to be the greatest penalty killers right from the bat."
The second period only highlighted Michigan's inability to score, but this time around, the Wolverines had no trouble getting shots off - getting them in the net was another story, however.
Michigan fired eight shots in the period to Michigan State's four, yet failed to connect on any of them. Ironically, Michigan's drought was ended in the period by the Spartans themselves.
With Michigan working the puck around Michigan State's end of the ice, a centering pass slid past Spartan netminder Chad Alban and was accidentally deflected in off Bogas' skate, with Hayes being credited for the unassisted goal.
With the score knotted at one, Michigan's home crowd was revitalized, and it seemed the Wolverines were also gaining momentum.
But even with the huge momentum shift, the Wolverines failed to capitalize, again having problems on their power play.
Michigan mustered only one shot off its four power-play opportunities in the period, including a span of a minute during which the Wolverines had a two-man advantage.
While the Wolverines squandered their opportunities in the second period, the Spartans feasted on theirs, proving to be the difference in the game.
A turnover on Michigan's end of the ice led to the go-ahead goal for Michigan State by center Shawn Horcoff. And with the Wolverines reeling, the Spartans added a power-play goal to make the score 3-1.
Michigan State center Sean Berens skated in from the slot, deked Michigan goaltender Marty Turco and poked in the puck for the two-goal advantage. It was the Spartans' second power play goal of the game.
"We watched a lot of tape for special teams tonight," Berens said. "We were well coached and well disciplined also, and that's the kind of game you have to play when you come in to face the University of Michigan."
Michigan State's Rustyn Dolyny added an unassisted goal in the third to make the score 4-1, before Michigan finally answered back.
Right wing Dale Rominski beat Alban for Michigan's second goal, but it was too little too late for the Wolverines, who didn't make another serious threat in the game.
10-27-97
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