Blue gets more offense, but little luck

DETROIT - The Michigan hockey team's offense worked in some weird ways this past weekend.

On Friday night, Michigan had the offensive effort, scoring early and often. The Wolverines scored the first goal of the game for the first time in five contests and added four more goals before the conclusion of the second period.

But mental breakdowns and costly penalties allowed Western Michiga to tally three goals in the first 5:26 of the third period and send Michigan home with just one point.

Against Michigan State on Saturday, the Wolverines controlled the tempo for much of the game, outplaying Michigan State in the second and third periods.

The Michigan offense that sparkled earlier in the season showed up for a second straight night.

But that offense only managed one goal.

Like a Blackjack dealer pulling 21 to a solid 20, luck wasn't on the Wolverines' side against Michigan State.

While Michigan cruised to more scoring opportunities as the Spartans, a hockey game is decided by goals scored, not chances.

The Spartans raked in three goals on their fewer opportunities, while it took the Wolverines 57 minutes to erase the zero on the scoreboard.

"When it's going your way it seems like everything is going in. And when it's not going your way, it's like there's a plastic wall in front of the net," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We hit two posts on deflections in the second period, but they weren't going in. They hit the post and went out the other way. That's just the way it's going now."

After an early second period rush, the Wolverines seemed relentless in their checking and were able to keep the puck in the Michigan State zone for several long periods of time.

"The way Michigan was forechecking us, we couldn't do anything about the things in our own zone," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said. "Michigan put just an unbelievable amount of pressure on our defensemen. They kept coming and coming."

The Wolverines had more breakaways, better control of the puck and superior power plays compared to Michigan State.

But the Spartans never left their defensive positions and held strong during the Michigan onslaught. The Michigan State defense showed why it has allowed a CCHA-low 34 goals in 26 games by preventing rebounds and blocking shots.

That effort helped give Michigan State goalie Joe Blackburn little trouble in stopping 21 shots in the final two periods.

"It was a really easy night for me out there," Blackburn said. "Our defense blocked a lot of shots for me."

As the Wolverines were denied on their best opportunities, they had to count on a Scott Matzka deflection of a Jeff Jillson shot to prevent a shutout.

After the contest, Michigan center Mark Kosick recounted the extensive amount of scoring chances that each of his teammates had but could find no answer how the actual scoring escaped them.

"I could go through the whole team," Kosick said. "When you go though and hit posts like we did, you can't say how you didn't win the game."

Michigan found better shots thanks to some crafty passing and more teamwork than in recent games.

"We were rolling through our lines getting chances," Kosick said. "We're starting to put together a system that when we play like a team we're one of the best teams in the nation. Tonight was a big turning point for us."

And despite the improved offensive effort, the final score didn't officially get the Wolverines back on the road they wanted to be on.

"The outcome was brutal," Kosick said. It was "luck for them, bad luck for us. We outplayed them and we lost."

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02-22-99