ROCHESTER HILLS - When the Michigan hockey team goes on the road - except if it's in Alaska - The Michigan Daily usually follows close behind.
For those of you who read the Daily, you know that the space this article eats up is usually reserved for a story about a particular aspect of the weekend's games. Usually, the Daily hockey writers would attend a Saturday contest in Columbus.
Usually.
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| Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn rebounded from his loss to Michigan State with a 29-save performance against the Buckeyes.
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Daily hockey stories are normally live accounts of the game, where you see the action up close and get to hear from players and coaches immediately after the game.
This story has none of that.
You also normally see live colorful pictures from the hockey games to accompany the stories.
We have no live colorful pictures from Saturday.
It isn't that I - nor the rest of the Daily hockey writers - meant to skip the hockey game in Columbus on Saturday. We had clothes packed, pencils and tape recorders ready and were set to make the 3 1/2 hour drive that morning.
We were ready to set foot in Ohio State's Value City Arena, a new 17,500 seat arena whose grand opening was Saturday. After the game, we were planning to explore the Columbus night life.
So it's not like we were being lazy. We really did want to go. But there were reasons we didn't.
There were about 12 inches worth of blowing, drifting reasons.
Yes, the blizzard of 1999 forced me to watch the game at home on Fox Sports Detroit. Due to the foot of snow that fell in Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor and everywhere else in the Great Lakes region, I really had no choice.
Covering a game from home is an interesting experience. It certainly does have its perks. Instead of sitting in a folding chair that rides into your back every time you move, I got to sit in a soft, comfortable couch.
Actually I lied in the soft, comfortable couch.
And watching the game at home allowed me access to a refrigerator. Instead of getting lukewarm Coca-Cola out of a drink machine, I had access to ice-cold beverages.
But covering a game by watching it on television puts you at the mercy of the station televising it. When that station is Fox Sports Detroit, it's not prettiest of situations.
Actually, Fox Sports did a decent job - but the camera could have been put in a better place than the top row of Value City Arena. Watching the game at home is hard enough without needing a set of binoculars to identify players.
But one thing that television did have was replays. And in a game which didn't see scoring until Chris Richards fired a power-play slapshot past Josh Blackburn late in the third period, the replays kept people entertained.
Particularly entertaining was a replay where Michigan defenseman Bob Gassoff slugged Ohio State's Dan Cousineau after Cousineau grabbed his stick.
Gassoff got a five-minute major for the penalty, but Fox Sports showed what seemed like 10 minutes worth of replays of the incident.
Fox Sports also commented on the fact that many of the fans were arriving in the second period.
Normally I would criticize these fans for coming so late, but considering the weather conditions and the fact that I was sitting on a couch with a cold beverage, I really shouldn't comment on it.
Michigan lost its second game in a row, but I wouldn't be the one to ask about it.
It's not that I wouldn't be happy to answer your questions, but I have to go outside and dig out my car.
It wasn't enough, though, as Ohio State won, 1-0.
AP PHOTO
01-06-99
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