'M' gets caught in a shootout with Falcons

DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Assistant captain Dale Rominski scored the eventual game-winning goal and added an assist in last night's 5-4 victory over Bowling Green. Rominski's performance carried over from the Western Michigan game this past Saturday when he netted his first career hat trick.

By T.J. Berka
Daily Sports Writer

The two gunslingers put their holsters on their belts and took 12 paces back. After hesitating, the gunslingers turned around and started shooting.

No, this isn't some TBS rerun of Gunsmoke. It was just another ordinary night with the Michigan hockey team at Yost Ice Arena. At least, ordinary when the Wolverines lock horns with Bowling Green.

For the third time this season, Michigan defeated the Falcons. For the third time this season, the Wolverines put up five goals on Bowling Green goaltender Mike Savard.

But just because the Wolverines can score, seemingly at will, against the Falcons doesn't mean Michigan had a walk in the park. When Bowling Green scores four goals as it did last night, a walk in the park is the farthest thing from Michigan coach Red Berenson's mind.

"This was kind of like an old-fashioned Michigan-Bowling Green game," Berenson said. "The play was back and forth and the momentum kept shifting."

Michigan grabbed momentum during two moments of the game. The first instance came in the first period when the Wolverines were trailing, 1-0. On a power play, Dave Huntzicker let loose a shot from the point which Geoff Koch redirected in the net to tie the game at one.

"It felt good to finally get a goal," said Koch, who hadn't scored a goal since Nov. 14. "I don't plan on having a long drought like that again."

The goals kept pouring in 43 seconds later, when Mark Kosick converted on another power play, tapping the puck past Savard out of a scrum in the crease.

The second surge came in the third period, when Mike Comrie and Dale Rominski scored goals 55 seconds apart to break a 3-3 tie. Comrie's goal, coming off a no-look pass from Josh Langfeld, was a huge boost for the Wolverines.

"That was a good play," Berenson said. "We haven't been making good play around the net lately, so that was huge."

Rominski, after scoring Michigan's final goal, offered up his opinion on why the Wolverines go nuts on Savard and the Falcons.

Bowling Green "is a very high-risk team. They jump up and play and vacate the zone," Rominski said. "Their goalie also gives up a lot of rebounds as well."

While the Falcons got burned at times with their risky play, they also reaped some rewards for their aggressiveness. With Mike Van Ryn suffering a calf injury in the first period, the Falcons took advantage of a shortened Michigan defensive lineup to score four goals.

"We played five defensemen for much of the game and they got a lot of work," Berenson said. "Sometimes they looked like they were overworked, and sometimes they looked good."

Tired or not, the Michigan defenders enjoyed last night's up-and-down frenzied pace.

"I like a high-tempo game," Michigan defenseman Jeff Jillson said. "Bowling Green is a high-tempo team that likes to dump it in and check hard."

With lots of goals, lots of hits and lots of action, there was another winner besides Michigan - the fans.

"It was one of those games," Berenson said. "It wasn't a goalies game, it wasn't a coaches game - it was a players game and a fans game."

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