Few penalties may have hurt 'M' By Stephanie Offen Daily Sports Editor Saturday, a post-renovation record crowd of 6,343 fans witnessed something amazing. Something they hadn't seen all season. They witnessed - a Michigan tie. But that may not have been what they were expecting. Saturday, the Yost fans were expecting a brawl. And the two go hand in hand. The lack of brawls and calls that factored into Michigan leaving Yost without a victory. They were expecting Ohio State's chief suspects from last weekend's brawl, Scott Titus and Ryan Jestadt, to take revenge on the team that beat them at their own cheap game. The Wolverines took a 6-4 victory over Ohio State on Jan. 21 as the Buckeyes played after the whistle, drawing penalties and putting Michigan on the power play. That's the opposite of what they witnessed on Saturday. The game was clean and virtually penalty-less, which seemed to play into the hands of Ohio State. "It was a lot cleaner," junior Bob Gassoff said. "We expected them to come out and be a lot chippier." The Buckeyes currently stand in eleventh place in the conference, and have lost to Michigan in three penalty-filled battles this season. In the first game of the rivalry on Nov. 5, the Wolverines scored four of their six goals on the power play, as Michigan dealt the Buckeyes a 6-1 road loss. The next night, the two teams met again, this time in Columbus. Michigan's first two goals of the night came off the power play. Then in the third period, Ohio State's chippy style of play showed its face again, as Jason Selleke hit Michigan captain Sean Peach with a check from behind. A fight broke out, giving the Wolverines two five-on-three opportunities and the momentum to win the game, 8-4. In Michigan's final victory of the series last weekend, more than 40 penalties were recorded. Michigan took advantage of Ohio State's excessively rough play - converting on two opportunities. "They like to play after the whistle," junior Josh Langfeld said Jan. 21. "Like coach said that's going to hurt them. We'll get on the power play and beat them on the power play." But Saturday, the Wolverines didn't even have a chance to convert on the power play opportunities they received when Ohio State played after the whistle. The Buckeyes played a clean game and were only whistled for five penalties. "It could have been one of the best officiating games of the year," Gassoff said. "They let us play. There was so much more flow to the game and so much more intensity. Any time we can get a good five-on-five, we're going to dominate anybody." Even though the Michigan players praised the officials for letting the two squads play five-on-five hockey, history tells them that whistle blowing would have been to their advantage. The Wolverines did not convert on any of their five power play opportunities. It is important to keep in mind that Michigan was not at full strength with the one man advantage. The team's top defenseman who leads the attack from the point, Jeff Jillson, was scratched for the game because of his disqualification the previous weekend. So Berenson was forced to play five forwards on one power play opportunity. "I know that I made the point of having our team play focused and mentally tough," Berenson said. "The referee was instructed accordingly so that this game did not have any problems or issues." Although Michigan was happy that the referees were laying off the whistle, and the Buckeyes were laying off the fighting, they were not happy with the final result. It's ironic that what made the Wolverines happy - the lack of whistle blowing - may have been a factor leading up to the unhappy final result. "Any time you win, it doesn't matter how you win, you will be more excited and ready for the next weekend," junior Scott Matzka said. SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daily Even though Michigan played five-on-five hockey for most of the game, the team could not convert on scoring opportunities including this one by freshman Mike Cammalleri. Originally on page 4B in the 1-31-2000 issue of the Daily.