WOLVERINES DOMINATE BUCKEYES, 4-1

Michigan dominated Ohio State pretty much from start to finish en
route to a 4-1 victory in Columbus.

The Wolverines needed just 1:15 to score the opening goal when David
Wohlberg popped in a rebound past OSU goalie Dustin Carlson. Louie
Caporusso and Tim Miller picked up the assists.

Michigan went up 2-0 later in the opening stanza when Chad Langlais'
shot from the left point pinballed off the skate of one OSU defender,
across the slot, off the skate of another OSU defender (who was
covering Travis Turnbull crashing the net), and into the net.

Langlais added his second of the night during a second period power
play when he walked in from the right point uncontested and ripped a
slap shot through Carlson's five hole.

Late in the period, Tim Miller won a battle in the left corner,
circled out around into the slot and threw the puck at net. It went
off a player in front, back out to him between the circles, and he
fired it past Carlson to make it 4-0 Wolverines after 40 minutes.

The third period got a little chippy early as Corey Toy repeatedly
cross checked Travis Turnbull while he was down and trying to get up.
Needless to say, Turnbull was fired up and wanted to fight (it seems
like I write that in every recap). He had one glove off and the
linesmen quickly got between them.

Thankfully the chippiness settled down a bit after that.
Unfortunately, it was Toy who broke the shutout with a shorthanded
goal with about 30 seconds left in regulation. Bad end to an
otherwise strong game.

But for as well as Michigan played, they did have a few breakdowns
along the way and Bryan Hogan totally bailed them out at least a
handful of times. He made some remarkable point blank saves to keep
the Buckeyes off the scoreboard and a lot of credit goes to him, too.

With the win the Wolverines move into a second place tie with Miami,
who lost 2-1 to Northern Michigan tonight in Oxford. Should they
finish in a tie, Michigan currently holds the first tie breaker over
the RedHawks, which is most conference wins. Michigan has 18, while
Miami has 16.

ATTENDANCE - FAIL: The box score lists the attendance as 9,267.
Maybe that was the paid attendance, but it certainly didn't appear to
be the actual attendance. OSU attempted a white out. Well, about
15,000 empty seats were covered in a white rag, so mission
accomplished, I guess. Heck, anytime they showed Red Berenson on the
bench you would see a half dozen empty seats right behind him.
Despite the importance of tonight's game for both teams, attendance
was sparse. Pretty sad for what they want to try billing as a rivalry
on ice.

LIVE BLOG: If you weren't able to catch the game and are interested
in play-by-play of tonight's game, I kept a live blog at Michigan
Hockey Net. Special thanks goes out to the guys at Hoover Street Rag,
who simulcasted the live blog on their website and helped moderate
tonight's blog and chat.

We had 40 unique users check in with over 20 sticking around more than
a minute, several of whom posted comments throughout the night. Fun
time had by all! I don't get CBS College Sports channel, but if I
find a feed online, I might setup a blog for tomorrow night, too.

PIOTROWSKI SPEAKS: Shireen Saski interviewed CCHA head of officials
Steve Piotrowski during the game and ask him what he's looking for in
his officials and the job they're doing. Talk about a loaded
question. Needless to say, that one got a lot of remarks during the
live blog!

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That's all for now...

Go Blue!

Jason
Michigan Hockey Net
http://MichiganHockey.net