Hockey Quick Hits: Michigan Loses to Nebraska-Omaha 4-3

By Sean · Saturday, February 13, 2010 · 2:13 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

• Michigan had a chance to move into a tie for third place in the CCHA last night, but instead it lost to Nebraska-Omaha and dropped down to sixth in the standings.  Early on against UNO it looked like Michigan came ready to play, taking a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Chris Brown.  Actually, Michigan dominated the play from the first faceoff to Brown’s goal, but it was really downhill from there, starting when UNO capitalized on an awful turnover right in front of Bryan Hogan to tie the game up a minute or so after Brown’s goal.  Then, two or so minutes later UNO scored again, this time thanks to an unlucky bounce off of Tristin Llewellyn’s stick.  He tried knocking the puck away on a centering pass, but instead put it right into his own net.  The Mavericks added a power-play goal before all was said and done in this period to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

  Louie Caporusso scored his third goal in two games early on in the second period, putting Michigan right back in the game.  That didn’t last for long, though, because UNO scored another power-play goal about four minutes later to once again take a 2-goal lead.  That was it for the scoring in the second period, but in the third period Michigan closed the gap to 1 goal again when Steve Kampfer scored on a 4-on-4.  Kampfer was checked from behind only minutes earlier, drawing a 5-minute major and giving Michigan a golden opportunity to get back in the game.  Michigan did inch closer despite the fact that it took a penalty to negate its power-play.  Following Kampfer’s goal, Michigan actually took another penalty and was shorthanded for a little bit before things went back to 4-on-4.  At that point another UNO player was sent to the penalty box, giving Michigan a power-play and eventually a 5-on-3.  Unfortunately, Michigan couldn’t cash in on the advantage and was unable to score again during the rest of the game, meaning the final score in this one was 4-3 in favor of Nebraska-Omaha.

• As touched on, Michigan is now in sixth place in the CCHA.  UNO and Alaska (it beat Ohio State 4-1) both jumped the Wolverines, moving into a tie for fourth place with 38 points.  Michigan is only ahead of seventh-place Northern Michigan by 1 point and eighth-place Lake Superior State by 2 points.  It just goes to show how one loss can quickly change the standings.  A win would have meant that Michigan and Ferris State (it lost to LSSU 4-3) were tied for third and Michigan State was only 3 points ahead, but instead the Wolverines will have to hope that win comes tomorrow and also hope that some of the teams ahead and behind them lose.  A loss for Michigan today would not only pretty much kill any hope of an at-large bid, but it would also start to make a first-round bye in the CCHA playoffs much tougher to achieve.  To put it nicely, Michigan has to win tonight if it doesn’t want an already uphill battle to become even tougher.
• The logo for The Big Chill at the Big House is out:
• There were some interesting tidbits in the Free Press earlier this week about Michigan’s plans for The Big Chill at the Big House.
  

  Stevenson said the initial budget for the Big Chill is $1 million. School officials hope to draw at crowd of at least 80,000 and perhaps as many as 100,000.

  Stevenson said the same company responsible for the construction of the ice rink at Camp Randall, Ice Rink Events, will likely be used to construct the rink at Michigan Stadium.

  “Their field is crowned much more than ours, so there’s a lot more infrastructure needed here than will be needed at Michigan Stadium,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got a fairly flat field. They had to specially cut the Styrofoam to meet the crown on the field. That’s a lot more labor intensive. That’s one thing we won’t have to do that they had to do.

  “The rest of it is fairly straightforward.”

  The ice issues at Wisconsin were blamed on the public skate that took place the night before the game, so I wouldn’t expect there to be something similar at Michigan Stadium, at least not before the game is actually played.

  As for ticket information, nothing is set in stone just yet, but here is a taste of what to expect:

  The biggest decision weighing on U-M officials is what to charge for admission. Wisconsin had one ticket price — $25. U-M is considering two price levels, one for seating between the 17-yard lines, and a discounted ticket price for the seats outside the 17-yard lines and end zones.

  “Hopefully within a couple weeks we’ll have made that decision,” Stevenson said.

  Another thing to consider is what to do with suites if football suite holders do not want to use them for the hockey game.

  Wisconsin chose to leave its suites empty, rather than try to sell them to others, when football suite holders chose not to use them.

  Michigan officials are also still deciding how they will handle the distribution of tickets and where they will leave a section of tickets for Michigan State fans. U-M season ticket holders for football and hockey will be offered the chance to purchase tickets, as well as students.

  I say put the MSU fans in the end zones and leave the sidelines (i.e. better seats) for Michigan fans.