Friday, November 30, 2007

Live-Blog: Hockey vs. OSU, 11/30/07

MICHIGAN! OHIO STATE! LIVEBLOG!

So Fred from FSN was in some sort of car crash, and this is his first game back. Good luck to him and his wife.

Michigan hasn't lost at Yost since Jan. 14, vs. Northern. FSN spotlights Porter, who you may have heard is pretty good. OSU has a bunch of freshmen too, and will be playing 10 tonight. Tommy Goebel, like TBTYB says, was a Spartan for two years.

Space, bitches. Space.

Pictures of people doing the O-H-I-O YMCA thing. Fail.

The crowd wants you to know that Joseph Palmer is a sieve. Sergott, Likens, Molina are our officials. Paciorretty gets a rush going, but all he can get is a backhand with a guy in his face. Tim Miller absolutely levels Reed. FSN can't pronounce "Palushaj" yet. Palmer is learning "Ugly Goalie." Off a faceoff, Michigan has a good look in front on a rebound, but nobody's home. Shortly after, Kolarik hits a post (Porter?) has the rebound wide.

Naurato corrals a clear attempt and feeds Miller who is dragged down with a ridiculous no-call. Some more play, then Palushaj registers his displeasure by sending an OSU defender through the net after the whistle.

Goebel goes to the box after throwing an elbow into Turnbull's head. OSU seems to have one guy hanging out looking for any shorthanded opportunity. Not as aggressive as Minnesota, but still. Porter hits a post, the second after Kolarik's earlier one. Penalty over. We're better at hockey than they are, but we haven't found the back of the net.

Commercials.

Mitera hits a post. It's an epidemic. Ahhh! Kolarik finds Porter alone in the middle, but the puck hits a stick and he can't bat it out of the air. Hey, Hensick got called up by the Avs today. Good for him. OSU carries it in, but not for long, and I'm almost surprised that we have to play defense. We've been spending a lot of time in their zone.

Mitera's heading to the box. Holding penalty, as one of the Buckeyes goes to the ground. Oh, crap. Tim Miller takes a holding penalty too. This one's more legit. 1:34 left in the Mitera penalty. This is a real problem. Wait, this is stupid. Summers is in the box? The refs are morons. Anyway, Kolarik clears. 1:00 left. Sauer makes a semi-tough save, but we can't clear. Finally, we get it out after they can't take advantage of a Goebel pass to the slot. Sauer's giving up rebounds. First kill over. :21 left. They're buzzing, but Michigan kills the 5-3 AND 5-4 and a weak clear makes it past the blue line to draw an offsides call. Phew.

AHAHAHAHA! The crowd is chanting "WORST STATE EVER!" Sooner or later these Michigan passes across the goal mouth are going to find someone. 6:45 left in the first. Llewellyn fans on a clear, but we get it out. Palushaj can't get a puck settled and Pacioretty is offsides. Oops, OSU is heading back to the box. Reed is gone? Yeah, hockey band!

We start the PP with an OSU clear. A Palushaj/Kolarik failure to mind-read leads to another. Cripes, giveaway. Goebel gets a breakaway and it looks like Sauer has it saved, but it trickles through the five-hole. OSU 1, Michigan, 0

OSU is collapsed around the net. Can't we set up a rotation? Penalty over. OSU getting confidence. We need to step up here. 2:26 left in the first.

Scooter Vaughn gets a nice shot at the net, but the rebound doesn't land near anyone. There's a John Dingle on tOSU. First period over. Somma decides to hit Palushaj after the period ends, so we get that kind of fun.

Guys need to step up here. We look too pleased with ourselves following the Showcase.


I really hope these university spots aren't evidence that they're having trouble selling ad time.

We start with a Michigan powerplay resulting from the extracurriculars. Palushaj can't sneak a shot through. Langlais defends a Goebel shortie attempt well. Our dominance from the early going has disappeared, along with this powerplay, but no problem if they want to take another one immediately. An offside call on Hagelin negates the extra skater and John Albert takes a seat for interference.

Goebel is the only good player on this OSU team, but he's getting opportunities on the PK. They kill off another penalty, blocking a lot of shots. They seem to be hoping to sit on this 1-0 lead. 14:00 left in the second.

Commercials. We look out-of-sync, not playing that well as a team. Lots of passes to nobody. OSU's playing more aggressively now. Sauer actually isn't getting a lot of work, the defense is picking it up. Kevin Quick makes a big hit and picks up an interference call, as his man declined to play the puck. Hagelin and Turnbull take a tentative attack in shorthanded, but get the puck knocked away. 1:00 gone after a Michigan clear. OH! Off the post, Sauer didn't see it. It even knocks off his back, but it luckily doesn't fall in. After the faceoff, OSU, is buzzing and it's LAYING ON THE LINE AND IT DOESN'T GO IN OH MY GOD, MITERA MAKES THE SAVE. Mitera and his man start scrapping, and this is strangely not going to review.

Porter and Kolarik immediately jump on a shorthanded opportunity as the penalty expires, but Kolarik has it knocked off his stick. Ahh! 3-2 with the top line and Kolarik gets denied. He couldn't quite find the top shelf stick side.

8:13 left. Lots of hooking and contact as Langlais carries in. Finally a call gets made, after about four different guys try to take him. Kyle Reed (different Reed) goes to the box. OSU is solid on the kill. They're playing better than we are and none of the bounces (except for one big bounce) have gone our way. 6:12, 0:36 left in the period and powerplay. Kolarik gets a quasi-break and he's being hooked. He waits too long and has no angle once Palmer finally goes down, and no call gets made. Sirgott is a big change from McInchak last week.

We're getting mugged down low. Finally Sirgott has had enough of that. Shane Sims takes a seat for hooking. We don't look sharp at all. Strange number of bouncing pucks for Mitera tonight. What's going on now? Oh, Lebler goes too high on a hit and gets whistled for boarding??? He didn't touch the boards. Weird.

Porter gets a pass right to Pacioretty in the slot, but he doesn't get all of it and Palmer is over. OSU at full strength. Sauer is giving up every rebound in sight. 2:00 left in the 2nd. 1:34 and the Lebler penalty is over. Cripes, Sauer falls over behind the net, but luckily nothing comes of it. Icing on OSU, 0:53 left. And again with 0:40.4. I think we'll see a lot of that in the third. End of the period. We only have 15 shots through two. PICK IT UP, GUYS.


Red sounds exactly the same whether we've just beat Minnesota or if we're losing to freaking OSU.

They sent a camera up to Fairbanks. I think everyone in town is drunk except for the coach.

Comcast would like you to believe that the BTN wants to hold your eyes open, Clockwork Orange-style and force you to watch. They may also have sold poisoned malk to schoolchildren.

Oh, 2-1 and Palushaj sends it just high. Beautiful chance there. Tim Miller immediately takes a charging minor. OSu only dressed 5 defensemen tonight. Summers gets a long shot away shorthanded, but it's right into Palmer. Ahh! Turnbull had a golden chance out front in the slot and Palmer makes the save. He's having a great game. Damn it. Sauer goes behind his net and gets wrapped up with Mitera. He accidentally takes the puck with him and an alert Goebel stuffs it in the net. 2-0, OSU. Bad goal. OSU has really taken control of this game.

Our shots are going wide, we're just a hair off all night long. OSU has shut down their attack. Their shell looks effective. Shots are only 16-12 with 13:52 left in the game. Passes are still going to nobody. This game is just as exciting as Edmonton-Detroit a few years ago.

Damn it, Miller is out in front and can't find the handle on a rebound. He gets another chance, crashing the net and forcing a tripping penalty. 12:09 left. Immediate OSU clear. Porter gets a nice pass across to Langlais, but it's blocked. We're buzzing around the net, but OSU is blocking everything and the penalty is killed. Sims is going right back to the box.

No one can get a stick on a loose puck. Langlais and Palushaj both have trouble handling the puck. Porter's shot from far out is off. OSU is cheating heavily toward him. We now have 25 shots. Penalty killed. Turnbull gets knocked over deep in the OSU zone, but you don't get that call in the third. Llewellyn's heavy shot from the point misses. Palmer gets a piece of a *high* puck. OSU 3-2 and Sauer makes a nice stop on Fritsche. 6:11 left. Another 3-2. Wide shot. AHH. Long pass to a streaking Porter, but it's just too far ahead for a good chance and Palmer has a stop.

Holy crap, Elkins had a great chance and Sauer gets the stop. Bouncing puck, dug out by us. Naurato finds Llewellyn on a rush, but Palmer is zoning. FINALLY! YESSS!!! 2:41 left and Pacioretty to Kolarik. Palmer shoves a puck to the boards and Pacioretty just manages to find Kolarik out in front with two Buckeyes draped all over him, but he manages to bat it into the net.

Oh, COME ON. 2:09 left and Somma waits for Sauer to drop to his knees before sniping one perfectly over his shoulder. 3-1. OSU.

HOLY SHIT. 1:18 left and Kolarik streaks past 4 Buckeyes standing on their own blue line to bury a puck and make it a 3-2 game.

This is a ridiculous game. I have no idea what's going to happen next. We were down 2 and got 2 within 90 seconds, but managed to give one up in that span. Yost is ROCKING.

Empty net, :50 left. Two Buckeyes going for a loose puck are fricking leveled. :20 left. No one home for a pass across the goal mouth. Puck is trapped in the corner and it takes forever to get a freeze called. :06.1 left. Timeout Michigan.

OSU wins the draw and the game is over. They deserved it, but we came oh so close to getting it back. Lots of chances for us to win the game, but Palmer was zoning for so long and we had some bad giveaways and misses.

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