Paula C. WestonSitting in the recently renovated, bright and airy lobby of the Marriot Hotel in Detroit’s Renaissance Center – that’s the Ren Cen to the locals – it’s impossible to think about this year’s CCHA Championship Tournament without looking ahead to next year’s Frozen Four, to be played just up the road at Ford Field. It’s … Read more
What’s the difference between a second-place CCHA tournament finish and a Mason Cup? Twenty seconds, exactly. Trailing 2-1 going into the third, the Fighting Irish got a power-play goal from Calle Ridderwall at 1:45 before Ben Ryan’s game-winner, his second of the weekend, at 2:05. From there, Notre Dame never looked back en route to … Read more
Who said that defense wins games? When the nation’s second-best defense, in front of the CCHA Player of the Year, met the country’s fifth-best offense in Joe Louis Arena tonight, it was offense that prevailed, barely. It was an unselfish play by the league’s leading goal-scorer that set up an empty-net goal that sealed the … Read more
Get Down to It Congratulations to the four teams in Detroit this weekend for the CCHA tournament. Two teams had to earn their way to The Joe by playing three games. Two teams posted two shutout wins each, one with a shutout sweep of its opponent. One team had to win on the road. Already … Read more
Unfitting Ends What a way for two senior CCHA goaltenders to go out. In Marquette, Michigan State senior goaltender Jeff Lerg played his last collegiate contest, allowing a career-high eight goals in the loss to Northern Michigan. In Columbus, Bowling Green senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt played his last collegiate contest, left the crease during a … Read more
The Difference of One Week I thought I was a little off last week. Insert your own punch line here. It seems as though I’m a week behind giving out the annual Girl Reporter Awards. So I’m a week behind in that — Part Deux soon to follow. But heading into the first round of … Read more
Like many people who knew Mike Lockert, I’m struggling this week to come to terms with his death. Now I know what the grief counselors mean when they say that the first phase is denial, because I just can’t believe someone as wonderful and full of life as Mike is gone. Mike, the voice of … Read more
Like many people who knew Mike Lockert, I’m struggling this week to come to terms with his death. Now I know what the grief counselors mean when they say that the first phase is denial, because I just can’t believe someone as wonderful and full of life as Mike is gone. Mike, the voice of … Read more
Congratulations, Notre Dame … And Now You’ve Done It Sure, the Fighting Irish have won their second regular-season title in three years, but does anyone else see the real evil lurking for Notre Dame because of this? In 2007, the fourth-place Michigan State Spartans beat Boston College for a national championship. In 2008, the Fighting … Read more
The Honeymoon Is Over Last week’s column was my nine-page valentine to you, dear reader. This week is different. When my Mott Community College students complained about the single class in which they received chocolate this week, I told them, “I only love you enough to buy you half-priced, post-Valentine’s Day candy once, not twice.” … Read more
For the second game in a row, a match between Ohio State and Michigan State threatened to end tied in regulation, but Jeff Petry’s game winning, power-play five-hole goal at 16:13 in the third period lifted the Spartans over the Buckeyes, 2-1. The win extended the Spartans unbeaten streak to four games and it was … Read more
For the Michigan State Spartans this season, no points come easy. Up 1-0 on No. 16 Ohio State with just over 10 seconds to go, the Spartans saw their best chance at their first back-to-back wins since late October evaporate when Buckeye Hunter Bishop finally beat MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg at 19:49 with the net … Read more
Accentuating the Positive Not exactly how you’d expect the annual Valentine’s Day column to begin, is it? After all, this holiday is a middle-aged, bitter, divorced, hockey-loving girl reporter’s dream. Underperforming flagship programs portending gate issues at Joe Louis Arena next month, key injuries to players for the league’s top team, a general sense of … Read more
And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program First off, I want to thank all of you for your responses to last week’s column. I received a lot of feedback — in person at Yost Ice Arena last Saturday, from colleagues on the campus at Mott Community College this week, by email — much of … Read more
Rashomon Hockey In director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece Rashomon, the story of a violent crime unfolds in flashback from the perspective of four different characters. A notorious bandit overcomes a husband and wife, killing him and raping her, but at the bandit’s trial, four different versions of the story emerge from four different witnesses — … Read more
Even though the Michigan Wolverines beat the Michigan State Spartans 6-2 in the home of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings tonight, UM head coach Red Berenson thought his squad was as cohesive as pond hockey — at times. “We played a lot of sloppy, shinny hockey tonight at times, and they made us,” said Berenson. … Read more
Seemed Like Old Times Bryan Hogan, a victim of Mercury retrograde. In Ann Arbor last Friday, Hogan felt a little bit of the love that senior goaltender Billy Sauer was feeling for the first half of the season when he provided solid goaltending for the Wolverines with absolutely no support from the offense. Hogan, a … Read more
Even I Get It Right Sometimes As I return to teaching at Mott Community College this week, I’m faced with how wrong I am about everything, and how often. Don’t I know that no one gives homework in the first week of class? Why should I expect anyone to come to a writing class with … Read more
Back to School As the second half of the regular season begins, there is one undeniable truth: the top four teams in the CCHA are from states other than Michigan — some very far away from Michigan. With all due respect to the teams in my new home state, this continued non-Michigan dominance of the … Read more
With three unanswered goals in the second period, the Michigan Wolverines captured their second consecutive Great Lakes Invitational title and their 13th overall, beating the Michigan State Spartans 5-1 to capture the MacInnes Cup. It was the first time that UM beat MSU for the championship since 1995. “I thought that both teams came out … Read more