The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 28, 1994 - 5 When it matters most, Lakers beat Michigan EAST LANSING - Mike Stone doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve to see a pile of Lake Superior players in the far corner, celebrating knocking the Wolverines out of the playoffs. Again. He doesn't deserve to see two of the biggest goals of his career go to waste. But now he stands among his shell-shocked Wolverine teammates at the blue line in Munn Ice Arena, watching those familiar men in blue with anchors on their chests., It's Stone and his- senior classmates who have the weight of the JAESON world on their chests now. ROSENFELD The Lakers have laughed Feld of last. Again. Dreams And this time it's for good. Blaine Lacher, Lake State's goalie, jumps around like someone has just dropped a hot coal in his pants. His face is so red from screaming he looks like a Hasbro toy that never made it - Mr. Tomatohead on ice. Meanwhile, the five Wolverine elders gather by the goal after the rest of the Wolverines have gone, clinging to the last seconds of their college careers. As Stone skates into the tunnel with teammate Brian Wiseman, he stares down at the ice. And he's probably thinking, "I can't believe this happened. Again." It wasn't supposed to end like this for them. Due to errant news reports, many in Ann Arbor thought that it hadn't. Channel 2 reported that Stone had scored the winning goal on a wrap-around. It would have been a much more fitting ending, but it wasn't reality. Reality featured Rob Valicevic rocketing a slapshot from 10 feet inside the blue line past senior goalie Steve Shields 2:31 into overtime. Reality also featured Shields struggling to field press-conference questions like, "Did you see that last shot?" or "Do you remember exactly what happened on that third goal?" "Nope," Shields answered to the latter, staring blankly into the crowd of reporters. He was probably thinking to himself, "I can't believe the Lakers. Again." Reality and the Lakers have been bedfellows to this year's senior class for four years. When the Wolverines thought they were on top, Lake State brought them back to reality. 0"@ "I guess you could say they're our Achilles heel," Stone said. Stone can probably hardly remember his freshman year by now, when the Lakers stole an overtime heartbreaker from the Wolverines, 6-5, in the CCHA finals. No one needs to remind this year's seniors of their weekend series in Sault Sainte Marie in the 1991-92 season. Michigan played the Lakers close on Friday night and then got drilled, 10-0, Saturday night. Michigan got its revenge that year when Lake State journeyed southward, sweeping them in a pair. But in March, when it counted, the Lakers were hoisting a CCHA championship trophy above their heads, and sophomores Chris Gordon, David Oliver, Wiseman, Stone and Shields could merely watch. Two years for the sophomores, and two postseason losses to the Lakers. Then as juniors, the five did something that they had never done before - they won the regular-season series with Lake State, taking two of three contests. But there the Lakers were in the playoffs, beating the Wolverines 5-3 in the CCHA semifinals. And the soon-to-be seniors spent their third summer in a row thinking, "How are we ever going to beat those Lakers?" 0** "(The seniors) made a commitment last summer to this season and we had a great year," coach Red Berenson said. Indeed, the seniors came out of the summer blazing, and the Wolverines sent an early message to the Lakers with a 4-2 victory Nov. 5 in Sault Sainte Marie. And when Lake State rolled into Ann Arbor, Wiseman set off a mob celebration with an overtime goal, giving the Wolverines a 4-3 triumph. Michigan completed a season-sweep the following night, 5-2. But as the postseason approached, the Lakers started getting hot. And Michigan started worrying. "There's no doubt they're in the back of our minds, especially the seniors," Oliver said the weekend before the CCHA finals. "They've knocked us out three years in a row." But this year, the seniors came through, beating the Lakers, 3-0. They had finally gotten the last laugh. Or so they thought. 000 But the laughter turned to tears for Michigan Sunday. TheLakersbeatthe Wolverines when itcounted. And this timethe seniors don'thave tolive with it fora summer. They have to live with it for the rest of their lives. "It's a hard way to end a season," Wiseman said. "Especially when you're never going to put this jersey on again." A moment later, Wiseman stares up towards the ceiling and closes his eyes, fighting off tears. It is all too much right now. Because the Lakers have laughed last. Again. JONATHAN LURIE/Da *Michigan forward John Madden faces off against Mike Morin in yesterday's overtime loss to Lake Superior State. The Lakers advance to the national semifinals in St. Paul, Minn. Thursday. HOCKEY NOTEBOOK MICHAEL ROSENBERG DAILY HOCKEY WRITER I8AST LANSING - Michigan played at Munn Ice Arena yesterday, and for all the world it looked like the Wolverines were matched up against Michigan State. Spartan fans filled the arena, largely because they had bought tickets expecting to see Michigan State play Min- nesota. But when the Spartans lost to Massachusetts- Lowell Saturday, the East Lansing faithful were forced to settle for their second-favorite pastime: rooting against Michigan. The Lake Superior State band took full advantage of the situation, blasting out the MSU fight song as often as their own. GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Michigan seniors Brian Wiseman, David Oliver, Mike Stone, Steve Shields and Chris Gordon ended their careers with a record of 129-26- 10. No other class has won as many games in Michigan history. Although the seniors never won a national champion- ship, they acquired a truckfull of accolades during their *stay in Ann Arbor. Their team achievements include winning two CCHA regular season championships, a CCHA postseason Spartan fans throw support to Lakers title, four NCAA.tournament appearances, two na- tional semifinal games and four Great Lakes Invita- tional titles. THEY'RE NOT DONE YET: There may be more honors on the way for the outgoing seniors. Wiseman, Oliver and Shields are all finalists for the Hobey Baker award, which goes to the nation's top college hockey player. The trophy will be awarded Friday at 4:30 in St. Paul, Minn., site of this year's Final Four. CONFERENCE PRIDE: The CCHA placed four teams in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever this year, but only Michigan and Lake Superior State made it to the quarterfinals. Western Michigan lost to Wisconsin, 6-3, and Michigan State fell to Massachusetts-Lowell, 4-3, in the first round. True conference supremacy will likely be decided this weekend. The East Coast Athletic Conference (Harvard), Hockey East (Boston University), the West- ern Collegiate Hockey Association (Minnesota) and the CCHA (Lake Superior State) all placed teams in the Final Four. Minnesota plays B.U. and Harvard meets Lake Supe- rior State Thursday in semifinal action. The final will be Saturday. JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Kevin Hilton concentrates on the puck as a Laker defender tries to poke check it away. WEST REGIONAL ROUNDUP: Minnesota sneaks past Lowell in two EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Jeff Nielsen scored at 9:29 of the second overtime period yesterday to give Minnesota a 2-1 victory over Massachusetts-Lowell in the NCAA West Regional. The game was the second-longest in NCAA tournament history and the longest in regional play. Nielsen, who leads the Gophers with 29 goals, took a pass from Tony Bianchi, came down the right wing and fired a high wrist shot from the faceoff circle that beat goalie Dwayne Roloson high on the glove side. The goal broke up a duel between Roloson, who made 45 saves, and Minnesota goalie Jeff Callinan, who stopped 35 shots. The Gophers advance to the NCAA Final Four in St. Paul, Minn., where they will meet Boston Univer- sity Thursday. Freshman Nick Checco, who has five of his seven goals in post-season play, sent the game into overtime with a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle with 5:33 left in the third period. The shot went between Roloson's pads and the goalpost, ty- ing the game at 1-1. The play of goalies Roloson and Callinan dominated the first two peri- ods with Lowell holding a 1-0 lead on defenseman David Mayes' second goal of the season at 10:48 of the opening period. Freshman Greg Bullock carried the puck behind the net and passed to Mayes in the faceoff circle. His slap shot went over Callinan's left shoul- der to give the Chiefs the lead. Nielsen said he wasn't looking to pass when he made the winning shot. "Bianchi made a terrific play to get me the puck and I got up a good head of steam," Nielsen said. "Checco was coming up on the other side and the defense had to be aware of him. When you're in overtime you think shot first and usually good things will happen." Minnesota coach Doug Woog said his team started slowly, but picked up intensity in the second period when Callinan made some excellent saves. "After he made those big saves we took over," Woog said. "It's fun to have good goaltending because the other kid was coming up big. Without good goaltending, you won't win." Lake Superior 6, Northeastern 5 (OT) EAST LANSING - Northeast- ern found itself in a familiar place in last Saturday's NCAA Tournament game - in overtime. The Huskies ended up on the short end of the stick again, losing their fourth overtime game of the year, bringing an end to their season. Lake Superior State defeated North- eastern, 6-5, at the NCAA West Regionals in East Lansing to setup a rematch against Michigan. Mike Morin's goal 15 seconds into the over- time period gave the Lakers the victory. "The winning goal wasn't what you would call a classic," Lake Supe- rior coach Jeff Jackson said. "It was a typical overtime goal." Morin found himself with the puck behind the net and attempted a center- ing pass. The puck hit Huskie forward Mike Taylor's skate and got past goaltender Todd Reynolds for the game-winner. "I just went to the net and Dan (Angelelli) threw it across," Morin said. "I'm not entirely sure how it went in. I was just aiming for the front of the net." Taylor had come over to the side of the net to help out defensively, but the puck bounced off his skate and into the net. "The guy had position on our defenseman behind the net," Taylor said. "I kneeled down trying to block the pass out in front. It went offmy skate and I don't know what happened." "I was just trying to hold the post overtimes puck into the net to record his second collegiate hat trick. -By Antoine Pitts Daily Hockey Writer UMass-Lowell 4, Michigan State 3 EAST LANSING (AP) - Ian Hebert and Norm Bazin scored power- play goals late in the first period Sat-°y urday and Massachusetts-Lowell held on for a 4-3 victory over Michigan State in NCAA West Regional first- round play. Michigan State put heavy pres-;, sure on Lowell goalie Dwayne- Roloson in the third period, but the;': Spartans were unable to score.":4 Roloson made eight of his 24 saves in the final period. Lowell,. which leads the nation in penalty-killing percentage, allowed~ only one goal in the Spartans' nine'. power-play chances. "I thought we had to kill too many penalties," said Lowell coach Bruce:. Crowder. "Other than that, we played well. We controlled the puck in the offensive zone and we did a good job of blocking out in the neutral zone to nullify Michigan State's speed. The Chiefs took a 4-3 lead into the final period. Michigan State's Anson Carter cut the margin to one with 3:51 left in the second period. Carter took a pass from Steve Guolla at center ice and broke in alone on Roloson for his team-leading 30th goal. Lowell's Christian Sbrocca opened the scoring at 6:54 of the first period. A Michigan State shot JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Brendan Morrison had four assists in yesterday's 5-4 overtime loss. HOCKEY Continued from page 1 I just told our guys to weather the Storm." The Wolverines scored the game's LAKE SUPERIOR 5, MICHIGAN 4 (OT) Lake Superior State 3 1 0 1-5 Michigan 1 3 0 0-4 first Pedd - 1, UM, Stone 13 (Morrison), 8:52.2, LSSU,Valcevic 15(G. Talaire),12:10.3, LSSU, Aldridge 10 (G. Talaire, Valicevic), 14:43 (pp). 4, LSSU, Ness, 9 (Angeletli),15:18. Penalties - Sloan, UM (interference), 3:10; Wetherill, LSSU