4-- The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 27, 1995 Blue sweeps Falcons, Spartans to win CCHA By MELANIE SCHUMAN Daily Hockey Writer DETROIT - The stage was set, the props were in place and all that was needed was someone to yell "ac- tion." Yet somehow, when referee Jeff Shell dropped the puck Saturday, Feb. 18 at Joe Louis Arena, the Michi- gan State squad did not catch their cue. In front of 17,938 fans, most of whom were cheering for the Green and White, Michigan completed a season sweep of the Spartans in con- vincing fashion, defeating them 7-1. When the two teams met last sea- son, the game did not have the impli- cations it did this time around - and Michigan State won. This time, when pride and the CCHA regular season title, the Wolverines jumped all over the opportunity. Michigan struck first when junior Kevin Hilton made a brilliant move to pass two S p a r t a n defensemen for what was his first of two goals on the night. In fact, Hilton played a significant role in itfour of Michigan's Hilton seven tallies. It was he who set up the winning goal. Hilton drew the Spartan defender away so John Madden could pass off the boards to Warren Luhning. Luhning, who has notched a point in 10 of his last 11 games, scored the Wolverines' second goal, which was all they would need. Leading 3-1 after the first period thanks to Hilton's second goal, the Wolverines went on to score two more in the second. With Matt Herr in the penalty box, Madden scored his third shorthanded goal this season just 32 seconds into the period. Midway through the second, Michigan was out-shooting Michi- gan State 21-6, a good indicator of how one-sided the contest was. The second line of Madden, Hilton and Friday's Game MICHIGAN 4, BOWLING GREEN 3 Bowling Green 0 2 1 -7 Michigan 1 2 1 -4 Fist Peiod - 1, UM, Knuble 24 (Legg, Herr), 16:44. Second Peiod-2, UM, Hilton 15 (Luhning, Legg), 9:59 (pp). 3, BG, Hall 11 (Johnson), 10:32. 4, UM, Morrison 17 (Hilton, Knuble), 15:18 (pp). 5, BG Punchard 12 (unassisted), 16:26 (pp). lirkd Period - 6, BG, Lune 11 (Punchard, Ackerman), 1:02 (pp). 7, UM, Madden 16 (Morrison, Knuble), 8:40 (pp). Shotsongoal-BG8-9-12-29. UM 10-12-14-- 36., Power plays - BG 2 of 8, UM 3 of 5. Goalie saves - BG, Clarke 9-10-13--32. UM, Turco 8-7-11-26. Referee - P. Petterie. Uneamen - Lulich, Newell. At: Yost Ice Arena A: 7,341. Luhning combined for 11 points in the contest. After the Wolverines tallied their sixth and seventh goals on the night, Al Loges replaced starter Marty Turco between the pipes. "Every time we've played them, we've shut out their big players," said Michigan captain Rick Willis after Michigan completed its sea- son sweep of the Spartans. "If they're invisible, that team is not going to win." The Wolverines were successful in shutting down the Spartans' Hobey Baker candidates, Anson Carter and Steve Guolla,just as they did at Michigan State three weeks ago. On the weekend, they also stifled Brian Holzinger, the league's leading scorer. In a nail-biter Friday, Feb. 17, Michigan edged out the Falcons, 4-3, despite some fluke goals. With his team up 2-0, Michigan netminder Marty Turco mishandled the puck just to the left of the goal, allowing Bowling Green to regain possession and score. Later in the second, Turco rou- tinely came out to play the puck fly- ing off the boards. Yet this time, the puck came off the glass where he couldn't see it, and it floated into the goal. All Bowling Green had done was dump in the puck from the neutral zone as it went for a line change and all of a sudden it was a 3-2 game. Turco admitted being rattled for the first time in his young career. According to Michigan coach Red Berenson, he had a right to be. "How often do you see (goals) like that?" he asked. "I've seen three in my whole life. Those were a couple of strange goals that kept it close." The Falcons tied the game in the third on Kevin Lune's power-play goal early in the period. But with 11:20 left to play and Michigan on its own power play, Madden fired a slapshot past goalie Will Clarke for the game-winner. Saturday's Game_ MICHIGAN 7, MICHIGAN STATE 1 Michigan State 1 0 - _ Michigan 3 2 2 -7 Prst Period-1, UM, Hilton 16 (Sloan), 6:07. 2, MSU, Berens 10 (unassisted), 10:56 (sh). 3, UM, Luhning 15 (Hilton, Madden), 12:35.4, UM, Hilton 17 (Madden, Luhning),16:39. Second Period-5, UM, Madden 17 (Halko), :32 (sh). 6, UM, Luhning 16 (Hilton, Madden), 17:55. Tird Period - 7, UM, Morrison 18 (Gordon, Sacka), 4:28. 8, UM, Willis 3 (unassisted), 9:09 (sh). Shotson goal - MSU 5-8-4-17. UM 17-9-8- 34. Power plays- MSU 0 of 5, UM 0 of 5. Goalie saves-MSU, Alban 14-7-xx-21, Buzak xx-xx-6. UM, Turco 4-8-3--15, Loges x-xx-1-1. Referee - J. Shell. Unesmen - LaDuke, Lulich. At: Joe Louis Arena A: 17,938. 'F Y JONATHAN LURIE/Daily The Michigan hockey team clinched the CCHA title before Its game against Ferris State Friday night. No one hands 'Mtitle this tine Blue eliminates Bowling Green, Michigan State without any help By Melanie Schuman Daily Hockey Writer DETROIT - After its 7-1 thrashing of Michigan State, the Michigan hockey team huddled in the lockerroom at Joe Louis Arena and sung "Hail To The Victors" as it does after any weekend sweep. The Wolverines had defeated Bowling Green at Yost Ice Arena the night before. It's no secret that beating Michigan State, not to mention sweeping it during the regular season, is quite an accomplishment. And the same could be said of Michigan's three victories over the Falcons this season. But Michigan was basking in a much sweeter spot- light - the CCHA regular season championship. And for the first time, this guarantees a bid to the NCAA Tournament. For many on the team, it was a different feeling than last season, when Michigan captured its second regular season conference championship in three seasons on a weekend it did not compete. "This is the best way." junior Kevin Hilton said. "There is no better feeling than beating Michigan State and then getting the title out of it." Then-ranked No. 1, the '94 Wolverines were 22-1- 1 and maintained a double-digit lead over the second- place Spartans. Lake Superior State helped Michigan's cause for probably the only time ever by defeating the Spartans, handing the trophy to Michigan. For their third title in the past four seasons, though, Michigan waited until the third-to-last weekend of the season, one week later than it clinched last year. There was a lingering question as to who would win the title this season with Michigan, Bowling Green and Michi- gan State all vying for the league's top spot. But when the Falcons and Spartans were swept the previous weekend, Michigan's lead increased to six points. The Wolverines were guaranteed at least a share of the title if they won Feb. 17 and 18. "There were a lot of years where I would have sold my soul to end up in first place," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Now we're spoiled. We've got the There were a lot of years where I would have sold my soul to end up in first place Now we're spoiled. We've got the team and we expect to be here." - Red Berenson Michigan hockey coach weekend would be the Wolverines' toughest, espe- cially if Bowling Green lived up to expectations. Even though the preseason CCHA poll picked the Falcons to finish anywhere between fourth and eighth, there was subtle chatter that they would be a contender. The preseason media poll ranked Michigan State No. 1, while the coaches' poll selected Michigan by one point. While the Falcons and Wolverines led the CCHA most of the way, the Spartans were always right on their heels. Now, however, Michigan is all by itself at the top. The Wolverines have become the sixth team in league history to win back-to-back regular season titles. So with a record of 24-5-1 in the league, Michigan clinched the championship the same weekend four other teams guaranteed themselves home-ice advantage for the play- offs - Bowling Green, Miami, Michigan State, and Lake State. What remains to be seen is if the Wolverines mirror another late-season performance of a year ago. Then, Michigan lost four of its last five games in the regular season. "(We're) totally low-key," Warren Luhning said. "Last year we clinched the title and we started playing badly and went into the playoffs on a down note. "We don't want that to happen. We've got to keep on playing well, pick up our game now, not settle down. And get that killer instinct." Gutless Spartans don't put upa fight DETROIT - While his fellow Spartans limped onto the ice for one more period of punishment, Chad Alban could only watch from the bench. The Michigan State goalie might as well have stayed in the lockerroom, for his day was done. The seemingly invincible Wolverines had built their 5-1 lead with Alban guarding the net and they weren't about to show him any mercy. Mike Buzak replaced him u 5in goal. Such a move at that DARREN pint in a blowout is the DDVR tolosing team's DDariferent way of waving be 'iffeent the white flag. But on this particular evening the Spartans were so pathetic, they probably had that universal sign of submission flying from their team bus on the way down to Joe Louis Arena. Michigan State entered the contest in fourth place, eight points behind CCHA front-runner Michigan. With only five games to go for each team, the Spartans had no real hope of catching up in the standings. Even so, that hardly means they should play like they have no hope of beating the Wolverines. "We got ahead by a couple of goals and it seemed like (Michigan1 State) died," Michigan forward Warren Luhning said. "They weren't playing with any heart like they were before. We just walked over them." John Madden's goal at the start of the second period gave the Wolverines a commanding 4-1 advantage. However, there were still - almost two full periods of hockey left For a team featuring Anson Carter, Rem Murray and Steve Guolla - all 40-point scorers - there was plenty of time to catch up. Maybe the Spartans' problem was they didn't believe they were capable of mounting a comeback. "I think we may have a mental advantage on them," Michigan captain Rick Willis said. "I don't know if they think they can beat us." "I knew they were going to win (the CCHA title) after they beat us in our place," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said. "That was no surprise." The Wolverines needed one win to clinch the league championship, and they got it against Mason's team. If the Spartans looked at Michigan's schedule, they'd see that all but one of the Wolverines' remaining games are on the road. And the one team that had et to visit Ann Arbor (Ferris State) beat Michigan earlier this season. But Mason is probably right. It's highly unlikely Michigan would have lost all of its last four games. It also would have been out of the ordinary for the Spartans to beat the Wolverines - Michigan State had lost the first three games this season. Mason, however, was visibly j upset after each loss. The Spartan coach would have very little to say to the media, and the few words he did speak came from a reddened face in an angry tone. This time he seemed quite relaxed, and he had plenty of compliments for Michigan. Maybe that's because Mason has grown accustomed to seeing Madden, Luhning and Kevin Hilton skate circles around his team. But that's not the way this rivalry is supposed to be. When Michigan is trying to clinch the title the Spartans were supposed to win by beating Michigan State, no one should come away saying the Spartans died out there. And even if they lose and they don't win the CCHA, their coach had better not excuse it by saying "that was no surprise." What a joke. . " 0 team and we expect to be here, Berenson knew as early as this summer that this >,. HOCKEY NOTEBOOK Semors take final bow i against Ferris State By Darren Everson Daily Hockey Writer NOTRE DAME - Friday's game against Ferris State marked the end of an era for seven Wolverines. The 6-2 victory over the Bulldogs was the last regular-season home game for the Michigan senior class. For this occasion, an all-senior lineup started the game. Rick Willis, Mike Knuble and Ron Sacka were at the forward positions, with Tim Hogan and Alan Sinclair on defense and Al Loges in goal. Fellow senior Mark Sakala also saw some playing time. Loges had perhaps the biggest impact of all of them. He stopped 37 of 39 shots on goal, including all 16 of Ferris State's shots in the third period. "I don't know the number (of shots) but I knew it was a lot," he said. "As the game went on, I just got stronger." A GAME OF FIRSTS: Notre Dame's victory over Michigan was the team's first win in 19 tries against the Wolverines. The Fighting Irish had lost every meeting since the 1982-1983 season. The game was also something to remember for Michigan's Peter Bourke. Playing in just his eighth game of the season, Bourke made the most of his opportunity. After assisting on Ron Sacka's goal in the second period, the sophomore defenseman scored his first career goal on a wrist shot 6:04 into the third. CAN ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME?: Michigan might not have had any trouble with its goaltending Friday, but the Bulldogs weren't quite so lucky. Seth Appert, Jeff Blashill and Rich Nagy all appeared in goal for Ferris State. Appert and Blashill suffered from injury or poor play or both at one time or another, so Nagy - the third-stringer - finished the game. "That shows they're not afraid to use all their goalies," Michigan forward Brendan Morrison said. "Their coach must have a lot of confi- dence in them." 0 JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Michigan forward Warren Luhning can't escape Ferris State's Andy Roach during Friday night's game. Luhning did manage to tally two assists in the Wolverines' 6-2 victory over the Bulldogs. ICERS Continued from page 1 While it was a huge win for Notre Dame, it wasn't a very big loss for the Wolverines. "You don't want to say this was a meaningless game," Michigan forward Mika Knnh1- -P ca"h.t wP' .a. - lrPa Loges, a senior playing in his final game at Yost, and he responded by stopping 37 of the 39 shots. "I felt that the game was evenly played," Bulldog coach Bob Daniels said. "Their goaltender and special teams made the difference." "As the game went on I felt stron- FridaY's Game ger and stronger," Loges said. "The more shots you get the better you feel." While Loges provided the stops against the Bulldogs, Brendan Morrison scored the goals. Morrison scored once in the first and twice in the second for his second hat trick of the season. Saturday's Game I U .3 ~ BA ~U~E3EUEEU~W~ ' I