4 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday, March 20, 1995
NCAA
Continued from page 1
be hard-pressed to consider their top
position a just reward for a successful
season.
Should Wisconsin win Friday,
Michigan faces the unenviable task of
playing a hot team on its home ice.
The Badgers won the WCHA Tour-
nament Saturday, and all of the games
in the West Regional will be played at
Dane County Coliseum - the arena
that Badger fans call home.
"It's not going to be easy,"
Berenson said. "When the teams that
are going out to Wisconsin have the
chance of playing Wisconsin in their
home building, they're not playing at
a neutral site."
The Wolverines are familiar with
the Badgers after defeating them 7-2
at the College Hockey Showcase in
November, but they are even more
familiar with their other possible op-
ponent.
Michigan has played Michigan
State four times this season and has
won every meeting.
"We match up well against (the
Spartans)," Berenson said. "But we're
going to sit and wait and cheer for
someone. I like to see the teams from
our league do well, but the most im-
portant thing is that we do well."
One of the possible reasons for the
Wolverines' top seed is that several
other potential No. 1 seeds also lost in
their conference tournaments.
In fact, no team that won their
conference's regular season title
claimed the playoff trophy.
Lake Superior won the CCHA
Tournament after finishing the regL
lar season in fourth place. Boston
won the Hockey East Tournament
after finishing behind Maine in the
regular season. Regular season cham-
pion Colorado College lost to Wis-
consin in the finals of the WCHA
playoffs, and in the ECAC, R.P.I.
won the postseason championship
after Clarkson claimed the regular
season title.
Any team that won its conference's
regular season or postseason champi-
onship was guaranteed a spot in the
12-team field.
Michigan State, Minnesota, Den-
ver and New Hampshire pulled down
at-large bids to the tournament, while
Bowling Green, which finished in sec-
ond place in the CCHA's regular sea-
son, was denied a place in the tourna-
ment.
Berenson said he was not surprised
by the Falcons' omission.
"I thought Bowling Green had to
win that game against Michigan State
(in the CCHA Tournament semifi-
nals)," he said. "I didn't think four
teams from our league would be in."
1995 NCAA Hockey Championship
Wi: Michigan (29-7-i)
W4: Wisconsin (23-14-4)
Dane County Coliseum
Madison
W5: Michigan St. (25-11-3)
Dane County Coliseum
Madison
Providence Civic Center
Providence, R.I.
March 30
E2: Maine (29-5-6)
E3: New Hampshire (22-9-4)
The Centrum
Worcester, Mass.
E6: Denver (24-14-2)
The Centrum
Worcester, Mass.
}
W2: Colorado College (30-11-1)
W3: Minnesota (23-13-5)
Dane County Coliseum
Madison
W6: RPI (18-13-4)
Dane County Coliseum
Madison
Providence Civic Center
Providence, R.I.
March 30
Providence Civic Center
Providence. R.I.
April a
oil 1995
NCAA HOCKEY
CHAMPIONSHIP
E1: Boston University (28-6-3)
Up next:
Saturday: Michigan State or Wisconsin at Dane County
Coliseum, Madison, 8 p.m.
The Spartans (25-11-3 overall) lost all four games against
Michigan. The Wolverines beat the Badgers (23-14-4), 7-2,
in November. Wisconsin is 16-4-1 at Dane County
Coliseum, its home arena.
Who to look out for: Michigan State - C Anson Carter (33-
16-49), Wisconsin - C Max Williams (25-26-51)
{ --)
E4: Clarkson (23-9-4)
The Centrum
Worcester, Mass.
E5: Lake Superior St. (22-11-6)
The Centrum
Worcester, Mass.
I
, M HOCKEY NOTEBOOK:
Blue mastery of Lake State
doesn't reach postseason play
t5o x
u.
AP PHOTO
Lake Superior State hoists its fourth CCHA championship trophy in five years.
Lakers beat Spartans;
capture CCHA crown
By Darren Everson
and Barry Sollenberger
Daily Hockey Writers
DETROIT - The Michigan-Lake
Superior State rivalry is starting to get
predictable.
The Wolverines continue to domi-
nate the Lakers during the regular
season, but Lake State always seems
to get the best of Michigan in the
postseason. Over the past five years,
the Wolverines own an 11-5-1 edge
over their rivals from the upper pen-
insula in regular season play.
But when March rolls around, it's
a different story.
The Lakers' 5-4 overtime vic-
tory over the Wolverines Saturday
means that Lake State has won five
of the past six times the two schools
have met during post season. The
Lakers knocked Michigan out of the
post season in four of the past five
years.
"The way the past has gone,
they've gotten the better of us since
I've been here in the big games,"
Michigan's Mike Knuble said. "But
we're still not scared of them. We're
not scared of anybody."
You needn't be J. Robert
Oppenheimer to understand why the
Lakers have won three National
Championships in the past seven sea-
sons while Michigan has gone NCAA
title-less over that span.
Since 1988, Lake State is 19-7
and the Wolverines are 4-6 in the
NCAA Tournament.
AND THE WINNER Is: Several of
the league's top performers were
honored Friday at the annual CCHA
banquet at the Westin Hotel in De-
troit.
Bowling Green forward Brian
Holzinger received the conference's
Player of the Year Award. The se-
nior center scored 34 goals and led
the league in scoring most of the
year.
Brendan Morrison
Mike Knuble
Kevin Hilton
John Madden
Warren Luhning
Robb Gordon
Bill Muckalt
Mike Legg
Jason Botterill
Matt Herr
Goals
22
35
19
21
17
14
19
14
14
10
Michigan scoring leaders
Assists
52
21
30
21
23
24
18
22
14
8
Points
74
56
49
42
40
38
37
36
28
18
I
DETROIT (AP) -Lake Superior
State freshman defenseman Ted
Laviolette shot a rebound past Michi-
gan State goalie Mike Buzak with
5:29 left in the third period to give the
Lakers a come-from-behind 5-3 vic-
tory over the Spartans yesterday in
the CCHA championship game.
Defending NCAA Champion Lake
State, which entered the tournament
as the fourth seed, has 16 victories
and a tie in their last 18 games.
The CCHA title was the fourth in
five years for the Lakers, who have
played in seven straight champion-
ship games. Lake State is 20-1 in
CCHA playoff games under coach
EVERSON
Continued from page 1
Lake State, however, have proven
them wrong.
Something else the Lakers and
other tournament teams do is
capitalize on their opponent's
mistakes. Saturday, Lake State had
plenty of errors to choose from.
"(The Lakers) didn't get many
chances," Michigan forward Mike
Knuble said, "but the chances they
did get, we gave them."
At no time was this more
evident than when Warren Luhning
set up Lake State's fourth goal. Of
course, the sophomore forward
didn't get any credit for it on the
stat sheet, since he isn't a Laker.
But it was his pass that Bates
Battaglia picked off right inside the
Lake State blue line. Battaglia then
raced up ice and set up Dan _
Galarneau's go-ahead goal.
That still wasn't enough to win
the game, though. The Lakers
needed a power play - in overtime,
no less - and they needed Blake
Sloan to set it up.
The Michigan defenseman
intentionally knocked the
Wolverine net off the magnets,
drawing a delay of game penalty.
Since the puck was behind the goal,
Sloan put his team in greater danger
of losing by taking the penalty.
Maybe it wouldn't have come to
that if Michigan's Jason Botterill
had converted on his breakaway
chance or his two-on-one
opportunity in the second period.
That didn't come as much of a
surprise, though. The 6-foot-4, 209-
pound forward has been an invisible
man on the ice, and the only time
he's been seen lately is when he's
in the penalty box, which is quite
often.
If Botterill shows up and his
team starts playing solid defense in
the third period, the Wolverines
should come away from
Providence, R.I. with a
championship trophy in a couple
weeks. If not, Saturday's game
against Wisconsin or Michigan
State will be the last time they don
those special yellow jerseys.
Jeff Jackson.
Tournament Most Valuable Player
Wayne Strachan set up the winning
goal when he carried the puck into the
Michigan State end and fired a shot
off the goalpost. The rebound bounced
to Laviolette, whose slapshot beat
Buzak.
Mike Morin scored an empty-net
goal for Lake State with 56 seconds
remaining.
Anson Carter scored his 33rd
goal of the season for the Spartans
at 1:45 of the second period when he
stole the puck from defenseman
Keith Aldridge and broke in alone
on Grahame.
Holzinger also was honored for
being named to~the All-CCHA First
Team, along with defensemen Keith
Aldridge of Lake Superior State and
Kelly Perrault of Bowling Green,
Miami goalie Chuck Thuss and for-
wards Michigan State's Anson
Carter and Brendan Morrison of
Michigan.
Thuss spent more time giving
speeches than anyone. The Redskins'
senior goaltender gave the invocation
for the evening and returned to the
podium to accept the Goalie of the
Year trophy and the Terry Flanigan
Award.
That honor is given to the player
that best embodies the spirit of
Flanigan, a former Bowling Green
assistant coach who died of cancer in
1991.
Other award winners included
Michigan defenseman Steven
Halko for Best Defensive
Defenseman, Lake State forward
Wayne Strachan (Best Defensive
Forward) and Perrault (Best Offen-
sive Defenseman).
HE PLAYS OFFENSE, ToO: If no one
noticed Strachan's offensive skills be-
..
I,,,
Morrison
fore, it's tough not to now. The Lake
State forward was named the Most
Valuable Player for the CCHA tour-
nament.
Strachan scored two goals against
Michigan Saturday and set up the
winning goal against Michigan State
yesterday.
ICERS
Continued from page 1
actly where it was coming from."
After the goal, the Lake State bench
erupted onto the ice and dog-piled be-
hind the Michigan goal.
The Lakers scored the game-win-
ner on the powerplay after defenseman
Blake Sloan was called for a controver-
sial delay of game penalty. After- a
flurry of Lake State shots, Sloan
knocked the goal off its hinges 2:37
into the extra session and was whistled
"The"puck came out and I tried to
get a look to see where that guy was so
it wouldn'thappen again," Knuble said.
"The guy was about 10 or 15 feet away
and he started to slide. I just got rid of
it real quick to beat his slide."
The goal was Knuble's second of
the game and 35th of the year.
The Wolverines led early in
Saturday's contest - like they often
do against Lake State.
Aftera scoreless firstperiodMichi-
gan grabbed a 2-0 lead. early in the
second. Knuble made it 1-0 on a five-
riod, but Trzcinski knotted it again on
the same power play a few moments
later.
The Lakers then scored what ap-
peared to be the game-winning goal at
17:36 of the third period. Battaglia
blew a breakaway chance but Michi-
gan failed to cover the trailer, Dan
Galarneau, and he knocked in the re-
bound. Knuble then answered to send
the game into overtime.
LAKE SUPERIOR5, MICHIGAN 4
Lake Superior 0 2 2 1--5
Michigan0 2 2 O- 4
0
m mm -
First Period - None. Penalties - Ma(Chant, LS
1