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