6B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 11, 1996
HOCKEY
Turco will be deciding factor
Sc ig s postseason run
By Alan Goli nbach
Daily Sports Writer"
There's an old hockey adage that says a1
team can hop on the coattails of a hot
goaltender and ride him through the playoffs1
all the way to a championship.
That's not to say that a championship team
must have a hot man between the pipes, and1
it also doesn't mean that the remainder of the
team is irrelevant to its success.
But it is unquestionable that a team will go
nowhere in the postseason without solid de-
fense, led by a strong goaltender.
"Obviously, goaltending is the key to the
playoffs," Michigan goalie Marty Turco said.
"You don't win without defense."
Behind Michigan's 3-0 shutout Saturday
night were Turco and his 28 saves, which
were proof of him rising to the top when it
counts the most.
But now that each game means the differ-
ence between playing another or spending
six months thinking about your last one,
Michigan will need nothing short of repeat
performance like this one from its sopho-
more netminder.
Whether or not it the Wolverines will get
it, is up in the air.
Throughout the season, Turco's confidence
has been on a roller-coasterride. It has peaked
at several instances like Michigan's 8-1
trouncing of Michigan State Feb. 17, but it
has also hit rock bottom as well. In one case,
it reached that level only a week later when
he was pulled in front of his hometown fans
after letting in five goals to Lake Superior in
just 30 minutes. Looking back, that loss
could have meant the CCHA regular-season
title.
There are also claims that Turco hasn't
been tested enough thus far to be able to
hold up to postseason pressure. Sixteen times
thus far this season, Turco has had fewer
than 20 shots come his way. Many of.
Michigan's wins this season have come with
the Wolverines playing much of the game in
their opponents' end of
the ice.
If and when Michi-
gan strolls into Cincin-
nati, site of the Final
Four, and meets up with
the likes of Boston Uni-
versity or Colorado
College, the Wolver-
ines will not have all
the time in the world toE 1
spend in the offensive
zone, and Turco will be seeing more than his
fair share of shots.
And more importantly, they will be com-
ing from the sticks of players like Mike
Grier and Peter Geronazzo as opposed to
some high-school-caliber player off the Illi-
nois-Chicago bench.
And there's something about Turco's per-
formance this season that hasn't over-
whelmed the coaches in the CCHA. The
voters for the all-conference team didn't
even award Turco honorable mention. In
fact, five other goalies - half of the
conference's netminders - received more
votes than Turco.
Turco's puckhandling skills have also
been under careful scrutiny for much of the
season as it's often an adventure every time
he comes out of the crease to play the puck.
Saturday night gave another indication of
1
how this could easily come back and haunt
the Wolverines in the postseason.
Midway through the second period, the
puck was cleared into the Michigan zone.
With nobody within 30 feet or so of the puA,
Turco decided to head over to the left boards
near the faceoff dot to clear the puck. Charg-
ing after it as well was Miami's Randy
Robitaille. Turco got there first, but as.he has
done more than enough this season, didn't
get good wood on the puck and gave the
Redskins a golden opportunity at an open
net. Fortunately for Michigan, the shot wasn't
a strong one and was played out of the zone
by the Wolverines.
"Maybe it was a poor decision afteri I
thought about it," Turco said. "I wasn't 100
percent sure if I could beat him to the puck."
IfRobitaille was Minnesota's Brian Bonin,
the result would likely have been much dif-
ferent.
Friday, Michigan's volunteer goaltending
coach, Mike Liut, a former NHL All Star, left
Turco with some words of wisdom for the
playoff run.
"He told me if you want to be a playpff
goaltender, you have to withstand some prs-
sure," Turco said.
And withstanding that pressure begins with
making the right decisions, being ready for
whatever is thrown your way and playing
your best against the best.
But one slipup, one repeat of Lake State,
and Michigan will see its season come to a
close.
But if Saturday becomes the beginning of
a hot streak, Michigan could find itselfriding
the Turco train all the way to a champion-
ship.
WALKER VANDYKEI
,The Michigan hockey team advanced to the CCHA semifinals with a weekend sweep of Miami (Ohio)
this weekend. The Wolverines won 5-4 Friday and 3-0 Saturday night.
Miami 0 1 0-4
Michigan 2 3 0-5
First period - 1, UM, Morrison 23 (Muckalt, Herr),
3:30; 2, UM Sloan 6 (Morrison, Hilton), 14:31 (pp).
Penalties - Leahy. MU (roughing), 6:33: Tropper, MU
(tripping.) 12:45; Hayes, UM (tripping). 14:51;
Botterill, UM (delay of game), 18:31; Leahy, MU
(defay of game), 18:31.
Second period - 3. MU, Boyle 7 (Adams), 2:39; 4,
UM Madden 24 (Legg, Schock), 4:50 (pp); 5, UM
Morrison 24 (Luhning, Sloan), 7:55 (pp); 6. UM,
.Luhning 18 (Herr, Hilton, 13:10. Penalties - Adams,
MU (tripping). 3:03; Trooper, MU (hooking), 6:53.
Third period - no scoring. Penalties - Frescoln, UM
(holding), 1:00; Schutte, MU (slashing(, 6:33;
Luhning, UM (hooking), 13:08 (served by Crozier);
Luhring, UM (10-minute misconduct), 13:08; Botterill,
UM (roughing), 16:31; Muckalt, UM (roughing),
,16:31; Frescoln. UM (roughing), 16:31: Morrison, UM
(roughing).16:31: Chateau, MU (roughing). 16:31:
Chateau, MU (roughing), 16:31 (served by
Echternach); Smith, MU (roughing, 16:31; Bodnar,
MU (roughing), 16:31; Brindley, MU (roughing),
16:31; Boyle, MU (cross-checking), 17:45: Legg, UM
(tripping). 19:18.
Powerplays - MU.0 of 4: UM, 3 of 7.
Shots on goal - MU. 4-11-4-19; UM. 16-20-14-50.
Goalie saves - MU, King 14-2-x-16; MU, Prior x-15-
14-29; UM, Turco 4-10.4-18.
Referee Steve Piotrowski.
.Linesmen - John LaDuke, Dave Kronenberg.
Attendance: 4,684. At: Yost Ice Arena.
Saur ys.
Miami 0 0 0-0' .r.,
Michigan 1 2 0-3
First period - 1. UM, Botteril 30 (Muckalt,
Morrison), 13:09. Penalties - Robitaille, MU (delay of
game). 3:56; Muckalt, UM (elbowing), 16:01.
Second-period - 2, UM, Morrison 25 (Muckalt,
Botterill), 0:46: 3, UM. Morrison 26 (Herr, Turco).
9:38 (four-on-four). Penalties L- Frescoln, UM,
(interference), 3:39; Leahy, MU (roughing), 4:55;
Schock. UM (roughing), 8:22; Copeland, MU (high-
sticking), 8:22: Robitaille, MU (holding), 10:51;
Rohloff, MU (roughing). 12:07); Botterill, UM
(roughing), 12:07; Crazier, UM (roughing). 13:59:
Brindley, MU (hooking), 13:59; Schock, UM
(charging), 15:33; Echternach, MU (interference),
18:37.
Third period - no scoring. Penalties - Bodnar, MU
(roughing), 3:59; Crazier, UIM (roughing), 3:59; Smith,
MU (cross-checking).8:01. Botterill, UM Igame-
-misconduct), 9:46; Leahy, MU (holding) 18:42;
Schock, UM (holding), 18:42: Frescoln, UM
(roughing), 19:54; Muckalt, UM (roughing), 19:54;
Boyle, MU (roughing), 19:54; Robitaille, MU
(roughing), 19:54..
.Power plays - MU, 0oaf 3: UM, 00)f5.
Shots on goal - MU 118-9-28; UM 5-147-26.
Goalie saves - MU, Deschambeault 4-12-7-23; UM,
Turco 11-89-28.
Referee - Roger Graff.
Linesmen - John Pearson, Larry Luich.
Attendance: 5,647. At: Yost Ice Arena.
Mon
after,
By Daniello Runwo
Daily Sports Writer
For the past fe
Morrison has been li
ing to explode.
And he chose th
against Miami (Ohi
The junior cente
hockey team has b
wrist injury he suf
period of the 6-5 V
Bowling Green Jan
He hasbeen in a c
may account for th
been producing the
the incident.-
Morrison had tal
the injury. Althougl
games against Ohio
rest his wrist, he ha(
to his old-form.
"It all starts with
c o n fi den ce,"
Morrison said. "It
took a while to ad-
just (tothe cast) and
I wasn'tputtingthe
puck in the net.
Thatreallyhurtmy
confidence."
Following the
injury, Morrison
racked up six as-
sists in the eight
games in which he
played, but only not
that eight-game spa
But this weeken
series of the season,
of the CCHA play
finally exploded, rett
He notched two g
both the 5-1 victory
3-0 shutout Saturday
named the first star
and the second starc
for his efforts.
ison shines
p AThe playoffs are a time to play,"
Morrison said. "I play my best hockey.
w weeks, Brendan It's a boost for me and my team."
ke a time bomb wait- Morrison put Michigan up 1-0 in game
one with a feed from Bill Muckalt. Muckalt
is weekend's series raced down the right side, pulling Miami
o) to make a big bang. goalie Eustace King out of the crease.
er on the Michigan Muckalt passed to Morrison waiting in
leen hampered by a front of the goal for the easy score.
ffered in the second His second goal in the second stanza of
Wolverine victory at game was textbook perfect. Despite be-
.27. ing sandwiched by two Miami defenders,
ast ever since, which Morrison grabbed a feed from Matt Herr
e reason he had not and fired a backhand shot past Redskin
way he was prior to goalie Kevin Deschambeault.
"Brendan, for sure, had a good week-
lied 19 goals before end," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
h he only missed two "He had the best weekend he has had in
State on Feb. 2-3 to the last month. We need that from him."
d problems returning And they need it now more than ever.
The weekend sweep propelled the
Wolverines into the CCHA semifinal
round next Friday at The Joe Louis Arena
- . where they will face Michigan State. If
Michigan can get pass the Spartans and
then overcome its opponent in the CCHA
finals Saturday, the Wolverines will own
the conference tournamnt crown for the
° first time since 1994.
The NCAA Tournament follows the
playoffs. Michigan knows that it needs
Morrison to remain in top form to capture
its first championship since 1964.
Morrison "I'm feeling more confident now,"
Morrison said. "Hopefully I can keep
ched three goals over going. Things are starting to go in the
n. right direction now."
d, in the last home This was not Morrison's first injury of
and in the first round the season. He missed the first six games
offs, the time bomb after suffering from a knee sprain. Yet
umingto his oldform. when he returned to action against, ironi-
goals and an assist in cally enough, Miami (Ohio) Nov. 10, he
Friday night and the looked like he never missed a beat. He
y night. Morrison was notched three assists in the losing effort
of the game Friday but from that game on, emerged as one of
of the game Saturday the leaders of the Wolverine squad and as
a leading Hobey Baker Award candidate.
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Kevin Hilton (left) was selected to the All-CCHA First Team along with teammate Brendan Morrison.
IM'Pair named to Ali-CCHA teamA
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Writer
Brendan Morrison obviously proved
to the coaches of the CCHA that he can
make a superstar impact in less than a full
season.
Despite missing the first month of the
campaign with a knee injury and two
more games in early February, Morrison
was the only unanimous selection to the
All-CCHA first team.
This is a repeat performance for
Morrison who also received First-Team
honors last year as a sophomore.
"It's nice to be recognized by the
coaches and the league," Morrison said of
his selection. "But you don't get recog-
nized unless you're playing on a good
team with great teammates."
Joining Morrison on the first team are
teammate Kevin Hilton, forward Sean
Tallaire and defenseman Keith Aldridge
of Lake Superior, defenseman Andy
Roach of Ferris State, and Western
Michigan's freshman goaltender Marc
Magliarditi.
Wolverines among second-teamers are
defensman Steven Halko and left wing
Jason Botterill.
Botterill was also named First Team
CCHA All-Academic becoming the first
Michigan player to receive such recogni-
tion since Frank Downing was honored
after the 1985-86 season.
This is the second straight season Halko
has garnered second-team honors.
For some Michigan fans, two glaring
omissions from either of the two teams
may be goaltender Marty Turco and for-
ward John Madden.
Last season, Turco was an honorable
mention selection, but it wasn't the case
this year despite his league-leading
wins and 2.29 goals-against-average.
Madden was tied for third in the leagtie
in overall scoring with 51 points and his
eight shorthanded goals were tops in the
nation. However, he did garner an honor-
able mention.
Neither were unavailable for comment
when the teams were released yesterday
evening.. x
Also receiving honorable mention s
Michigan defenseman Blake Sloan V
Blue ends
By John iol
Daily Sports Editor
The Wolverines ended the 1995
CCHA regular season with almost ev
thing they wanted.
Two big wins over Michigan State a
Bowling Green earned Michigan a fi
place tie with Lake Superior State in
conference standings with a22-6-2 lea
record.
Unfortunately for Michigan, the L
ers grabbed the No. I seed in the con
ence tournament as a result of a be
head-to-head record.
The Wolverines spoiled Michi
State's final weekend of the season,t
ending the then-first-place Spartans,.
The win opened the door for both Mic
gan and Lake State to replace Michi
State atop the league standings.
regular season tied
The Wolverineswent on the beat Bowl- the Wolverinesr
ing Green Saturday night, 7-5, to pull into goaltender Chad,
-96 a tie with the Lakers. Albanplayede
cry- "It's good to end the season like this," ing 27 saves. Tw
Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "You were virtually im
and hope to win the title outright, but we got third came as hew
rst- swept (three weeks ago) by (the Lakers). extra attacker -
the "You've got to remember, we've had John Madden
gue the toughest schedule of anybody in the Muckalt netted g
league. We were at lake Superiortwice, at The Wolverine
.ak- Bowling Green twice and at Western going to roll over
fer- (Michigan) twice." fashion, holding
tter Wolverine center Kevin Hilton fin- the third period. B
ished the season as the CCHA scoring three times in th
gan leader with50 points. Teammate Brendan within two goals
up- Morrison, last year's national scoring Michigan'spo
3-0. leader, was two points behind. of its six attempts
chi- Michigan played its best defensive Muckalt and Jasc
gan game of the year against the Spartans, a man advantag
allowingjust 13 shots on net. Meanwhile, Bobby Hayes ad
for 1st
rattled Michigan State
Alban with 30 shots.
xceptionally well--mak-
xo of Michigan's scores
possible to stop and the
was leaving the ice for an
making 27 saves.
, Mike Legg and Bill
goals for Michigan.
es looked like they were
the Falcons in the same
a comfortable 7-2 lead in
ut Bowling Green scored
he final period to draw
s.
wer play converted three
s, with Warren Luhning,
on Botterill scoring with
e. Morrison, Legg and
ded goals for Michigan.
ICERS
Continued from Page1lB
Miami endured plenty of humiliation,
however, the night before. Even though
Turco surrendered a goal, the Michigan
defense played exceptionally well, al-
lowing just 19 shots on net, including four
each in the first and third periods.
The offense was clicking as wellblast-
ing Redskin netminders Eustace King
and Trevor Prior with 50 shots-the fifth
time the Wolverines have fired 50 or
more shots on goal this year.
The Wolverines' power play looked
back up to their lofty standards, connect-
ing on 3-of-7 opportunities. Michigan
enjoyed good puck movement all night
and didn't have too much trouble break-
ing down Miami's forechecking trap,
which it abandoned Saturday.
"We're so young," Miami coach Mark
Mazzoleni said with more than a hint of
frustration. "But, we played as hard as we
could ...I'l1 pick Michigan to win the
CCHA Tournament. After that, I don't
know (how far the Wolverines will go)."
Jason Botterill gave the Wolverines a
1-0 lead in the first period on Friday off a
Bill Muckalt rebound. Brendan Morrison
scored 46 seconds into the second to give
Michigan a two-goal cushion and tallied
his second of the night nine minutes lar
Morrison, who notched six points on
the weekend opened up the scoring Satur-
day night, backhanding a beautiful fross-
ice pass from Muckalt past a sprawling
King. Sloan added a powerplay goal later
in the first for a 2-0 Michigan lead.
Miami defenseman Dan Boyle stuffed
in a rebound to cut the lead to one three
minutes into the second, but power play
goals from John Madden and Morris
put Michigan up, 4-1. Warren Lum ,
added his 18th goal of the season to close
out the scoring.
What: CCHA semifinals
Who: Michigan State
Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
When: Friday, TBA
Ina CCHA regular season standings
Spartans, Lakers advance; Bowling Green upends Western
,.:: _ _ .
EAST LANSING (AP) - Steve
clutched the victory with a goal with 29
The Lakers (28-6-2), who won 4-3 in
BOWLING GREEN 3, WESTERN MICHi- I