The Grand Finale
The NCAA Hockey Championship final game,
featuring the hot Michigan Wolverines and the
season-long No. 1 Colorado College Tigers, will
commence at 1 p.m. tomorrow. The game will
be televised on ESPN.
Friday
March 29, 1996
11
- 1996 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS -
and ten
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oach or a Out of-
er, tomor- Bounds
ow afternoon
gainst Colo-
ado College. The Wolverines
aven't made it to the championship
,cund since 1977 - and it is their
{eferse that got them back.
Michigan played so well in the
irst 10 minutes of the game - it
utshot the typically offensive
erriers 18-1 - and had a two-goal
djust five minutes into the game.
I almost bought a plane ticket
ack to Colorado Springs," said
olorado College coach Don Lucia,
vho will have to find some way to
olve the nation's stingiest defense
f he wants to fly home crowned
ICAA champion.
"They looked like the 1985
dmonton Oilers out there for the
irst 10 minutes. I don't know how
°re going to beat them."
ven the fans and media were
urprrised at how easily the Wolver-
neslhanded Boston just its seventh
oss in 40 games. The game was
asiy more lopsided than the score
ndicates.
Shutouts are so rare in the NCAA
ournament that there have only
yeen seven in the 48-year history of
he semifinals and finals before last
iight. The last semifinal whitewash
over a decade ago when
isconsin took down unranked
irovidence, 2-0, in the 1983 semis.
And Boston University isn't a
eam accustomed to being kept off
he scoreboard. The Terriers have
never been shut out in NCAA
tournament action. The last time
they failed to score a goal was 91
games ago, when they tied Maine,
0-0, Feb. 19, 1994.
Michigan did what only one other
team has done this season - hold
the explosive Terriers to under three
goals.
"Since the opening faceoff, they
just blew us out of the building,"
Boston University coach Jack
Parker said. "As I was watching this
game unfold, I realized that this
Michigan team was as hungry, as
well-skilled and as well prepared as
any team I've seen play this game.
"It seemed like everything they
did, they did it to perfection. In the
first 10 minutes, this game was a
total mismatch."
Give most of the credit to
Michigan's defensive veterans,
Steven Halko, Harold Schock and
Blake Sloan. But every Wolverine
played well defensively. There was
not one odd-man rush, no give-
aways in their own zone. Michigan
held Boston's power play unit to
just two shots on goal in eight
minutes. When everything was said
and done, the Wolverines had
outshot the Terriers 27-17 and
outhustled them by an immeasur-
able amount.
And then there was Marty Turco.
The sophomore netminder made
17 saves, a modest amount, but
came up big when called upon. He
stopped Hockey East Player of the
Year Jay Pandolfo on the doorstep
- a goal that would have cut
Michigan's lead in half.
"Turco stood on his head a few
times," Berenson said. "The best
part about our defense tonight is
that BU is a much better hockey
team than we allowed them to be."
At the post-game press confer-
ence, Turco didn't even break a
smile. He said he couldn't unless
the Wolverines come away with a
win - and a championship -
tomorrow.
If they play the kind of hockey
they did yesterday, he may very
well get his wish.
- John Leroi can be reached over
e-mail at jrleroi@umich.edu.
WALKER VANDYKE/Daily
Michigan netminder Marty Turco makes one of his 17 saves last night as the Wolverines shut out Boston University, 4-0. The win puts Michigan in tomorrow's NCAA
final game against Colorado College - but the Wolverines' semifinal win almost was postponed by a burst pipe under the rink.
HOCKEY
Continued from Page 1
the ice floor. The ice crew, which was clearing out
the holes used to house the goal moorings, acciden-
tally drilled into the pipe.
The leaky pipe led to a shutdown of the cooling
system, causing puddles to form on the ice. While
progress was being made on the situation, NCAA offi-
cials were close to postponing the game until today.
Even after the pipe was repaired, the area around
the net was still a little soft, causing officials to
spilt the first period in half with each team defend-
ing the "bad net" for 1 minutes.
"The hour and a half delay was something that no
one expected when we left the hotel," Berenson
said. "And for the players to not know if we were
going to play, because they were considering play-
ing the game the next day, I think takes the edge off
your mental preparation.
"I was pleased to see that our team seemed to be
sharp at the start of the game."
Bill Muckalt continued his hot postseason with
the Wolverines second power-play tally at the 5:37
mark of the second period. Muckalt took a feed in
the high slot from Jason Botterill and poked it past
Noble for his 27th of the season.
Crozier iced the win for Michigan with a blister-
ing slapshot from the top of the left circle 4:25 into
the third period.
The Wolverines face perhaps their most formi-
dable opponents tomorrow in Colorado College.
The top-ranked Tigers (33-4-4) advanced to the
title game by way of a thrilling 4-3 double-over-
time victory over Vermont. Right wing Chad
Remackel scored the game;winner on a fluke goal
that bounced off Catamount goaltender Tim Tho-
mas' leg with just 29 seconds remaining in the
second extra session.
gfor the pilayers to
not know if we were
going to play ... I think
takes the edge off your
mental preparation."
- Red Berenson
Michgan hockey coach
Tickets are still available for tomorrow's game
and can be purchased by calling Select-A-Seat at
(800)-232-9900. By ordering with a credit card,
this service will hold tickets at the will call window
of Riverfront Coliseum and can be picked up to-
morrow morning. The game will be televised on
ESPN.
Tide defense in doubt for Wolverines after 5th-place start
y Susan Dann
nd Doug Stevens
Daily Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - The first Wolver-
ine to receive an award at the opening day
afthe NCAA Men's Swimming and Div-
ing Championships hardly broke a sweat,
other than fromthe humidity in the Jamail
Texas Swimming Center. In fact, he didn't
even get in the pool.
ichigan coach Jon Urbanchek was
ored before the meet's first race
with the Baton of Victory award for his
strength in guiding the Wolverines to
the 1995 title. The award is given to the
previous year's championship coach.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, this
:idn't count in the scoring totals. Any
points would have been appreciated by
Nichigan in its bid to repeat. After the
First day, the defending champions
nd themselves in fifth place with 97
ants, 73 behind front-runner Texas.
After the first event, the 200-yard
reestyle relay, Michigan wasn't even a
:ontender for the championships. The
Wolverines didn't qualify a team for
:he race.
But absence from the awards podium
Michigan's Tom
Dolan places first
in the preliminary
of the 500-yard
freestyle with a
time of 4:16.63.
Dolan later went
on to set a pool
record of 4:12.77
in defending his
1995 title in the
final.
weeks removed from a disappointing
U.S. trials meet in which he failed to
earn a trip to Atlanta, turned in a gritty,
third-place finish in his premier event.
Although a win in this event would
have undoubtedly proven that he had
rebounded from the trials, Lancaster
did show that he was mentally prepared
for this meet.
"I was a little disappointed with my
finish this evening," Lancaster said. "I
swam faster this morning (in the pre-
liminaries) and would have gotten sec-
ond tonight with that time. (Despite the
finish), the meet is turning out a lot
better than I thought it would (consider-
ing the trials and my shoulder injury)."
The team standings after the first
evening may not look as bright as
Lancaster's take on the meet.
Michigan lost ground to current leader
Texas in the 50 freestyle. The Long-
horns earned 40 points from three final-
ists, while no Wolverines competed in
the event.
Tennessee, Texas and Auburn fin-
ished one, two and three respectively in
the 400 medley relay, pushing Michi-
gan further out of the lead at the close of
the first day of the Championships.
Michigan 2 1. -
Boston U. 0 0 -0
First Period-1. UM, Morrison 27 (Hiltcn,Botterill),3:58
(pp). 2, UM, Crozier 13 (Luhning, Sloan) 4:38. Penalties
-Wood, BU (cross-checking) ,2:40; Hayes,UM (roughing)
13:45: Halko, UM (holding) 16:37.
Second Period - 3, UM, Muckalt 27 (Botterili), 5:31
(pp). Penalties - Roman, BU (holding), 4:51; Drury, B4U
(roughing), 7:22; Crozier, UM (elbowing),.7:22; Halko, UM
(slashing), 10:41: Hayes, UM (hooking), 16:07; Drury, BU
(slashing), 19:35.
Third Period - 4, UM, Crozier 14 (Luhning), 4:25.
Penalties - Bates, BU Icross-checking), 12:15: Sloan,
UM (interference, 12:15: Bates, BU (high-sticking),
17:30: Morrison, UM (high-sticking), 17:30.
Shots on goal - UM 18-6-3-27. BU 7-4-6-17.
Power plays - UM 2 of 3; BU Oof 4.
Goalie saves . UM, Turco 7-4-6-17. BU, Noble 16-5"
2-23.
Referee - Robin Anderson, John Seidel.
Linesmen -John Campion.
At: Riverfront Coliseum. A: 11,521.
ished one, two and five to quickly jump
to second after two events.
Tom Dolan set a pool record of
4:12.77, repeating his 1995 title. John
Piersma followed in second and Chris
Rumley finished fifth.
The Dolan-Piersma duo's appearance
on the podium had a hint of familiarity
- they placed one-two in the 400-meter
at the Olympic trials.
"For (John and me), we have a lot of
confidence in ourselves and what we
can do. 'Dolan said. "It's definitely
great that we were able to carry (our
to its top 200 individual medley swim-
mer to bring in more points.
Jason Lancaster, who was only three
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