HOCKEY The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 24, 1997 - =5B Gophers' time yet to come As Andy Knudsen Daily Sports Writer GRAND RAPIDS - For years, hockey coach Red Berenson and his "Our time will come." Michigan team said, And last year that time came. Now that motto might belong to Minnesota coach Doug Woog and the Gophers. . Since winning the national championship in 1979, Minnesota has reached the semifinals eight 'es and has been in the NCAA tournament 13 ears in a row. But in Woog's 12 successful seasons behind the bench, Minnesota has not managed to win the big prize. "I feel bad for Doug Woog,' Berenson said yes- terday, after Michigan ended the Gophers' season for the second year in a row. "He's done a great job at Minnesota. They were as good a team as we saw this year." Minnesota tied for the regular season WCHA itle, and lost to North Dakota in overtime in their nference championship. Ranked in the top four of most polls, the Gophers' No. 4 seed seemed questionable and left them the difficult task of dethroning Michigan to make the semis. "It's disappointing when two teams ranked in the top four do.not have a chance to go to the final four," Berenson said. Berenson brought a championship to Michigan in his 12th season as coach, but 13 could be oog's lucky number. Michigan' S The Gophers' roster is reminiscent of Michigan's 1995-96 championship team, which was dominated by underclassmen. Minnesota will lose only four seniors, none of whom played on the top two forward lines. "Our seniors were damn good role players," Woog said. "They accepted their roles, and they did a good job." The outgoing Gophers scored only 26 of their team's goals this season. Minnesota's four freshman skaters, on the other hand, scored 37. Dominating Minnesota's offensive production were the juniors and sophomores. Minnesota's five junior skaters tallied 53 goals, while the five sophomores scored 56. "We were a young team ... and we made good progress," Woog said. "We eliminated some of our problems as the season went along - as far as penalties and taking ourselves out of a game." Minnesota had to replace some of its key play- ers of a year ago, like Dan Trebil and Hobey Baker-winner Brian Bonin. But Woog liked the ascension of his younger skaters. "We needed some people to grow and to fill some spots," Woog said. "And that started to hap- pen." Two-time Hobey Baker finalist Mike Crowley will return next season to lead the Gophers' defense, as they -will lose only senior Brian LaFleur at the blue line. And back in goal will be Steve DeBus, if WARREN ZINN/Dafiy The Golden Gophers left Grand Rapids holding their heads in their hands after Michigan ended their sea- son for the second straight year. Michigan hasn't single-handedly sent him into therapy. DeBus has a career record of 40-19-1 with Minnesota but will live in infamy as the victim of Michigan center Mike Legg's lacrosse-style goal in last season's quarterfinals. Michigan captain Brendan Morrison scored in overtime past DeBus earlier this season in the College Hockey Showcase, and the Wolverines shelled him for seven goals yesterday. But the strength of Minnesota's returning play- ers makes them a likely candidate to be a presea- son favorite. And the time for Doug Woog and the Gophers to stand on the top of the college hockey world may finally come. talented tandem tears up opponents By Mark Snyder Daily Sports Writer GRAND RAPIDS - Some partners only need one name apiece. Bartyles and James. Torvill and Dean. Botts and Mo. And while the first two tandems are good on ice, they have nothing on Michigan's twosome. Against Minnesota yesterday, Michigan cap- tains Jason Botterill and Brendan Morrison staked the Wolverines to a quick lead, 33 seconds into the game, setting the tone for the 7-4 victory. On what has become a signature play for the Wolverines, one forward fed the other to give Michigan an early advantage -- the quickest goal ever in an NCAA regional game. The smooth connection while streaking down the ice was traditional except for one small detail - this time Botterill fed Morrison for the score. That's not to say that Botterill, Michigan's lead- ing goal-scorer, would be denied his usual scoring chances. Botterill, who at 6-foot-4, 217 pounds is one of the largest players in the college game, crashed the net late in the period hoping to bang home a rebound. He did, and Michigan went to the lockerroom with a three-goal advantage, a lead it would never relinquish. The play on which Botterill scored -- only 18 seconds before intermission - was initiated by Morrison. As teammates, the two have learned what to expect from four long seasons together. "The nine (seniors), we've realized from our freshman year when we played Lake (Superior) State that our toughest game could come anytime throughout this tournament," Botterill said. They made sure that didn't happen against Minnesota. Each had two goals and two assists on the night, insuring that their college careers would not end short of the next round. While Morrison and Botterill have been the heart and soul of Michigan all season long, their production has grown by leaps and bounds in the playoffs. In the five playoff games, beginning with Michigan's 8-1 thrashing of Alaska-Fairbanks on March 7, the two have combined for 29 points. Michigan only played one game this weekend, so Botts and Mo took the opportunity to collect some hardware. Both were honored with All-tour- nament selections for the West Regional, with Botterill being named most outstanding player. The uniqueness of the situation, aside from their outstanding talents on the ice, is their level heads off the playing surface. "I thought our line of Botterill, (Bill) Muckalt and Morrison was outstanding," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "And they proved why they came back this season. Obviously Botterill and Morrison in particular, and they're leading our team." The coach behind the other bench would prob- ably rather the duo had made the jump to the pros. "Morrison made a nice goal, the first goal, so he gets stuck in your mind," Minnesota coach Doug Woog said. Woog is not alone in having Morrison etched his memory. Many coaches have been burned by the Hobey Baker finalist, as evidenced by his mountain of Michigan records. Morrison once again etched himself into the Michigan record books yesterday, setting a mark for assists in a season. The 57th, one more than Dave Debol recorded in 1976-77, came, fittingly enough, on a feed to Botterill. Later in the game, Morrison would join his teammate in the 100-goal club at Michigan, an exclusive enough ' distinction that the two Michigan seniors are joined by only seven others in Michigan history. The pairing may appear odd, with Morrison standing 5-foot-1I and only 182 pounds (lost in the shadow of Botterill), but the friendship trans- lates off the ice as well. The two live together in a house with a few other Michigan seniors, so practice is not much different than dinner for these two. Another famous roommate tandem of televi- sion fame - Laverne and Shirley -- was also inseparable. Now Botterill and Morrison will get the opportunity to demonstrate their work to the nation from the girls' hometown. Morrison and Botterill - meet Milwaukee. WARREN ZINN/Daily Jason Botterill scored two goals on Minnesota goalie Steve DeBus en route to a four-point game. O2PH ERS nt e from Page LB Muckalt and Chris Frescoln. Just 34 seconds later, Warren Luhning's pass found an unattended Matt Herr at the'Minnesota blue line. Herr walked in and flicked it over DeBus' shoulder to make the score 5-0, and the Gophers found themselves in quite a hole. Not all went perfectly for Michigan, *vwever. Turco lost his chance at a shutout about four minutes after Herr scored when he gave up a soft goal to Minnesota's Erik Rasmussen. Rasmussen slid the puck weakly toward the side of the goal, and Turco didn't even move for it as the puck banked off' the post and into the net. But with under 1i minutes to play in the period, Greg Crozier scored for the Wolverines to re-establish the five-goal ad and make the score 6-1. Still, the Gophers refused to com- pletely roll over, and some careless mis- cues by the Wolverines helped Minnesota narrow the gap and make the score look respectable. Rasmussen scored his second goal of the night on the power play to cut the lead to 6-2 with 8:02 remaining in the second period. Rasmussen, who scored a hat trick against Michigan in ovember during the College Hockey howcase, has scored five of his 15 goals this season against the Wolverines. With 5:50 left to play in the period, Minnesota's Casey Hankinson tipped in a shot from the point, making the score 6-3. Q-+ .ait ,.,S lof in th c-a Terriers advance to set up semifinal rematch with M'; CC also through WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Chris Drury's overtime goal gave Boston University a 4-3 victory over Denver on Saturday night, securing the Terriers' fourth consecutive NCAA semifinals appearance and seventh in the last eight seasons. Drury put the rebound off a Chris Kelleher shot from inside the left point past the East Region's Most Valuable Player, Denver's Jim Mullin, 12:20 into overtime. The second-seeded Terriers (25-8- 6) appeared to have the game won in regulation when Shawn Bates beat Mullin on a breakaway with 3:19 left in the third period for a shorthanded score. But Denver's Erik Andersson forced overtime when he brat Michel Larocque from the slot with just 53 second left in regulation. NORTH DAKOTA 6, CORNELL 2 A third-period timeout to make sure his players knew what they were doing to protect a one-goal lead turned out even better than North Dakota coach Dean Blais had hoped. Shortly after the timeout, North Dakota's Jesse Bull and Brad DeFauw broke open a close game with goals midway through the third. n.art-and ',Jn urfhA-ea nt n College in a semifinal game Thursday in Milwaukee. "Their timeout (at 8:12 of the third) was the turning point in the game because they picked up the tempo right away," said Cornell coach Mike Schafer. North Dakota led, NATIONAL 3-2, after two peri- ods, but Cornell ROUNDUP (21-9-5) had a cou- ple of good scoring chances in the last three minutes of the second period. Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Schweitzer stopped Vinnie Auger on a breakaway and turned back Ryan Moynihan's rebound attempt in the final seconds, Bull knocked Mark Pivetz' rebound past Big Red goalie Jason Elliott at 9:21 of the third period to give the Fighting Sioux a 4-2 lead. DeFauw gave North Dakota a three- goal advantage at 13:49 with a wrist shot from the slot area. "Once we got the fourth goal, I felt it took the wind out of their sails," said North Dakota captain Dane Litke. "And when we got the fifth I think we all sensed the kill." Matt Henderson completed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 5 I eft.n jp Tony Bergin deflected Jeff Burgoyne's shot from the point past Schweitzer. North Dakota's Curtis Murphy scored on a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle at 1:11 of the second period, but Cornell's Matt Cooney scored on a deflection dur- ing a power play at 3:52. COLORADO COLLEGE 5, CLARKSON 4 Darren Clark's goal early in the third period made the difference as. Colorado College held off No. 1 Clarkson in a 5-4 victory in an NCA A tournament quarterfinal Saturday in Worcester, Mass. The Tigers (25-14-4) took a 4-0 first-period lead on goals from four players. Clarkson (27-10) got on the board with 7:52 left in the second period when Jean-Francois Houle beat goaltender Judd Lambert, who improved his postseason mark to 11- I with the win. T.J. Tanberg, Brian Swanson and Calvin Efring scored for the fifth- seeded Tigers in a three-minute span midway through the first period. Stewart Bodtker added -a goal with 1:27 remaining in the period to, break the game open. Clark's wrist shot from the left BERENSON Continued from Page 1.8 Minnesota held the Wolverines at bay for most of the rest of the first period. But just when it looked like the Gophers would escape the period down by only one, there was Michigan forward Bill Muckalt on a breakaway with 1:19 left. He scored to make it 2-0, and then linemate Jason Botterill scored with 17.4 remaining. Just like that, it was 3-0, and the party was on in Van Andel Arena. No more than 57 seconds into the sec- ond period it was 5-0. And if you are a Michigan fan, you were probably just kicking yourself for having stressed about this one. This was no mistake. The Wolverines weren't pounding the Gophers by accident last night. They were ready for this one, thanks in no small part to coach Red Berenson. This was the sixth consecutive season the Wolverines had earned a first-round bye in the NCAA tourna- ment. And every time, the .Wolverines had come out a step behind. Although they had won four out of their last five regional appearances coming into the game, the Wolverines trailed in most of them, and all were decided by only one goal. As beneficial as the bye may seem in theory, the down time can be nerve-wracking. "The worst part is waiting to play," ivmicnigan r, mineusa Minnesota 0 3 1-4 Michigan 3 4 0-7 First period -1. UM, Morrison 29 (Botterill), 0:33; 2. UM. Muckalt 26 (Botterill,) 18:41; 3. UM, Botterill 36 (Luhning, Morrison), 19:42 pp. Penalties - UM, Merrick (checking from behind), 2:58; UM,.Sloan (checking from behind), 3:28; MN, Kohn (holding). 9:30; UM, rescoin (interference), 16:18: MN. Rasmussen (high-sticking), 18:57. Second period - 4. UM, Botterill 37, (Muckait, Morrison), 0:23: 5. UM, Herr 29 (Luhning, Turco), 0:57: 1. MN, Rasmussen 14 (unassisted), 5:31: 6. UM. Crozier 5 (Peach, Hayes). 9:07: 2, MN, Rasmussen 15 (unassisted). 10:58 pp; 3. MN, Hankinson 17 (Berg, Crowley), 14:10 pp:7. UM. Morrison 30 (Sloan), 17;35 (4-on-4). Penalties MN, Hendrickson (slashing), 1:31; UM, Crozier (hih- stocking), 4:54: MN, Berg (holdhing), 5:15; MN, Clymer (slashing), 6:17; UM, Legg (holding),10:55; UM, rescoln(interference). 13:27: MN. Hankinson (hitting after whistle), 16:44: UM, Peach (hitting after whistle), 16:44: UM, Madden (10-min.misconduct), 17:35: MN. Smith (roughing), 18:01. Third period- 4. MN, Spehar 20, (Hankinson, Abrahamson), 0:54. Penalties - UM, Sloan (interference),.2:22; MN, Hankinson (tripping), 3:41; UM, Peach thigh-sticking), 8:36: UM, Rominski (slashing). 9:15; MN, Abrahamson (slashing), 19:56. Shots on goal - MN 10-105 - 25, UM 14-186 38. Power Plays - MN, 2 of 9: UM, 1 of 8. Saves - MN, DeBus 11-14-6 - 31, UM, Turco 10-7-4 - 21. Referee - Tim Benedetto. Linesmen - Brian Sullivan, John Jones. A~t: Van Andel Arena. A: 8,926. you want to be the No. I, seed, Berenson said. "We got that, now you got to make the next step."'Bt te m ch bly oe But the much ballyhooed Michigan teams of recent history had not been able to make that step with ease. "All the hoopla around the team can be a negative distraction" Berenson said. "First couple years, we went into these tournaments and we thought we were better than everyone. And we were, but we did- n't prove it." To keep his team on an even keel may have been a more difficult a task this season than in the past. There's no way this team could lose, no matter what it did, at least that's what everyone said about a Michigan team that set the school record for victories in a season yes- terday night. But Berenson wasn't about to let his players believe that, even if it is true. "I don't want you listening to all the fans and everyone around saying, 'Oh you're gonna do this, and you're gonna do that,'" Berenson empha- sized to his.: team last week. "Because all that is lip service, and that doesn't get the job done on the ice." The Wolverines did a stand-up job this time. And much of the credit has to go to Berenson. He has guided this team perfectly. Not once all sea- son has he allowed his players to look past anything. One game at a time - it's a cliche and Berensop works it to a tee.