The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 5, 1999 - 3B
*Maine wins
title in OT
thriller, 3-2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Two Hockey East
rivaIs who split their four regular-season meetings
a plaed on even terms again Saturday night for the
NCAA Championship.
It took 10:50 of overtime to decide it, when
Marcus Gustafsson knocked in a rebound of his
own shot to give Maine a 3-2 victory over New
Hampshire for the Black Bears' second national
hockey title.
The victory was a redemption of sorts for
Maine, which lost 6-1 and 4-1 in the final two reg-
Ok lar-season games against New Hampshire to fin-
ish second behind the Wildcats, three points back,
in the Hockey standings.
"The first national championship was for the
ste of Maine; this one is for our players," Maine
coach Shawn Walsh said. "They learned values
Jbey'll use for the rest of their lives."
"Obviously I am real disappointed, but I have to
congratulate Maine," New Hampshire coach Dick
Umile said. "These were two good teams that
*deserved to be here.
.,"We will remember this night for a long time
and hopefully build on from here."
The Bears won the rubber game, which just hap-
pened to have the national title as the prize, by
refusing to wilt after squandering a two-goal lead.
Maine goaltender Alfie Michaud, named the
Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player, kept his
team in the game with 46 saves, and the Bears
seemed to be wearing down New Hampshire in the
oyertime.
Although outshot 48-39 for the game, Maine
@oent on the attack in overtime, getting off nine
shots to New Hampshire's five.
Goalie Ty Conklin made a string of spectacular
saves in the extra period before Gustafsson wrist-
ed the puck past him, triggering a celebration by
Maine's players.
"Cory Larose got the puck on the half-boards
and he centered it, Gustafsson said of the winning
sequence. "I was shooting down the center, going
for the net. I shot right away, the rebound came out
and I put it in the net."
Conklin, who had 36 saves, broke his stick over
tbe goal pipe in disgust for allowing the deciding
goal.
,. "Both of them are terrific goalies," Walsh said.
"I told Ty after the game that he'd be back in a
game like this. Both guys got help from the, but
their positions Were great.
"Alfie was smooth again. He saw the puck very
well."
.Maine was banned from the NCAA Tournament
in 1996 and 1997 for violating NCAA recruiting
and other rules. The Black Bears won the national
championship and lost in the title game to Boston
University in 1995.
Walsh called this season "a wonderful journey,"
JIM
ROSE
Rose Beef
Goss fixes a wrong
with two rights
AP PHOTO
Maine won its second national championship of the decade Saturday night. The Black Bears defeated Hockey
East rival New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime on Marcus Gustafsson's goal.
adding, "Our seniors have had faith, loyalty, fra-
ternity and commitment."
The 1993 champions were led by Paul Kariya,
who now plays for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
on the same ice where the Frozen Four was held
this year. The 1999 champions were led by his
brother, Steve..
"It's just an unbelievable feeling," Steve Kariya
said after following in his brother's footsteps by
winning the NCAA title at Maine.
Three of the last four title games ended 3-2 in
overtime. In two of those, Michigan has won the
national title. Half of the last 12 championships
have been decided in OT.
New Hampshire's Mike Souza drew the Wildcats
even 3:33 into the third.
Freshman Darren Haydar stole the puck, skated
behind the Maine goal, then zipped a pass across
to Jason Krog. Krog fired to Souza, who beat
Michaud at point-blank range.
Michaud kept New Hampshire frustrated for
most of the first two as the Black Bears built their
lead. But Haydar brought the Wildcats to life with
a shorthanded goal with 4:02 remaining in the sec-
ond period.
Haydar skated out of the penalty box, took a
long pass from Souza and, alone some 20 feet
behind the defense, skated in on Michaud and beat
him to the glove side.
Souza's goal was his 23rd, fourth of the NCAA
tournament, and Haydar's was his 31st.
Maine appeared to take a commanding 3-0 lead
when Dan Kerluke sailed a shot past Conklin at
13:18 of the second period. But officials disal-
lowed the goal after reviewing the play, ruling that
the Black Bears' Jason Vitorino was in the crease.
Three minutes later, Haydar scored and New
Hampshire suddenly was back in the game.
Niko Dimitrakos, a freshman who had a goal
and an assist in Maine's 2-1 overtime victory over
Boston College in the semifinals, gave the Bears a
2-0 advantage early in the second period of the
championship game.
Dimitrakos slammed a shot from the slot into
the right corner of the net for his eighth goal.
Maine's Ben Guite opened the scoring on a
power play when he poked in a rebound 15:47 into
the game.
Conklin blocked Vitorino's slap shot from the
top of the circle and the puck wobbled outside the
crease, where Guite, being dragged down by
defenseman Jayme Filipowicz, got his stick on the
puck and slid it past the sprawling goalie.
New Hampshire lost 4-0 to eventual champion
Michigan in last year's semifinals, but beat
Michigan State 5-3 to make it to the final this time.
And this week's big winner is:
the Michigan Athletic
Department!
In recent days, a pair of
announcements cast Tom Goss'
department in a favorable public
light. First, a pair of sports -
women's water polo and men's soc-
cer - were elevated to varsity sta-
tus. And then, just days later, foot-
ball ticket prices were, ahem, "low-
ered." (This "reduction" in ticket
prices, of course, came on the heels
of a rather steep increase, but a pub-
lic uproar led to the rollback.)
But let's avoid being overly cyni-
cal. The fact is, two good things
happened within the Athletic
Department.
The addition of men's soccer to
the varsity group is long,
long overdue. Steve
Burns' club team owns a Thie A
pair of national champi- Depa
onships, which is evi-w
dence of the type of tal-
ent Michigan can attract. gee
Granted, the jump to var- embO)
sity will result in a vastly by nOft
different program - a Vt
maybe even an entirely meen's
different program - but pros
nonetheless, the
Wolverines can be ------
expected to compete nationally.
There's no reason to think they
won't be among the nation's elite
teams within a few years.
The addition of women's water
polo is also a blessing to the Athletic
Department, because it brings the
University a bit closer to compliance
with the dreaded Title IX. Water
polo essentially "beat out" women's
teams in lacrosse and ice hockey to
get the nod, though one - or both,
- of those could actually be the
next to get bumped to varsity.
In truth, the water polo team is the
beneficiary of the University's delin-
quency with men's soccer. Had soc-
cer already been a varsity sport,
there would probably be little or no
chance of varsity status for women's
water polo. That is not - I repeat,
not - to say that the team is unde-
serving of varsity status. Most of us
are aware, by now, of the time and
dedication it takes to become a top-
notch club program. (In fact, if
you've gotten this far, you're proba-
bly used to reading about it in this
very space.)
But in all honesty, it's pretty sim-
ple: The Athletic Department was
finally getting embarrassed by not
having a varsity men's soccer pro-
gram. But in order to add soccer, a
women's sport had to be added, too.
And according to the University's
Board in Control of Intercollegiate
Id~
rrtj
fir
I/71
f
'S
Athletics, water polo was the best
option.
All of this is extremely interesting
when considered in light of the
recent fluctuation in football ticket
prices. Originally bumped from $27
to $35, speculation held that the
increase was intended to offset the*
cost of those fancy, new, advertis-
ing-free scoreboards in Michigan
Stadium. (Of course, that was only-
speculation - but considering the
failure of the short-lived "Pay to
Watch the Away Football Games at
Crisler" program, it seems like pret-
ty logical speculation.)
Whatever the reason, after an
examination of "budgetary adjust-
ments" (their words), the Athletic
Department now says this: "our val-
ued fans felt under-
mined by having a large
hetc increase at one time."
Ment (No word yet on
whether those valued
fans feel undermined by
ng the sneaky "at one time"
'assed phrase in there, but oh
raving well.) Still, my personal
sity favorite is the headline
iOccer at the top of the Athletic
'0M. Department's Web site:
"Michigan Reduces
---- Ticket Prices." Hmmm.
So somehow, the Athletic
Department managed to simultane-
ously 1) lower football ticket prices
to accommodate their valued fans,
and 2) raise football ticket prices to
add two new varsity sports. That's
pretty clever - opportunistic, if
nothing else.
Admittedly, it's fun to smirk at the
Athletic Department's tactics, and
those cleverly worded press releas-
es/Web page stories certainly give -
rise to a chuckle here and there. But
in truth, Tom Goss and his depart-
ment deserve to be commended. The
bottom line is entirely good: Men's
soccer will become a varsity sport,
and the outcry of the football fans
was acknowledged.
It's easy to pick on groups like
Michigan's Athletic Department
when every one of their decisions is
made on behalf of thousands of peo-
ple, with millions of dollars hanging
in the balance. Nothing is easy.
When they screw up, they deserve to
hear about it. But when they get it
right - as they did last week -
they deserve to be commended. So,
to Tom Goss and his department:
Good job. Keep up the good work.
Now, if we can only get enough
people to complain about that
hideous halo around the football sta-
dium ...
- Jim Rose can be reached via e-
mail at jwrose@umich.edu.
New Hampshire's
.Krog wins Hobey
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jason
Krog had two goals and an assist to send
New Hampshire to its first NCAA
championship game. Although the
Wildcats didn't win that, some 12 hours
later, the school had another first when
Krog won the 1999 Hobey Baker Award,
given to college hockey's best player.
Krog, the nation's scoring leader this
\year, was presented with the award
Friday at a ceremony that seemed like a
New Hampshire pep rally.
- The ceremony was held at the team
hoi'l for the NCAA Frozen Four, and the
crowd packing the ballroom included
Kreg's teammates and coaches, many of
his relatives and a group of cheering
Wildcats fans.
aI thank my teammates for making
the year so successful and enjoyable,'
Krog, a senior center said. "I feel this
award is just as much theirs as mine."
_ie invited his teammates onto the
pidium, and some helped him hold the
trophy.
What he's accomplished is not by
accident," coach Richard Umile said.
"He has led our team by example. He
doesn't talk a lot, he just does it."
krog was a unanimous selection for
the Hockey East player of the year, lead-
ing the Wildcats to the conference title.
Ie ranked in the top 10 percent of his
academic class with a 3.67 grade-point
average last semester. He was a finalist
for college hockey's Humanitarian
Award.
"On the ice or in the classroom, every-
body looks up to Jason. He's respected
as a hard worker in everything he does,"
Umile said. "For me, it's been a special
honor to coach Jason Krog and spend
four years with him."
Krog had 85 points on 34 goals and 51
assists.
Krog notched one assist in the nation-
al championship game on Saturday, a 3-
2 overtime loss to Maine, and added a
pair of goals and an assist in Thursday
night's 5-3 semifinal victory over
Michigan State. The Wildcats made it to
the semis last year, but were eliminated
4-0 by eventual champion Michigan.
There were 10 finalists for this year's
Hobey Baker Award. Michigan State
center Mike York was the runner-up, but
no other spots were announced.
New Hamphire
center Jason
Krog (left), the
nation's leading
scorer was
named the 1999
Hobey Baker
award winner on
Friday.
AP PHOTO
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Monday, April 5 : 6 pm : Hale Auditorium
U of M Business School. Hill and Tappan Streets. Free and Open to the Public.
* MacArthur "Genius Prize" Winner, Pew Scholar in Conservation and
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Advisor.
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