I Th Mhn Daly - SportsWednesday - January 5, 2000 Puck talk rom day one you understand that eisgo9nto bethe ival, the team1 yo *lve to hate."*I chigan fieshman Mike Cannalleri Michigan 4 Michigan State II Michigan 3 1 Key play Dec. 29, 14:13 in overtime Mark Kosick puts the puck past Lake Superior goalie Jayme Platt to give Michigan the overtime win and a berth in the GLI Championship. Air 0 AM Lake Superior 3 x .. .,. , Blue sees tournament crown slip away y okywriers' three stars of - uner over ~ote GLI. ~t ~AAMALERI - o ot4ci Mihigan s only oi ~yarr tMihgan t~r rnn inhe 2nd U MIRCK - wrdprovided ~sMcian's sec- ~hLakers. With All-American Joe Blackburn in net, Spartans skate to third straight GLI title ~c wai ichgan State, ~o vene is GU V oteSpartans on KArna. By Geoff Gagnon Daily Sports Writer DETROIT -- His hair still wet and his spirit just as damp, Michigan captain Sean Peach made his way from the team's lockerroom. Shaking his head the veteran defenseman headed toward the Michigan bus that waited in the shadow of the rear exit lights of Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. He held no trophy. And as the echoes of a more exuberant Michigan State team filled the corridor beneath the arena, a white pizza box seemed a dismal replacement for the championship hardware he had hoped to hoist. But while pizza served as little consolation for Peach and his teammates in the wake of their Great Lakes Invitational loss to the Spartans, the squad is already feasting on the thought of redemption as it sets to face the CCHA leading team this Friday. In handing Michigan its sixth loss of the year, a 3-1 downing of the Wolverines in the GLI finals Dec. 30, Michigan State has now made it three straight tournament titles. The Spartans have now won I11 of their 12 tries on the banks of the Detroit River. For Michigan, who outshot the Spartans 38-23, the loss was a difficult setback made tougher by the opponent that it came against. "From day-one you understand that State is going to be the rival, the team that you love to hate," forward Mike Cammalleri. "That added intensity makes the game a lot more fun." That intensity was evident early to the 18,000 fans that saw Michigan State jump ahead midway through the first period when Mike Weaver, on a pass from Shawn Horcoff, found a streaking Rustyn Dolyny who slid the puck behind Michigan netminder L.J. Scarpace. The power- play goal, a back door strike at 13:22, gave the Spartans a lead from which they would seldom look back. Michigan was able to tally its own power-play score at 5:11 of the second period as the freshman line of Mark Mink, John Shounevia and Cammalleri teamed to beat Michigan State's Joe Blackburn for the squad's lone score of the night. Working the offense into the Spartan zone to Blackburn's right, Shouneyia swung the puck to Mink who found a waiting Cammalleri eyeing an open net and the game's equalizer. "It was well-executed tic-tac-toe passing on the power-play. Its something we really work hard on in practice and every once in a while it happens,' Cammalleri said. Tournament MVP Horcoff made sure that things didn't stay knotted as he found Kris Koski in front of the Michigan net at the 4:53 mark in the third. Chased behind the pipes by Michigan's Mike Comrie, Horcoff's centering pass sailed past Comrie's outstretched stick and Koski poked it past Scarpace to jump ahead 2-1. The power-play goal was the second of its kind for Michigan State, which tallied its third score with a man-advantage later in the third, but not before Michigan put together a series of chances itself. The most noticeable of which came midway through the final frame when.Blackburn fought off a series of shots and put-backs in the frenzied moments before killing off a powerplay. a "We killed off some penalties where Joe Blackburn showed why he's an All-American," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said. "He made the saves that just had to be made." Looking for the tying goal in the third, Michigan came up empty finding the crossbar and Blackburn's lunging body instead of the net as the highly touted goaltender thwarted every late Wolverine attack to preserve the win for the Spartans. "Blackburn played great and made some unbe- lievable saves that won the game for them," Cammalleri said. Michigan State put things out of reach for the Wolverines at 10:57 when Brian Maloney put the Spartans up 3-1 and Michigan away for good as Ron Mason's squad raised the banner for its eighth GLI title. Clad in vintage sweaters for the 35th annual tour- nament, Michigan may have hoped throwback threads might conjure up the type of winning results the team had formerly grown accustomed to. Despite a seemingly successful 7-4-1 all-time tour- nament record against the Spartans heading into this season's edition, two of Michigan's four losses had come in the last two years. It was a trend that Michigan coach Red Berenson hoped to stop. Despite the loss however, Berenson said he's pleased with his team's play and wasn't at all sur- prised with what he saw in Mason's fourth ranked Spartans. "Overall I feel good about the way our team ,: t 1 8.ei1, w* s-,i . l' Dko (14+3)de Wisconsin, .2 21 o. Denver. asna-4- 10 t orh Dakota, SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daily With its 4-3 overtime win, Michigan shook pesky foe Lake Superior off Its back and recorded its first victory over the Lakers this season. The Wolverines were not as lucky with the Spartans falling 3-1 in the GLI final. ........... Jo t Michigan +40) o t Provide; ce, . : _. ;-s- u-s_ - r 4- 9at played this weekend. I was proud of our team," Berenson said. "They're the team we expected them to be. They're tough to score on and you just can't give them the power play opportunities that we did" Michigan earned its date with the Spartans after a thrilling overtime win against Lake Superior State the night before. The 4-3 win was Michigan's 19th semifinal victory in 26 GLI; appearances and came when Junior Mark Kosick tallied his second goal of the night on a give from Scott Matzka and Dave Huntzicker at 14:13 of the overtime. For Michigan the win was sweet redemption against a pesky conference foe that gave the: Wolverines a two-game drubbing at home earlier* this season, and had swept the Wolverines a ago. "We definitely remembered what happened ear tier this season when they beat us at home, Peach says, "That was definitely in the back of our minds so it was good to get a little payback." And that is the theme that Michigan will hope to continue as it gears up for Friday's battle in Eat Lansing - a battle that could help erase the sour taste of the GLI loss. Until then pizza will have to do for Peach and- the Wolverines. ing two goals 4 - " s 21 1 Y- 4 11 0 -3 Kosick continues offensive brilliance scon . o. mow CyK "- K -o 2 1Malzl'a, Langleldi LRiOP P~i2rnC~ ~Idgn- 2 (2: ~ iiPog), 9:31: LAKE jinI,. 9 31; tIM, Gari~otf ~ L.tI~P 99 M~~gouson .:, 1059, LAKE S2PLHJ- ~4uO, 10:35 LAKE , 1~25 ~M 9hn~trip 19 105 92, Thompson ~urng I 0 4 A~E-o n latting after 1 9 ~- ~5Rf0R, Pa mer ~l1ook- - .rU S~PE PlOP Thompson 1 .~ 02 :Aerrck / I .~ PEPIOR tIOVIS ;Kno~, '- r)tw'~' - Lnrg4eld C-.- 0: 2 hO K V I:diflOl 1eIOow- C n . 902; LAKE r p. "~2 :n 4 9:nvnyer ~9PER~0R, Vnce *,: ;j ~ 'I ~-r ~bcking:, 4:35; omO 13:00; tIM, 'C I, 50. t 30 LAKF SUPERI- 9255 .59-01199, 1 of 7 2~3,LAAESUPE I- 'OK4 10199. By Geoff Gagnon Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - As Michigan's Mark Kosick addressed the media after leading the Wolverines past Lake Superior State to open the Great Lakes Invitational, a necklace danced around the junior's neck. Fading out of sight only to bounce back with stunning brilliance, the gold chain moved as Kosick spoke -it seemed reminiscent of the forward him- self. After fading into a quiet slump earlier this year, Kosick left no doubt at the GLI that, like the necklace, he has bounced into the light. Kosick is indeed shining. In collecting the game-winning over- time goal against the Lakers, Kosick merely continued the offensive outburst that he started five games earlier After sitting out a game against Wisconsin in late November, the Canadian has been posting stellar num- bers. Leading the team in scoring the previous five games by netting six goals and three assists, Kosick carried a five game scoring streak into the tourna- ment's championship final. This on the heels of being named CCHA offensive player of the week just prior to the break. But Kosick, who needs just 12 more to join the top-50 all-time career assist leaders at Michigan, gives all the credit to his linemates, Josh Langfeld and Scott Matzka, who together have helped boost the Michigan offense in the late going. "I can't say just how much I like play- ing with those two guys," Kosick said. "It makes the whole game easier. It seems like we're always talking and we're always happy on the bench. We know we can score, we've been there before and we just enjoy playing with each other.? In the team's final series before the holiday break - against Nebraska- Omaha, the trio combined for 11 points including a four goal, five assist night in the second game of that series. Against Lake Superior in the GLI, the line picked up right where it had left off scoring five points on a pair of goals by Kosick GOALIE SHOWCASE: In a game already loaded with goaltending storylines, on December 30, Josh Blackburn created one more as he took the bench for the Wolverines against Michigan State. Blackburn, who had not played since foot surgery sidelined him in October, was never slated to play in the GLI game, said Michigan coach Red Berenson, who simply wanted to help the sophomore readjust to the speed of the game after such a long layoff. "I wanted Blackburn to get in sync with the team on the ice level" Berenson said. "I wanted him to feel the intensity at the bench level and he's able to see things better. Certainly he's been out of action for a long time and I can't tell you when he'll be back, but sooner or later he'll be thrown into a game and I thought it was important for him to get in sync with the team." Boasting four of the top 10 goal- tenders in the nation, Michigan's date with Michigan State featured an impres- sive roster of netminders including the top three goalies in the CCHA. In net for Michigan, L.J. Scarpace managed to stop 42 of 49 shots on the weekend while Kevin O'Malley, who has averaged 2.65 goals against for ninth in the nation, looked on. For Michigan State coach Ron Mason, $< x , . Y, , 'I Despite the efforts of Michigan's Mike , Comrie, Michigan State Captain Shawn Horcoff tallied two assists in the GLI final to lead his . Spartans past Michigan. In help- ing his team their third- straight GLI title Horcoff also skat- ed away with tournament MVP, honors. SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daly Wolverines played with an adjusted line- up during the holiday tournament. "I feel good about playing again,' Berenson said. "We feel good about the type of hockey we're going to be able to play. These are championship games and for the most part I liked the way we played tonight." So did Michigan freshman Mike Cammalleri who said he's anxious for Friday's contest but not unhappy with the way Michigan performed in December "We're proud of the way we played," Cammalleri said. "We played with of heart and a lot of energy. We p A for Michigan and if you look at fate you should win every game when you play like that. We'll get these guys soon." t~t~t4 -', i hlgan 5 -... 10 ' I.' [v =wt c l -I 'V .1' .._ Sloeis .C K i",1 Si Y -iiig)195; E, _ .._ .M L Bgl ~ _ . g:9:0; SU I - U.. PS ':1y, the starting goaltender decisions were even more difficult as the Spartans sat freshman Ryan Miller and his nation- leading 1.20 goals-against average in favor of All-American Joe Blackburn who keyed the Spartan win. "Blackburn obviously was a huge, huge factor in the' game tonight," Berenson said of the all-tournament team selection who managed the honor despite only playing in one game of the two-game invitational. ROUND TwO: With half a season in the books, Michigan spent the holiday break getting a good sense of what it will take to contend with CCHA leader Michigan State. And the Wolverines won't have much time to reflect on what they've learned before facing the Spartans again. Michigan will look to wrap up a rather prolonged two-game series against Michigan State as the Wolverines travel to Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing later this week. And despite being handed a 3- I loss in their Dec. 30 meeting, Berenson is thrilled with the chance to face the fourth-ranked Spartans. "This obviously isn't the last time we'll see Michigan State," Berenson said. "So if this was a measuring stick, I really look forward to seeing them again." After Michigan outshot the Spartans 20-6 in the third period of the GLI final, Berenson said he was pleased with his team's play -especially considering the Standings No. 23 lives as new Roemensky added to 'M' roster WIL 13 0 4 ., "2 7 T (} ( 1 CCHA Pts GP 22 14 20 14 19 1 14 14 14 12 9d4d1, GF 48 58 44 40 36 A(. GA 47 34 27 40 31 a: OVERALL W L T 15 5 0 15 b 0 14 5 1 14 8 0 8 10 0 7 7 2 By Uma Subramanian Daily Sports Writer "Hey, Mike! Where's your cousin Dale?" joked freshman forward J.J. Swistak to his new teammate Mike Roemensky. Roemensky is the Michigan hockey team's new defenseman who was added during the linir xrcto nnvi dnth to the Wolvernes' Roemensky said it was an accident. "After I had picked the number, I was going through the books and I noticed Dale had worn the number when he was here," Roemensky said. "There's no relation between us, but it's kind of neat. I didn't know he was No. 23, it was just a coincidence." The number story is amusing. but it is the goals against, the penalty killing and the lack of power play production we felt that if we had another defenseman it would definitely help our team this year" For Roemensky, the next few weeks will be a giant transition period. Not only does he have to find his niche in the lineup, but he also has to deal with starting classes. This was Berenson called). It's always been on myWd - I've always wanted to play for Michigan. "I knew they had a lot of defensemen (in the past), but I didn't know they'd lost so many this season. When he told me they needed another one to come up and play starting at Christmas and they asked me if I'd be the guy, I jumped right up and said 'Yes, I'd like to'pfay r }',, Y5 A 11 A