4B -- fhe Michigan Dly - portsMonday -- March 5, 2001 Shouts from the point "We've had our shot at second place, and we'll either get knocked down to third or we'll back into second. Whatever we get is what we deserve." Michigan coach Red Berenson after Thursday's loss to Michigan State. Michigan finished in third place. FEB. 24 Michigan 5 2 MARCH 1 Michigan I Michigan State 3 Key play Thursday, 14:50 of second period. A Mike Komisarek turnover puts the puck on Damon Whitten s stick. Whiten takes the puck up ice and fires a shot that Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn saves. The Spartans Trov Feiguson pounces on the rebound and scores. r Lake Superior U r THE DAILY'S STARS The Michigan Daily hockey writers' picks for Michigan's three stars of the weekend. CRAIG MURRAY LEFT WING After scoring just two goals in his first two seasons, Murray notched his ninth goal of the season against Lake Superior. BILL TRAINOR LEFT WING The oft-overlooked senior had a career- best three points against the Lakers. Trainor was subsequently moved up to the first line against Michigan State. }OE KAUTZ IGHT WING Kautz scored the always-important first goal against Lake Superior and gave the Wolverines a physical presence. M' SCHEDULE This week: Friday thru Sunday vs. Ferris State, CCHA playoffs 1st round Frdday:at Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 pm. Saturday: at Yost Ice Arena, 7:05p.m. Sunday- at Yost ice Arena, 7:05 p.m. (fnecessary) No. 3 seed Michigan takes on No. 8 Ferris State in the first round of the CCHA tournament, The two teams spilt a home-and-home series on Nov. 10-11. HOW THEY FARED No. 1 Michigan State (2744) def. Michigan, 3-1. No. 2 North Dakota (22-5-9) def. Bemidji State, 5-1; def. Bemidji State, 6-3 No. 3 Boston College (24-8-2) def. Northeastern, 6-3; def. Boston University. 5-1. No. 4 Minnesota (25-8-2) lost to St. Cloud, 6-1; lost to St. Cloud, 5-2. No. 5 St. Cloud (258-1) def. Minnesota, 6- 1; def. Minnesota, 5-2. No. 6 Michigan (22-11-5) lost to Michigan State, 3-1. No. 7 New Hampshire (19-9-6) lost to Mass-Amherst, 2-1 (OT); de. Mass- Amherst, 3-0. No. 8 Providence (1943-5) lost to Maine, 4-2; last to Maine, 5.2. No. 9 Colorado Coll. (21.104i) lost to MSU- Mankato, 3-2; def. MSU-Mankato. 7-C. No. 10 Clarkston (18-9-3) def. Vermont, 4-1; del. Dartmouth, 4-2. LAST SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan 5, LAKE SUPERIOR 2 M'running out of silver linings EAST LANSING - Michigan coach Red Berenson walked through the doors of his alma mater in 1984 to restore the storied Michigan hockey program back to where he thought it should be - expecting to win every time his team hit the ice, with no exceptions. But nowadays, instead of expect- } ing victory, it's more popular to JOE rationalize losing SMITH .in favor of an upcoming silver The one and only lining - a sup- posed "light at the end of the tunnel." Typical reactions from players after losses consists of "we didn't get the bounces" or "we didn't come ready to play." A more common refrain is "we just have to come together next week" - repeatedly, Michigan has benefitted from losses by other CCHA frontrunners. In most cases, old aspirations were forgotten and downplayed in favor of new ones. But when Berenson said this past Thursday night that he couldn't "guarantee that Michigan is going anywhere" in terms of the NCAA tournament, it's clear that the Wolverines are running out of silver linings - and goals to pursue. GOAL No. 1 - CCHA CHAMPI- ONSHIP The Wolverines are the defending conference champions, and one of their main goals for the season revolved around adding another ban- ner to the rafters of Yost Even though Michigan State didn't lose for over two months in the mid- dle of the season, the title was still within reach as late as Jan. -27 when Michigan beat the Spartans to move within three points of the top spot. Despite going 2-3-1 in the follow- ing six games and slowly losing ground in the conference race, the Wolverines were comforted by two things - they had another shot at the Spartans on March 1 and a first- round bye in the NCAA tournament was still a good possibility. GOAL No. 2 - FIRST ROUND BYE IN NCAAs Teetering from fourth through sixth place in the Pairwise Rankings - a system that mirrors the NCAA tournament's selection process - the Wolverines have controlled their own destiny in regards to receiving an all-important bye in the NCAAs. A bye would put the Wolverines in a position to only have to win one game in order to reach the Frozen Four. But Michigan's inability to sweep a weekend series since Jan. 7 against Lake Superior State has cost the Wolverines a chance at a first-round bye. This forced Michigan to revise its goals - it now aimed for second place in the CCH A. GOAL No. 3 - SECOND PLACE IN CCHA Once again, the Wolverines were masters of their own fate in the bat- tle for second place. All Michigan had to do was take care of business in its last few games - including a pair against last-place Lake Superior. But as captain Geoff Koch has said, committing too many penalties and losing the special-teams battle have cost the Wolverines as of late and put them in their current state as tied for second with Miami. "We'd like to be second, but, what- ever - it's out of our hands," said senior Mark Kosick. "If we're in third, we're in third, we're just play- ing someone else at our own rink." But it wasn't out of their hands - Michigan gave it away. The same RedHawks that Michigan beat convincingly in two games this year have gone 9-3-0 down the critical stretch to catch the reeling Wolverines. Michigan has went 5-5-2 in that same period. Although three of those games were against No. 1 Michigan State, they've won only one game in their last six on their way to their worst conference finish in over a decade. At the same time, the highly- skilled Wolverines once again had to watch a polished, disciplined Michigan State team capture the conference title for the third time in four years. "It's nice to win league champi- onships, but when its all said and done the only one thing-that matters is the playoff championships," senior assistant captain Dave Huntzicker said after the Spartans received the coveted trophy after beating the Wolverines on Thursday. MARJORIE MARSHALL/Dady Jay Vancik and his teammates have managed to find a silver lining in every dark cloud this season, but they are running out of time to live up to their potential. "Those are the ones that people remember." Another loss, another silver lining. But goals are vanishing in the blink of an eye and in a few short weeks, the only things that Michigan fans may remember are the fading "lights at the end of the tunnel." And "lights out" for the Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament. Joe Smith can be reached at josephms@umich.edit Eyes on the prize «::. :; {;.: '" .: First Round - Mar. 10-12 (campus sites) (1) Michigan State (10) Alaska-Fairbanks (2) Mami (9) Bowling Green (3) Michigan (8) Ferris State (4) Nebraska-Omaha (7) Ohio State Play-in am e " en~fas- 4. ham onship - Sat., Mar. 13ca.......................or. 17 (Detroit) t : .. :::.. Wi*of yPa":'' ~ Re-seeded":,N .er Semifinal No. 1 Re-seeded No 4 --.-. { r}$ .r: - 7:05 p.m. --:. 730 p.m. Re-seeded No. 5 .Winner Semifinal No. 2 ................. ...... ..... . . . . .. . ..:.:"? :{"77. '- ~0p m he-seeded -. 7 Champion SPARTANS Continued from Page 1B Michigan State defenseman Brad Fast broke the stale' mate at the 10:07 mark of the second period with a point shot that skittered through traffic and past BlackburnfoR the powerplay goal and the 1-0 lead. d s The turning point of the contest came with a little over five minutes left in the second. The Wolvrines' Mik Komisarek lost the puck on the near-side to Spartanss senior Damon Whitten who proceeded to swoop in on Blackburn's stick side. Blackburn made the initial stop, b Troy Ferguson pounced on the rebound and top-shelved t puck into the open net for the 2-0 lead and a firm choke hold on the Wolverines. "You can handle 1-0 but when they get to two, that's tough to come back from in this building," assistant coach Billy Powers said. "We didn't quit but deep down that's-a huge mountain to climb." Taking full advantage of a 5-on-3 due to penalties on Jay. Vancikand Scott Matzka, senior Brian Maloney slammed the door on any Michigan comeback hopes with an easy tap-in off of a Rustyn Dolyny blast for the Spartans' Cse ond powerplay goal of the night and the 3-0 lead. Michigan center Mike Cammalleri would penetrate Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller's armor with a goal at the 14:31 mark of the third, but as the subdued celebration of the Michigan team indicated, it was too little, too late. Against Lake Superior, the Michigan offense enjoyeda renaissance of sorts, firing five shots past Lakers' goalie Jayme Platt. Joe Kautz, Craig Murray and Cammalleri chipped in a goal each, respectively, while Andy Hilbert put a pair of tallies into the net. For the first time all season, senior Bill Trainor leda scorers in the game, tying Hilbert with three points, o three assists. Michigan 1 2 2 Lake Superior 1 1.fl 5 Frstpeuiod- 1.UM Kautz2(Murray,Trainor),2:47:2. LSSU. Davis 10 (unassisted), 9:37 (pp) . Penaltes- UM, Shouneyia (slashing). 4:31; LSSU, vicx (obstructionhooking), 6:46; UM. Vancik (interference:, 8:56; UM, Hibert (roghing), 10:40: LSSU. Vince (rough insg)10:40: LSSU, Thompson (slashing), 11:21; UM, Hilbert (checking from behind), 13:32: LSSU, A. Nightingale (obstruction4iolding), 15:21. Second period -3. LSSU, J. Nightingale 13 (unassisted). 3:35:4. UM, Murray 9 (Canmalleri. Blackburm), 8:18 (pp) 5. UM, Hilbert 22 (Roemensky, Trainor, 12:53. Penalties - UM, Koch (hooking).:38: LSSU, Maguson (roughing), 3:07; UM, Kautz (roughing). 3:07; LSSU, Micek (obstructionhoding), 7:02: LSSU, A. Nightingale (roughng) 8:19; UM, Murray (roughing) 8:19: LSSU, A. Nightingale (high-sticking), (8:19),tUM, Murray (high-sticking), 8:19 LSSU, Nightingale (10minute misconduct), 8:19; UM, Murray (10minute misconduct), 8:19: UM, Komisaek (slashing), 19:15; UM. Kautz (roughing after whistle), 1945: LSSU, Vince (roughing after whistle), 19:15. Third period- 6. UiM, Cammalleri 21 (Trainor, H-ilbert), 3:48:7. UM, Hilbert 23(unassisted), 18:36 (sh). Penaies- UM, Wyzgowski (crosschecking), 4:52; UM, Kautz (roughing), 11:10; LSSU, Thompson (roughing) 11:10; UM, Kautz (roughing). 11:10; LSSU, Thempson (roughing), 11:10: UM, Kautz{(1On-inutenisconduct), 11:10: LSSU, Thompson (l0minute misconuct) 11:1; Urn Komisarek. (roughing), 11:45. Shots on goat-LSSU -115-24; UM -11124 - 27. Power Plays - LSSU lof 7: UM l of 4. Penalties- LSSU 13(42min); UM 16(48min). Saves - LSSU. Platt 1010-2 - 22; UM, Packbrn 10-7-5 -22. Referee - Brent Rutherford. Linesmen - Butch Friedman, Craig Lsko At Joe Louis Arena Attendance: 7,659 THURSDAY'S GAME Michigan St. 3, Michigan 1 (5) Northern Michigan r {i .Ot.fUSed yet? l might help. We'l emphasize "might." (6) Western Mrg Followingthe conct- jon of the five first-round series, the five re-a ing.tea reseeded, withthe t hest-seeded team still alive receiving the No. iseed fore : semifinals. The two lest-seeded teams that advanced out of the first roun ptay each other ina "piay-id:game, with the winner advancing to the semifinals. )CL7A1I in~i..I MARJORIE MARSHALL/aly .Blue's second season underwvay By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Editor Michigan Michigan St. 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 3 Fst period-nno scoring Penlies -MSU,.Hutchinson (hooking, 9:52; UMHilbert (hooking), 13:10Q MSU, Whitten (high-sticking), 13:22; UM, Komisarek (high-tick- irg8),13:22. SeoWpeod-1. MSUFast4(Ferguson. Whitta,) 10'07 (pp); 2. MSU, Ferguson 4 (Whitten),1450. Penances- UM, Jilson (crosschecking),5:11; UM, Koch t{rosschecking), 9:24;UM Matzka(hit after whistle), 10:38. Thid period -3. MSU. Maloney 12()olyny, Uiles), 3:35 (pp);4. UM, Cammalleri 22 (Koch.Vancik) 14:36. Penlies- MSU. Huchinson (hooking), :28,;tUM. Vacik (trpping), 2:12U;UM, Matzka (holing), 3:03: M, Mtzka (10minute misconduct), 3:03; UM, Matzka (game miscon- duc), 3:35, MSU. Markusen (minor) 5:24; UM, Bumes (slashing), 19:29; MSU, Maloney (slashing). 19:29. Shots on goal -UM,10-11 11-32:MSU, 10-138-31. w erPlays - UM, 0-3;MSU, 2-5. Saves - JM,.Blackburn1011-7 -28;MSU, Miller10-11- 10-30. Referee - Steve Piotrowski. Linesmen - Butch Friedman, Kevin Langseth. At Munn Ice Arena.Attendance: 7,121. PAIRWISE RANKINGS March 5 standings from www.uscho.com EAST LANSING - "It's a new sea- son starting right now." So said Geoff Koch, Michigan hockey team's captain after Thursday night's dis- appointing 3-1 loss to Michigan State to close the regular season. Koch was not alone. Just about every Wolverine saw it as essential that when the team's bus pulled into Yost Ice Arena late Thursday night, and when they woke up on Friday morning, that they were ready to put the regular season in the past. For Michigan, the past is a vexing mess of inconsistency, a road through hills and valleys. Fans saw the team grab the No. 1 ranking in early November, only to lose to teams such as Michigan Tech and Lake Superior, two teams whose combined point total (43) is six few than Michigan's alone (49). The inability to dominate lesser oppo- nents aggravated coach Red Berenson to no end. "Overall, I think we had stretches where I thought we might never lose another game," Berenson said. "And then there are stretches when you think, 'Jeez, we might not win another game.' I think that's the roller-coaster type of sea- son that you don't want to have." So when the Wolverines take to the ice for practice at 3 p.m. today, their sights will still be set on the goal that they've had all season long - the national title. "I think it's essential that we put what happened tonight and what happened the last few weeks behind us," Koch said after the most recent loss to the Spartans. "When we won in 1998, it came down to us coming together as a team and play- ing as a unit." Michigan is going to enter the CCHA playoffs as the third ,seed to face Ferris State - Miami's win over Ohio State on Friday night clinched the second posi- tion for the RedHawks. Lately, Michigan's national title hopes, though still alive, have been altered by a major concern - the Wolverines are no longer a lock to be invited to the 12-team NCAA Tournament. "We worry about one week at a time and there's no guarantees that Michigan's going anywhere," Berenson said. "We've got to earn our berth in the tournament. We've lost too many games this year. We're not a team that can just expect things to happen. We've got to earn them." Michigan's drive for redemption - and its drive to earn the tournament berth - officially begins this weekend with the Ferris State game. But in mat ways, it's already begun. Technically, the playoffs started after the CCHA regular season ended on Saturday night. "It's a fresh start and playoff hockey's a whole different kind of hockey and it's going to be important for us to get things going as a team," defenseman Andy Burnes said. "These last few weekends haven't been going our way. We still have a chance at our goal this year and it all starts with our next game. We've got to come out solid and get ti* ball rolling." In order to do that, Michigan's going to need to return to the form that it showed in the season's dawn, and Koch' admittedly will need to increase his role as a leader on the team. "It's stepped up if anything," he said. "You really have to make a concerted effort to help with the freshmen and make sure they're comfortable an bringing them along, but as a team think we have a lot of xeterans that can help out in that way. "This is the best time of the season coming up and we need to turn things around" MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Much like the rest of the Wolverines, Josh Blackburn has had bouts of Inconsisten- cy this season. Now, at playoff time, Blackburn will have to step up his play. 1 /"1t'47 T A Cl .- - - --