The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 7, 2002 - 7B

Slap shouts
"The guys that are missing are great players,
and that's why they're missing. But as we
showed tonight, everybody in that lockerroom
deserves to be in when they want to play."
- Michigan goaltender Kevin O'Malley on the
play of his teammates after the Michigan Tech game.

FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 3
Notre Dame 3 (OT)

SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 2
Notre Dame 1

Key play
Saturday, :52 left in the 2nd
With the score tied1-1, Michigan juniorMark
Mink managed to knock the puck past Notre
Dame goaltender Morgan Cey to give Michigan
the 2-1 lead.



TOP PLAYERS FROM
THE BREAK
The Michigan Daily hockey writers'
picks for Michigan's top three players
during the four games over break.
Michael Woodford
Forward
After not scoring a goal all year, Wood-
ford tallied five goals and added an
assist over the break, including a hat
trick against Michigan Tech.
Milan Gajic
Center
While centering Michigan's third line,
Gajic posted two goals and four
assists. He sent the Wolverines' game
against North Dakota to overtime by
scoring with two minutes left in regula-
tion.
John Shouneyia
Forward
The junior provided the Wolverines with
much-needed leadership over the
break. Shouneyia dished out four
assists and scored one goal.
M' SCHEDULE
This week:
Friday vs. Alaska-Fairbanks
Yost Ice Arena 7:35 p.m.
Saturday vs. Alaska-Fairbanks
Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
After getting three points against
Notre Dame, the Wolverines find
themselves in a tie with Michigan
State for first place in the CCA. In
order to maintain their spot, they
must play well against the Nanooks
this wee kend and gain momentum to
face the Spartans the following
weekend.
HOW THE 'OP 10 FARED
No. 1 St. Cloud (18-2-1) def. Massachu-
setts-Amherst 5-1
No. 2 Denver (18-2-0) def. Wisconsin 3-0,
def. Wisconsin 5-1
No. 3 Minnesota (14-3-3) lost to North
Dakota 4-3
No. 4 New Hampshire (15-3-2) def. Yale
5-3, def. Merrimack 10-1
No. 5 Massachusetts-Lowell (14-3-0) def.
colgate 7-4
S No.6 Michigan State (10-2-0) def. Quinnipi-
ac 4-1, def. Quinnipiac 3-1
No. 7 Boston University (12-5-1) def. North-
eastern 3-2, lost to Northeastern 3-0
No. 8 Michigan (8-3-1) tied Notre Dame
3-3, def. Notre Dame 2-1
No. 9 Northern Michigan (7-2-1) def.
Nebraska-Omaha 3-1, tied Nebraska-Omaha
2-2
No. 10 Boston College (10-6-2) def. Yale 2-1
Michigan in the GLI
Michigan skated to a third-place fin-
ish in the Great Lakes Invitational
when it snapped its four-game GLI
losing streak. North Dakota won the
37th annual GLI by defeating Michi-
gan State 5-4 in overtime.
Dec. 28
North Dakota 5, Michigan 4 (OT)
Michigan State 4, Michigan Tech 1
Dec. 29
Michigan 7, Michigan Tech 4
North Dakota 5, Michigan State 4 (OT)
AROUND THE CCHA
Alaska-Fairbanks (8-7-1 CCHA,
12-7-1 overall), which stole three
points at Miami this weekend, will
enter Yost Ice Arena Friday with a
chance to tie the first-place Wolver-
ines atop the CCHA.
The Nanooks, predicted to finish
in last place by the media, have
shocked the conference thus far,
sweeping Michigan State and
Nebraska-Omaha during an improba-
ble run.
This weekend, their victim was
Miami (5-7-2, 8-10-2), which hasn't

been able to get going this season. In
Saturday night's victory, the Nanooks
were paced by freshman Aaron Voros
and sophomore David Keough -
each scored two points on the night.
Ohio State, tied with Alaska-Fair-
banks for third place, swept Western
Michigan this weekend.
CCHA STANDINGS

In stars
By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - Without four
seven scorers due to the Worl
Championship, the Michigan
team had to assume that it wo
to find offense as it headed to
Lakes Invitational on
Dec. 28 and 29. Ho
Instead, the Wolver-
ines put up 11 goals Co
on 84 shots in their
two tournament games. But t
explosion didn't result in perf
Without forwards Mike Ca
Eric Nystrom and Dwight He
well as top defenseman Mike
Michigan dropped its semifin
North Dakota, 5-4 in overtim
Wolverines managed to recov
4 come-from-behind win ove
Tech to salvage a third-placef
tournament.
"Considering our team and
team played well and they pla
Michigan coach Red Berenso
If nothing else, the Wolver
out that their offense is not as
the four missing players as it
be earlier in the season.

absence, icers
Against Michigan Tech, the Wolverines
got 10 total points (six goals, four assists)
from their freshmen, including a hat trick
r of its top by forward Michael Woodford who had
d Junior not scored a goal prior to that point in the
hockey season.
)uld struggle In both games, Michigan was able to
D the Great -overcome two-goal deficits. The Wolver-
ines trailed North Dakota 3-1 at the end
CKEY of the second period before pushing the
game to overtime. Against Michigan
nmentary Tech, Michigan fell behind 3-1 and 4-2
before running off five unanswered goals 1
he offensive for the victory.
fection. But the games turned into up-and-
mmalleri, down contests in which the numerous
lminen as opportunities created by Michigan were
Komisarek, met by counter attacks from the opposi-
ial game to tion.
e. The The Wolverines' offensive play led to
rer with a 7- several odd-man rushes for North Dakota
r Michigan and Michigan Tech.
finish in the "We didn't do a good job of keeping
the puck in (the offensive zone), and we
lineup, our had a few turnovers," forward Jed Ort-
ayed hard," meyer said.I
n said. The theme continued this past weekend
ines found against Notre Dame. The Wolverines pep-;
reliant on pered Notre Dame goalie Morgan Cey l
appeared to with shots en route to a 3-3 tie on Friday
and a 2-1 win Saturday.

DAVID KATZ/Daily
Milan Gajic took a lot of faceoffs while centering the Wolverines'
third line during the break. He tallied two goals and four assists.

mild depth
Unfortunately for Michigan, the defen-
sive breakdowns became costly again on
Friday night, as Notre Dame rallied from
a late two-goal deficit in the third period
to steal a point from the Wolverines.
The absence of Komisarek and Cam-
malleri - the leaders of the defensive
and offensive attacks, respectively - led
to defensive struggles for Michigan
against all three opponents.
On a positive note the Wolverines came
out of the four-game stretch over winter
break having discovered a great deal
more offensive weapons.
There are still defensive issues to work
out, but the return of the four aforemen-
tioned players should eliminate a lot of
the hectic back-and-forth play that sur-
faced. In addition, the offense fired on all
cylinders over the break, and when the
World Junior participants return, they
should find an offensive balance that
wasn't present when they left.
"All the guys stepped it up, and Coach
said when he looked around the room
(after the win over Michigan Tech), not
too many guys didn't have a good game,
and that's what you want. You want every
player to put their best foot forward,"
goalie Kevin O'Malley said after he
picked up his first victory of the year.
IRISH
Continued from Page 1B
emergence of the unsung freshmen: "They
stepped up, and obviously were given more
opportunities. They helped our depth out
this weekend, that's for sure, and they gave
our team a huge boost."
In Friday night's matchup, the Wolver-
ines seemed to be in control, leading the
Fighting Irish 3-1 in the third period. But
Michigan collapsed defensively in the final
stanza, surrendering two goals to Notre
Dame, which sent the game to a scoreless
overtime.
"Having a 3-1 lead, all you want to do is
play good defense, but we just let it slip,"
said freshman defenseman Brandon Rogers,
who scored his first goal of his career. "(The
goal) felt pretty good for about three min-
utes, but unfortunately we let that second
goal in."
But Saturday, the Wolverines performed
as well defensively as they have all season,
giving up just one goal to the Fighting Irish.
After Michael Chin gave Notre Dame the
lead just one minute into regulation, the
defense tightened up and thwarted all of
Notre Dame's attempts at a comeback.
"I think we did a much better job at
going back into our zone and identifying
our man,' Vancik said. "We didn't give up
many odd-man rushes."

Young line makes up
for missing offense

By Naweed Sikora'
Daily Sports Writer
NOTRE DAME - Michigan fresh-
man Michael Woodford was hoping to
score a goal or two during the break to
help his team while its top players were,
playing in the World Junior Champi-
onships.
He ended up HOCKEY
scoring five. Notebook
The Wolverines
did not have the
offensive drought that was expected;
instead, the team averaged more goals
over the four-game stretch (4.0) than it
did before the break (3.4).
The biggest reason for this was the
play of freshmen Woodford, Milan
Gajic and David Moss. Placed on the
same line in the GLI for the first time
this season, the three combined for
eight goals and seven assists over the
four-game span.
"We knew we would be playing
together after the Michigan Tech game,"
Gajic said. "We played well in practice
all week, and we were just hoping that
our success would carry over for us."
"They are getting more confidence,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"The GLI was good for that line. It is
important to us that they all play better
in the second half. We have a lot more
confidence in our freshmen now"
Prior to the winter break, the three
had not made their presence felt. Moss,
who played in all 18 of Michigan's
games, had recorded just one goal and
three assists. Woodford, meanwhile,
had 17 games under his belt, but just
six assists. The two had been playing
together before, but their line was cen-
tered by Dwight Helminen.
Gajic, who had been playing on the
second line with John Shouneyia and
Jason Ryznar, had slightly more suc-
cess than the other two, with seven
points in 15 games. But he had not
shown the offensive prowess that the
coaches felt he was capable of display-
ing.

But over the break, the floodgates
opened.
"Woodford obviously had some big
goals for us," Michigan captain Jed Ort-
meyer said. "That whole line with Gajic
and Moss played real well. They played
well in their own end, and they were a
big plus for us in the offensive zone."
"Woodford has a lot more confi-
dence, as does Gajic," Berenson said.
"Gajic has a role at center now, so our
decision now will be to keep him at
center, or move him to the wing. I think
he could play both."
Although Gajic's position may not be
clear, one thing certainly is. If the three
keep scoring throughout the second half
of the season, the extra depth will give
Michigan a much more threatening
offense. Instead of just two lines with
scoring potential, the Wolverines could
possibly have three or four.
With the whole team back, Berenson
must decide whether to keep the line
together, or return to the lines he used
before the break.
SHOUNEYIA NOT SLOWING DOWN: With
two assists in Michigan's 2-1 win over
Notre Dame Saturday night, John
Shouneyia passed Mike Cammalleri for
the team lead in points with 25.
What's important to him and the
coaches, though, is that he is develop-
ing into a consistent offensive weapon
for the Wolverines. Not only has he
scored seven goals this season, but also
he has improved the play of those
around him by recording 18 assists. He
has also notched at least one point in 13
of his last 15 games.
"It is encouraging for me, as a coach,
to watch Shouneyia develop into not
only one of our best players, but also
one of the leaders on this team," Beren-
son said.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Friday
night's 3-3 tie against Notre Dame was
the first time Michigan has not won
after holding a two-goal lead at some
point during the game. The Wolverines
are now 11-0-1 in games which they led
by more than one goal.

DAVID KATZ/Daily
Freshman Michael Woodford exploded for five goals over the winter break,
including a hat trick In Michigan's 7-4 victory over Michigan Tech..

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