4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 4, 2002
0
Slap shouts
"I did get bored."
- Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn after facing just 14
shots in Michigan ' 1-0 win over Lake Superior Saturday
night at Joe Louis Arena.
THURSDAY'S GAME
Michigan 5
Lake Superior 0
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 1
Lake Superior 0
Key play
Saturday, 2:23 into the first
Michigan freshman Eric Werner deposited a
rebound into the net for Michigan sfirst and
only goal of the night. It was his fourth point of
the weekend.
01
I1
THE DAILY'S STARS
The Michigan Daily hockey writers'
picks for Michigan's three stars of the
weekend.
Eric Werner
Defenseman
The freshman scored a powerplay goal
last night, and assisted on three of
Michigan's goals Thursday night to fin-
ish with four points on the weekend.
John Shouneyia
Forward
Centering the first line, Shouneyia
scored an unassisted short-handed goal
and had two assists this weekend.
Josh Blackburn
Goalie
Blackburn stopped all 29 shots he
faced on the weekend, recording back-
to-back shutouts for the first time this
season..
'M' SCHEDULE
This week:
Friday vs.kNebraska-Omaha
Yost Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday vs. Nebraska-Omaha
Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
Now just two points behind Michigan
State, the Wolverines will welcome a
streaking Nebraska-Omaha team to Ann
Arbor for a two-game weekend series.
The first of the two will be televised on
Fox Sports Net. Currently, Michigan
holds a 1-0-1 record against the Maver-
icks this season. With just six CCHA
games left, every game is a must-win for
Michigan.
HOW THE TOP 10 FARED
No. 1 Denver (23-3-0) lost to Colorado Col-
lege 3-2, lost to Colorado College 4-2.
No. 2 New Hampshire (18-4-2) lost to Maine
6-3, tied Maine 2-2.
No. 3 Minnesota (18-5.4) lost to Minnesota-
Duluth 5-2, def. Minnesota-Duluth 2-1.
No. 4 Michigan State (19-5-3) tied Ohio
State 3-3, tied Ohio State 3-3.
No. 5 St. Cloud (20-.2) def. Alabama-
Huntsville 3-0, def. Alabama-Huntsville 7-2.
No. 6 Maine (17-7-2) def. New Hampshire 6-3,
tied New Hampshire 2-2.
No. 7 Northern Michigan (16-8-2) def. Ferris
State 6-4, lost to Ferris State 4-1.
No. 8 Colorado College (14-8-5) def. Denver 3-
2, def. Denver 4-2.
No. 9 Massachusetts (16-7-1) def. Merrimack
5-2
No.10 Boston University (14-6-2) def. Merri-
mack 3-2.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 5, Lake Superior 0
Old-school rivalry no
longer a fan favorite
By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Writer
TOM FELDcAMP/Daily
The road jersey that Michigan junior John Shouneyia is sporting has been kind to the Wolverines this season.
leers b-ring 'A'game on the road
Werner electrifies powerplay, tallies four points for the weekend
Michigan 1 1 3
Bowling Green 0 0 0
-5
-O
By Seth Klenpner
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - The Michigan hockey team won't admit
it, but it seems more at home on the road than it does at
Yost Ice Arena. When the Wolverines get into the bus to
travel to an opposing arena, they seem to bring their "A"
game.
Michigan has a pristine record when playing on the
road (9-1-3), with its one blemish com-_
ing against Western Michigan in its HOCKEY
fifth game of the season. Add a 2-2-0
record at neutral sites, and the Wolver- Notebook
ines are 11-3-3 away from Yost. The
Wolverines are currently on a 11-game road-CCHA
unbeaten streak (9-0-2) with just one conference road
game remaining.
Michigan even picked up a 5-0 road victory, Thursday
night, in Taffy Abel Arena (Lake Superior's home ice), an
arena in which Michigan has not won since 1997.
"This is a big victory for us to come up here," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said after Thursday's shutout. "It's
important to play well on the road and renew that feeling
again that we're a good team defensively. The thing I like
most about the victory is that we didn't give up any
goals."
Perhaps the stellar road record can be attributed to an
increased emphasis on defense. The Wolverines have a
2.59 goals against average at Yost while giving up 2.29
goals per game.
"I don't know what is with our team, but we have this
mindset on the road that we like," said freshman Milan
Gajic, who scored a powerplay goal in Thursday night's
game. "(Our road mentality is) that we have to work hard
and not put on a show for anybody. It is all about hard
work and it works."
That hard work has paid off for the Wolverines, as they
have picked up nine more points on the road than they
have at home.
Michigan is currently 5-5-2 at home with.five of its
remaining seven games to be played at Yost, not including
a possible first round CCHA Tournament series at home in
the middle of March.
"I think we kind of solved (our problems at home),"
Gajic said, referring to Michigan's back-to-back losses
against Alaska-Fairbanks and 11th place Bowling Green.
"We had the loss to Alaska and we had the loss to Bowl-
ing Green, and those games we just didn't come out ready.
I think if we come out ready (we can win). What we need
to do is come* out ready at home the same way we do on
Statistic
Record
Goals against Average
Goals per game
Powerplay goals
Shutouts
Home
5-5-2
2.58
3.16
11
1
Night and day, home and away
The Wolverines have a 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2)
away from Yost Ice Arena, but have not been able to
bring that success back to their home rink. Michigan
plays five of its last seven games at Yost.
Away from Yost
11-3-3
2.29
3.53
14
3
Rrstpedod- 1. UM, Shouneyia8(unassisted), 3:26 (sh).
PenUies-UM, Henderson (holdingthe stick), 2:10;LSSU,
wilson (charging), 4:53; LSSU, Mushaluk(crosschecking),
6:18; UM,Vancik (holding), 10:10.
Second peiod -2 UM, Gajic 6 (werner), 15:02 (pp). Penal-
ties-LSSU, Mnuson (interference), 2:37; UM, Henderson
(hooking), 10:45; UM,Vancik (checking from behind), 12:12;
LSU, tearn(too manyon ice), 14:28.
IM* peulod -3. UM, Ortmeyer8 (Nystrom, Komisarek),
6:46 (pp); 4. UM, Nystrom 10 (Werer, Shouneya), 9:41; 5.
UM, Komisarek 9 (Ortmeyer, Werner), 18:01. Penates-
LSSU, Cheesman (roughirg), 3:45; UM, Martens (roughing),
3:45; LSU, Thompson (high-stickirg), 5:52; UM, Matens,
(higJhstickirg), 12:01; UM, Werner (hooking), 15:42.
Shots ongoal-UM,105-10--25; LSSU,465--15.
PowerPlays-UM, 2of5; LSSU,0of6.
Saves-UM, Blackburn -15-15; LSSU, Violin - 20-25.
Rem- Brian Aaron
Lesenen-Paul Tunison, Bruce Vida
At: Taffy Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie. Attendance:2,705.
SATURDAY S GAME
Michgan 1, Lake Superior 0
DETROIT - Entering the CCHA
Tournament final in 1994, Lake Superi-
or goalie Blaine Lacher had put together
a Herculean streak of 375 minutes with-
out allowing a goal.
But, the Lakers were matched up with
an incredibly powerful Michigan team
that had not been shut out all season and
had rolled to a 32-6-1 record and a
CCHA regular season title. In addition
to that, the Wolverines had defeated
Lake Superior in all three of the teams'
battles during the regular season.
In the title game, it was Michigan
goalie Steve Shields who stole the show.
The Wolverines finally broke Lacher's
scoreless stretch, and Shields pitched a
shutout of his own for a 3-0 Michigan
win and a CCHA title as the Wolverines
continued their domination of Lake
Superior on the season.
But just one week later, Lake Superi-
or turned around and stunned the top-
seeded Wolverines in the NCAA
Tournament. The Lakers scored 2:31
into overtime for a 5-4 win in the second
round of the tournament, preventing
Michigan from capturing its fifth - and
most important-win over the Lakers.
It was simply another benchmark in a
rivalry that had become one of the coun-
try's best during the early 1990's.
"(Lake Superior was) the front-runner
in the league for a while," said former
Michigan captain and current Michigan
administrative assistant Brian Wiseman,
whose career ended in the overtime loss
to Lake Superior. "They had been a
nemesis of ours, especially back then,
for quite a while. They had a lot of local
guys that always wanted to play well
LAKERS
Continued from Page 1B
"(Werner) is getting a little more
confidence," Berenson said. "His
goals have been more rebounds than
big shots. He has that sixth sense as
to when there's something going on."
After Werner's goal (his fourth
point of the weekend), the game
turned into a defensive struggle, as
Denike and Michigan goalie Josh
Blackburn turned into human back-
stops. Denike stoned 29 shots and
kept his team in the game, helping to
kill four Michigan powerplays.
"We didn't give up a lot of great
opportunities and we are proud of
that," Lake Superior coach Frank
Anzalone said. "That is how we
began (our program's turnaround) in
1982-83. We were determined to
protect our goaltender and give him
total respect and ask him to make
five or six big saves, and that is what
Terry did for us tonight."
But Blackburn and the Michigan
defensive unit were not to be out-
done by the Lakers' backup goal-
tender. The Wolverines allowed just
14 shots on Blackburn, as they
clamped down and protected the
one-goal lead.
"Lake State may not be as good of
an offensive team as some, but still,
they're playing hard, they're going to
the net, and they put some pressure
on us," Berenson said. "Our defense
against Michigan and they seemed to
get the best of us more times than not"
From 1984 to 1992, Lake Superior
lost to Michigan just eight times in 42
games.
Even when the Wolverines finally
broke through in 1993-94, dominating
the Lakers with those four regular sea-
son wins, Lake Superior again came out
on top. After stunning Michigan in the
tournament, Lake Superior went on to
capture the national championship.
The frustration that the Lakers dealt
Michigan made them one of the
Wolverines' most hated opponents.
"It was a lot like what we saw with
Michigan State a couple of weeks ago,"
Wiseman said. "The crowd was really
involved and into it, and that's how the
crowd was when Lake Superior came
into Yost"
But in 1996-97, Michigan took every
contest from Lake Superior and thus
signaled the end of what had been an
exhilarating rivalry. Since that season,
Michigan has recorded a 14-5 record
against its former rival from the north.
The second win by the Wolverines
this weekend served as a microcosm for
how much luster the rivalry between the
two schools has been lost in the past few
years.
Saturday's game at Joe Louis Arena
drew an announced attendance of just
7,928. In addition to being small, the
crowd was quiet and disinterested.
"It saddens us that we don't have a
big crowd, but I don't think we are the
draw that we used to be;' Lake Superior ,
coach Frank Anzalone said. "Joe Louis
helped us an awful lot years ago, so as
long as they want us to do this for the
next couple years, we are pleased to do
it"
the road."
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS: One of the biggest surprises from
Michigan's freshman class has come in the form of one of
the smallest players on the team. Listed at 5-foot-8 and
155 pounds, Eric Werner plays like a spark plug and has
provided much-needed offense for Michigan over the past
few weekends.
The freshman has tallied a point in four of the last five
games with two goals and four assists in that time period.
This offensive surge has catapulted him to fifth place on
the team in points with 17. Of those 17 points, 14 have
been assists.
"On the powerplay, he can be looking one way and
thread the needle the other way," fellow freshman Michael
Woodford said. "Teams will underestimate him as a fresh-
man running the powerplay from the point, but he can
really hurt them."
Werner provided Michigan's only goal on Saturday,
when he pinched in and picked up the rebound off Craig
Murray's shot from the point on Michigan's first power-
play of the game.
"I was trying to put it on net. It was a good shot by
Murray, and I was lucky to get the rebound and put it back
in," Werner said.
STREAKING: Michigan continued its strong performance
on the penalty kill as it shut down all four of Lake Superi-
or's powerplays Saturday. The four kills ran Michigan's
penalty-kill streak to 46 while bringing its penalty-kill
percentage down to 11 percent.
The last time the Wolverines allowed a powerplay goal
was more than a month ago, against North Dakota in the
Great Lakes Invitational.
"Our penalty killing has been really good of late,"
Werner said. "We were taking a lot of penalties but our
penalty killing is getting better and better. Right now we
have (a lot of) confidence in that facet of our game."
PAIRWISE RANKINGS
The Pairwise Rankings are based on
the ranking system used by the
NCAA selection committee to deter-
mine which 12 teams will partici-
pate in the NCAA Tournament.
Team Record PWR
1. Denver 23-5-0 29
2. St. Cloud 22-5-2 28
3. New Hampshire 19-5-3 27
4. Minnesota 19-6-4 26
5. Michigan State 19-5-5,25
6. Colorado College 18-8-2 24
7. Maine 16-7-5 23
8. Boston University 16-7-2 21
9. Cornell 15-5-1 21
10. Northern Michigan 18-8-2 21
11. Massachusetts 16-8-1 19
12. Michigan 16-8-5 17
13. Nebraska-Omaha 18-9-3 16
14. Mercyhurst 17-5-2 16
15. Alaska-Fairbanks 16-10-2 15
1
Michigan
Bowling Green
1 0 0
0 0 0
-1
-0
Fstpedod- 1. UM, Werner 3(Murray,Shouneyia), 2:23
(pp) Penalties-LSSU, Micek (high sticking), 1:44; UM,
Martens (interference), 4:04; LSSU, Nightingale (holding),
12:09; LSSU, Thompson (high-sticking), 16:57.
Second peiod-No scoring Penties- UM, Burnes (high-
sticking), 6:32; LSSU, McNamara(checking from behind),
12:28. UM, K oisarek (holding), 16:42.
Third pedod - No scoring Penalties- UM, Wemer (high-
sticking),12:27; LSSU, Reid (interference), 16:40.
Shotsongoal-UM, 12-99-30; LSSU, 356-14.
PowPlays -UM,lof5; LSSU, 0of4.
Saves- UM, Blackburn-14.14; LSSU, Denike - 29-30.
Rieke-Steve Mclnchk
Lkernen-John LaDuke, Terry Sheen
At Joe Louis Arena, Detroit Attendance: 7,928.
STATE WATCH
The Spartans, who'began the week-
end four points ahead of Michigan,
tied Ohio State twice in Columbus.
The Buckeyes came back from a
two-goal deficit Friday night to tie 3-3.
Saturday, the Spartans returned the
favor, coming from down 3-1 to take
two points away from the weekend.
Michigan State now holds a slim,
two-point lead in the CCHA standings
over Michigan.
AROUND THE CCHA
Nebraska-Omaha is on a roll
heading into this coming weekend's
series with Michigan at Yost Ice
Arena. The Mavericks (12-7-3
CCHA, 18-9-3 overall) have won a
school record eight consecutive
games and have climbed their way
tn sole nssession of third nlace in
Blackburn fights boredom to sink Lakersn
By Naweed Sikora
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - Saturday night at Joe Louis
Arena, Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn
wrapped up his second shutout of the week-
end against Lake Superior. But even though it
was a rare weekend sweep for the Michigan
hockey team - a sweep it needed to keep
pace with Michigan State in the CCHA
standings - the senior was a little bored.
"The guys played unbelievable defense,"
Blackburn said. "It was probably the best we
played all year, as you can see by the shots I
faced. It didn't make my job too hard.
"I did get bored."
But even though he wasn't ecstatic, Black-
burn maintained his focus. The senior turned
aside all 29 shots he faced over the weekend
and maintained his composure Saturday night
when the Wolverines were struggling to find
the net.
"We knew it would be a close game,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "You
never know how the game's going to go, but
you have to take care of your own end. I
thought Blackburn made a few key saves and
our defense did a good job around him."
Michigan jumped out to an early lead wheel
defenseman Eric Werner scored on the pow-
erplay just over two minutes into the game,
but its defensive pressure did not waver. The
Wolverines allowed just three shots in first,
while collecting 12 of their own.
The next two periods were more of the
same. Michigan struggled to score despite
numerous even-strength and powerplay
opportunities. But Blackburn, backed up by
the defense, denied Lake Superior any chance
to score a goal.
The Lakers' best chance to relieve their
drought came in the second period during a
pile-up in front of Michigan's net. But a div-
ing save by Blackburn prevented Lake Supe-
rior from tying the game.
This weekend was not the first time Black-
burn has dominated the Lakers in goal. The
last time he earned two shutouts in a weekend
sweep was last season against Lake Superior,
and five of his 13 career shutouts have come
against the Lakers.
Blackburn was careful not to take any
credit after the game; instead he praised his
defense.
"Every time they came on the ice, we had
guys picking up their guys," Blackburn said.
"It was a good defensive effort. The shutouts
this weekend belong to the guys because they
are the ones who earned it."
With 13 career shutouts, Blackburn is just
two shy of former Michigan goalie Marty
Turco's record of 15, set from 1994-1998.
Michigan has seven regular season games left
this season, plus any CCHA or NCAA tour-
nament games that may occur in the future.
This gives Blackburn an opportunity to tie, or
even pass Turco in the record books.
When Blackburn earned his 11th shutout
against Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 11, it was
mistakenly announced that he had tied
Turco's record, which was thought to be 11.
"If I get to 15 shutouts, (the record) will
probably turn to 20," Blackburn joked. "You
don't want to jinx yourself. If it happens, it
happens. No big deal."
did a nice job this weekend, and they
got some help from the forwars."
In Thursday night's game, the
Wolverines utilized a total teamO
effort, as Mike Komisarek, Eric Nys-
trom, Jed Ortmeyer and John
Shouneyia each tallied a goal and an
assist. The Wolverines scored two
powerplay goals, including Milan
Gajic's sixth goal of the season -
which ended the freshman's six game
pointless streak.
"Gajic's effort - that's not some-
thing you practice," Berenson said.
"He beat his man one-on-one and
then beat the goalie."
'of
a
TOM FELDCAMP/Daily
Blackburn stopped 29 shots this week-
k-to-back shutouts.
MICHIGAN LFADERS
Michigan goalie JoshI
end on his way to bac
CCHA STA NDINGS
CCHA LEADERS
CCHA ROINDIP
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