4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 18, 2002 Slap shouts "(Josh Blackburn) had a bad game. He needs to come up huge in games like this, and he didn't." - Michigan State freshman Mike Lalonde on the performance of Michigan goaltender Josh Blackburn. SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan S1 Michigan State 3 Key play Saturday, 4:49 into the first Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn allowed a dump-in by Michigan State's Joe Goodenow to trickle into the goal, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead. The soft goal came just one minute after the Wolverines had tied the game at one. V.-. THE DAILY'S STARS The Michigan Daily hockey writers' picks for Michigan's three stars of the weekend. Charlie Henderson Forward The freshman scored Michigan's only goal of the game. Helminen won a face- off and sent it back to Henderson, who fired it off Ryan Miller and into the goal. Eric Werner Defenseman Although he did not show up on the scoresheet, Werner played solid defense throu hout the game and deliv- ered a few solid checks. John Shouneyia Center The junior was able to get a few out- standing scoring chances, but was unable to convert. 'M' SCHEDULE This week: Friday vs. Ohio State Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m. Saturday vs. Ohio State Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m. Mar. 1 vs. Western Michigan Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m. Mar. 2 at Western Michigan Lawson Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m. This will be the first meeting of the sea- son between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. Ohio State ended a seven- game winless skid with a sweep over Ferris State this weekend and are cur- rently in sixth place in the CCHA. Michi- gan split a home-and-home with Western Michigan in October, winning at Yost. The Broncos are in seventh place, one point back of Ohio State. How THE'IoP 10 FARED No.1 Denver (26-5.1) def. Wisconsin 5-2, def. Wisconsin 3-2 No. 2 St. Cloud (26-5.2) def. Alaska-Anchor- age 7-4, def. Alaska-Anchorage 4-0 No. 3 New Hampshire (20-6-3) lost to North- eastern 5-4, def. Northeastern 6-2 No. 4 Minnesota (22-7-4) lost to Colorado College 6-5, def. colorado College 7-3 No. 5 Michigan State (21-6-5) def. Michigan 3-1 No. 6 Colorado College (20-9-3) def. Minneso- ta 6-5, lost to Minnesota 7-3 No. 7 Cornell (18-6-1) lost to Dartmouth 1-0, def. Vermont 5-2 No. 8 Boston University (20-7-2) def. Mass- Lowell 5-1, def. Mass-Lowell 5-3 No. 9 Michigan (18-9-5) Ilost to Michigan State 3-1 No. 10 Maine (17-9-6) def. Providence 1-0, tied Providence 3-3 SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan State 3, Michigan 1 Six games, no cigar Feb. 17, 2001- Michigan State 4, Michigan 2 - Adam Hall had two goals and Brian Maloneyadded a goal and two assists as The Spartans Jed = sdefeated Michigan at Joe Louis Arena. Mar. 1, 2001- Michigan State 3, Michigan 1- In DANNY their last game of the regular season, the Wolverines Day tallied just one goal, from Mike Cammalleri, and fell to the Spartans at Munn Ice Arena. With the loss, Michi- gan ended the season tied for second in the CCHA with Miami and got the third seed in the conference tournament. Ty Mar. 17, 2001- Michigan State 2, Michigan 0 - Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller stood tall, denying all 19 of Michigan's shots, and the Spartans took advantage of two first period goals to capture the CCHA championship at Joe Louis Arena. Oct. 6, 2001- Michigan State 3, Michigan 3 - The Cold War game at Spartan Stadium seemed to belong to the young Michigan squad, who responded to the unfamiliar setting by taking a lead late into the third period, but 'Jim Slater scored with 47 seconds left to tie the game. Jan. 19, 2002 - Michigan State 1, Michigan 1- Despite outshooting the Spartans 43- 21 at Yost Ice Arena, Michigan could not pull out a victory against the Spartans. Forward Dwight Helminen beat Miller late in the third to salvage a tie for the Wolverines. Saturday night - Michigan State 3, Michigan 1- Michigan's inability to capitalize on its chances came back to haunt the Wolverines again. That problem combined with two bad goals proved too much for the Wolverines to overcome as Michigan State took the rubber game of the regular season series between the two rivals at Joe Louis Arena. cers troubles with State go deeper than Just 'ounces Comrie and Cammalleri watch from the seats Roemensky's season-long troubles continue on defense By Chris Burke Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - As the Michigan hockey team was struggling to put the puck past Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller in a 3-1 loss on Sat- urday, the Wolverines probably had to fight the temptation to look up into the Joe Louis Arena stands at two players that no doubt could have helped. Junior forward Mike Cammalleri - still recovering from mono - was sitting next to former Michigan standout Mike Comrie during the HOCKEY showdown. The 21-year old Comrie, who left Michigan Notebook after his sophomore season to play for the Edmonton Oilers, was in Detroit while the NHL takes a two-week break for the Olympics. In his second and final season as a Wolver- ine in 1999-2000, Comrie led the team with 59 points, 25 more than the next highest scorer on the team. But Comrie's mere presence wasn't enough to get the Wolverines over the hump against a Michigan State team that now holds a 1-0-2 record against Michigan this year. "It's tough any time you lose to Michigan State when you're a Wolverine," Comrie said "But it was a good game, exciting for the fans. It was just unfortunate they didn't get the win." As much as Cammalleri - who hopes to return to play as early as next weekend against Ohio State - might have enjoyed his ex-team- mate Comrie's company for a night, he didn't enjoy missing his second game against Michi- gan State in just over a month. "Watching is real hard, especially now that I feel better. You really want to be out there," Cammalleri said. "It's a nervous feeling when you watch. When you're playing there's more of an excitement." Comrie, who would be a senior at Michigan this year had he stayed in school, understood what Cammalleri was feeling. "(Cammalleri) wanted to get out there, as did I," Comrie said. "We could both be playing in this game." CONSTANT STRUGGLE: Michigan defenseman Mike Roemensky continued to fight with his season-long inconsistency on Saturday night. The junior defenseman was on the ice for Michigan State's first goal 1:36 into the first period, and then was beaten by freshman Mike Lalonde to allow the Spartans' third goal. Lalonde took a pass from Kevin Estrada and broke down the left sideof the Michigan zone in a one-on-one situation with Roemensky. Lalonde fought off Roemensky's light checking attempt and managed to play the puck through the defenseman. The .Michigan State forward then snapped a shot past Michi- gan goalie Josh Blackburn to give the Spartans an insurmountable 3-1 lead. "He got beat one-on-one, and that's one of the rules for defenseman. You can't get beat one-on-one," said Michigan coach Red Beren- son of the play that led to the Spartans' third goal. "It's as simple as that. It's not like you're playing Steve Yzerman - these are good players but they're players of our caliber, and you shouldn't get beat one-on-one." MASON RESPECT: Michigan State coach Ron Mason was honored with a plaque from Beren- son before the game, and a video tribute in the second period. Mason, the winningest coach in college hockey history, will step down at the end of the year to become the school's athletic director. Quality, not quantity Ever since the Wolverines defeated the Spar- tans 4-3 in overtime last year on Jan. 27, they have not been able win in six tries (0-4- 2). But Michigan did have the majority of the scoring chances in these games, they just couldn't convert them into goals. By J. Brady McCollough Daily Sports Writer Michigan Michigan State 100 -1 2 01 -3 Rst period - 1. MSU, Goodenow 9 (Ules), 1:36; 2. UM, Her derson 4 (Helminen), 3:50; 3. MSU, Gocdencw 10 (Jackson, Lles),4:49. Penfles- UM,0Ortmeyer(hlding),:20;MSU, Slater (high sticking), :20; MSU, Goldie (high sticking), 19:10; UM, Werner (hit after whistle), 20:00. Second peiod=-No sccrnrg. Penltes- UM Vaicik (hold- irig), 5-04 MSU, Falardeau (holding), 15:46; MSU, Faladeau (hit after whistle), 20:00; UM, Komisarek (hit after whistle), 20:00. third pediod- 4. MSU, Lalonde 7(Estrada, Goldie),10:19. Peneites- UM, Henderson (high sticking), 18:45. Shots on a-UM, 9-11-8-28; MSU,83-1-21. Power Plays-UM,0of 2; MSU,0of3. Saves-UM, Blackburn-18-21; MSU, Miller-27-28. Referee - Steve Piotrowski U ~esmen -John LaDuke, Kevin Lagseth At Joe Louis Arena, Detroit Attendance: 20,058. 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. DETROIT - Some things just can't be explained. For example, the fact that the Michigan hock- ey team has not beaten Michigan State in the teams' last six meetings is simply baffling. The Wolverines are 0-4-2 dating back to February of last season, and it looks like they'll need a miracle of cosmic proportions to end that streak this season. For some reason, when the maize and blue face off against the green and white, Michigan may "outplay, outshoot and outhustle" the Spartans, but HOCKEY it can't seem to outscore them. Commentary Prior to Saturday night's 3-1 Michigan State win at Joe Louis Arena, the teams had tied their two previous meetings this season - 3-3 in the "Cold War" at Spartan Sta- dium on Oct. 6 and 1-1 at Yost Ice Arena just one month ago. But each of those ties felt like another Michi- gan State victory - another failure by Michi- gan to score that elusive game-winning goal. In the 3-3 stalemate, Michigan carried a 3-2 lead into the final minute of regulation, only to allow the tying goal to Michigan State fresh- man Jim Slater with 47 seconds remaining. Just seconds before Slater scored, Michigan captain Jed Ortmeyer had a chance to clear the puck from the zone, but was unable to do so. In any other game against any other team, Ortmeyer clears that puck, and his team seizes the victo- ry. At Yost, Michigan clearly dominated the action, doubling the Spartans' shots 43-21. But while constantly pressuring Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller, Michigan needed a perfect shot from freshman Dwight Helminen just to score one time. In the waning moments of the second period of that game, with the Spartans up 1-0, fresh- man Eric Werner found himself a few feet away from the goal with Miller out of position, but the defenseman misfired on an open net. Wern- er's miss was just one more unexplainable occurrence to add to the ongoing list from the past six games. After Saturday's defeat, in which Michigan outshot Michigan State 28-21, it was time to start brainstorming about the Wolverines' woes against legendary coach Ron Mason and his Spartans. The first hypothesis that came to mind was that Mason's conservative, trapping, mistake- free style of hockey was getting the best of Michigan coach Red Berenson's open, high-fly- ing style. In the three games this season, it seemed as if the Spartans confidently sat back and waited for the Wolverines to make mis- takes, and then capitalized on the errors that would inevitably come. Saturday's game supported that theory com- pletely, Is Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn allowed two goals that shouldn't have found the net, including a tally on what was intended to be a dump into the zone by Michigan State for- ward Joe Goodenow. The Spartans' third goal came on a lackluster defensive effort by Michi- gan defenseman Mike Roemensky who - instead of knocking Michigan State forward Mike Lalonde to the ice - couldn't decide whether to play the man or the puck and allowed him to send the puck past Blackburn. The Spartans' philosophy was easy to figure out: Show up, play conservatively, and let Michigan shoot itself in the foot. But Michigan State made mistakes - plenty of them. In fact, it made enough mistakes to make Mason admit that his team didn't play much defense Saturday. Michigan had several point-blank scoring opportunities in the second period, and had even more against this vaunted Michigan State defense at Yost in the 1-1 tie. In the third period on Saturday, Michigan freshman Jason Ryznar received a pass in the crease, but couldn't get anything on his shot, which allowed Miller to recover and make the save. If Ryznar had hit the puck any harder, the score would have been tied 2-2. Do teams that don't make mistakes screw up chances like that? Michigan State defender John-Michael Liles said that he felt like Michigan outshooting his team didn't mean much because his team didn't allow many grade-A scoring chances. If that's the Michigan State grading scale, it better readjust the curve, because Michigan had at least five grade-As in the second period and a few more in the third. All season long, in its losses, Michigan has cited the infamous "bounces" as the major rea- son for each loss - "We just didn't get the bounces tonight" can be heard throughout post- game interviews. And Michigan is right. It didn't get the bounces Saturday. In fact, just about every bounce imaginable went against in Michigan State's favor. But this excuse should not be accepted - not after six straight games against the Spartans in which the Wolverines didn't get those pesky bounces. Michigan's troubles against Michigan State right now are deeper than bounces. They're all mental. Instead of playing the puck and scoop- ing it into his glove with ease, Blackburn sat back on his heels and was played by the puck. Instead of making a routine play and hitting Lalonde or knocking the puck away with his stick, Roemensky decided to practice his waltz with the freshman. Those things don't happen against Alaska- Fairbanks and Nebraska-Omaha, the third and fourth-place teams in the CCHA. They happen against Michigan State, and the reason for this can be found in one place - the mind of each Wolverine. Maybe Michigan puts too much pressure on itself to score against the Spartans, so when the opportunity comes, it freezes up. Maybe the Wolverines are so worried about losing to their rivals that they forget to use their natural instincts. With a potential matchup against the Spar- tans in the CCHA tournament looming, Michi- gan needs to dig deep and figure this problem out. Or, it can continue to go back to its old excuse and pray to the bounce gods for mercy. Ji4 gy }4 Shots Goals Scoring Pct. Shutouts Michigan 171 8 4.6 0 Michigan State 154 16 10.3 1 Team 1. Denver 2. New Hampshire 3. St. Cloud 4. Minnesota 5. Boston University 6. Colorado College 7. Michigan State 8. Maine 9. Cornell 10. Michigan 11. Alaska-Fairbanks Record 26-5-1 21-6-3 26-5-2 22-7-4 2 1-7-2 20-9-3 21-6-5 17-9-6 18-6-1 18-9-5 18-10-2 PWR 28 27 26 24 24 23 22- 21 21 19 18 17 16 14 14 DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Josh Blackburn made 18 saves in Saturday's loss, but it was the saves that he wasn't able make that came back to haunt the Wolverines as they dug themselves a hole too deep to overcome. 12. Northern Michigan 20-10-2 13. Western Michigan 17-11-4 14. Mass-Lowell 17-10-3 15. Northeastern 17-12-3 STATE WATCH After beating the Wolverines Satur- day 3-1, the Spartans will head to Oxford to take on Miami for a two- game series. On Nov. 16-17 in East Lansing, Michigan State dominated Miami, sweeping the RedHawks 3-0 and 2-0. AROUND THE CCHA The fight for third place in the con- ference is on, and this weekend, North- ern Michigan and Ohio State made the biggest jumps in the standings. The Wildcats recovered from a sweep last weekend by Western Michi- gan, taking their frustration out on Miami.. D.,..,,,,.nn '7 1 F rcr ad 1- SPARTANS Continued from Page 18 Goodenow in the slot, who skated in and beat Blackburn for the 1-0 lead. But Michigan retaliated promptly, as fresh- man Dwight Helminen won a faceoff in the Spartans' zone and passed it to Charlie Hender- son for a shot. Henderson's shot caromed off Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller and flew high into the air. The puck came down in the crease and bounced into the goal at 3:50. But just 59 seconds later, Goodenow's dump- in put Michigan behind for good. "It just took a weird bounce," Blackburn said. "I don't know if I took my eyes off of it, but I don't think that will happen too many times." Said Miller: "That bounce was unfortunate. I think there was a rut in the ice or something. I'll give him the benefit of the- doubt on that one." But it was the same story for the Wolverines. A failure to convert on its chances cost them yet another game against Michigan State. Junior John Shouneyia had two scoring. chances right in front of the Spartans' goal, but missed the net on both occasions. Forward J.J. Swistak and freshman Jason Ryznar had a two- on-none breakaway, but Swistak was unable to even get a shot off as Miller corralled the puck. In the third, Ryznar found himself alone on the doorstep staring into an open net, but let off a weak shot that Miller was able to slide over and stop it. "You can't win a game scoring only one goal," Michigan freshman Eric Nystrom said. "It's not Miller - he'll save the easy ones. We had a lot of chances, but we just didn't put them in." Michigan dominated the second period and most of the third until the Spartans' third goal halfway through the third period. Michigan State's Mike Lalonde skated into the Wolverines zone with the puck, went right around defenseman Mike Roemensky (who fin- ished minus-2 for the night), and sneaked one by Blackburn. With the way things were going for Michi- gan, a two-goal lead seemed insurmountable. "We don't play 80-some games that we can just set this aside," Berenson said. "It was a game that we came here to win, but we didn't close." l l .4 DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan's offensive struggles played right Into Michigan State's hands In the Spartans 3-1 win. CNCIIJA STAND~INGSl CCHA 11FADFR'S ('CCH A PC)INDIJP MICHIGTCAN ILEADE1RSJ %. "%~ AL A 0 1,C11,4k.L. L..'&k tP/.J- a1.a.J. a..- a.~ h.- ' % NA. A. *... l..' A N ~ A.V .AAla A.A t.A 'Iaa * ---c -- a. As