4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 4, 2002
Slap shouts
"First place is great, but we have bigger
dragons to slay."
- Michigan forward Mike Cammalleri after the Wolverines
beat Western Michigan 6-2 on Saturday to clinch the
CCHA title outright.
FRIDAY'S GAME
to, Michigan 4
Western Michigan 2
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 6
Western Michigan 2
Key play
Saturday, 4:22 into the third
With the game tied at two, junior John Shouneyia
redirected a Mark Mink pass past Western Michi-
gan goalie JeffReynaert to put Michigan ahead
for good. The Wolverines added three more goals
to clinch the CCHA regular season title outright.
THE DAILY'S STARS
The Michigan Daily hockey writers'
picks for Michigan's three stars of the
weekend.
JohneShouneyia
Center
The junior scored the game-winning
goal Saturday night, while also record-
ing three assists on the weekend.
Mike Cammalleri
Center
In his return, Cammalleri had one assist
Friday night and a goal and an assist
Saturday night to boost Michigan's
powerplay.
Eric Nystrom
Forward
Thefreshman scored his 15th goal of
the season Saturday night to tie the
game at two and help Michigan come
from behind.
'M' SCHEDULE
CCHA Tournament - First Round
This week:
Friday vs. Lake Superior
Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
Saturday vs. Lake Superior
Yost Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday vs. take Superior (if necessary)
Yost ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
With Michigan's sweep over Western
Michigan and Michigan State's loss to
Ferris State Friday night, the Wolverines
will now play the last-place team in the
conference for the first round of the
CCHA Tournament. The Wolverines swept
the Lakers on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 as Michigan
goalie Josh Blackburn did not allow sin-
gle goal in the series. Lake Superior has
not played at Yost this season.
How THE Top 10 FARED
No.1 Denver (28-7.1) def. North Dakota 4-3,
lost to North Dakota 4-1
No. 2 St. Cloud (27.8-2) lost to Minnesota 5-
4, lost to Minnesota 3-1
No. 3 New Hampshire (23.6.3) def. Boston
College 5-2
No. 4 Minnesota (26-7-4) def. St. Cloud 5-4,
def. St. Cloud 31
No. 5 Michigan State (24-7-5) lost to Ferris
State 3-2, def. Ferris State 2-0
No. 6 Boston University (23.8.3) lost to
Maine 9-6, tied Maine 4-4
No. 7 Maine (20-9-7) def. Boston University 9-6,
tied Boston University 4-4
No. 8 Michigan (22.95) def. Western Michigan
4-2, def. estern Michigan 6.
No. 9 Cornell (21-6-2) def. Rensselaer 2-1,
def. Union 3-1
No.10 Colorado College (20-11-3) def. Michi-
gan Tech 2-0, def. Michigan Tech 8-1.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 4, Westem Michigan 2
Western Michigan 0 1 1 - 2
Michigan 1. 1 2 -4
First peiod - 1.UM, Henderson 6 (Werner), 3:25; Pena tes
-UM,rtmeyer(boadrg),1:10; WMU,Farquhar(holdig),
9:55; UM, team(too may on ice), 18:26; WMU, Drake(hook-
irg), 19:37.
Seondlpedod-2. UM, Mink 4 (Rymar) 4:00; 3. WMU,
Drake 5 (Jarmuth, Bishai),10:42 (sh); Penaaimes-WMU
Dwyer (tripping), 4:13; WMU, Drae (holdirg), 7:46; UM,
Camallei (roughing), 7:46; WMU, Yamashita (crosscheck-
ing), 8:53.
'hrd peiod- 4. UM, Woodford 6 (Helminen), 4:24; 5. UM,
Komsaek 10 (Cammalleri, Shouneyia)12:49 (pp); 6. WMU,
Cousineau 11(Rmble, crane), 17:44 (pp). Penas-
WMU, Cook (roughing), 12:21; UM, Mink (checkingfrom
behind), 15:17; UM, Vancik (crosschecking), 17:20; UM,
carrrrdleri(roughing),18:17; WMU, Carnpbell (roughing),
18:17.
Shosongodl-UM,11-1714-42; WMU, 6411-21.
Power Plays- UM,1 of 7; WMU,1 of 6.
Saves - UM, Backbum-19-21; WMU, Reynaert--3842.
Reere- Kevin Hall
Linesmen- Butch Friedman, BruceVida
At Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor Attendance: 6,347.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 6, Western Michigan 2
No longer on the bubble,
Blue rolling into playoffs
Road to the Joe
First Round
Best-of-three series
Mar. &10
Play-in round
March 15
Semifinals
March 16
By chris Burke
Daily Sports Writer
KALAMAZOO - Somewhere this sea-
son, between surprising losses to Northern
Michigan, Alaska-Fairbanks and Bowling
Green, the Michigan hockey team found a
way to win a regular season conference
championship.
After unexpectedly splitting a home
series with CCHA bottom-feeder Bowling
Green on Jan. 25-26, the Wolverines found
themselves not only trailing Michigan State
in the CCHA standings, but also in danger
of not making the NCAA Tournament.
With its remaining series coming
against top-20 teams Nebraska-Omaha,
Ohio State and Western Michigan, the
chances for a CCHA title seemed slim,
and the chances for an NCAA bid were
bleak.
But five weeks and eight wins later, the
Wolverines are suddenly the hottest team
in college hockey - now fourth in the
Pairwise Rankings - and are CCHA title
holders.,
"I think we got better and as the season
goes on, you hope to get better," Michigan
forward Mike Cammalleri said. "I think
everybody has stepped it up a little bit -
everyone's contributing and that's great.
That's a winning combination."
Said Michigan coach Red Berenson:
"When you look at the young players, the
season, the schedule, the adversity and
everything else, this is a good accomplish-
ment for this team."
Michigan defenseman Andy Burnes
described Saturday's 6-2 win over Western
Michigan as a microcosm of the Wolver-
ines season.
The Wolverines played a lackluster first
period and trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes.
But after fighting back to a 2-2. tie heading
into the third period, the Wolverines took
over, scoring four goals in the third period
for a 6-2 win.
Similarly, Michigan's season has been a
roller coaster. A 2-4-1 start hit rock bot-
tom with a sweep by Northern Michigan in
Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines responded
and rallied back into contention going 10-
2-3 in their next 15 games before the dis-
appointing losses to Alaska-Fairbanks and
Bowling Green.
But with their backs against the wall
late in the year, the Wolverines have
answered the call again. Since losing 4-2
to Bowling Green, Michigan has not
dropped a game in nine CCHA contests,
while the then-first-place Michigan State
team slipped up twice.
. The Wolverines will now open CCHA
Tournament play on Friday by hosting
Lake Superior - the worst team in the
conference. Just two wins against the
12th-place Lakers stand between Michigan
and the CCHA semifinals in Detroit,
where the Wolverines would be one of the
favorites.
The bubble that the Wolverines were on
for the NCAA is no longer a factor; bar-
ring a stunning upset at the hands of Lake
Superior, Michigan appears to be a lock
for the NCAAs.
And with that worry out of the way and
the celebration of a league regular season
title behind them, the Wolverines can
focus on continuing their recent string of
success.
(Winning the regular season champi-
onship) "is one step for our team, it's one
goal that we set at the beginning of the
year and we accomplished," forward John
Shouneyia said. "But we've got to keep
going - it's obviously not the end."
No. 1 Michigan
No. 12 Lake Superior
No. 2 Michigan State
No. 11 Bowling Green
No. 3 Northern Michigan
No. 10 Miami
No. 4 Alaska-Fairbanks
No. 9 Ferris State
No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha
No. 8 Notre Dame
No. 6 Western Michigan
No. 7 Ohio State
01
re-seeded No. 3
re-seeded No. 6
re-seeded No. 1
lowest remaining seed
championship game
March 17
re-seeded No. 2
other remaining team
re-seeded No. 4
re-seeded No. 5
Under the new CCHA Tournament format, all 12 conference teams
will get an opportunity to compete this postseason. In the first round
this weekend, the teams will be matched up according to their regu-
lar season finish. The six teams that advance from the first round will
be re-seeded for the Super 6 Championship at Joe Louis Arena the fol-
lowing weekend. The team with the highest original seed coming out
of the first round will be re-seeded as one, the next highest team will
be two, and so on. The top two re-seeded teams will get a bye in the
play-in round, and play the winners of that round in the semifinals.
S
4NA
/
mr'
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
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91
What you may have missed...
Over spring break, Michigan went 4-0-0, sweeping both Ohio State and Western Michi-
gan to become CCHA regular season champions. The Wolverines have won nine straight
conference games, and are the hottest team in the CCHA heading into the tournament.
Here is a recap of the games over break.
Feb. 22 - Michigan 4, Ohio State 0 - Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn made 24 saves
and junior John Shouneyia recorded three assists as the Wolverines blanked the Buck-
eyes at home. Michigan scored three times in the first 10 minutes and never looked
back.
Feb. 23 - Michigan 6, Ohio State 3 - Freshman Eric Nystrom had two goals and senior
Craig Murray had a powerplay goal on senior night, as the Wolverines guaranteed them-
selves no less than second place in the CCHA by sweeping the Buckeyes.
Mar. 1- Michigan 4, Western Michigan 2 - The Wolverines grabbed at least a share of
the CCHA title thanks to their win over the Broncos at home and Michigan State's 3-2 loss
to Ferris State. Mike Cammalleri made his return in this game and recorded one assist.
Mar. 2 - Michigan 6, Western Michigan 2 - Michigan scored four times in the third to
come from behind and beat the Broncos in Kalamazoo to become CCHA champions.
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Michigan forward John Shouneyia re-directs Mark Mink's pass past Western Michigan goalie Jeff Reynaert to put
the Wolverines ahead for good on Saturday night, 3-2. Shouneyla had four points on the weekend.
BRONCOS
Continued from Page 1B
Jan. 12 -upped the lead to 4-2 with 12:12 remaining in
the game on a beautiful pass from Shouneyia, as the
Wolverines took advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay.
Senior defenseman Jay Vancik added an empty net
goal with just under two minutes left, and freshman
Charlie Henderson notched a powerplay goal - Michi-
gan's third of the night - for the final margin.
The win was the Wolverines' ninth straight in the
CCHA, locking up the top seed in the conference play-
offs that begin this weekend.
Friday night's 4-2 win was not played as tightly as the
final score would indicate, as Michigan outshot Western
Michigan 42-21 and carried the play for much of the
contest.
The Wolverines jumped on the board quickly, with
freshman Charlie Henderson scoring 3:25 into the first
period after a perfect feed from defenseman Eric Werner.
"It's always good to get the first goal, no matter who
you're playing against," Henderson said. "But especially
in a game like this where you have such a big opportuni-
ty to do so much."
Michigan increased the lead to 2-0 with 16:00 left in
the second period. A spectacular shift by the Wolver-
ines' forward line of Shouneyia, Jason Ryznar and Mink
didn't allow the Broncos to make the line change they
desperately needed.
After a long period of pressure, Mink circled in front
of the Western Michigan goal and snapped a shot that hit
Reynaert's shoulder and trickled behind him into the net.
Western Michigan closed within 2-1, but Michigan
freshman Michael Woodford scored just over four min-
utes into the third to reestablish the two-goal cushion.
Defenseman Mike Komisarek used a screen to beat Rey-
naert on the powerplay with for Michigan's fourth goal.
The solid game by the Wolverines set the stage for
Saturday's championship-clinching victory.
"It feels really good," said Berenson of the title. "I
can't tell you that we did it the easy way - there were
times that we were just about out of the picture in terms
of the first-place race. Our team just continued to win
the games that they had to win"
Michigan
Michigan State
1 1 4 -6
2 0 0-2
Fkst period- 1. UM, Murray 6 (Moss, Henderson), 9:33
(pp); 2. WMU, Drke 6 (Cook), 9:58; 3. WMU, Lattery 18
(crane), 18:29. Penties- UM, Komisa-ek (trpping), 2:45,
WMU, Yamashita (interference), 9:22; UM, Burnes (roughing),
11:42; UM, Helminen (slashing), 16:08.
Second pediod -4. UM, Nystrom 15 (Vancik, Shouneyia),
4:24. Penlties-WMU Rose (holding the stick), 4:48;
WMU, Ggnon (charging), 10:32; UM, Cammalleri (hooking),
15:14; WMU, Drke (dv), 12:29.
7Wrd period - 5. UM, Shouneyia 9 (Mink), 4:22; 6. UM,
Cammalleri 16 (Shouneyia, Ortmeyer), 7:48 (pp); 7. UM, Van-
cik 3 (unassisted), 18:18 (empty net); 8. UM, Henderson 7
(Cammalleri, Woodford),18:40 (pp). Pencities- WMU,
Crane, (obstructionholding), 6:01.
S *tson-UMw7-12-28;WMU, 843-15.
Power Plays- UM, 3 of 7; WMU, 0OofS5.
Saves-UM, Blackburn-1315; WMU, Reynaert-22-27.
Referee-Steve Piotrowski
Lkiemen -Brent Gawlik, John Philo
At Lawson Arena, Kawr h oo Attence: 4,575.
AROUND THE CCHA
Spartans drop the pace;
Wildcats sneak by Nanooks
Even though Michigan State beat
Michigan 3-1 in a nonconference game
on Feb. 16, the Spartans could not keep
pace with the Wolverines in the final
weekend of conference play.
The teams entered the weekend tied,
but Michigan State fell to Ferris State
3-2 Friday night. It was the first time
since 1990 that the Spartans lost in Big
Rapids. With 8:04 remaining in the
third period, Ferris State's Phil
Lewandowski beat Ryan Miller on the
backhand to put the Bulldogs ahead.
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
The Wolverines celebrate following John Shouneyla's go-ahead goal In the third period on Sat-
urday night. The goal was the first of four by Michigan in the period.
Cammalleri notches three points i*n return
By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Writer
KALAMAZOO - If the red-hot
Michigan hockey team needed an extra
boost heading into the final weekend of
the season, it got it in the form of junior
forward Mike Cammalleri.
The alternate captain returned to the
lineup after having
to sit out 10 games HOCKEY
due to mononucleo-
sis. While he wasn't Notebook
at 100 percent for
the two-game series against Western
Michigan, his effort was good enough
for a goal and two assists over the week-
end.
"Coach kept asking me how I felt - I
was tired, but once you get out there it's
tough to say 'no'," Cammalleri said after
Friday's win. "It was the first game back
in a long time. My timing was a little off,
but overall I still feel pretty well."
Cammalleri centered a line with
freshman Jason Ryznar and junior
Jed Ortmeyer for much of the week-
end. He also was reinserted back
onto the Wolverir es' top powerplay
line and received some penalty
killing time as well.
"It's good to have Mike back, he adds
a dimension to our team that's special:'
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"He's going to need a couple of games to
get back in sync totally with timing, but
it's a good start though."
The Wolverines had gone 7-2-1
during Cammalleri's absence, falling
to Bowling Green and to Michigan
State in a nonconference game at Joe
Louis Arena.
KNOCK ON WOOD: Freshman Michael
Woodford finally found his way back
into the scoring column in Friday's vic-
tory over Western Michigan. The Michi-
gan forward had been suffering through
a 12-game goal-less drought since tally-
ing five goals in three games over winter
break.
But Woodford scored the game-win-
ner in Friday night's contest, beating
Western Michigan goalie Jeff Reynaert
with 15:36 left in the game. Forward
Dwight Helminen cleanly blocked a shot
in the Michigan zone, carried into West-
ern Michigan's zone and fed Woodford
in the right circle where he lit the lamp
with a wrist shot on Reynaert's stickside.
"You block a shot like that you
deserve to score a goal and although
Helminen didn't score it, he set it up,"
Berenson said. "It was good for Wood-
ford to get one that went in for him
instead of one that just missed. We need
those guys to chip in, it's not always
going to be (John) Shouneyia, Ortmeyer,
(Eric) Nystrom or Cammalleri."
BREAKING THE HEX: Saturday's win not
only clinched the outright CCHA regular
season title for the Wolverines, but it
also marked the first time that the Michi-
gan seniors had captured a win at West-
ern Michigan's Lawson Arena.
In the past four years, Michigan was
0-1-3 on the road against the Broncos -
the Wolverines fell 3-1 a~t Western
Michigan in their second conference
game this season on Oct. 19.
"We definitely had a little problem
over the years finishing out games here,"
Michigan senior defenseman Jay Vancik
said. "It's good to come in here, in an
important game for us, and finish out
with a victory in this building."
Michigan had last defeated Western
Michigan in Kalamazoo in a 4-3 over-
time victory on Jan. 10, 1998.
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. New Hampshire 24-6-3 27
2. Minnesota 26-7-4 26
3. Denver 28-7-1 24
4. Michigan 22-9-5 23
5. Boston University 23-8-3 22
6. Michigan State 24-7-5 22
7. St. Cloud 27-8-2 21
8. Maine 20-9-7 21
9. Cornell 21-6-2 21
10. Colorado College 22-11-3 18
11. Alaska-Fairbanks 20-11-3 17
12. Western Michigan19-13-4 16
13. Northern Michigan23-11-2 15
14. Mercyhurst 22-7-3 13
15. Mass-Lowell 20-11-3 12
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