5B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 18, 2002 Ryan Miller, Michigan State Last year's Hobey Baker winner led the nation in wins and shutouts while posting a 1.75 goals against average. Darren Haydar, New Hampshire The Hockey East Player of the Year, Haydar finished third in the nation in points with 70 while leading his team to a conference championship. Hobey watch Here are the Daily's candidates sr the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which is given to the nation's best college hockey player at the end of each season. Michigan State goaltender Ryan Miller won the award last year Jordan Leopold, Minnesota A two-time Hobey Baker finalist, Leopold finished second in the nation in points by a defenseman to become the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Wade Dubielewicz, Denver The Denver junior was named WCHA Goalie of the Year for the second straight season with a .943 save percentage that led the nation and set a new league record. SPARTANS Continued from Page 11B shot in the third period. It was a lot of balls on the line." Just under four minutes into the first period, Michigan did something it hadn't done in its last eight games against Michi- gan State - score the first goal of the game. Michigan center John Shouneyia skated into the right side of the zone and made a cross-ice pass to Gajic. The puck bounced off Gajic's stick right into the front of the crease whereMichigan forward Mark Mink fired a shot and then backhanded the rebound past a sprawling Miller. "It's very important to go out there and get that first goal against them," Michigan captain Jed Ortmeyer said. "They really concentrate on playing defense. If you let them get the lead right away, it's tough for us. They like to trap and just chip the puck down the ice. It was a huge boost to get that goal." But Michigan State retaliated quickly just three minutes later on' the powerplay, with Shouneyia in the box for a boarding penalty. Michigan State defenseman Brad Fast rocketed a shot high on Blackburn, and Spartans' forward Ash Goldie was out- side the right side of the crease for an easy flip-in on the rebound. With just under 11 minutes left in the second period, the Wolverines went to work off a faceoff in the Michigan State zone. The puck came out to Michigan center Mike Cammalleri, who fired the puck from the point. Ortmeyer retrieved the rebound and put the puck past Miller, giving Michigan a crucial shot of momentum. Michigan had some quality scoring chances to close the peri- od, including a 2-on-1 breakaway, which was led by Gajic. But the Wolverines could not build on their lead. By virtue of a gratuitous bounce, the Spartans took a 2-2 tie - and the momentum - into the second intermission. Michigan State forward Steve Clark sent a pass out of the right corner of the Michigan zone that caromed off Michigan defenseman Mike Roemensky's skate past a startled Blackburn into the Michigan net. But when it counted, it was Michigan's captain who stepped up to give the Wolverines the lead for good. At 15:39 in the third period on the powerplay, Michigan forward Eric Nystrom found himself in the same corner as Clark stood just minutes earlier when he tied the game at two. But Nystrom didn't need a freak bounce, as he sent the puck right across the crease to Ortmeyer who lifted it past Miller for the game-winning goal - his sec- ond of the game. The Wolverines held on for dear life in the last 15 minutes, earning them their fifth CCHA Tournament title. "I thought our team, considering everything they have been through, held up well and did all the little things that they had to do," Berenson said. Blackburn at his best in crunch time By Chris Burke and stretched out to block a shot with his stick and Daily Sports Writer deny them. 3. DETROIT - On one end of the Joe Louis Arena ice yesterday stood Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller - the 2001 Hobey Baker award winner, 2002 CCHA Player of the Year and the conference leader in every major sta- tistical category for goalies. At the other end was Michigan netminder Josh Black- burn - a senior named to the CCHA Honorable Men- tion team and ranking behind Miller in every statistical category: wins, shutouts, save percentage and goals against average. But after yesterday's 3-2 win, it was Blackburn who could be called a 2002 CCHA regular season and tour- nament champion. Blackburn made several crucial saves to keep the Spartans off the board, and one of the two goals that he allowed came on a centering attempt by Michigan State forward Steve Clark, which was redirected off the stick of Michigan junior defenseman Mike Roemensky and into the net. But when given a chance to make a save, Blackburn did so to help Michigan to its first CCHA tournament title since 1999. "We knew that Josh would have to have a great week- end for us to come out on top, and he had a tremendous weekend," Michigan defenseman Andy Burnes said. "He was the reason we won. That's why he came to Michi- gan, that's why we all came to Michigan, to play in big games and beat State." Twice in yesterday's game, after Michigan had jumped out to a lead, the Spartans countered with extended peri- ods of pressure, but Blackburn slammed the door to keep the Wolverines on top. In the second period, the Wolverines pulled ahead 2-1 on a goal by junior captain Jed Ortmeyer. Shortly after that, Michigan State tested Blackburn, but the senior made two sprawling saves before the puck was cleared out from the front of the net. Then in the third period, Michigan grabbed a 3-2 lead when Ortmeyer tallied his second goal of the game and the Wolverines turned to Blackburn again to keep them on top. With just over 12 minutes left, a scramble in front of the Michigan net led to a loose puck at the side of the goal. But as the Spartans tried to tuck the puck into the net, Blackburn dove back NCAA Championship Bracket EastRegona East Regional March 23-24 No. 1 New Hampshire Semifinals April 4 winner of No. 4 vs. No. 5 No. 4 Cornell No. 5 Quinnipiac No. 3 Maine Finals April 4 Champion No. 6 Harvard winner of No. 3 vs. No. 6 No. 2 Boston University West Regional March 22-23 No. 2 Minnesota winner of No. 3 vs. No. 6 No. 3 Michigan State i No. 6 Colorado College No. 4 Michigan Despite winning the CCHA regular season title and the CCHA Tourna- ment championship, Michigan was handed a No. 4 seed in the West Region. If Michigan beats St. Cloud, it will play the WCHA regular season and tournament champion Denver. Michigan State, which lost to Michi- gan 3-2 in the CCHA Tournament championship game and finished sec- ond in the CCHA regular season, was given a higher seed than Michigan. No. 5 St. Cloud DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Junior Mike Cammallerl was a one man wrecking crew for the Wolverines Friday night against Ohio State, scoring both of Michigan's goals. winner of No. 4 vs. No. 5 No. 1 Denver I Michigan gets fourth seed; prepares for St. Cloud By Seth Klempner Daily SportsWriter The Michigan hockey team was riding an emotional high yesterday afternoon after defeat- ing its arch rival Michigan State for the first time this season 3-2. It had won the CCHA reg- ular season championship and had captured the CCHA Tournament Championship for the first time in three years. But all of these accolades would only win Michigan a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tourna- ment and the right to play No. 5 seed Saint Cloud in the West Regional, which will be held at Yost Ice Arena this Friday. Despite being a higher seed than Saint Cloud, Michigan is five spots below them in the final USCHO.com poll -released March 11th. The Wolverines had a chance to receive a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament when they were ranked No. 4 in the pairwise rankings, which mimics the NCAA selection process. But a loss to Lake Superior State in the first game of the CCHA playoffs plummeted Michi- gan's pairwise rankings to No. 10 and all but squandered Michigan's chances of receiving a bye. "There is no question that (the loss) affected (our pairwise ranking) - more than anyone could have anticipated," coach Red Berenson said after watching the brackets announced on ESPN with the team. "We were looking at a bye opportunity and that game just dropped us like a rock and we have to live with that." If Michigan defeats Saint Cloud in the first round, it will advance to play the top-seeded Pioneers, who won the WCHA Championship and had been ranked No. 1 for the majority of the season. Also receiving byes in the first round are New Hampshire, Minnesota and Boston Univer- sity. Boston University failed to win the ECHA Championship and was ranked No. 6 in the polls, but still received a first-round bye on the strength of a No. 4 placing in the pairwise rank- ings. Also aiding the Terriers is a new piece of legislation put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks by the NCAA committee, which aims to keep teams near their campuses. The rule states that any team "under 400 miles from a particular venue cannot choose to fly there," but must drive instead. In addition, the selec- tion committee aimed to limit the amount of the teams' travel. The only schools in the field more than 400 miles from a venue are Minnesota, Saint Cloud, Colorado College and Denver, which are an average nearly 1,000 miles from the nearest regional site - Ann Arbor. This means that all four of these teams could fly to either Ann Arbor or Worcester, Mass. - located an hour outside of Boston. This legislative measure prevents the previous rule that swapped the bottom two East and West seeds to provide a "national feel" to the NCAA Tournament and added to efforts to keep eastern teams in the East Regional and vice versa. This alignment allows for the possibility of having four WCHA teams play each other in the second round of the West Regional. This new rule also adds to the difficulty of Michigan's task of getting out of a bracket that Berenson considers "the toughest bracket we could possibly be in." Saint Cloud, ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll, had been ranked No. 1 earli- er this year and is considered one of the top teams in the nation despite having lost its last two games in the WCHA playoffs to No. 10 Colorado College and No. 3 Minnesota. Michigan upset the second-seeded Huskies in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA Tourna- ment 4-3. "They are a well coached team, they have a lot of great hockey players and we had to battle with them last year," junior Mike Cammalleri said. "We had to play one of our best games last year. It took that much to beat them and we can expect the same thing this year." Despite being snubbed by the selection com- mittee, the Wolverines were upbeat about their chances next weekend. "If you do win your Friday game, you are kind of on a role for your Saturday game," Cam- malleri said. "We found that with Ohio State. They were a lot more ready to play than we were this weekend, and we were lucky to get out of that game." TOM FELDKAMP/Daily Michigan sophomore Mike Komisarek tangles with an Ohio State defenseman Saturday. East Regional - Centrum Centre - Worcester, Mass.