$jer 3idtigrn rialg
SPORTS '
February , 2003
SECTION B
ill m i I i:!::: i l l : 1:i
iii !: I I I ill 1 11 1 1 11 1: :i :I I i : 1: 1 1 i : l a n I I
T.K.
q
FRIDAY: MICHIGAN 6, FERRIS STATE 4
SATURDAY: FERRIS STATE 4, MICHIGAN 3
Michigan digging itself into
a hole it may not.get out
B IG RAPIDS - Michigan captain Jed Ort- and see if anyone else can meet them. T
meyer came from one direction, alternate played that way from the opening of bot
captain John Shouneyia came from the In Saturday's game, they attacked theI
other. SMACK! They collided and careened battling for every loose puck and, at tim
across center ice. ing by their opponents.
Ferris State skated right by, all the way to the goal, Michigan did outshoot Ferris State ev
where Jeff Legue beat goaltender Al Montoya. Just Bulldogs were controlling play, but fewc
like that, Michigan was down four goals less than period shots were quality chances. Beren
two minutes into the second period Saturday night. the standard cliche, saying Michigan cou
That play epitomized the way Michigan started bounces while Ferris State was getting a
both games of its weekend battle with Ferris State. But you make your own breaks, too, and
Friday night, the Bulldogs went Wolverines had showed intensity on def
up 2-0 in the first 3:20 at Yost, enough cohesion to hang onto the pucki
but the Wolverines didn't let the tral zone, the Bulldogs wouldn't have tak
deficit deflate them. They got commanding lead so easily.
two quick goals of thier own in That said, Ferris State is at the top of d
the middle of the period and for a reason, and Michigan isn't the only
pulled out the 6-4 comeback. burned by Hobey Baker candidate Chri
A win on Saturday would . who scored two first-period goals in eac
have completed the sweep and And you have to give the Wolverinesc
moved Michigan into a tie for COURTNEY storming back within one goal Saturday
first place in the CCHA. The LEWIS a potent team. Down four goals in a hos
Wolverines should have known they could have easily waved the white f
that league-leader Ferris State, Full court instead they turned on the engines in the
in its own rink and with even press the second period until they were scrapp
more to prove, would play with along with the Bulldogs. The Wolverine
more intensity than it had on Friday. And after beat- better team in the third period, aside fron
ing the upstart Bulldogs once, they should have had penalties at the end of the game.
the confidence to come out firing on Saturday. But by that time, Michigan had run ot
Instead, Michigan spent the first part of the game play in the second half of the game show
digging itself into an even deeper hole than the night problem wasn't that Ferris State was just
before. While the Bulldogs were zipping around the for Michigan to handle, it was that the W
ice and hounding the puck, the Wolverines were run- didn't wake up in time. If they had found
ning into each other. Michigan looked a little like before the game was half over, it could h
last-place Lake Superior State, while Ferris State evenly matched contest, and Michigan m
looked like best team in the league. been in a significantly better position in
In its biggest challenge of the season - a show- the CCHA title. Ferris State's lead is bac
down for first place that give it a chance to tranquil- points, and although Michigan has two g
ize the rabid Bulldogs, who had come from nowhere hand, it also has a tougher schedule thanl
last season (ninth place to be exact) - it's puzzling Freshman Jeff Tambellini said that the
that Michigan could come out flat. were not satisfied with anything less tha
"Hockey's a game of emotion and momentum and this weekend and admitted that they wen
we didn't have either at the start of the game," pointed with their early effort Saturday.
Michigan coach Red Berenson said of Friday's game "It was a character game," Tambellini
- although the same could be said for Saturday. "It a game that was going to be played with
took us half the (first) period for us to really start and desire. And they outdid us tonight."
playing up to their level." Michigan showed both heart and desi
If Michigan was going to get pumped up for any it just took them too long to find it.
weekend this season, this should have been it. And
as for playing to Ferris State's level, great teams Courtney Lewis can b
don't try to match their opponents; they set the terms cmlewis
of
,he Bulldogs
h games.
Wolverines,
es, just skat-
ven while the
of its 19 first
nson issued
uldn't get the
all the breaks.
d if the
fense and
in the neu-
ken such a
the CCHA
y team to get
s Kunitz,
ch game.
credit for
against such
tile rink,
flag, but
middle of
ping right
s were the
m costly
ut of time. Its
ted that the
too much
Wolverines
d their fire
ave been an
night have
the race of
k to four
games in
Ferris State
e Wolverines
an the sweep
re disap-
u said. "It was
your heart
re Saturday,
e reached at
,Pumich.edu.
TONY DING/Daily
Michigan goaltender Al Montoya is checked over by trainer Rick Bancroft after being knocked down in the second period of Friday's game.
leers re-main four poi'nts back of Ferris
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
BIG RAPIDS - After Michigan spot-
ted Ferris State two goals to at the outset
on Friday night, Michigan coach Red
Berenson admitted that if the Wolverines
did the same thing Saturday they would
have a long road back.
Well, Michigan didn't just give up two
goals. It gave up four.
The Wolverines came out on Saturday
night with a chance at sharing first
place in the CCHA. Instead they gave
up four goals in the first 22 minutes and
ended up falling to the. league-leading
Bulldogs 4-3.
Michigan's comeback bid looked prom-
ising after Jeff Tambellini's broken-stick
dribbler squeezed past Ferris State goal-
tender Mike Brown's legs to put the
Wolverines within one with 14:35 left in
the game.
"Our team really felt they were going
to win this game," Berenson said. "Even
when they were down."
But Michigan's chances were stymied
when it committed two penalties in the
final five minutes.
Andrew Ebbett received a hooking
penalty for taking down Ferris State's
leading scorer, Chris Kunitz, and just
minutes later, forward Jason Ryznar liter-
ally tackled Kunitz again for a roughing
penalty, leaving Michigan a man down
for the rest of the game.
"It's a killer for them to have to sit for
two minutes without having their full
team out there and not going full blast,"
Kunitz said. "Just for us to work hard and
to get the penalties means we're doing a
lot."
The loss severely diminishes Michi-
gan's chances of repeating its CCHA reg-
ular season title. While Michigan (12-5-1
CCHA, 18-7-1 overall) has two games-in-
hand on Ferris State (14-5-1, 19-8-1), the
Bulldogs have a much easier schedule
down the stretch.
The Wolverines have to play against
Michigan State, and their easiest series
on paper is at Nebraska-Omaha, one of
the hardest places to play in the league.
Ferris State, however, has just one team
with a winning record, Western Michigan,
on its schedule.
See BULLDOGS, Page 4B
Blue can't hang with
fast-paced Gophers
UNNECESSARY
ROUGHNESS
Mother's illness, shoulder injury
waylay top 'M' football recruit
By Jim Weberfl Daily Sports Writer
By Charles Paradis
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - In a game in
which it looked like Minnesota
couldn't miss, it was important that
the Michigan basketball team match
the Golden Gophers punoh for
punch. But the Wolverines didn't
have enough in them as they fell 87-
80 in a shootout Saturday.
Minnesota and Michigan came
out hot in the early minutes of the
game. The
perimeter MICHIGAN 80
players for r MINNESOTA 87
both teams __ NNE__TA__7_
were throw-
ing up - and making - improba-
ble long-range shots to start the
game off at a scorching pace. The
Golden Gophers took a 44-41 lead
into halftime, after both teams
scored just two points in the final
three minutes of the half.
For Michigan - who has not won
a game in which its opponent has
scored more than 80 points - the
fast-paced start was a bad omen,
almost as bad as when Minnesota's
Steve Esselink banked in a 3-point-
er from a few feet behind the top of
the key.
"In the first half, we gave up too
many open three's and then we
started to getting hands up, but they
still hit them," freshman point guard
Daniel Horton said. "Once you let
them get their rhythm, get a few
open ones and knock them down,
after that it doesn't matter what you
do because if they get a good look,
then they are most likely going to
knock it down."
In the second half, Michigan
effectively creating a turnover
before the half had even begun. But
the good start did not pay off for the
Wolverines.
Bernard Robinson, who played
just seven minutes in the first half
because of foul trouble, was forced
to sit much of the'second half after
collecting four fouls. Despite play-
ing just 19 minutes in the game,
Robinson. was involved in one of
the most dramatic plays. Driving
into the offensive end, Robinson
spun at the foul line, and a Min-
nesota player was called for a
blocking foul. The Williams Arena
crowd went crazy and an object was
thrown on the court. After review-
ing the play, the officials ruled a
double foul on Robinson and the
defender.
After that, Robinson was forced
to sit on the bench, though his body
language and posture clearly indi-
cated he wanted to be in the game
to help his team.
Most of Michigan's help came
from the play of its freshmen class.
The five freshmen played down the
stretch and the outcome of the
game rested squarely on their
shoulders.
This did not just come from the
freshman phenom Horton, but also
from some unexpected sources.
Sherrod Harrell, a preferred walk-
on, hit one of Michigan's biggest
shots of the game. With a little
more than a minute left in the game,
Harrell squared up to the basket and
launched a three from the corner.
Harrell's triple was his only basket
of the game and cut the lead to 80-
78.
Harrell, who has attempted just
Prescott Burgess' first game as a
Michigan Wolverine is almost
seven months away. That date
seems further away for his mom, Leslie,
than anyone else. A year ago, Leslie
Burgess became ill and no one knew
how to cure her. A year later,'nothing
has changed. During a three-month stay
in the hospital, doctors discovered that
Leslie has a rare illness called Castle-
man's Disease, which is normally char-
acterized by the growth of non-cancerous
lymph nodes. The doctors don't know
how Leslie contracted the disease, how
to rid her body of the disease and most
importantly, if the disease will prove to
be fatal. So when asked how many
games she will attend at the Big House
next season, Leslie responded: "As
many as God allows me to get to."
Even in the event she can't make it to
Michigan Stadium, there is no doubt
she will be watching her son play.
"Regardless of what is going on in
the world, with me or without me
(physically), I am always with
(Prescott)," Leslie said.
Burgess is confident his mother will
be at the opener and is expecting her
presence to lift his game like always.
"I love it when my family comes to
watch me," Burgess said. "It makes me
play better. Most people it makes nerv-
ous, but for me it makes me play better
than I usually do."
Since his mother contracted the
disease, Burgess has lived with two
different relatives in Warren, Ohio
and infuriated recruiters that couldn't
focusing on football.
Work ethic "is an area that could
improve," Harding coach Thom
McDaniels said. "He's been shuffled
from place to place to place. He has a
home situation that is not a great one, that
is reflected in lack of a better work ethic."
Burgess admits that his mother's ill-
ness has been hard on him and creeps
into his mind during games. As if he
wasn't going through enough off the
field, Burgess also missed six games
during his senior season because of a
nerve injury in his shoulder. He said he
is now "back to 100 percent."
Despite adversity on and off the
field, Burgess is still one of the top
recruits in the country after a junior
year in which he recorded more than
100 tackles. Rivals.com ranks him as
the top safety and the sixth-best
recruit in the country. ESPN's Tom
Lemming ranks him as the second-
best safety in the country and the No.
16 recruit overall. Lemming also
selected Burgess to his ' Super Team,"
equivalent to an All-America team,
with fellow safety and Michigan
recruit Ryan Mundy.:Both Burgess
and Mundy were also selected to the
U.S. Army All-America game a
month ago on ESPN2, where Burgess
announced his commitment to Michi-
gan by pulling a block 'M' hat out of
his duffle bag on the sideline.
According to his coaches, the 6-foot-
3, 210-pounder is a very physical player
that is especially strong in run support.
His safeties coach, John Arlesic, even
DAVID KAL/zDaily
Bernard Robinson (21), who sat out much of Michigan's 87-80 loss in foul trouble,
shares his disgust with freshman Lester Abram (2) and senior LaVell Blanchard.
very good shooter he selects his
shot," fellow freshman Chris Hunter
said. "Sometimes he should shoot
more often when he is open because
he is a good shooter and he knocks
points and was 2-for-4 from beyond
the arc, had a look at the basket to
tie the game with less than a
minute, but his shot fell off the
front iron.