The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 28, 2002 - 3B
FRIDAY'S GAME
Alaska-Fairbanks 2
Michigan 5
SATURDAY'S GAME
Alaska-Fairbanks 2
Michigan 6
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michgan65, AlaskaFairbanks 2
Merrimack 1 1 0 -2
Michigan 1 1 3 -5
First period- 1, MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki 3 (David
Moss, Jed Ortmeyer) 7:01; 1, UAF Ryan Campbell 2
(Aaron Voros, Cam Keith) 12:36. Penaltes - Kelly
Czuy, UAF (obstruction-hooking) 4:54; Kelly Czuy,
UAF (checking from behind) 19:47.
Second period - 2, UAF, Tom Herman 1(Cory Rask)
5:47; 2, MICH, Nick Martens 1 (Jed Ortmeyer,
Andrew Ebbett) 15:32. Penalties - Ryan Lang, UAF
(delaying the game) 12:11; Nick Martens, MICH
(delaying the game) 12:11; Jeff Tambellini, MICH
(tripping) 16:29.
Third period -3, MICH, Dwight Helminen 2 (Al Mon-
toya) 5:12; 4, MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki 4 (David
Moss, Michael Woodford) 8:59 (pp); 5, MICH, Jeff
Tambellini 5 (Dwight Helminen) 10:55. Penaltes -
Cramer Hickey, UAF (hooking) 7:24; Milan Gajic,
MICH (cross-checking) 13:49; Eric Werner, MICH
(elbowing) 14:58; Aaron Voros, UAF (boarding)
19:36.
Shots ongoal: UAF 8-13-829; MICH 15-15-17 47. Power
plays: UAF 0 of 3; MICH 1 of 4. Saves - UAF, Mayes
-8, McKay 1-2-0 - 34; MICH, Montoya 4-1-0 -
27.
At: Yost Ice Arena. Attendance: 6,409
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 6, AlaskaFairbanks 2
Merrimack 101-2
Michigan 033-6
First peod - 1, UAF, Aaron Voros 1(Cam Keith)
9:12. Penaltes - Nick Martens, MICH (cross-check-
ing) 2:36; Jared Sylvestre, UAF (high sticking) 15:40.
Second period - 1, MICH, Jeff Tambellini 6 (Dwight
Helminen, Eric Nystrom) 3:43; 2, MICH,.Jed Ortmeyer
1(Michael Woodford) 5:49 (sh); 3, MICH, David
Moss 2 (Michael Woodford, Danny Richmond) 17:55.
Penalties - Reilly Olson, MICH (slashing) 5:00;
Aaron Voros, UAF (slashing) 8:35; Cramer Hickey,
UAF (holding) 12:36; Mike Roemensky, MICH
(obstruction-holding) 19:58.
Third period - 2, UAF, Russell Spence 1(Jared
Sylvestre) 1:52 (pp); 4, MICH, David Moss 3 (Bran-
don Kaleniecki) 3:40; 5, MICH, Dwight Helminen 3
(Eric Werner) 4:16; 6, MICH, Jed Ortmeyer 2 (unas-
sited) 15:48. Penalties - Danny Richmond, MICH
(roughing) 17:03.
Shots on gal -UAF4-6-14 24; MICH 7-15-12 34.
Power Plays - UAF 1 of 4; MICH 0 of 3. Saves -
UAF, McKay 1-3-0 -28; MICH, Montoya 5-1-0 - 22.
At: Yost Ice Arena. Attendance: 6,591.
HOW THEY FARED
No.1 New Hamshre(2-0-2) tied Northeast-
em 2-2.
No. 2 Denver (5.1-0) def. Alabama-
Huntsville 7-2, def. Alabama-Huntsville 7-0
No. 3 Minnesota (2-1-2) def. Michigan
Tech 5-4, tied Michigan Tech 3-3
No. 4 Boston College (500) def. Wiscon-
sin 4-2, def. Mass:Lowell 4-3
No. 5 Michigan (510) def. Alaska-Fair-
banks 5-2, def. Alaska-Fairbanks&2
No.6 Boston Universty (2-1-2) lost to Mer-
rimack 5-3, def. Nebraska-Omaha 64
No. 7 North Dakota (4-0-0) def. Niagara
6-4, def. Niagara 5-3
No. 8 Cornell (0-0-0) did not play
No.9 Maine (3-1-0) def. Western Michi-
gan 4-0.
No. 10 Colorado College (4-1-1) tied Min-
nesota-Dulluth 4-4, def. Minnesota-Dul-
luth 4-3
No. 31 Providence (5-00) def. Massa-
chussets-Lowel 65.
No. 12 Michigan State (4-2-0) def. Lake
Superior 7-0, def. Lake Superior 3-2
No. 13 St. Cloud (040) def. MSU-Mankato
6-5, tied Minnesota State-Mankato 1-1
No.14 Harvard (0-0-0) def. Guelph 6-2
(exhibition).
No. 15 Northern Michigan (2-4-1) lost to
Miami 7-1, lost to Miami 6-3
CCHA ROUNDUP
Michigan State 7, Lake Superior 0
Friday's ae:-
MICHIGAN STATE 3, Lake Superior 2
BowuNG GREEN 4, Findlay 3
Ferris State 5, NOTRE DAME 2
M aA5, AlaskaFabanks 2
BoSTON UNIVERSITY 6, Nebraska Omaha 4
MIAMI 7, Northern Michigan 1
OHIO STATE 4, Clarkson 2
iatura+'s ms:
MAINE 4, Western Michigan 0
MIaCA 6, Alaska Falbanks 2
Ferris State 4, NOTRE DAME 1
MIAMI 6, Northern Michigan 3
Yestea's gam:
Nebraska Omaha 3, MASSACHUSETTS 2
OHIO STATE 4, Clarksonl 3
Western Michigan 4, MAINE 4
, /"TIT A -.__.
Montoya shines in CCHA debut
By Bob Hunt
STEVE
JACKSON
Down 2-1 early in the second peri-
od of Friday night's game, things
were looking frightingly similar for
the Wolverines.
Shaping up to be a repeat of last
year's first CCHA home series, when
Northern Michigan swept Michigan,
the Wolverines found themselves down
to an upstart team (Northern Michigan)
and playing without a full lineup.
The Wildcats swept that series, but
this time around the Wolverines got a
big boost from Al Montoya. Their
freshman goaltender held strong after
giving up early goals on both nights.
These performances kept the Wolver-
ines in the contest and gave them a
chance to light up the scoreboard in the
third period.
"From the start I've said I wasn't
worried about'our goalkeeping,".
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"And Al hasn't given me anything to
worry about. Like any goalie, he is
going to give up some goals he doesn't
like. But I like the kid, I like the way
he's playing, and he's definitely got the
team's confidence."
In Friday's first period, Montoya was
beat cold when Alaska-Fairbanks cen-
ter Ryan Campbell got the puck on a
breakaway and stuck it past Montoya's
left pad. And then five minutes into
second period, Nanooks' right winger
Tom Herman hit the top shelf of the
net when he got a feed right in front of
the net from behind.
But when the Wolverines were down
a goal in the second period, Montoya
held strong. The Nanooks unleashed
their best offensive pressure of the
weekend when they fired 13 shots on
net that period.
"He was a difference," Michigan
goalies coach Stan Matwijiw said. "If
he doesn't come up with a couple big
saves, it's a different hockey game."
After the Wolverines went into Fri-
day's second intermission tied at two,
Montoya took advantage of his superi-
or puckhandling skills and started the
play that turned the tide of the game.
While both teams were on a line
Your guide to randomly
obscure sports knowledge
M1;
TONY DING/Daily
Dwight Helminen received a pass from Al Montoya during a line change in the second
period of Friday night's game which lead to the game-trying goal.
change, Montoya found Dwight
Helminenv all alone on the right side of
the blue line. Montoya then made a
great pass as Helminen flew down the
ice to break the tie.
"I like to catch the teams off the line
change," Montoya said. "Usually our
team notices when I chip the puck and
they know they have a lane. So that's
all I did. I gave (Helminen) a little
nudge and he knew right away."
In Saturday's game Montoya gave
up an early goal off a rebound, but then
put together some more big saves
allowing the Wolverines again to turn
things around in the third period.
"I think he was a little nervous, but
then the kid's a hell of a goaltender,"
sophomore Michael Woodford said.
"He might let in.a goal here or there,
but we have full confidence back there
that,when the third period comes
around he'll make some big saves."
Considering this weekend was the
first time Montoya was called upon
to make some big saves, everyone
was pleased with the development of
the goalie who could have been a
senior at Ann Arbor Huron High
School this year.
"The thing that's stood out the most
to me is that every game he's getting
better at everything," Matwijiw said.
"The little things that I'm seeing up in
the stands and the corrections that after
a game I sit down and I talk to him, he's
made the adjustment. He's gotten better
every game by doing the little things
well, and that's what's going to make
him a great goalie."
You call yourself a sports fan.
You watch SportsCenter reli-
giously, and you never shy
away from a discussion of any
sports-related topic. Maybe you've
even entered into the world of sports
gambling or fantasy sports. Good
for you.
But if you want to go to the next
level of random, funny and obscure
sports knowledge, you have to
expand your palate beyond ESPN
and michigandaily.com. As a public
service, to the University communi-
ty, here is my list of the best
unknown sports sites on the web.
COLLEGEBCS.COM - The Bowl
Championship Series is one popular
college topic that most sports fans
don't fully understand, but this site
can turn any half-witted schmuck
into an instant BCS
Einstein with its Few thing
comprehensive expla- greater p1
nation of the entire
ranking system. telling the
For that alone, the BCS curr
site's owner, Jerry Michigan S
Palm, deserves our
love and respect. But Indiana and
BCS 101 is just the Sti
beginning. The site
also expands the BCS formula to
rank all 117 Division I-A teams. Few
things give me greater pleasure than
telling the world that the BCS cur-
rently ranks Michigan State behind
Indiana and New Mexico State.
That's random information that you
just can't find anywhere else.
Palm's site also gets the word out
early. Yesterday afternoon I already
knew where Michigan was ranked in
the BCS. While all the other sheep
in America wait for ESPN to tell
themdif Notre Dame's win over
Florida State was enough to pass
Miami (Fla.), I've got the scoop
thanks to collegebcs.com.
As if that weren't enough, the site
also includes a historical account of
how the BCS would have ranked
teams each and every week dating
back several years.
When football season is over,
Palm runs a similar site for men's
and women's college basketball -
collegerpi.com.
Dave Caldwell of the Dallas
Morning News called Palm a God,
and that isn't that much of a stretch.
The site has just recently started to
require members to pay, but I'm
hooked; I wouldn't know how to live
without it.
BADJOCKS.COM - Another one-
man show, badjocks.com is where
Cops meets SportsCenter. Bob Reno's
site provides the largest online collec-
tion of stupid athletic activities that
the world has ever seen.
In addition to an almost daily diet
of high school coaching sex scan-
dals, hazings and domestic violence
accounts, Reno's site also features
ig
ea
wo
ren
Sty
I
tat
the top 10 blood-alcohol levels of
drunk-driving athletes (Charles
Woodson is No. 5).
In addition to breaking news,
there are also links to classic stories
like the infamous penis bitings (yes
more than one) that took place in
European soccer games last year. If
that summary wasn't enough for
you, the site also provides pictures
and accounts.
Just when you think that you have
heard everything, badjocks.com
tells you the story about a rugby
player that got shot in the butt dur-
ing a game - and continued play-
ing through the pain.
Stories like these are too numer-
ous to mention here, and new tales
are being written every day. Make a
point to check out this site, then you
will always have a
S give me few randomly funny
asure than stories to impress
orld that the your friends with.
NEWS.GOOGLE.COM
ntly ranks - Most of you prob-
tate behind ably know about
google.com, one of
New Mexico the web's most popu-
te. lar search engines.
But its latest "news"
feature is a fantasy sports fan's
goldmine.
Instead of paying for ESPN Insid-
er or any number of other fantasy
updates, simply type the name of
your favorite athlete into the search
field, and you will have every online
story written about him delivered
directly to your screen.
With several updates every hour,
you can't find a quicker or more
thorough way to get injury updates
and analysis on specific players.
BASEBALL-REFERENCE.COM - No
sport has more ,statistics than base-
ball, and baseball-reference.com has
more or less compiled all of them in
one place. They even made up a few
stats of their own just for fun,
including one that attempts to meas-
ure a player's odds at making the
Hall of Fame and another that finds
the player who is most similar to
another at a given age.
I'm a stats dork, but this site blows
my mind. You can find absolutely
anything on baseball-reference.com.
Say you want to find out how
many Ann Arbor-born athletes have
pitched in the major leagues ... five
minutes later you'll find the answer
is two (former Michigan quarter-
back Rick Leach and Shannon With-
em). Meanwhile, my hometown of
Harbor Beach (pop. -1,800), has a
stud hurler, Dick Lange, that tossed
272 more innings than the Ann
Arbor combo.
Score one for rural America.
Steve Jackson can be reached at
sjjackso@umich.edu.
M' her instinct on penalties
By Courtney Lewis
Daily Sports Writer
Apparently, four penalty-killing opportunities just
weren't enough for Michigan Saturday night, so it decided
to give Alaska-Fairbanks an unofficial powerplay halfway
through the second period.
Although they were supposed to be HOCKEY
at even strength, the Wolverines had Notebook
only four skaters on the ice while play
was in their zone. They quickly recognized the mistake and
Brandon Kaleniecki jumped over the boards and sprinted
to join his linemates. But Michigan has played so well
short-handed this season that teams can rarely take advan-
tage of powerplays - even bonus ones.
Michigan killed six of seven penalties in two games
against the Nanooks this weekend, often controlling play
despite being a man down. The Wolverines so frustrated
the Nanooks that coach Guy Gadowski was left wondering
if Michigan was at a disadvantage at all on the penalty kill.
"What penalty kill?" Gadowski asked. "They had two
powerplays. They had a 5-on-4 powerplay and they had a
4-on-5 powerplay. It was embarrassing. I think I can count
up the number of times we were able to even set up for the
powerplay. They had as many chances on their penalty kill
as we had on our powerplay altogether."
Michigan converted one of those chances into a short-
handed goal early in the second period. Captain Jed Ort-
meyer beat Alaska-Fairbanks goalie Preston McKay to
give Michigan a 2-1 lead.
The Nanooks did finally solve Michigan's penalty kill at
1:52 of the third period Saturday, and Michigan coach Red
Berenson pointed out that Alaska-Fairbanks has struggled
on the powerplay all year (it has capitalized on just 2-of-28
opportunities).
Still, when Russell Spence put the puck past Montoya, it
was the first time Michigan surrendered a powerplay goal
NANOOKS4
Continued from Page 1B
since- facing North Dakota on Oct. 12. The Wolverines'
penalty kill was ranked fourth in the nation going into Sat-
urday's game, and they have now killed 29 of 31 penalties.
One reason for that success is that Michigan doesn't sit
back while playing shorthanded.
"We want to be aggressive," Ortmeyer said. "We want to
try and get down on them right away so they don't have
time to set it up."
Orfmeyer's short-handed tally was Michigan's second of
the season, and he doesn't think it will be the last.
"I think with the speed that we have on our team, and
that we have for penalty killers, we're going to have a lot
of opportunities this year to get some short-handed goals if
we're aggressive," he said.
LESSON LEARNED: Miehigan broke open both games with
a three-goal barrage in the third period. On Saturday, Alas-
ka-Fairbanks pulled to within one in the opening minutes
of the period, but David Moss, Dwight Helminen and Ort-
meyer all responded for Michigan.
Friday's game was tied 2-2 until Helminen put the
Wolverines ahead at 5:12 of the third, freshmen Kaleniecki
and Jeff Tambellini put the game out of reach for the
Nanooks.
Sophomore Michael Woodford said Michigan learned
the hard way that the third period can be crucial.
"I think we learned our lesson from North Dakota," he
said. We were "up two goals going into the third period
and they came back to beat us. So as much as that was a
tough loss, it gave the new guys their first taste of how
important the third period is."
GONE AGAIN: Sophomore Jason Ryznar's return from an
injured right shoulder didn't last long. Two shifts into Fri-
day's game -- his first since Oct. 11 - Ryznar separated
his left shoulder. He's expected to be out a couple weeks.
The Wolverines double-shifted Friday night, and on Satur-
day Mark Mink took Ryznar's spot next to Ortmeyer and
freshman Andrew Ebbett.
response to Alaska's third-period
goal. "You know, we came out, we
had some big shifts, and then
(Moss) had a big goal and we were
well on our way."
Moss' strong game was no sur-
prise considering the way he's
played this season. The sophomore
already has three goals and nine
points in six games. In his fresh-
man campaign, he had just five
goals and 20 points.
"I feel a little bit more confident
this year," Moss said. "But I think
our line is just playing really well
right now as a unit. So I've got to
give as much credit to them as I'm
getting."
As a group, Moss, Kaleniecki and
Woodford have 21 points this season
- one more than the fast-skating
grouping of Eric Nystrom, Tambelli-
ni, and Dwight Helminen.
After the game, Alaska coach Guy
Gadowsky was impressed with
Wolverines' effort.
"I mean you have to give Michi-
gan a lot of credit because they're
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Michigan celebrates after it strikes first in the first period of friday night's game.
Michigan swept Alaska-Fairbanks this weekend.
Da you Have Acne?
W IDEW ORLD S PORTS CENTER
WINTER I
~ INDOOtR
ISNOCCER R
LEAG LIeE