4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - December 9, 2002
Chatting into the boards
"That's a dumb question."
- Michigan coach Red Berenson responding to
whether Northern Michigan goalie Craig Kowalski had
an impact in Friday night's game.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 2
Northern Michigan 5
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 1
Northern Michigan 4
Key play
Saturday, 5:34 into the 3rd
- With the game tied at one, Northern
Michigan senior forward Mike Stutzel
wristed the puck past Michigan goalie Al
Montoya to give the Wildcats the sweep.
6
I
FRIDAY'S GAME
Northem Michigan 5, MichIgan 2
Michigan 0 1 1 - 2
NorthernMichigan 2 1 2 - 5
First period - 1, NMU, Terry Harrison 7 (Jimmy Jack-
son, Chris Gobert) 1:13; 2, NMU Justin Kinnunen 1
(Jimmy Jackson, Dirk Southern) 7:03; Penalties -
Jed Ortmeyer, MICH (interference) 5:40; Mike
Stutzel, NMU (cross-checking) 6:18; Jimmy Jackson,
NMU (obstruction-tripping) 12:50; Juna Alen, NMU
(roughing) 18:50;
Second pedod - 3, MICH, Jeff Tambellini 8 (Dwight
Helminen, Mark Mink) 1:29; 4, NMU, Mike Stutzel 8
(Bryce Cockburn, Dirk Southern) 13:37 (pp). Penal-
ties-Juna len, NMU (slashing) 5:05; Terry Harri-
son, NMU (checking from behind) 8:37; Andy
Burnes, MICH (roughing after the whistle) 12:25;
Chris Gobert, NMU (roughing after the whistle)
12;25; David Moss, MICH (roughing after the whis-
te) 12:25
Third period -5, MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki 5 (David
Moss, Mark Mink) 13:57; 6, NMU, Terry Harrison 8
(Chris Gobert) 15:04; 7, NMU, Mike Stutzel 9 (Dirk
Southern, Nathan Oystrick) Penalties - Jimmy Jack-
son, NMU (slashing) 1:56; Andy Burnes, MICH
(roughing) 6:46; Terry Harrison, NMU (cross-check-
ing) 10:53;. Brandon Kaleniecki, MICH (boarding)
17:36; Shots on goal: MICH 17-6-11 34; NMU 11-7-9
27. Power plays: MICH 0 of 7; NMU 2 of 4. Saves -
MICH, Montoya 11-3-1--22; NMU, Kowalski 7-4-1
-32.
Referee: Brian Aaron.
At Berry Events Center, Marquette. Attendance: 3,452.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Northem Michigan 4, Michigan1
Michigan 1 0 0 - 1
Northem Michigan 1 0 3 - 4
First period - 1, MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki 6 (Nick
Martens, Andrew Ebbett) 13:05 (pp); 2, NMU Bryce
Cockburn 5 (Mike Stutzel, Jamie Milam) 15:15 (pp).
Penalties - Dwight Heminen, MICH (checking from
behind) 0:16; Mike Stutze, NMU (checking from
behind) 5:43; Dan Donnette, NMU (high sticking)
12:50; Andy Burnes, MICH (checking from behind)
13:54; TEAM, MICH (too many on ice) 14:45.
Second period - none. Penalties - Nathan Oys-
trick, NMU (obstruction-tripping) 1:45; Juna Alen,
NMU (obstruction-holding) 5:13; John Shouneya,
MICH (checking from behind) 6:31; John Shouneyia,
MICH (high sticking) 6:31; Peter Michelutti, NMU
(high sticking) 8:02.
Third period - 3, NMU, Mike Stutzel 10 (Bryce
Cockburn, Juna Aln) 5:34; 4,;NMU, Alex Sawruk 3
(Chris Gobert) 11:09; 5, NMU, Chris Gobert 9 (unas-
sisted) 19:37(empty net) (sh). Penalties- Dwight
Helminen, MICH (checking from behind) 0:24; Jamie
Milam, NMU (roughing) 13:07; Mike Stutzel, NMU
(boarding) 18:47. Shots on goal: MICH 6-11-8 25;
NMU 9-2-8 19. Power plays: MICH 1 of 6; NMU 1 of5.
Saves - MICH, Montoya 11-4-1 - 15; NMU, Kowal-
ski &41- 24.
Referee: Brian Aaron.
At Berry Events Center, Marquette. Attendance: 3,873.
HOW THEY FARED
No. I North Dakota (14-1-) def. St.
Cloud State 4-3, def. St. Could State 4-3.
No. 2 New Hampshire (10-3-2) did not
play.
No. 3 Maine (11-1-2) lost to No. 4 Boston
College 3-1, tied No. 4 Boston College 2-2.
No. 4 Boston College (93-2) def. No. 3
Maine 3-1, tied No. 3 Maine 2-2.
No. 5 Colorado College (13-1-2) def. No.
6 Denver 4-3, No. 6 Denver.
No. 6 Denver (12-4-2) lost to No. 5 Col-
orado College 4-3, def. No. 5 Colorado
College 6-2.
No. 7 Cornell (10-1-0) def. Western
Michigan 6-1, def. Western Michigan 3-2.
No.8 Michigan (1141) lost to Northern
Michigan 5-2, lost to Northern Michigan 4-1.
No. 9 Ferris State (1240) lost to Michi-
gan State 6-2, def. Michigan State 5-3.
No. 10 Minnesota (944) def. Wisconsin
3-0, def. Wisconsin 3-2.
No. 11 Miami (12-5-1) lost to No. 14 Ohio
State 4-0, lost to No. 14 Ohio State 5-3.
No. 12 Harvard (9-0) def. Princeton 6-3,
def. Yale 6-3.
No. 13 Boston University (8-6-2) lost to
Massachusetts 5-4.
No. 14 Ohio State (1041) def. No. 11
Miami 4-0, def. No. 11 Miami 5-3.
No. 15 Providence (941) lost to Merri-
mack 2-1.
CCHA ROUNDUP
Friday's games:
OHIO STATE 4, Miami 0
NORTHERN MicIGAN 5, Michigan 2
Nebraska Omaha 4, LA(E SUPERIOR 1
Michigan State 6, FERRIS STATE 2
Saturday's games:
Ferris State 5, MICHIGAN STATE 3
NoREm Miac mA 4, Michigan 1
Nebraska Omaha 3, LAKE SUPERIOR 0
OHIO STATE 5, Miami 3
NOTRE DAME 6, Bowling Green 3
Yesterday's games:
NOTRE DAME 5, Bowling Green 2
CCHA STANDINGS
CCHA Overall
Team W L T Pts W L T
Ferris State 10 2 0 20 12 4 0
Northern Michigan 8 4 0 16 9 5 1
Ohio State 7 2 1 15 10 4 1
Miami 7 4 1 15 12 5 1
Michigan 6 3 1 13 11 4 1.
Western Michigan 6 6 0 12 7 9 1
Notre Dame 6 6 0 12 6 6 2
Nebraska-Omaha 5 5 0 10 7 7 2
Alaska-Fairbanks 4 6 2 10 7 7 2
Michigan State 4 5 0 8 7 7 1
Bowling Green 1 9 1 3 3 9 1
Lake Superior 0 12 0 0 3 13 0
CCHA LEADERS
Through Dec. 8 - League games only
Michigan needs to be great
as schedule gets tougher
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Writer
MARQUETTE - They had their chances.
The Wolverines outshot their Northern
Michigan counterparts for two consecutive
nights. Yet it was the Wildcats who executed as
Michigan waited for Northern Michigan goalie
Craig Kowalski to allow a goal.
Michigan had its chances to go into the win-
ter break deserving of a
top-10 ranking. HOCKEY
But after an inspiring Commentary
weekend in Minneapolis
and Madison, the Wolver-
ines could do no better than lose to Northern
Michigan for the fourth and fifth straight time,
leaving many questions to be answered before
the Great Lakes Invitational later this month.
There were a number of chances that the
Wolverines saw in front of the net.
And yet - besides two goals on the week-
end by Michigan freshman Brandon Kaleniec-
ki - the Wildcats were the ones who actually
took advantage of their opportunities, scoring
five third-period goals (two of them empty- ;
netters) to Michigan's one on Friday.
Now the Wolverines leave Marquette an
exposed team, and they know it.
"I knew that people were overrating our
team, and our team needs to understand how
hard you have to work to compete in this
league every night," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "I kept saying before, 'We'reI
not that good, and we've got to get better if
we're going to beat anyone that's a good
team."
The talent is there, but so far this season, the4
production has not been.
Montoya has proven himself to be every-
thing that his predecessors were as freshmen.
The losses of Mike Cammalleri and Mike I
Komisarek have not yet doomed the Wolver-I
ines' season like many had thought they ]
might.
The 'freshmen skaters - Kaleniecki, Jeff s
Blue gives Ca
extra chance,,
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Writer
MARQUETTE - If Michigan can take one ,
out of this weekend, it's that the Wolverines put
thy defensive effort on the ice Saturday for the
tender Al Montoya. This came one nigh
Montoya was repeatedly under attack from N
Michigan shooters, who used every second opp
ty they got with no consistent opposition from
gan's offense.
Just a minute into the weekend opener, M
made a pad save on a Chris Gobert slap shot, bu
himself out of place when senior Terry Harrisoi
free from the Wolverines' defenders to put the <
ed shot into the half-empty net.
At the 13:37 mark of the second period, the W
Mike Stutzel attacked what had been a solid M
penalty kill for the past few weeks, when he plo
way through the left side of the defense, sh
scored off his own rebound.
Then when things looked like Michigan was g
get back into the game down just one in the thi
od, Gobert received a breakaway on the left sid
ice. Montoya was up to the challenge again, si
the initial attempt, but.was left helpless when H
was there to notch his second tally of the night.
Even when Michigan pulled its goalie with a
left, it couldn't catch a break. The left Michig
made the first save on Northern Michigan fr
Dirk Southern, but Stutzel finished off the fou
ond-chance goal of the night.
"Yeah, rebounds were a factor in the game,"
gan coach Red Berenson said. "We've got to
sticks as they beat us to the puck on the first go
fourth goal was also a rebound goal where (M
made the save and a forward didn't pick up th
So it's defense more than anything ... not ji
defensemen, but everybody playing better defen
Although his goal kept the Wolverines in the
freshman forward Jeff Tambellini was quick t
that he and his teammates' defensive flaws w
much to overcome.
WI LDCATS1
Continued from Page 1B
Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle agreed with
that assessment.1
"We took some penalties and they got some,
momentum," Kyle said. "But we were able to bend;
we didn't break. I think that was real important."l
One of the main reasons for the scoreless second4
Tambellini, Andrew Ebbett and defenseman
Danny Richmond - have looked like anything
but newcomers when on the ice.
So where's the problem?
"The puck wasn't going in, obviously,"
Berenson said. "Our powerplay was a little bet-
ter (Saturday) night. I thought we had better
control and we had better shots. ... Our power-
play, it's an issue obviously, and we don't have
the confidence right now that we need to have.
But that's something we're going to work on in
the second half. We have a lot of things to get
better at."
But even though the puck may not be going
in when it should, it is still being spread
around too much. No one wants to take the
extra shot.
With all the praise bestowed on the team this
season, there hasn't been an individual who
has been able to take control of a game from
an offensive standpoint. There is not one
Michigan player in the nation's top 100 in
points per game.
Sophomore Dwight Helminen is the only
Wolverine in the top 50 in any offensive cate-
gory (when looking at per game averages)
thanks to his three shorthanded goals.
But Michigan isn't going to go to the Frozen
Four on just shorthanded goals.
It's now time for a John Shouneyia or Eric
Nystrom, who was just named to the United
States World Junior team last week, or even a
talented, but very raw, Milan Gajic to produce
more than one point a night, which no one
except Helminen is close to doing.
As was evident this weekend, Montoya can't
win every game by himself. His streak of recov-
ering well after allowing four or more goals
was snapped at three games, when he surren-
dered three one night after giving up four.
What it means is that everyone on the team
must find a role and stick with it. The scorers
need to emerge so that scrappy players like
Kaleniecki are actually fighting to get in front
of the net for a reason. The defense needs to
clamp down on clearing Montoya's rebounds,
6
JASON COOPER/Daily
John Shouneyia and the Wolverines' offense are going to have to be more aggressive if they are going
to put the puck in the net more than they did this weekend in Marquette.
because good teams like Northern Michigan
will show no mercy in making Michigan look
second-rate.
When the Wolverines return from the break,
they will have their work cut out for them.
Teams like Ferris State, Miami and Ohio State
have all gone from pretenders to contenders
and pose serious threats to the defending
CCHA champs. Michigan State is vulnerable,
but with a 6-2 win against the Bulldogs on Fri-
day, the Spartans showed there is still plenty of
life in East Lansing.
"We did enough good things to come out of
here better than being swept," Berenson said.
Good can only go so far. It's time for
"great" to emerge, or Michigan will be swept
more often in the much tougher second half
of the season.
0
Woodford latest
injured Wolverine
I
By Dan Rosen
Daily Sports Writer
ALYSSA WOOD/Daily
Michigan goalie Al Montoya saved the initial shots this
weekend, but rebound shots to Wildcat goals.
"(Friday) we didn't get back," Tambellini said. "We
didn't get back into the zone as quick as we can. We
didn't pick up sticks. And in this league if guys are
loose in the slot they're going to score.
"We gotta pay more attention coming back hard, and
working harder to come back than we do coming up the
ice."
Northern Michigan goalie Craig Kowalski, on the
other hand, seemed to have a magnet in his glove as no
matter where the Wolverines shot it, the puck would
end up in the junior's mitt foiling any thought of a sec-
ond-chance goal.
"I thought (that with) the chances we had, we should
have scored," Tambellini said. "He made some great
saves - I have to give it to him. But we didn't get peo-
ple in front of him and that's what we have to do. They
got people in front of our goalie and we didn't get in
front of theirs."
MARQUETTE - It has been a
recurring theme for the Michigan
hockey team this season: The same
weekend that anyone returns from an
injury, another player seems destined
to go down.
Forward Michael Woodford tore the
ligaments in his
thumb in his second HOCKEY
shift during Friday Notebook
night's 5-2 loss to
Northern Michigan.
It was the same game in which captain
Jed Ortmeyer returned for the first
time since Nov. 8.
Woodford will have to wait for
further X-rays in Ann Arbor to
determine if the bone in his thumb is
also broken, which might require
surgery.
"It's real disappointing," Woodford
said. "After losing a game like that
(Friday night), you want to be back.
The positive is, you know, it's our last
game for essentially a month so I
have some time to rest. If there was
any time to have the injury, I guess it
would be now."
Back on Nov. 8 and 9, Michigan
got two of their injured captains back
from injury - Andy Burnes and John
Shouneyia. But Ortmeyer tore his
MCL on Friday night of that weekend
and was out for three weeks.
On the season, the Wolverines have
yet to play a game with their full ros-
ter available. Jason Ryznar didn't
make the trip to Marquette this week-
end due to a nagging shoulder injury.
"It just seems like every weekend
there's a new injury," Woodford said.
"I think coach is kind of getting frus-
trated at it. I think the team is getting
frustrated with it."
The sophomore was optimistic that
the second half of the season would
provide some better luck.
"When we do have our whole
team, it could be a scary thing,"
Woodford said. "Right now we're
just hitting some bumps in the road.
But I think in the long run, once
everyone gets healthy, we'll be
ready to go."
WHERE HE LEFT OFF: In his return on
Friday, Ortmeyer didn't miss a beat.
Even though the Omaha native
didn't record a point, he helped
create a number of scoring chances
for Michigan - especially on the
powerplay.
"I think he'll be a little better with
the puck as he gets in game shape,"
coach Red Berenson said of Ortmey-
er. "But he was fine. Physically he
was great. Emotionally, it was good
for our team."
SAY WHAT?: Before the game,
Northern Michigan honored Indepen-
dence Day.
Not that school officials mistook
the freezing temperatures and feet
of accumulated snow for July 4. At
the request of the Wildcats' two
Finnish players, the school played
that country's national anthem to
honor their national holiday.
Both freshman defenseman Juha
Alen and backup goalie Tuomas Tark-
ki were born in the Scandanavian
country.
0
period was Kowalski. The junior made 11 saves in
the period, including a sprawling stop with his stick
with just 10 seconds left.
Kowalski had headed into the right corner to play a
loose puck. But his pass out of the zone went straight
to Michigan's Milan Gajic along the blueline. The
sophomore let one fly to try to beat Kowalski before
he could get back to the net. But the Wildcats goalie
dove with his stick out and deflected the puck away.
Stutzel, who had four points on the weekend, then
broke the tie five and half minutes into the third.
Northern Michigan dumped the puck into the back
left corner of the Michigan zone and it caromed to
the senior, who wristed it past Montoya.
"We talked about it before the game - how (we
were) going to dump the puck," Stutzel said. "(We
made) a perfect dump and (forward Dirk Southern)
left it. I just shot it on net and it was lucky enough to
go in."
Six minutes later, the Wildcats iced the victory.
They forced the puck free from the Michigan defense
to forward Alex Sawruk, and the junior blasted it into
the top right corner of the net to give his team the
two-goal lead.
"We've had a great first half, but this really puts a
sour taste in your mouth when you get swept," Beren-
son said.
Three stars of the weekend
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