I 4B -The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - December 1, 2003 4 Friday's game Saturday's game 0 WISCONSIN BADGERS MICHIGAN WOLVERINES 3 1 it MINNESOTA GOPHERS MICHIGAN WOLVERINES. 4 2 4 01 111111111111|||| SATURDAY'S GAME Minnesota 4, Michigan 2 Minnesota 1 1 2 - 4 Michigan 2 0 0 - 2 First period - 1, MINN, Gino Guyer 4 (Troy Riddle) 7:45; 2, MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki 6 (unassisted) 13:47 (sh); 3, MICH, Brandon Rogers (unassisted) 17:19. Penalties- Keith Ballard, MINN (double minor roughing) 8:49; Jason Ryznar, MICH (roughing) 8:49; Mike Brown, MICH (hooking) 12:24. Second period -4, MINN, Riddle 7 (Guyer) 19:10 (sh). Penalties - Thomas Vanek, MINN (roughing) 4:42; Matt Hunwick, MICH (roughing) 4:42; Kale- niecki, MICH (charging) 6:34; Team, MINN (too many men) 8:13; Chirs Harrington, MINN (holding) 18:52; Ballard, MINN (checking from behind, game misconduct) 19:19. Third period -5, MINN, Andy Sertich 2 (Chris Har- rington, Barry Tallackson) 13:24; 6, MINN, Tallack- son 3 (unassisted) 19:56 (en). Penalties - Ryznar, MICH (hooking) 4:13; Jake Taylor, MINN (roughing) 13:02; Charlie Henderson, MICH (roughing) 13:02. Shots on goal: MINN 15-7-10 32; MICH 11-6-15 32. Power plays: MINN 0 of 3; MICH 0of4. Saves- MINN, Kellen Briggs (5-4-1)--30; MICH, Al Mon- toya (9-5) - 28. Referee: MattShegos. At: Yost Ice Arena Attendance: 6,798. FRIDAY'S GAME Wisconsin 3, Michigan 1. Wisconsin 1 0 2 - 3 Michigan 0 1 0 - 1 First period -1, WISC, Dan Boeser 3 (Robbie Earl) 17:47. Penalties -Milan Gajic, MICH (slashing) 2:29; Eric Nystrom, MICH (delay of game) 6:50, Ryan MacMurchy, WISC (delay of game) 6:50, John Funk, WISC (hooking) 10:43, Rene Bourque, WISC (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:28, Andy Burnes, MICH (hit after whistle) 13:28, A.J. Degenhardt, WISC (roughing) 17:55. Second period-1, MICH, Jason Ryznar 1(unassist- ed) 19:21 Penalties-Tom Gilbert, WISC (cross- checking) 8:23, Ryan Suter, WISC (roughing) 11:17, Rene Bourque, WISC (high sticking) 13:49, Nick Martens, MICH (cross-checking) 13:49 Third period - 2, WISC, Ryan MacMurchy 8 (Andrew Joudrey and Jeff Likens) 12:21, 3, WISC, Rene Bourque 4 (Andy Wozniewski) 19:37 Penalties - Al Montoya, MICH (tripping) 3:16, Eric Nystrom, MICH (boarding) 10:36 Shots on goal: WISC 5-14-7 26; MICH 12-8-4 24. Power plays: WISC 1 of 3; MICH 0 of 4. Saves - W ISC Bruc k- ler (12-7-4) - 23; MICH, Montoya (4-15-5) --23. Referee: Steve Piotrowski. At: Yost Ice Arena Attendance: 6,776. Mfter shoulder injunes, Ryznar returns to form I By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer In a weekend during which noth- ing seemed to go right for the Michgan hockey team, there was one thing the Wolverines could take solace in: Junior forward Jason Rynzar is healthy and looks like the imposing scoring threat that fans expected to see when the season began. Ryznar, who sat out the first six games of the season with a shoul- der injury, scored Michigan's lone goal in Friday's 3-1 loss to Wiscon- sin. At the end of the second peri- od, he stole the puck in the Wisconsin zone and made a sensa- tional move to beat Wisconsin goalie Bernd Brickler. The score was Ryznar's first of the season and his second point overall. "I was excited to get a goal," Ryznar said. "It came at an impor- tant time in the game. It was really good of my linemates to pressure the defense and get a turnover, and luckily I got a breakaway." The contest against the Badgers was not Ryznar's first game this season, but it was definitely the first time he looked to be in com- plete control of his body. In his prior performances, Ryznar had trouble getting up and down the ice and seemed a little tentative in the offensive zone. "I'm glad for Ryznar," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He's come back, and he's got a little more confidence and a little more momentum, and we need to see more of that on our team." Ryznar's injury at the beginning of the season forced Berenson to make line changes accordingly. Michigan's trio of junior Eric Nys- trom, sophomore Jeff Tambellini and freshman T.J. Hensick provided an offensive spark early on, but the scales were not evenly balanced among all four lines. Berenson noted that the team was a little one- dimensional. With Ryznar back, Berenson has been able to switch things up again and provide the Wolverines with a few fresh looks. Ryznar is currently paired with junior David Moss and freshman David Rohlfs. Each of the three players are at least 6-foot-3, making the line a bruising chal- lenge to go up against. Berenson has also put Ryznar on Michgan's second powerplay unit. "I like playing with Moss partic- ularly," Ryznar said. "Last year we had a really good second half, and I just hope that can carry on this year." HOME NOT-So-SWEET HOME: The Wolverines' two losses this week- end were the team's first home defeats this season. The pair of losses also marked the first time that the Wolverines were left out of the win column in the 11-year his- tory of the College Hockey Show- case. "It's always a wakeup call and a gut check when you lose two games in a weekend," Michigan alternate captain Brandon Rogers said. "We've got to work hard for the week and prepare for the weekend and get back on track." Prior to this weekend's games, Michgan had outscored its oppo- nents 29-15 when skating at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines face Michigan State in a home-and-home series this weekend, with Friday's game in Ann Arbor and Saturday's tilt in East Lansing. A JASON cOOPER/Daily Michigan has missed the physical presence that forward Jason Ryznar brings to the ice. Now that he's healthy, he will add another dimension to the Michigan attack. Player Hensick Tambellini Ebbett Rogers Kaleniecki Werner Nystrom Moss Gajic Helminen Rohlfs Brown Woodford Hunwick Henderson Ryznar Martens Dest Kautz Cook Wyzgowski Montoya Burnes TOTALS Player Montoya Ruden TOTALS M' GP 14 14 14 14 14 13 14 14 12 12 14 14 13 14 8 7 10 13 3 10 1 14 10 GP 14 2 14 STATS G A Pts +/- PIM Sht 5 10 15 -1 8 40 9 3 12 -4 10 76 4 7 11 3 10 32 2 8 10 -2 26 30 6 2 8 3 14 46 3 5 8 -6 12 25 3 5 8 -3 10 31 2 6 8 -5 6 28 2 4 6 E 14 34 3 2 5 -3 0 35 3 1 4 E 6 23 2 2 4 -1 12 39 0 4 4 -3 8 19 0 4 4 1 20 17 2 1 3 1 4 14 1 1 2 -2 12 12 0 2 2 -1 11 6 0 1 1 4 14 7 0 0 0 -1 0 2 0 0 0 - 8 0 700 1 217 524 SHOWCASE Continued from Page 18 Michigan's lone defender, Eric Werner, deflected the pass. The puck rolled right to Dan Boeser at the top of the left faceoff circle. Boeser fired a heavy wrister passed Montoya's outstretched glove. Junior Jason Ryznar evened the count at one, scoring his first goal of the season with just 39 seconds left in the second period. Wisconsin defenseman Andy Wozniewski sent an errant pass toward defenseman Jeff Likens, and Ryznar snatched the puck and headed on a break- away. Ryznar deked around the Wisconsin crease and dribbled the puck through Bernd Bruckler's five hole. Ryznar's goal gave the Wolverines momentum going into the lockerroom for the second inter- mission. "A 1-1 game going into the third period at home - that's the kind of game you want to be in," Burnes said. "A game that you should win." The first half of the period played even, but at 9:24, Michigan junior Eric Nystrom earned a two-minute stay in the sin bin for boarding. A minute into the Badgers' powerplay, Andrew Joudrey found Ryan Mac- Murchy wide-open just outside the crease, and MacMurchy buried the game-winner. Minnesota forward Rene Bourque added an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left to seal the deal. "We could make excuses, but I don't think there's any excuse," AI Berenson said. "They just beat us at our own game." The Wolverines came out with a much more aggressive playing style on Saturday, but lost to Minnesota 3-1. Although Michigan fell short, Berenson saluted the team's effort. "That's the hardest our team has played all year, and it's too bad it took an embarrassing loss to Wis- consin to get our team to realize the kind of competition that's out there," Berenson said. The Wolverines employed a lot of pressure on Minnesota in their own zone, causing many early Gopher turnovers. Michigan's defensemen left the blueline regularly to attack offensively. Although the Wolver- ines assertive approach gave them many opportunities early, it may have cost them the game's first goal. Keith Ballard stole a Michigan pass and found Troy Riddle streaking down the ice. Riddle received the puck on the Wolverines' blueline and led a 2-on-1 with teammate Gino Guyer. With a defender draped over him, Riddle dished to Guyer for the one-time goal. The Wolverines took the lead with consecutive goals on hustle plays from sophomore Brandon Kaleniecki and junior Brandon Rogers. With Michigan shorthand- ed, Kaleniecki collected a loose puck in front of the Minnesota goal and beat goalie Kellen Briggs with a no-look wrister from between the faceoff circles. Rogers followed this up three minutes later by intercept- ing a Minnesota pass in front of the net and flipping a backhand into the net. The Wolverines took a 2-1 lead into the intermission. At the end of the second period, the Wolverines' powerplay strug- gles continued. Riddle intercepted a Michigan pass and beat Montoya five hole on the breakaway for a shorthanded score. With just 40 seconds left in the period, Ballard was ejected and handed a five- minute major for checking Nys- trom into the boards from behind. "It was a bad play on our part," Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. "I didn't see it from where I was, but that's just something you can't do. Nine out of 10 checks from behind are unintentional." This penalty gave the Wolverines the four-minute powerplay at the beginning of the third period, including a minute of 5-on-3 hock- ey. But Michigan hardly mustered any offense and failed to score. Minnesota scored the game-win- ner with 6:36 left in the period when Andy Sertich whipped a wrister from just outside the crease past Montoya. On the weekend, the Wolverines went 0-for-8 on the powerplay. Berenson believes that the Wolver- ines aren't comfortable on the pow- erplay. "I think it's players trying to make plays that aren't there - players misfiring on a pass or mis- firing on a shot that maybe they do in practice, but in the pressure of the game they struggle with," Berenson said. t e GA 38 2 40 Avg 2.78 5.50 2.86 Sys Pct Mins 341 .900 818:46 7 .778 21:50 348 .885 840:00 CCHA STANDINGS Team Ohio State Notre Dame Miami Michigan State Michigan Alaska-Fairbanks Northern Michigan Western Michigan Nebraska-Omaha Ferris State Lake Superior Bowling Green CCHA W L 1 8 3 ( 7 3 2 6 3 :1 6 3 :1 5 3 (C 4 4 (C 4 6 (C 3 5 :1 2 6 2 Pts 16 16 13 13 10 8 8 7 7 6 6 6 Overall W L T 11 5 0 8 3 2 8 6 2 8 7 1 9 5 0 5 7 0 5 7 0 7 8 2 3 7 5 TONY DING/Daily Michigan's Jeff Tambellini failed to make an impact during this weekend's games, as both Wisconsin and Minnesota were able to hold him in check. 'M' players concerne CCHA ROUNDUP NOTRE DAME 5, Northern Michigan 1 Friday's games: FERRIS STATE 2, Niagara 2 WESTERN MICHIGAN 4, Colgate 1 Wisconsin 3, MICHIGAN i Minnesota 5, MICHIGAN STATE 1 NEBRASKA-OMAHA 7, Massachusetts 2 Saturday's games: NOTRE DAME 4, Northern Michigan 2 Ohio State 7, BOWUNG GREEN O Colgate 4, WESTERN MICHIGAN 1 Wisconsin 2, MICHIGAN STATE 1(OT) Minnesota 4, MICHIGAN 2 Massachusetts 1, Nebraska-Omaha 1 FERRIS STATE 8, Niagara 3 POWERPLAY Continued from Page 11B obvious was the failure to convert on a five-minute major powerplay in the sec- ond period. Down 3-1 late in the second period, Michigan had a great chance to cut into that deficit. But rather than capitalize on a great opportu- nity, it couldn't convert. To add insult to injury, the pow- erplay unit gave up a short- handed goal to increase the deficit to 4-1. A week off after the Ohio State series didn't remedy the problem. Another powerplay on Saturday was eerily simi- lar to the situation in Colum- bus, when Michigan had another five-minute power- play, and even a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:32 at the end of the second period. Again, Michigan failed to convert, and again, Michigan gave up a shorthanded goal that took all the wind out of its sails. It's frustrating to see this team struggling the way it is. The talent level and depth is perhaps the best since 1998, the last time Michigan won a national championship. It seems easy to take a disap- pointing loss on a Friday - Michigan is 1-3 against CCHA teams on Friday - to ignite the team and play a solid game Saturday night. Berenson said as much Satur- day night: "It's too bad it took an embarrassing loss to Wisconsin to get our team to realize the kind of competi- tion that's out there." The pieces are in place for another trip to the Frozen Four. It's still too early to panic, but judging from the looks on the player's faces Saturday night - blank as the powerplay in the last four games - they are definitely concerned. 6iL77RRMI I s:'