4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - December 8, 2003
J
Friday's game
MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Saturday's game
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2
MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
0
2
4
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan State 2, Michigan 0
Michigan 0 0 0 - 0
Michigan State 1 0 1 - 2
First period -1, MSU, Mike Lalonde 12 (Corey Pot-
ter) 16:33 (pp). Penalties - Jared Nightingale, MSU
(slashing) 5:19; T.J. Hensick, MICH (slashing) 5:19;
Jared Nightingale, MSU (slashing) 12:21; Brandon
Rogers, MICH (holding the stick) 15:17; Matt Hun-
wick, MICH (roughing after whistle) 18:14; Drew
Miller, MSU (roughing after whistle) 18:14.
Second period - No scoring. Penalties - Matt Hun-
wick, MICH (obstruction-hooking) 3:28; Lee
Falardeau, MSU (cross-checking) 10:43; Jim Slater,
MSU (roughing) 11:57; Al Montoya, MICH (rough-
ing) 11:57; Jared Nightingale, MSU (cross-checking)
12:40; Mike Brown, MICH (interference) 16:12.
Third period -2, MSU, David Booth 3 (unassisted)
00:48. Penalties-- Brock Radunske, MSU (charg-
ing) 9:35.
Shots on goal: MICH 13-10.6 29; MSU 8-5-4 17. Power
plays: MICH 0 of 4; MSU 1 of 3. Saves - MICH, Al
Montoya (10-6) -15; MSU, Dominic Vicari (5-6) -
29.
Referee: Brian Aaron.
At: Munn Ice Arena
Attendance: 6,591.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 2, Michigan State 0
Michigan State 0 0 0 - 0
Michigan 0 0 2 - 2
First period - No scoring. Penalties - Chris Snavely,
MSU (hooking) 7:44; A.J. Thelen, MSU (hitting from
behind) 11:17; David Rohlfs, MICH (slashing) 16:06.
Second period - No scoring. Penalties - Jason
Dest, MICH (interference) 3:18; Brock Radunske,
MSU (roughing after whistle) 19:36.;
Third period--1, MICH, Eric Nystrom 4 (Dwight
Helminen) 18:33; 2, MICH, T.J. Hensick 6 (Brandon
Kaleniecki) 19:59 (en). Penalties - David Booth,
MSU (unsportsmanlike after whistle) 4:38; Andrew
Ebbett, MICH (unsportsmanlike after whistle) 4:38.
Shots on goal: MSU 7-6-10 23; MICH 13-10.15 38.
Power plays: MSU 0 of 2; MICH 0 of 3. Saves - MSU,
Dominic Vicari (4-6) - 36; MICH, Al Montoya (10-5)
-23.
Referee: Kevin Hall.
At: Yost Ice Arena
Attendance: 6,904.
Montoya s
game matches
coaches' praise
By Gennaro Filice
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - In Michigan's first 16 games, it has
experienced a roller-coaster ride worthy of Cedar Point consid-
eration. During this stretch, the Wolverines have been marred
with inconsistencies: Offensive production has flickered
between on and off as rapidly as Internet service, the powerplay
has gone from dominant to dominated (0-for-23 the last six
games) and Michigan's lines have been swapped more than a
Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card.
But one thing that has remained steady in the young season is
the team's praise for goalie Al Montoya. Win or lose, no matter
how many goals Michigan gives up, coaches and players alike
have always been quick to commend the efforts of their sopho-
more netminder.
This weekend, Montoya turned out a performance deserving
of the hype. The Glenview, Ill., native stopped 38-of-40 Michi-
gan State shots and made many spectacular saves. Montoya was
at his best on Friday, when he recorded his third shutout of the
season and seventh of his career.
"He made some good saves, and it wasn't an easy game for a
goalie to play," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "It seemed
like shots came in bunches. They weren't easy to see. There
were a lot of screen shots, loose pucks and rebounds. Al was
strong and he battled hard."
A scoreless game until late in the third period, Friday was a
night for the goaltenders. In Michigan's 2-0 win at Yost Ice
Arena, Montoya - the game's first star - stuffed all 23 Spartan
shots on goal. After 13 saves in the first two periods, Montoya
really stood out in an intense third period, blocking 10 Michigan
State attempts.
"That's why you play goaltender - you know you're back
there, and you have the last say on everything," Montoya said.
Although Montoya produced numerous crowd-pleasing stops,
one save seemed to trigger a celebration louder than the rest. In
the second period, Michigan State defenseman Ethan Graham
received the puck above the left faceoff circle and fired a heavy
slapshot toward Montoya's left. Positioned above the right half
of the crease, Montoya completely outstretched his left arm and
snagged the puck. The save immediately set off a bowing "Al
Montoya" chant from the student section.
Werner welcomes
weekend at wing
By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Junior Eric Werner has been the leading goal
scorer among Michigan defensemen for the last three
seasons, with three goals this season and 12 in his
career. But this weekend, he got his chance to use his
offensive skills at forward.
With an injury to Michael Woodford and a coach's
decision to keep Milan Gajic out of the lineup, Wern-
er demonstrated his offense this weekend against
Michigan State. Werner found himself on the right
wing, along with Jeff Tambellini on the left wing and Andrew Ebbett at
center. Werner had been practicing with his linemates all this week in
practice and played his first-ever game at forward.
"I've never played forward before," Werner said. "It was a little awk-
ward, but I enjoyed it. We're not sure if we'll go with it. We're just giving
it a shot."
Werner said that he played forward last season during practice when
he was on academic probation from the Big Ten. But in his career at
Michigan, he has played all 77 games on defense.
The adjustment between playing defense and offense wasn't too much
of a shift for Werner, as he has been prone to attacking the net while pinch-
ing on defense, or ripping shots from the blueline on powerplays. The
learning curve consisted of offensive positioning and finding open space.
"The biggest adjustment for me is the systems: Making sure I'm in the
right spots in the breakouts, neutral zones and forecheck," Werner said.
Werner's best chance to make an impact on offense came on Friday
when he had a goal waved off by referee Kevin Hall. Late in the first
period, Ebbett was sitting behind Michigan State goaltender Dominic
Vicari looking for one of his linemates to cut toward the net. Werner
skated to Vicari's left side, and Ebbett deflected a pass over the top of the
net. Werner swung his stick at the puck, and it flew over Vicari's shoul-
der, but the goal was waved off immediately.
"I saw it flying over the net," Werner said. "I just got a stick on it, and
it went off the goalies' back and went in. I wasn't sure if it's a highstick."
Werner had a few chances to capitalize on some solid scoring chances,
but didn't register a shot on goal in either game. Despite Werner's initial
hesitancy with shooting the puck, Michigan coach Red Berenson was
pleased with his play.
"Werner was good, I thought, on the wing," Berenson said. "He was
creative and dangerous."
INJURY UPDATE: Junior forward David Moss went down hard in the sec-
ond period of Friday night's game. Berenson said he had a high ankle
sprain, and did not play in Saturday's game. He was seen on crutches and
had a cast on his left ankle. Junior Michael Woodford, who sat out Fri-
day's game with an injury himself, took Moss' place in the lineup Satur-
day night.
I
4
Player
Hensick
Tambellini
Ebbett
Rogers
Kaleniecki
Nystrom
Werner
Moss
Gajic
Helminen
Rohlfs
Brown
Woodford
Hunwick
Henderson
Ryznar
Martens
Dest
Kautz
Cook
Burnes
Wyzgowski
Montoya
TOTALS
'M'
GP
16
16
16
16
16
16
15
15
13
14
16
16
14
16
9
9
12
15
3
12
12
1
16
STATS
G A Pts +/-1
6 10 16 E
9 3 12 -4
4 7 11 3
2 8 10 -1
6 3 9 4
4 5 9 -3
3 5 8 -6
2 6 8 -5
2 4 6 E
3 3 6 -3
3 14 E
2 2 4 -1
0 4 4 -3
0 4 4 1
1 1 2 -2
0 2 2 E
0 112
0 0 0 5
0 0 0 -1
0 0 0 -
50 72 122 -7
PIM Sht
10 51
10 83
12 36
28 32
14 51
10 36
12 25
6 31
14 35
0 40
8 27
14 47
8 20
24 18
4 14
6 4
12 12
11 8
2 3
14 9
4 10
0 2
10 0
235 591
CURTIS HILLER/Daily
Goaltender Al Montoya received constant praise from players and
coaches all season long, despite the outcome of the games.
On Saturday, Montoya played well, but surrendered two diffi-
cult goals. Michigan State's first score came on a first-period
powerplay. Defenseman Corey Potter ripped a slapshot from
between the faceoff circles. Montoya deflected the puck over the
goal, but it bounced off the boards and dribbled back in front of
the goal. Before Montoya could relocate the puck, Mike
Lalonde buried the putback.
The Spartans scored their second goal in the third period.
David Booth found himself uncovered just in front of the blue
line, skated forward and shot through a crowd of players screen-
SPARTANS period,
straight
Continued from Page 1B could or
Following a poor attempt by goal- "I th
tender Al Montoya to clear the puck junior I
from behind the net, Michigan State's back to
Corey Potter stole the puck in front of were pr
the blueline and fired a slapshot high had a ch
and wide left of the goal. But the puck we'vef
came right back in front of the net, and things t
before a surprised Montoya could get to Buoy
it, Mike Lalonde batted it in at 16:33. felt riva
Michigan was still down just 1-0 ment g
when it returned to the ice following the through
second intermission ready to attack, but exceede
another sloppy pass and a Michigan Friday n
State goal sapped the energy out of the Matc
Wolverines. top thre
Michigan State's David Booth inter- his line
cepted a poor cross-ice pass at the slot focus o
in Michigan's zone. With plenty of line.
time, Booth quickly fired a shot past But a
Montoya. Down two, Michigan showed still sco
little life the rest of the way. After regis- den ha
tering 23 shots in the first two periods, decided
the Wolverines took just six in the final On a
period. Helmin
DAVID TUMAN/Daily For No. 10 Michigan (6-4-0 CCHA, the bac
but his goal 10-6-0 overall), opportunities came trom wa
sporadically on Saturday. In the second and the
4
Player GP GA Avg Svs Pct Mins
Montoya 16 38 2.56 379 .905 818:46
Ruden 2 2 5.50 7 .778 21:50
TOTALS 16 42 2.63 386 .902 962:48
CCHA STANDINGS
Team
Miami
Ohio State
Notre Dame
Michigan State
Michigan
Alaska-Fairbanks
Northern Michigan
Western Michigan
Ferris State
Nebraska-Omaha
Bowling Green
Lake Superior
CCHA
8 3
8 4 (0
7 5
7 4 :
6 4 0
6 4 (
6 6 (
5 5 :
4 7 :
3 8 :
2 7 :
2 6 2
Pts
17
16
16
15
12
12
12
11
9
7
7
6
Overall
10 6 2
11 7 0
8 5 2
9 8 1
10 6 0
7 7 0
7 7 0
9 8 2
6 8 2
4 10 2
3 8 6
4 6 4
, Michigan had nearly four
minutes on the powerplay, but
ly muster a single shot.
ink it's back to square one,"
Dwight Helminen said. "Going
(Friday) night, I think the guys
etty positive and feeling like we
Tance to turn it around, and now
got to go back with a lot of
o work on."
ed by a crowd the Wolverines
led last year's NCAA Tourna-
games, Eric Nystrom came
h with a performance that far
ed what his coaches expected
ight.
hed up against Michigan State's
e scorers, the junior forward and
mates had had been asked to
n shutting down the Spartans'
after 58 minutes, the game was
reless. While the offensive bur-
d been placed on others, they
to tackle that task on their own.
faceoff in the Spartans' zone,
en got the puck to Nystrom at
k of the left faceoff circle. Nys-
aited and waited with the puck,
n finally fired it into traffic in
front of the net.
"The puck had eyes," Michigan State
goaltender Dominic Vicari lamented.
When his shot soared over Vicari's
left shoulder and hit the net at 18:33,
everyone in Yost Ice Arena exploded,
including the players.
After the game, Nystrom claimed
that after his goal he tried to get his
teammates to focus on closing the game
out. But goaltender Al Montoya
stopped him, telling Nystrom "you
were the one doing it," and thenmimic-
ked Nystrom by throwing his arms into
the air. Nystrom laughed it off, saying
he did it for the student section.
"I'd been clutching my stick really
tight lately," Nystrom said of his first
goal since Oct. 26. "It feels good to get
a goal, especially in this type of game
in the last game before the break in
front of the home crowd."
Wolverines and Spartans alike felt
they put together possibly their best
weekend of the year, and it was little
surprise it came against their longtime
rivals.
Nystrom said: "That's the way it is
when we play these guys. It's a battle.
It's about will."
4
CCHAROUNDUP
Ferris State 2, BOWUNG GREEN 1
Northern Michigan 3, LAKE SUPERIOR 0
WESTERN MICHIGAN 8, Notre Dame 6
Miami 2, OHIO STATE 1
MCmmeAN 2, MichIgan State 0
ALAsKA FAIRBANKS 5, Nebraska-Omaha 2
ALASKA FAIRBANKS 4, Nebraska-Omaha 1
MIcluGAN STATE 2, Michigan 0
MIAMI 4, Ohio State 2
WESTERN MICHIGAN 6, Notre Dame 4
NORTHERN MICHIGAN 3, Lake Superior 0
BOWUNG GREEN 3, Ferris State 3
Offense wasn't expected from junior forward Eric Nystrom and his line,I
with 1:27 left in Friday's game won Michigan the game.
4
New venue, same result:
Icers' road woes continue
By Michael Nisson
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Every team says some-
thing at the beginning of the season to the
effect of, "It's going to be a long road to the
national championship." For the Michigan
hockey team, this statement couldn't be more
true.
In addition to the actual meaning of such a
comment, there is a slightly hidden signifi-
cance to it for the Wolverines. Put simply,
Michigan has not fared well outside of Yost Ice
Arena. Saturday's loss in East Lansing was one
of four CCHA road defeats so far this season.
"We're not the team that we were a year
ago, or two years ago, on the road," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said after the loss to the
Spartans.
In the previous two seasons, the Wolverines
have gone a combined 13-6-6 at opposing
CCHA arenas. Michigan outscored its oppo-
nents by 19 goals in the same period of time.
That span also included a streak of 11 games
in the 2001-02 season without a defeat (nine
wins and two ties).
The Wolverines have nlaved six games at
In similar fashion, Montoya also struggled
in Michigan's game at Ferris State. The
Wolverines took an early lead, but then gave up
another five-goal period in the second and
were not able to recover. At the time, the
Wolverines were ranked fourth in the country
while the Bulldogs were 2-5 in the CCHA and
3-6 overall.
Michigan's 5-2 defeat to Ohio State in
Columbus three weeks ago was also puzzling,
but for a different reason. Instead of Montoya
having an off night, the powerplay, which has
been among the league's best, struggled
mightily. The powerplay failed to score with a
5-on-3 advantage and squandered a five-
minute advantage after Ohio State senior
Chris Olsgard was given a game misconduct.
What made this loss even more confusing was
the fact that the Wolverines took the first
game of the weekend by storm, blanking the
Buckeyes 4-0.
Then there was Saturday night's game in
East Lansing. The Wolverines simply could
not get good opportunities on net, and the few
times that they did, Michigan State goalie
Dominic Vicari was able to hold his ground.
The Snartans were able to convert and came
CHRIS MACHIAN/UNO Gateway
The Mavericks have struggled so far.
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