6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - January 6, 2004
DEC. 28
Michigan 6, Michigan Tech 2
Michigan 2 3 1. - 6
Michigan Tech 0 1 1 - 2
First period - 1, MICH, Brandon Rogers 3 (Dwight
Helminen, Jason Ryznar) 4:12 (pp); 2, MICH, Eric
Werner 4 (unassisted) 16:29 (pp). Penalties - Brad
Sullivan, MTU (interference) 2:28; Andy Burnes,
MICH (hooking) 4:45; Nick Martens, MICH (roughing)
8:14; Brett Engelhardt, MTU (roughing) 8:14; Jason
Dest, MICH (tripping) 9:18; Nick Anderson, MTU
(roughing) 14:49; Mike Brown, MICH (hooking)
17:30; Engelhardt, MTU (kneeing) 19:22.
Second period -3, MICH, Milan Gajic 4 (Ryznar,
Andrew Ebbett) 2:40; 4, MICH, David Rohlfs 4 (Helmi-
nen, Joe Katuz) 6:59; 5, MTU, Chris Conner 15 (unas-
sisted) 17:17 (sh); 6, MICH, Werner 5 (T.J. Hensick,
Noah Ruden) 19:00. Penalties-Team, MICH (delay
of game) 0:00; Colin Murphy, MTU (holding) 3:12;
Taggart Desmet, MTU (hooking) 13:55; Brandon Kale-
niecki, MICH (interference) 14:06; John Scott, MTU
(roughing) 17:00.
Third period -7,MICH, Werner 6 (Hensick, Kaleniec-
ki) 3:04; 8, MTU, Desmet (unassisted) 17:27. Penal-
ties-Justin Brown, MTU (roughing) 1:24; Ebbett,
MICH (roughing) 1:24; Brown, MTU (highsticking)
4:48; Joe Kautz, MICH (boarding) 10:52; Engelhardt,
MTU (roughing) 11:55; Werner, MICH (roughing)
11:55; Desmet, MTU (roughing) 11:55; Tim Cook,
MICH (roughing, highsticking) 19:42; Brown, MTU
(highsticking, roughing) 19:42; Charlie Henderson,
MICH (highsticking, roughing) 19:42; Lars Helminen,
MTU (highsticking, roughing) 19:42.
Shots on goal: MICH 11-16-21 48; MTU 6-5-15 26. Power
plays: MICH 2 of 9; MTU 0 of 7. Saves - MICH, Noah
Ruden (1-1-0) - 12; MICH, Mike Mayhew - 12;
MTU, Cam Ellsworth (1-5-1) - 42. Referee: Steve
Mcincak.
At: Joe Louis Arena.
Attendance: 15,820
DEC. 27
Boston College 4, Michigan1
Boston College 1 0 3 - 4
Michigan 0 0 1 - 1
First period -1, BC, Andrew Alberts 3 (Ryan Shan-
non) 19:20 (pp). Penalties - Justin Dziama, BC
(roughing) 5:55; Milan Gajic, MICH (hooking) 12:21;
John Adams, BC (slashing) 18:23; Michael Woodford,
MIC (slashing) 18:23; Eric Nystrom, MICH (obstruc-
tion) 18:47.
Second period - No scoring. Penalties - Chris
Collins, BC (obstruction) 1:37; Brandon Kaleniecki
(slashing) 7:02; Ty Hennes, BC (checking from
behind) 9:29; Kaleniecki, MICH (slashing) 12:40.
Third period - 2, BC, Tony Voce 15 (J.D. Forrest, Ben
Eaves) 12:42 (sh); 3, BC, Collins 7 (Dave Spina, Ryan
Shannon) 15:29; 4, BC, Stephen Gionta 5 (Eaves)
18:01; 5, Joe Kautz 1 (Charlie Henderson) 19:16.
Penalties - Adams, BC (highsticking) 11:38.
Shots on goal: BC 12-12-14 38; MICH 7-12-16 35. Power
plays: BC 1 of 4; MICH 0 of 4. Saves - BC, Joe Pearce
(1-0-0) - 34; MICH, Noah Ruden (0-1-0) - 34.
Referee: Brian Aaron.
At: Joe Louis Arena.
Attendance: 13,159
M'
comes up short at GLI once again
By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - Defenseman Eric Werner has always been known
for his offensive ability and was given a chance to demonstrate it
when coach Red Berenson moved him to forward for a few games.
But after spending more than a month at forward for the Michigan
hockey team, he hadn't scored a single point. Then on Dec. 28, in
the third-place game of the Great Lakes Invitational against
Michigan Tech, Werner moved back to defense and notched his
first career hat trick as the Wolverines coasted to a 6-2 win.
Michigan has struggled in recent years at the GLI, as players
have left for the World Junior Tournament and the competition has
become stiffer. The Wolverines haven't won the tournament since
1996 - when they won nine tournaments in a row - and this sea-
son, goaltender Al Montoya, forward Jeff Tambellini and defense-
man Matt Hunwick were all in Finland for the Under-20 World
Junior Tournament.
Even with its complete roster, the Wolverines would have had
difficulty with No. 2 Boston College, Michigan's opponent in the
first game of the tournament on Dec. 27. Sophomore goaltender
Noah Ruden made his first career start and stopped 34 shots, but it
wasn't enough to stop the Eagles, who won 4-1. Senior Joe Kautz
scored the lone goal for the Wolverines. Michigan faced lowly
Michigan Tech (1-7-2 WCHA, 3-11-4 overall) in the consolation
game, but coach Red Berenson wasn't happy with his situation.
"I thought it was a game of two disappointed teams and obvi-
ously we knew we had to play better than we did (Saturday),"
Berenson said. "I didn't look at it as a consolation game as much
as a game that in the big picture can cost you down the road. If
you have any thought of being an (NCAA) Tournament partici-
pant, you can't lose a game like this."
Werner and defender Brandon Rogers provided some much-
needed help on the powerplay, which had struggled in recent
months. For the first time since Nov. 8 against Ferris State, Michi-
gan tallied two powerplay goals.
Early in the first period, Michigan (7-4-1 CCHA, 12-7-1)
received two powerplay opportunities and cashed in on both of
them. Sophomore Andrew Ebbett fired a shot on Michigan Tech
goaltender Cam Ellsworth that was blocked, but Werner crashed to
the net and ripped a rebound shot right along the far post, begin-
ning his three-goal day.
Werner's other two goals came thanks to great passing from
freshman T.J. Hensick. In the second period, Hensick delivered a
perfect, Gretzky-esque pass from behind the net as Werner was
making a cut to the goal parallel to the blueline. Werner buried
the shot for goal No. 2. After intermission, Hensick again found
Werner, who deked Ellsworth and ripped a shot through the five
hole.
"We were struggling to score in the first half (of the season),
and hopefully now my teammates have some confidence in them-
selves," Werner said. "On my goals, T.J. set me up twice in the
slot. Most of the credit goes to him. He had his head on a swivel
and was looking for me."
With the offense slumping a bit, Berenson stressed the impor-
tance of his defensemen's offensive contributions.
"You need your defense to chip in goals, and you look at any of
the games where we we've had a really good game, we'll always
get one or two goals from our defensemen," Berenson said.
"That's the way the game is played now - the forwards work hard
down low to get the puck back to the defense, and the defense has
to get it through."
Werner has scored six goals this season - already the highest
total of his career. After scoring just one goal against Boston Col-
lege, Michigan's six-goal performance against the Huskies was the
Wolverines' largest offensive output in 12 games (Nov. 1 against
Niagara, 6-2).
Boston College (6-0-2 Hockey East, 13-2-3) was the toughest
team Michigan has played all season. The Michigan defense strug-
gled to adjust to Ruden's style of play and gave up several unnec-
essary scoring chances. Perhaps the most disappointing goal of the
game came on Michigan's fourth powerplay of the game, already
down 1-0 in the third period. The Wolverines were trying to get on
the board, but thanks to careless passing, surrendered a shorthand-
ed goal, sucking all life out of the team.
Berenson felt that blaming the loss on a goaltender making his
debut wasn't a good enough excuse - Boston College's netmin-
der Joe Pearce started his first game as well, since the Eagles' reg-
ular goalie was suspended for a violation of team rules.
"I don't think there are any excuses," Berenson said. "We were
FILE PHOTO
After a 41 loss to Boston College, junior Eric Werner notched his
first hat trick in Michigan's 6-2 win over Michigan Tech.
in the game and had a chance to win it, but we didn't win it. Did
we play well enough to win? Probably not. We'll have to play bet-
ter to have a chance to beat a team like that.
"In a 1-0 game in the third period, it is anyone's game. Special
teams was obviously a factor in the game. We gave up a four-on-
three goal and a shorthanded goal. They were a good team, and we
couldn't quite reach the mark in the third period."
4
Ruden, Mayhew get firsts against Tech
Player
Hensick
Ebbett
Tambellini
Nystrom
Rogers
Kaleniecki
Werner
Gajic
Helminen
Moss
Rohfs
Brown
Ryznar
Henderson
Martens
Hunwick
Woodford
Kautz
Dest
Cook
Ruden
Burnes
Montoya
Wyzgowski
TOTALS
Player
Montoya
Ruden
Mayhew
TOTALS
'M'
GP
20
20
16
20
20
20
19
17
18
15
20
20
13
11
16
18
18
5
19
16
4
16
18
3
GP4
18
4
1
20
STATS
G A Pts +/- PIM
7 13 20 E 12
4 11 15 3 16
9 3 12 -4 10
6 6 12 -4 12
3 9 12 -1 28
6 5 11 4 22
6 5 11 -8 14
4 4 8 -2 16
3 5 8 -3 0
2 6 8 -5 6
3 2 5 -2 16
224$ 28
1 4 5 3 6
2 2 4 2 8
1 3 4 E 18
0 4 4 2 26
0 4 4 -5 12
12344
0 2 2 E 15
0 1 1 6 20
0 1 1 - 0
0 0 0 4 10
0 0 0 - 10
0 0 0 -2 8
62 92 154 -8 301
Sht
63
48
83
41
40
68
33
45
54
31
32
54
14
17
18
20
27
8
8
11
0
11
0
2
728
By BrianSchick
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - Sophomore Noah Ruden knew
when he joined the Michigan hockey team two
years ago that he could have a backup role at
goaltender for his entire collegiate career. Coach
Red Berenson likes to have four-year starters in
net, and his plan for fellow sophomore Al Mon-
toya was no different.
But with Montoya at the World Junior Tourna-
ment, Ruden had a weekend full of firsts. He
started his first career game on Dec. 27 against
Boston College, and won his first collegiate
game against Michigan Tech on Dec. 28.
Ruden had made three relief appearances last
year and two this season. Ruden's first game
couldn't have come against a tougher opponent
than No. 2 Boston College. In addition, he
played in front of a large crowd at an NHL arena
and a large audience on regional television.
"It's always a good experience to play against
top competition like Boston College and in Joe
Louis;' Ruden said. "But it is always a better
experience when you can win. Individually, what
it was like for me wasn't as good because we
couldn't pull it out."
It seemed that the Michigan defense had trou-
ble adjusting to Ruden's style of play against the
Eagles. Montoya tends to roam out of the net and
play the puck more than Ruden, who stays home
in the crease. As a result, the defense had a learn-
ing curve getting used to the different styles of
play, and it led to several early breakdowns at the
Michigan end.
In the third period, Boston College forward
Dave Spina chased a loose puck behind Ruden
and two Michigan defenders followed him to the
back of the net. As a result, the Wolverines left
the Eagles' Chris Collins in front. He flipped an
easy shot over Ruden to make the score 3-0.
Forward Eric Nystrom felt that regardless of
who was in net, Michigan didn't play well
enough to beat Boston College.
"We were trying our best to play good defens-
es and the goals they scored were on defensive
breakdowns," Nystrom said. "The plays (the
defense) made were from somebody missing
their man or someone not picked up in the
crease. The way Noah played, I don't think any-
one else in net could have saved their chances
either."
The next day against Michigan Tech in the
consolation game, Ruden notched his first career
victory making 12 saves through two periods of
play. Granted, his opposition wasn't as tough as
the day before, but Ruden seemed to take his
game to the next level. He faced the top goal
scorer in the NCAA in the Huskies' Chris Con-
ner and made several tough saves.
"We were a little upset with how we played
(Dec. 27), so we made sure that this was the
way we were going to come out the rest of the
season," Ruden said. "When you have a 4-0
cushion it makes the goalie's job a lot easier
because you feel more relaxed. Getting that
first win was fun."
Freshman goalie Mike Mayhew also got a
chance to play in his first career game. He made
a relief appearance against Michigan Tech four
minutes into the third period. Despite coming in
when Michigan held a comfortable 6-1 lead,
Mayhew faced some of the toughest shots of the
game. He faced 12 shots during Michigan Tech's
comeback attempt.
"Noah had been playing so well I didn't
expect to go in," Mayhew said. "As soon as I got
in, they started shooting the puck from e-ery-
where knowing that I was coming in cold. I
thought I got a lot of experience. It was a great
crowd, and it was a lot of fun. "
GA Avg Svs Pct Mns
44 2.48 423 .906 1063:43
7 3.36 53 .883 124:54
1 3.54 12 .923 16:56
54 2.68 488 .9041207:48
TONY DING/Daily
Sophomore Noah Ruden started his first career game and
picked up his first career win at the GLI over break.
Retail
Half.com
Natural selection.
r r timete,first-time buyers1
How smart is this: All the textbooks you
need for un to 50% off retail prices. New or
IimmL4
Irr
i
I