THE SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN I. BRADY McCoulouc From the Olympics to the gymnast Elise Ray's life h a complete 180. PAGE March 1, 2004 GH: as taken 6B THIRD-PLACE HOST Nick Willis led the Michigan men's track team to a third-place finish in the Big Ten championships held in Ann Arbor this past weekend. PAGE 7B rf I UA SPORS SECTION B gs firtisfoun Built, MWAMM Tripped up D~m 5,Michigan 2 Friday: Michigan 1; Saturday: . Road woes catch up to team again GENNARO FILICE Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang S OUTH BEND - So, Michigan left Ann Arbor and, once again, seemingly failed to show up at an opposing arena. It's nothing new for the Wolverines - at least this season. Two weeks ago, Michigan put the finishing touches on a perfect confer- ence home mark (13-0-0) by easily sweeping Bowling Green. Michigan has put on a show for the Yost faithful all season long, effortlessly pummeling any team that dare occupy the visitor's bench. But, when the Wolverines have left the comfortable confines of 1000 S. State St., they've instantly transformed from "Who's your daddy?" to "Where's my daddy?" Timid, hesitant and seem- ingly unmotivated in other CCHA are- nas, the Wolverines have looked lost on the road, stumbling to a 5-7-1 mark. While Michigan has experienced an abundance of road woes in the 2003-04 campaign, last weekend's installment ofroad.futility stands out above (or below) the rest. Having won 13 of their previous 14 games, the Wolverines suf- fered a pair of three-goal losses to an inferior Notre Dame squad.. But don't tell any player or coach that the foreign venue had anything to do with their embarrassing display on the ice. As they've done all season, most team members adamantly refuted the notion ihat they're a bad road team. The phrase "road struggles" carries a stigma around the Michigan locker room. When confronted with the phrase, most Wolverines lock up and go into classic Bill Clinton Zippergate mode: wholehearted denial. "We do NOT have poor road relations... " See FILICE, Page 4B TONY DING/Daily T.J. Hensick and the Wolverines outshot Notre Dame 41- 16 on Saturday, but still lost by three goals. leers get swept byIrish on road By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer SOUTH BEND - Following the Michigan hockey team's embarrassing 4-1 loss to Notre Dame on Friday, alternate captain Eric Nystrom described the team's efforts bluntly. "We've got to be men out there," Nystrom said. "We weren't men tonight. We were getting knocked all over the place, and we need to come a little more mentally tough and ready to play a physical game (tomorrow)." The Wolverines (18-7-1 CCHA, 23-10-1 overall) seemed to have a tougher attitude on Saturday, but the result of the contest remained the same as the previous night. Notre Dame (13-10-3, 17-11-4) won 5-2 and swept the weekend series behind a strong performance by fresh- man goaltender David Brown, who stopped 39 of Michi- gan's 41 shots. The pair of losses means that Michigan's quest for the CCHA regular season title will have to include a victory over arch-rival Michigan State next weekend. The Wolverines, who currently sit in first place in the CCHA, lead second-place Miami by two points. After being dominated for much of the first two peri- ods on Saturday, the Fighting Irish blew Michigan out of the water near the end of the second period. Notre Dame scored two goals in a 17-second span, giving it a 3-2 lead See IRISH, Page 4B 1 TONY DING/Daily Sophomore Brandon Kaleniecki fails short of Notre Dame's Joe Zurenko. Despite a pair of losses this weekend, Michigan can still clinch at least a tie for the CCHA regular-season title with one win in its next two games. Cagers take care of * Bucks, still hopeful M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Without Whalen, No. 12 Gophers no match for 'M' By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer On Sunday, on a day when they honored their seniors, in a less-than- perfect season, the Wolverines played a less-than-perfect game, lacking fire after their emotional loss to Michigan State on Tuesday. But the Wolverines did do what mattered: Keep their NCAA Tour- nament hopes * I TA 4 on life support. Michigan made the runs and hit the free throws it needed down the stretch to defeat Ohio State 75-64 yesterday in its final regular-season home game. After falling behind 9-2 early, the Wolverines (7-7 Big Ten, 16-9 over- all) outscored the Buckeyes (5-9, 13-14) 30-13 over the next 13 min- utes by shooting the ball well, pulling down offensive rebounds and forcing a barrage of turnovers. While Michigan had trouble early against Ohio State's matchup zone, Abram hit a 3-pointer and drove inside twice to get the offense going. The Wolverines then scored five buckets off Buckeye turnovers ence was that he was very active and lively. He stood out because we didn't stand out as a group." While known for his spectacular dunks, height-defying blocks and good defense, Petway shined on the offensive end without dunking the ball once. He instead used his leap- ing ability to score four field goals off of offensive rebounds. "On offense, my teammates found me in easy situations where I can get to the basket," Petway said. "(Amaker) wants me to be the best offensive rebounder on the team, so that's what I focus on." Michigan couldn't put the contest out of reach until late in the second half as Ohio State got within strik- ing distance twice. Guard Tony Stockman started off the second half with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six. But freshman center Court- ney Sims finished off an alley-oop from Daniel Horton and scored on the following possession. Abram then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Michigan lead to 12. The sophomore finished with a team- high 20 points. "I was just out there playing," By Megan Kolodgy Daily Sports Writer They had been here before. With 1:20 remaining, No. 12 Minnesota had cut the Wolverines' once-18-point lead to a nail-biting MINNESOTA 47 five. Minnesota's Shannon Schronrock hit one from outside the arc, bringing Minnesota within five points, its smallest deficit of the contest. The Michigan women's basketball team has notoriously had trouble holding on to WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING Relay ti-mej to another By Anne Uible Daily Sports Writer You couldn't have asked for a more excit- ing championship. The Big Ten women's swimming and diving conference title was up for grabs in the final event of the final day large leads in the waning minutes of its games, and the Wolverines looked as if they might be on their way to another similar defeat. But then something peculiar happened. They actually held onto it. The Wolverines walked off the court with a 57-47 win over the Golden Gophers, their first victory over a ranked opponent this season. "I think that this was a really important win for us, coach Cheryl Burnett said. "We really felt like we'd been playing well at See GOPHERS, Page 3B propels Blue li*g Ten title incredible experience. That doesn't always happen. And even though their conference rings will probably collect dust in a drawer 10 years down the line, none of them will forget the emotion, excitement and energy of this moment. It will be with them for the rest of their lives." i ~