4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 29, 2004

6

LINE OF THE WEEK
Charlie Henderson
Forward
Saturday vs. Wisconsin
0 points, 3 shots, +1 rating

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

"Well, the fans were right. We're
overrated."
- Michigan coach Red Berenson on
the fans' chant at the end of the game.

Bernd Bruckler
(Wisconsin)
The opposing goalkeeper stifled
the Wolverines with stellar
performances. Bruckler had 23
saves in the 3-2 win.

Chad Kolarik
(Michigan)
Kolarik's goal Saturday to tie the game at
one gave Michigan its only real chance to
skate with its opponents. He also made
his physical presence felt in both games.

FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan Wolverines
Roh ifs

First-period woes strike again in Showcase

1
5

im

Minnesota Gophers
Potulny (2), Fleming,
Guyer, Vannelli

SATURDAY'S GAME

ti'

Michigan Wolverines
Kolarik
Wisconsin Badgers
Dowell, Burish, Joudrey

1
3

Wisconsin 3, Michigan 1
Michigan 1 0 0 - 1
Wisconsin 1 2 0 - 3
First period - 1. WIS, Jake Dowell 7 (Nick Licari,
Ross Carlson) 12:56; 2. MICH, Chad Kolarik 5
(Jeff Tambellini, Eric Werner) 18:41. Penalties
- Kyle Klubertanz, WIS (holding) 0:42; David
Moss, MICH (hooking) 4:41; Jason Dest, MICH
(slashing) 5:57; David Moss, MICH (interference)
7:48; Nick Martens, MICH (high sticking) 15:44;
- Tom Gilbert, WIS (tripping) 19:16.
Second period - 3. WIS, Adam Burish 3 (Jeff
Likens, Joe Pavelski) 11:10; 4. WIS, Andrew
Joudrey 3 (Ryan MacMurchy, Davis Drewiske)
17:20. Penalties - Tom Gilbert, WIS (tripping)
1:19: Milan Gajic, MICH (high sticking) 10:09;
Joe Piskula, WIS (cross checking) 15:29; Jason
Ryznar, MICH (cross checking) 17:37; Jeff Lik-
ens, WIS (slashing) 17:37.
Third period - No scoring. Penalties - Brandon
Kaleniecki, MICH (holding) 12:21; Kyle Kluber-
tanz, WIS (holding) 13:38.
Shots on goal: WIS 13-8-7 28; MICH 6-9-9 24. Power
plays: WIS 1 of 6; MICH 0 of 5. Saves - WIS Bernd
Bruckler (5-9-9) -23; MICH, Al Montoya (12-
6-7) -25.
Referee: Tom Anderson.
At: The Kohl Center
Attendance: 13,966.

By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Until just over a week ago, Michigan was one
of the strongest first-period teams in the country. The Wolverines
gave up just four first-period goals in their first 11 games, and they
outscored their opponents 13-4 in that span.
But in games No. 12 and 13 - last Saturday against Michigan
State and on Friday at Minnesota - they gave up a combined eight
first-period goals.
Michigan kept up with the Spartans, and the first period ended with
the Wolverines down by just one goal. But against Minnesota, it was
a different story.
Sophomore Ryan Potulny, who came into the game as the nation's
leading goal-scorer (12), got Minnesota off to an amazingly quick
start, scoring two goals before the entire Mariucci Arena crowd had
filed into their seats.
"We just didn't come ready to play, and they were flying right from
the get-go," junior Jeff Tambellini said. "They capitalized on their
opportunities.
"Before we knew, it we were down 4-0 and were out of this
game."
As good as he's been this season, Potulny didn't need any help
from the Wolverines. But Montoya gave up two long rebounds that
made it easy for the nation's leading scorer. Just 3:10 into the first
period, Minnesota freshman Ben Gordon got the puck at the top of
the right circle and brought it through the Michigan defense to the
slot. His shot didn't make it into the net, but a long rebound gave
Potulny a wide-open opportunity. He collected the puck at the bottom
of the circle and fired a wrist-shot over Montoya, who was sprawling
on the ice.
Just 28 seconds later, Potulny collected another long rebound in
the right circle - this time off a shot from defenseman Derek Peltier
- and again put the puck past Montoya, while the goalie was lying
on the ice.
The two tallies started a four-goal period for the Golden Gophers.
By the time Minnesota scored its third goal of the period, it was
outshooting the Wolverines 12-2. Michigan got one score late in the
period, but trailed 4-1 vyhen the air horn blew.
"We knew it would be a fast-starting game," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "I think that our team was emotionally ready to start
fast, but they weren't ready to get scored on as quickly as they were."

Berenson didn't speculate about why the Wolverines have been
starting slow recently, but - whether it was sluggish skating or poor
focus - it was clear that they were out of their element.
Just 1:32 into the second period, the Gophers got on the board again.
Freshman Kris Chucko won a faceoff in the Michigan zone, and the
puck was gathered by defenseman Mike Vannelli at the point. Van-
nelli brought it into the middle of the zone and put the puck through
a lot of traffic in front of the net and past Montoya. The goal gave
Minnesota a 5-1 lead.
"We knew they could skate, but they just outplayed us," Tambellini said.
"They were skating tonight, and we were just watching. There were a lot of
times when we were just swinging at the puck. No one was ready to stop

them. No one was ready to compete. We just didn't show up tonight."
It took a little longer on Saturday against Wisconsin, but the Wol-
verines again fell behind early. Michigan defenseman David Rohlfs
lost the puck in his own zone 13 minutes into the game, and it was
picked up by Wisconsin junior Nick Licari, who spotted his teammate
Ross Carlson right in front of the net. Carlson got the puck through
the legs of Montoya to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead.
A late goal in the period by freshman Chad Kolarik tied the game
1-1. But, despite that, the Wolverines were again handled in the first
period. Wisconsin outshot Michigan 13-6 in the opening frame.
"I think we probably showed up and competed a little harder than
we did last night, but still you can never be happy with a loss, no mat-

Player
Hensick
Tam bellini
Gajic
Moss
Werner
Ebbett
Ryznar
Kolarik
Rohlfs
Porter
Nystrom
Kaleniecki
Hunwick
P Martens
Rogers
Brown
Woodford
Dest
Cook
Henderson
Montoya
Ruden
Player
Montoya
Ruden

'M'
GP
13
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
13
14
10
14
14
14
14
13
6
14
14
1
14
2
GP
14
2

STATS
G A Pts +/- PIM Sht
6 10 16 0 8 45
6 10 16 +9 8 66
6 6 12 -1 24 36
3 8 11 +5 12 27
3 8 11 +3 18 15
2 8 10 +2 8 37
2 6 8 0 14 25
5 3 8 +1 12 31
4 2 6 +7 6 17
3 3 6 -1 20 17
3 2 5 0 21 13
2 3 5 +2 14 44
1 4 5 +2 22 11
1 4 5 +5 12 11
1 2 3 +6 34 25
2 0 2 0 24 23
1 1 2 +2 6 6
0 1 1 +5 20 17
0 0 0 +4 16 4
0 0 0 +1 0 3
0 0 0 -- 16 0
0 0 0 -- 0 0
W L T GAA PCT
9 4 1 2.69 .893
0 0 0 0.00 1.000

Minnesota goalie Kellen Briggs stacks the pads Friday, stifling a Milan Gajic scoring attempt. The Golden Gophers went on to win 5-1.

AP PHOT

OFFTHEDRAW
M' De ender
M' Q end
) , oudr6Y /
- Skating w/ puck Skating w/o puck . . . Pass - - Shot
How it happened: During a Michigan power play, Wiscon-
sin's Andrew Joudrey collected the puck from Ryan MacMurchy
on the right side of the neutral zone. He took the puck along
the boards into the offensive zone. At the top of the circle, Jou-
drey took the puck toward the center, squared his shoulders to
the goal and fired a wrist-shot at Montoya. The shot split the
two Michigan defenders standing in front of him and flew over
Montoya's glove, giving Wisconsin a 3-1 lead.
Analysis: This short-handed goal came at 17:20 in the sec-
ond period and was the dagger in the back of the Wolverines.
The telling sign was the two Michigan defenders who were just
standing around waiting for something to happen. Michigan
looked uninspired all weekend,m and the Badgers capitalized.

II

CCHA STANDINGS

c Team
Ohio State
Michigan
Nebraska-Omaha
Alaska-Fairbanks
- Bowling Green
Northern Mich.
Lake Superior
Western Michigan
Miami (OH)
Notre Dame
Michigan State
Ferris State

CCHA Overall

7-2-1
7-1-0
5-4-1
5-3-0
4-2-2
4-3-1
4-5-1
3-6-1
3-6-1
2-5-3
3-5-0
1-6-1

9-4-1
9-4-1
7-4-1
6-4-0
7-3-2
6-4-2
4-7-1
6-6-1
5-8-1
3-6-4
6-7-1
4-9-1

FRIDAY'S RESULTS:
MINNESOTA 5, Michigan1
Michigan State 4, WISCONSIN 0
LAKE SUPERIOR 3, Northern Mich. 1
Miami (OH) 2, BOWLING GREEN 2 (OT)
Notre Dame 3, ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 2
SATURDAY'S RESULTS:
WISCONSIN 3, Michigan 1.
MINNESOTA 5, Michigan State 0
ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 3, Notre Dame 2
NORTHERN MICH. 3, Lake Superior 0
BOWLING GREEN 2, Miami (OH) 1
WESTERN MICHIGAN 5, Alabama-Huntsville 1
YESTERDAY'S RESULT:
WESTERN MICHIGAN 3, Alabama-Huntsville 1

Seniors need to take a bigger role

RYAN SOSIN
ON HOCKEY
MADISON - Michigan finally returned from
its trip in orbit. It wasn't flying on Apollo 15, but the
nation's No. 1 hockey team was acting as if its play
put them up in the stratosphere.
"Let's be honest with ourselves," Michigan hockey
coach Red Berenson said. "Sometimes you live in
your own little world, and you think you're better
than you are."
Michigan finally has some hard evidence as to
where it is as a team. After being outscored 8-2 this
weekend by two of the top teams in the country,
Berenson ripped into his team by letting his distaste
for players' effort be known.
"We're not very good," Berenson said. "We put a lot
on these games. We wanted to see where we were."
There is no question, this team has the tal-
ent to win a championship. What has been a
question, however, is the players' motivation to
succeed as a team. It is easy to be confident at
Yost, when 7,000 people are telling you how
great you are, but truly good teams can produce
results when just as many are rooting for your
opponent. This is why the confidence problem
is less apparent when playing on home ice,
where the Wolverines are undefeated.
"They've all established their goals on this team,
and they're good kids," Berenson said. "But are they
playing their absolute best and doing everything they
can for this team? I'd say probably not."
Compounding the issue is that almost half the team
has become almost accustomed to poor performances
on the road. The seniors, who fill 10 spots on the 24-
man roster, have to carry the team, instead putting all
t .nraee,..ra+nn a t tn ,-,.1 n nDerae IenrPhm man

SHOWCASE
Continued from page:lB
goal," Berenson said.
The third period was mostly uneventful, as
the Badgers sat back in their zone to protect
their advantage, while Michigan failed to mount
many serious offensive attacks.
The Wolverines' ineptitude came just a night
after they were thoroughly dominated by Min-
nesota. The Golden Gophers jumped out of the
gate for a quick 4-0 first period lead and never
looked back against a reeling Michigan squad.
After the second game of the weekend, Beren-
son made it clear that he wasn't happy with what
he saw from his team over the weekend.
"We scored two goals in two games," Beren-
son said. "Whether you can measure it by the
power play, the penalty killing, goals-against,
shots, chances for, chances against, turnovers,
hits, faceoffs - I mean, all the stats - we're
not very good."
Berenson admitted, that the team may have
fallen victim to some of the hype surrounding
the team and it's top-seed ranking.
"We didn't show that we were better than
either (Minnesota or Wisconsin)," he said.
Michigan's poor play on Saturday was partly
caused by the absences of senior captain Eric
Nystrom and sophomore forward T.J. Hensick.
Nystrom took the night off due to illness, but
Berenson benched Hensick - Michigan's lead-
ing scorer - because of weaknesses in his off-
the-puck and defensive play. Eaves, for one,
was impressed with the statement his coaching
counterpart made by sitting such an important
player in a game of such magnitude.
"I think (sitting Hensick) is a good thing,"
Eaves said. "I think it builds credibility within
your team, it "creates the habits that you want
from your team and I think you're going to be a
htter team at the end of the vear hecase of the

TOM MASO GOMEZ/Daily
Michigan captain Eric Nystrom needs to get his fellow seniors going heading back into conference play.

71
FILE PHOTO
The Fighting Irish come to Yost Friday.
UP NEXT:
NOTRE DAME
X' Michigan (7-1-0 CCHA, 9-4-1 overall)
resumes conference play with a home-
and-home series against Notre Dame
(2-5-3, 3-6-4). The Fighting Irish are com-
ing off a weekend nlit at Alaska-Fair-

State, the Wolverines echoed a hollow confi-
dence. The smiles on their faces didn't match
the quality of their play despite serious holes
becoming more apparent. It was happy with the
pair of conference wins, despite the fact that,
had a few bounces gone the Spartans' way, this
reality check may have come a week earlier.
Early in the season, rankings are based pri-
marily on the talent of a team. That's how a
Michigan team climbed in the rankings after
an Oct. 30 loss to Ferris State. Berenson has
never put much stock in the rankings, insist-
;nv that hi- , nl.erc neA to nroen what Lkind orf

not just themselves.
"We really have to play like a team," Nystrom said
during the summer. "A few times, a couple guys may
have been on their own agenda last season, and that
hurt the team. We need to get everyone on the same
page and working toward the same goal to accom-
plish it."
Finally, it seemed the alarm had gone off after Fri-
day night's 5-1 loss to the Golden Gophers. Frustra-
tion replaced of jubilation as the team failed to adapt
to the opponent.
"They moved their feet, and we just weren't able
to Leen un to them-" iuninr alternate cantain Tff