4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 24, 2005 LINE OF THE WEEK Jason Ryznar Forward Saturday vs. Ohio State I Goal, 2 Assists, +2 NOTABLE QUOTABLE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK "(The win) doesn't feel as good as it should feel because of the way we fin- ished the game in the third period." - Michigan coach Red Berenson on giving up three late goals Saturday. Rod Pelley (Ohio State) Pelley tallied three goals on the weekend. He had one goal in Friday's win and two in Ohio State's third period comeback on Saturday. Eric Nystrom (Michigan) Nystrom responded to his team's poor performance on Friday with one of the best games of his career. He tied a career high for assists on Saturday with three. 0 FRIDAY'S GAME Michigan Wolverines Gajic 1 Icers finally defeat top-ranked opponent i . Ohio State Buckeyes 4 Knapp, Beaudoin, Pelley, Hood By Jake Rosenwasser Daily Sports Writer SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan Wolverines Kolarik (2), Tambellini, Ryznar, Werner, Hensick Ohio State Buckeyes Pelley (2), Beaudoin 6 3 COLUMBUS - Entering the weekend, Michigan had compiled a 18-5-1 record, defeating many medi- ocre teams along the way. But over the course of the season, when the Wolverines had faced the top teams in the country, they had struggled. Michigan 6, Ohio State 3 Michigan 0 5 1 - Ohio State 0 0 3 - 6 3 First period - No scoring. Penalties - Jason DeSantis, OSU (tripping) 1:40; Tyson Strachan, OSU (cross checking) 4:26; Tim Cook, MICH (interference) 14:30; Kenny Bernard, OSU (trip- ping) 17:10. Second period - 1. MICH, Chad Kolarik 9 (Eric Nystrom, Jeff Tambellini) 4:59; 2. MICH, Tambel- lii 13 (Kevin Porter, Andrew Ebbett) 5:15; 3. MICH, Jason Ryznar 5 (Ebbett, Milan Gajic) 9:52; 4. MICH, Kolarik 10 (T.J. Hensick, Ryznar) 12:12; 5. MICH, Eric Werner 6 (Ryznar, Nystrom) 17:00. Penalties - Nate Guenin, OSU (holding) 3:29; Kolarik, MICH (checking from behind) 10:05; Cook, MICH (hooking) 13:45; Rod Pelley, OSU (roughing) 16:24; Nick Martens, MICH (rough- ing) 16:24; Brandon Rogers, MICH (hooking) 17:33; Kolarik, MICH (grabbing the facemask) 20:00; Johann Kroll, OSU (grabbing the face- mask) 20:00; Kolarik, MICH (game misconduct) 20:00; Kroll, OSU (game misconduct) 20:00; Gajic, MICH (roughing) 20:00; Spector Lee, OSU (roughing) 20:00. Third period - 6. OSU, Matt Beaudoin (Bryce Anderson, Kyle Hood) 4:44; 7. OSaU, Peey 15 (Tyson Strachan, J.B. Bittner) 7:32; 8. OSU, Petey 16 (Bittner) 12:37; 9. MICH, Hensick 16 (Nystrom). Penalties- Werner, MICH (charg- ing) 3:40; Dan Knapp, OSU (interference) 4:53; Andrew Schembri, OSU (boarding) 10:46; Matt Hunwick, MICH (slashing) 10:46; Beaudoin, OSU (slashing) 10:46; Hensick, MICH (cross-check- ing) 12:34. Shots on goal: MICH 7-16-12-35; OSU 5-9-15-29. Power plays: MICH 1 of 6; OSU 1 of 6. Saves - MICH Al Montoya (5-9-12) - 26; OSU, Dave Caruso (7- 11-0), Ian Keserich (0-0-11) - 29. Note: Ian Keserich replaced Dave Caruso at 17:00 of second period. Referee: Brian Aaron At: Value City Arena Attendance: 12,391. The Wolverines dropped games at then-No. 3 Minne- sota and then-No. 2 Wisconsin over Thanksgiving Break. They were outscored in those two games / 8 by a combined score of 8-2. In October, the Wolverines hosted then-No. 7 New Hampshire at Yost Ice Arena, and again they faltered. The Wolverines tied the Wildcats 4- 4. That tie is the only blemish on the Wolverines' 10-0-1 record at Yost so far this season. After Friday's 4-1 loss at No. 10 Ohio State, Michigan coach Red Berenson was concerned about his club's play against the elite teams in the nation. "We haven't played well," Beren- son said. "We haven't lived up to our record or our expectations. No ques- tion, we did not have a good game tonight. I can't tell you the games are similar against top opponents because that was a couple months ago. (But) I can't tell you that that was a good game by the Michigan team." On Saturday, Michigan finally stood up to a team that had a number in front of its name. With a five-goal second period, the Wolverines final- ly took a significant lead against a worthy opponent. Even after a disappointing third period in which Ohio State clawed back to 5-3, Michigan escaped Columbus with a quality win. "We gave up three goals in the third period, so it's not like a total victory," Berenson said. "(But) we played well enough to win that game." GRABBING CHAD: On Saturday, fresh- man Chad Kolarik scored his second goal of the game with eight minutes remaining in the second period, and his first career Michigan hat trick was in sight. But Kolarik did not get as much time to score that third goal as he probably thought he would have. At the end of the second peri- od, Kolarik was whistled for a game misconduct penalty for grabbing the facemask of Ohio State freshman Johann Kroll. Kolarik, by rule, sat out the entire third period and will be forced to sit out this Friday's game against Northern Michigan. "He's not out there looking to start a fight or get thrown out of a game," Berenson said. "He was hav- ing a great game. You hate to see a kid like that get thrown out." After a scoreless first period, Kolarik started the scoring in the second when he blasted a cross- ing pass from senior Eric Nystrom into the Ohio State net. Later in the second period, Kolarik exited the penalty box and skated across JOEL FRIEDMAN/Daily Michigan sophomore TJ. Hensick celebrates a Michigan goal in the Wolverines' 6-3 win over Ohio State on Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus. The victory was Michigan's first this season against a ranked opponent. the ice toward the Michigan bench. When he was about halfway to his teammates, sophomore T.J. Hensick brought the puck out of the Michi- gan zone and led Kolarik with a pass Player Hensick Tambellini Gajic Moss Kolarik Ryznar Ebbett Hunwick Nystrom Rogers Kaleniecki Porter Werner Rohlfs Martens Brown Dest Henderson Woodford Olson Cook Montoya Ruden Player Montoya Ruden 'M' GP 23 26 26 26 26 26 24 24 22 26 26 24 23 23 24 23, 26 4 11 6 26 24 5 GP 24 5 STATS G A Pts +/- PIM Sht 16 19 35 +11 16 77 13 19 32 +22 18 127 12 15 27 +4 34 76 7 17 24 +10 20 52 10 11 21 +9 37 66 5 14 19 +3 42 39 2 16 18 +8 16 55 5 12 17 +15 42 30 5 12 17 +13 25 29 2 14 16 +20 58 53 10 5 15 +7 30 88 7 8 15 +5 26 31 6 9 15 +13 32 30 5 3 8 +8 8 31 1 6 7 +7 26 20 3 3 6 +9 62 46 1 2 3 +14 34 30 1 1 2 +1 4 4 1 1 2 +2 8 14 0 1 1 +3 6 2 0 0 0 +6 38 8 0 0 0 -- 20 0 0 0 0 -- 0 0 that left him unimpeded to the net. Saturday and assists in both games Kolarik stretched Michigan's lead to over the weekend, Hensick has now 4-0 when he beat Ohio State goalie scored in 10 straight games. His Dave Caruso. two points on Saturday gave him 12 NOTES: With an empty-net goal on multi-point games this season. OFFTIEIRAW J L Koe 00 S " U. } e d s /Kol rik Skating w/ puck Skating w/o puck " - * Pass - - Shot How it happened: With six seconds left in Chad Kolarik's checking-from-behind penalty, and the team setting up for a faceoff in its own zone, Michigan defender Jason Dest came by the penalty box to tell Kolarik what to do when the penalty ended. Whatever Dest told him, no one on the Michigan bench could have envisioned a goal just ten seconds later. The faceoff was controlled by Michigan, and, when Kolarik was let out, he skated across ice toward the Michigan bench. At the same time, sophomore T.J. Hensick was heading up ice and spotted Kolarik behind the defense. Hensick hit Kolarik with a pass and Kolarik did the rest. Analysis: Kolarik's second goal on Saturday pushed Michi- gan's lead to 4-0. The goal turned out to be the game-winner when Ohio State scored three in the third period. w 18 1 L 6 1 T 1 0 GAA PCT 2.75 .895 1.54 .949 CCHA STANDINGS Team Michigan Ohio State Northern Mich. Nebraska-Omaha Michigan State Bowling Green Alaska-Fairbanks Lake Superior Miami (OH) Ferris State Western Mich. Notre Dame CCHA Overall 16-2-0 13-4-1; 10-5-3 10-8-2 8-9-1 7-7-2 7-10-1 6-7-3 5-10-3 4-11-3 5-10-1 3-11-4 19-6-1 16-7-3 12-7-5 12-10-2 13-11-2 10-9-3 8-11-1 7-13-4 9-13-4 9-13-3 10-11-1 5-16-5 FRIDAY'S RESULTS: OHIO STATE 4, Michigan 1 ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 3, Ferris State 2 Nebraska-Omaha 5, MIAMI (OH) 2 MICHIGAN STATE 8, Lake Superior 0 NORTHERN MICH. 3, Bowling Green 1 SATURDAY'S RESULTS: Michigan 6, OHIo STATE 3 ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 4, Ferris State 3 MIAMI (OH) 4, Nebraska-Omaha 2 MICHIGAN STATE 2, Lake Superior 2 (OT) NORTHERN MICH. 4, Bowling Green 2 HERBERT Continued from page 1B practiced all week on blocking shots, being more aggressive on the power play and killing penalties. "The special teams is really the one area that really jumps out at you," Beren- son said about Ohio State after a practice last week. "That's going to be important to both teams. They're very solid in both areas of special teams." So it's not like Michigan was caught off guard on Friday night when Ohio State came out quick on the power play. The Wolverines knew about it in advance, but they just weren't ready for the speed that the Buckeyes brought to the ice. Ohio State looked faster than Michigan all night on Friday but the Buckeyes dominated on the power play in particular. "Obviously, they're playing with a lot of confidence," Berenson said after Friday's game. "To score on the first power play, that sets a trend. It gets them excited. It was a combination of things on our part - not getting the puck out, taking maybe bad, unnecessary penalties." Ten minutes into the third period, Ohio State's Kyle Hood was skating at the point with the puck. He fired a slapshot and Michigan defenseman Jason Dest went down on one knee to block the shot. It slipped passed Dest and into the goal to push the score to 4-1 and, essentially, seal the game for the Buckeyes. Dest - who was on the ice for two other Ohio State power play goals on Friday - slammed his stick on the ice in disgust. Frustration had set in. When the Wolverines needed to be strongest - against the second-best team in the CCHA - the special teams failed them. After the game, Nystrom talked about how frustrating it was. "It's amazing how when the penalty kill is good, it's rock solid," Nystrom said. "Then there are some times where the pen- alty kill goes through these streaks where it feels like you have holes in you, and you can't get in front of a shot, you can't block shots and it's finding its way to the net. Right now we're on a downward string." Berenson also mentioned after Friday's game that the focus Saturday had to be on penalty killing if Michigan wanted to try to split the series. But since that's what he'd been saying all week, it was hard to believe that it was going to make a difference. But it did. Michigan came out on Sat- urday skating harder and blocking more shots. Minutes into the game, senior defenseman Brandon Rogers salvaged an Andrew Ebbett turnover deep in the Michigan zone by blocking a shot. Rogers also blocked a centering pass that could have changed the momentum of the game at a point when Michigan needed all the momentum it could get. Neither of these plays were on a Michigan penalty kill, but it was indicative of the new attitude Michi- gan brought to the game on Saturday night. After letting Ohio State work its way back from 5-0 to 5-3, Michigan got itself into trouble. Sophomore T.J. Hensick was in the box with eight minutes left, and Michigan was hanging on to a precarious two-goal lead. The Wolverines could have folded, but, instead, they kept Ohio State at bay. That penalty kill was one of the most important two minutes of the game, and the Michigan special teams came through when it needed to. The Michigan penalty kill wasn't spectacular on Saturday, but it was good when it needed to be. It's difficult to put a finger on what happened in between Friday's travesty and Saturday's per- formance. One possibility is that senior Mike Woodford was able to bring his work ethic, his strong skating and some life to the penalty killing unit. After not dressing on Friday, Woodford dressed on Saturday in place of sophomore David Rohlfs, probably because of his stellar play on the penalty killing unit this sea- son. Another option is that Friday night's play was actually enough to motivate the Wolverines. Or maybe it's like Nystrom said: some days it's on and some days it's off. Maybe in Michigan's case, some months it's on and some months it's off. The Wolverines are the ones that need to figure that out. They can't afford to JOEL FRIEDMAN/Daily Michigan senior Jason Ryznar (22) in action against Ohio State over the weekend. Ryznar scored a goal and notched two assists in Saturday's win. HOW THE USCHO TOP-15 FARED USCHO Poll for the week of Jan. 17 Games updated through yesterday BUCKEYES Continued from page 11B entered the third period on Saturday with a 5-0 lead, Michigan's showing on the ice wasn't perfect in the split- salvaging win. Ohio State scored three goals in under eight minutes to pull within two before sophomore T.J. Hensick carried a long shot by Nystrom into an empty Buckeyes net with 12 seconds left on the clock. Nystrom ended the night with three assists. "It doesn't feel as good as it should feel because of the way we commanding 4-0 lead that would hold up. After Eric Werner's subsequent goal with three minutes left in the sec- ond, Ohio State coach John Markell pulled Caruso and inserted freshman Ian Keserich. Though Keserich didn't allow a goal during his 20:30 of play- ing time, the damage had already been done, and the Wolverines emerged with the road win. "We had a good team effort going," Berenson said. "I thought we played a much better game (than on Friday). Our team put everything into this game, and we got back to where we were (in the CCHA stand- .,.-,-\l Tn na h a1-ra adcrivno nn twor RYAN WEINER/Daily Northern Michigan comes to Yost for the upcoming weekend series. UP NEXT: NORTHERN MICH. Team: 1. Colorado College 2. Boston College 3. Michigan Last week: tied Minn.-Duluth 3-3, lost 4-3 beat Northeastern 4-2 lost to OSU 4-1, beat OSU 6-3 Up Next: Michigan Tech New Hampshire Northern Michigan I