GENNARO FILICE
BasketBrawl and
bomb threats?
Only in Detroit.
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
No. 1 ROLLS ON
The Michigan softball team extended its
winning streak to 31 games, cruising to
a 4-0 record in the Louisville Classic.
PAGE 5B
UP AND DOWN
Justin Laury won the all-around at
the Big Ten Championships and led
Michigan to a third-place finish.
PAGE 6B
SPORTSDAY
March 28, 2005
1B
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JASON COOPER/Daily
Michigan forward Andrew Ebbett (19) skates away from goalie Al Montoya after a Colorado College goal In
the second period on Saturday. The Wolverines let a 3-0 lead slip away en route to the devastating loss.
'M' blows 3-0 lead, bows
out of posts
By Gabe Edelsonl
Daily Sports Writer]
GRAND RAPIDS - The players on the Michi-
gan hockey team didn't travel to the NCAA Midwest
Regionals for this.;
They didn't take the ice at Van Andel Arena to1
see their three-goal lead evaporate into the tension-
filled air, their national title hopes obliterated by four
unanswered goals from the Tigers of Colorado Col-
lege. They didn't pour out blood, sweat and tears all+
season long only to be denied a trip to the Frozen+
Four for the second straight season. And they cer-
tainly didn't plan on Saturday's game being the swan
song for Michigan's 10 seniors.
But that's exactly what happened in the Wolverines'
heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Colorado College on Sat-
urday night, just a day after ousting Wisconsin in an
impressive 4-1 win. The defeat knocked Michigan out
of the NCAA Tournament and ended its season earlier
than senior captain Eric Nystrom would have liked.
"It's ridiculous," Nystrom said. "I'm so upset.
I'm so pissed that we lost this game tonight that I
can't even talk about it without wanting to throw this
microphone across the room."
Despite first-period power play goals by juniors Jeff.
Tambellini and Brandon Kaleniecki and Nystrom's
own score 1:32 into the second frame, the Wolverines
seemed to become somewhat complacent midway
through the game. Rather than attacking the net and
holding the puck in the Tigers' zone, much of the last
30 minutes of play saw Michigan reacting to, rather
than assertively countering, Colorado College's per-
sistent and methodical comeback.
"We couldn't put that team away," Michigan coach
eason play
Red Berenson said. "I thought their goalie really
played well in the last half of the game. And their team
came back and got the goals they needed. Sometimes
the ugly goals are the goals that kill you."
Until Saturday, Michigan hadn't blown a three-
goal lead since 1987. So when the Wolverines
led the Tigers 3-0 with 18:28 left in the second
period, many Michigan fans had already begun
celebrating.
But the players knew the game wasn't over, and
Colorado College remained focused. The Tigers'
comeback began with Marty Sertich's goal 6:13
into the second. With Colorado College on a two-
man advantage, Sertich, the nation's leading scor-
er,.beat Michigan goalie Al Montoya glove side
on a rebound from Lee Sweatt's right-slot blast.
Sertich was waiting in the low right circle, and
when the puck bounced off Montoya's left pad,
the high-scoring forward capitalized to put the
Tigers on the board.
But it may have been the Tigers' second goal of
the night that broke the Wolverines' spirits. With
Sweatt in the penalty box and Michigan on the
power play, Colorado College was able to mount
a shorthanded rush into the offensive zone. After
Montoya saved defenseman Mark Stuart's shot, for-
ward Trevor Frischmon scooped up the rebound and
put the puck past Montoya low to the glove side with
4:33 left in the second period.
As the Tigers climbed back into the game, the
strongly pro-Michigan crowd became a non-fac-
tor and the arena fell ominously silent as the final
chapter in the Wolverines' season unfolded in
tragic fashion.
See TIGERS, page 4B
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Michigan senior captain Eric Nystrom leaves the ice after the Wolverines' 4-3 loss to Colorado College in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
FROZEN PARADISE LOST
Here's a look at how this year's graduating seniors fared during their Michigan careers.
2001-02
28-11-5 overall record
CCHA regular-season champions
CCHA Super 6 champions
Lost to Minnesota in Frozen Four semifinals, 3-2
2002-03
30-10-3 overall record
CCHA regular-season runner-up
CCHA Super 6 champions
Lost to Boston College in NCAA regional finals, 3-2 (OT)
2003-04
27-14-2 overall record
CCHA regular-season champions
CCHA Super 6 runner-up
Lost to Minnesota in Frozen Four semifinals, 3-2 (OT)
2004-05
31-8-3 overall record
CCHA regular-season champions
CCHA Super 6 champions
Lost to Colorado College in NCAA regional finals, 4-3
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'M' opens The
Fish in style
with a sweep
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
They knew Michigan was heading into the weekend with
an 11-3 record. They heard the hostile opening-weekend
crowd taunting them with adapted hockey and basketball
cheers. They saw on the stat sheets that they would be facing
starters with a combined record of 9-1.
But when game time rolled around for this weekend's four-
game set at The Fish, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (1-13
overall) refused to roll over. Still, the Wolverines kept the
resilient Grizzlies at hand, consistently coming back when
falling behind and regularly snuffing out Oakland rallies on
their way to a four-game sweep.
"It's certainly nice to find a way to win," Michigan coach
Rich Maloney said. "Any time you beat any team four games
is an accomplishment in any sport. We battled and found
a way to get it done, and we might have lost one of those
games, or two. But we found a way, despite not playing our
best baseball, and still won."
Michigan completed the sweep yesterday afternoon
when a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth gave
the Wolverines an insurmountable four-run lead. Junior
Jeff Niemiec closed out the victory in the top of the ninth
to secure a 7-4 win.
In the top of the ninth, Oakland managed to pull within
TONY DING/Daily
*Junior Davis Tarwater won the NCAA Championship in the 200-yard butterfly on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Tarwater fi~Ifills
By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Junior Davis
Tarwater dreamt of earning an NCAA
title since he was seven years old and
watched Tennessee swimmer Melvin
Stewart claim the event title and record
in the 200-yard butterfly.
"Whe nvwac 10 onre nis he was
history right beside Stev
In the preliminaries
noon, Tarwater set a pe
the event at 1:43.30. H
pool record, which he h
Ten Championships fou
he was not going to hav
the finals later in the
Kentucky's Daniel Cr
chamnion in the event-
lfelong dream
wart's. As the official hit the buzzer to start
Saturday after- the race, Tarwater got off to a slow start
ersonal record in and was the seventh swimmer to make
e broke his own the first turn. At the 100-yard mark Tar-
iad set at the Big water moved himself up to fourth place
ir weeks ago. But and tried to track down Stanford's Jamie
e an easy race for Cramer, who maintained a lead of an
evening because arm's length over the rest of the field. In
uz - the SEC the third 50-meter stretch, Tarwater made
- also recorded a nivotal move to take the lead position
TONY DING/Daily
Junior Jeff Niemiec closed out Michigan's 7-4 victory over
Oakland yesterday, striking out the side in the ninth inning.
Niemiec was the last of five pitchers that Maloney used