4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 28, 2005 LINE OF THE WEEK TJ. Hensick Forward Friday vs. Wisconsin 1 Goal, 2 Assists, +3 NOTABLE QUOTABLE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK "Every year we say, 'Learn from this experience.' But when are we going to finally learn?" - Michigan captain Eric Nystrom on losing in the NCAA Tournament again. Trevor Frischmon (Colorado College) Frischmon almost single-handedly propelled the Tigers into the Frozen Four. He tallied a shorthanded goal and the game-winner. Jeff Tambellini (Michigan) Tambellini continued his postseason dominance, scoring three goals and assist- ing on a pair. He set a regional record for points in a game with four. 0 FRIDAY'S GAME Wisconsin Badgers Burish 1 After hot start, Michigan struggles on offense* Michigan Wolverines 4 Tambellini (2), Rogers, Kolarik SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan Wolverines 3 Tambellini, Kaleniecki, Nystrom Colorado College 4 Frischmon (2), Sertich, Crabb Colorado College 4, Michigan 3 Michigan 2 1 0 - 3 Colorado College 0 2 2 - 4 First period -1. MICH, Jeff Tambellini 24 (Eric Werner, Andrew Ebbett) 9:17T 2. MICH, Brandon Kaleniecki (David Moss, Brandon Rogers), 15:14. Penalties - Milan Gajic, MICH (Obstruction-hook- ing) 2:51; Mark Stuart, CC (High Sticking) 7:26: Gajic, MICH (Interference) 10:00; Gajic, MICH (10-minute misconduct) 10:00; Stuart, CC (Trip- ping) 14:24; Kevin Porter, MICH (Hooking) 16:36; Rogers, MICH (Hooking) 19:25; Brett Sterling, CC (Holding) 19:25. Second period - 3. MICH, Eric Nystrom 12 (Ebbett) 1:32; 4. CC, Marty Sertich, 27 (Lee Sweatt, Brian Salcido) 6:13; 5. CC, Trever Firschmon, 9 (Stuart, Joey Crabb) 5:27. Penal- ties- Porter, MICH (Obstruction-hooking) 2:12; Nick Martens, MICH (Obstruction-tripping) 4:25; Rogers, MICH (Boarding) 5:48; Sertich, CC (Trip- ping) 9:09; Sweatt, CC (Obstruction-holding) 14:49; Werner, MICH (Elbowing) 20:00. Third period - 6. CC, Crabb 16 (Frischmon) 4:24; 7. CC, Frischmon 10 (Brunkhorst, Salcido) 10:06. Penalties- Richard Petiot, CC (Hook- ing) 17:27. Shots on goal: MICH 11-6-10 27; CC 7-7-9 23. Power plays: MICH 2 of 5; CC 1 of 7. Saves - CC, Curtis McElhinney (9-5-10) - 24; MICH, Al Montoya (7-5-7) - 19. Referee: Scott Hansen At: Van Andel Arena - Grand Rapids, Mich. Attendance: 6,571. "The ability to finish teams really determines a champion - (cham- pionship) teams can just put away guys in the second periods,first peri- ods, and not even let them get back in the game. "We just couldn't find that fourth goal." - Michigan junior Jeff Tambellini By Jake Rosenwasser Daily Sports Writer GRAND RAPIDS - The Wolverines didn't have to look far for chances, but that fourth goal eluded them. After Michigan jumped out to a 3-0 lead just two minutes into the second period, Colorado College goalie Curtis McElhinney held Michigan scoreless for the final 38 min- utes of the game. But it wasn't all McElhinney. On some of Michigan's best chances, McElhinney didn't even have to make the save. Instead, Michigan con- tinually misfired when it needed goals most. In the second period, with Michigan leading 3-2, Wolverines forward Milan Gajic skated in all alone on McElhinney. Gajic deked and shot, but his attempt floated too high. It soared over the cross bar, and even over the boards, into the protective net above the top of the glass. "I saw the puck bounce up," McElhinney said. "I knew that he was going to go high glove, actually, as soon as he pulled it to his side there. But it bounced up, and he fired it into the (protective) net. So we caught a break there." After Colorado College had clawed all the way back to tie the game 3-3 in the third period, Michigan junior Andrew Ebbett skated toward the goal as a puck ricocheted off the back boards. The puck slipped out to the immediate left of the net, and McEl- hinney was late getting over. Ebbett had a sliver of an open net to shoot at, but his quick shot squirted too far right and across the crease. When Ebbett got back to the bench he slammed his stick against the boards in frustration. "I was just trying to tell the guys and tell the seniors, 'Is this the way you want to go out? Is this how you want to end your career? Stay after it. There's still hockey left,' " Michigan captain Eric Nystrom said. "You get that one chance, that rebound, and it goes in the net and you go into overtime. We just couldn't generate that chance." Even later in the waning minutes, Michigan had two last chances to knot the game at 4-4. Senior Eric Werner flipped an in-stride pass from the defensive zone up to Michigan senior David Moss. With three minutes remain- ing, the forward skated into the Colorado College zone and got behind the defense. Colorado College defenseman Richard Petiot caught up to Moss and hooked him as McElhinney stoned Moss's shot. Petiot was whistled for a penalty and Michigan had one final power play to tie the game. The Colorado College penalty kill kept the Michigan power play at bay, but the Wolverines had one final opportunity. Michi- gan sophomore T.J. Hensick skated through the Colorado College zone and slid a pass over to Gajic. The senior wound up and fired a slap shot, but McElhinney was up to the task again. He got his stick on Michigan's final chance and sent the puck to the right, out of harm's way. "They have an extremely good power play there," McElhin- ney said. "They move it around very well. They made a nice pass at the end there, and I think it was (Gajic who) made a nice shot. (But) he kind of fired it into me. The stick was behind me a bit there." For Michigan's 10 seniors, the blown opportunities will resonate for a long time. "You've got to take advantage of the chance when you're there," Nys- trom said. "We can keep saying this, and we've been saying it for four years, but our four years is up. That killer instinct to put a team down; RYAN WEINER/Daily Senior Milan Gajic had one last opportunity, but was denied by Colorado College goalie Curtis McElhinney. that killer instinct to take the jump and get to that game you want to be in - we've been saying it, but we just haven't done it." Player Tambellini Hensick Gajic Ebbett Kolarik Nystrom Werner Moss Rogers Hunwick Porter Ryznar Kaleniecki Martens Rohlfs Brown Dest Woodford Henderson Montoya Olson Cook Ruden Player Montoya Ruden Mayhew 'M' GP. 42 39 42 40 42 38 39 38 42 40 39 36 42 38 35 35 42 26 10 40 13 36 7 GP 40 7 1 STATS G A Pts 24 33 57 23 32 55 20 19 39 6 31 37 18 17 35 13 19 32 8 23 31 10 20 30 5 22 27 6 19 25 11 13 24 6 17 23 13 8 21 1 10 11 5 5 10 3 5 8 1 7 8 3 4 7 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 +/- PIM Sht +30 32 207 +19 24 132 +4 54 125 +12 28 90 +5 53 114 +17 33 65 +9 48 50 +21 26 77 +21 70 91 +15 60 54 +11 51 47 +3 46 50 +12 46 131 +10 34 28 +9 14 42 +10 95 60 +24 52 38 +2 30 36 0 4 10 -- 22 0 +4 6 5 +7 54 16 - 0 0 GAA PCT 2.52 .895 1.34 .953 0.00 1.000 SFFETHE DRAW MICHIGAN PLAYERS -M 6 - Matt Hunwick 9 - Milan Gajc 35 - Al Montoya COLORADO COLLEGE PLAYERS 6 Trevor Frischmon 12-1.PBrunkhorst 24 - Brian Salcido I Skating w/ puck .- Skating w/o puck . . . Pass - - Shot How it happened: After Michigan jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second period, Colorado College put together a steady comeback, getting power play and shorthanded goals, along with a disputed deflection score that was upheld. With the score tied at three midway through the third period, Tigers forward J.P. Brunkhorst took a shot from the point that bounced off Michigan goalie Al Montoya's pads. The rebound popped out in traffic to for- ward Trevor Frischmon, who fired the puck from the left circle and beat Montoya to give Colorado College its first lead of the game at 10:06 of the third. The tally would stand up as the game-winner. Analysis: Frischmon's goal ended Michigan's season. The marker capped a string of four unanswered Tigers goals and propelled Colo- rado College into the Frozen Four in Columbus. Despite late chances for Michigan, the Wolverines weren't able to capitalize after the score. w 30 1 0 L 7 1 0 T 3 0 0 'I AWARD WINNERS NCAA Au.-MIDWEsr REGIONAL TEAM AL MOW"oYA JEFF TAMBELUNI BRANDON RoGERs Younger players shine in playoffs CCHA Sup 6 Au- TOURNAMENT TEAM BRANDON RoGm JEFF TAMBELLINI By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer GRAND RAPIDS - It is natural to focus on the 10 seniors who played their last game together as members of the Wolverines. But two players who will don the Maize and Blue next year showed that the future is not so bleak. CCHA SUPER 6 MVP JEFF TAMBELUNI CCHA BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD ERIC NYSTROM ALL-CCHA FIRST TEAM T.J. HENSICK JEFF TAMBELLINI SECOND TEAM MATT HUNWICK HONORABLE MENTION BRANDON Roms Emc NysnRm Au-ROOKIE TEAM HONORABLE MENTION CHAD KOLARIK As the final minute slowly melted off the clock in Saturday's 4-3 loss, Michigan junior Jeff Tam- bellini was flying around the rink with his after burn- ers at full throttle - skat- ing end-to-end twice on an extended shift. .. ° "It was desperation hockey," Tambellini said. "It's terrible that we were even in that situation, but that's the way the game works, and all we could do was just try and put as many pucks to the net and see if we could get a bounce." His four-point performance in Friday's win over Wisconsin came just a week after he lit up the CCHA en routeto tourna- ment MVP honors. Since the postseason began, Tambellini has surpassed fellow returning Wolverine, sophomore T.J. Hen- sick, in scoring thanks to 10 points in six games. His four-point night against the Badgers set a Midwest Regional record previously held by four players. Former Wolverine Mark Mink was the last Wol- verine to tally three points in the Midwest Regional. He did it against Colorado Col- lege in the 2003 finals. Senior captain Eric Nystrom commended the junior's defensive efforts but said the fear that Tambellini strikes in opposing goalies is what makes him a good player. "It was a pretty good game - I'm not going to lie," Nystrom said on Friday. "(Tambellini is) just a dangerous player all over the ice.... He's got an NHL shot that he can put anywhere." Like Tambellini, freshman Chad Kolarik pushed his game to another level for the playoffs. During the CCHA Tournament, Kolarik had three goals. The freshman had a goal disallowed against Wisconsin but, despite several quality scoring chances, finished his weekend minus-1 with one point in the Midwest Regional. "For a freshman and a center and his first go around in this environment, he handled the puck well," Berenson said. "He was poised. You would never know he was a freshman, and he's a young freshman." Berenson acknowledged that the window closed on the seniors and that the opportuni- ties for the 65-year old coach are dwindling. Following the loss on Saturday, Nystrom was visibly upset that four seasons with a so-called next year mentality all came up flat. Senior David Moss echoed those sentiments, point- ing out how close Michigan has come in each of their four seasons in Ann Arbor. "It's so hard to win it," Moss said. "We've been knocking on the door every year. It's just so tough, you never know who is going to win it every year." "I think that you look back and think that one of these years could have been the year, but it didn't work out for us and I know were all pretty disappointed," he added. GAJIC GONE FOR TEN: Midway through the first period on Saturday, senior Milan Gajic was pegged with a interference call that quickly became a 10-minute misconduct. As Gajic came around from behind the Michigan net, he threw his arms up in dismay at the referee's call. "Sometimes, players don't understand how officials think," Berenson said. "Often, just a gesture is enough to embarrass the official where he thinks that's worthy of a 10-minute misconduct." Berenson said he wasn't happy with the call in such an important game but was equally upset with Gajic. He blamed both sides for not understanding the others' men- tality in the game. "The officials have to understand the seri- ousness of the player," Berenson said. "These games are life-and-death type games for the players. This is your last game of your career, so there's a lot on the line. And emotions run deep. But I'm not interested in Gajic taking 10-minute misconducts, soI blame him, not the official." HARDWARE THE HARD WAY: Despite coming out on the short end of the regional final, Michigan split the All-Regional team honors with Colora- do College. Tambellini was joined on the team by senior defenseman Brandon Rogers and Montoya in goal. The Tigers' Trevor Frischmon, Marty Ser- tich and Brian Salcido earned the other three spots on the team. Frischmon claimed the Most Outstanding Player after scoring a short- handed goal to bring the Tigers to within one and then netting the clincher midway through the final frame. BACK To FORT WAYNE: Three Wolverines were selected in Wednesday's UHL draft by the Fort Wayne Komets. Senior Eric Werner was taken in the third round, while seniors Jason Ryznar and David Moss went in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively. As of yet, there is no official word on if any will sign. RYAN WEINER/Daily Jeff Tambellini and Chad Kolark (24) celebrate a goal against Wisconsin. CCHA STANDINGS Team Michigan Ohio State Northern Mich. Nebraska-Omaha CCHA Overall 23-3-2 31-8-3 21-5-2 27-11-4 17-7-4 22-11-7 13-11-4 19-16-4 TIGERS Continued from page 1B Colorado College tied the game 4:24 into the third period on forward Joey Crabb's wrist shot and the goal stood, and that was the difference." But Frischmon told a different story. "I don't think it did (hit my stick)," Frischmon said. "I didn't feel it hit my stick at all. But when you looked at the replay, it kind of looked like it got it on net, hit (Montoya's) pads and it pretty much just came right out to me. I just went to the net and the puck was sitting there for me, and I just banged it in." Despite a power play opportunity in the waning Michigan, which Owens called "probably the hot- test team in the country." The Tigers' trip to the Frozen Four in Columbus will be Owens's first. On the other hand, some Wolverines were left despondent as they faced the prospect of a inna n ffcp0nenn-tn (P-, rcinn i-n a thea andAof thiar I