The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 24, 2005 - 3B
After second straight win,
Varsity's streaks start anew
After the game, junior cornerback Leon Hall joked
with me about Michigan's recent streak - two
straight wins.
"We're going to live up this win for a little bit," Hall
said. "You know, we have a little streak going - the first
of the season."
He laughed while he said it, but the truth is that I was
thinking the same thing. It's hard to forget that, until Sat-
urday, the football team had won (and lost) every other
game this season. That streak stretches all
the way back to Jan. 1 - the Rose Bowl
loss last season - making this win mighty
impressive.
"Losing is never funny," redshirt freshman'
cornerback Morgan Trent said. So I guess it's
good that the Wolverines won. Because even
Trent admitted that Michigan's streak was
becoming comical "to a certain extent."
But Saturday's game was filled with
milestones and streaks - some long and
some short, some funny and some not 1
- that pushed the plot lines for this Big Ten HER
matchup.
In case you didn't believe me, here's a quick The Spor
look at some of the most interesting ones. To COL
put it in perspective, I included where I was
when the streak began.
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RYAN WEINER/Daily
Defenseman Tim Cook is the third Michigan defender to be ejected from a game for checking from behind this season.
Cook tosse in d penod
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
As Michigan State captain Drew
Miller skated into the corner after a loose
puck in Saturday night's third period at
Yost Ice Arena, Michigan defenseman
Tim Cook was hot ony
his tail. When Miller
reached for the puck,
Cook checked him into
the boards and looked
up the ice to join the
play. But as soon as his
teammates touched the
1 _© '
YOO
puck, the whistle blew and Cook's night
was done.
Cook was penalized for checking from
behind and headed to the box in disbelief.
When he had just about arrived, Cook was
floored by more bad news. Referee Mark
Wilkins escorted him off the ice after
assessing him a five minute major pen-.
alty and a game disqualification per the
CCHA's increasingly strict rules initia-
tive. The disqualification will prevent the
junior from skating in Friday night's game
in Fairbanks.
Cook is the third Michigan skater to
be removed from a game for checking
from behind this year, but the first to
receive a game disqualification rather
than a game misconduct. According to
the NCAA rule book, the distinction
between a disqualification and miscon-
duct is that, when receiving a game dis-
qualification, you must sit out the next
game on your first offense, the next two
after your second, three after your third
and so on. There is no suspension after a
game misconduct.
Three Michigan players have been
ejected during this year's first five games:
Cook, junior Jason Dest and senior cap-
tain Andrew Ebbett. Last season, the Wol-
verines received just two misconducts in
42 games. Ebbett said the Wolverines are
just learning the ropes of the tighter offi-
ciating.
"It's not just the freshmen, it's all of us
that need to get used to the way they call
the game," he said several days before his
game misconduct against Boston College
on Oct. 14. "As the season goes on, we'll
have a better idea of what will get called
and adjust."
LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Ebbett was named
a captain of this year's squad for his work
ethic - an asset that was displayed as
clearly as ever on Saturday night. During
the early stages of the first period, the Wol-
verines came out flat. Passes that normally
go tape-to-tape were off-target, and sloppy
defensive play led to a Michigan State goal
just four minutes into the game.
Ebbett realized that his team needed
a boost, and he found a way to provide it
when he put a puck past Michigan State
goaltender Dominic Vicari from the slot.
After a shuffle in front of the Spartan net,
the puck squirted out between the circles
and Ebbett pounced on it. According to
Michigan coach Red Berenson, this is just
one of many examples of Ebbett's leader-
ship.
"Ebbett's a great example because he's
not the biggest guy on the team or the fast-
est," Berenson said. "He doesn't have the
hardest shot, but he works the hardest.
He's smart, he knows the game, and he
anticipates well."
Perhaps Ebbett's finest moment came
on a Michigan penalty kill in the first
period. Once Michigan State's defense-
men were backed into the corner behind
their net, Ebbett skated with them and
poked the puck around, trapping them
behind their own goal line for more than
thirty seconds, sending the home crowd
into a frenzy.
"(Pressuring them while on the penalty
kill) is something we have tried," Ebbett
said. "Last year against these guys, we did
that a couple of times, and that's some-
thing that the coaches had talked about
before the game. I just got the chance and
held it down there to see what I could do.
Their defense went back kind of noncha-
lantly, and it helped kill off a few minutes
of the penalty."
STIU. No. 1?: When Michigan began
last season as No. 1 in the college hock-
ey polls, they lost that distinction in the
first weekend when they were defeated
by Northeastern. Although they tied the
Spartans on Saturday they will likely
remain atop the polls this week.
No. 2 Cornell has yet to play and opens
their season this Friday against Michi-
gan State. No. 3 Ohio State beat Bowl-
ing Green on Thursday and tied them on
Friday. Though none of the top-10 lost,
Michigan's tie with No. 10 Michigan State
will likely allow it to remain in the top
spot heading into next weekend's series
at No. 19 Alaska Fairbanks. The rankings
come out today.
Give us more football: After the game was over, right
tackle Jake Long said he knew that Michigan would win in
overtime. And why not? Since overtime became a part of the
college game, Michigan hasn't lost when it's been forced to
play extra time.
Two of Michigan's five overtime games have come this year
- both three-point wins. The Wolverines have beaten Michi-
gan State twice, and Penn State, Alabama and Iowa each once.
Overtime was introduced to college football in 1996
- when I was still in junior high school. But Michigan's
streak of overtime wins didn't actually start until the Orange
Bowl in 1999. At that point, I was a sophomore at Wilson
High School in Washington, D.C., and I wasn't even a true
Michigan fan yet. I watched the game and rooted for the
Maize and Blue, but I wouldn't have thrown things if it went
the other way
Close calls: Talk about sneaking by. The last five weeks
of Michigan football have been scarier than walking alone
at night in Ann Arbor. The last time that Michigan played a
game decided by more than three points was all the way back
on Sept. 17, when the Wolverines beat Eastern Michigan 55-0.
Since then, Michigan has played three games - Michigan
State, Penn State and Iowa - that have been won literally
on the last play of the game. In the other two (both losses),
Michigan ended the game with the ball trying to score.
The streak is still alive, and, considering how well North-
western has played recently, next week's game could also
come down to the wire. Last year, the Wildcats beat Ohio
State at home at night on ESPN. Next week, Michigan trav-
els to Evanston for a night game on ESPN.
I was in Madison for when this string of nail-biters
began. I sat in the press box and watched as quarterback
Chad Henne slipped and fell on the turf, ending Michigan's
undefeated run through the Big Ten before it even began.
That week also started a strange pattern ofplaying in games
with afinal score of 23-20 every other week. Weird.
Triple digits: To be honest, I thought Carr would be cel-
ebrating his 100th win about three weeks ago. But at least he
made it before the Ann Arbor crazies found an axe and his
head. Carr is now 100-32 in his 11 seasons at Michigan - a
winning percentage of .758.
Before becoming a head coach, Carr was actually an
assistant coach at Michigan under Bo Schembechler and
Gary Moeller. So really, he has been at Michigan for 26
years and has seen 234 wins by the Wolverines. The win put
him among the head coaching elite - with Fielding Yost
and Schembechler - as Michigan's lone coaches to win
more than 100 games. Now he just has about 600 more to go
to catch Joe Paterno.
This one blew my mind. When Carr got his first win as
a Michigan head coach, I wasn't even in the seventh grade
yet. It was actually the last-second 18-17 win
over Virginia in August of 1995 when Carr was
still an interim head coach. That game became
an instant classic and Carr became Michigan's
full-time head coach afew months later. If you
go back to Carr's first win at Michigan, I wasn't
even born yet - and as a fifth-year senior, I'm
pretty old.
Pretty in pink: A lot has been made of Iowa's
pink locker rooms. Whether or not they're politi-
cally correct is a story for a different column, but
it's clear that Iowa has some sort of competitive
ERT advantage at home.
Before Michigan's overtime victory, Iowa had
Monday won 22 straight games in the friendly confines of
rn Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes have also won
15 straight Big Ten games at home - dating back
to 2001. With more than 90 percent of the fans dressed in
black, it's easy to understand why.
Iowa's next home game isn't until Nov. 19, so the Hawk-
eyes have almost a month until they can start a new streak or
continue their current one - of one home loss in a row.
The last time Iowa lost a home conference game was
almost exactly four years ago. I was at Michigan, but I
hadn't even started working for The Daily yet. Instead I was
a freshman, struggling to balance school and work - at the
Intramural Sports Building.
The enforcer: Last week, wide receiver Carl Tabb, play-
ing on special teams, broke the arm of Penn State star fresh-
man Derrick Williams. This week, he picked on Michigan's
equipment manager Jon Falk. Tabb actually wasn't the one
to break Falk's leg, but it was his 13-yard catch in the first
quarter that injured the 32-year-old veteran of the Michigan
football program. Sophomore Iowa linebacker Mike Humpal
knocked Tabb out of bounds and, in the process, hit Falk,
who was on the sideline.
"I usually take care of guys who get hurt," Falk said after
the game.
Last week, Tabb knocked out the 18-year-old Williams and
this week it was the nearly 60-year-old Falk that he took out.
Clearly he doesn't discriminate. I'm sure the coaches and the
players are staying away from Tabb this week in practice, and
Northwestern defensive backs should be wary as well.
At just two weeks long, it's the shortest streak of the
bunch. When I saw Tabb hit Williams, I didn't even know
he broke his arm. And watching from the stands on Sat-
urday, I didn't know Falk was hurt until after the game. I
think everyone, including me, is hoping this streak ends
sooner rather than later.
And then there is the pattern of win-one, lose-one that
Michigan had fallen into this season. After the game, fresh-
man Antonio Bass said that the feeling in the locker room
was a lot of excitement coupled with a little bit of relief. But
you could pretty much hear the sigh of relief as the Wolver-
ines walked out of the locker room. They were smiling and
joking, laughing and having fun. Even the guys who didn't
really play - like rush end LaMarr Woodley and run-
ning back Mike Hart - seemed to be having a good time.
Because, as Leon Hall so correctly pointed out, they have a
little streak going.
Icers outshot 14-4
in the first period
N :::,.>;..
SPARTANS
Continued from page 1B
to be a step slow to every loose
puck.
Michigan got back into the game
with seven minutes left in the first
period. Wolverines forward Chad
Kolarik floated a shot in on net from
the right slot. Spartans goaltender
Dominic Vicari deflected the shot
in front of the net where Ebbett
was waiting, and Ebbett treated the
deflection like a pass and unleashed
a wicked slapshot over Vicari's left
shoulder to tie the game at one. The
goal was a huge boost to a Michigan
team that had struggled throughout
the first period. Despite being out-
shot 14-4, the Wolverines had found
a way to stay in the game.
"We had the parents on the ice, and
it was kind of a distraction I think,
especially for the younger guys,"
Ebbett said. "So we had a sloppy 10
minutes. (The goal) helped the team
regroup,' get back to level and play
stronger after that."
Michigan started the second period
on the power play and quickly took
advantage. After cycling the puck
around the Spartans' zone, Coglia-
no sent a pass along the blue line to
defenseman Mark Mitera, who made
a beautiful pass to the right slot,
where forward Brandon Kaleniecki
one-timed a shot past Vicari to give
the Wolverines the lead.
The Spartans responded two min-
utes later when Jim McKenzie sent a
pass to Tyler Howells in the left slot.
Howells put the shot over Sauer's left
shoulder to tie the game at two.
Michigan took advantage of
another Michigan State penalty to
regain the lead. Mitera slid the puck
along the blue line to Cogliano, who
fired a shot past a screened Vicari
with 13 minutes remaining in the
second period.
In the final minute of the peri-
od, Michigan State .forward Tim
Crowder put a pass on net that ended
up sneaking through Sauer's legs,
knotting the game at three.
In the third period, both goalten-
ders made great stops with the game
on the line. Vicari displayed his abili-
ty to rise to the occasion in big games
last year, but Sauer proved he could
do the same in his first game between
the pipes in this heated rivalry. Late
in the third period, Michigan State
sent the puck into the Michigan zone.
The puck took a strange bounce
and wound up popping over Sauer's
shoulder in front of the net. Sauer
made sure not to knock the puck into
his own goal, and then put himself
in position to make a crucial save to
keep the game tied. Later in the third,
Michigan State had another point
blank opportunity, and again, Sauer
made the stop.
'I knew he wasn't going to score,"
Sauer said. "I could see him line up
the whole way, and all I had to do
was get in front of him."
Michigan will be on the road for the
first time this season when it makes
the trek up north to take on No. 19
Alaska-Fairbanks this weekend.
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