Wednesday March 8, 2006 sports.michigandaily. corn sports@michigandaily. com PO 9R TSiigan tilg 9 - --- - -- ------------ ---- Cagers hope for Gopher trifecta By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Editor There's a theory in basketball that it's hard to beat a team three times in a season. Sherrod Harrell didn't know it existed. "Honestly, I've never heard that, so I'm not really focused on it," Harrell said. "We're preparing for them just as we prepared for every other team. Not changing anything ._ around just because it's the third time." Courtney Sims <.>_ believes in it. "In my high school, we beat a team by 30 3 the previous two times '>c. f iek":; that we played them;' EPN_ __ Sims said. "Then,when we went to the tourna- ment, we lost to them. We have to be conscious of that and make sure that we have our energy up." But that's just the task that the Wolverines (8-8 Big Ten, 18-9 overall) face this Thursday at 2:30 p.m. when they square off against Min- nesota (5-11, 14-14) in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Already, Michigan has defeated the Gophers twice, by a combined 38 points. On Jan. 21, the Wolverines traveled to Williams Arena and handed Minnesota a 71-55 loss. Then, when the Gophers came to Ann Arbor on Feb. 15, Michigan played one of its best defensive games of the year to snap Minnesota's two-game winning streak. Since that win, the Wolverines have lost three of their final four games. Now, with an NCAA Tourna- ment bid hanging in the balance, Michigan faces a must-win game against a familiar foe. But the Wol- verines aren't looking past Thursday. "There's no pressure at all" Harrell said. "We're not even thinking about (the NCAA Tournament). We have to take care of what's at hand right now, which is our game on Thursday." Senior Daniel Horton has carried much of the scoring load for the Wolverines this season, and Michigan will look for him to continue his success against the Gophers. The guard scored 53 points in the previous two games against Minnesota. But in order to get past Minnesota this time, Hor- ton and the Wolverines will need to establish more of an inside presence. In Saturday's loss to Indiana, Michigan's frontcourt scored 16 points, with 10 coming from Graham Brown. Courtney Sims failed to attempt a shot, despite playing 22 minutes. "It was a tough game because, offensively, I couldn't really do anything except pass the ball out," Sims said. With senior forward Chris Hunter's status unclear, Michigan will have to rely heavily on Young Icer squad must learn rom its veterans en senior classes move on, people scored from the high slot to give Michigan an often talk about that group's time- early lead. But when the defense surrendered piece. For Michigan hockey's easy shots and Montoya couldn't make key Andrew Ebbett and Brandon saves, Minnesota knocked out the Kaleniecki, their timepiece is Wolverines in overtime. simple: overachieving on under- The following season, Ebbett achieving teams. and Kaleniecki were both among These guys aren't your aver- the team's top four scorers but age Michigan hockey players. were let down when the team In a league where the average lost to Boston College during the height is around 6 feet tall, regional final. Ebbett stands at 5 foot 10 and And last year, the Wolverines Kaleniecki at 5 foot 8. They dropped a second-round game to haven't been selected in the NHL JAMES V. Colorado College after blowing a Draft. They were, seemingly, DoWD three-goal lead. Not surprisingly, the players Michigan coach Red JaesOn... Kaleniecki was one of the goal Berenson took a chance on to . scorers. fill out a class that featured top prospects Jeff Tambellini, Al Montoya and Danny Rich- mond - all of whom departed Ann Arbor for the professional hockey ranks before gradu- ation. But as their careers wind down, with between two and nine games left, they should be remembered for stepping out from the shadows of departed classmates. They've scored more goals than expected and made the key plays when they needed to be made. Looking back at their final season, the heart that made this clutch play possible was clearly visible in Ebbett and Kaleniecki. Night in and night out, Ebbett was on the ice for Michigan's penalty kill, forechecking in the opponent's zone and pinning the opposition behind its own goal line as key seconds ran off the clock. Kaleniecki has been in constant pain the entire year. He might never admit to the world just how much, and he never showed outward signs of it, but you can see it as he comes off the ice at the end of a practice or game. Only when a sports hernia prevented Kaleniecki from being able to accelerate and change direction did he sit out. And their contributions go beyond this season. Throughout their careers, Ebbett and Kaleniecki have defied the odds and proved wrong all the scouts who thought they were too small. Berenson looks for players who give his team a chance to win, and these two have always done that. But as Ebbett and Kaleniecki overachieve, their teams underachieved each year. Their freshman season, the team reached the Frozen Four. In the first period, Ebbett pulled a faceoff back to Kaleniecki, who Throughout this season, the team's younger players - particularly the 11 fresh- men - have talked at great length about Ebbett and Kaleniecki's leadership, both on the ice and in the locker room. The team has seen Ebbett's tireless forechecking, Kaleniecki's nose for the net and the pain this pair has suffered. Many of these freshmen have been herald- ed, coming to Michigan as NHL Draft picks or with Central Scouting Service rankings, but it is time they take a lesson from the humble seniors who have led their team through thick and thin this year. This year's squad has the talent to take it as far as it will go. A young Denver team, with eight freshmen, finished fourth in the WCHA two years ago, but went on to win the national championship. The success of this year's team hinges upon how well the freshmen follow their senior leaders' examples. If the team looks at Ebbett and Kaleniecki and gives an equal amount of effort, chances are it will move on to the NCAA Tourna- ment and play well. But if the young Wolver- ines continue to play in the funk they have been in since the Great Lakes Invitational, the resultsswill be the same as the past few years - worse than they should have been. Michigan can count on Ebbett and Kale- niecki to work hard and achieve things the team isn't supposed to be able to. It's up to the rest of the squad whether it will underachieve as the past few teams have. - Dowd tries to model his penalty killing on Ebbett'sforecheck in Adult Rec League hockey. He can be reached at jvdowd@umich.edu. Courtney Sims is hoping to improve his offense at this weekend's Big Ten Tournament. Sims to carry the scoring load down low. The 6-foot-lI center has struggled in conference play due to the constant double teams that opponents have employed against him. Saturday, the Hoosiers doubled Sims as soon as the pass was on its way to his hands. He understands that he needs to be more aggres- sive in attacking the basket and contribute in ways other than just scoring. "I have to raise my game - rebounding, blocking and scoring," Sims said. "They need me, especially missing Chris and (wing) Lester (Abram). Daniel can't do it by himself." The Wolverines will also have to cut down on turnovers. Against Indiana, Michigan committed a season-high 24 turnovers. "I think silly turnovers have been our weakness;' Sims said. "If we cut them down, then I think that we'll win a lot more games" Even though the Wolverines have struggled coming down the stretch, Michigan coach Tommy Amaker is confident his team can bounce back and make a statement in the Big Ten Tournament. "We've done some solid things this year," Amak- er said. "We've put ourselves in a position to be right there for postseason play. The most healthy thing for us is to really focus on Minnesota and see what we can muster up on Thursday afternoon." 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