SOFTBALL:
Wilson throws no-hitter as the
Wolverines roll through weekend.
PAGE 5B
THE SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN:
Sharad Mattu enjoys the joy
of March Madness upsets.
PAGE 3B
DANCE FLOOR:
Scott Bell hops on the George
Mason bandwagon.
PAGE 6B
~arch27, 2006
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1B
EUGENE
ROBERTSON
/Daily
A win was
out of reach
for freshman
Andrew
Cogliano
and the
rest of the
Wolverines
in Friday's
54loss.
Sm6Q
Power play
dooms Blue
in loss to
home Sioux
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - After allowing two early
power play goals, Michigan needed a spark from its spe-
cial teams to get back into the game. The Wolverines
had that chance three minutes into the second period.
Skating with the man advantage, the Wolverines applied
pressure and had North Dakota goalie Jordan Parise out
of position. But the Fighting Sioux cleared the puck out
of harm's way and took advantage of the Wolverines'
aggressiveness to transition into a great scoring chance
of their own.
North Dakota sophomore Travis Zajac passed to
a streaking Drew Stafford, who had slipped past the
Michigan defense. The junior, who is tied with freshman
star T.J. Oshie for the team lead in goals, beat Ruden
gloveside for a short-handed goal to push the Fighting
Sioux lead to three.
"That short-handed goal was the killer of the game,"
Michigan captain Andrew Ebbett said. "It was pretty
costly.'
Thanks to its special teams, North Dakota jumped
out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked
back en route to a convincing 5-1 victory over Michi-
gan on Friday night in the West Regional Semifinal of
the NCAA Tournament. The loss ended the Wolverines'
streak of 11 consecutive seasons of winning at least one
Tournament game.
As the regional's host, the Fighting Sioux (16-12-
0 WCHA, 28-15-1 overall) had the luxury of playing
the game on their home ice at Ralph Englestad Arena.
The Wolverines (13-10-5, 21-15-5) tried to follow their
recipe for success that worked so well when they beat
New Hampshire on its home ice in the 2004 NCAA
Tournament - score early and keep the crowd out of
the game - but that plan fizzled away just minutes into
the game.
After a Wolverine miscommunication, Michigan
freshman Mark Mitera was forced to take a holding
penalty to stop a potential breakaway, and North Dakota
executed its power play to perfection. Defenseman Kyle
Radke sent a pass from the right point to freshman Jona-
than Toews, who was in the left slot. Toews quickly fed a
wide-open Ryan Duncan on the far post, and the fresh-
man banged the puck past Michigan goalie Noah Ruden
for the first goal of the game just over five minutes into
the first period. The score allowed the record sellout
crowd of 11,153 to go nuts, and "The Ralph" was rock-
ing from that point on.
"North Dakota got a good start and got the crowd into
it," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "It was a great
crowd and a great environment for a regional"
Energized by its home crowd, North Dakota struck a
few minutes later. Skating four-on-four, Michigan for-
wards TJ. Hensick and Chad Kolarik got caught up ice.
As the Fighting Sioux came the other way in transition,
defenseman Matt Smaby came out of the penalty box,
creating an odd-man rush. Oshie skated into the Michi-
gan zone and unleashed a wicked shot from the left
See SIOUX, page 4B
2006 NCAA REGIONALS - NORTH DAKOTA 5, MICHIGAN L
Fighting Sioux's Parise stonewalls Michigan.
By Mark Glannotto
Daily Sports Writer
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - It wasn't inten-
tional, but it seemed as if North Dakota goal-
tender Jordan Parise was just adding insult to
injury.
Michigan trailed 5-1 with less than two
minutes remaining in the third period when
Wolverine freshman Jason Bailey skated
in alone on Parise and appeared to have the
goaltender beat. Parise was on his belly when
Bailey fired a wrist shot on net. The junior
goalie reached into the air with his glove and
somehow caught the puck.
It was just that kind of night for Michigan
and Parise.
"I thought (Parise) played really well,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Obvi-
ously we had some good scoring chances. We
thought we might have some ideas on how
to beat him, but obviously he showed up and
made some big saves in the game."
Despite the lopsided final score, the Wol-
verines were not left wanting for shots on goal.
They outshot the Fighting Sioux, 35-33, over
the course of the game. The only problem was
that Parise stopped 34 of them.
The Faribault, Minn. native was sharp
from the opening faceoff. Michigan had three
power plays in the opening stanza and pro-
duced plenty of quality chances.
In contrast, Michigan goalie Noah Ruden
allowed two goals in the first eight minutes of
the game, which got the crowd into it, and the
Fighting Sioux didn't look back.
"We had to come out and understand that
there'd be a great home ice environment,"
Berenson said. "And we didn't want to give up
that first goal, but we did too easily."
North Dakota used big saves by Parise to
catapult their own offense. Multiple times
throughout the game, the Fighting Sioux
would break out of their own zone after Parise
blocked a Michigan shot.
With Michigan down 2-0 and on the power
play, freshman Andrew Cogliano's shot was
blocked by Parise, and the rebound went right
to North Dakota forward Travi Zajac. The
sophomore sent an outlet pass to junior Drew
Stafford, who carried the puck the length of
the ice and fired a shot by a helpless Ruden.
The short-handed tally essentially ended
any hopes of a Michigan comeback.
Parise's game was even more impressive
when looking at which Wolverines the shots
on net came from. The Wolverines' top line
of senior captain Andrew Ebbett, senior alter-
nate captain Brandon Kaleniecki and sopho-
more Chad Kolarik combined for 14 shots
on goal. The second line of junior alternate
captain T.J. Hensick, sophomore Kevin Porter
and junior David Rohlfs mustered eight shots
on Parise.
"They buried their chances, and we didn't'
Ebbett said. "We had our opportunities. It just
wasn't meant to be.:
Following the game, Parise downplayed his
performance, giving credit to others on the
Fighting Sioux.
"I think the team, in general, is playing a lot
better in front of me," Parise said. "They are
clearing lanes and making my job a lot easier.
But the puck seemed pretty big out there."
Parise's performance was not surpris-
ing given his play the entire season. Friday's
game put his goals-against-average at a paltry
2.05, and his save percentage was an impres-
sive .933.
See PARISE, page 4B
0 MEN'S GYMNASTICS
New nemesis downs Blue
Tumblers'
streak of
championships ends
By Colt Ros.nswelg
Daily Sports Writer
IOWA CITY -It was 5:45 pam. on Fri-
day, and the Michigan men's gymnastics
team was warming up for the Big Ten team
finals.
Suddenly, a familiar and totally unex-
pected sound rang out into Carver-Hawkeye
Arena - the clank of the cowbell.
Its effect on the Wolverines was electric.
Not only was someone pounding out the
"Let's Go Blue" rhythm, but that someone
was senior Justin Laury, striding down an
arena stairway with a huge grin on his face.
"Being down on the floor and with the
team, it was kind of like magic," Michigan
coach Kurt Golder said. "Everybody's look-
ing up, going, 'It's Laury! It's Laury!' It was
great. It's amazing sometimes what little
things can do.... Little things can really be
uplifting."
Laury's grand entrance was not the only
surprise of the night in Michigan's fourth-
place finish (210.775). The Wolverines' big-
gest nemesis changed suddenly from the
pommel horse, where four of six gymnasts
competed cleanly, to the parallel bars.
"We started strong (in) the first two rota-
tions, and then (parallel) bars was just out
of nowhere, not at all what we were expect-
ing," said senior Luke Bottke, who finished
sixth in floor exercise finals. "We picked it up
(after), but we didn't bring it back completely.
It hasn't set in yet. We had such high expec-
tations. Things went okay, but the things we
missed weren't things we were expecting.
Could be better, could be worse."
Michigan began the night on still rings.
The Wolverines enjoyed solid performances
on the apparatus, especially from junior
Aaron Rakes and freshman Phil Goldberg.
They finished seventh and 10th in rings
finals, respectively. And just like that, Michi-
gan was in fourth place.
The Wolverines then vaulted, literally, into
first place. The final four gymnasts received
See BIG TENS, page 3B
By Sara Livingston
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING-At first glance,
it looks bad, really bad.
For the first time in eight years, the
No. 7 Michigan women's gymnastics
team failed to finish at the top of the
podium in the Big Ten Champion-
ships. It relinquished that spot to No.
21 Minnesota on Saturday night at
Jenison Field House.
But when you look a little closer,
the Wolverines' fourth-place finish
isn't nearly as awful as it first seems.
Although it didn't make the podium as
a team, Michigan recorded 13 top-five
finishes in individual events. Junior
Lindsey Bruck won the all-around
championships in dominating fashion,
and Michigan took home individual
championships on three apparatuses.
"I know this is not the meet that
we wanted," Michigan coach Bev
Plocki said. "No one is pleased with
our performance tonight. But there is
a lot to feel good about in this meet. I
think the strength of the team is the
strength of its individuals We have a
0 MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Tarwater now two-time champ
By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
ATLANTA - Earning an NCAA Cham-
pionship title is tough. Defending one is even
tougher.
On Saturdav night seninr cantain Davis
said. "This year, I was really trying to break
the NCAA record, and I was just off (by .06
seconds). I was a little bit disappointed, but
I'm really happy to go out with the win."
Tarwater's success on the final day of
competition in Atlanta propelled the Wolver-
ines to an eiaLhth-nlace finish at the NCAA
"I split (the 1,650-yard freestyle) just the
way I wanted to," Vanderkaay said. "I was
pleased with my time, but I obviously would
have liked to have won."
The winner of the 1,650-yard freestyle,
Georgia's Sebastian Rouault, took an early
lead in the race and kent ahnt a half-bodv
BEN SIMON/daily