WOMEN'S GOLF: Wolverines beat confer- ence rival in inspiring win. PAGE 2B THE SPORTsMONDAY COLUMN: Like fantasy sports? Give text sims a try. PAGE 3B VOLLEYBALL: Troubles continue 4 for Spikers in Big Ten. PAGE 4B October 2, 2006 S PO RT S,. ,4 g &"got,; - ft " mmm be gautn Bad -Iffiffis EM 0 -mu Varsity takes back the Jug By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Editor MINNEAPOLIS - The Lit- tle BrownoJug had been removed from Ann Arbor for less than a year. And the Michigan football players figured it could wait a few more minutes before it returned. As the final 45 seconds ticked off the clock in a nearly empty Metrodome, a line of Wolver- ines with arms locked together walked slowly across the field to a fold-up table that held their prize. There was no mad scramble. No one stabbed a block 'M' flag in the turf. Just a calm, determined walk. Finally, senior defensive end LaMarr Woodley broke the ranks and raised college foot- ball's oldest trophy above his head. And the Wolverines celebrat- ed. For a team that suffered through a five-loss season last year, class was the name of the game when No. 6 Michigan staved off a late comeback to defeat Minnesota 28-14 Satur- day. "It hurt last year when they took it because Michigan doesn't lose the jug," running back Mike Hart said. "We lost the Jug last year, and the guys from the team last year knew it was our responsibility to come back and get it. That's what we wanted to do." And the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 5-0 overall) proved it on their first drive of the game. After a lackluster start against Wisconsin a week ago, Michi- gan came out the aggressor. Quarterback Chad Henne took the first six snaps of the game and handed it to Hart, who did See GOPHERS, page SB Senior captain LaMarr Woodley presents his teammates with college football's oldest trophy after a redeeming 28-14 victory over Minnesota. No. 6 MICHIGAN 28, Minnesota 14 Jr Dgernaut Hart pumps Blue's offense Canes trade Johnson toKings By Amber Colvin Daily Sports Writer He was supposed to wear red and white someday. But thanks to his dedication to the Maize and Blue, sophomore Jack Johnson now has purple and black in his future. The Carolina Hurricanes, who drafted Johnson with the third overall pick in the 2005 NHL entry draft, traded their top defen- sive prospect to the Los Angeles Kings Friday. After multiple offers from Car- olina, Johnson remained firm in his decision to stay in Ann Arbor for a second season. The Hurri- canes hurting blue line couldn't wait for Johnson, so they sent his rights, along with defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, to the Kings for forward Eric Belanger and defen- seman Tim Gleason. "Everybody has decisions to make," Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford said. "(Johnson) wanted to spend another year in school. I think that in his best interests, for his development, that he shouldbe playing pro now. He's ready to do that. The sooner he starts playing pro, the sooner he starts to develop into a real goodfNHL player." After hoisting the Stanley Cup in June, Carolina lost Michigan alum Aaron Ward to free agency and Frantisek Kaberle to a shoul- der injury. With Kaberle expected to miss most of the season, the Hurricanes intensified their pur- suit of Johnson, hoping to fill -some gaps in their ailing defense. They tried to lure in Johnson with the promise of a spot in their top- six rotation and minutes on the power play. But Johnson - who has said "the only way you're going to get me out of (Ann Arbor) is by gun- point"-maintained his commit- ment to the Wolverines. "I just felt more comfortable See JOHNSON, page 6B MINNEAPOLIS - The first four yards were what Michigan needed. The next 50 were Mike Hart's well-earned reward. Just one more first down away from 4 sealing a hard-fought win over Minnesota, coach Lloyd Carr turned to Hart for the 31st time that night. And for the 31st M time, the Wolverines' SI workhorse stepped up to the challenge. Sprit On third-and-three, Hart took the ball around the left tackle and picked 'A NC in up the req first down the Littlel TT GER g Fire tired legs uired four yards for a "If there's yards out there, you , essentially sending gotta get them," said Hart, who Brown Jug back to Ann finished with a season-high 195 Arbor. yards. At that point, The 54-yard run was Hart's no one could have longest this season, but it wasn't blamed Hart for what proved his monumental stopping. value to the Wolverines. It was But "stop" just just the cherry on top of an isn't in Hart's vocab- already spectacular game from ulary. the constantly running piston at Instead, he juked a the heart of Michigan's powerful couple defenders and offensive engine. cut the ball all the Against Minnesota's suspect way back across to run defense, Carr and offensive the right side of the coordinator Mike DeBord set up field, eluding Golden a gameplan centered on estab- Gophers until his lishing the running game. (understandably) And Hart made them look like finally gave out on him. geniuses. Before the first quarter was done, Hart had already made a lasting impact on the contest. He shimmied and shook his way to 67 yards on 11 carries, forcing Minnesota's defense to creep up in the box. The result: Picture-perfect touchdown passes from Chad Henne to Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham. When the vertical passing game looks as good as it did on Saturday, it's easy to lose sight of the nitty-gritty yards grinded out by Michigan's rushing attack. But focusing on the ooh-and-aah- inducing deep passes distracts from the real driving force See SINGER, page 5B White-hot duo ignites scoring Overtime loss a motivational win for Stickers By Amber Colvin Daily Sports Writer Three hundred sixty four days a year, they are teammates. But on Saturday, they were oppo- nents in the annual Blue/White intra- squad game at Yost Ice Arena. And while Wolverines clashed against Wolverines, the biggest excitement of Saturday's exhibition bout was a bond between two play- ers. Junior Chad Kolarik and sopho- more Andrew Cogliano teamed up for three goals in the White team's 6-3 victory over the Blue team, with two goals and two assists for Cogli- ano and one goal and two assists for Kolarik. The firstCogliano-Kolarikconnec- tion snapped in as the clock dwindled in the first period. The shorthanded buzzer-beater began with freshman defenseman Chris Summers handing the puck up to Kolarik, who swooped down the left side. Cogliano joined the two-on-one rush and took the fast pass from Kolarik, flipping it in over freshman goalie Steven Jakiel's glove. "The chemistry'sthere"saidsenior captain Matt Hunwick, who scored a stick-shattering goal for the White team. "Cogs has a lot of speed. He's able to get Chad the puck. They're both obviously two of the more skilled guys on our team - they just have that chemistry where they know where one another is at." The other two goals came on simi- lar set-ups in the third period, dem- onstrating Cogliano and Kolarik's ability to find one another on the ice. "They look like they're clicking," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "They've been skating together and I think there's something there." Rounding out the explosive line was freshman Brian Lebler. The Pen- ticon, B.C. native checks in at 6 foot 2 and 210 pounds, and Saturday he used that size to his advantage, fight- ing for loose pucks along the boards and showing he's not afraid of gritty play against his older, more seasoned teammates. "He'sjust a strong physical player," Berenson said. "He's a player you're glad he's on your team. He should be strong along the boards, strong in front of the net. He's going to make STEVE TAI/Daily Sophomore defenseman Mark Mitera and the rest of the Wolverines battled each other In a special scrimmage Saturday. some good subtle plays. He's got power play goal for the White team smart hands" in the first period with a scathing Good first impressions were all slapshot from the center that zoomed around for the group of five freshmen through traffic and past senior goalie playing their firstgame at Yost.Rook- Mike Mayhew. ie blueliner Steve Kampfer scored a See ICERS, page 6B By Chris Herring Daily Sports Writer STATE COLLEGE - Any other time, ahard-fought overtime loss away from home would be devastating. But not this time. Not when the defeat comes at the hands of the defend- ing national champions. The Wolverines walked away from this loss with more confi- dence than they started with. "Today our kids proved that they can play with anybody in the country" Michigan coach Nancy Cox said. "Now that we realize this about ourselves, we are ready to make our move. Michigan State needs to be ready, Indiana needs to be ready, and everybody else in the country needs to be ready, because we demonstrated what we are capable of doing:' The Wolverines held their own against No. 1 Maryland, sending the game into overtime after tying the score at one early in the second half. But it was then that the Ter- rapins showed why they hold the nation's top spot - scoring a goal in the early moments of overtime to finish off the Wolverines, 2-1. Following their worst defeat of the season - a 4-0 loss to Penn State on Friday - the Wolver- ines (1-1 Big Ten, 5-7 overall) had plenty to prove against Maryland. And the general consensus among the team was that this game dem- onstrated a lot about the team's character. "The most important thing is that the kids can see it now;" Cox said. "You can tell them until you are blue in the face. But today, the girls saw that they have what it takes. Now we just have to exe- See MARYLAND, page 6B 0 s