Wolverines stun
some of nation's
top teams
MEN'S GOLF 6B
Daily Sports
gives thanks,
albeit belated
SM COLUMN 2B
STHEMCHIAortsNonday
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Monday, November 27, 2006
michigandaily.comLJ
MINNESOTA 8, MICHIGAN 2
SAUER ENDING
AP PHOT(
higan goalie Billy Sauer lets past one of Minnesota's eight goals on Saturday night. The Golden Gophers' total matched the most goals for a team in a College Hockey Showcase game.
Five third-period goals doom Blue
ALEX DZIADOSZ/daily
The Buckeyes are assured a spot in the BCS
National Championship Game to be played Jan. 8in
Glendale, Ariz.
Varsity's
title hopes
take shot
By MATT SINGER
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan's hopes for a long-shot bid to
the BCS National Championship game took
a big hit this weekend.
Riding Satur-
day's dominating BCS
44-24 victory over STANDINGS
Notre Dame, South-
ern Cal is now one Nov. 26, 2006
win away from the
national title game.
On Sunday,
the Trojans leap- I1 Wil
frogged Michigan 111
in the BCS rank-
ings, settling into
the coveted No. 2
spot behind unde-
feated Ohio State. 2
The switch dealt
Michigan's nation-
al championship
hopes a serious
blow. A
Southern Cal
also moved to No.
2 in the AP Poll,
which does not fac-
tor into the BCS
rankings.
A win over
UCLA on Saturday
would almost sure-
ly punch South-
ern Cal's ticket to
the BCS National
Championship
game in Glendale, 5
Ariz.
"I think we're a
pretty good team
right now," South-
ern Cal coach Pete Carroll said after the
Trojans beat Notre Dame. "We'll play any-
body, anywhere."
SouthernCal currentlyboasts a.9460BCS
See BCS, Page 3B
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - A massive roar
echoed through Mariucci Arena as Min-
nesota's Mark Carman celebrated a short-
handed goal with just more than four
minutes to go in the third period.
The 10,000-plus in attendance experi-
enced a moment of djiivu just 20 second
later when a similar noise erupted in the
arena after Tony Lucia added another
man-down goal.
The lightning-quick back-to-back
short-handed goals capped an8-2 Minne-
sota romp over Michigan - featuring five
Golden Gopher third-period goals - in
the second night of the 14th Annual Col-
lege Hockey Showcase Saturday night.
Michigan (7-2-0 CCHA, 11-4-0 over-
all) came into Saturday's game riding a
seven-game win streak including a 4-3
comeback win againstdefending National
Champion Wisconsin on Friday.
Then on Saturday, the Wolverines
learned why Minnesota is No. 1.
The eight goals are the most Michigan
has allowed since losing 8-3 to Miami
(Ohio) early in the 2003-04 season.
"Obviously, they had the better team
right from the get-go," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "We had a lot of guys
play well, but that's how much better Min-
nesota was tonight than we were."
Against Minnesota (6-0-2 WCHA, 12-
1-2 overall), the Wolverines were domi-
nated in every aspect of the game. They
were outshot 52-24 and gave up as many
goals as they allowed in their last five
games combined. More pucks passed
goalie Billy Sauer than any game of his
Michigan career.
"I can't tell you we played poorly,"
Berenson said. "We were out-manned."
Although Michigan kept it close early
and had a few good scoring chances, the
Gophers slowly took control of the contest.
After sophomores Tim Miller and Andrew
Cogliano failed to convert a two-on-one in
the second minute, the Gophers, and their
fans, made their presence known.
"We had to take the crowd out of the
game with early chances," Berenson said.
"We had to capitalize, but we didn't do it."
Minnesota drew first blood with two
breakaway goals in the first period - a
short-handed tally from Mike Carman off
a flip pass down center-ice and an even-
strength score from Jim O'Brien, who
beat freshman Wolverine Brian Lebler to
a loose puck.
Michigan had an excellent chance to
make it a one-goal game early in the sec-
ond on a Cogliano breakaway that was
denied by Minnesotagoalie Kellen Briggs.
Minnesota stole any momentum from that
breakaway with a goal 19 seconds later.
With seven minutes left in the period,
senior T.J. Hensick put Michigan on the
board after gathering a loose puck behind
the blue line for a breakaway, short-hand-
ed goal.
Michigan trailed by two goals after
both the first and second periods (2-0
after one and 3-1 after two).
Down just two, Michigan was in a posi-
tion to steal a game from the Gophers
heading into the third, especially with
Sauer already stopping 31 of the 34 shots.
See GOPHERS, Page 4B
The number
of goalsSauer
allowed in the
Showcase this
weekend.
v
4
u
:' %_
-. :a,.. . _
Number of shots
Minnesota fired
on goaltender
Billy Sauer.
BY THE NUMBERS
The consecutive
number of Showcase
games Michigan had
lost before beating
Wicrnin nn Fridaw
The number of
seconds between
Minnesota's third
period short-
handed goals.
Sluggish start can t
stop Blue's streak
By H. JOSE BOSCH gan coach Tommy Amaker said.
Daily Sports Editor "There aren't that many teams in
the country right now that have
It's every fans' dream to be that many wins and are undefeat-
given game-used equipment by ed. We're very proud of it."
their favorite athlete. Unfortu- The frontcourt duo of seniors
nately, during Courtney Sims and Brent Petway
Saturday's again led the Wolverines (7-0).
basketball UMHIGAN The pair combined to record 32
game aga6st of the team's 66 points as the only
Maryland- Wolverines to score in double
Baltimore County, senior Dion digits. The two also collected 17
Harris was passing out game-used rebounds and eight blocks.
balls to the crowd - when he was Petway wasn't the statistical
trying to pass to his teammates. star of the evening, but he was the
But Harris and the Wolverines talk of the postgame banter.
settled down, and after commit- "He's the heart and soul,"
ting 11 first-half turnovers, the Amaker said. "Every team, every
Wolverines took better control good team, every team that's
of the ball and played lockdown going to have success has to have
defense down the stretch to a heart and soul. Right now, with-
remain undefeated with a 66-54 out a question, hands down, Brent
win over the Retrievers. Michi- Petway is the heart and soul of our
gan has won seven straight games team."
to open the season for the second Petway energized the Wolver-
year in a row. ines with tenacious rebounding,
"It's great to be 7-0," Michi- See RETRIEVERS, Page 5B
ior r i y.
VOLLEYBALL
Spiker earn NCAA
tournament bid
By ANDY REID
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Emotional
rollercoaster.
Those words define the Michi-
gan volleyball
team's entire MICHIGAN 3
season, and IOWA 0
this past week- .
end was no MICHIGAN 0
exception. In MICH. ST. 3
the past week,
the Wolverines have feltthe highest
highs, the lowest lows and every-
thingin between.
Michigan was soundly defeat-
ed by bitter rival Michigan State
Wednesday, bounced back in time
to dominate at Iowa Saturday and
accepted a bid to the NCAA tourna-
ment Sunday afternoon to play No.
15 seed Cal Poly.
The deepest valley on the emo-
tional rollercoaster the team expe-
rienced this weekend happened
Wednesday night when it faced off
against its rival.
Michigan State junior Katie
Johnson made an early-season
guarantee about the Wolverines'
trip to Jenison Fieldhouse to face
the Spartans - if the Spartans won
in Ann Arbor (which they did in 3
game), they would definitely com-
plete the sweep of Michigan.
Her prediction couldn't have
been more right.
The Spartans, led by Johnson's
powerful spikes, firmly defeated
Michigan in three straight games.
This is the first year since 1998
that the Spartans have beaten the
Wolverines in both regular-season
matches.
Junior Katie Bruzdzinski got off
to a hot start, recording quick kills
on a dominating spike and a skillful
tip over the net to give the Wolver-
See SPARTANS, Page 3B
EMMA NOLAN-ABRAHAMIAN/Daily
Michigan center Courtney Sims led the Wolverines in scoring in both of this
weekend's games.