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.