8A - Thursday, February 1, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com In Sauer we trust? I ait time? Can Billy Sauer be trusted yet? If there's one thing I learned last month, it's that Billy Sauer really can dazzle between the pipes. He can make those huge, momen- tum-swing- ing saves. He ANMBER can withstand COLVIN incredible amounts of pres- sure while in the A Touch of crease. Dutch But he's tricked us before - and I don't want to be tricked again. Back in November, in the midst of a seven-game win streak, I think we all hopped on the Billy Sauer band- wagon. The sophomore goaltender was playing the best hockey of his career, confidence oozing out of every glove save and puck kicked away. Finally, we all thought. Here is the goaltender Michigan recruited. This is the maturity we've been wait- ing for, the talent we heard so much about. Enter then-No. 1 Minnesota, scor- ing five goals in the third period and eight overall. Enter six goals on 18 shots in a loss to unranked Western Michigan the next weekend. Enter Sauer getting pulled for the first time all season after allowing five goals on 16 shots against then-No. 5 Notre Dame. Enter the Sauer supporters, eating their words. Michigan fans have been waiting for what used to be the hallmark of the program: a consistently success- ful starting goaltender. They had that for four years in Steve Shields, Marty Turco and Josh Blackburn and three years in Al Montoya. Then along came Sauer. The Wal- worth, N.Y., native had a lot of buzz around him, but he was also inAnn Arbor a year too soon, thanks to Montoya's early departure. Sauer fought againsthis age and the pressure to fill Montoya's skates, only to put up lackluster numbers and lose his starting role midway through last season to senior Noah Ruden. This wasn't Michigan goaltending at all. Now with Sauer in his sophomore season, everyone's still waiting for a Turco or a Shields. Is Sauer readyto be that netminder yet? I don't know. It seemed possible at the beginning of the season, with Sauer confident and safe in his start- ing role. It seemed even more likely in November when he was unstoppable. But we all know what happened after that. Sauer's been a new goalie in the new year. He put aside the disap- pointing first half of the season and returned as a more dependable net- minder. He made saves most thought he couldn't make. Even in the team's lone blemish of 2007, a 2-1 loss to lowly Northern Michigan, Sauer shined. Each game in the second stretch has been a statement for Sauer. He's going in the right direction. But how does he avoid another Minnesota-like detour? "That's a good question," Michi- gan coach Red Berenson said. "Your season is not always perfect. There's going to be setbacks, and it's how you handle them. I can't protect him from that.... I can't tell you that he couldn't be devastated again. But I think he's stronger. He's got a little more experi- ence now. I'd be surprised if that hap- pened again." Berenson has proved his trust in Sauer all season. The coach was adamant about identifying Sauer as the starting goaltender from day one. Already surpassingtotals from last season, Sauer leads all NCAA goal- tenders in minutes and games played. So if Sauer is playing more than the top goaltenders in the nation, matur- ing and growing more confidentby the day and has a hockey coaching legend trusting him to carry the team, then what are we waiting for? Why don't we all hop on the Sauer bandwagon again? I don't know. But I just can't do it yet. - Colvin can be reached at ambermco@umich.edu. 0 Sophomore Billy Sauer is 6-1 in the new year, but has he earned your trust? Looking for a career that gives you. choices? HAWKEYES From page 5A that's going to affectyou." The run by the Hawkeyes was more surprising given the defen- sive intensity shown by Michigan in the first half The Wolverines held guard Adam Haluska, the Big Ten's leading scorer heading into last night's game, to just seven points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field in the first. Freshman forward Tyler Smith - an under-the-radar candidate for Big Ten Freshman of the Year - scored just four points. But something changed once the teams came out of the locker room. Smith exploded in the second half, scoring 18 second-half points andwreakinghavocontheboards. It didn't help that the Wolverines left Haluska, a deadly 3-point shooter, wide open from beyond the arc several times. "We didn't stop or do anything (in the second half)," Harris said. "They kept on knocking the shots down, and we couldn't. When you have a team scoring at will like they did in the second half, it's real frustrating." Adding to the Wolverines' demise was their ineptness on offense, After shooting over 45 percent from the floor the first 20 minutes, the team struggled mightily and shot below 30 per- cent in the second half Harris might have had the worst shooting night of his Michi- gan career, going0-for-11 from the floor and scoringjust one point the entire game. The lone bright spot for the Wolverines was the performance of Courtney Sims in the paint. The Boston native had 29 points and 10 rebounds, scoring in a variety of ways. But with another road game on the horizon (Ohio State on Feb. 6), Michigan has some soul search- ing to do if it wants to salvage its season. "Coming off two road losses and then coming back home when you think you're going to have every- thing going for you, and then we let one go," Harris said. "It's very hard to look at." Notes: Senior Brent Petway went down with a left knee injury late in the first half, after landing awkwardly on a block attempt. The forward returned at the start ofthesecond half,but left after just three minutes. He didn't return, but after the game said he should be ready to go for Tuesday's game against the Buckeyes. ... Sopho- more Jerret Smith played 21 min- utes after missing last weekend's 76-61 loss to Indiana. The Romu- lus native had been suffering from a mild concussion after a collision with Wisconsin's Marcus Landry. S 6 Whatever your career goals, you'll find a path that helps you reach them at Ernst & Young. We've created a flexible work environment that provides options for managing personal and professional growth and success. So visit us on campus or at ey.com/us/careers. FORTUNE 100 BEST COMPANIES: TO WORK FOR' 0 q 0 H 2007 EaRsT & YouNG ::n Quality In Everything We Do 6