The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I October17, 2007
Ice breaker: Meet
Blue's newfound grit
By ANDY REID The Golden Gophers (2-0) were
Daily Sports Writer clearly the more athletic team,
and that was most apparent in the
ST. PAUL - It wasn't pretty. first period. While each team tal-
But it didn't need to be. lied nine shots in the first stanza,
In front of almost 15,000 hostile Minnesota's were much more well-
Minnesota fans Saturday night at timed and planned, resultingintwo
the Xcel Energy Center, a young goals.
and inexperienced Michigan hock- Midway through the first,
ey team battled back from an early Gopher defenseman R.J. Anderson
two-goal deficit only to lose 4-3 in took the puck near the blue line
the championship game of the Ice and ripped a shot past Michigan
Breaker Invitational to tournament goaltender Billy Sauer to give the
host, No. 5 Minnesota. Gophers a 1-0 advantage. The Wol-
verines couldn't find their rhythm
in the first period and looked timid
at times against the more physical
Gophers.
But all of that changed after the
first intermission.
The Wolverines (1-1) came out
with more intensity, and Minne-
sota felt it - on the receiving end
of hard-hitting open-ice and board
checks. The new, physical strat-
egy put the Gophers on their heels,
See HOCKEY, Page 3B
AP PHOTO
Freshman Matt Rust scored his first two career goals in a4-3 loss to Minnesota in
the Ice Breaker Invitational Championship.
MICHIGAN 48, PURDUE 21
FULL OF HART
New
team
shows
mettle
ST. PAUL -
he weekend was sup-
posed to be a rude
welcome to Division I
hockey for
Michigan's
12 fresh-
men.
It turned
out the
youngsters
had already
let them- -
selves in the
back door, NATE
grabbed SANDALS
some cups
and tom- Ener
mandeered Sandman
the keg.
Right away,
they were at home.
Despite its underdog status,
the Michigan hockey team
hoped to come away from last
weekend's Ice Breaker Invita-
tional with the championship
trophy. But beating then-No.
2 Boston College and hang-
ing close in what was, for all
intents and purposes, a road
game against then-No. 5 Min-
nesota, is about the best start
imaginable for this inexperi-
enced team.
Maybe the freshmen just
didn't know any better.
"(The freshmen) haven't
seen it, and, obviously, they
played not intimidated," Michi-
gan assistant coach Billy Pow-
ers said. "So we were happy
with their effort all weekend."
That's not to say the 4-3
overtime upset of the Eagles
and the hard fought 4-3 loss
to the Gophers were just the
product of dumb luck. The
Wolverines had one asset you
don't need experience or skill
to use: hard work.
Beginning with the opening
period against Boston Col-
lege, the Wolverines threw
themselves around the ice
with seemingly no concern for
bodily harm, deflecting shots
and backchecking recklessly.
It wasn't pretty, but it worked.
In that one period, Michigan
showed more defensive effort
than it showed for months at a
time last season.
T.J. Hensick, Jack Johnson
and Andrew Cogliano are
gone, but there are still 21 guys
in winged helmets who know
one crucial fact of hockey: If
you play physical, more often
than not, you'll have a chance
to win.
"I thought everyone played
the body pretty well tonight,
and I thought that was a
big help for us," Michigan
senior captain Kevin Porter
said."(Minnesota has) aslot of
skilled guys, and when they get
hit, they don't like it."
For all the effort the fresh-
men put in last weekend, it
wouldn't have been nearly as
fruitful without Porter's lead-
ership.
After falling behind 2-0 in
the first period against Minne-
sota, Porter's line set the tone
for the rest of the game during
the first shift of the second
stanza. Though Michigan's first
goal didn't come for another
eight minutes, it was clear from
those 45 seconds that the Wol-
verines can matchup with the
best teams in the country.
Michigan fought back from
two-goal deficits three separate
times against the Gophers. It
See SANDALS, Page 3B
CHO/Daily
Senior running
back Mike
Hart had two
touchdowns on
102 yards in the
first half before
being injured
against Purdue
Saturday.
Wolverines finally put the
pieces together
Teammates say Hart
will return for Illinois
By DANIEL BROMWICH
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan running back Mike Hart's
teammates said at Monday's press con-
ference that he will be sufficiently recov-
ered from injury to play this Saturday at
Illinois.
But it was a scary couple of days.
When Hart hobbled off the field late
in the first half of last weekend's game
against Purdue, nobody cared Michigan
had a giant lead against a team consid-
ered a Big Ten contender. Nobody cared
the Wolverines' defense, which had
struggled against Northwestern and
Eastern Michigan, had shut down the
conference's highest scoring offense.
And certainly nobody cared that the
offense, slow-starting in recent games,
had tallied its highest scoring first quar-
ter of the season.
The cheers for Mario Manningham's
touchdown catch that completed the
drive after Hart left were noticeably sub-
dued.
"Anytime you see a guy get hurt, your
heart stops," Michigan offensive coor-
dinator Mike DeBord said. "You feel for
them and for the whole team."
All the fans wanted to know was
whether their star running back and
Heisman Trophy candidate was going to
be OK.
So when he came backto the Michigan
sideline late in the third quarter, albeit
in street clothes and with a slight limp,
the fans, coaches and team breathed a
See FOOTBALL, Page 4B
Remember way back on Sept.1I
when Michigan was ranked No.
5 in the
nation?
Now, after two
blowoutvictories
and three grind-it-
out wins, Michigan
once again cracked
the Associated
Press Top 25 poll
this past Sunday. KEVIN
No. 24 doesn't WRIGHT
seem that impres-
sive, but if you The
consider where Sophomore
this team has come
from, the ranking
is much more of an accomplishment.
How did the Wolverines, a dismayed
group after an 0-2 start, win five in a
row and find themselves one of just two
unbeaten Big Ten teams in conference
play?
It started with a shift in focus.
The story has been told more than
once. This edition of the Michigan foot-
ball team immediately turned its atten-
tion tothe only realistic goals left on its
list after the dismal start tothe season.
To win a Big Ten Championship, the
Wolverines needed to find the consistent
play expected from a preseason No. 5
team.
"We knew when we had those two
non-league losses that we still had the
Big Ten Championship to look forward
to," senior quarterback Chad Henne
See WRIGHT, Page 4B
Laytos's OT goal makes 'M' Big Ten champs
has
adju
in th,
recoi
hoc
"I
you
adju
wha
the
ter,"
guys
By GJON JUNCAJ After the Wolverine offense
For theDaily was stifled in two halves by
Indiana goalie Haley Exner
tichigan coach Nancy Cox Friday afternoon, Michigan
stressed the importance of midfielder/forward Paige Lay-
sting - no matter how late tos finally found daylight nine
e season or the opponent's minutes into the first over-
rd - to her No. 5 field time. All alone on a breakaway,
key squad all season. the sophomore flicked the ball
once you figure out where over a charging, diving Exner.
size up, you start making The shot slowly trickled into
stments and start doing the goal, giving the Wolverines
twe do everyday, andthat's (5-0 Big Ten, 11-4 overall) a 1-
process of getting bet- 0 victory and at least a share
Cox said. "Luckily, these of the Big Ten Championship
have embraced that." on Senior Day at Phyllis Ocker
Field.
The conference title is the
team's first since 2004.
Laytos's third goal of the
season also gave Michi-
gan its ninth straight win.
Exner stopped eight Michigan
shots, several of them sprawl-
ing on the ground. With the
Michigan offense aggressive
but frustrated, Laytos remem-
bered her coach's advice while
streakinginonthegoal,theHoo-
sier goalie standing between
her and a conference title.
"We've been working on ...
getting the ball up in the air
because we know that Haley
Exner likes.to ground herself,
and she certainly demon-
strated that she was successful
with it," Cox said. "Paige Lay-
tos got the ball in the air and
managed to score. Imagine
that. Exactly what we've been
telling them to do all week."
The Wolverines played ontheir
heels throughout the final 12
minutes of regulation, as a
Hoosier offense that was pas-
sive and, at times, anemic in
See FIELD HOCKEY, Page 2B
CLIFREEDEtR/Daily
Sophomore Paige
Laytos's stored
the game-win-
ning goal against
Indiana to clinch
a share oftthe Big
Ten Title, Mich-
igan's first since
2004.