4B - Monday, February 18, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com Alternate captain injured in win Kolarik's groin injury may be very serious, coaches say By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN Daily Sports Writer The Yost faithful held its col- lective breath Saturday when alternate captain Chad Kolarik fell to the ice on a 5-on-3 penalty kill halfway through the third period. The senior col- NOTEBOOK lapsed in front of Michigan's net with what Beren- son said was a groin injury. "Obviously, it's pretty serious," Berenson said. "You can't mea- sure it with an x-ray machine or anything like that. So we'll just see how he feels tomorrow, but he's pretty sore right now." Kolarik struggled to stay on his feet while trying to poke check opponents as he crawled off the ice, but once the puck was cleared, his teammates carried him off the ice and straight to the locker room. It's unclear how severe the injury is or how long Kolarik will be off the ice, but this is no minor injury for the Wolverines. "I hope they didn't lose him, because they have a great chance to go a long way and that would be a devastating loss," Lake Superior State coach Jim Roque said. Freshman Aaron Palushaj, the team's assist leader, replaced Kolarik on the fiist line in the closing minutes. JUST TWO FOR LOUIE: It was impossible to see how the puck failed to find the back of the net on Louie Caporusso's first-period wraparound. The freshman beat Lake Supe- rior State netminder Pat Inglis to the right post from behind the goal Saturday, but instead of hear- ing the horn sound, there was a loud clank. His backhand shot slid along the goal line without cross- ing the plane and clanked off the opposite post. After the game, Caporusso shrugged in disbelief when asked about the play. "I don't know how that didn't go in," Caporusso said. "I felt a CLIF REEDER/Daily Freshman Louie Caporusso came up just short ofaa hat trick in Saturday night's 4-2 win over Lake Superior State. LAKERS From page1lB that showed up in the game." The news wasn't so great Satur- day, when Kolarik went down with a groin injury in the third period. Berenson couldn't speculate about how long Kolarik might be out, but said the injury "looks pretty seri- ous." The Wolverines closed out the game without Kolarik, and used a good defensive effort to pull away from the Lakers. Kolarik's big night Friday was the only bright spot for Michigan in the sloppy, mistake-riddengame. Lake Superior State plays a tough, physical style of hockey, and the Wolverines didn't look ready to handle it at first. The Lakers, with a hard-fought effort,jumped out to al-0 firstcperi- od lead. It was the third straight game in which Lake Superior State (4-15-5 CCHA, 6-18-6 overall) took an early-game lead against Michi- gan, "Wethoughtthey weren'tgoingto come out as hard as they did, which we should've," freshman Aaron Palushaj said. "I mean, we talked about it all week. I think some of the guys just weren't prepared." The Wolverines slowly became accustomed to the Lakers' aggres- sive style and built a lead going into the final frame. Early inthe third period, Kolarik found a rebounded puck off the glass behind Lake Superior State goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wil- son. The Abington, Pa., native circled back to the net and rattled a shot through Mahoney-Wilson's five-hole, giving Kolarik his fourth career hat trick. The alternate captain took an extra-long lap around the rink, allowing time for the Yost crowd to throw about 30 hats onto the ice. When Kolarik finally went back to the bench to take a seat, Porter used his stick to flip one of the hats at Kolarik's facemask, a subtle con- gratulation from the soft-spoken captain. Kolarik knocked in a late-game empty netter to put Michigan (18-2- 4,25-3-4) up for good. "If you take away those four- goal games, I only have 16 goals," said a humble Kolarik during Fri- day night's press conference. "So I guess I'mnot doingsomethingright the rest of the games." The Lakers couldn't keep up with Kolarik, who refused to acknowl- edge Hobey Baker praise after the game, saying this is Porter's year and he deserves it much more. When asked about his hav- ing to carry the team, Kolarik remained humble, giving Porter all the credit for the Wolverines' success. "Night in and night out, Por- ter is carrying me on his back," Kolarik said. "So, I guess I owe him a couple massages or some- thing." little snakebitten." In a scoreless game midway through the opening period, the missed shot seemed inconsequen- tial. But on an individual level, it stung. Caporusso would have had a hat trick one night after Kolarik netted four against Lake Superior State. "You kind of feel bad after a while when you see Chad and Por- ter just keep putting it in all the time," Caporusso said. "If they ever get shut down, we're going to be in trouble." But Saturday, Caporusso showed off the team's offensive depth. The Woodbridge, Ont., native became the sixth Wolverine and third freshman to notch double- digit goals on the season with his ninth and loth scores. The center's recovery from a medial collateral ligament injury in early November has particu- larly impressed Michigan coach Red Berenson. Caporusso returned for the Great Lakes Invitational in December, scored the Wolverines' first goal in the tournament and has proceeded to score six more this year. "I really like the direction that Louie's going," Berenson said. "Since he's come back, he has real- ly given his line a dose of offense and smarts, so it's nice to see it pay off for him tonight." STANDING ALONE: Michi- gan's one-point lead in the CCHA standings going into the weekend raised concerns the Wolverines wouldn't be able to hold onto first place in the conference. Then seventh-place Ferris State shocked the country with a sweep of No. 2 Miami (Ohio) to give Michigan a five-point cushion in the standings with four games left. "A couple times we would look at the scoreboard and see they were down, but then again, you're in a game and don't really want to pay attention to that," Caporusso said. "But it's hard to not help to notice they were losing." The conference lead is crucial with Michigan needing just four points in four games to clinch the regular season title, especially as it faces tough No. 8 Michigan State and Ferris State in its final contests. "We got an extra four points, but that only means that Ferris State is playing really well, so our schedule is not really the easiest it can be," Caporusso said. Spin rekSue Cancun, Acapulco & Jamaica up to $500 off per room! jq, RP, kOle4 SOuA re aund Raaho M&& '74 SPORTS BRIEFS FOR THE FULL STORY ON THESE SPORTS, SEE WWW U MICHIGANDAILY.COM. WRESTLING Wolverines lose two Big Ten duals For the past four weeks, the Michigan wrestling team has been consistently inconsistent. The tenth-ranked Wolverines have struggled to find stability as the dual-meet season winds down. Before traveling to Madison to take on the Badgers (3-3 Big Ten, 12-4-1 overall), Michigan's previ- ous four matches had the same pattern: starting and ending with individual losses. And Friday night transpired in similar fashion. The Wolverines found themselves in an early hole and couldn't recover, falling to 13th-ranked Wisconsin, 20-18. It was Michigan's fifth defeat in the last seven dual meets. Yesterday, Michigan fell to No. 1 Iowa, 20-16 in Iowa City. Michigan struggled again in the lightweights. GJONJUNCAJ WATER POLO 'M impresses in weekend tourney On Sunday, senior Michelle Keeley scored five goals against Bucknell and mobilized the Wol- verine offense as Michigan left the Princeton Invitational with a suc- cessful3-record. Michigan defeated George Washington, 20-3, Saturday. The next day, theWolverinesbeatBuck- nell, 11-8, and host Princeton, 9-5. Michigan's 10-9 loss to No. 6 San Diego State Saturday was a nail-biter, similar to many of the close losses Michigan has suffered this season. Riding the offensive production of Julie Hyrne, Mary Chatigny and Alison Mantel, the Wolverines again attempted a last- period comeback that eventually fell short as the Aztecs scored with under a minute remaining. "It's tough losing these close games," Michigan coach Matt Anderson said. RYANKATJE WOMEN'S T RACK Blue sets eyes on personal records The third-ranked Michigan women's track and field team com- peted against the nation's top ath- letes in the venue that will be the grand stage of college track and field at next month's NCAA Indoor Championship. But the Wolver- ines weren't intimidated. Several Wolverines achieved personal bests and set school records Friday evening and Satur- day afternoon in the Tyson Invita- tional at the Randal Tyson Track Complex in Fayetteville, Ark. Although it was a non-scoring meet, the Wolverines' speed will bode well for future success. Michigan's athletes gained valu- able experience from competing on the same rubber on which they will run next month. Junior Geena Gall ran the 800- meter race in 2:03:37, breaking a Michigan record. The time, her personal best, was the fastest of any collegiate runner in the event this season and also secured a spot in the NCAAs. MICHAEL BERTENTHAL MEN'S TRACK Harris shines in non-scoring event YPSILANTI - The meet was so crowded, it was hard to tell who was running. Non-competingathletes clogged the track during races. Between that and the commotion of the crowd, Michigan had to work to keep its focus. But the Wolverines weren't eas- ily distracted. The Michigan men's track and field team posted two NCAA provisional times and seven personal records in two non-scor- ing meets this weekend. Michigan sent 18 athletes to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Tyson Invitational and 14 athletes to Ypsilanti for the EMU Invitational. Junior Adam Harris posted an NCAA provisional mark in the 60- meter dash forthe fourth time this season. Harris finished fourth in the event with a time of 6.69 sec- onds,.05 seconds shy of the Michi- gan record he set in the first meet of the season. MACKENZIE MELVIN 4 4 4 4 4 FREE PRACTICE TEST FEBRUARY 16,2008 Al Tests are in Angell Hal: -LSAToe-aaI s Q-_ GMA. 90AI- MUD C MCAT 1230AM - AUDDB OAT 1"M )AD 327 Sn MainpSNO(734)r691 5 om 327 S. Main St. (734) 769-1590 eemn 6 6 "mamma"