4 8 - Tuesday, April 8, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com DAYS N)COUNTDOWN TO DENVER Freeze frames Four individual efforts that made Michigan's run to the Frozen Four possible SAUER SHOWS BIG-GAME HEROICS I SENIOR SHINES AFTER UGLY INJURY St. Clair gets bat going against Illini This season, Michigan coach Red Berenson has often called goalie Billy Sauer a "rock." Andnowhere was the junior's transition from unpredictabil- ity to reliability " more evident than during the Great Lakes Invitational at SAUER Joe LouisArena on Dec. 28-29. Sauer recorded two shutouts to seal Michigan's first GLI champi- onship in 11 years. His performance added'to his career-best shutout streak of 166 minutes and 7 seconds, which started in the second period of the Wolverines' Dec. 7 win against Bowling Green. After making a total of 87 saves on the weekend, Sauer won tour- nament MVP honors and was responsible for keeping Michigan in the game during a 1-0, double- overtime championship win over Michigan Tech. Following his team's first win in the tournament, a six-goal drubbing of Providence, Sauer said his 50-save performance came in "one of the easier nights" he has had to play. But the next night's 82-minute thriller showed Sauer was truly rock-solid under pressure - and would staythat way all the wayto the Frozen Four. - COURTNEYRATKOWIAK Chad Kolarik is one of the most dangerous players on any roster in the nation. On any given night, the senior can scorch the nets for three of four goals that make opposing defenses look silly. But no one expected that kind of pro- KOLARIK duction from Kolarik in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs. TheAbington,Pa.nativewasside- lined with a nasty hamstring injury for the 26 days leading up to the best-of-three series with Nebraska- Omaha. There were questions about Kolarik's ability to skate smoothly, let alone carry the team. With one swift wrister halfway. through the first period, Kolarik proved the injury was a thing of the past. He skated hard towards the net, pulled up short and dumped the puck in for Michigan's second goal of the night. And the alternate captain wasn't done yet, notching two more goals against an overmatched Maverick defense. When Kolarik completed his final hat trick in Yost Ice Arena, a few unique souvenirs found their way onto the ice - like the water buffalo hat and the penguin suit, costumes worn with pride at every Wolverine home game this year. - ANDYREID PORTER'S FINAL CASE FOR THE HOBEY | COLD YEAR WARMS WITH MVP HONORS Sophomore goes perfect from plate, after slow start ByRUTH LINCOLN Daily Sports Writer If there was an opening in cen- terfield, sophomdre catcher Roya St. Clair found it Sunday. Struggling at the plate through much of this season, St. Clair entered Sunday's double-header against Illinois with the lowest batting average in the Michigan lineup (.167). But it didn't take long for St. Clair to find her sweet spot. The Livonia native went 3-for- 3 in the first game against the Fighting Illini, each time lining the ball into deep centerfield. In No. 5 Michigan's 8-0 five-inning mercy-rule win, St. Clair sthree base knocks catapulted her out of the recent slump. "I've talked to the coach- ing staff, and they just told me to keep plugging along and the hits would come," St. Clair said. "I just keep swinging, (taking) a one-pitch focus, and it seemed to work." St. Clair continued to connect in the second half of the double- header, going 1-for-3 at the plate. With the Wolverines up 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth and the bases loaded, she delivered a two-run blast to the centerfield fence to give Michigan a com- manding 4-0 lead. "When there's runners on or there's runners not on, your focus has to be see-ball, hit-ball," St. Clair said. "You just have to make sure the ball's in the strike zone and do your job at the plate." When the Wolverines (7-1 Big Ten, 32-4 overall) take on Cen- tral Michigan today at Alumni Field, they hope to maintain the level of confidence that recent hitting explosions like St. Clair's have brought. "You have to accept as a hit- ter, you're going to fail more than you're going to succeed," Michi- gan coach Carol Hutchins said. "And if you accept that, you can move forward because you have the next at-bat. You always have another opportunity." Hutchins emphasized to her team all season the importance of controlling its emotions at the plate and in the field. After a timid start to the weekend with a 2-1 loss to Iowa Friday, Michi- gan rebounded Saturday and car- ried that momentum Sunday and came out swinging. In Michigan's 8-0 win, every player reached base at least once, but St. Clair's stellar afternoon stood out the most because of her recent slump. "You can give her direction on how to do something, but all you really need is to get on base that one time, and you feel confident," sophomore third baseman Mag- gie Viefhaus said. "That's what she did." Today, the Chippewas (4-1 Mid-American Conference, 12- 11 overall) come to Alumni Field riding a five-game win streak and sitting atop its conference stand- ings in victories. Even though . Michigan has been led all season by its outstanding pitching duo of sophomore Nikki Nemitz and freshman Jordan Taylor, the team's recent hitting speaks vol- umes. The Wolverines outscored their opponents 17-2 over the weekend, guided by Viefhaus and freshman Dorian Shaw. Even with recent success at the plate, Hutchins sees room for improve- ment against Central Michigan. "I want to see us keep playing good defense, keep pitching well, but I really feel for our hitters," Hutchins said. "They're going to explode one of these days." 4 4 Going into the NCAA East Regional on a three-game point- less streak,peoplewerestartingto talk. Michigan senior captain Kevin Porter. was slumping at the worst y possible time. , His apparent Hobey Baker PORTER Award was in danger of being broken. The questions came quickly after Porter was held off the scoresheet in the CCHA semifi- nals and finals. Is he gripping his stick too tight? Can he handle the pressure? Why can't he handle the big stage? Well, it didn't take long for Por- terto silencethedoubters.Against Niagara in the East Regional semi- finals, he scored three goals over a 22 minute-span. The Northville native added an empty-net goal late in the game for a regional- record four tallies. In just one night, Porter answered all the questions. And in all likelihood, he solidified his Hobey grasp, all while ensuring Michigan of its first Tournament win since 2004. - NATE SANDALS It's been a difficult year for junior Tim Miller. The forward had his alternate captain 'A' taken away halfway through the season and didn'tfind the back of the net for 364 con- secutive days. MILLER Rather than building on his solid sophomore season, Miller put up numbers resembling those from his first year in Ann Arbor. But when Michigan played at Joe Louis Arena this year in the CCHA playoffsandagainstMichiganState, Miller's stat line looked completely different. Each of the junior's four season goals was scored at the Joe. He also assisted the eventual conference-championship winner against Miami (OH) on a beautiful pass off a low-zone faceoff. All year, Miller and his struggles took the backseat to the Wolver- ines' unexpected success, but at the Joe, the junior's behind-the-scenes impact came to the forefront. And his last game there, Miller was voted the Most Valuable Play- er of the CCHA playoffs. - MICHAEL EISENSTEIN 4 .4 Jayhawks come out on top after overtime win SAN ANTONIO (AP) - So patient for 20 years, Kansas had no problem working an extra five minutes to bring KANSAS 75 a long- MEMPHIS 68 awaited championship back to the heart- land. Mario Chalmers hit a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regula- tion to push the game into over- time, and the Jayhawks grinded it out from there for a 75-68 vic- tory Monday night over Memphis in one of the best title games in recent memory. The shot earned Chalmers the most outstanding player honor. It was the first title for Kansas since 1988, when Danny Manning, now an assistant coach for the Jayhawks, led them to an upset of Oklahoma. The most memorable perfor- mance in this one came from freshman Derrick Rose of Mem- phis, who completely took over the game in the second half, scor- ing 14 of his team's 16 points dur- ing one stretch to lift the Tigers to a 60-51 lead. But Kansas (37-3) used the strategy any smart opponent of Memphis' would - fouling the heck out of one of the country's worst free-throw-shooting teams - and when Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts combined to miss four of five over the last 1:12, it left the door open for KU. Hustling the ball down the court with 10.8 seconds left and no timeouts, Sherron Collins handed off to Chalmers at the top of the 3-point line and Chalmers took the shot from the top. It hit nothing but net and tied the score at 63. Robert Dozier missed a desper- ation shot at the buzzer, and Rose went limping to the bench, favor- ing his right leg. Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jack- son scored the first six points of overtime to put Kansas ahead 69- 63. Memphis, clearly exhausted, didn't pull within three again. Arthur was dominant inside, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds, lots on dunks and easy lay-ups off lob passes. Chalm- ers finished with 18 points. Rush had 12 and Collins had 11 points, six assists and did a wonderful job shutting Rose for the first 28 minutes. Rose wound up with 18 points in a game that showed how ready he is for the NBA. He was 3-for-4 from the .line, however, and that one miss with 10.8 seconds left is what almost certainly would have sealed the game and given the Tigers (38-2) their first title. Instead, the title goes back to Lawrence for the third time in the fabled program's history. The inventor of the game, James Naismith, was the first Jay- hawks coach. It's the school that made household names of Wilt Chamberlain,. Manning - and yes, even North Carolina's. Roy Williams, the coach who famous- ly left the Jayhawks, lost to them in the semifinals, but was, indeed, in the Kansas cheering section to watch Bill Self bring the title back that he never could. This game was not about coach- es or sidestories, though. It was about the game, and what a dandy it was - a well-needed reprieve from a more-or-less blah tour- nament in which 42 of 63 games were decided by double digits. This was the first overtime in the title game since 1997, when Arizona beat Kentucky 84-79. . MEN'S GYMNAST ICS Rivalry doesn't tarnish friendship i AP PHOTO Junior MarioChalmers's game-tying shot at the end of regulation earned him the Most Outstanding Player Award and gave Kansas a National Championship. Longtime friends, one a Wolverine and one a Buckeye, stay close regardless By COLT ROSENSWEIG Daily Sports Writer STATE COLLEGE - It takes more than aloo-year-old rivalryto break the bond between Michigan. freshman Thomas Kel- ley and his KELLEY best friend, Ohio State freshman Sean Regan. Forty minutes after the YEAR:Freshman final award had been HOMETOWN: presented Libertyvile, lIl. at the men's Events: Floor, gymnas- vault, rings, tics Big Ten parallel bars, high Champion- bar and pommel ships, Penn horse State's Rec Hall had nearly emptied. Tear-down crews had carted away most ofthe equip- ment and the gymnasts had fil- tered out. But Regan, conspicuous in his scarlet warmups, stuck around with Kelley's parents, waiting for the recently honored Big Ten Freshman of the Year and floor champion to return from his press conference. Two sprained ankles kept Regan from competing at Big Tens, but he enjoyed watching his friend com- pete so successfully. Regan said the two have "brothers" since age four, growing up together in Lib- ertyville, Ill. They both competed for Buffalo Grove Gymnastics before college. "Watching him win Freshman of the Year was unbelievable," Regan said. "I really hoped he was going to do it, but it didn't hit me until they called himup there." Kelley also earned top confer- ence honors on floor exercise.With his teammates' cheers thundering from the stands, Kelley turned ina beautiful set, sticking nearly all his landings for a 15.50 score. As Kelley accepted his award, the Michigan fan section put on the best vocal performance of the night, singing a spot-on rendition of "The Victors" along with the gymnasts. "It set the precedent for other (event champs) to try and do their chanting," Kelley said. "They don't have a good fight song like 'The Victors.' They've got no hand motions, they've got nothing. So Michigan is by far the best." The Freshman ofthe Year award came at the tail end of the night, eliciting more noisy outbursts from the Michigan faithful. Tradition- ally, the award goes to the fresh- man with the highest finish in the all-around finals - butuntilFriday night, Kelley hadn't competed in the all-around all season. Illinois freshman Paul Ruggeri was the other strong candidate for the honor, having competed suc- cessfully in the all-around all sea- son. But Kelley's fifth-place finish was the highest of any freshman, and the tradition continued. Even as a Buckeye, Regan felt nothing but joy for his friend'ssuc- cess. "I knew he could do it," Regan said. "To watch him do it was even better. ... He's worked hard for where he is, and he deserves every bit of it." A tired, happy Kelley finally returned to the stands after his press conference and got a big hug from an equally delighted Regan. "He's wearing scarlet and gray, and I'm wearing maize and blue, but it doesn't get between our friendship at all," Kelley said. "We're always there for eachother, and it's awesome that he's here waiting 40 minutes. It just shows that we are best friends." J FRESHMAN, SOPHOMORES, AND JUNIORS... T4 MiCdPgan Oaily ONLINE is HIRING Account Executives for 2008-2009! We are searching for friendly, dedicated, and hardworking students who have an interest in advertising and sales. Working for The Michigan Daily's Online Advertising Department will help you to: " Expand your resume " Impress future employers with your knowledge and experience " Improve your networking connections " Frther develop your communication and business skills " Make moneyl!! Fo oe nomainyo a cm ik pa Apiato .0h aiy 2 I ' StudentUniverse.com I A I A I