0 The Michigan Daily -- michigandaiiy.com
December 1, 2008 - 3B
ICE H)CKEY
Dismal penalty Sauer shines without goal
kill gives Blue support against Wisconsin
ano her split
Two Badger power
play goals prove
to be difference in
Michigan loss
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - Before this week-
end, the Michigan hockey team
was confident in its special teams.
It had successfully killed off
25 straight power-play chances, a
streak that didn't end until Minne-
sota scored on a 2-man advantage
in the second period of Michigan's
6-3 win Friday.
But in the Wolverines' 3-0 loss
to Wisconsin the next night, the
power-play and penalty-killing
units proved ineffective.
The Wolverines gave Wiscon-
sin nine opportunities on the man
advantage and it converted twice.
Badger forward Michael Davies
opened the scoring three minutes
into the third period off a rebound
from goaltender Billy Sauer. The
senior stopped a rocket from Wis-
consin defensemanBrandon Smith
fromthe left circle, but Sauer came
too far out of the crease and had
no chance to save the shot off the
rebound.
The Badgers added another
tally on the man advantage later in
the frame.
"I can't tell you we played poor-
ly, I can't tell you we played well,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "We just didn't look like a
sharp team. You can only kill so
many penalties. Sooner or later, it
catches up with you."
The Wolverines' penalty kill
started strong, giving up just
three shots in the first four Badger
power plays.
But thenthe systembroke down.
Michigan's special teams looked
exhausted on the ice, failed to clear
pucks and over-chased forwards,
GOPHERS
From Page 1B
Naurato, an unlikely source of
offense who had just one goal
coming into the game, opened up
the scoring, firinga one-timer past
Kangas' stick side off a pass from
sophomore forward Ben Winnett.
Sophomore forward Carl Hage-
lin continued the onslaught, tally-
ing his third and fourth goals of
the season.
Freshman forward David
Wohlberg added another to give
Michigan an insurmountable 4-0
lead in the second period.
Though Minnesota closed the
gap, the game wasn't as close as
the score indicates.
Michigan was unable to carry
over the momentum from beating
the Gophers into its game the next
night against Wisconsin, which
would determine the unofficial
getting out of position. As a result,
it was difficult for the Wolverines
to get any offensive rhythm.
"We have about six or seven for-
wards who kill penalties and it's
the other five or six forwards who
get out of the game," Berenson
said. "They're sitting there minute
after minute after minute and then
you get out there and you feel like
you haven't even played."
The penalties enabled the Bad-
gers to controlthe second and third
periods, and Wisconsin eventually
totaled 30 shots on goal - 11 more
than Michigan.
With the man advantage, Mich-
igan tallied just two shots on goal
in its three attempts and the unit
looked worse as the game pro-
gressed.
In Michigan's final power play
of the game, Wisconsin easily
cleared pucks from danger and the
Wolverines were unable to set up
any offense.
"Its hard to win a game when
you have to play PK almost half
the time," sophomore forward
Carl Hagelin said. "Our PP really
didn't get it going tonight. Just like
Coach said, it was a special teams
game tonight. They had two PP
goals tonight and we had zero, and
that's the bottom line."
The night before against Min-
nesota, Michigan again had three
power play opportunities and
failed to convert. With six even-
strength goals, it wasn't as critical
to capitalize.
But when special-teams units
were on the ice for 24 of 60 min-
utes Saturday, it became crucial to
score.
"It's hard to get on a roll, espe-
cially when you're in the box for
the whole second period and part
of the third," junior acting captain
Chris Summers said. "To get any
type of offensive chances, you're
going to have to be five-on-five.
That kind of helped them with
momentum."
College Hockey Showcase Cham-
pion.
Before the weekend series,t
Berenson decided to switch gamesi
for senior goaltender Sauer and
sophomore Bryan Hogan, play-t
ing Hogan on Friday and Sauerc
on Saturday, in hopes of igniting a1
Michigan offense that had strug-
gled to give its senior netminder1
goal support.1
"We've played Sauer all yeart
on Friday night and we haven'tt
scored," Berenson said. "So this
week we flip-flopped and wet
scored on Friday and not on Sat-i
urday. I thought it was just one
of those things. You can see Billy1
Sauer is a good goalie. He gave
us every chance to win, and wej
didn't score for him."
The loss to Wisconsin (7-7-2)t
was the third time the Wolver-
ines have been shut out this year.1
Michigan hasn't been shut out
three times since the 2000-2001
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - Michigan senior
goaltender Billy Sauer has started
this season with a disappointing
2-6 record. But the poor win-loss
total isn't entirely his fault - the
Wolverine offense has made Sau-
er's life in net miserable.
In his two wins, Sauer received
a total of eight goals of support.
In his six losses, the Wolverines
scored just four total goals.
In Saturday's 3-0 loss to Wis-
consin, the senior played spectac-
ular through the first two periods.
The game was scoreless through
40 minutes.
With 12 minutes remaining in
the second period, Sauer saved a
shot but was out of position on the
rebound. A Badger attempted' a
wraparound, but Sauer dove back
to close the opening and cover the
puck.
"He stood on his head in the
second period," Berenson said.
"When you play on the road, the
other team is going to catch fire
at some point. They did and he
matched that. We had to respond
for him and we didn't do it."
Moments after his big save,
Sauer made another stop that
stunned the Kohl Center crowd
After a medium-range shot
that Sauer stopped stick-side, a
Wisconsin player recovered the
rebound and looked to stuff the
puck into the empty side of the
net. But the Michigan goalie got
his stick over just in time to keep
the game scoreless.
"He played phenomenally,"
junior acting-captain Chris Sum-
mers said. "If it wasn't for him, it
would have been a whole different
story. We wouldn't have been 0-0
going into the third period. That
gave us a little confidence."
Though Sauer gave Michigan a
chance through two periods, pen-
alties killed the Wolverines.
Sauer saved 13 shots in the sec-
ond period when the Wolverines
spent much of the period down
a man. Though two third-period
power-play goals doomed Michi-
gan, it wouldn't have been so close
without Sauer.
campaign. ad
Wisconsin is one of the hottest pa
teams in the nation and is 7-1-1 in ca
its last nine games. p
Sauer played well enough for
the Wolverines to win, but instead ea
of Michigan killing off penalties, co
penalties killed the Wolverines. gi
Wisconsin had five straight d
power-play chances in the second m
period, and was onthe man advan-
tage nine times total, compared to en
three for the Wolverines. fit
Two power-play goals in the th
third period were the difference ha
in the game.
Freshman defensemen Greg w
Pateryn's hooking penalty set up lo
Wisconsin's game-winner, and at
junior forward BrianLebler's five-
minute major enabled the Badgers d
to seal the game.
"We can kill a few penalties, gt
but we can't kill nine," Berenson w
said. to
"I don't know how much that h
SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Senior goaltender Billy Sauer, seen here against Miami (Ohio), made 13 saves in the second period of Saturday's game against
the Badgers to keep Michigan in the contest. But the offense couldn't score, and Sauer's individual record fell to 2-6.
GAME CHANGING MOMENTS:
Usually a game isn't defined by
two minutes of play, but Michi-
gan's 3-0 loss to Wisconsin was
decided in that short period of
time.
The Wolverines started the
third period on a power play after
sophomore Carl Hagelin drew an
interference penalty on a chance
down low.
The power play had the
potential to swing momen-
tum in Michigan's favor after
a dismal second period, but
Wisconsin easily killed the
penalty.
Freshman defenseman Greg
Pateryn picked up a penalty
seconds later, and Wisconsin
scored the game winner on
the ensuing power play.
"It's a 0-0 game after two
and we've got to generate
something on that power play
and it didn't happen," Beren-
son said. "Then we take a bad
penalty, and pretty soon we're
dded up to with the five-minute
enalty,. but it's too much. We
me on this trip to be a disci-
ined team."
The Wolverines reverted to
arlier tendencies against Wis-
nsin - making careless passes,
ving up costly turnovers in the
efensive zone and taking too
any penalties.
Michigan's objective this week-
ad was to gain confidence and
nd consistency. Berenson hoped
e Sauer-Hogan switch would
elp.
But after a dominating Friday
in and disappointing Saturday
ss, the team is still looking for
nswers.
"We've had a couple of bad Fri-
ays," Hagelin said.
"But obviously this Friday was
ood so there's nothing wrong
ith us on Fridays. We just need
stay out of the box and play
ard."
on our heels. We had a couple of
isolated chances, but they were
the better team on the night."
WHY THANKSGIVING?: It
seems games against Big Ten com-
petition would be a big draw for
both students and fans of Michi-
gan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
But with the College Hockey
Showcase occurring Thanks-
giving weekend, most students
weren't on campus.
The Wisconsin student section
at the Kohl Center was practically
empty Saturday.
The official attendance was
announced at 14,025, but that
number was a gross exaggera-
tion. The arena with a capacity of
15,237 was about two-thirds full.
n-rn,,D OK
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Wolverines take next step with
Lady Eagle Classic championship
By RYAN KARTJE tournament title came against losophy that emphasizes driving far between for post players in
Daily Sports Writer Southern Mississippi, the same into the lane and kicking the ball Big Ten.
team the Wolverines dominated out for the open jump shot. "The more you score aro
Michigan women's basketball last season to vault them into the Southern Mississippi closed that basket, the more you get b
coach Kevin Borseth said his top third round of the NIT. the gap to two before Minnfield up," Borseth said. "It's tough
priority for his second season Despite his team's recent hit a three-pointer and helped the deal with the shoving and fig
would be building a culture of achievements, Borseth isn't ready Wolverines pull ahead for good. ing for the hoop down low.
success. to call the development complete. Her performance was reminis- had success this weekend, bu
"We don't have any tradition," "You can't really throw around cent of her game-high 13 points continue that is going to be pre
Borseth said at Big Ten Media Day words like tradition, even if last season against the Eagles in difficult."
in October. "And we need to build we won our first tournament," the NIT. On Friday against Belmont,
that tradition to really succeed as Borseth said. "We can't hang our "She's been around long enough Wolverines waited until the fi
a program. You don't just get that hats on little things like this." that we feel comfortable leaning seconds to close out the game.
overnight." The Wolverines came out with on her for a lot," Borseth said. Trailing most of the game,
In the past week, Borseth's confidence Saturday against "She's making shots, and that's mont went on a 9-0 run to cut
team took the first steps toward Southern Mississippi (3-3) after got her looking more confident as Wolverines' lead to one with
building that culture. beating Belmont (3-2) the previ- our point guard." seconds on the clock.
Beat a ranked opponent. ous night gave them their first But Minnfield wasn't the only But Minnfield hit two clu
The Wolverines upset No. 13 winning streak of the season. one to dominate the Eagles for the free throws to secure the win.
. Vanderbilt 50-42 Nov. 23. The last Led by senior point guard Jes- second year in a row. The Wolverines will hope to
time Michigan downed a ranked sica Minnfield's 23 points, Michi- Senior forward Stephany Skrba the momentum from their
team was Feb. 29, 2004, when it gan blew the game open after scored a career-high 20 points on tournament win as they emb
defeated then-No. 12 Minnesota. Southern Mississippi kept it close 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. on a long road swing in the
Win its first tournament in for the first 15 minutes. But Min- She had 13 points last season. week that includes matchups
eight seasons. nfield closed the first half with Her scoring presence in the USC and Duke.
Michigan (4-2) took the crown the final nine Wolverine points to post was something Borseth had It's a trip Borseth referred t
this weekend at the Lady Eagle give Michigan a seven-point lead been looking for all season. "the gauntlet."
Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. The heading into halftime. "She's someone I can count on "We have to conduct busit
Wolverines beat a talented Bel- The second half was more of the in the post," Minnfield said. "She's on our time and keep up
mont squad 64-60 Friday and host same for Michigan, as Minnfield been making things happen when- momentum if we want to suct
Southern Mississippi, 61-51, the cashed in on open shot opportuni- ever I put the ball in her hands." like we did this weekend," Bors
following night. ties to net 14 of her 23 points. Her Borseth said great perfor- said. "That's our style. That's
It was unusual that the team's clear looks came off Borseth's phi- mances like Skrba's are few and we're going to win."
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