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February 16, 2009 - Image 12

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14

4B - February 16, 2009

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

M' notches
four NCAA
provisionals

.tip
T s
1
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FYr

ANNA BAKEMAN/Daily

Sophomore Carl Hagelin scored a Friday night goal in front of his father Boris, who traveled from Sweden to see his son play this weekend.

Nine Wolverines score in sweep

Barnes, Pruitt,
McNamara and
Forys light up
Akron Open
By ROGER SAUERHAFT
Daily Sports Writer
Afterbeingnamed anAll-Amer-
ican as a junior in 2008, sprinter
Andre Barnes was relegated to
the sidelines with an ankle injury
for the first six weeks of his final
indoor season.
But his recent return to the
Michigan men's track and field
team and his continuing return to
All-American form gave the 13th-
ranked Wolverines a much-need-
ed boost at the non-scoring Akron
Open on Saturday.
Michigan coach Fred LaPlante
described his team's performance
as a "mixed bag," and somewhat
emblematic of this year's indoor
season, but Barnes helped the
team leave Ohio on a high note.
After a day in which he ran a
49.67-second 400-meter dash,
subpar by his standards, the West
Bloomfield native picked up the
pace and helped Michigan blow
away the field in the 4x400-meter
relay. The relay team's 3:13.05 time
in the finals was nearly three sec-
onds ahead of second-place East-
ern Michigan.
LaPlante was very encour-
aged by his team's relay win, but
he was disappointed that Ohio
State withdrew from the event
at the last minute. According to
LaPlante, the Buckeyes have one
of the best 4x400 relay teams in
the nation, and the competition
would have helped with the Big
Ten Championship meet looming

in two weeks.
"We were hoping they'd run in
it because we knew we'd run faster
if they were in it," LaPlante said.
"You usually run your best 4x400s
when two or three teams are fight-
ing the whole way. That's where
you set the really great marks.
"There's nothing wrong with
winning by alot, but usually your
best times are going to come in
those kind of situations."
LaPlante said Barnes's contin-
ued progress will also be impor-
tant for the Big Ten meet, given
how evenly matched the teams
have been this season.
"He's talented enough and
doing enough training that in
two weeks, he will be close to his
best," LaPlante said. "Once you've
achieved at a high level, if you've
done enough work and you're
mentally ready, it's amazing how
you can rise to the occasion."
Redshirt junior thrower Sean
Pruitt recorded the other win of
the day by winning the shot put
with the fifth-longest throw in
school history. The throw was his
second NCAA provisional mark
of the season. Pruitt also earned
a provisional on Jan. 17 in "The
Dual" against Ohio State in the
weight throw by breaking Michi-
gan's school record.
Distance runners Sean McNa-
mara and Craig Forys also had
big weekends at the Husky Invi-
tational in Seattle by running d
career-best times that netted each
runner an NCAA provisional time
in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-me-
ter events.
Next Saturday's Silverston
Invitational at the Indoor Track
Building will be the last home
meet of the indoor season and a
final tune-up for the conference
championship meet.

'M' secures first-
round bye in CCHA
Tournament with
series sweep
By NICOLE AUERBACH
Daily Sports Editor
It takes alot to get Michigan hock-
ey coach Red Berenson to smile.
Friday's 8-3 win over Nebraska-
Omaha? Nope.
"I'm a hard coach to play for and
I'm a hard coach to please," Beren-
son said after the game.
What about Saturday's thrill-
ing come-from-behind 4-2 victory,
which guaranteed a top-four finish
in the CCHA and a bye in the con-
ference tournament? No smile, but
he was more upbeat when describ-
ing his team's effort.
Berenson was pleased his players
clawed back into the contest after
facing a 2-0 deficit and a steady
stream of penalties. He offered
many criticisms, but one positive
comment may have been the most
important for Michigan to hear.
"This is team time of the year,"
Berenson said. "It doesn't matter
that your leading scorers are the
goal-getters. ... The team is cotaing
together."
It's a far cry from the early
games of the season, when just a
few forwards scored most of the
Wolverines' goals. But what is hap-
pening now - nine different play-
EISENSTEIN
From page 1B
they come down the stretch. At
this point last season, Michigan's
eventual Frozen Four-bound
team had six double-digit scorers,
including two who combined for
49 goals.
This year, the Wolverines have
just four, with one over 20. And
the difference between the two

ers lit the lamp this weekend - is
exactly what the Michigan coach-
ing staff predicted at the beginning
of the season: scoring by committee.
Everybody is stepping up, and not
just on offense.
Saturday's comeback displayed
this whole-hearted effort. Michigan
was on the penalty kill for most of
the first period, scrambling to block
shots and clear pucks. Senior goalie
Billy Sauer started
for the first time
since Jan. 17 and
faced an onslaught "This 1
of tough shots.
It all started tim
with a major penal-
ty called on senior e y
forward Titm Mill-
er for kneeing just Berens
six minutes into
the contest. Two
minutes into the
major, a Wolverine boarding pen-
alty gave Nebraska-Omaha a 5-on-3
advantage.
The Mavericks found the back of
the net twice within30 seconds dur-
ing the stretch. The first goal came
off a rebound and beat Sauer glove-
side, and the second was a laser that
tipped off the netminder's glove.
Michigan killed another 5-on-3
later in the period and the team took
a total of eight penalties in the first
21 minutes of the game. The high
number of penalties burdened the
Wolverines' typically solid penalty-
kill unit and disrupted the team's
substitution pattern.
"It's physically and emotionally
seasons in offensive output thus
far is just nine goals through 32
games.
What do all those numbers
mean? Michigan is getting con-
sistent scoring from each of its
lines. When Caporusso doesn't
find the back of the net, Glenden-
ing can step up and score one -
or two.
"This is team time of the year,
and it doesn't matter that your
leading scorers are the goal get-

draining," sophomore forward Matt
Rust said. "Anytime you can't get
your whole team rolling out there,
it's tough. It makes the game so
choppy."
The comeback began late in the
second period as the team stopped
takingpenalties and the offense final-
ly found rhythm on even strength.
"When we're playing five-on-
five, I think we're a tremendous
team," junior act-
ing captain Chris
Summers said. "We
.s team stopped playing
to the refs, and we
e of started playing our
,, game, and I think
ear, that was thebiggest
. difference."
on said. Two goals with
less than five min-
utes remaining in
the second frame
knotted the game at two, and Mich-
igan appeared destined for its first
overtime of the season after back-
and-forth play for most of the third.
But freshman walk-on forward
Luke Glendeningdidn't let that hap-
pen. With 4:28 left in regulation, he
streaked up the right side of the ice,
received a pass from sophomore for-
ward Logie Caporusso and flicked
in the game-winner. Glendening
eventually added an empty-netter
in the game's final minute.
"Even though we were two goals
down, I think our team was confi-
denttthattheycould get one back and
then another one, and that's kind of
what happened," Berenson said. "I
ters," Berenson said. "It doesn't
matter who scores, you just need
goals."
This mentality has translated
into a 10-2 second-half run and
catapulted the Wolverines from a
middle-of-the-pack CCHA team
to tied for second in the PairWise
ratings.
The ratings are used in deter-
mining NCAA Tournament seed-
itng.
More importantly, Michigan

thought our team stayed in the game
and played hard despite the officiat-
ing and despite the adversity."
The Wolverines haven't had many
of these types of games. Michigan is
just 7-8 on the season when giving
up the first goal. Of those victories,
many of them included first-period
comebacks, not ones in the game's
final minutes.
Rust said this kind of win couldn't
have come at a better time, with a big
series against Ohio State next week-
end and the postseason looming.
"It's good to give our team the
confidence that we can come back,
we can come from behind, we can
persevere," he said.
Michigan clinched a top-four fin-
ishin the CCHA withthe sweep and
Alaska's loss Friday. The Wolverines
will receive a first-round bye and
home-ice advantage for the CCHA
Tournament quarterfinal round in
early March.
But that doesn't mean they'll
relax. They want to push for a sec-
ond- or third-place finish, or at least
try to maintain the momentum
they've built up from winning 12 of
their last 14 contests.
"This time of year everybody's
good, everybody's playing hard,"
Berenson said. "We can't just sit
back and say, 'We've got more wins
than that team, so we'll beat them.'
You have to go out there and earn it.
You have to outwork them, outhit
them, outcheck them.
"This is what it's going to be like
every weekend. Hopefully we can
take our game to another level."
overtook Notre Dame in the Pair-
Wise this weekend. That means
the Wolverines would get the
edge over the Fighting Irish as
the No. 1 seed in the Grand Rapids
Regional, by far the closest loca-
tion to Ann Arbor.
And it's all because of one of
Michigan's strongest assets: its
depth.
-Eisenstein can be reached
at mseisen@umich.edu.

I

4

cHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily
Sophomore Craig Forys notched an NCAA provisional mark. The distance runner
came up big in the non-scoring Akron Open.

THINK YOU'RE AN EXPERT ON MICHIGAN SPORTS? WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
WELL, PROVE IT. Zondervan clinches comeback
WRITE FOR DAILY SPORTS.,,_,__ 1

I

M
riv,

E-MAIL ANDYREID@UMICH.EDU.

ahbt ithia tn

1

The
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But
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And

icnigan topples Michigan coach Bev Plocki and
Penn State in the rest of the Wolverines became
al more excited. The Schoolcraft
upset victory native earned a 9.875, and for the
sixth straight week, Michigan
won, upsetting No. 14 Penn State
By NICK COSTON 195.800-194.925.
Daily Sports Writer "Taylor got a chance to step up
and we were all very excited for
fate of the Michigan wom- her," sophomore Kylee Botterman
'mnastics team's comeback said. "Her routine was great."
t fierce rival Penn State Bottermanwas no slouch,either.
on the shoulders of sopho- She recorded the highest score of
'aylor Zondervan. the night on balance beam and tied
ring floor, their final rota- Sexton for first in the floor exer-.
he Wolverines trailed Penn cise, finishing just ahead of junior
46.825-146.650. Sarah Curtis in the all-around
r junior Jordan Sexton fell, with a career-best 39.325.
an competed with little "It was my highest all-around so
for error. Because five of far, which is exciting, but I'm more
res count for the team total, excited that as a team we're step-
olverines needed a hit from ping it up every weekend," Botter-
rvan or for the first time all man said. "We have some very
they'd be forced to count a difficult meets coming up and we
l routine. want to keep building."
catch? Zondervan, the sixth The Friday night nailbiter had
rine up, had never competed its own difficulties.
r in college. She hadn't even Michigan used just five vault-
d up her first pass, a two- ers, meaning it had to count all
half punch front. five scores on its opening event.
Zondervan performed like The Wolverines suffered one fall
each on the uneven bars, beam and
with each successful pass, floor, but didn't have to count any

of them.
Senior Becky Bernard contrib-
uted 9.800 scores on both her
events, bars and beam, turning
in a near-perfect bars routine
marred just by a step on the dis-
mount.
"We knew we would have some
ground to make up," Plocki said.
"These are the kind of competi-
tions that we want because it tests
your team and prepares us for the
championship season."
Unlike Michigan, Penn State
had to count a fall in its final rota-
tion.
The Nittany Lions' two falls on
the balance beam gave the Wolver-
ines just the opening they needed
to snatch the victory away.
But Michigan was just focused
on hitting floor.
"We don't pay attention to the
other team," Curtis said. "We can
only control what we do."
The Wolverines might have to
pay attention in their next meet,
though - Michigan's next com-
petition is Friday in Salt Lake City
against No. 1 Utah.
- Colt Rosensweig
contributed to this report.

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