14 4B - February 16, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com M' notches four NCAA provisionals .tip T s 1 y , 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 en's gy agains rested more T Ente tion, tI State 1. Afte Michig margin six scot the Wt Zonder night,, missed The Wolvet on floo warme and-a-1 But a pro. 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.