The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - 7B
Icers fall just short
of Championship
Comeback attempt
fails in semifinal
loss to Notre Dame
April 11, 2008 - DENVER - None
of the Michigan hockey team's
opponents this season have pro-
duced as many heart attack-induc-
ing moments as Notre Dame.
Two games against the Fighting
Irish - last night's 5-4 overtime loss
intheNCAAsemifinals and aJan. 18
3-2 thriller - were among the year's
most exciting.
One legitimized the young, inex-
perienced Wolverines' improb-
able midseason run to the top of the
national rankings.
The other ended Michigan's sea-
son one game early.
"It's devastating," freshman Matt
Rust said. "Just to see one shot end
your season. I feel bad, but I feel
worse for seniorslike Chad (Kolarik)
and (Kevin) Porter. They've given it
their all, and their one goal in col-
lege hockey was to win a National
Championship. It just sucks."
Th January game was the Wol-
verines' first true test of the season.
Six head-scratching minutes in,
Michigan (33-6-4) was down 2-0
and seemed dead on arrival. But the
Wolverines clawed back into the
contest, capping off the comeback
win in the final minute of regula-
tion.
After a 22-second span in last
night's first period, Michigan was in
an eerily familiar two-goal hole.
Notching its second goal of the
night before the announcer could
call the first, Notre Dame went up
2-0 less than six minutes into the
game. The Wolverines saw their
stock crumble from the favorite to
win the Frozen Four to a team that
looked wholly unprepared for col-
lege hockey's biggest stage.
-- ANDYREID
Freshman Stu Douglass celebrates after a breakaway layup in the Wolverines' 62-59 victory over Clemson in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament.
After an era of losses and letdowns, winning ways will emerge in its shadow
egendary Michigan broad-
caster Bob Ufer described
Michigan Stadium as "the
hole that Yost
dug, Crisler
paid for, Can-
ham carpeted
and Schem- T
bechler filled."
And for four
years, we had
the privilege DAN
of visiting its FELDMAN
northwest
corner seven
or eight times
each year.
If you're a Michigan fan on
this campus, many of the seminal
moments from your time here are
almost certainly Football Satur-
days.
For us fourth-year seniors, that
first game came in early September
of 2005 against Northern Illinois.
Unobstructed by anyconstruction,
sunlight filled Michigan Stadium.
And the Wolverines, wearing their
classic Nike uniforms, beat North-
ern Illinois, 33-17.
The game wasn't anything spe-
cial, just a typical warmup game
against Mid-American Conference
fodder. Jason Avant had nine catch-
es for 127 yards and a touchdown
in Michigan's pro-style offensive
scheme. But Michigan's defense,
under the coordination of Jim Her-
rmann, let Husky running back
Garrett Wolfe rush for 148 yards.
The game was over as quickly as
it began, and we went back to our
dorms to rest up for the last night
out before our first classes started.
Flash forward to the Northwest-
ern game this year. Remember how
you were happy you were standing
in the sleet? At least it was more
comfortable than the cold rain. In
an absolutely miserable game for
everyone involved, Michigan lost,
21-14.
In between, there were plenty of
moments that will stand the test of
time - both good and bad.
The Wolverines ruined Penn
State's perfect season on a last-
second Mario Manningham touch-
down catch, lost twice to Ohio State,
staged a 19-point comeback against
Wisconsin, lostto Appalachian State
and Toledo and waited in the locker
room while the student section held
an impromptu dance party during a
lightning delay.
But this is our legacy: 12 times
we got up early, went to our
favorite pregame spot, drank our
beverages of choice, headed down
Hoover, into the Big House and
then walked home after a Michigan
loss.
That's the most home losses
since the class of'68. From 1970-77,
the Wolverines lost just one home
game.
And the letdowns extended
beyond football. Before us, it had
been 15 years since a graduating
class didn't see a Michigan team
win a national championship.
We are the class of transition.
In our four years here, we ushered
out an era of Michigan athlet-
ics and witnessed the beginning
of another. We saw Lloyd Carr,
Tommy Amaker and Nike out and
Rich Rodriguez, John Beilein, adi-
das and luxury seating in.
And no, I didn't forget about
Red Berenson. He transcends eras.
Last year, he led the hockey team to
break its longest Frozen Four-less
streak in two decades, including
two years while we were in Ann
Arbor.
Don't get me wrong. It hasn't
been all bad. In addition to many
excellent games, we've seen some
of the greatest athletes in Michigan
history.
Running back Mike Hart and
Chad Henne might be the best
Wolverines ever at their respective
positions. And for my money, offen-
sive tackle Jake Long is the best
player in Michigan football history.
If Jack Johnson had stayed four
years, he could have been the best
hockey player in Michigan history.
Ditto for Manny Harris if he stays
two more years with the basketball
team.
And although most of you never
saw them compete, our three
years overlapped with four ath-
letes I consider to be the best ever
in their sport at Michigan: Tiffany
Ofili (women's track and field),
Peri Marosevic (men's soccer) and
Peter Vanderkaay (men's swim-
ming).
Still, the crowning moment for
our class came March 15 of this
year. We all knew the Michigan
men's basketball team would qual-
ify for the NCAA Tournament -
even before CBS's Selection Sunday
show. But when 60 teams' names
were called before the Wolverines',
a familiar skepticism festered in
us all. I guess nearly four years of
letdowns will do that.
But we're in a new era now, our.
second at Michigan.
After 10 years of waiting, the
men's basketball team was finally
invited to the NCAA Tourna-
ment. Beilein took the team from
a program-record 22 losses in his
first season to the Big Dance in his
second. The first-round win over
Clemson was just icing on the cake.
I remember a friend who was
a senior when we were freshman,
incredulous he went four years
without seeing the basketball team
make the tournament. At the time,
I laughed. I knew it wouldn't hap-
pen to us, even though two years
later I was sure we would have the
same fate.
Making it was enough.
And it probably won't be long
until Rodriguez has the football
team, which lost a program-record
nine games last year, heading in the
right direction, too.
Just a year too late for us.
- Feldman can be reached
at danfeldoumich.edu.