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The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, March 29, 2010 - 3B
Tough call vexes Wolverines'
'M' runners in
m'idseason form
By RYAN KARTJE
Daily SportsEditor
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Locked in
their most epic stalemate of the sea-
son, with one of their most bitter in-
conference rivals in Miami (Ohio)
and a Frozen Four
appearance on NOTEBOOK
the line, fresh-
man forward Kevin Lynch thought
he had stamped the Wolverines'
ticket to Detroit.
But the sound of a referee's whis-
tle silenced Michigan's best shot at
continuing their eight-game win
streak.
With 17:23 remaining in the first
overtime of last night's NCAA Mid-
west regional final, junior forward
Carl Hagelin wrapped the puck
around the net, sending it through
Miami goalie Connor Knapp's legs.
Lynch took the pass from Hagelin
and buried it past Knapp for what
looked like the goal to clinch a 3-2
victory.
"I heard the whistle but the puck
went in," Lynch said. "I don't know
why they blew the whistle in the
first place. It should've counted and
I don'tknow whyit didn't. It's just a
bad break for us."
The referee behind the net clari-
fied that play had been stopped in
order to call a highsticking penalty
on Miami's Joe Hartman.
Play would stop for a short
review after the call, but the direc-
tor of officiating, Steve Piotrowski,
insisted that Miami had touched
the puck, thus giving the referee
just cause to blow the whistle for
BURNS
From Page 1B
the first tim in 20 seasons,
when it looked like it was all
over - that speaks volumes of the
quality of your program and what
it means to be at the pinnacle of
college hockey.
After the game, a downtrodden
Hunwick approached senior cap-
tain Chris Summers and issued
a two-word statement that will
,J O E .--
AR
Junior Matt Rust failed to ca pitalize on a late scoring opportunity in ov
the impending penalty.
"That's a tough one to swallow,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"You can't win on those calls. Even
if he didn't blow the whistle, he
could have said he meant toblow the
whistle. He was so intent on calling
the penalty that they couldn't see
that the puck was loose, and we
were putting it in the net."
"I was fortunate he blew the
whistle fast," Knapp said. "I knew
he blew the whistle before the guy
shot it. If the ref can't see it, he's
going to blow the whistle."
Earlier this season, Michigan
experienced a similar fate at Munn
Ice Arena against its other CCHA
rival, Michigan State, when a ref-
eree blew aplay dead just moments
before freshman forward Chris
Brown slammed the puck in when a
goal would have tied the game.
But with the season over, the call
will resonate as the Wolverines'
forever depict why all the players
on the team respect Hunwick so
much.
"I'm sorry," Hunwick said to
Summers.
Summers chuckled at the walk-
on's apology.
"What are you sorry for, man?,"
Summers replied. "We wouldn't
be here without you."
There's no doubt about that.
Burns can be reached at
burnmark@umich.edu.
best opportunity ino
period in which they
RedHawks 20-6.
Standing on their1
Miami's starter in net
before lastnight's regio
Wolverines didn't knom
expect Knapp or CCF
the Year Cody Reichar
ly after Reichard allow
in the two teams' last n
All they knew was
walk-on goaltender S
wick would be the o
between their pipes.
Hunwick finished w
high 32 saves, finishing
started as Michigan's n
hero. The loss to the
was his first since Feb..
And despite the got
wick said deflected off
rolling into the back o
end it, Berenson app:
walk-on's unexpectedt
REDHAWKS
From Page 1B
couldn't capital
aged just one shot
play, part of a 1-f,
the power play fot
ines.
They launched
even with scorin
they didn't make
their chances whe
ed just one. And it
to the Wolverines' season.
"For Hunwick to be into this
situation and literally playing as
well as any goalie in the tourna-
ment, that's the only reason we're
here," Berenson said. "He stepped
in and played like he'd been play-
ing all year."
Knapp, whose save percentage
is higher than Reichard by just one
thousandth of a point, delivered for
the RedHawks, tallying 55 saves in
the double overtime win, with 20
of those saves coming in the first
overtime.
"Like I said yesterday, we have
RIEL BOND/Daily two number-one goalies," Miami
vertime. coach Enrico Blasi said. "Tonight
an overtime was Connor's night, and we knew
outshot the he would go in there and do exactly
what he did."
third: With And Hunwick nodded to his
in question opponent's play in net as the reason
nal final, the for Miami's 3-2 win.
w whether to "Connor Knapp, he was the one
3A Player of facing all the shots," Hunwick said.
d - especial- "Obviously, it's something I'm pret-
ed five goals ty rattled about to lose that game
natchup. when you put up 55 shots on goal. I
that junior guess they deserve to move on."
hawn Hun- NOTES: Hagelin and senior
ne standing defenseman Steve Kampfer were
honored after the game as selec-
ith a career- tions for the Midwest Regional All-
the road he Tournament team. The rest of the
tost unlikely All-Tournament team consisted of
RedHawks players from Miami ... Michigan
27. hockey Sports Information Direc-
al that Hun- tor Matt Trevor said that infor-
of his stick, mation about whether Berenson's
f the net to contract will be renewed after this
reciated the season should be released in the
contribution next week or so.
chance that Miami had that
sent the Wolverines back to Ann
Arbor, instead of to Detroit for
the Frozen Four.
lize. It man- "We did a good job in over-
on the power time to get the puck deep and
or-7 night on create chances," Hagelin said.
r the Wolver- "They had a lot of turnovers
because we forced them to it.
55 shots and Their goalie stood on his head
g two goals, and maybe we weren't patient
anything of enough around the net but we
n they need- obviously had enough chances
was just one to win this game."
By MATT RUDNITSKY
For the Daily
Rust? What rust?
In his first meet of the outdoor
men's track and field season, Michi-
gan senior distance runner Lex
Williams was in mid-season form.
He showed no rust at all despite not
even competing during the winter.
Williams took first in the 10,000-
meter run at the Stanford Invita-
tional on Friday at 28:34:28. The
time was a career best by almost
two minutes, the second-best time
in Michigan's storied history, and
the fastest time in the nation this
year.
"Usually when you haven't had a
meet in a while you just like to get
the first one out there and see where
you're at with your training," Michi-
gan coach Fred LaPlante said.
Williams obviously didn't get
that memo.
In previous years, Williams's
time would have guaranteed him
a spot at the National Champion-
ship meet, but due to rule changes
he'll have to see if his mark holds up
throughout the season. However,
with such a fast time and the rest of
the season toimprove upon it, quali-
fying seems merely a formality.
"If you're qualifying for nation-
als there's no longer a qualifying
standard," LaPlante said. "They
divide the country in half at the
Mississippi river, and the top 48
marks of the year qualify for the
National Championships. There's
no guarantee until about two
weeks before Nationals that you've
made the meet, which is much dif-
ferent than in the past."
While Williams's scorching run
highlighted the meet, the rest of
the Wolverines also fared well.
Junior tri-captain Craig Forys
took 13th in the second section of
the 5,000-meter run with a time
of 14:17.52. Fifth-year senior Tony
Nalli and redshirt freshman Bobby
Aprill ran in the second section of
the 10,000-meter (Williams was
in the first), and they came in 27th
and 30th, respectively. Nalli ran a
career-best 30:29.29 and Aprill ran
the event for the first time as a Wol-
verine.
But, Stanford was not the only
action for the Michigan's men track
and field team this weekend, with
the field athletes, hurdlers, and
sprinters traveling to Rice Univer-
sity for the Victor Lopez/Bayou
L ineton
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Classic on Saturday.
At the Rice meet, senior throw-
er Sean Pruitt stole the show with
incredible performances in all
three throwing events. Pruitt won
the 29-athlete discus field at 52.77
meters and took second place in
the shot put and hammer throw,
at 17.42 meters and 58.43 meters,
respectively. He was only a one
tenth of a meter away from the
shot put lead. His marks will cer-
tainly give him a chance to qualify
for nationals in all three events.
"There aren't many guys who
can actually do all three of those at
a nationally high level," LaPlante
said.
The rest of the field athletes for
the Wolverines were no slouches
either. Junior Robert Peddlar
came in second in the long jump
at 7.43 meters, unsurprising after
his Big Ten Championship dur-
ing the indoor season. Fresh-
man John Freenlee came in third
in the pole vault at 4.8 meters,
and freshman Simon Wenet fin-
ished sixth in the discus at 50.77
meters. Peddlar's jump was espe-
cially impressive.
"Robbert Peddlar had a lifetime
best," LaPlante said. "Usually the
first meet of the year you don't start
off with a lifetime best, so that's a
great sign. He came out firing pret-
ty well."
LaPlante has high hopes for his
athletes, especially Pruitt and Ped-
dlar.
"We wantto have our guys ready
at the Big Ten Championships and
perform well there," LaPlante
said. "We hope they qualify for
the National Championships and if
they get there, become All-Ameri-
cans. Certainly for those two guys,
that would be their goals."
The sprinters and hurdlers also
had success. Junior Carl Bucha-
non took seventh in the 100-meter
and 400-meter hurdles, as well as
running on the sixth place 4x400-
meter relay squad. Sophomore
Aaron Taylor came in 12th in the
100-meter dash, and junior David
St. Amant took eleventh in the 400.
The lone distance runner at the
meet, sophomore Nick Thomas,
finished in ninth in the 1,500-meter
The Wolverines will return to
the track next weekend at the Duke
Invitational in Durham, N.C. The
meet starts Friday afternoon and
ends on Saturday.
Wolverines finish seventh in the nation
By RYAN A. PODGES
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS- Michigan swim-
ming and diving assistant coach
Josh White jumped in the air and
threw his hands to his forehead in
disbelief.
After watching the final prelimi-
nary heat of the 400-yard freestyle
relay at the NCAA Men's Swim-
ming and Diving Championships,
the Wolverines' relay team sat in
ninth place. Yes, that meant Michi-
gan would be the top seed in the
consolation finals, but for the third
time in the four relay events with
preliminary races, Michigan fin-
ished just one spot away from the
championship finals.
It was just that kind of meet for
Michigan. Overall, the Wolverines
missed qualifying for either the
consolation finals or the champion-
ship finals by one or two places in
eight of the 18 swimming events.
But despite some missed oppor-
tunities, the Wolverines finished
seventh in the final team stand-
ings for the second year in a row,
with 204 points. It was Michigan's
10th consecutive finish in the top
10. Texas won the meet for the 10th
time with 500 points and California
finished second.
"I'm proud of these guys,"
Michigan coach Mike Bottom said.
"Because the lesson learned is not
that they are going to get knocked
down, but the lesson they learned is
that they can get back up and they
can fight again."
And they did.
Junior Tyler Clary defended his
national title in the 400-yard indi-
vidual medley with a dominating
performance and a time of 3:38.89.
He was also national runner-up
in the 200-yard backstroke and
touched fifth in the 200-yard indi-
vidual medley.
Senior co-captain Andr6 Schultz
finished second in his heat of the
200-yard backstroke, good for lOth
overall, finished sixth in the 200-
yard individual medley and placed
seventh in the 400-yard individual
medley.
Sophomore Dan Madwed had
the county's fifth best time in the
200-yard butterfly, the sixth best
time in the 500-yard freestyle and
finished 10th in the 200-yard free-
style.
From the start of the meet,
which was delayed 24 hours due
to illnesses striking three of the
teams, the Wolverines faced sev-
eral strange occurrences that could
have derailed them. In fact, another
lesson learned may have been to
expect the unexpected.
On the first individual event of
the three-day meet - the 500-yard
freestyle - freshman Hassaan
Abdel-Khalik broke his hand when
he smashed it into the wall on the
finish. He posted the second fast-
est overall time in the prelims, but
swam in the finals with a soft cast
that limited his movement and kept
him from diving in at the start.
After that race, Abdel-Khalik did
not compete again.
And then there was senior co-
captain Chris Brady, who had to
scratch from the 400-yard freestyle
relay after experiencing an irregu-
lar heartbeat that eventually hos-
pitalized him shortly following his
preliminary race. Though he has no
history of a heart condition, he first
felt the same symptoms at the Big
Ten Championships a month ago,
which also led to a hospital visit.
Brady was restricted to watching
from the pool deck as his own heat
in the 100-yard freestyle earned
spots in the championship finals.
"He has been a strong individual
and our captain throughout it all,"
Bottom said. "When he was injured
the team felt it you could see that in
their confidence and their face, so
we had to find a way to pick it up."
After Brady scratched from the
400-yard freestyle relay, Clary,
Madwed and junior Neal Kennedy
were joined by freshman Roman
Willets who made his NCAA debut
in the consolation finals of the last
event of the meet. The decision to
go with Willets was meant to give
the underclassman experience in a
championship meet.
"We've done a good job in spite
of all the things that happened
to us, because there were some
amazing things that happened,"
Bottom said. "I think it was a great
meet for learning and we got a lot
of lessons and we still achieved the
place I thought we did well with."
BERGERE RESIGNS: After
eight years as Michigan men's
and women's diving coach, Chris
Bergere resigned last Friday. He
did not give a reason for leaving
his position. Diving has become
a weakness in the last few years
for the Wolverines. Michigan was
unable to score any points in div-
ing at the Big Ten Championships
last month and has not qualified
a diver for the NCAA Champion-
ships in six years.
I.-0
Blue bests Big Ten foes, moves to 3-0 in conference
By BRIAN MECHANICK and
ANDREW HADDAD
Daily Sports Writers
Last season, the Michigan men's
tennis team opened its Big Ten
season by losing back-to-back road
matches at Minnesota and Iowa,
settingthe stage for adisappointing
fourth-place finish in the confer-
ence. This weekend, the Wolver-
ines faced both teams back-to-back
again, but this time in Ann Arbor. It
seemed like the tables were turned,
especially after Michigan won both
matches.
"It was a good weekend for us
overall," Michigan coach Bruce
Berque said. "It was important for
us to be ready and show eagerness,
energy and aggression. I felt we
showed all of those things out on
the court today."
The 28th-ranked Wolverines
defeated the Golden Gophers 5-2
and the Hawkeyes 6-1.
Yesterday against Iowa, the Wol-
verines (3-0 Big Ten, 7-7 overall)
took care of business early, win-
ning the first five matches to clinch
victory. At No. 1 and 2 singles,
freshman Evan King and junior
Jason Jung both won in straight
sets. Senior captain George Navas
had one of the most dominant per-
formances of the day, winning 6-4,
6-1.
"George really impressed me
today," Berque said. "He's our
captain and I thought he showed
a lot of leadership today on the
court and also got two really good
results."
Mike Sroczynski won the hard-
est-fought victory of the day in No.
3 singles. He won the first set in a
tiebreaker, dropped the second set
and won the third. The final score
was a dramatic 12-10 tiebreaker.
"I thought I started out pretty
well," Sroczynski said. "I had a
bit of a mental lapse in the first set
and lost my focus for a little bit. I
didn't stick to my plan completely.
I've got to give the other guy credit
in the second set. He played very
well. And then that third set is
always a dogfight. I was lucky to
come out with a win today."
On Saturday, the team took on
Minnesota for the tennis version
of the Little Brown Jug. The Wol-
verines defeated the No. 39 Golden
Gophers 5-2 at the Varsity Tennis
Center, bringing the Jug back to
Ann Arbor.
The day got off to a tight start
in doubles, as Minnesota took the
No. 3 match. The No. 1 doubles
team of seniors George Navas and
Mike Sroczynski couldn't put away
two match points, but came back
strongto take the tiebreaker.
The No. 2 pair of Jason Jung
and Evan King fell behind in their
match early 4-1, but came back
strong and take the lead 7-6. King
was broken serving for the match,
but the pair stayed strong, winning
in a tiebreak and giving the Wol-
verines the first point.
Singles got off to a strong start
as freshman Chris Cha won in
straight sets at No. 6. Navas kept
the momentum going winning 6-4,
7-5 at No. 4, displaying fiery emo-
tion in the hard-fought victory.
The impact of taking back the
Little Brown Jug after losing it for
the first time in years was not lost
on Berque.
"It's definitely a good thing,"
Berque said. "The Minnesota coach
suggested ita few years back, and I
thought it was a good idea. I didn't
like walking by our trophy case
and not seeing it in there. It's good
to have it for at least another year."
The victories this weekend put
the Wolverines in a good position
as they head into the meat of their
Big Ten schedule. Next weekend
they have another home double-
header against Northwestern and
Wisconsin.
"It's early," Berque said. "But I
know our guys are excited about
competing for the Big Ten title.
We're a long way away from win-
ning any kind of championship, but
right now we're 3-0. Next week-
end we have two really good teams
coming into town, and we'd like to
continue our good start. Our focus
is on nothing more than next week-
end."
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