. The Michigan Daily- michigandaily.com Monday, March 29, 2010 - 3B w 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 MCAT 105 hours live instruction 5 expert instructors 4,300 pages of material Satisfaction Guarantee! LSAT 84 Hour Hyperlearning 28 Hour Accelerated 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." CONGRATS! TIP: Give away your January 1th-March 27th old blankets, towels or rugs to a local animal U-M is in 2nd place in the shelter instead of putting them into a Big Ten for recycling rate! landfill! But we're in 92nd place overall... $0 COME ON, MICHIGAN! INCREASE YOUR RECYCLING! University of Michigan Waste Management Services www.recycle.umich.edu