4B - March 21, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Hunwick epitomizes Blue's play at the Joe Sophomore forward A.J. Treais skates with the puck in Friday's semifinal contest against Western Michigan.KIRKLAND/Daily Michigan's loss in the CCHA seminfinals doesn't mean much By STEPHEN J. NESBITT DailySports Writer DETROIT - As the top seed in the CCHA Tournament, senior forward Louie Caporusso real- ized that the No. 5 Michigan hockey team had WMU 5 a target on MICHIGAN 2 its back. "When NOTRE DAME 2 you come MICHIGAN 4 in as a one seed, everyone wants to take you down," Caporusso said. "We were that team last year, coming in as a seven seed. You've gotthat desperation in your game." But the Wolverines were their own worst enemy, turning in a Jekyl and Hyde performance at Joe Louis Arena - getting thrashed 5-2 by fourth-seeded Western Michigan in the semi- finals, and toppling No. 2 seed Notre Dame 4-2 in the consola- tion game. On Friday, the Broncos easily pierced the Michigan target. Western Michigan forward Mike Leone started the speedy demolition of the Wolver- ines with a tip-in goal midway through the first period. The goal came on a 5-on-3 advantage, after a pair of penalties taken by Michigan freshmen - forward Derek DeBlois and defenseman Jon Merrill. And the steady stream to the penalty box didn't stop there, as Western Michigan tallied two more power-play goals in the second period to take a choke- hold on the game. After Bronco forward Matt Tennyson picked up a rebound to the left of Michigan senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick and flicked it past the goalie from his knees to push the lead to 3-0, Hunwick - Michigan's steadiest performer for the last six months - crumbled. The goaltendernjoined a scrum behind the net, shoving a West- ern Michigan player before being pulled away by the referee. "I think he overreacted, he got too emotionally involved in the game," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He's disappoint- ed, he's proud, he's a warrior, and it didn't help his game tonight." Helped by a pair of turnovers at the Michigan blue line - the first from sophomore forward Lindsay Sparks, then senior for- ward Ben Winnett - the Broncos slipped two more past a frustrat- ed Hunwick. In the second intermission, trailing 5-1, Berenson gave the nod to senior goaltender Bryan Hogan to take the net. "I've been in that same locker room in this same building down 5-1 in the third period and won the game," Berenson said. "So you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes a goalie change will wake everybody up, but it didn't." Standing at the end of the bench during the final 20 min- utes of the loss, Hunwick was in the opposite position that he was a year earlier. He led the Wolver- ines to a CCHA Tournament title in 2010 in emergency relief of an injured Hogan, but now he was the story of the weekend for all the wrong reasons. The Wolverines poured on 13 shots in the third period, but could only muster a single goal - a redirection goal from Sparks. "We were embarrassed," Caporusso said. "You never want to lose like that at the Joe." With the loss, Michigan was slated to face No. 8-ranked Notre Dame, who was routed by No. 6 Miami (Ohio) in its semifinal. Both of the tournament's top seeds were limping into their consolation matchup. "There's not a coach in the league that likes the third-place game," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said Friday. "We've tried to vote it out a hundred times. But the bottom line is that it'll be an important game for us or whoever." But Hunwick wanted to be there. And he showed it. "You give up five goals, get pulled after the second, you should be pretty motivated to come back the next day," Hun- wick said. "Last night I lost my composure a little bit, I was frus- trated at how things were going. I wasn't really mad at anybody but myself, and I probably took it out in the worst way possible. That's the good thing about@ hockey, you've got another game the next day." Hunwick pitched a near-flaw- less game against the Fighting Irish on Saturday, carrying the Wolverines with a career-high 42 saves in regulation. But for the second-straight night, Michigan fell down early, when Hunwick's clearing attempt hit the referee's hel- met and dropped right to Notre Dame forward Riley Sheahan in the slot. The Wolverines charged back with a pair of goals 15 seconds apart from Caporusso and senior forward Carl Hagelin to take a 2-1 lead, which proved sufficient until the final two minutes of the game. Five mintues into the third period, sophomore forward Jeff Rohrkemper snuck in a rebound to extend the Michigan lead, but it was Hunwick who saved the day with a brilliantglove save less than a minute later. The Wolver- ines depended on that save, since Notre Dame pulled to within one with an extra-attacker goal with 1:22 remaining in the game. In the end, Friday's goat was Saturday's hero. And as the Wolverines prepare to face Nebraska-Omaha next weekend in the NCAA regionals, they will depend on Hunwick to shine in the shadow of the Gate- way Arch in St. Louis. "With a solid goaltender like Shawn Hunwick, there's no tell- ing what we could do," Capo- russo said at the postgame press conference Saturday. "This game right here, we owe it all to him. Some of the saves he made were unbelievable. We have a confi- dent goaltender, and we're confi- dent in our goalie - he's got to be our best player." DETROIT - Yes, the Michigan hockey team was beaten, man- handled, throttled and was on the receiving end of, as they say (the omni- present but P never defined 'they'), an old-fashioned butt whoop- ing. Yes, the fourth- MICHAEL ranked Wol- verines lost FLOREK to Western Michigan 5-2. Yes, it cost them a No. 1 seed and doesn't sound so good when you tell your roommates. It doesn't matter. This isn't last year, when Michigan headed into the CCHA semifinals as a No. 7 seed and needed to win the CCHA Tour- nament to earn an NCAA bid. This year, the Wolverines were the top seed and had locked up an NCAA Tournament bid when they swept Northern Michigan on the final weekend of the regular season to win the CCHA regular season title. Of course they wanted to win the Tourna- ment as well, but they didn't need it. "I think overall in the game we didn't show enough despera- tion to win the game," senior forward Carl Hagelin said. But what desperation was there for the Wolverines? They have now won two of the last five CCHA Tournament titles and will goto the NCAA Tour- nament for the 21st straight year. You just need to be in, seeding doesn't matter that much. To win the whole thing you'll have to beat everybody anyway. You can try to manufacture urgency, but it's not the same as the real thing. The Broncos had despera- tion. They needed to win the semifinal game to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. After finishing last in the conference a year ago and finishing fourth this year, well behind the top three, West- ern Michigan had to prove they belonged with the bigboys. They needed to win. Even Miami had it. Out of all its senior class accomplished - back-to-back Frozen Four appearances, being less than a minute away from a National Championship in 2008 - the program's first CCHA Tourna- ment Title was the only thing left off their resumes. And after getting handled by Michigan last year, the RedHawks' biggest rival (I know it isn't the other way around) added a Hummer- sized tank of gasoline to the fire. Let's flashback to last year, though. Michigan destroys top- seeded Miami 5-2 in the CCHA Tournament semifinals. The jug- gernaut goes down, the invin- cible becomes, well, the vincible. And the RedHawks realize it's a good thing. "This will refocus us, get us focused on the national tourna- ment now," then-Miami forward Tommy Wingels said. And then they tore through their first-round game and head- ed into a slugfest for the regional final. Miami won the regional in double overtime, and its season ended in the Frozen Four. Sunday, after hearing their name announced as a No. 2 seed, the Wolverines were singing the same tune. "You never want to lose like that in the CCHA playoffs, but I think after the weekend, when you look back at it, it was a good thing for us," senior forward Matt Rust said. The team isn't too concerned with the CCHA Tournament, and you shouldn't be either. If the Wolverines make it to the Frozen Four, no one will remem- ber the CCHA Tournament. If Michigan gets ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the first round, you may want to come back and point to the Western Michigan game as the beginning of the end. But Berenson admitted that during the CCHA semifinals, his team "didn't play Michigan hockey." In some of the biggest games of their young lives, the Wolver- ines will play "Michigan hock- ey" in the NCAA Tournament. It's win or go home for good this time. And this team has seven players fighting to keep wearing the Michigan sweater, the most since 2007. Michigan will have desperation. If the Wolverines lose, it will because they got beat when they were playing well. It won't be because they didn't play Michi- gan hockey or didn't have any desperation. So take almost nothing away from that Western Michigan game. You probably prefer it that way, anyway. - Florek can be reached at fiorekmi@umich.edu 0 ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick was inconsistent this weekend at the CCHA Tournament in Detroit. Michigan earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face Nebraska-Omaha in the opening round on Friday. As No. 2 seed in the West, 'M' draws Nebraska-Omaha in NCAA's* By CAKSANDRA PAGNI DailySports Writer DETROIT - After the No. 5 Michigan hockey team's lack- luster third-place finish in the CCHA Tour- nament this NOTEBOOK past weekend, an NCAA Tournament regional draw in St. Louis is just the M.O. this team needs. "You always want to win, but maybe we needed that loss (on Friday)," senior forward Carl Hagelin said. "We were on a great winning streak there, but it's tough to keep that going for very long. Maybe we needed that loss to regroup and come out fly- ingthis weekend." On Sunday, the Wolverines were assigned the second seed in the Western bracket, along with first-seed Boston College, third-seed Nebraska-Omaha and fourth-seed Colorado Col- lege. Michigan has already faced Nebraska-Omaha and Colorado College this season, splitting a two-game series with the Mav- ericks in October and defeating the Tigers to win the Great Lakes Invitational in December. The Wolverines are set to take on the Nebraska-Omaha at 5:30 p.m. ET at the Scottrade Center this upcoming Friday. "I have a little bit of history (in St. Louis) as a pro, but really college hockey isn't as prominent in St. Louis," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We've got to go there and play well against Nebraska. Nebraska is a tough team, we saw that earlier in the year. It will be good hockey. "And if you're good enough, you get to play the winner of the next game. Boston College is the number one seed in that brack- et, someone is going to have to knock them off. It's like Michi- gan basketball, we're in the Duke bracket." D-MEN IN DETROIT: With junior defenseman Brandon Bur- lon out of the CCHA Tournament games due to illness, Berenson had to alter the look of his usual defensive template. Burlon missed both games at Joe Louis Arena, staying in Ann Arbor over the weekend. He was even too ill to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show with the team at Yost Ice Arena on Sunday morning. The junior played in every game this season for the Wol- verines prior to this weekend, scoring five goals and tallying 13 assists along the way. To fill the gap, Berenson put freshman Kevin Clare with junior Greg Pateryn, while soph- omore Lee Moffie and freshman Mac Bennett made up the last defensive pair. Moffie - whose seventh goal of the season was Michigan's first tally on Friday against the weekend, but I like the way they Broncos - and Bennett have not recovered defensively," Beren- played together this season, as son said. "Mac carried the puck Moffie and Burlon have spent well, Moffie's got a good shot. much of the season as a pair. But They're doing well in their own after ending the weekend with zone. We played three freshmen two points, Berenson liked the 'D' (in Jon Merrill, Clare, and look of the new combination. Bennett) all weekend, and for the most part, we played pretty well." ROHRKEMPER GETS READY: "I slike Already depleted at forward, as junior forward David Wohlberg (basketball), suffered a season-ending collar- bone injury two weekends ago we're in the against Bowling Green, the Wol- verines have been trying differ- Duke bracket. ent combinations on the bottom two lines to find an offensive spark. Freshman forward Derek Both are offensive-minded DeBlois got the start on Friday defensemen but played well night against Western Michi- down low to help protect senior gan, while sophomore forward netminder Shawn Hunwick. Jeff Rohrkemper recieved the "Moffie and Bennett have nod on Saturday against Bowl- never played together until this ing Green. Rohrkemper, who has played in just nine games this season, scored his second goal of the sea- son on Saturday in the third peri- od to put Michigan up 3-1 on the Fighting Irish. The sophomore's first goal of the season also came at Joe Louis Arena, in the Wol- verines' 4-2 win over Michigan Tech during the Great Lakes Invitational. "You don't know someone's going to score a goal (when you put them in the lineup)," Beren- son said. "Jeff Rohrkemper has only played in (a few) all year but he's played okay when he's played. (I) thought we needed to make a change and I needed a left-handed shot and so on, the way we put our lines together. He played a big role in the game tonight with Kevin Lynch and Scooter Vaughan. They had a good game. They had maybe a lucky goal, but an important goal."