2B - March 28, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

SPORTSM:

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Madness in March offers solace in the underdog

WI7th graduation quick-
ly approaching, there
have been a whole lot
of times (daily almost) where
I've sat down and wondered
to myself
whether
sports writ-
ing is a good
profession
- or the right
profession, I
guess - for
me to embark RYAN
on for the rest KARTJE
of my life.
I know my
cold feet aren't anything new
for Michigan seniors all over
campus in my same position. I'm
sure you could find a handful of
quarter-life crises going on in
the UGLi about the very same
thing.
And I know - better than
most, I'd say - how an unpaid
summer internship doesn't real-
ly do much to soothe the soul.
For those of us who don't have
the most conventional job pros-
pects, there's even less solace.
I couldn't get this same
thought out of my head after
leaving Crisler Arena on Selec-
tion Sunday - likely my last on-
site reporting for The Michigan
Daily. Was there really hope for
me to do this for the rest of my

life? After all, I had been told,
as I'm sure many of you have,
that I should give up the dream
on my profession sooner rather
than later. My hope was waning
pretty fast.
SoI got home and turned on
my DVR'ed Selection Sunday
special. March had always been
my favorite month for sports -
there's no arguing March Mad-
ness is the greatest event in all
of sports - so I knew I could
find some comfort in combating
my employment sorrows with
bracket projections.
But the analysts, well-
schooled in bracketology,
couldn't offer me much hope.
Most of them took nothing but
chalk all the way to the Final
Four. "This is the year for No..
1's," Joe Lunardi, the ultimate
bracketologist, said.
For someone looking for hope
and searching for Cinderella,
Kansas, Duke, Ohio State and
Pittsburgh don't really spurn
much faith in a successful
underdog story.
And that's what we all tend
to feel like this time of year, on
the eve of great change. We're
all underdogs, in a way. There's
a reason why the nation got
behind George Mason when it
went on its Cinderella run in
2006. We all saw a little bit of

ourselves in the Patriots.
So I rebelled against the
chalk. I found my underdogs and
I stuck with them. Richmond
(yes!), Belmont (whoops), Gon-
zaga (eh).
And sure, I may have been a
little off on those choices. But if
there's something I've learned
in filling out my bracket for
a decade, it's that you should
always expect Madness when it
comes to March.
As I write this column, the
Virginia Commonwealth Rams,
an 11th seed that shouldn't have
been in the Tournament anyway,
just made the Final Four. They'll
take on Butler, the preeminent
Tourney underdog, in what
should be one of the most sto-
rybook Final Four matchups in
recent memory.
How can you not believe in
the magic of March when every
one of those guaranteed No. 1
seeds are out of the Tourna-
ment?
And if March Madness
doesn't offer enough solace for
you, take the Michigan hockey
team as an example.
Notorious chokers in the last
10 or so postseasons, Michigan
had already gone through its run
as a Cinderella last year, when
the Wolverines rode a pint-size
goalie to alate-season hot streak

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Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart and his team have epitomized the underdog this March.

and a regional final berth.
This year, the pint-size goalie
thing wasn't as cute and the
Wolverines had serious expec-
tations. Then, they lost two of
their best scorers for extended
periods - Louie Caporusso and
David Wohlberg (who's out for
the rest of the season).
But as time winded down on
Saturday, Michigan was heading
to the Frozen Four. They had

overcome the odds and lived
up to the expectations. Now,
in two weeks, they'll try to do
something that no major sport
has done here in a while - bring
home a national championship
and vindicate the last four years
of underachieving sports teams.
So as VCU cut down the
nets and as Michigan sprinted
toward center ice, I realized
there wasn't much more inspira-

tion than this to an about-to-be-
graduated-with-no-career-plans
student. Crazy, crazy things can
and do happen against the odds
all the time.
And maybe, just maybe, we've
all got a little bit of VCU in us
this time of year. At least my
bank account hopes so.
-Kartje can be reached
at rkartje@umich.edu


ST. LOUIS
From Page 1B
On the other end of the ice,
senior goaltender Shawn Hun-
wick understood how vital the
first goal was. The Wolverines
have a 21-1-3 record when tally-
ing the first goal of the game.
"If they scored early tonight,
the momentum is going their
way and it's a totally different
game then," Hunwick said. "I
knew we would throw every-
thing at them, and I just had to
play my game."
In the closing minutes of the
period, Michigan fought off a
5-on-3 and was awarded its own
two-man advantage. And sopho-
more defenseman Lee Moffie
blasted a bouncing puck past
Howe from the right circle to
extend the lead to 2-0.
Colorado College - who
rebounded from a similar early
deficit against the Eagles on Fri-
day - was on its heels for good.
"We didn't have quite the
same jump as (Friday), we were
a little bit tired in some areas,"
Colorado College coach Scott
Owens said. "Part of that had to
do with Michigan - they're big,
they're strong, they're old and
they skate well."
Entering the first intermis-
sion backed by a pair of what
Berenson called "opportunistic
goals," the Wolverines turned
up their intensity - a trip to the
Frozen Four was just 40 minutes
away.
The depleted defensive corps
- with junior defenseman Bran-
don Burlon absent due to an
inflamed esophagus - took con-
trol. Hunwick faced just seven
shots in each of the first two
periods and a total of 22.
Meanwhile, the Michigan
offense didn't slow down, pelt-
ing Howe with 43 shots - 20 of
which came in the second period
alone.
"There were probably 30
minutes there in the middle

HUNWICK
From Page 1B
urday night at the Scottrade Cen-
ter.
"I think they did have a few
pretty good shots early on,"
Hunwick said. "But this is an
opportunity to play for the Fro-
zen Four. I think I made a couple
good saves. It's prettyeasy to stay
in the game when you're playing
to go to the Frozen Four. They
didn't really get anything going
too much until they got into the
power play. Once they got into
the power play, I really had to be
sharp."
From surrendering a 3-2 dou-
ble-overtime loss to Miami-Ohio
in last year's NCAA Tournament
NOTEBOOK
From Page 1B
your team."
Michigan lost to Notre Dame
5-4 in overtime when the class
of 2011 was freshmen. This sea-
son, S-T (or S-A-I-N-T) spells
business for the seniors.
"I think we're coming to do a
job now," Langlais said.
THE MOFFIE MAN: Lee Mof-
fie loves the limelight.
After the No. 2 seed Michi-
gan's victory over No. 4 seed
Colorado College on Saturday,
Michigan coach Red Berenson
made a comment about Shawn
Hunwick being a leader. Moffie
sheepishly shook his head - to
the delight of the press corps.
But Moffie has been earning
the limelight all season. Late in
the first period, with the Wol-
verines on the power play, Mof-
fie let go of a slap shot that found
its way through everybody and
beat Tiger goalie Joe Howe on
the stick side.
"I had a pretty good scoring
chance, but there was a guy in
front of me," Moffie said. "It
went off his shin pads, the puck

regional final to coming out on
top in St. Louis, Hunwick has
consistently exceeded expecta-
tions alongthe way.
En route to Michigan's 24th
Frozen Four appearance, Hun-
wick notched 21 victories this
season - and has the opportu-
nity to snag two more in St. Paul
in two weeks.
He holds a 9-3 record in one-
goal games this season, includ-
ing Saturday's game against the
Tigers.
Hunwick wasvoted the CCHA
Best Goaltender prior to the con-
ference tournament and Most
Outstanding Player on the NCAA
West Regional All-Tournament
team on Saturday.
"It's just great to see guys like
that stepping up," senior forward
was sort of scrambling around.
I think I got sort of lucky. I
wasn't even sure at first that it
went in."
It was Moffie's eighth goal of
the season, and it put him ahead
of freshman defenseman Jon
Merrill to lead the team. A.year
removed from struggling to find
a spot in the lineup because of
his defensive play, Moffie has
found a spot on the blue line.
And his offense has kept him
there.
"We're all working (on
defense)," senior defenseman
Chad Langlais said. "You have
to be able to play defense on this
team to be trusted and be in the
lineup every night. I think that's
his biggest thing he's working
on.
"The goals are going to come.
He's got one of the best shots
I've ever seen."
KILL ZONE: With a man dis-
advantage, Michigan didn't just
kill penalties. It mutilated them.
The unit faced it all: a kill
while being down 2-0, where a
goal turns the momentum for
good, a penalty in. overtime, a
five-on-three. It didn't flinch en
route to killing 12-of-13 oppor-

Carl Hagelin said. "He's a great
guy, he's fun to be around. He's
worked hard for this. Freshman
year he stayed out on the ice
every day so all the other guys
could shoot, same with sopho-
more year.
Then, he got the chance junior
year to prove himself, and he
did. Since the Big Chill, he's been
playing really good for us."
Hunwick showed poise after
No. 14 Nebraska-Omaha scored
two unanswered goals inthe first
game of the NCAA Tournament
on Friday.
He played with confidence
after his team rebounded to
score two earlygoals on Saturday
against the Tigers.
And ifhe was "old" in St. Louis,
he'll be even wiser in St. Paul.
tunities on the weekend. The
only goal came against Colorado
College, the eighth best power
play in the country, on the last
opportunity of the weekend.
Michigan's biggest kill came
with five minutes remaining in
the first period. Hanging on to
a two-goal lead, the unit faced a
five-on-three against the Tigers,
who converted on four of the
five power plays back in Decem-
ber against Michigan and three
of four against Boston College
a day earlier. It was killed. The
Wolverine penalty kill averaged
under two shots against for the
whole regional.
"I talked to coach (Billy)
Powers and he looked at video
and did a good job preparing
our penalty killers," Berenson
said. "When they did get shots,
(senior goalie) Shawn (Hun-
wick) was there. As much as we
survived it, I thought we did a
much better job on the PK."
NOTE: Sophomore forward
Kevin Lynch, Moffie, junior
defenseman Greg Pateryn and
Hunwick were named to the
All-Regional Team, with Hun-
wick garnering Most Outstand-
ing Player honors.

Sophomore forward Kevin Lynch kept Michigan's season alive with an overtime
goal against No. 3 seed Nebraska-Omaha on Friday.

there that we couldn't get much
going," Owens said. "Michigan
was very sound defensively - I
can see why they've won 10 of
their last 11 or now, 11 of their
past 12 games."
In a penalty-filled game,
Michigan depended heavily on
its penalty-kill unit, which fin-
ished with only one dint in its
armor - a Tigers' goal from for-
ward Rylan Schwartz in the final
five minutes of the game.
In the race for a title, Michi-
gan's early breakaway speed
proved too much for the Tigers'
comeback hopes, sending the

Wolverines back to the Fro-
zen Four for the first time since
2008.
The buzzer sounded with
Colorado College swarming
around the net in one last des-
perate dash, effectively ending
the Tigers chase of a national
championship.
The Wolverines will travel
back to Ann Arbor and await the
outcome of the Midwest Region-
al final between No. 1 seed North
Dakota and No. 2 seed Denver.
Michigan will have a Frozen
Four date with the winner in St.
Paul, Minn. on April 7.

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