: The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I January4, 2012
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Junior forward Chris Brown hoists junior forward Luke Moffatt in celebration after Michigan's overtime victory over Michigan State to claim its second consecutive Great Lakes Invitational championship at Joe Louis Arena on Friday.
By MATT SLOVIN in sudden-death overtime when
Daily Sports Editor a miscalculation or wrong guess
would've sent the MacInnes Cup
DE'hIT -=n a hockey game to Eastawing.Instead, it will
for the ages, there are bound to remain at Yost Ice Arena for the
be valiant efforts that get bur- fourth time in five years.
ied in a pile of game changers. There was senior defenseman
The Michigan hockey team's 3-2 Greg Pateryn's dominating per-
overtime thriller against Michi- formance from the point, rifling
gan State was no exception. shots in at Spartan netminder
There was fifth-year senior Drew Palmisano. For much of the
goaltender Shawn Hunwick and game, it appeared the Wolverines
his 23 saves, four of them coming would fall victim to a hot goalie,
as the Joe Louis Arena score-
board showed a goose egg for the
"visitors" until midway through
the final frame.
"Palmisano played great
tonight," said junior forward A.J.
Treais. "The game could've went
either way."
Pateryn also blocked four
shots at the other end, each one
from a more threatening position
on the ice than the last.
But one play won't soon be
forgotten by any of the 17,242
spectators who filled the arena
and grew louder by the minute,
realizing they were witnessing
something special.
Just over halfway through the
overtime period - and with the
way each goaltender rose to the
occasion, it looked like there may
be multiple - junior defenseman
Lee Moffie found himself inside
of the circle with the puck.
Palmisano's eyes fixated on
Moffie, the same focus he dis-
played throughout the tourna-
ment. But he was screened on
thefar post. Palmisano didn't see
sophomore defenseman Kevin
Clare sneaking toward the net.
Moffie did. The pass he sent goal-
ward allowed Clare to tap in the
winner with ease.
"Moffie made a great play,"
Clare said Friday. "Thank God
it got to me, because if that got
poked, it's an odd-man rush
down. Thankfully, he got the
puck to me and - open net."
In a span of just a few seconds,
Clare Lent frog unsung defense-
man to instant hero and tourna-
ment MVP, buried under a dog
pile of maize and blue bodies.
The game-winning goal was just
his second-career tally.
Michigan coach Red Beren-
son thought the up-tempo pace
in overtime with few stoppages
See CLARE, Page 3B
Burke's stellar performance
puts 'M' past Golden Gophers
Freshman forward Travis Lynch smiles after a goal in the championship game of the Great Lakes Invitational.
Playing Berenson's brand of
hockey at the Joe
TODD NEEDLE/Daily
Freshman guard Trey Burke's career-high 27 points lifted Michigan to its second conference victory.
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
DailySportsEditor
The Michigan men's basketball
team's first few minutes of the 2012
season went
much like MINNESOTA 56
the Mayans MICHIGAN 61
predicted
for the year - a catastrophe. But
Trey Burke made sure the game
didn't continue inthatdirection.
The freshman point guard
scored a career-high 27 points as
the Wolverines took down visiting
Minnesota, 61-56 Sunday after-
noon. Burke scored 16 of those
points in the second half, find-
ing success by penetrating on the
pick-and-roll against a slow Golden
Gopher defense.
"Everybody on our team is look-
ing for what is their best shot," said
Michigan coach JohnBeilein. "And
(Trey) tooksomegreatones, andhe
took the ball to the basket and fin-
ished very well. His explosion, off a
ball screen ... it's tough for anybody
to catch him."
But even Burke's best perfor-
mance yet couldn't stop Minnesota
(0-2 BigTen, 12-3 overall) fromgiv-
ing Michigan a scare in the final
minute.
Down59-56with 35seconds left,
Minnesota forward Rodney Wil-
liams put up a 3-pointer but found
iron. Michigan redshirt sophomore
center Jordan Morgan grabbed the
rebound and senior guard Zack
Novak made two free throws to ice
See BURKE, Page 3B
By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Editor
DETROIT- Michigan coach
Red Berenson said this year's
Great Lakes Invitational field
was possibly the deepest he
could remember, with the other
three teams coming in a com-
bined 31-21-3.
And his team needed to win
the tournament in order to even
begin thinking about a bigger
one.
Wins haven'tcome easysofar
this season for the Wolverines.
They've faced trials and tribula-
tions that have left even the most
optimistic of fans wondering
if that 21-year NCAA Tourna-
ment streak
might be in
jeopardy.
The
infamous
Upper
Peninsula
brawl in
the game
against MATT
Northern SLOVIN
Michigan
bruised
goaltender Shawn Hunwick and
company's egos en route to earn-
ing just one point in the team's
first CCHA series of the season.
Against Miami (Ohio), the
Wolverines had an equally hid-
eous weekend. When Michigan
needed its senior leaders the
most, they were conspicuously
absent, shelving the Wolverines
further down the conference
standings.
That weekend was followed
by a five-game losing streak that
took a trip to Alaska to snap.
And even there, the Wolver-
ines dropped the opener. It took
See SLOVIN, Page 3B
A