The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
March 25, 2013 - 3B
Senior defenseman Mac Bennett consoles freshman goalie Steve Racine after Michigan's 3-1 loss to the Fighting Irish on Sunday afternoon.
l Rke g
close against Notre Dame
'O' sputters
in Motor City
By GREG GARNO desperation set in. Yet even
DailySports Writer then, Michigan played exasper-
ated during the end of the third
DETROIT - Justminutes into period. The Wolverines played
the second period of Sunday's 3-1 without sophomore defenseman
loss to Notre Dame, the Michi- Mike Szuma for more than half
gan hockey team drove the puck of the third period, alternating
down the middle and into the five worn-down defensemen to
opposing zone. bring the puck up and skate back
Carrying a 1-0 lead but being in odd-man rushes.
heavily outshot, it needed some- When Michigan needed its
thing to preserve the game and a energy reserves the most, it was
berth into the NOTEBOOK left stalling. Even if it was in the
NCAA Tour- opposingzone.
nament. END OF AN ERA: Michigan's
Skating faster then anyone unprecedented run of 22 consec-
else, junior forward Luke Mof- utive appearances in the NCAA
fatt took a stab at the goal before Tournament came to a close on
being denied. But his speed and Sunday, but another streak ended
an opposing defenseman drove as well.
him into Fighting Irish goal- The CCHA concluded the final
tender Steven Summerhays, chapter of its 42-year history
prompting a whistle. Moffatt with the Fighting Irish's victory
was called for interference on the on Sunday. The 11 teams remain-
play, forcing the Wolverines to ing in the conference will leave
play without a man. for different conferences next
More importantly, it forced year. The Wolverines will leave
Michigan back into its own zone for the Big Ten Conference in
again when it needed shots the its first year, while Notre Dame
most. heads to the Hockey East Asso-
"Even though the game was ciation.
tied, they were right there, and The CCHA's first tournament
they were all over us," said Mich- was held in 1972 when Ohio State
igan coach Red Berenson. "They broughthomethe hardware after
didn't give us much, and we defeating Saint Louis. The tro-
didn't get much, and that is how phy was later named for former
the game went on." Michigan State, Bowling Green
Although time of possession and Lake Superior State coach
isn't measured, the Wolverines Ron Mason, who has won 13
found themselves skating in their championships. Michigan coach
own zone, trying to clear the Red Berenson, who coached
puck away from the net for much in the CCHA his entire career,
of the game. has been at the helm for all nine
Junior defenseman Jon Mer- Michigan Mason Cup victories.
rill and sophomore defenseman "I think it will take awhile
Brennan Serville struggled to before the smoke clears," Beren-
handle the puck near the net, son said. "The CCHA can be
givingup easy turnovers to Notre proud of all the team members
Dame's strong forechecking for- and all the championships. The
wards. great players they've produced
It didn't help the offense when and the great people they pro-
senior defenseman Lee Moffie duced as student-athletes and
took another penalty with Mof- not just NHL players.
fatt still in the bench. "It's been a great league. They
"It's tough to get off," Beren- have nothing to apologize for, it's
son said. "You're playing and just too bad it's over."
playing and playing and you can't MORE HARDWARE: Not all
change and they played tired." of the Wolverines went home
Looking fatigued and pan- empty handed.
icked, the Wolverines allowed With red faces and their shoul-
their first goal of the game ders slumped in defeat, three
minutes after Moffie's penalty freshmen represented Michigan
expired, unable to clear the puck on the CCHA All-Tournament
they poked away in their own team. Forward Andrew Copp,
zone. defenseman Jacob Trouba and
The offense never recuper- goaltender Steve Racine were all
ated in the second period, and honored for their performances
not until the third period when this weekend.
Freshman goalie
bails out the
defense, faces 33
shots on Sunday
By LIZ VUKELICH
Daily Sports Editor
DETROIT - When the clock
reached triple zeroes and the
reality of the Michigan hockey
team's 3-1 loss to Notre Dame in
the CCHA Championship game
finally started to sink in, senior
captain A.J. Treais went over to
freshman goalie Steve Racine.
He was the first teammate
that Treais saw, but Treais knew
that Racine would need a little
extra consolation after the game
- the goalie was carrying the
weight of the team's loss on his
shoulders.
Treais later said that Michi-
gan wouldn't have been in the
game if it weren't for Racine.
And though Racine is certainly
part of the reason for the Wol-
verines' appearance in the
CCHA finals, he was also the
reason why Michigan was able
to stay in the game.
The game was close until it
wasn't. Though the score was
knotted at one entering the final
period, the Wolverines were
outshot, out-chanced and out-
played for the remainder of the
game. The Fighting Irish's go-
ahead goal came less than 30
seconds into the final frame, and
the Wolverines couldn't gener-
ate enough offensive opportuni-
ties to match it.
But until that point, Michigan
managed to skate with Notre
Dame. And the team can thank
Racine for that.
Playing in what Michigan
coach Red Berenson called his
goalie's "best game of the sea-
son," Racine faced a total of 33
Notre Dame shots and came
up with the big saves during
the first two periods to stymie
an aggressive Fighting Irish
offense.
"(Racine) was sharp, good for
him," Berenson said. "We need-
ed that and any time a team out-
shoots you like that in the first
period, you've got to be ready
and he was ready."
The emergence of Racine as
Michigan's first choice behind
the crease for the last 10 games
has been unexpected to say the
least, considering his less-than-
ideal start for the Wolverines in
the first two months of the sea-
son in which he gave up an aver-
age of over three goals per game.
The Fighting Irish outshot
Michigan, 18-6, in the first
frame, a period which was
almost exclusively played in the
Wolverines' zone. Though the
defense took extra care to care-
fully clear the puck and limit
the number of turnovers in front
of the net, Racine was there to
catch the mistakes, including
corralling his own rebounds.
But if Racine was tested in
the first period by a constant
peppering of shots from Notre
Dame, then it became even more
evident in the second frame
when Michigan took three pen-
alties.
For the second consecutive
game, the Wolverines scored
shorthanded. Junior forward
Derek DeBlois tallied his third
shorthanded goal of the year,
tying him for second in the
country.
But perhaps more important
than the offensive chances gen-
erated by the penalty kill was the
way it stepped up defensively.
Berenson always says that a
team's best penalty killer is its
goalie, and though Racine made
the penalty kill's life easier by
coming up with the big saves,
the unit in turn tried to lessen
Racine's load by stepping up its
level of play.
"I think guys just getting
in front of shots and playing
desperate hockey," said senior
forward Kevin Lynch on the
penalty-kill unit's performance.
"We're just trying to get in
front of shots to take some of
the heat off Steve. If you block a
shot, sometimes you can catch a
break. We had a couple of those."
With a little more than a min-
ute left in the game and Michi-
gan down by one, Racine looked
to the bench. He saw the signal
and skated off the ice, so the
Wolverines could try and find an
equalizer with an extra attacker.
But as he was halfway
towards the bench, Notre Dame
gained possession of the puck
and skated into Michigan's zone.
Racine saw what was happening
and skated back to the crease for
dear life in a last-ditch effort to
try and stop the empty-net goal.
And Racine, who hadn't
missed a beat all game, was a few
paces too short.
'M' comes back twice to sweep home opener
By ERIN LENNON story of non-conference play, it
Daily Sports Writer was the offense that bailed out
the Michigan aces in the Big Ten
In a tie game with one out
and two runners on base in the
bottom of the seventh inning,
the choice was all but made
for Purdue pitcher Lily Fecho:
walk fresh- PURDUE 0
man short- MICHIGAN 9
stop Sierra
Romero. PURDUE 5
It was the MICHIGAN 13
fourth time -
had been PURDUE 7
walked in MICHIGAN 8
the second
of game of a doubleheader on Sat-
urday. In the previous two games
of the home opener, the freshman
went 7-for-7 with three home
runs - improving her slugging
percentage to .883 - before the
Boilermakers stopped pitching
to her. The move brought junior
first baseman Caitlin Blanchard
to the plate.
"It was about one-pitch focus,"
Blanchard said. "That's what I've
been working on. See ball, hit
ball."
Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins slotted Blanchard
in the cleanup role in place of
sophomore pitcher Sara Dries-
enga after the first game of the
doubleheader, placing Blanchard
behind Romero for the first time
this season.
A walk-off single up the mid-
dle from Blanchard ensured
Hutchins' decision was the right
one, as the Wolverines (3-0 Big
Ten, 24-7 overall) completed
their first season sweep.
Though pitching had been the
opener. And it was a performance
Hutchins was pleased to finally
see.
"I gave our offense a lot of
credit," Hutchins said. "I said
to them, 'I don't always like
your softball but I really like
this group' They just kept fight-
ing and chipping away, so I was
pleased that our offense picked
up our defense all around."
In the second game of the day,
Driesengawatchedtwoballs land
in the right-field bleachers to give
the Boilermakers a7-0 lead in the
top of the second inning. Even
though four of the runs were the
product of four Michigan errors,
Driesenga was relievedby sopho-
more pitcher Haley Wagner in
the third inning.
Through the first few innings,
only sophomore catcher Lauren
Sweet was able to connect for a
hit. Sweet drove a home run high
into the last row of the right-field
grandstand to put Michigan on
the board.
"I had seen she was throwing
first-pitch strikes so when I went
up there, I knew to be aggres-
sive," Sweet said. "Out of all of
my at-bats, I felt like that was the
one where I was ready to go."
Down 7-2 in the fifth inning,
the Wolverines threatened sev-
eral times with the bases loaded,
but were held to two runs off a
single from senior second base-
man Ashley Lane. She came
through again in her next at-
bat, driving a sixth-inning pitch
into the right-field grandstand
to plate Blanchard and Romero,
PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Freshman shortstop Sierra Romero went 7-for-7 on the weekend before getting intentionally walked in her last four plate appearances.
tying the game at seven.
"(Offense) is a huge thing for
us this year," Sweet said. "We
have offense and defense. It was
great to see that fight today."
Added Hutchins: "It's been the
theme of our season, everybody
contributing. Blanchard and oth-
ers stepped up big today. Caitlin
has been working hard this, she's
been trying to get her swing big-
ger, and I was really excited for
her."
Despite an early 5-0 hole, the
Wolverines paired a six-run fifth
inning with four runs in the sixth
to secure the 13-5 mercy rule
victory. Though Wagner would
make an early exit of her own in
the fifth inning - with Driesenga
coming on in relief - the offense
had an answer for Purdue in the
bottom of the inning.
Freshman left fielder Sierra
Lawrence was the spark in the
fourth inning, splitting the out-
fielders for a two-out, two-run
double. She finished the com-
back with an RBI single to force
the mercy-rule walk-off in six
innings. In the inning, Romero
contributed her third home run
of the weekend - her 11th of the
season - to dead center field in
the fifth.
The story was much simpler
on Friday afternoon, and much
more chocolatey, as the Wol-
verines needed just five innings
and eight runs to shut out the
Boilermakers. In keeping with
her tradition of M&M giveaways
to home run hitters, Hutchins
had to give away three packs of
M&Ms to home-run hitting play-
ers as they rounded third base.
Romero had her second multi-
home run game while Blanchard
hit her first homer since April 2,
201L
"You could see the kids were
excited to be out there today,"
Hutchins said. "I think being at
home, especially the kids who've
been in the program, realize how
special it is to play at Alumni
Field. And we're contagious.
Sierragave us some energy with
that big swing in the first inning,
and they all caught it."
An offense that has relied pri-
marily on Romero will have to
catch fire on its own moving for-
ward in Big Ten play. For at least
this weekend at Alumni Field,
contagion contributed to the
Wolverines' 29 runs and seven
home runs in 18 innings.