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The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2007
Icers fall
to Sioux
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Writer
March 26, 2007 - DENVER- It had the look
of a pick-up street-hockey game played with-
out goalies.
By the end of the first period, one of every
three shots had resulted in a goal. By the end
of the game, that number had fallen to a still
astronomical one goal in just less than every
five shots.
But somehow, Michigan, the nation's high-
est-scoring team, lost the type of game that
usually suits it so well, falling to North Dakota
in the NCAA West Regional semifinals, 8-5.
"This time of year you're not going to win
games givingup five and six goals," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said.
Unless you're North Dakota, apparently.
It was the second consecutive year the Wol-
verines' season has concluded with a tourna-
ment loss to the Fighting Sioux. The eight
goals were the most Michigan had allowed in
an NCAA Tournament game since an 8-1 loss
at Boston University in 199t.
Michigan's penalty kill, which excelled at
the CCHA Championships, proved to be its
downfall. North Dakota scored on five of its
eight power-play chances and made it look
easy along the way.
The Fighting Sioux's five extra-man tallies
came in less than two minutes combined.
It was the most power-play goals Michi-
gan (18-9-1 CCHA, 26-13-1 overall) has
allowed since it gave up five to Minnesota
on Nov. 25, 2005.
"Halfway through (the first) period, we
Senior T.J. Hensick talks to reporters following the Wolverines' second-straight season-ending loss to North Dakota.
started taking penalties," Michigan senior
captain Matt Hunwick said. "The momen-
tum swung a little bit. It was tough for us to
get going again once they got those power-
play goals."
But if the game had just been the first min-
ute of each period, the penalties wouldn't
have made a difference.
The Wolverines scored two goals in the
first minute of both the first and second
periods, jumping out to 2-0 and 5-4 leads,
respectively.
When asked after the game about the early
scoring barrage, sophomore Andrew Cogli-
ano said he'd never seen anything like it in a
college game before
"It was obviously a high-scoring game,"
Cogliano said. "When you have guys like
T.J. Hensick scoring goals at the begin-
ning of periods, as a team you've got to rally
around that."
But the Wolverines didn't rally, and the
final 19 minutes of each period hit them hard.
North Dakota (13-10-5 WCHA, 22-13-5)
scored three unanswered goals to end the first
and second periods, securing a 4-3 lead at the
first intermission and a 7-5 lead after two.
The Fighting Sioux's seventh goal was the
most unsettling.
On the power play, North Dakota's T.J.
Oshie corralled a rebound just behind the goal
line and facing the end boards. From a nega-
tive angle and without even looking, Oshie
threw the puck toward Michigan goalie Billy
Sauer, who didn't react and allowed the puck
to bank in off his pads.
"The puck was going in," Berenson said.
"Billy Sauer couldn't see it or couldn't find it
or was too far back to make a save. It was a
goalie's nightmare."
Perhaps it was the altitude or maybe it was
North Dakota's neutral-zone trap, but there
was no doubt by the third period that the
game's manic pace had taken its toll Michigan.
The Wolverines looked tired and frustrated.
Nothing proved this more than Hensick's
10-minute misconduct with just more than 12
minutes remaining.
The penalty forced the senior, who had
already scored two goals, to watch all but the
final two minutes of his final game from the
penalty box. It also robbed him of a chance at
being the first Wolverine to score 70 points in
a season since Brendan Morrison had 88 in
the 1996-97 campaign.
More importantly, the loss deprived Mich-
igan's senior class of its last chance to go the
Frozen Four, making it the first group since
the class of 1991 to never make a trip to the
national semifinals.
"It's a sad statement that this team wasn't
better or didn't prove they were better,"
Berenson said. "(The seniors) played on teams
that were contending teams that went to the
tournament, (and) didn't do as well as they'd
hoped. And that's too bad."
Blue tops State, extends winning streak
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Writer
Nov. 22, 2006 - In the final min-
ute of the game, as Michigan played
two men down, the noise from the
near-capacity Yost Ice Arena crowd
crescendoed to match the intensity
of the closing moments.
With the help of its maize-clad
fans, No. 7 Michigan held onto its
2-1 advantage to beat No. 6 Michi-
gan State last night for its sixth con-
secutive win. It was the Wolverines
second straight victory over their
intrastate rival. Michigan had been
winless in its previous nine matches
with the Spartans.
After surrendering the game's
opening goal, the Wolverines
responded with two power-play tal-
lies to surge ahead for the victory.
Senior T.J. Hensick's goal at the
6:28 mark of the third period proved
to be the game-winner.
Hensick received a Kevin Por-
ter pass in the slot, and the senior
made the spectacular look casual as
he drifted in on Spartan goalie Jeff
Lerg and lifted the puck over Lerg's
glove hand.
"You can't coach that - but you
can recruit it," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said.
Michigan (7-2-0 CCHA, 10-3-
0 overall) clung to the lead under
heavy Spartan pressure in the game's
final five minutes. With less than
two minutes remaining, defenseman
Jason Dest took an interference pen-
alty, and Michigan State (4-4-1, 6-4-
1) pulled its goalie to mount a 6-on-4
advantage for the final 78 seconds.
Concluding a strong all-around
game, Michigan goalie Billy Sauer
stood his ground and sealed the win,
stopping every shot the Spartans
fired at him.
With the puck cleared out of the
zone for the final time, Sauer skated
toward Michigan's bench with his
glove hand held high, meeting his
teammates at the blue line when the
final horn sounded.
The moment was a culmination of
the sophomore's impressive month.
"I'm feeling great, and I think the
team in front of me is feeling really
good," Sauer said.
The six-game winning streak is
Sauer's career best and the longest
for the Wolverines since they won 12
straight during the 2004-05 season.
BEN SIMON/Daily
Senior T.J. Hensick scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the third
period of Michigan's 2-1 win over Michigan State..