2B — March 16, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN

That feeling of heartbreak

S

omewhere in the locker 
room of Yost Ice Arena, 
where that feeling of 

heartbreak 
hurts the 
most, is a list 
of goals for 
the Michigan 
hockey team.

They’re 

the same 
goals that 
have likely 
been posted 
in that same 
room all 
season: “Protect Yost, win the 
weekend, win the GLI, win the 
Big Ten.”

Saturday night, they had the 

opportunity to accomplish all of 
them.

The Wolverines were at home, 

having won the Great Lakes 
Invitational in December, with a 
chance to sweep Michigan State 
for the Big Ten regular-season 
title. And maybe, in the process, 
silence the criticism that has 
followed them this season.

They faced the pressure that 

comes when an entire season 
comes down to one game, the 
type of pressure you would 
feel sitting on a 17 in blackjack. 
Except, if they lost this hand, 
they would lose everything 
they worked so hard to avoid 
repeating.

They were risking that feeling 

of heartbreak.

* * *

T

wo years ago, when 
Michigan fell apart 
in the regular season 

behind a lackluster defense and 
lack of energy, it fought back into 
the CCHA playoffs for a chance 
to salvage the season. There was 
no chance at an at-large bid into 
the NCAA Tournament. If the 
Wolverines wanted to make it, 
they’d have to win out.

Sitting near the bottom of the 

conference, team after team fell 
to the Wolverines, even the ones 
that had defeated them earlier 
in the season, all the way to the 
conference final. They clawed 
back, but only to fall short in the 
final period.

They cried, then fell silent and 

vowed to never let that feeling 
happen again.

Last year, having started the 

season so well, Michigan fell 
apart at the end of the season, 
when it needed one win in the 
Big Ten Tournament to secure 
its fate in the postseason. The 
Wolverines had just defeated No. 
1 Minnesota the weekend before, 
giving their postseason hopes 
new life.

And for 96 minutes, they 

fought and held on against 

Penn State in the first round of 
the Big Ten Tournament. They 
stopped shot after shot and 
came inches — literally inches 
— away from doing so, only to 
feel that pain 
again. They 
had done 
everything 
they could, but 
they were left 
helpless once 
more.

They cried 

again, said 
even fewer 
words than the last time, and 
once more, they vowed to never 
experience that heartbreak 
again.

* * *

W

hen the final 
horn sounded 
Saturday, they were 

heartbroken once more.

Junior forward Andrew Copp 

bent over with 
his stick on his 
knees, gliding 
from one end 
of the ice to 
the other. 
Michigan 
coach Red 
Berenson and 
the rest of 
the coaching 

staff shuffled off the ice without 
shaking any of the players’ 
hands.

Senior forwards Zach Hyman 

and Travis Lynch skated out to 
the ice to be honored on Senior 

Night, but with forced smiles. 
They hugged teammates, waved 
to the crowd and kissed the ice — 
only out of tradition. They were 
still hurting.

For 60 minutes, the 

Wolverines played perhaps 
some of their best hockey of the 
season. Maybe they could have 
passed the puck more sharply 
or cleared the puck quicker. But 
they attacked the net, held onto 
the puck and didn’t stay in the 
penalty box.

But when Michigan thought 

it had a chance, the Spartans 
were there with bodies flying 
everywhere. Michigan State 
goaltender Jake Hildebrand, 
who has had a quiet season, 
played perhaps his best game, 
as if to personally say, You shall 

not pass.

“I told them they did 

everything they could to 
make it happen,” Berenson 
said. “We had the chance, the 
opportunity.”

There are periods of silence 

when Berenson speaks, not 
because he doesn’t know what to 
say but because it hurts to say it. 
He looks down and around and 
then finally, he says, “It is what 
it is.”

And right now, it’s heartbreak. 

It’s the feeling they have after 
playing one of their best games 
and still losing.

* * *

N

ow, as the Big Ten 
Tournament looms, the 
Wolverines’ past follows 

them once again. They arrive 
at the conference tournament 
needing to win it all to make it to 
the NCAA Tournament.

They vowed to end this 

feeling, never to go back to that 
feeling of heartbreak. It’s a vow 
they’re sick of making, but it’s 
one they’re going to have to 
make once again.

This feeling, whether they 

like it or not, is on them. Next 
weekend, it’s a chance, as 
Berenson puts it, “to salvage our 
so-called status.” It’s time to see 
whether this team is ready to 
break its streak.

Whether they won or not, 

they weren’t headed to the 
NCAA Tournament if they won 
Saturday night. And it won’t 
matter how far they go in the 
tournament, so long as they 
make it.

After 22 years of making the 

postseason followed by two 
consecutive years of missing it, 
the heartbreak has become all 
too familiar.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Garno can reached at ggarno@

umich.edu or on Twitter @G_Garno.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

The Michigan hockey team has put itself into a now-familiar position: It must win the Big Ten Tournament this weekend to make the NCAA Tournament.

GREG
GARNO

“We had the 
chance, the 
opportunity.”

passion, intensity, and joy.

But the two have been apart 

for nearly three years now, and 
after dropping to its worst start 
to the season in 28 years, Michi-
gan has made another desperate 
attempt to win itself a date with 
the postseason.

No one feels that desperation 

quite like the seniors. They’re 
the only ones who know what 
it’s like to play in the tourna-
ment, making the sudden break-
up all the more painful.

As the game wore on and 

another 
disappointing 
loss 

became more of a reality by the 
second, that desperation could 
be seen from the seniors on the 
ice. Defensemen Andrew Sinelli, 
Mike Chiasson and Brennan 
Serville could be seen delivering 
hits and chasing down passes as 
a part of a unit that surrendered 
just 19 shots.

Senior forwards Zach Hyman 

and Travis Lynch could be seen 
corralling the puck in the cor-
ner, dashing down the ice on 
breakaways 
and 
setting 
up 

shop near Hildebrand’s crease, 
desperately screening and pok-
ing anything that came within 
reach.

It was some of the best hockey 

the fans at Yost Ice Arena had 
seen all season, but after yet 
another disappointing, agoniz-
ing loss that spoiled the seniors’ 
day, the Wolverines’ happy end-
ing is held up high on a break-

able thread as well.

“We put ourselves in a tough 

spot,” Berenson said. “We have 
to work our way out of it. I think 
our team has put everything 
they had into this weekend. 
We went there and had a good 
game in Lansing, and we played 
another good game tonight.

“It’s 
your 

body of work 
during 
the 

year, and it’s 
too 
bad 
it 

comes 
down 

to one game or 
one weekend 
to dictate your 
destiny, 
but 

that’s 
what 

happened.”

Even 
with 

seconds to go, it didn’t seem 
quite real for Michigan. A flur-
ry of shots near the net in the 
closing minutes looked to be 
the sequence that would finally 
break Hildebrand. With Hyman 
and Lynch skating freely all 
around the net and getting 
seemingly open looks, the fans 
rose to their feet, not wondering 
if a senior would rise up to be a 
hero, but which one and when.

But each time, Hildebrand 

was there. After allowing eight 
goals in his previous two stints 
against Michigan, both losses, 
the netminder showed why 
he’s the favorite to be Big Ten 
Goaltender of the Year. The 
breakaways, wrap-arounds and 
one-timers the Wolverines had 
used to become the best offense 
in the nation fell silent when 
they needed them most.

“Sometimes the puck isn’t 

going to go in, and they play 
well defensively,” Hyman said. 
“Unfortunately, they were able 
to capitalize on the little chanc-
es they had. We had a bunch of 
chances, but couldn’t capitalize 
on them.”

With it all on the line, Michi-

gan 
lost 
it, 

and that was 
a tough pill to 
swallow. Most 
fans 
trickled 

out 
of 
Yost 

following the 
devastating 
loss. But those 
who did stay 
celebrated 
a 

senior 
class 

so 
dead-set 

on winning that they had to be 
coaxed into kissing center-ice 
and posing for team photos after 
their final home game, a long-
time Wolverine tradition.

But 
before 
the 
memories 

so close to the team just fade 
away, the seniors will have one 
more shot at a happy ending and 
regain the love of the NCAA 
Tournament. With more goals 
than any team and blowout wins 
over every Big Ten team, the 
Wolverines are more than capa-
ble at one final run in the Big 
Ten Tournament, which begins 
Thursday against Wisconsin in 
Detroit.

“I wouldn’t want to play us 

next week,” Berenson said. “I 
think it’s a good opportunity for 
us to salvage our so-called ‘sta-
tus’ whether it’s in the NCAA 
Tournament or Big Ten status.”

past sophomore goaltender Zach 
Nagelvoort.

“You never want to give up 

a goal in the first shift of the 
period, but we had a lot of time to 
come back,” said senior forward 
Zach Hyman. “We pressured 
them really well.”

It wasn’t as if Michigan didn’t 

have enough chances to find the 
equalizer. It had plenty.

With 
6:19 
remaining 
in 

regulation, a loose puck squirted 
out to sophomore forward Tyler 
Motte. He had a wide-open net, 
he ripped a shot, and he saw the 
wide-open net vanish.

Hildebrand shifted from the 

right 
to 
left 

goal post, flung 
his glove in the 
air and Motte’s 
shot somehow 
landed 
in 

leather instead 
of twine.

During the 

final 
minute 

of regulation, 
Hildebrand 
stood tall against Motte once 
more. A rebound opportunity was 
smothered, and the Wolverines 
couldn’t break through with the 
extra attacker despite a lengthy 
stay in the offensive zone.

“Their goalie stood on his head 

and played as well as I’ve seen a 
goalie play this year,” Berenson 
said.

Michigan State led the entire 

game and was sparked by an 
early goal off the stick of forward 
Michael 
Ferrantino. 
Midway 

through the first period, just as 
a Michigan penalty had expired, 
Ferrantino skated through the 
left circle and fired a rising shot 
over Nagelvoort’s left shoulder.

The Wolverines broke through 

just once, as they evened the 
score at one when freshman 
defenseman 
Zach 
Werenski 

netted his ninth of the season 
with 7:10 left in the second 
period. Werenski corralled the 
puck at the high slot, paused 
momentarily and fired a shot into 
the top corner.

Shortly after Ferrantino’s goal, 

the Wolverines began to take 
control of the game, flipping the 
switch on its dangerous offense. 
They peppered Hildebrand with 

a 
flurry 
of 

chances.

“Sometimes 

the puck isn’t 
going 
to 
go 

in, 
but 
they 

played 
well 

defensively 
and, 
unfortunately, 
they 
capitalized on 

the little chances that they had,” 
Hyman said. “I mean, that’s the 
name of the game is putting your 
chances in.”

The initial half of the second 

period played to the same tune 
as the final half of the first, 
but Hildebrand continued his 
stout 
performance. 
Michigan 

whizzed a pair of shots wide and 
couldn’t beat Hildebrand even 

in the midst of a stretch where it 
outshot Michigan State 6-0 in the 
first 9:27 of the middle frame.

All evening, the Wolverines 

won the possession battle and 
finished the game with 19 more 
shots than the Spartans. But not 
every ending is a happy one, even 
if all signs point toward such 
a finish and even if Michigan 
deserved one.

“I think our team has put 

everything they had during this 
weekend,” Berenson said. “We 
went down there and played 
a good game in Lansing and 
we played another good game 
tonight, and it didn’t happen.”

Throughout the final month 

of the season, the Wolverines 
controlled their own destiny 
for a Big Ten title, but they fell 
short. A victory one night ago 
in East Lansing set the stage 
for Michigan to win its first 
conference championship since 
2011, but it fell short.

And with a myriad of chances 

to find the goal — and the words 
— that would have been enough 
to compose a happy ending, it fell 
short.

The Wolverines’ storybook 

ending was almost complete, but 
sometimes the most promising of 
storylines don’t pan out. It just 
didn’t happen. Michigan will 
have to settle for a new story — a 
shot at redemption in next week’s 
Big Ten Tournament.

With this fairytale in the 

wastebasket, the Wolverines are 
back to writing once more, but 
writing a new story is better than 
being unable to write anything at 
all.

“We had an 

opportunity to 
do something 

special.”

“Our team has put 

everything they 
had during this 

weekend.”

MICHIGAN
From Page 1B

SENIORS
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