B

CHAMPS AGAIN

n The women’s gymnastics
team won the Big Ten title at
Crisler Center. Page 4B

1,400 STRONG

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | March 23, 2015

n Michigan swept Ohio
State, earning Carol Hutchins’
1,400th win. Page 3B

K.O.
at the
Joe

D

ETROIT — Red Berenson
leans back in his chair
with a scowl. He sips some

water as he tries
to process how
the past hour
could have left
him smiling.

For the third

straight season,
he finds himself in
the same position
with the same
discomfort and the
same questions to
answer. But that doesn’t make it any
easier.

For the third straight season,

his team has missed the NCAA
Tournament.

For the third straight season, it

has been only one game — in fact, one
period — that has kept the Michigan
hockey team from receiving a bid to the
NCAA Tournament.

Sometimes, even legends are

defeated.

Berenson hasn’t been to the national

tournament since 2012. Before that,
he had led his team there for 22
consecutive seasons.

His glossy eyes match his players’.

It isn’t any easier for a 73-year old Hall
of Fame coach to stomach the gut-
wrenching blow his team was dealt
on Saturday — a 4-2 defeat against

Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament
championship.

“He was pretty heartbroken like we

were,” said freshman defenseman Zach
Werenski.

Berenson didn’t say much to his team

after the game. Words are tough to
construct in a state of such heartbreak.
There’s little you can say to the faces of
grown men when those faces are coated
with tears.

Even in his 31st season behind

the Wolverine bench, Berenson is
often stoic and stern. He would have
welcomed a reason to smile after
Saturday’s loss, but there wasn’t any.

After fielding questions from

SportsMonday

MICHIGAN 2
MINNESOTA 4

JEREMY
SUMMITT

When legends are
left empty-handed

Wolverines fall to Minnesota in
Big Ten championship, end season

without NCAA bid

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Writer

DETROIT — Fair or not, the Michigan hockey team’s

season has been defined by one play three seasons in
a row. Not for glory or success, but for embodying a
season that fell hairs short of expectations.

In 2013, it was an outstretched Steve Racine lunging

for a shot while being pulled off the bench, only to have
the puck fly into the net just out of reach, suddenly
ending a streak of 22 consecutive NCAA Tournament
trips.

Last year, it was the sight of a puck sitting right on

the goal line, one inch from vaulting the Wolverines to
an overtime win and a return to the NCAA Tournament
that was eventually cleared away, just like Michigan’s
dream of a postseason.

This year, things went quicker, but the sting of falling

just short won’t go away any sooner.

Faster than ripping
See MICHIGAN, Page 4B

See SUMMITT, Page 4B

PHOTOS BY JAMES COLLER