4B — March 21, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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BACK TO THE TOURNAMENT
Michigan rallies
past Minnesota to
win first Big Ten
Tournament title
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three
hundred sixty-one days ago, the
Michigan hockey team found
itself in a
situation
eerily
similar to that of Saturday
night — taking the ice for the
Big Ten Championship against
Minnesota.
At the time, as the Wolverines
entered the championship game
at Joe Louis Arena, they were
on the wrong side of the NCAA
Tournament bubble, in dire need
of an upset against the Golden
Gophers to keep their season
alive. But when the final horn
sounded,
Michigan
was
left
with a scoreboard reading 4-2 in
Minnesota’s favor to cement its
campaign.
In the 361 days that followed,
though,
that
dynamic
had
changed drastically.
This time, the Wolverines
had the cards in their hands
entering
the
championship
game — having already solidified
a NCAA Tournament berth with
only retribution to truly play
for. And now, Minnesota was
the team in need of a season-
preserving victory.
And Michigan was able to
change the most important part
of the former narrative, capturing
the Big Ten Championship with
a 5-3 victory against the Golden
Gophers at Xcel Energy Center.
“Up until tonight there’s been
five banners hung and we have
four of them,” said Minnesota
coach Don Lucia. “We were
trying to get a fifth, and Michigan
didn’t have one — and that’s
a proud program. … That can
sometimes be the driving force.”
After
three
unanswered
Minnesota goals left Michigan
in a 3-2 hole entering the third
period,
freshman
forward
Kyle Connor and sophomore
defenseman
Zach
Werenski
rose to the occasion during
crunch time.
A few short minutes into
the final frame, the freshman
brought the Wolverines back to
life with an equalizer.
Connor received a cross-ice
pass from junior forward JT
Compher, and was alone against
Schierhorn. He hesitated and
baited Schierhorn to come out
of the net before faking one shot
and deking right to leave both the
Gophers’ goaltender on his back
and the puck in the net.
Twelve minutes later, with
Michigan on the power play,
Werenski gave his team the
Big Ten Championship. The
Wolverines rotated the puck
around
the
offensive
zone,
tallying a number of shots,
before it ended up at the point on
Werenski’s stick.
The blueliner let one loose, and
the goal horn lit up. Michigan 4,
Minnesota 3.
“In between the second and
third, (last year is) something we
talked about, is ‘We owe them,’ ”
Werenski said. “They ended our
season last year, so we came out
with some fire.”
Michigan closed out the game
with a stout defensive effort, led
by senior goaltender Steve Racine
— who slammed the door shut
against Minnesota’s last-ditch
efforts — before notching an
open-net goal to seal the victory.
Neither side could break the
stalemate during the opening 10
minutes of the rematch, partly
because No. 20 Minnesota (14-7
Big Ten, 20-17 overall) opened the
game with a conservative approach
— sending its defensemen back to
the red line every time Michigan
started a breakout.
Eventually,
though,
the
seventh-ranked Wolverines (13-
5-3-2 Big Ten, 24-7-5 overall)
found a breakthrough on the first
power play of the game.
Just over 10 minutes into
the
frame,
Werenski
was
quarterbacking the power play
from the point. He sent a pass to
Connor in the right circle, who
patiently cradled the puck with
a Minnesota defenseman in front
of him, searching for a chink in
the defense’s armor.
Then he found it.
Connor served junior forward
Tyler Motte in front, leaving him
with only Minnesota goaltender
Eric Schierhorn to beat. Motte
was up to the task, as he lifted the
puck in the air to beat Schierhorn
glove side.
The finish gave Michigan a
1-0 lead, marked Motte’s 30th
goal of the season and continued
Connor’s 25-game point streak.
When the Wolverines added
another goal, it appeared that
they were on their way to a
storybook ending. But the first
few chapters were torn out
quickly as they had been written.
In the span of four minutes,
Minnesota responded with two
goals of its own to even the score.
The equalizer sucked the life
out of the Wolverines, instantly
turning them on the defensive.
Michigan managed to weather
that storm for a little over six
minutes, but eventually conceded
a power play that proved to be the
breaking point.
“We started playing slower,”
said
Michigan
coach
Red
Berenson. “I thought we started
playing cuter. We weren’t as
physical. … We were on the wrong
side of the puck, and sure enough
they got back in the game.”
Behind Connor and Werenski’s
goals, in addition to Motte’s open-
net finish in the closing minute,
none of that mattered. Michigan
changed the most important part
of the former narrative. It has a
banner to hang at Yost Ice Arena.
And more than anything, it
exorcised its demons that have
been following them all season.
Wolverines will
open Midwest
Regional play vs.
Notre Dame
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan hockey team is
back where it was for 22 straight
seasons prior to the 2012-13
season: the NCAA Tournament.
Friday night, the Wolverines,
a No. 2 seed in the Midwest
Regional, will take on No. 3 seed
Notre Dame, while No. 1 seed
North Dakota and No. 4 seed
Northeastern
round
out
the
regional in Cincinnati.
The selection comes a day
after Michigan captured the Big
Ten Tournament title, defeating
Minnesota, 5-3, in St. Paul, Minn.
“Coach said Cincinnati has
been good to Michigan,” said
junior forward Tyler Motte, “so
we have to be good to Cincinnati.”
Just the three seniors on the
current roster have ever played
against the Fighting Irish. Senior
goaltender Steve Racine recalled
a conversation from just after the
selection show, when he talked
with fellow senior Justin Selman
about
how
the
Wolverines
haven’t defeated Notre Dame
during their careers.
Michigan
will
enter
the
tournament with the nation’s best
offense, tallying 4.89 goals per
game, with the next closest team
putting up 4.28 goals a game.
The Wolverines also boast the
nation’s most prolific forward
line — the CCM line — consisting
of freshman Kyle Connor and
juniors JT Compher and Motte.
The trio ranks first, second and
third in the nation in points,
respectively. Connor leads the
country in points with 69, while
Compher and Motte hold 60 and
54, respectively.
But Berenson doesn’t think
Notre Dame will be fazed.
“(Notre
Dame
coach
Jeff
Jackson)
is
an
experienced
coach,” Berenson said. “He has
played against Michigan teams
before, and Michigan teams that
have had offensive histories and
they’ll figure it out. They’re a team
that will come at you and play
their game.”
Notre Dame, meanwhile, is led
by goaltender Cal Petersen, who
boasts a .928 save percentage and
2.19 goals-against average.
Michigan and Notre Dame
haven’t played since the formation
of the Big Ten Hockey Conference
in 2013-14.
“Notre Dame is one of our old, I
wouldn’t say rivals, but borderline
rival,” Berenson said. “(Notre
Dame coach) Jeff Jackson is as good
of a coach there is in college hockey
and his teams show that every
year.
They’re
disciplined,
hard-working,
well-coached
and
I
think
you’ll see a close
hockey game.”
When
they
last
met,
though,
the
stakes
were
high.
The old-time rivals were pitted
in
the
CCHA
Tournament
Championship. If Michigan had
won, it would have moved onto
the NCAA Tournament. Instead,
Notre Dame took the title and
ended the Wolverines’ season.
Michigan’s goaltender in that
game was then-freshman Steve
Racine, who wasn’t the team’s
starter the majority of that season.
He
hasn’t
forgotten
that
moment.
“I just remember that they
were really strong and physical
and we had problems with that,
and they kind of took it to us a
little bit,” Racine said. “But we
haven’t seen them in a couple of
years, so I couldn’t tell you much
about them yet. But we’ll be ready.
“Just
like
Minnesota
beat
us last year in the Big Ten
Championship,
Notre
Dame,
my
freshman
year, ended the
streak. Getting
back at them
would be nice.”
Racine
added
that
Notre
Dame,
like Penn State
and Minnesota
who have ended the Wolverines’
seasons that past two seasons,
respectively, is another team that
Michigan “owes” — all because
of
that
CCHA
Tournament
Championship.
So 1,096 days after that crushing
defeat, Racine and Michigan will
have a chance at revenge.
And this time it’ll be in the
tournament that matters most.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
The Michigan hockey team celebrated its first Big Ten title on Saturday and
earned the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
MINNESOTA
MICHIGAN
3
5
“We’ll be ready.
... Getting back
at them would
be nice.”