4B — March 28, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Then
Michigan
found
an
answer from its junior captain.
With 5:33 off the clock in the
second
period,
JT
Compher
collected a puck from Motte along
the right boards. He carried it
across the top of the circle to the
point and sniped the top shelf with
a sea of players in front of net.
With 45 seconds left to play,
Compher attempted to clear the
puck through the middle of the ice
with a backhand. North Dakota
forward Luke Johnson picked off
the pass easily, and he punished
the Wolverines for their captain’s
rare mistake.
Yet Michigan had one more
comeback left, and it came out
looking rejuvenated to begin the
final frame. The Wolverines looked
like the antithesis of the team that
played a late overtime game the
night before, and they finally had
the benefit of their first full power
play of the game at the 13:47 mark.
As the two minutes with a man
advantage started waning away, it
looked like North Dakota would
avoid any danger and kill the
penalty with ease. The Fighting
Hawks
weren’t
allowing
the
Wolverines to set up their power
play, and things were looking bleak.
It only took one chance, though.
Michigan established formation
and rotated the puck until it landed
on Compher’s stick. The Wolverine
captain fired and found the back of
the net to even the game at two.
“JT gave us as good of leadership
as we had in a long time at
Michigan,” Berenson said. “When
the game is on the line and we were
behind, it was JT Compher that
kept getting us back in the game.
His will is tremendous.”
But that was the closest the
Wolverines would come to the
Frozen Four.
Less than 90 seconds later,
Rhett Gardner added another to
North Dakota’s total with a shot
from the point, before the Fighting
Hawks notched a fourth.
And
finally,
after
Racine
abandoned the net, came the fifth
an empty-netter from Paul LaDue
that snuck narrowly inside the right
post and simultaneously pulled the
plug on Michigan’s season.
The
comebacks
ended
in
Cincinnati. And Motte was just
left there, with his stick in the ice.
MICHIGAN
From Page 1B
Michigan has nothing to regret
C
INCINNATI — The
buzzer sounded at U.S.
Bank Arena on the
Michigan
hockey team’s
season-
ending loss
to North
Dakota,
and like
after every
game, the
Wolverines
emptied off
the bench to
give Steve
Racine a helmet-to-mask tap
before getting in line to shake the
opposing team’s hands.
While every Michigan player
gave Racine a tap, he didn’t
move, seemingly frozen in time.
Racine’s head hung down. His
body stood still.
But after the game Michigan
played, against the opponent that
it played, there is no reason for
Racine to hang his head.
Yes, the Wolverines season
ended, and yes, Racine’s career
at Michigan was over, but North
Dakota was the better team on
the ice.
While the Wolverines gave a
valiant effort, the Fighting Hawks
were just too much to handle.
And they knew that early
on, too.
“After all our first shifts (we
knew),” said senior forward
Boo Nieves. “They were hitting
us, they were getting shots on
net, and we couldn’t get out of
our zone.”
Added Racine: “I think (I
knew) about a minute in. Their
pace in the game was way faster
than any game we’ve played so
far this year.”
And if it wasn’t clear to anyone
watching, the shot totals after
the first period were 24-8 — a
definitive indication of North
Dakota’s dominance.
The problem, though, wasn’t
lack of effort by Michigan. The
Fighting Hawks were just too
good.
Not only does North Dakota
have the second highest scoring
line in the nation in forward
Brock Boeser, Nick Schmaltz
and Drake Caggiula, they also
have a goaltender who boasts the
second-longest shutout streak
in NCAA history as well as a
relentless defense that allowed
freshman phenom Kyle Connor
little room to operate all night.
Combining all that, the
odds were stacked against the
Wolverines.
And to add to that, Michigan
played three and a half periods
of a close hockey game the night
before, while the Fighting Hawks
cruised to a blowout victory.
But despite that, the Wolverines
went into the break down by only
a goal, spirits unbroken.
“After the first period, coach
Powers came in and said ‘Hey,
that’s the best they’ve got.
We’ve survived that period,’ ”
Nieves said.
And while it might’ve been
the best the Fighting Hawks had,
they were able to keep their play
consistently at that level for three
full periods.
In the second period, the tide
started to turn for Michigan
as it tied the game. But a bad
giveaway by the Wolverines with
45 seconds left in the period gave
North Dakota the lead right back.
Even after one of
Michigan’s strongest defensive
performances, if not its best,
the scoreboard still favored
North Dakota after two periods
— another sign that maybe the
Wolverines were overmatched.
Of course, Michigan kept it
close, even tying the game 8:39
into the third period.
But North Dakota was
relentless. Its forecheck worked
even harder, and it continued to
pepper shots at Michigan’s net.
And while Michigan boasts
four lines that can score at any
time, North Dakota let its four
lines do its talking, especially in
the third period.
The Fighting Hawks got goals
from forward Rhett Gardner, a
second-line winger, and forward
Coltyn Sanderson, a third-line
center, to grab hold of the lead
for good.
“I don’t think they have any
player on their team — four
lines and six (defenseman) —
that wouldn’t be first liners on
any other team,” Racine said.
“They’re a heck of a team. You
have to tip your hat to them. They
had a great game.”
There just wasn’t a lot
Michigan could do.
“There have been some players
that we’ve seen (that have been
able to skate with us), but not
collectively as a team, and I think
that’s something that definitely
killed us,” Nieves said. “We’re not
used to playing teams that are as
fast or faster than us.
“Speed kills, and if you’re not
skating faster than the other
team, then they’re going to
control the puck.”
After the game, a popular topic
of conversation in the press box
was which Michigan players
would leave early for the NHL.
But for the players who come
back, the season-ending loss will
make an impact heading into
next season.
“I’m jealous of them,” said
senior forward Justin Selman.
“They are going to have the
opportunity to know what it takes
now. I never got that experience
until this year of knowing how
hard tournament games are and
what these games mean.
“Hopefully this lights a fire
under their butt, and they get a
crack at these guys next year.”
Maybe they’ll be the better
team next year. But for now,
Michigan should have no
regrets following its NCAA
Tournament exit.
Because after winning the Big
Ten Tournament, after defeating
Notre Dame in the first round of
the NCAA Tournament and after
going toe-to-toe with one of the
best teams in the country for two-
plus periods, the Wolverines have
nothing to hang their heads over.
They were simply beat by a
better team.
Minh Doan can be reached
via e-mail at minhdoan@umich.
edu or on Twitter @_minhdoan.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Michigan bowed out of the NCAA Tournament Saturday after twice overcoming
one-goal deficits but then falling down the stretch to North Dakota.
MINH
DOAN
Compher shows composure in defeat
By JUSTIN MEYER
Daily Sports Writer
CINCINNATI — A walk from
the ice to U.S. Bank Arena’s
Dressing Room No. 7 is roughly
40 steps: through the bench, into
the metal tunnel littered with duct
tape, past the dividing curtain and
around the corner to the left.
That lonely route was the exit
JT Compher used Saturday night
to leave the game one last time
this season.
With just over eight minutes
to play in the NCAA Midwest
Regional final, an outmatched
Michigan
hockey
team
was
hanging with the top seed, North
Dakota — the score tied at two.
But in a span of just 74
seconds, there was one goal,
and then another, before a late
penalty and a long empty-net
score sealed the 5-2 victory for
the Fighting Hawks.
Compher watched from the ice
as the final horn sounded and the
North Dakota bench emptied. He
skated to console his goaltender,
taking his spot at the end of the
handshake line.
Then he climbed onto the
bench, walked through the tunnel
and turned around the corner
to the left. Those 40 steps were
nearly all the time the Wolverines’
captain had to compose himself.
The rest of his night was dedicated
to everyone else.
Compher was whisked through
the curved concrete underbelly of
the arena to take a seat alongside
Michigan coach Red Berenson
at the press conference — two
spokesmen for a team that had no
games left to play.
“That’s a really, really good
hockey team that we just played,”
Compher said. “I’m really proud
of this team. To get back to the
tournament and to win the Big
Ten Championship, it’s a big deal.
“But right now, it’s tough to
talk.”
Compher, though, made time to
talk anyway.
He made teary eye contact
through
the
glare
of
the
spotlights,
answering
with
patient, deliberate speech when
asked what Michigan could have
done to win the game and whether
his team was outmatched.
Afterward, Compher retraced
his steps to the dressing room
to join his teammates. He didn’t
prepare a grand speech, saying he
preferred to take the time to talk
to the guys individually.
Roughly an hour after nearly
willing his team to a Frozen Four
berth with the best game of his
career, Compher still wasn’t done.
North Dakota’s captain, Gage
Ausmus — a former teammate and
close friend from the duo’s days
at the USNTDP program in Ann
Arbor — met him in the hallway
and the two embraced.
Compher
flashed
a
wry
smile as the pair chatted in the
hallway, staffers whisking by
as they hurriedly tore down the
tournament decorations.
The conversation didn’t last
more than a few minutes — both
players
had
places
to
be.
Ausmus
was
off to captain
his team at the
Frozen
Four,
while Compher
was
headed
home.
“I just told
him good luck
with whatever
he does next year — if he decides
to come back or sign pro,” Ausmus
said. “I’ll see him on the flip side.”
It must have stung to see his
former teammate off to his third
Frozen Four in three years, but
Compher’s face didn’t betray a
hint of jealousy.
“(Compher) was our captain in
Ann Arbor,” Ausmus said. “He’s a
guy that everyone looked up to —
that I looked up to. Just the way he
carries himself.
He
does
the
right
thing
every time, all
the time.”
Even
on
nights
like
Saturday.
The
composure
was only more
impressive
to
watch because Michigan’s junior
captain isn’t usually much of a
talker.
He’s
brash,
supremely
confident and competitive almost
to a fault, but no one would call him
long-winded.
Instead, Compher has been the
type of leader that creates high
expectations for the people around
him with his own performance.
This weekend, he certainly did
that.
Friday night against Notre
Dame, after being frustrated all
evening by the Irish’s physicality,
Compher
won
the
game
in
overtime with a perfect no-look
pass to linemate and junior
forward Tyler Motte.
With a trip to the Frozen Four on
the line Saturday night, he netted
both of the Wolverines’ goals —
each of them tying the game.
In the end, though, Michigan
didn’t have enough. Even with
the sting of loss painfully fresh,
Compher understood his new role.
The junior stepped out of the
locker room as a team spokesman,
determined — in Ausmus’ words —
to do the right thing.
When Compher was named
captain last summer, he took over
a team lacking consistency and
a program reeling from a deeply
introspective identity crisis.
For one reason or another over
the previous three seasons, the
Wolverines’ leadership had failed
to root out a culture of frustration
and disappointment. Compher
changed that.
“If you lead the team right and
get everyone on board, you have
the chance to be a good team,”
Berenson said in the week before
the NCAA Tournament. “I don’t
think it happens from day one,
but even in the fall, word was
leaking out that the players have
never gotten along better. We just
seemed to think that this was the
right group.
“You can’t just create that; you
can’t draw it up or force it.”
The success this season — a Big
Ten Tournament championship
and an NCAA Tournament berth
— is at least in part a testament
to the stability Compher brought
the Wolverines.
As Ausmus headed back to
his own locker room, Compher
swung his bag over his shoulder
and headed down the stairs.
He
walked
past
the
North
Dakota fans lining the walls and
disappeared into an expansive
garage — his job complete.
Back inside U.S. Bank Arena,
the ice was still shining under
the overhead lights, but the flame
of Michigan’s season had been
snuffed out.
As the Wolverines boarded the
bus and headed back to Ann Arbor,
there were unanswered questions.
What could’ve been different, and
did they ever stand a chance?
But the real question — the one
that Michigan has been trying
to answer for three years — is
to whom the team can turn in
moments of desperation and doubt.
This
weekend,
and
all
season, JT Compher provided a
resounding answer.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Junior forward JT Compher proved his worth as a captain with his resiliency after one of the toughest losses of his career on Saturday against North Dakota.
“He does the
right thing
every time, all
the time.”