HOCKEY: 2007 CCHA Tournament Highlights

by Mike Caples and James Andersen

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Detroit - March 18

Notre Dame goaltender David Brown capped off an award-winning season with a CCHA Championship banner hoisted to the rafters above his net in Joe Louis Arena on Saturday, March 18, leading his team to a 2-1 victory over the University of Michigan. 

Brown, a Pittsburgh Penguins second round draft pick, stole the show on CCHA’s biggest weekend, dominating on the ice and in the awards show.  The senior goaltender was awarded ‘CCHA Player of the Year’ on Thursday, shut out the Lake Superior State Lakers 3-0 in the CCHA semi-finals on Friday, then held offensive powerhouse Michigan to one goal to win the CCHA Championship on Saturday.  Brown was then awarded the  Bill Beagan Trophy for the playoff’s most valuable player, and was also named the goaltender for the ‘All-Tournament Team.’ 

Notre Dame’s 2-1 victory capped a stellar season for both Brown and the Fighting Irish, who won their first CCHA playoff title in school history.  They had made only one other appearance in the CCHA Championship game before 2007’s tournament. 

The battle began well before the first face-off between the two storied rivals, with the school bands attempting to play their school’s fight song over the other before the opening ceremonies even began.  The Irish had a strong fan base, but the majority of the 16,481 who showed at Joe Louis Arena were donning maize and blue. 

The two schools came out flying on the opening face-off, and the Wolverines offensive stars were quick to leave their mark.  U of M’s T.J. Hensick, the nation’s second leading scorer, got the crowd on its feet with a power-play breakaway, but failed to convert.  Soon after, Michigan forward David Rohlfs snuck behind the Notre Dame defense only to fire a wrist shot off the left post behind Brown. 

Michigan finally capitalized on a scoring chance with less than a minute remaining in the first period, with the Wolverines’ biggest stars coming through to gain a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.  David Brown was able to turn aside a one-timer slap shot from Hensick to defenseman Jack Johnson, but Kevin Porter found the back of the net, firing the puck top-shelf into a wide open net with 6.2 seconds left in the period. 

Porter’s 23rd goal of the season would be the end of all Michigan scoring, however, as the Irish’s Brown continued his stellar season of shutting down the opposition.  He had turned aside ten shots in the first period, and in the second and third he stopped 21 straight to freeze the offensively-gifted stars of the Wolverines, for a total of 31 saves on the evening. 

Notre Dame right-winger Erik Condra finally cracked the Wolverines netminder Billy Sauer to tie the game 1-1 with 4:02 left in the second period.  Condra snapped home a puck bouncing off Sauer’s pad off a dump on net by left wing Ryan Thang. 

The start of the third period featured high-speed scoring chances at both ends, but both Sauer and Brown stood tall in their teams’ time of need.  The game nearly took a turn in U of M’s favor when Jack Johnson unleashed his potent slap shot from the post, but it made contact with the post and not the back of the net.  With 11:08 left in the third, Sauer made a crucial mistake, mishandling the puck in front of his crease.  Notre Dame’s Jason Paige jumped at the opportunity and stole the puck from Sauer to slide it into the wide-open net behind him, to give the lead to the Irish 2-1. 

From there, Brown stole the show, and turned aside numerous scoring chances from Michigan, as the Irish fans counted down the minutes.  The Irish’s Tom Sawatske was whistled for cross-checking with 1:31 remaining, but even with Sauer pulled for the extra attacker, the Wolverines’ power play were turned aside by Brown and his defensive corps. 

Brown finished the weekend series allowing only one goal in two games, turning aside 48 total shots in the process to walk away with the MVP and an ‘All-Tournament Team’ selection.  The Irish’s Wes O’Neill and Erik Condra also were named to the ‘All-Tournament team,’ as were Michigan’s Porter, Hensick, and Johnson. 

Notre Dame will now eye a NCAA Tournament to add to their impressive resume and start with a game against Alabama-Huntsville on March 24 in Grand Rapids.  Michigan travels to Denver to take on North Dakota in the first round on the same day.

MSU gains a NCAA Tournament bid with third place win

Howells scores in overtime to win consolation thriller

Michael Caples 

DETROIT - March 17

Senior forward Tyler Howells scored in overtime to help the Spartans prevail 7-6 over the Lake Superior State Lakers in the CCHA Tournament consolation game on Saturday, March 17.  The win helped a distraught Spartan locker room overcome a bitter loss the night before against rival U of M and cemented a bid for MSU into the NCAA Tournament next weekend. 

MSU will face Boston University in Grand Rapids on Friday, March 23, at 8:30 p.m. at Van Andel Arena, in the Midwest region of the NCAA tournament.  The winner will face either Notre Dame or Alabama-Huntsville the following night. 

The Spartans courageously responded to head coach Rick Comley’s press conference statements Friday night after their loss to Michigan.  Comley confidently announced that “they would make the tournament if they won,” and the Spartans came out and made that vision happen. 

Howells fired home a rebound with 1:23 remaining in overtime to overcome a late third period rally by the Lakers, who scored two goals in the last 67 seconds of the final period. 

Expectations heading into the afternoon consolation game were for a low-scoring affair.  The two teams scored a combined two goals in Friday’s games, and each lineup is built around superb goaltending: last year’s CCHA Tournament MVP Jeff Lerg of the Spartans and the Laker’s Jeff Jakaitis.   

“No one thought that these two goaltenders would be giving up 13 goals.  But we will take it and look forward to playing next weekend,” Comley said. 

The other Lerg on the MSU roster, Jeff’s cousin Bryan, started out the scoring fest 7:30 into the game from the right side of the net, set up by captain Chris Lawrence and Dan Sturges.  Four minutes later, the Spartans scored two goals in one minute and 21 seconds, the first by Daniel Vukovic and the second by Jim McKenzie on the power play.  MSU headed the locker room after the first with a comfortable 3-0 lead. 

Lake Superior wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet, however, and came out for the second period determined to prove their worth to the many dedicated fans who made the drive to Detroit both days.  The Lakers quickly made the game a 3-2 tug-of-war with goals from Steven Oleksy and Nathan Perkovich in the first 10 minutes of the period.   

The Spartans’ Vukovic answered back with his second, and only seventh of his career, goal of the game to move the lead back to two goals, but LSSU’s Perkovich answered back quickly to give himself a two-goal period.  At the end of 40 minutes of play, MSU’s big lead had shrunk to a 4-3 score. 

Chris Mueller gave the Spartans another two goal lead with his 11th goal of the season 5:35 into the third period, which appeared to be the final strike into the Lakers.  However, two minutes later, LSSU’s Steven Oleksky answered back with his second goal of the year. 

Again, the Spartans supposedly put the game out of reach when Matt Schepke scored his third goal of the year to make it 6-4 MSU.  The lead seemed like it would go into the record books as a win for the Spartans, but LSSU’s Perkovich scored to cap off a hat trick with 1:06 left in the game and Jakaitis pulled for the extra attacker.  The Lakers’ wrapped up the regulation comeback with a goal by Trent Campbell with 20 seconds left. 

In overtime, both teams exchanged chances, and the game appeared to be heading to a shootout until the Lakers’ Ryan Baird was whistled for tripping with 2:35 remaining.  MSU capitalized on the opportunity, with Howells burying a rebound off a Vukovic shot from the point for his fourth goal of the year and the game winner for the Spartans. 

Vukovic left Joe Louis Arena with first star honors, with LSSU’s Nathan Perkovich scoring a hat trick for second star honors, and MSU captain Chris Lawrence earning third. 

“This was a win that we needed.  And it was a win that we got in overtime.  So that is always a win that will help our team moral,” Vukovic said.  “The win really helped us going into next weekend. We will be on a good note for this week in practice, and we will see who we will play on Friday.” 

 

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