Wolverines advance to Frozen Four

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Aaron Palushaj and Kevin Porter scored the goals and Billy Sauer made 32 saves as Michigan pitched a 2-0 shutout of Clarkson tonight in the NCAA East Regional final in Albany, N.Y. to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2003.

When Porter scores a goal, U-M is 21-1-2 this year.

The Wolverines (33-5-4) will play either Notre Dame or Michigan State in the NCAA semifinal round Thursday, April 10, in Denver.

"It's been our goal all year to be the number one team in the nation," Michigan forward Chad Kolarik said. "So far, we've done a good job of protecting that spot. But it doesn't matter the rankings or anything like that, it's all about how we play in Denver."

Tonight was the first match-up between Michigan and Clarkson since 1962, when U-M lost in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The only other two games took place in 1958 and 1959 and were both won by the Wolverines.

David Leggio finished with 30 saves for the Golden Knights, who ended the year 22-13-4.

Michigan bounces game Purple Eagles

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Top-ranked Michigan started out slow, but cruised to a 5-1 win over Niagara on Friday at the Times Union Center in the first round of the NCAA East Regionals.

After a scoreless first period, Niagara was down a man to start the second period and Michigan capitalized on the man-advantage with Max Pacioretty scoring the Wolverines' first goal off a pass from Chad Kolarik from behind Niagara's goal line.

UM captain Kevin Porter, centering Michigan's first line, picked up the following three goals, one in the second period and two more consecutive goals in third period, including one on the power play.

Porter's career-high four goals broke the NCAA tournament record for goals in a game during the regional stage and marked the last time since 1990 that a player scored four times in a tournament game.

With less than five minutes to go in the game, NU co-captain Vince Rocco got the puck behind Michigan's net and sent a centering pass to co-captain Matt Caruana just above the crease for a wrist shot and a goal on Billy Sauer to spoil the shutout.

Porter added an empty-netter and Kolarik assisted on all five UM tallies. Pacioretty and Aaron Palushaj each had two helpers.

"Their defense played well," said Caruana. "We hung with them pretty good, but penalties hurt us."

"We just didn't have an answer for their top line," said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder. "They have some special players and we didn't get anything going in our transition game."

Juliano Pagliero kept Niagara (22-11-4) in the game stopping 34 shots, including 19 in the second period.

Sauer made 16 saves for the Wolverines, who will face Clarkson in tonight's regional championship.

"I don't know what exactly we need to do, but I think our team knows that we'll have an even tougher game (against Clarkson)," UM head coach Red Berenson said. "The second game is always tougher. You're playing against a team that has played (Friday) afternoon and won a game and has a lot of confidence. I think Clarkson is a good team. From what we know of them, they're well coached, they're a good defensive and offensive team, and they're strong. And they have great goaltending. They're the real deal and they'll be a test for us."

Spartans get past Colorado College

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Jeff Lerg is guilty of grand larceny.

The junior goaltender made a season-high 41 saves to lead third-seeded Michigan State to a 3-1 victory over second-seeded Colorado College in Game No. 2 of the NCAA West Regional at the Colorado Springs World Arena.

The Spartan victory set up an all-Central Collegiate Hockey Association regional final on Saturday night against Notre Dame, which upset top-seeded New Hampshire, 7-3, in the first game of the day.

Lerg was brilliant in the opening period, when the Tigers outshot MSU, 12-2. Both teams had three power-play opportunities, but were only able to muster one shot on goal apeice.

Michigan State broke the stalemate midway through the second period when junior left wing Tim Kennedy lifted the rebound of a Jeff Petry shot past a sprawling Richard Bachman on the power play.

Jeff Dunne doubled the Spartan lead with 1:57 remaining in the second period on a one-timer from the right circle. MSU stunned the Tigers with seven seconds left in the period when Chris Mueller took a feed from Kennedy and beat Bachman with a slap shot in the top left corner.

The Tigers scored their only goal midway through the third period when Andreas Vlassopoulos won a draw back to Derek Patrosso (Northville), who put a shot between Lerg's pads to give CC life with 7:53 to play.

With the Spartans protecting their lead in the final 20 minutes, Colorado College had a 17-9 advantage in shots on goal, but was unable to crack the MSU defense a second time.

Bachman finished with 20 saves for the Tigers, who saw their season end with a 28-12-1 record.

O'Keefe leaves Bulldogs for AHL

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Ferris State goaltender Mitch O'Keefe signed an amateur tryout contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League Tuesday.

For the 2007-08 season, O'Keefe turned in a 10-8-5 record between the posts with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage as a starter in 22 of 24 outings. He received CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors on Oct. 29 as a result of making 37 saves in a 3-0 league home triumph over nationally-ranked Notre Dame (Oct. 27). Among the 2007-08 national statistical leaders to date, O'Keefe currently ranks 17th in save percentage, 22nd in goals-against average, and 28th in winning percentage.

In his three seasons (2005-08) at Ferris State, O'Keefe compiled a 31-39-15 career mark with a 2.68 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage in 86 appearances.

The 6-foot-2, 218-pound netminder concluded his collegiate career ranking second among Ferris' career leaders in goals-against average, tied for second in shutouts (six), third in save percentage, fifth in both victories and minutes played (5,073), tied for fifth in games played, sixth in total saves. and eighth in winning percentage (.453).

In his initial season at FSU, O'Keefe was selected the Bulldogs' 2005-06 Rookie of the Year Award winner after his 14 victories in net tied for the sixth most single-season wins in the program's history. His 828 saves for the campaign represented the sixth highest output in Ferris State annals.

O'Keefe played an integral role in helping Ferris State to an 18-16-5 overall record for the 2007-08 season as the Bulldogs captured fifth-place in the CCHA with a 12-12-4 league mark. Ferris' 18 victories and fifth-place league finish were the program's highest since the 2002-03 season.

Photo courtesy Ferris State Athletics

UM, MSU both off to NCAA tourney

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Defending national champion Michigan State and CCHA champion Michigan, also the top-ranked team in the country, are off to the NCAA Tournament and their seeds were announced this morning on ESPN2.

Michigan State, a No. 3 seed, has drawn No. 2 seed Colorado College in the first round. Colorado College is hosting the West Regional at the Colorado Springs World Arena on Friday and Saturday, with No. 1 New Hampshire and No. 4 Notre Dame rounding out the field. Play begins on Friday when UNH and Notre Dame face off at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Spartans and host Tigers at 10 p.m. Winners advance to Saturday’s regional final, which will be played at 10 p.m.

The Spartans enter the NCAA Tournament - their third straight selection to the field and 26th overall - with a 24-11-5 overall record and finished third in the CCHA regular season behind Michigan and Miami. In the league’s postseason tournament, the Spartans fell to Northern Michigan in the best-of-three CCHA quarterfinal series at Munn Arena and missed out on the league’s championship weekend for the first time in 17 seasons.

Friday will serve as the 80th meeting of Michigan State and Colorado College. MSU trails the all-time series 33-45-1. CC holds a 26-13-0 edge all-time in Colorado Springs. This will be the third NCAA Tournament meeting of the schools. The Spartans won 4-3 in the 1999 quarterfinals in Madison, Wis., and the Tigers took a 2-0 decision when the teams met in the 2002 quarterfinals in Ann Arbor. Colorado College won the McNaughton Cup as the regular-season WCHA champion, but finished fourth in its conference tournament with losses to Denver and North Dakota. The Tigers are currently 28-11-1.

Michigan earned the top overall seed in the tournament and will face the Niagara Purple Eagles -- the automatic qualifier from the CHA --in the opening round of the East Regional.

The Wolverines (31-5-4) will take on fourth-seeded Niagara (22-10-4) on Friday at the Union Center in Albany, N.Y. The contest is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the Michigan-Niagara match-up will advance to play the winner of the No. 2 seed Clarkson and the No. 3 seed St. Cloud State game. The East Regional championship contest will take place Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET.

The Maize and Blue will be competing in its NCAA-best 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Michigan is appearing in its 31st NCAA Tournament overall, which is second-most in the nation. U-M is 44-23 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, leading the nation with nine national titles (1948, '51, '52, '53, '55, '56, '64, '96 and '98).

"Michigan obviously has so much more history with nine national championships," said Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder. "I feel we have a legitimate shot of knocking them off. They are a very special team, being ranked at No. 1 for more weeks than any other team, and with 12 NHL picks. This is the time we look back on our history and our school spirit to prepare."

The contest marks the first time the Wolverines will face off against Niagara in the NCAA Tournament. The teams have met on four occasions overall, with U-M holding a 3-1 advantage over the Purple Eagles. Each recorded a win in a two-game set (Oct. 16-17, 1998) -- Michigan winning the first game 6-5 in overtime and Niagara pulling out the 2-1 win in the second game of the series. Michigan also won 3-0 (Oct. 11, 2002) and 6-2 (Nov. 1, 2003).