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In the end, Hayes not such an unlikely hero

In fact, Bobby Hayes didn't even have a scholarship when he came to Ann Arbor as a 17-year-old kid in August. He still doesn't.

 Hayes isn't even your typical freshman standout. He didn't receive a single vote for the CCHA all-rookie team.

He didn't exactly light up the scoreboard before his Wolverine career began either. Twenty-four points for the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks and 27 more for Detroit Compuware aren't shabby, but those aren't exactly prolific numbers for a college recruit. Other Michigan freshmen were more heralded.

Hayes even admits that, if you watch a Michigan hockey game, he probably won't stand out.

"I'm a scrapper," he says. "I'll be in the corners every game if that's what I'm supposed to do."

So in the finals of the nation's best conference tournament, he ought to be the last person you'd expect to net the game-winning goal. But he wasn't.

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone that Bobby Hayes broke a 3-3, third-period deadlock against the CCHA regular season champions, Lake Superior. Forget about everything else; Hayes wanted it.

Really, why would it be a shock that Hayes lifted the Wolverines to their second CCHA playoff championship in three years?

He's a coach's dream. He plays hard, and he does whatever he's asked. He is one of only five Wolverines, and the only underclassman, to play in all 40 of Michigan's games.

"When we recruited him, we asked him, `Bobby, where do you want to go to school?'" Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He said `I don't care about anything else, I want to go to Michigan'... he's a selfless player, he's done everything we asked of him."

You can bet it was no fluke that Bobby Hayes was in the right place at the right time Saturday. He made sure he was there.

So when Harold Schock sent a high slapshot from the right point that Laker goaltender John Grahame turned aside, Hayes was there, right in the middle of two Lake Superior defenders, to flip in the winning goal.

He tallied just one point in the tournament before his shot spun over Grahame with six and a half minutes left in the game, but Hayes was an easy choice for the all-tournament team.

But Hayes was on my ballot before he even scored his first post-season goal. His hustle and defense merited a spot.

Since the first game of the conference playoffs against Miami, and even weeks before, Hayes played as well as any Wolverine -- Morrison, Botterill, Hilton and Madden included.

He made the play of the weekend in Friday's 6-2 semifinal win over Michigan State, hopping over a Spartan defender and leaving the puck for Madden to net a shorthanded goal that put the Wolverines up 3-1.

He won more games stifling opponents' power plays with his tenacity than he ever did scoring goals. Berenson calls him "our best penalty killer." Bobby Hayes never gives up.

Even after Lake State tied the game at three with a shorthanded goal during a five-minute major penalty to Laker center Bryan Fuss, Hayes was determined not to let the game slip away.

"What are we going to do, roll over and let them win?" he said in disgust.

Few have Bobby Hayes' gusto. And for a defensive forward on a team with five 50-point scorers, few have his numbers. Hayes tops his class in scoring with 21 points -- not bad for a walk-on center.

Hayes has so much energy and so much hustle that Berenson was forced to promote him off of the fourth line this weekend to get him more ice time.

And when CCHA scoring leader Kevin Hilton went down with a deep thigh bruise in the first period. who else could Berenson choose to take his spot, centering the Wolverines' top line?

Hayes has been Michigan's most consistent and most impressive rookie all year. He adjusts to almost anything and he improves every game.

It doesn't really take much thought to realize that Bobby Hayes is not such an unlikely hero after all.