DETROIT - Go ahead and cross Michigan State off the teams-Michigan-owes list. The Wolverines are indebted to the Spartans no longer.
The Michigan hockey team used revenge as a motive and won its second consecutive CCHA playoff championship by defeating Michigan State, 3-1, before 19,032 at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night. Michigan had advanced to the final by dispatching Bowling Green, 7-2, the night before.
The Spartans had gotten the best of the regular-season series, giving Michigan (34-3-3) two of its three losses. The Wolverines tied the single-season school victory record with the win.
"We were obviously disappointed with losing the season series to Michigan State," playoff MVP Brendan Morrison said. "It's a big rivalry. There was a rumor that a couple of guys on their team said they had our number, so that definitely fired us up."
The Wolverines certainly came out firing, so to speak - two of the first three shots of the game put Michigan ahead, 2-0, just 3:20 into the first period. Michigan would need no more offense.
It only took senior Warren Luhning 2:20 to start the scoring. Jason Botterill controlled the puck behind the Michigan State net, and his pass to Morrison was in turn deflected to Luhning, who managed to wrist it past Michigan State goaltender Chad Alban before being knocked over. The power-play tally was Luhning's 21st goal of the season.
Exactly one minute later, Bill Muckalt's pass led Morrison into the Spartans' zone ahead of the defense. Alban lunged out of the crease and actually beat Morrison to the puck - but chipped it off Morrison's skate and back into his own net.
Suddenly it was 2-0, and all indications pointed to a repeat of Friday's lopsided performance. But the Spartans settled down and buckled down, and it was a defensive battle for the rest of the game.
"Those two goals scored in the first three minutes literally had to stand up for the whole game," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "It was the kind of game we expected, a defensive struggle."
The Spartans halved Michigan's lead 1:15 into the second period, when Michigan State sophomore Mike York's pass cut from zone to zone, springing Shawn Horcoff in all alone on Michigan goalie Marty Turco. Horcoff backhanded it past Turco into the upper corner, making the score 2-1.
Michigan State's best chance to tie came about eight minutes into the third period, when Tony Tuzzolino streaked in on Turco alone. But Michigan freshman Sean Peach raced back and dove from the side, knocking away the puck with a swipe of his stick and effectively swatting the Spartans' chances aside at the same time.
Michigan State never really threatened again - the Spartans managed just two shots on goal the entire third period - and Dale Rominski wrapped the night up for Michigan with an empty-netter 18.1 seconds before the final horn sounded.
On Friday night the Wolverines ousted Bowling Green from the tournament, 7-2. The Falcons' season ended with the loss.
After a scoreless first period, Justin Clark got the Wolverines on the board with his third goal of the season. Greg Crozier's shot was wide right, and the rebound bounced straight back out to the side of the net - where a charging Clark snuck it past Bowling Green goaltender Bob Petrie.
With 11:31 left in the period, Morrison parked on Petrie's doorstep and banked in a pass from Muckalt to make the score 2-0.
But Bowling Green's Mike Johnson kept the Wolverines honest, scoring on the power play less than three minutes later to cut the lead to a goal.
Then, with less than 1:30 before the second intermission, Michigan's Chris Fox notched his third goal of the season, converting a beautiful pass from Matt Herr, who threaded the puck through the defense to lead Fox to the net.
"I got lucky, I guess," Fox said after the game.
Botterill, Muckalt and Mike Legg scored for Michigan in the third period, while Curtis Fry scored the Falcons' second goal with 1:25 left in the game.
Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers said he was frustrated with the way his team's season ended.
"We lost our poise a little bit in the third period," he said. "When you lose your poise against a team like Michigan, they're gonna step on you - and they stepped on us."