Hockey team met all but one expectation

For any other team, it would have been a terrific way to send off the most heralded senior class in school history.

A berth in the NCAA semifinals. The most victories ever by a Michigan hockey team. The conference championship for the fourth consecutive season, a feat unmatched in the league's existence. The No. 1 ranking in the nation for all but two weeks of the season.

Without a doubt, the 1996-97 season was an amazing one for the Michigan hockey team. But truth be told -- fair or not -- players and fans will most likely remember it for what it could have been, but ultimately was not: a national championship.

The Wolverines went 35-4-4 (23-3-3 in the CCHA), placed three players (seniors Brendan Morrison and John Madden and junior Marty Turco) on the Titan West All-American first team, and were, without a doubt, the odds-on favorites to repeat as NCAA champions. But a 3-2 loss to Boston University ended Michigan's season at the NCAA semifinals in Milwaukee, and ended the careers of nine seniors who rewrote the Michigan record books. North Dakota went on to win the title, defeating Boston in the championship game.

But as devastating as the season's end was in March, Michigan coach Red Berenson has come to grips with his team's finish in recent months.

"You can't look back and be disappointed," Berenson said. "Sometimes the real success is not in the destination, but in the trip itself. It's safe to say that last season's team had the best season of any Michigan hockey team in the last 25 years -- maybe even longer than that.

"The team accomplished literally everything they possibly could have all year long, right up until the end of the season. And even though we didn't win the national championship, whatÕs gratifying is that even then, the conclusion -- by anyone who knows anything about college hockey -- was that we were the best team in college hockey for the entire year, and it was an upset when we lost."

It was as big an upset as college hockey has seen in years, and the people most upset about it were Michigan's nine seniors, who, despite the anticlimactic finale, ended their careers as the winningest class in Michigan history.

"They raised the bar to a new level of excellence," Berenson said. "They will be good ambassadors for Michigan hockey and for the University of Michigan. No doubt, they left their mark here."

The season was filled with moments that will be remembered not just in the record books, but in the minds of college hockey fans for years to come. Brendan Morrison became Michigan's career points (284) and assists (182) leader while becoming the school's first Hobey Baker Award recipient. John Madden, a Hobey Baker finalist, improved on his own NCAA record with 23 career shorthanded goals. Mike Legg was awarded an ESPY in New York City for his outrageous lacrosse-style goal in a 1996 NCAA regional game. Blake Sloan received the Hockey Humanitarian Award. Jason Botterill made the conferenceÕs All-Academic team for the second straight year.

The Wolverines won their ninth consecutive Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena, and reached the NCAA's final four for the fifth time in six years. The list goes on and on.

But what turned out to be one of the most telling moments of the season actually came months before the first practice, when Morrison and Jason Botterill eschewed the guaranteed money of the NHL to return for their senior seasons. This happened just weeks after the pair were instrumental in Michigan's first NCAA title in 32 years -- so it's not as if they needed to come back to prove something. Now, it is virtually assured that several of the nine seniors will go on to play some sort of pro hockey. Some will not. Berenson likes to talk about Harold Schock, who will go to medical school, and Chris Frescoln, who will go to law school. But then, he likes to talk about all nine seniors.

"They made a real commitment to come back and not just have a great season, but have a better season than the year before, when they won the national championship," Berenson said. "And they did."

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