Broncos key on Muckalt, prevent a hat-trick repeat

Michigan forward Bill Muckalt tallied what might go down as the quietest hat trick in college hockey history Friday night against Bowling Green. His efforts may have gone largely unnoticed because of teammate Marty Turco's NCAA record-setting victory.

But despite the lack of notoriety from fans and media, Western Michigan's defenders the following night in Kalamazoo paid plenty of attention to Muckalt and his every move.

"We were keying in on Muckalt from the standpoint that he's got 22 goals and leading the league," Western Michigan coach Bill Wilkinson said. "If you don't pay special attention to him you're going to get burned.

WARREN ZINN/Daily Michigan freshman Josh Langfeld's goal opened the scoring Friday night and set the tone for one of his most productive weekends at Michigan.

"We didn't give him any opportunities to shoot the puck. We matched up our better defensemen against (his line) ... I thought we contained him pretty well."

If statistics are any judge, the Broncos certainly did bottle up Muckalt. For the first time since Nov. 21 at Bowling Green, Muckalt was shut out as he failed to score a goal or record an assist.

With the victory over the Broncos, Michigan raised its record to 2-3 in games that Muckalt failed to tally a point.

Football honors: Before Friday night's game, Michigan football was honored yet again for its national championship season.

Senior co-captain Eric Mayes - who was injured during the football season - was brought out to center ice with the aid of two referees and dropped the puck on a ceremonial faceoff.

Mayes was escorted to the faceoff circle to the sounds of an appreciative chorus of applause from the Yost Ice Arena fans. Accompanying Mayes was Michigan defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann.

The short ceremony followed a similar presentation of the national championship trophy by offensive lineman Jon Jansen a week earlier before a game against Ohio State.

Hoop hero: Muckalt's game-winning goal against Bowling Green was one the more acrobatic of the year for the 6-foot senior.

As the puck was flipped up in the air, Muckalt's instincts brought him back to an inspiring friend.

"I've been hanging out with Travis Conlan a little bit, and he's been kidding around how he's just starting to dunk, so I jumped up," Muckalt said.

Muckalt displayed his leaping ability by bringing the high-flying puck back to the ice, and poking it over the right shoulder of Bowling Green goalie Shawn Timm to break a two-all tie.

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