Beantown, baby!

School's out - I'm going to Boston

WARREN ZINN/Daily Several Wolverines pile on top of Greg Crozier after he tied Saturday's NCAA West Regional final, 3-3, just 56 seconds into the third period. After trailing 2-0 and 3-1, the Wolverines completed their comeback when Bobby Hayes scored the winning goal late in the period, sending Michigan to Boston for the final four.

Why, you ask, would a student such as myself sacrifice his academic career in the final semester of his senior year? It's really quite simple.

I'm going to Boston, baby! Wooohoooo! BOSTON! BOSTON! BOSTON ...

Chris Farah Farah's Faucet

Ahem, uh, please forgive my lack of composure. I realize this is a matter of the utmost seriousness. I know you'll miss my valuable participation in class. I know my parents won't be pleased by the decimation of my grade point average.

But after Michigan's game against North Dakota on Saturday, I must admit ... I really couldn't care less. After all the sacrifices the Wolverines made, after they left everything they had on the ice in Yost, after they clawed back from being down by two goals - twice - to beat the Fighting Sioux - the least I can do is flush my grades down the tubes.

I know, I know. You academians are too intellectually sophisticated to care about something as base and brutish as a hockey game, but I think even you could've appreciated Michigan's play Saturday night.

After the first period, things didn't look good. Actually, things looked horrible. The Wolverines looked intimidated and scared in their own building. The Sioux were literally skating circles around them. After building a 2-0 lead, it seemed as though North Dakota - which averages about five goals per game - had nothing to worry about.

Even I had my doubts. Michigan outplayed Princeton the night before, but it took a lucky goal from Mark Kosick to put the game away. After a sloppy loss to Ohio State in the CCHA Tournament semifinals, I wasn't sure that the Wolverines had the resolve to pull off a big upset.

Every time I got my hopes up before a game against Michigan State, they were dashed to the ground summarily. Why should things have been any different against North Dakota?

WARREN ZINN/Daily North Dakota's Jason Blake stares down in disbelief after Michigan eliminated the Fighting Sioux from the NCAA Tournament.

I was dead wrong. And I've never been happier.

Somehow, I could tell at the opening of the second period that the Wolverines weren't going to just bow out of the game. The way they stepped onto the ice, a quick shuffle in their steps, showed me that they hadn't let the two-goal deficit defeat them.

This team really had learned from all its other games. These Wolverines really did know what it takes to win, and they did it.

There isn't one dominant angle to Michigan's performance. All the different aspects of the Wolverines' game came together. The past couple weeks, Michigan has lacked chemistry - missed passes, sloppy mistakes, the puck just refusing to go into the net. But all at once, everything clicked.

The Wolverines nullified North Dakota's amazing speed with their size and by moving the puck well. Their defensemen kept the Sioux out of dangerous open-ice situations, sticking to their men like glue.

WARREN ZINN/Daily Michigan's Matt Herr led the Wolverines with one of his most impressive games of the season on Friday. Herr had one goal and three assists against North Dakota.

The offense played with a precision it's lacked for awhile. The Wolverines made the extra pass and held back an extra second before shooting to get open looks at the net.

Matt Herr and the rest of the seniors skated with confidence - they simply would not lose. Junior Bobby 'Maize' Hayes recovered spectacularly from a nightmarish error in last weekend's game against Ohio State.

And the freshmen, well ... they just didn't look like freshmen. Mark Kosick proved he's one of the team's top playmakers. Josh Langfeld towered over almost everyone on North Dakota's team, and used his size to smash the Sioux silly.

The only thing missing was Hannibal from the A-Team saying, "I love it when a plan comes together." Because that's what happened. Everything just came together.

It was like a dream.

And when Michigan assistant coach Mel Pearson shouted and twirled a towel above his head after the Wolverines tied the game, 3-3, and the crowd at Yost went crazy, I knew Michigan was going to win. I knew the Wolverines were going to the final four.

And I knew there was no way I was going to make class.

But really - who cares?

We're going to Boston.

- Chris Farah can be reached via e-mail at cjfarah@umich.edu.

03-30-98