Gold standard high enough motivation for 'M' hockey

On Friday afternoon, as the commodity exchange closed in New York, gold was worth a little less than $300 an ounce.

On Saturday night, as a bruised Michigan hockey team out willed Wisconsin to snap a devastating three-game skid, gold seemed to be worth something more.

After a painful 6-1 drubbing that came at the hands of Minnesota on Friday, and on the heels of two losses to Lake Superior State a week ago, Michigan found its character tested and its resolve questioned as it took the ice Saturday. With their backs against the wall, the Wolverines, clad in their gold sweaters, fashioned a 4-1 thriller to close the 1999 College Hockey Showcase as fans stood cheering after the teams filed off the ice.

Led improbably by a soft-spoken backup goalie, Michigan found its leader and a golden performance in junior netminder L.J. Scarpace. Shouldering the weight of his team's predicament, the rarely-tested Scarpace who started the year as the third-strin

KIMITSU YOGACHI/DailySean Peach and the Wolverines played hard-nosed defense in a 4-1 bounce-back victory over No. 3 Wisconsin.

ger, sparked his team with the calmness of a veteran as the Wolverines moved to 11-4 on the season.

In a game Michigan coach Red Berenson said his Wolverines had to win, Michigan rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the first period to avoid losing its fourth straight game at home for the first time in 11 seasons.

"It was a must win game," Berenson said. "When was the last time we lost three games at home, let alone four?"

"I don't know if that was our best game of the year, but it was close to it considering the opponent and all other things considered. We needed a game like that."

A defensive battle ensued early as both teams held the each other in check until Wisconsin's Dany Heatley found the Michigan net at 18:13 in the first period.

Screened from the play, Scarpace could only react as the shot from the point slipped past him and the Badgers went on top, 1-0.

More of the same defensive intensity held the game in a perpetual stalemate until late in the second period when Michigan led an offensive outburst that culminated in the score of Jay Vancik at 19:37 of that period. Vancik's strike from the left circle just before the close of the period seemed to bring new life to a Michigan offense that's stumbled to find it way in games past. And as a thankful Michigan hockey team enveloped the forward

in embrace, an entire arena breathed a sigh of relief.

"That goal gave us a lot of momentum," Berenson said. "We needed to score and we had a lot of chances. To get that goal, we felt we had the momentum a from then on."

That momentum showed itself in the inspired defense that Michigan was able to play in the next two periods. Keeping Wisconsin off the board while sparking an offensive charge, the Wolverines used every thing they had to thwart a Wisconsin resurgence.

"That's team defense," Berenson said. "There was a lot for ugly play as the game went on as we were playing desperate hockey."

If ever a time for desperate hockey, Berenson and his team knew it was Saturday in the game's decisive third period. With the score tied midway through the final period, Scott Matzka found fellow freshman Mark Mink streaking to the right side boards. A

cross-ice pass found Mink before the forward flipped it past Wisconsin's Graham Melanson for the score. In a flash of red light and in a heap of gold, Michigan had taken

the lead and the game while finding its pride.

"There's a lot of desperation coming in on a three-game slide, Mink said. "We were focused and we knew what we had to do."

The Wolverines added a score by Jeff Jillson moments later at 8:57 of the third before Jed Ortmeyer knocked it an empty netter to secure the win at 19:13.

The win marked a bittersweet end to a the College Hockey Showcase that Michigan kicked off while on the receiving end of a 6-1 shelling from Minnesota. Four Gopher shots into the affair, Michigan found itself trailing behind a three goal deficit from which it would never recover as Kevin O'Malley was replaced in goal by Scarpace. Andy Hilbert added his fifth goal of the season late in the third to keep the Gophers from blanking Michigan. His efforts were too little too late, however, as Minnesota added a goal in the third to go along with two in the second as they moved to 5-7-1 on the year.

Michigan meanwhile refused to relinquish the weekend as they fought from the corner they had backed themselves into the next night dressed in gold. And in the end Michigan's golden performance kept them undefeated this season in the rarely-seen regal threads.

"When we saw those jerseys come out tonight it gave us a little more jump right off the bat," Vancik said.

And if that's all it takes for a team to turn a young season around, maybe gold is worth more than we thought.

11-29-99