Kornacki: Wolverines Say Goodbye to Turnaround Season
3/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
March 27, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- JT Compher kept finding a way to score the game-tying goal.
Steve Racine kept finding ways to stop an incredible barrage of shots by North Dakota, making 23 saves in the first period alone and 44 total in Saturday night's (March 26) game at U.S. Bank Arena.
But neither was enough to keep Michigan from losing the NCAA Midwest Regional championship game, 5-2.
However, it was a much closer game than that. The Wolverines and Fighting Hawks were tied with eight minutes remaining in the third period.
Then, in another way, it wasn't that close at all. By getting out-shot, 49-27, the game was a continual uphill struggle for Michigan.
It was a loss that stung for a team that won the Big Ten Tournament championship and found itself so close to the Frozen Four. Racine had to ask reporters for a short pause so he could compose himself while talking about what this season and his senior classmates, Cristoval 'Boo' Nieves and Justin Selman, meant to him.
It's hard to say goodbye to Michigan, and it also was difficult to say so long to a season that rekindled the greatness of a program that has won nine NCAA championships and played in 24 Frozen Fours.
"Maybe this team can be the start of future teams at Michigan getting back to the NCAA Tournament and have that opportunity to go to the Frozen Four," said Wolverine head coach Red Berenson, who had gone three years without reaching the tourney after making it a record 22 consecutive times.
Compher, the junior captain, was the heart and soul of this team. And he left it all on the ice in the last game of the season -- checking opponents, diving for loose pucks to negate breakaways, throwing his body into the fray constantly.
Berenson said: "JT gave us as good of leadership as we have had in a long time at Michigan. Right from the start of the season and again tonight, when the game was on the line and we were behind, it was JT Compher that kept getting us back in the game. His will is tremendous. As a captain, he does it by his effort every day. He is a workman-like player, but he is a second effort player. He won't give up. He is just a great kid to have on the team, and what a great role model for other players."
Compher led the nation with 47 assists and added 16 goals for 63 points, eclipsing his point total from his freshman and sophomore seasons combined.
He tied the score twice in the game and did so for the second time with 8:39 to play in the game.
"We got the power play, and Kyle Connor made the pass over to me," said Compher. "I think it was deflected by one of their defensemen, and it was lucky to go in. It was a big goal at the time, and we played well, moved our feet well to get the power-play opportunity."
Kyle Connor, who scored in 27 consecutive games to end the season, and Zach Werenski assisted on that goal that came on Michigan's first full power-play opportunity in two games here against Notre Dame and North Dakota.
However, the Fighting Hawks scored twice in a span of one minute and 14 seconds soon after to take the lead and then put it away. They later added an empty-netter.
"Racine kept us in the game," said Berenson. "It was up to us to score the goal for him.
"I thought he was terrific. There have been question marks regarding our goaltending the last three years, but I don't think there are any questions about it this year. He gave us a chance."
Racine "stood on his head," as hockey people say of goalies making acrobatic stops, but when the game was over he stood motionless in the crease. One by one, his teammates came up to hug him or slap him on the back.
It was the end of a defining season for Racine as well as classmates Nieves and Selman. When asked what the turnaround meant to him and his classmates, Racine said, "It was the best year of the four for sure. Every year was great. Just being at Michigan is the opportunity of a lifetime. It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'll..."
That got him choked up, thinking about the journey that was closing, and he asked to be excused for a few seconds. When he turned around, nodding that he was ready to resume, Racine was asked about the significance of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
"It was great," said Racine, who'd never played in one in three previous seasons. "No one knows what's going to happen with Coach (Berenson), and I think we left on pretty good terms there. It was a successful season all around, and we were (Big Ten) champs, making it to the final eight teams in the country. So, there's nothing to hold our heads (down about). We feel we deserved better and were hoping for better, but it was a pretty solid season all around."
Racine was central to the turnaround, but only he and Compher could produce as they had been this season in this game against what every Wolverine agreed was the best opponent they'd faced.
"The pace of the game was way faster than any game we've played this year," said Racine. "They had four solid lines that can beat first lines on other teams. Tip your hat to them."
Berenson said there were three key areas required to win the game: goaltending, checking North Dakota's best players and cashing in on opportunities. He said only Racine achieved the level of play necessary to win, stopping 44 of 48 shots.
The Wolverines kept pace on the scoreboard for 52 minutes despite a slow start but couldn't pull another one out of the fire in the third period.
They'd also trailed the Fighting Irish by one goal entering the final 20 minutes in Friday night's (March 25) 3-2 comeback win. And Michigan was down by one goal after two periods in the Big Ten championship game before rallying to beat Minnesota for the title.
The magic stopped in this one, though, and the Wolverines never had the lead.
Connor, who had five shots and some good opportunities, ended the season with 35 goals and 71 points to lead all Division I players in both categories as a freshman.
Motte, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Notre Dame to reach the championship game, assisted on both Compher goals to finish with 32 goals and 57 points. The scrappy junior surpassed the goals and points totals from his freshman and sophomore seasons combined while also leading the team with 70 blocked shots.
They formed the CCM Line with Compher centering them, and all three are on the short list of Hobey Baker Award candidates. Three finalists will be announced Thursday (March 31), and one or two of them could be in that group. The winner will be announced April 8, between the semifinals and finals of the Frozen Four. If only their teammates could've been there for that as well, playing for the national championship in Tampa, Florida.
But this team will have to settle for getting the Wolverines back on track. Compher was asked what he told his teammates afterward.
"I haven't really said anything," said Compher. "We'll all individually talk to each other. I'm really proud of this team. To get back to the tournament and to win a Big Ten championship is a big deal. Right now, it's tough to talk, and everyone knows that we love each other, we work together, and we left it all out on the ice tonight.
"The way we played in the playoffs for a lot of guys that have never been there or played big games there. We had a lot of guys step up all over the place, and it started with our seniors in the playoffs, and they were unbelievable for us. I think the way we came together in the playoffs. It stings coming up short, but that was Michigan hockey to win those three games before this."
Berenson stressed that senior forwards Nieves and Selman, as well as Racine, had easily their best seasons in their final years, praising their academic work as well as their outstanding play. Berenson, when asked about his seniors leaving, seemed to sum up the whole team's wide range of emotions with his answer:
"Well, right now it is a pretty empty feeling, but I think by the time the smoke clears a few weeks from now when the NCAA Tournament is over and all the regrets done, and the wish isn't that we could have been or should have been. Once all that is over, they are going to be so proud that they came to Michigan and they graduated. They all had their ups and downs in their seasons -- none of them had a great four-year career at Michigan. They all had all kinds of adversity, and they fought through it. They are three of our best players today."
Berenson, 76, is a big part of their development. Though, he'll downplay his impact if asked about it. He's in the final season of a three-year contract, and after his 32nd season, just as it's been for several years, questions abound as to whether he will retire.
When the interviews were complete, Berenson slung his bulky maize and blue duffel bag over his left shoulder and walked down a ramp toward the team bus. Reporters shot video of the scene with their phones, wondering if this was his last trip out of the arena as a coach.
That answer will come in the days ahead, but for now one thing was certain, the Wolverines were back.
