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RedHawks Drop Heartbreaker to Michigan in CCHA Championship Game
March 22, 2008
Detroit, Mich. - In a hard fought battle from the opening puck drop all the way to the final horn, the RedHawks were unable to overcome a two-goal deficit and travel back to Oxford with the Mason Cup. Junior goaltender Jeff Zatkoff stood on his head to keep the RedHawks in the Championship contest, stopping 24 of the 26 shots Michigan put on net, including two saves on Michigan breakaways. Zatkoff was named to the All-Tournament team for his efforts. Showing his offensive prowess from the blue line once again was junior defenseman, Alec Martinez. With only 39 seconds remaining in the game, Martinez was able to blast a shot past Michigan's Billy Sauer, giving him his second goal of the tournament. Martinez was honored as one of the two defensemen on the All-Tournament team. Also earning All-Tournament accolades was senior captain Ryan Jones. Though he registered just one assist in the two games, Jones' gritty play and leadership kept the Red and White poised during the weekend. Michigan opened the game's scoring nearly half way through the second period, as freshman Aaron Palushaj one-timed a pass from Matt Rust behind Jeff Zatkoff. The goal was Palushaj's 38th point of the year, tying him with Northern Michigan's Mark Olver for the CCHA rookie scoring lead. At the 10 minute mark of the third period, Michigan pushed its lead to two goals, as the Wolverines' Brandon Naurato slid a puck into the back of Miami's net after the Maize and Blue won an offensive zone faceoff. The score was only Naurato's seventh of the season. As Miami had done the night before, the RedHawks scored within the last minute of the game with an extra attacker on the ice. Scoring for MU was Alec Martinez, netting his second goal in as many nights. Martinez is tied with Providence's Matt Taormina for the nation's lead in goals by a defenseman with nine.
The RedHawks worked feverishly over the last 40 seconds of the game, but as the contest ended, Michigan still held the 2-1 edge, winning its eighth league title and first since the 2004-05 season. The RedHawks will learn their NCAA tournament fate at 11:30am Sunday morning (March 23rd) on ESPN2. The NCAA Ice Hockey selection show will air live at 11:30am EDT on ESPN2. During the show, 16 teams will be selected to play in the NCAA tournament. Six Automatic Qualification bids will be awarded to the following schools: Air Force - Atlantic Hockey At-large bids will be awarded to the remaining ten teams. The at-large bids are selected based upon the Pairwise Ranking (http://www.uscho.com/rankings/pwr.php). Despite losing tonight's CCHA Championship game, the RedHawks are second in the Pairwise rankings only to the Michigan Wolverines. ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: TOURNAMENT MVP: Tim Miller - Michigan ATTENDANCE: 17,213 |
