• Michigan has played three straight games against WCHA teams to earn the chance to face another WCHA team for the national championship Saturday. “I think that’s a little bit of luck,” said senior forward Louie Caporusso. “It’s just the way the chips have fallen. We have a pretty good record against the WCHA teams and I like playing them.”
• Sophomore forward Kevin Lynch is trying to remain calm. “Kind of lost some sleep over [winning] last night. We are really excited for this, especially because we thought we played a solid game last night and [Shawn Hunwick] was pretty strong in net. It’s pretty crazy to think you’re playing for a national championship in 24 hours or so, and we are just trying to keep our emotions pretty low.”
• Senior forward Scooter Vaughan put the semifinal win into perspective. “Tomorrow night, we’ve got the biggest game of our lives, all our lives. We have to keep our focus. We all have roles. We all know what we need to do — blocking shots, beating guys back to the front of the nets. So as long as we do that, stick to the game plan, we’ll be OK.”
• Junior forward Luke Glendening praised Vaughan, who had the empty-net goal against North Dakota — his 14th of the season but just his 16th of his career. “Scooter’s taken whatever role he’s been given and run with it. He was a great defenseman when he played defense and this year and he’s excelled at a forward position. It’s guys like him that really carry this team. He’s a great role model.”
• Coach Red Berenson said that at Michigan — a program to which the term “elitism” is often applied — blocking shots hasn’t come easy to the Wolverines. “At Michigan, you have to coach it,” said Berenson, drawing a big laugh from the press. “A lot of these guys never blocked a shot in their life until they to got Michigan, and believe me, they don’t like practicing it.”
• Berenson also talked about an overall sense of entitlement among incoming college players. “I think that’s the biggest challenge for any coach nowadays. It seems like a lot of the younger generation, they feel entitled: entitled to a role, entitled to this, entitled to that and not as willing to work for it.”
• Junior defenseman Brandon Burlon will not play this weekend. He’s recovered from esophagitis but hasn’t played in a month and is still lacking strength.
• Freshman defenseman Jon Merrill now has two assists in three NCAA games and is tied for fourth all-time for points among Wolverines freshmen defensemen with seven goals and 18 assists.
• Senior forward Ben Winnett’s game-winning goal against North Dakota was the 20th of his career but his first in 21 games dating back to Dec. 30.
• Michigan is 12-12 all-time in NCAA semifinal matches.
