{"id":29888,"date":"2008-04-10T13:59:01","date_gmt":"2008-04-10T18:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/04\/10\/regrets\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:14","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:14","slug":"regrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/04\/10\/regrets\/","title":{"rendered":"Regrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
One of the most difficult things to have in sports is regrets. When you’re on the national stage such as Michigan was at the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, that statement is magnified.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines’ regret came in the form of the opening 20 minutes of its national semifinal game against Notre Dame. Michigan started slowly, allowing the Irish to strike for three goals on nine shots.<\/p>\n
Though things turned around for the Wolverines — they dominated the second and third periods enough so that they drew even at three and then again at four after Notre Dame had grabbed a 4-3 lead — but it was Calle Ridderwall’s goal at 5:44 overtime sent Michigan packing and brought the regrets of the opening 20 minutes to the forefront.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, it wasn’t the start that we wanted but I liked the way our team regrouped in the second and third periods,” said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. “Then it was anyone’s game.”<\/p>\n
When talking to the players, you heard a consistent message. They were prepared and actually were confident that they came out of the gates well. <\/p>\n
“I thought our first few shifts, we started out well,” said Michigan forward Kevin Porter. “We got the puck in their end. But we just had a couple of bad turnovers and guys weren’t coming back. They capitalized on their chances.”<\/p>\n
“We came out with the intensity that we thought they needed and they got that first goal on a nice play,” said Michigan’s Chad Kolarik, who buried two goals as part of the Wolverines’ comeback. “Then they had a couple of lucky breaks and got a couple of bad goals.”<\/p>\n