It’s easy to say it in retrospect: A 43-13 shot advantage doesn’t mean anything if you can’t bury your chances.

The Michigan hockey team dominated Air Force offensively from the start of the NCAA Tournament first-round game, but couldn't light the lamp once. Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening turned away 43 pucks, extending his shutout streak to more than 218 minutes by the end of the Falcons’ 2-0 defensive stranglehold on Michigan.

“We had our chances,” sophomore forward Matt Rust said. “Everyone had more than their fair share of chances. It was just one of those nights.”

Four seasons ago, another Michigan team went home unusually early after its 5-1 first-round loss to North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Sioux were led by goalie Jordan Parise and his .971 tournament save percentage.

“They buried their chances, and we didn't,” then-senior captain Andrew Ebbett said after Michigan’s opening-round loss in 2006. “We had our opportunities. It just wasn't meant to be.”

Sound familiar?

There’s no debating the bounces didn’t go the Wolverines’ way. But both losses highlight what has been missing on the ice since Marty Turco and Josh Blackburn were between the pipes in the late 1990s and early 2000s: A goalie that is good enough to carry Michigan through the NCAA Tournament.

Turco is the only goalie under Michigan coach Red Berenson who has made it to the NCAA Championship game. The Wolverines won on both trips in 1996 and 1998. Blackburn, now the team’s volunteer goaltending coach, went to the Frozen Four twice and had more than his fair share of tournament heroics from 1998 to 2002.

But Michigan, despite consistently getting strong goaltending throughout the regular season in recent years, hasn't found another goalie since Blackburn that thrives in the high-pressure NCAA Tournament.

In 2005, Al Montoya let up four in a row, giving up a few too many rebounds to surrender a 3-0 lead against Colorado College. In 2006, Noah Ruden, who had split time with then-freshman Billy Sauer, surrendered five goals to North Dakota. And the next two seasons, Saueritis struck in the postseason. The now-senior gave up seven goals in 2007's first-round loss and three in the first period of last year’s Frozen Four.

And that’s what makes Friday’s loss all the more frustrating. Sophomore goalie Bryan Hogan didn’t lose the game for Michigan, by any means. Berenson didn’t like either of the goals Hogan let in, but when you have the CCHA’s best offense, two goals feel like a paper cut, not a season-ending blow. And Air Force played great defense down the stretch, clearing out rebounds almost perfectly.

What’s frustrating is that once again, the Wolverines still don’t have that shutdown goalie — that netminder that could steal a game like Turco or put up career-best save numbers in the tournament like Blackburn. Michigan got to witness that type of performance, but it was on the wrong end of the ice.

Hogan faced just 13 shots, so he couldn’t have “stolen” the game. But a save percentage of .846 will only get you a chartered flight home a night early.

It’s not teachable, and there’s no science to it. In the last few weeks of the season, coaches say to let goalies just do their own thing to keep up their confidence. And a hot goalie can be untouchable.

Boston College rode John Muse and his 1.67 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in the single-elimination bracket last season to a national championship. And Michigan fans know all too well about Spartan goalie Jeff Lerg. His 1.25 goals against and .954 save percentage in the 2007 tournament speak for themselves: Michigan State won the whole thing.

But damn, you have to hope Jack Campbell, one of the country’s top prospects, has got it in him when he comes to Ann Arbor in 2010.

Because, as everyone knows, hot goaltending means you’re filling the trophy case. Anything else, and you’re reading columns like this.

—Eisenstein will still be in D.C. for the Frozen Four because he’s going home for Passover. He can be reached at mseisen@umich.edu.