In media poll, Michigan picked to win conference
Michael Eisenstein
Daily Sports EditorSeptember 30th, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS — Last year, Michigan coach Red Berenson was focused on reassuring Wolverine fans that the freshman-laden team was better than its predicted fourth-place CCHA finish.
“Nothing has changed at Michigan,” Berenson said a year ago, referring to the program’s consistent place among the conference’s top teams.
This season, with a Frozen Four behind them and a No. 2 national ranking, the Wolverines won’t be surprising anyone. Michigan was picked to finish first in the CCHA by the media (43 first-place votes), and second by the conference’s coaches (three first-place votes) behind Notre Dame, who ousted the Wolverines from the NCAA Tournament last April.
Miami (Ohio), Michigan State and Northern Michigan round out the top five in each poll.
“I just see this as being a good team right from the get-go,” Berenson said at yesterday’s CCHA Media day in Grand Rapids. “Last year we weren’t supposed to be good, (and) we surprised ourselves.”
The preseason all-conference teams, however, did contain a slight surprise. Sophomore right-winger Aaron Palushaj — an all-rookie honorable mention last year — was a first-team pick, garnering just one fewer first-place vote at forward than Fighting Irish captain Erik Condra. Palushaj led the league in assists and was the CCHA's top freshman scorer last season, but went unnoticed playing behind the Wolverines’ top line — the highest scoring in the country.
Captain Mark Mitera was also a first-team selection and received the most points among defensemen. Senior goalie Billy Sauer was named to the second team.
Goodbye ties: With the CCHA’s biannual rule changes taking effect this season, there will be two major differences at conference games: Shootouts to end ties and an extra referee calling penalties.
The shootouts — received by coaches with mixed reviews, according to CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos — will be used to break ties if a five-minute overtime period fails to do so.
Berenson was not overly enthusiastic about the new rule, but said he's interested to see how it works this season.
“I think it’s good for college hockey, I think it’s good for the fans and I know the players are excited for it,” Berenson said. “I’m an old-school guy, and I know I’m probably going to bite my tongue if we lose shootouts. That’s a tough way to lose a game. But still, I think it will be good.”
Berenson didn't vote for the officiating crew change, and is worried it doesn’t address the issue of having a “glorified goal judge” getting in the way of puck movement down low on offense. But he does like the protection it gives the puck handler coming up the ice.
“It’s going to create more penalties, and therefore more open play, more wide-open play because the players now know that there’s eyes behind them and eyes in front of them,” Berenson said.
Time flies when you’re having fun: Berenson has been behind the Michigan bench for 25 years, racking up two national championships, 10 CCHA regular season titles and eight conference postseason trophies.
But for the legendary coach, time is not standing still.
“I just look old, and 25 (years) might seem like a lot,” Berenson said. “But I’ll tell you what, the first five years took about 20 years, and the next 20 years took about five. That’s really how it’s been. Once we started winning, it’s gone by so fast and been so much fun compared to the first five years.”
Berenson wouldn’t say whether he plans to extend his expiring contract. But he said he's not focused on reaching the quarter-century mark.
“It’s a nice number, but people that worked on the railroad worked for 40 years or whatever, I mean a long time,” Berenson said. “There are coaches in our league who have coached longer than I have, I just happened to get a late start.”
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:06:43 -0500