The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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goal for us anymore," 1996 captain Steven Halko said. "We felt in our locker room we had a team that was good enough to win it all, and we weren't going to be satisfied with anything less than that." Backstopped by the best goalie in program history (Marty Turco) and led by the top overall player in Michigan's history (center Brendan Morrison), U-M went 27-7-2 dur‑ ing the regular season, winning the CCHA with a 22-6-2 mark, while sweeping the league playoffs. The Maize and Blue beat Minnesota 4-3 in the NCAA West Regional final, knocked off Boston University 4-0 in the national semifinals and scored a 3‑2 overtime victory over Colorado College in the NCAA championship game. On the ice, 25 Wolverines and their coaches celebrated, and across the country, wherever former players re‑ sided, many more joined in. "It was extremely gratifying to see Michigan win," Harlock said. "Espe‑ cially because those seniors in 1996 were freshmen when I was a senior. Steven Halko was my defense part‑ ner, and even though that wasn't my year, I felt I was a part of it because we helped lay the foundation. "That's the thing that gets over‑ looked a little bit, but there is no 1996 national title without the 1995 team or the 1993 team or the 1991 team or the guys that really had the hardest job in the very beginning of Red's career. There are a lot of great players that never received a championship ring but were every bit a part of that success because they paved the way." Halko couldn't agree more. "We were standing on their shoul‑ ders when we won," he said. "Both Brendan Morrison and Kevin Hilton at different times that Frozen Four weekend made a comment like, 'This is for all the players in the past that never had a chance to win a title. We couldn't have done this without you,' and that was the absolute truth. "When you talk about legacy, you can't pinpoint one season or one team, or even the two national cham‑ pionship teams — it's more than two decades' worth of teams that are re‑ sponsible for this streak. It's 30 years of guys that bought into Red's phi‑ losophy and helped make this pro‑ gram what it is." Berenson calls the 1997 team the most talented he's ever coached, but the Maize and Blue fell 3-2 to Boston University in the national semifinals. A year later, Michigan once again won the NCAA crown. Keeping It Alive G o i n g f o r w a rd , c o n f e re n c e championships and Frozen Fours wouldn't be good enough. Every team demanded a singular expecta‑ tion of itself — to win it all. "We went to three Frozen Fours, won the CCHA title twice during the regular season and twice in the tournament, but I still talk to guys I played with today that it just ticks me off that we didn't win a national title," said Jed Ortmeyer, captain in 2002 and 2003. Ortmeyer didn't really think much about the streak, but when he helped extend it to 13 consecutive seasons