The Wolverine

May 2014 Issue

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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M ichigan came within inches of beating Penn State and likely earning an NCAA bid — a puck spin- ning across the goal line only to be brushed aside at the last instant — but fell instead 2-1 in double over- time to the Nittany Lions March 20 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The loss, coupled with a few wins from other teams contending for an at-large berth, sidelined the Wol- verines for the NCAA Tournament, marking the second straight season U-M missed out. The Wolverines finished 14th in the Pairwise Rankings, but needed to fin- ish one spot higher with three teams ranked lower than U-M — Robert Morris (Atlantic Hockey), Denver (NCHC) and Colgate (ECAC) — winning their respective leagues and grabbing automatic bids. Had Michigan just beaten Penn State in that conference playoff game, it would have finished in a comfort- able 12th spot in the Pairwise. Had U-M not also blown a late 4-3 lead to the Nittany Lions in a Feb. 21 regu- lar-season contest, surrendering the tying goal with five seconds left in the third period en route to an over- time loss, the Maize and Blue would have sat eighth in the Pairwise Rank- ings, which is used as a blueprint for the NCAA Selection Committee. But beating Penn State proved overly difficult for the Wolverines this season — they went 2-3 against a PSU squad that went 5-24-2 against everyone else. "We basically controlled our own destiny," said senior captain Mac Bennett, who played in the national championship game as a freshman but closed his career without playing in the tournament his final two sea- sons. "We had to beat a team that we should have beaten, and we didn't. "The goal was to make the tourna- ment and we didn't reach that. Is   MICHIGAN HOCKEY Michigan Falls Short Of NCAA Tournament Again Andrew Copp, who earned honorable men- tion All-Big Ten recognition during his soph- omore campaign after leading U-M in goals (15), was elected team captain for the 2014- 15 season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL

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