Postgame Notes: #4 Minnesota 3, #7 Michigan 2 (OT)
4/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
• Michigan concludes its season with a 30-10-3 record, marking the ninth 30-win season in school history and the first since the 1997-98 campaign.
• The Wolverines made their NCAA-record 22nd Frozen Four appearance.
• U-M has lost each of its last three semifinal games in the NCAA Frozen Four, including the last two to Minnesota. Michigan, which lost to the eventual national champion in 2001 and 2002, fell by an identical 3-2 margin to the Gophers last season.
• Tonight's game marked the first overtime postseason contest of the year for Michigan. For the season, U-M was 1-2-3 in overtime, including 0-2-0 at Buffalo's HSBC Arena. The Wolverines dropped a 5-4 (ot) decision to North Dakota in the finals of the Xerox College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo on Oct. 12. In the NCAA Tournament, U-M is 6-7 in overtime games.
• Tonight's game was Michigan's first overtime game in the NCAA Tournament since 2000, when U-M defeated Colgate 4-3 in the first round of the East Regional in Albany, N.Y.
• Michigan was 4-6-0 in one-goal games this year, and the Wolverines were 26-4-1 when leading after two periods.
• The Wolverines scored the game's first goal for the sixth straight outing and finished the season 22-3-1 when lighting the lamp first.
• U-M suffered its first loss of the season after opening the game with a two-goal lead. Prior to tonight's contest, the Wolverines were 12-0-1 when scoring the game's first two goals.
• J.J. Swistak skated as a forward during the game due to an injury to Milan Gajic. Swistak had been lining up as a defenseman since Jan. 31 due to a shortage of U-M blueliners.
• Jeff Tambellini finished the season with a point in 12 of his last 16 games, totaling 8-10-18 during that time. Tambellini, who finished his rookie year with 45 points (26-19-45), tied Gary Butler (1962-63) for 11th place on the U-M single-season scoring list for freshmen. Thirty-two (16-16-32) of Tambellini's 45 points were tallied in the second half of the season.
• Jed Ortmeyer finished his career with a goal in five of his last seven games, totaling 6-0-6. Ortmeyer, who scored a goal in four of his last five career NCAA Tournament games, tied Dwight Helminen for the most goals by a Wolveirne in the postseason.
• Brandon Kaleniecki scored his first goal since the regular-season finale March 8 at Ohio State, snapping a six-game goal-scoring drought.
• Andrew Ebbett posted a point in eight of his final 13 games, totaling 2-6-8, and accumulated 19 (4-15-19) of his 27 points in the second half of the campaign.
• Al Montoya established U-M freshman goaltending records for wins (30), save percentage (.911) and games played (43). Marty Turco posted 27 wins in 1994-95, while Josh Blackburn played in 41 games and posted a .905 SV% in 1998-99.
