Young Wolverines appear to be coming of age in postseason play

The University of Michigan’s Wolverines will have 13 freshmen and sophomores in their lineup when they play the University of Maine’s Black Bears in their first round Midwest Regional game Saturday at 3:30 at Michigan’s Yost Ice Arena.

“We’ve been kind of a team by committee,” said 19th-year Wolverine coach Red Berenson, whose team will be making its 13th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. “We lost our top goal scorer [Mike Cammalleri] off last year’s team along with our top defenseman [Mike Komisarek].”

Cammalleri, who had 23 goals in 29 games, and Komisarek, who had 11 goals and 19 assists in 40 games, decided to leave school early to sign with Los Angeles and Montreal, respectively.

“I see us as a .500-type team against the top teams in our league anyway,” said Berenson. “I don’t think we had a winning record against any of the top teams.”

But the 28-9-3 Wolverines went 5-0-2 down the stretch and claimed their second straight CCHA tournament title.

“We’ve had to ask our freshmen and sophomores to play like sophomores and juniors,” said Berenson.

“We don’t have a one-line or a one-player team. And we’re thin on defense. We have a no-name defense,” added Berenson.

The Wolverines do have the CCHA Rookie of the Year in left winger and leading scorer Jeff Tambellini (26 goals, 17 assists, 174 shots on goal). He was also a second team All-CCHA pick.

“He has had a good year,” said Berenson. “When he gets his chances, he can score.”

“I was very impressed with his shot and how much he shoots it. He has a great release and he’ll shoot it from anywhere,” said Western Michigan coach Jim Culhane.

Tambellini’s linemates, seniors John Shouneyia (7 & 28) and Jed Ortmeyer (16 & 16), are second and third on the team in scoring.

Ortmeyer, the MVP of the CCHA Tournament, is actually tied in scoring with sophomore center Dwight Helminen (17 & 15).

The Wolverines have at least one 10-goal scorer on each of their four lines.

Helminen’s left winger, Eric Nystrom is a 13-goal scorer as is third line left wing Brandon Kaleniecki.

Fourth-line center David Moss has scored 14 goals and his right wing, Milan Gajic, has scored 10 times.

“They’re a very good team,” said Michigan State coach Rick Comley. “They don’t have any [Vancouver Canucks star and ex-Wolverine] Brendan Morrisons yet but Tambellini is going to be an elite player and they have a lot of talented, fast young guys who really come at you.”

Michigan averaged 3.95 goals per game, sixth best in the country.

Comley said Michigan’s defense corps is “very business-like” and Culhane said any deficiency is negated by the fact “they work so hard, you don’t spend much time in their zone.”

Their top scoring defensemen are tandem mates sophomore Brandon Rogers (4 & 21) and freshman Danny Richmond (3 & 19).

Like Tambellini, Richmond was chosen to the CCHA’s All-Rookie team along with Wolverine goalie Al Montoya.

Sophomore defenseman Nick Martens leads the team in plus-minus at plus-20.

Montoya, who leads the nation in minutes played with 2358:45, has played “pretty well” according to Berenson.

He has a 28-9-3 record, a 2.34 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

The Wolverines have exceptional special teams. Their penalty-killing unit is second best in the nation at an 89.4 percent success rate. Helminen has four shorthanded goals.

“They really attack you all over the ice on the penalty kill and they anticipate where the puck is going so well. They’re also gritty. They’ll block shots.”

But Berenson said, “It hasn’t been a strength of our team of late. We’ve given up nine power play goals in the last 10 games.”

Their power play is operating at 22.2 percent and seven players have at least four power play goals. Tambellini and Nystrom have a team-high six each.