Thursday, March 27, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Just about everybody who follows college hockey sees the Michigan Wolverines as prohibitive favorites to become the first repeat champion since Boston University in 1972.
Wolverines coach Red Berenson is taking the cautious approach.
"We're not talking about winning the championship. We're looking only at getting into the championship," he insisted after his team arrived at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee to prepare for today's NCAA Final Four semifinal against Boston University.
The Wolverines, behind a nine-member senior class that has won more games than any team in the program's 75-year history, are 35-3-4, and their three losses have been by a total of four goals. They've scored 91 times on power plays and have held the top ranking for all but one week this season.
Boston University coach Jack Parker, whose team is 25-8-6, said he has mixed feelings about being in this year's tourney.
"To be here on the 50th anniversary is really something special for me," Parker said. "I don't know if I'll be glad to be here (tonight). They are definitely the team to beat."
"The one thing I keep telling our players is this isn't about who the best team in the country is. It's all about who's going to win a tournament," Colorado College coach Don Lucia said. "We're happy not to be playing any of these teams best-of-7."
Lucia's Tigers (25-14-4) faced North Dakota (29-10-2) in the first semifinal today. The winners meet for the title Saturday.
The Wolverines are led by forwards Brendan Morrison and Jason Botterill, both of whom spurned NHL offers to return for their senior years and another shot at the national championship. Botterill left $1 million on the table from the Dallas Stars.
"We had some guys turn down some East Coast League contracts to come back to Colorado College," Lucia quipped.
"We're a more experienced team than we were last year," said Berenson, whose Wolverines defeated Colorado College 3-2 in overtime for the title last year.
"Our kids have been led pretty much by the class that led us during the stretch run last year, which was our junior class. And of course they're now seniors and there's nine of them," Berenson said. "They're the nucleus of our program. I'm glad we're here this year. I'm sure you won't see us here next year."
This year is another story.
But Berenson has warned his team that titles aren't won on talent alone.
"We're a team that's pretty good with the puck, and I think we're a decent team without the puck, but when you get to this level, I don't think all the statistics are going to matter," he said. "I think it just comes down to who plays the hardest and who gets the luckiest and maybe who has the best goalie."
By that standard, Colorado College just might have something to say about Michigan's repeating. Senior goalie Judd Lambert is 11-1 in postseason starts.
"Lambert, the way he's playing right now, it's amazing how smart you look as a coach when your goaltender has put on a run like he has," Lucia said. "But that's what you expect from a senior. How far we're going this weekend is going to be on his shoulders."
North Dakota, making its first Final Four appearance since the school's 1987 championship, was 3-1-1 against Colorado College this year, including a 5-1 victory in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association title game.
"But I think Colorado College was a little bit tired," Fighting Sioux coach Dean Blais said. "All the other games were close."
* NHL IN JAPAN: Next stop for the NHL: the Far East. The league said Wednesday that the Anaheim Mighty Ducks will open the 1997-98 season with two games in Japan against the Vancouver Canucks, the first regular-season games in league history to be played there. NHL teams have played preseason and postseason games in Europe and Japan, but never regular-season games. The 1998 Olympic Games at Nagano in February will feature for the first time NHL players competing for their respective countries. "This kicks off a real big season for us," said Vancouver general manager Pat Quinn, whose team will play host to the NHL All-Star game in January. "We're proud to be the team with Anaheim that was selected to go, and hope to be great respresentatives for the National Hockey League." Vancouver and Anaheim will depart for Japan on Sept. 29 and return following the second game. The games will be on Oct. 4-5. Games will be telecast in Japan on TV Tokyo and WOWOW, along with CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and ESPN in the United States, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
* U.S. WOMEN ROMP: When coach Ben Smith put together the top line of the U.S. women's national ice hockey team a few days ago, he figured he had a pretty good unit in Cammi Granato, Karyn Bye and Sandra Whyte. He was right. The trio combined for six goals and 10 assists Wednesday night as the U.S. swamped Russia 13-0 in an exhibition game. "We got one early, and it just seemed to flow from there," said Granato, who scored twice and had three assists one day after her 26th birthday. "That's the way we work. Once we get one, the rest seem to come." The Americans scored six goals in the second period -- three in a 27-second span -- to break open the game, the final tuneup for both teams for the Women's World Championship. The tournament, which will decide the five teams that go to the Winter Olympics in Japan next year, gets under way Monday in Kitchener, Ontario. The United States plays Norway in its first game. "This was a little confidence-builder for everyone," said Granato, who switched from center to left wing to accommodate her linemates. "Every line contributed. I think we needed that before we went into the worlds." Just like they did in Tuesday night's 7-0 win over Russia, the U.S. women dominated the game. They outshot Russia 108-23 in the two games and are itching for another shot at perennial international champion Canada. This time, they think they've got the team to win the title at the World Championship.
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