April 9, 2007
NCAA Frozen Four

NOTRE DAME vs. MICHIGAN Thurs., April 10 • 9 p.m. ET • ESPN2 Team Capsules Coach's Take Semifinal 1 Preview

	Overall	Conference	Home	Away	Neutral
ND	26-15-4	15-9-4	11-4-3	10-6-1	5-5-0
U-M	33-5-4	20-4-4	15-2-2	9-2-2	9-1-0
	Goals/Gm.	GA/Gm.	PP Pct.	PK Pct.	PIM/Gm.
ND	2.89 (19th)	2.04 (5th)	.154 (33rd)	.896 (2nd)	13.3 (43rd)
U-M	3.95 (2nd)	2.00 (4th)	.205 (11th)	.869 (10th)	17.2 (10th)

Notre Dame: West Regional fourth seed
Notre Dame 7, New Hampshire 3
Notre Dame 3, Michigan State 1

Michigan: East Regional first seed
Michigan 5, Niagara 1
Michigan 2, Clarkson 0

Michigan's depth and talent up front is one of the things that makes this team great. The Wolverines are led by a top line of Kevin Porter, Chad Kolarik, and Max Pacioretty and are supported by a dangerous all-freshmen second line of Carl Hagelin, Matt Rust, and Aaron Palushaj. There's a good mix of size and skill up front for the Wolverines, and they're dangerous off the rush. Eight Michigan forwards have 10 or more goals and 20 or more points this season.

Notre Dame lost its best scoring threat when Erik Condra suffered a season-ending injury but other veterans such as Ryan Thang and Mark Van Guilder have picked up the slack. The Irish certainly rely on their top guys a lot more than Michigan, but are able to generate chances by working the wall and crashing the net. They won't often sustain pressure, but are opportunistic when chances come about. Also keep an eye on Kevin Deeth and Christian Hanson, Notre Dame's top two centers.

Led by Mark Mitera, Michigan's defense corps is unheralded. That doesn't mean that they aren't good, they just don't get a lot of attention. Mitera does it all and Chad Langlais plays on the top power-play unit for the Wolverines. Chris Summers plays an aggressive style and is an outstanding skater.

Notre Dame's group is led by senior Brock Sheahan who came to Notre Dame when the program was trying to improve and has seen the resurgence in Irish hockey over the last two years. Freshmen Ian Cole and Ted Ruth are excellent on the back line that is technically sound and aggressive. Kyle Lawson is another top-four defenseman for the Irish and was honorable mention All-CCHA.

The difference between excellence and just plain ol' OK for Michigan has been at the defensive end of the rink and Billy Sauer has been a big part of that. He joined the Wolverines program as a 17-year-old freshman and started right away. Two years of maturity and improvement have helped him produce a great season. His consistency this year has been his most important trait and he works well with a very young defense corps, of which Mitera is the veteran, and he's only a junior.

Jordan Pearce was named as Notre Dame's most valuable player and led the CCHA in goals-against average in league games with a 1.80 goals-against average. He won't be prone to make the jaw-dropping save but he stops the shots he faces and benefits from a good defense that clears any rebounds and ties up sticks and attacking players. Stylistically, he might remind some viewers of Miami's Jeff Zatkoff.

Both Notre Dame and Michigan boast penalty kills ranked among the top 10 in the country. The Fighting Irish own the second-best PK in the land, which should come as no surprise to those familiar with a Jeff Jackson-coached team. They'll pay extra attention to Porter and Pacioretty, who have a combined 24 power-play goals between them. Notre Dame's power play has struggled all season, and the absence of Erik Condra won't help, but the Fighting Irish got two big PPGs in their West Regional win against New Hampshire.

Experienced, successful coaches lead both sides.

Michigan hasn't faced much adversity this season and has rolled into the Frozen Four with 33 wins. It's a credit to Red Berenson and the Michigan staff that they have been able to channel the energy of a young roster while also imposing the discipline and responsibility that help them win.

Jackson has led a dormant Notre Dame program to its first ever Frozen Four. He won two national championships as head coach at Lake Superior State in the 1990s and has been able to build a defensively responsible group that knows how to win. They're facing a familiar opponent and Jackson's reputation for being an outstanding strategist might come into play on Thursday night, when he can game plan for the best way to limit Michigan's success.

WHY MICHIGAN WINS: The Wolverines are the best team in this tournament and won both regular-season meetings against the Irish this year. They have the firepower offensively and commitment defensively and know that two more wins will make an outstanding season most worthwhile by earning the school's first national title in 10 years.

WHY NOTRE DAME WINS: The Irish take on a familiar opponent and have nothing to lose. They'll be well-prepared and are soaring in confidence after beating New Hampshire and Michigan State during the West Regional in Colorado Springs. If Notre Dame can get ahead, or even keep the game close during the first two periods, they'll be ready to close the deal in the third period. Some late-game losses during the regular season were learning experiences and have paid off in the postseason.