White predicted Irish's long run

BY MARK URBAN
murban@record-eagle.com

April 11, 2008 04:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Before the NCAA hockey tournament began, Justin White's family was looking into securing some last-minute plane tickets to watch him play at the West Regional.

"Save it for the Frozen Four," joked the Notre Dame junior center.

The Traverse City West graduate had no idea how prophetic he would be.

The Irish became the first No. 4 seed to reach the Frozen Four after knocking off top-seeded New Hampshire and defending national champion Michigan State in the West Regional.

Justin's father, Brian White, was in attendance at World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. But mother Lisa and the rest of the White family stayed home.

"They both always want to watch me play," Justin White said. "I just told her, 'Don't worry about it, we'll be playing another weekend.' I don't know if they believed me or not."

"He said, 'Don't worry about it, just go to the Frozen Four,' " Lisa White said. "I guess that's confidence. That's what they needed going into those games."

Brian and Lisa White will both be in attendance when the Irish make a return trip to Colorado, this time at The Pepsi Center in Denver, for the semifinals.

And there are more Whites joining them. Sister Chelsea, a sophomore at TC West, and brother Josh, a freshman at Western Michigan University, will also make the trip. So will an aunt and uncle on one side (Jeff and Kathy White of Eau Claire, Wis.), an aunt and cousin on the other (Tricia and Mila Cramer of Plymouth, Ind.) and another set of cousins (Ryan and Erin White of Minneapolis).

"I've got a lot of people out there," Justin White said. "I'm pretty excited."

Notre Dame's reward for knocking off two higher-seeded squads is a matchup with No. 1-ranked Michigan (33-5-4).

The Irish (26-15-4) play in the second semifinal tonight at 9 p.m. North Dakota (28-10-4) and Boston College (23-11-8) meet in the first game at 6 p.m., with the winners returning for the 7 p.m. title tilt on Saturday. Former Traverse City Enforcers goalie Aaron Walski plays for North Dakota.

"They're (Michigan) obviously a great team, otherwise they wouldn't be ranked No. 1," Justin White said. "You can't take anything away from them.

"They have two real big scorers (in Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik) and two lines that can score well. We're going to have to play real sound defensively against them."

Brian White echoed his son's comments.

"They have to play good defensive hockey," he said. "They have a lot of fast kids and their breakout is just unbelievable. We'll have to keep them to the outside of the rink, play good defense and get good goaltending."

Notre Dame faced Michigan twice during the Central Collegiate Hockey Association season, losing 3-2 on Jan. 18 in Ann Arbor and 5-1 the following night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Wolverines won the first meeting despite falling behind 2-0 less than six minutes into the game with White recording the second goal for the Irish. Michigan came back to win the game on Louie Caporusso's tally with 21 seconds remaining.

"They're a great team," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said of the Irish. "We played them well, I thought, earlier in the season. We're going to have to play better than we did then because obviously we lost in the last minute of play.

"We'll have to play the full 60 minutes because they're extremely talented. If we can play like we did (in the West Regional), we could have some success."

Notre Dame came into the NCAA tournament in an offensive slump. In its final two games of the CCHA tournament, the Irish were beaten 2-1 in succession by Miami of Ohio and Northern Michigan.

That all evaporated when Notre Dame routed New Hampshire 7-3 and topped Michigan State by a 3-1 score.

"It's hard to predict how these things happen," Jackson said. "We're certainly not going to complain about anything."

"The last couple of months it was kind of a struggle because we were having trouble scoring," White added. "Then we go out and score seven goals against the No. 1 seed and a great team in New Hampshire and then we score three more against a great goalie in (MSU's) Jeff Lerg.

"We definitely have a lot more confidence going into the Frozen Four than we did even going into the CCHA tournament. We played our best hockey at the right time."

White assisted on the final goal against Michigan State, his eighth helper among 12 points this season.

It came with White playing a wing instead of his usual center position. It gave the Irish a two-goal advantage with 4:40 to play.

"I was playing four lines, matching up with them until they shortened up to three lines," Jackson said. "I moved Justin from center to a wing. He's played with Christian Hanson and Evan Rankin a couple of other times and I remembered the chemistry they had against Western Michigan.

"(White's) a smart player and Christian is also. They made a couple of nice cycles, worked it out to Ted Ruth for a one-time shot and fortunately for us, he buried it. It was a nice, quick play and I think it caught Lerg off guard a little bit."

White said figuring into the box score wasn't most important.

"The point thing doesn't really matter," he said. "It was just nice to be part of the third goal, just to be able to put us another goal up. It really calmed the guys down on the bench.

"The game was definitely still within reach at that point, so it was nice to get a little bigger lead going down the stretch."

Brian White said getting a chance to watch his son play in the first round of the tournament was a thrill and it'll be even bigger in the semifinals.

"It was like a dream come true," Brian White said. "I was talking to him about when he first played squirts and when he came up through the (Grand Traverse Hockey Association) and some of the coaches he had, guys like Todd Spaulding and Mike Anton at TC West.

"With all the hard work he's put in, just having a chance to play in a tournament like this is a dream come true."

The appearance in the Frozen Four is the first for Notre Dame. The Irish have been to the NCAAs two other times, including last season in Jackson's second season with the Irish.

"We were all disappointed losing last year, being the No. 1 seed and not being able to make it out of regionals," White said. "So to do it this year as the No. 4 seed and kind of an underdog is extra nice. It's a real big step for our program."

Jackson, who led Lake Superior State to two national titles, said being the first No. 4 seed to reach the Frozen Four isn't the biggest thing.

"I don't know if it is being the four seed, it's about how our kids played in that event," Jackson said. "The guys elevated their game. They realized they had a second opportunity to prove some things."

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