The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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������ michigan hockey Five Questions For Hockey Analyst Dave Huntzicker The Michigan hockey team ended October with a 6���1���1 ���Hopefully he can continue his development at Michigan. record and was ranked fourth nationally. The Wolverine sat I think it would be a benefit to him to come back and obvi��� down with U-M hockey analyst Dave Huntzicker for his im��� ously would be a benefit to Michigan because he immedi��� pressions of the team. ately bolsters your defensive corps, makes your power play What has surprised you the most early this season? better, and your penalty kill.��� ���The line on this recruiting class was that it was a good Does goalie Shawn Hunwick have to tone it down after class, but probably not a group that would contribute much being ejected for fighting at Northern Michigan? scoring. The idea was a lot of the guys were more role play��� ���He is who he is. When you try to change a kid, it doesn���t ers, with maybe one or two potential scorers, but from what work out. Shawn plays on that edge, and I think it helps. I���ve seen, they���ve all been chipping in to help fill that scor��� The thing he has to know is he can���t lose his cool like we ing void with the loss of Carl Hagelin, Scooter Vaughan and saw him do, because if he gets kicked out of the game then Louie Caporusso. ���The offense was a concern overall, and what we���ve seen is consistent scoring. Guys like [juniors] Lindsay Sparks and A.J. Treais have really stepped up and have embraced being go-to players. ���I think we all thought Treais could be that guy because of what we saw the past two years, but Lindsay is a bit of a surprise because he���s been in and out of the lineup, and usually there���s some��� thing Red Berenson thinks is missing from his game when you see that. ���We can���t start expecting these two guys to just carry the offense. They���re not Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik, where you just could lean on them night after night. Everyone has to chip in.��� How has the defense performed in the first month? ���You like what the older guys, [senior] Greg Pa��� teryn and [junior] Lee Moffie, are doing. They���re providing that presence on the blue line you���d expect out of experienced upperclassmen. I think [sophomore] Mac Bennett has really taken a big step forward from his freshman year. And then I think you have to be impressed with the freshmen, Brennan Serville and Mike Chiasson. ���You like their understanding of what Michigan is trying to accomplish. They���re playing within the system, doing the things that the coaches ask in terms of reversing the puck, going defender to Senior alternate captain Greg Pateryn has anchored a U-M blue line that surrendefender with it, positioning in front of the net, dered just 15 goals in the first eight games of the season. photo by lon horwedel picking up their man, and keeping the puck out of the center of the ice. who steps in at goalie? It���s [sophomore] Adam Janecyk or ���When they make a mistake, it���s not because they���re not [freshman] Luke Dwyer, and both kids were brought in to trying. It���s because physically the game is still fast for them be third-string goalies. ���Not having Shawn in the game scares me. And the prob��� or too physical. They still need to get bigger, stronger, more lem now is teams saw how he reacted when he got bumped confident on their skates, but that stuff will come, and right in the crease and they���re going to come after him all the now they���re playing the way the coaches want.��� time. They���re always going to push it that extra step to see Will this team welcome sophomore defender Jon Merif they can get him to react. And whether he gets a penalty rill back from suspension with open arms? or a teammate gets a penalty, teams will be satisfied either ���Generally, hockey teams are very forgiving, but it depends way. So he has to show really good restraint the next few on his attitude when he comes back. I think they���ll be happy weeks, and prove that he can���t be suckered into a scrum.��� to have him back because he���s one of the best defensemen Will this Michigan team be a national-title contender? in college hockey. ���I think Boston College and Denver are up there, and I ���You watch him and he makes the play every time because don���t think Michigan is a top-five team right now. That he just has this innate sense for the game when he���s on the doesn���t mean they won���t be by the end of the year. Every ice. season really boils down to the five teams playing the best ���Offensively, he will be a big boost. He���s extremely sharp when the NCAA Tournament starts, and Michigan can be with the puck in his own zone, and he has tremendous of��� that team, but not if they don���t improve dramatically.��� fensive instincts in the offensive zone. 104��� the wolverine��� ������ November 2011