The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
������ michigan hockey and we were basically a .500 team, and we���re way below that right now ��� but we don���t have any doubt in our mind that we can win any game we play. ���We have our backs against the wall and we know we have to win the CCHA Tournament.��� Michigan was 19-17-1 in 2010 when it won six straight CCHA postseason contests to take the league title and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Maize and Blue then upset Bemidji State in the Midwest Regional semifinals, but fell 3-2 in overtime to Miami (Ohio) in the final. That team rode incredible defense and goaltending (swept up in the momentum of Shawn Hunwick���s emergence in net) to its postseason success, allowing just 1.63 goals against in eight games. This year���s squad, however, ranks 57th nation- ally in team defense, permitting 3.63 goals per contest after giving up 13 markers in back-to-back losses at Notre Dame Feb. 8-9. For the Wolverines to have any chance of advancing beyond even the first round of the CCHA Tournament March��8-9, their team defense has to improve considerably. ���We���re trying every day to get better as a group,��� sophomore defenseman Mike Chiasson said. ���We���re working on individual skills and forecheck, working on picking up guys on the back check. We���re trying every single day to improve and play the kind of hockey we need to play to be successful and win the games we have to have.��� Michigan���s offense seemingly came alive against the Fighting Irish ��� its eight goals represented the most in 11 CCHA weekend series this season and the most in a single weekend hockey Notebook ��� The CCHA, celebrating its final season before the league disbands ��� Michigan will join the six-team Big Ten next year ��� recently named former Wolverine forwards Kevin Porter and T.J. Hensick to its All-Decade Team for 2000-13. The 2008 Hobey Baker Award winner, Porter captained the Maize and Blue to CCHA regular-season and tournament titles and a berth in the Frozen Four during his senior year, notching 33 goals and 30 assists. His 33 markers were the most by a U-M skater in a single season since Jason Botterill had 37 in 1997. Porter had 24 goals and 34 assists in 2007, and finished his career with 85 markers and 98 helpers for 183 points. One of the top playmakers in Michigan history, Hensick ranks fourth all time at U-M with 147 assists from 2004-07. He also ranks eighth in points with 222 after tallying 75 goals. Hensick led the Wolverines in scoring in 2004, 2006 and 2007, becoming only the fourth skater to do so in three seasons, joining Brendan Morrison (1995-97), Brad Jones (1985-87) and Gordon McMillian (1946-49).