The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
������ michigan hockey since U-M tallied 11 in a split with RIT Oct.��11-12. ���Our power play is clicking and we���re getting production there, and that���s huge for us,��� Lynch said. ���But obviously we���re not focused on our offense, but on keeping goals out. We don���t need to score four goals to win if we only give up one.��� The Wolverines haven���t allowed one goal or fewer since a 2-0 blanking of Western Michigan Dec. 15, and they have been that stingy in only three of 30 contests overall. It has been a nightmarish season, but head coach Red Berenson is not giving up on his team. ���I always have hope,��� he said. ���I always think there are players that can play better, and like I told our team: ���I don���t know if we���re a bad team with good players or we���re a team that doesn���t have good players that thinks they can be a good team.��� I think we���re somewhere in between. ���Can we play better? There���s not a guy in that locker room that can���t. And that���s what you���re always trying to find. And then with the emotion of the playoffs, and some momentum that you can get, that���s your last chance. ���I think we have a chance.��� Michigan Optimistic A No. 1 Goalie Will Emerge With the CCHA postseason quickly approaching, Michigan would like to stabilize its goalie situation, but while preparing for a two-game series at Ohio State Feb. 22-23, the Maize and Blue were still unsure who would start in net. Freshman Jared Rutledge had experienced success in earning a sweep of Michigan State Feb. 1-2, but he allowed 11 of Notre Dame���s 13 goals Feb.��8-9 and stopped just 80.4 percent of the shots faced. Classmate Steve Racine (4-5-2) and junior Adam Janecyk (3-7-0) haven���t fared much better this year, posting save percentages of .880 and .892, respectively, with goals-against averages both north of 3.00. U-M may end up turning to redshirt sophomore Luke Dwyer. The redshirt sophomore from Plymouth, Mich., has never appeared in a game for the Wolverines and hasn���t started a single contest in three years after giving up hockey altogether. ���He tried out for a junior team in Port Huron, and I was told he made the team but he had also been admitted to Michigan and opted to come to school,��� head coach Red Berenson said. ���We didn���t recruit him and he did not play on the club team so he didn���t play anywhere his freshman year at Michigan. But I heard he went to the Ann Arbor Ice Cube and skated. Every time they had open ice he was out there with his goalie equipment. ���It���s a pretty good story, and the next year we needed a third goalie so I looked him up and asked him if he was interested. By then he had been admitted to the business school, but he said he���d like to and he came on as our third goalie. ���Right now, we���re looking for a starting goalie and he has a chance. But I can���t tell you who is going to be that guy.���