The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"You're just not sure what you're getting night after night, or even pe- riod to period," Ruden said. "It's just a matter of having all three pieces — defense, forwards and goaltending — peaking at the same time. "They've had goaltending break- downs, defensive turnovers at the most frustrating times, the offense sputtering or freshmen playing like freshmen. "When only one or two facets are clicking, you see a middle-of-the- pack team. When all three are click- ing, you see a top-caliber team." A case in point was against Min- nesota, when U-M looked solid — losing 3-2 in overtime despite largely outplaying the Golden Gophers — even in defeat. "We proved we're not out of place with the best teams," Berenson said. "Everybody is good this time of the year whether you're a first-place team or last-place team, particularly going in the playoffs. "I think we learned something against Minnesota. We learned how hard you have to play every night. We've been stressing that all year, but maybe we were too young or weren't ready — but we're ready now. We're playing better hockey than a month ago, and that was our goal." Will it last? Michigan has a matchup with Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tour- nament. If the Wolverines play with the urgency they unleashed against the Gophers, they should win easy. But handling success has been this team's Achilles' heel. "You never know until it happens, but I think we learned our lesson," sophomore alternate captain Andrew Copp said. "You have to step on their throats." Unlike last year, when goalie play proved largely Michigan's undoing — U-M's .885 save percentage was its lowest mark in more than a de- cade — forwards, defensemen and netminders Steve Racine and Zach Nagelvoort are all culpable in the up- and-down play. Michigan has actually scored at a higher clip in the second half (3.28 goals per game) than the first half (2.94-goal average), but those num- bers were inflated by a pair of seven- goal outbursts. In the Wolverines' 16 other games, they averaged 2.81 goals per game. Defensively, Michigan's results have spiked, but not in a good way. The Maize and Blue allowed only 2.00 goals per game in their first 16 games, but surrendered 3.06 in their next 18, with their goalies' save per- centage tumbling by 30 percentage points (from .940 to .910). "In the end, it just comes down to bearing down on every shift and ap- DIGITAL BONUS: CLICK THE ICON TO PLAY OR STOP THE PODCAST The Wolverine talks with former goalie Noah Ruden