The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/299859
MICHIGAN HOCKEY bit better, and should be ahead of any freshman you could replace them with," Powers said. "Phil could have come back and had an All-American senior year, and that's what we were hoping and pushing for." A 2010 third-round pick of the Dal- las Stars, Guptill scored 44 goals with 50 assists in his career, hitting double digits in markers each of his three seasons. The 6-3, 183-pounder was the CCHA Rookie of the Year in 2012 after leading Michigan with 16 goals and 33 points. He followed up his successful freshman campaign with another 16-goal output and a career- high 20 assists in 2013, before finish- ing with a career-low 25-point cam- paign this past season. U-M will bring in four freshman forwards next season — Dylan Lar- kin, Dexter Dancs, Tony Calderone and Alex Talcott — along with de- fensemen Cutler Martin and Sam Pi- azza. Larkin was recently projected as a first-round NHL Draft selection this summer. ❑ HOCKEY SEASON REWIND Overall Record: 18-13-4. Final Top-20 Ranking: 15th. Pairwise Ranking: 14th. Best Win — 3-2 over Wisconsin: Michigan's first (3-1 versus Boston College) and last (6-2 versus Minnesota) wins were both memorable, but the 3-2 victory over the Badgers Feb. 1 was an incredibly competitive and entertaining affair that came to a conclusion only after U-M goalie Zach Nagelvoort stoned UW on three shootout attempts and senior forward Luke Moffatt buried his chance. Moffatt had been the hero earlier in the contest, too, registering the game-tying goal at 7:02 of the third period. Nagelvoort was outstanding, with 25 saves on 27 regulation/overtime shots and even better in the shootout. Worst Loss — 5-4 to Penn State: Take your pick of three losses to the Nittany Lions. One could easily argue for the 2-1 double-overtime defeat in a Big Ten quar- terfinal March 20 that effectively ended Michigan's season. However, this Feb. 21 contest was especially nightmarish after U-M blew a 3-1 first-period lead only to go up 4-3 late in the third and then surrender the game-tying marker with 4.6 seconds remaining on the clock. PSU subsequently put Michigan out of its misery with the overtime game-winner. MVP — Zach Nagelvoort: When sophomore goalie Steve Racine went down with a groin injury early in the year, Michigan's season could have unraveled right there. Instead, Nagelvoort stepped in and went 4-2-0 in six starts with a 1.83 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. He and Racine jockeyed for the starting role much of the rest of the season, but Nagelvoort would start 18 of 27 contests, and he was consistently the anchor for the Wolverines. He finished the year with the top single-season freshman goals-against average (2.20) of all time