The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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not beat Penn State, losing three of four to a Nittany Lions team in just its third season as a varsity program; and because the Big Ten provided little in terms of strength of schedule — with only Minnesota (No. 10) and Michigan (No. 19) finishing in the top 30 of the final Pairwise Rankings. "Teams that are rebuilding and are trying to take that next step and make the NCAA Tournament are the type of teams that talk about coming close, but that wasn't even in our rhetoric when Michigan was making the tournament, and it's unfortunate that's where we are now," Ruden said. "This is a team with the talent, there is no one disputing that the coaches continue to recruit at a re- ally high level, and it never should have come down to one game or one goal." Had U-M won the season series 3-1 against PSU like Minnesota did, it would have occupied a comfort- able at-large position for the NCAA Tournament, but the Blue and White have been Michigan's nemesis, going 6-3 overall against the Wolverines in the last two seasons. "We shouldn't have a losing record against Penn State," head coach Red Berenson said, almost in disbelief that his team's two-year mark is not a typo. The Maize and Blue can point to a number of reasons they struggled in 2014-15, including consistently poor goalie play, an inexperienced defense that made bad mistakes at inoppor- tune times, and an offense that came up short in marquee games, averag- ing 2.82 goals against 11 foes ranked in the final Pairwise Rankings top 20 compared to 4.31 goals in 26 games against non-ranked opponents. Most of Michigan's weaknesses, however, manifested away from home, with U-M going 5-10-0 in true road games. "We were swept three times at away-game rinks this year and that just can't happen," Compher said. "When you want to win a champi- onship and make the NCAA Tourna- ment, you have to be able to go into a building and play your game, and not get worried about the refs or the other team but play your game. "We did a really good job at home this year of dictating how we wanted the game to be played that was in our favor, but we didn't set the pace of the game when we'd go on the road." Moving forward with some un- certainty — Berenson has only one year remaining on his contract and a growing segment of the fan base is growing restless — Michigan under- stands it must shore up a few critical areas to compete for a Big Ten cham- pionship, an NCAA berth and, ide- ally, a Frozen Four appearance. Goaltending: Michigan's goalies this season combined for a 2.89 goals- against average and a .903 save percentage — pedestrian numbers considering 33 schools allowed 2.50 goals or fewer and 44 goalies posted a save percentage of .915 or better. Junior Steve Racine is a great enigma. In nine career playoff games, he is 7-2-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. In three additional contests at the Great Lakes Invitational — a mid-