The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN HOCKEY Wolverines Improve To 2-1-1 In Outdoor Games NOTEBOOK HOCKEY • Michigan's athletics department is in discussions with the NHL to host the 2013 Winter Classic. The annual event, which occurs on New Year's Day, would likely pit the De- troit Red Wings against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium, according to reports by Yahoo.com and ESPN.com. According to Yahoo, U-M was ini- tially skeptical about hosting the game — considered the crown jewel of the NHL season — but has changed its tune in recent weeks, with athletics director David Bran- don issuing a statement acknowl- edging the NHL had approached him about the Winter Classic. The NHL is expected to announced Senior David Wohlberg, right, scored the second of two goals that came 28 seconds apart in the second period of U-M's 4-1 win over Ohio State Jan. 15 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL M ichigan earned its second con- secutive victory in an outdoor hockey game, and improved to 2-1-1 outside overall, with a 4-1 victory over Ohio State Jan. 15 at Progres- sive Field in Cleveland. More impor- tantly, though, the Wolverines earned a weekend sweep of the Buckeyes complete with a 4-0 win in Columbus Jan. 13, to jump from seventh to third in the CCHA standings. "Overall, it was a good game for Michigan to win in the CCHA stand- ings," head coach Red Berenson said. "We're quite a ways behind Ohio State [34 to 29 points], so that was an important victory. "In the big picture, it was a great spectacle and everyone that put that together did a lot of work for it. I think it came off really well. We have no complaints with the facilities and the people were terrific. The ice was fine; it was as good as any of the other outdoor games." U-M had done the outdoor game before — in the fall of 2001 at Michi- gan State (a 3-3 tie), in February 2010 at Wisconsin (a 3-2 loss) and in De- cember 2010 against rival MSU at The Big House (a 5-0 shutout win). So the pageantry of playing outdoors didn't overwhelm the Maize and Blue's senses, and their comfort was key to racing out to a 2-0 lead after 74 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2012 one period of play. OSU drew within one, but the Wol- verines scored twice 28 seconds apart in the second period to take a com- manding 4-1 lead and then went into prevent defense mode the rest of the game to preserve the victory. "You saw after they scored their goal it was a big uprising for them," senior forward David Wohlberg said. "Then when we go out and we score two real quick goals — it's a big push for us and I think it emptied their spirits a little bit and helped us play better." Ohio State entered the weekend ranked second nationally and first in the CCHA, but the Buckeyes couldn't solve U-M fifth-year senior netminder Shawn Hunwick, who had 77 saves on 78 shots (.987 save percentage), and couldn't stop Wohl- berg and his linemates of junior Chris Brown and freshman Alex Guptill — the trio had four markers and seven assists with a plus/minus of plus-17 during the weekend. Michigan, which earned its first conference sweep since Oct. 27-28, jumped from 15th to 10th in the polls after the series. AS HIGH NHL DRAFT PICKS The NHL released its midterm rankings for June's draft-eligible WOLVERINES PROJECTED the location of the 2013 Winter Clas- sic and the participatory teams by Jan. 29. ESPN.com confirmed that sources indicate the game will be played in Ann Arbor but that all other Winter Classic events will oc- cur in Detroit, with the potential for the annual Great Lakes Invitational (a late December tournament) to take place outdoors at Comerica Park (home of the Detroit Tigers). The Big House holds two atten- dance records, setting the mark, re- gardless of sport or event, with an announced crowd of 114,804 for the 2011 night football game against Notre Dame while also holding the hockey attendance record when 104,173 fans attended The Big Chill in December 2010 between Michi- gan and Michigan State. skaters and goalies in January, with six future Wolverines, and one cur- rent U-M skater, making the cut. Michigan has had at least one player selected in the NHL Draft 16 years in a row, dating back to 1996, with a high of seven in 2007 during that stretch. "When you recruit kids, you don't know if they're going to be first- rounders or fourth-rounders, but the rankings are a pretty good indication of the talent coming in," U-M assis- tant coach Billy Powers said. "The expectations that come along with that will be high." Defenseman Jacob Trouba, who is slated to join the roster in 2012-13, is