The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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HOCKEY PREVIEW played in 175 combined games their first two years and have a plus/minus of plus‑30. The Maize and Blue also return sophomores Zach Werenski and Cut‑ ler Martin, who saw action in 35 and 32 games, respectively, and were two of U‑M's top defensemen by season's end. "We're coming into the season with good experience and guys that have played in some big games against some really good offensive teams," as‑ sociate head coach Billy Powers said. "It's a good feeling, and we believe deserved, to say we're going into the season with the back end being a real strength. "We're bringing in two really strong freshmen, so it will be a competitive situation on the blue line for guys to even make the lineup, and that will be a positive for our team." Michigan has not featured a top two like Werenski and Downing since Jacob Trouba (2013) and Jon Merrill (2011‑13) in 2012‑13, and this year's duo should be better than that pair of current NHLers. "You consider the elite offensive in‑ stincts of Werenski — he could be the best offensive defensemen in college hockey — and you've seen Downing progress each and every year to where he's a pretty complete defenseman," Powers said. "I predict you will see In 26 games played in February and March during his career, senior goaltender Steve Racine has posted a 2.54 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL