The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Nieves, senior wing Justin Selman and Kile has 13 goals and 19 assists, while the third line of freshman cen- ter Cooper Marody, sophomore wing Tony Calderone and freshman wing Brendan Warren has combined for 16 goals and 17 helpers. The three lines have accounted for 47 of Michigan's 57 goals (82.5 per- cent) and 108 of 152 total points (71.1 percent). KEEPING TRACK OF THE PAIRWISE RANKINGS After its win and tie against Wis- consin, Michigan sat ninth in the Pairwise Rankings — the grid used to help determine which 16 teams make the NCAA field in March. The Wolverines' eight opponents this season have a combined 45-50-21 record (.478 win percentage) through Dec. 8, with Boston University (No. 15 in the Pairwise), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (No. 17), Rob- ert Morris (No. 22) and Dartmouth (No. 27) all helping Michigan's bot- tom line. The Maize and Blue split two games with BU and two with Robert Morris, beat RPI and went 1-0-1 against Dartmouth. The Big Ten is down this year — Michigan ranks ninth and Penn State 12th, but Minnesota checks in at No. 28, Wisconsin at No. 35, Michigan State at No. 48 and Ohio State at No. 58 (out of 60 teams), meaning U-M cannot afford many setbacks in conference action, espe- cially against the Badgers, Spartans and Buckeyes. "It's their conference to lose," Trainor said. "Aside from Penn State, I don't see any of the other four teams having what Michigan has, so I think they're in a good position and they control their own destiny. "Those four games against Penn State will likely decide the conference." But even if U-M wins the Big Ten regular season, it could find itself a fringe NCAA Tournament team (Mich- igan can guarantee inclusion by win- ning the league tournament) because of spoiled opportunities to beat Dart- mouth and Wisconsin. The Maize and Blue also led at Union 4-3 in the third period before settling for a tie and blew a 2-0 lead in the third period during a loss at Boston University. Had Michigan held those two leads and beaten the lowly Big Green and Badgers like they should have, U-M would sit second in the Pairwise Rank- ings today and even a .700 winning percentage in conference action would probably be good enough for an NCAA at-large bid. Instead, U-M has to wonder if its squandered chances will prove costly in March. "Every game is huge, and you just hope these games we should be win- ning aren't games that at the end of the season come back and bite you," Berenson said. "The games are over with now, and we can't change the results we've had. We have to move on and play the games that are ahead of us, and win the games we need to win. "I can't tell you we are in bad shape when you look at our record [8-2-3], but we know we can play better, and we have to play better if we want to reach our goals." ❏