The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/653976
MICHIGAN HOCKEY HOCKEY REWIND: FEB. 19‑MARCH 14 Record: 22‑7‑5 (12‑5‑3 Big Ten) Record For Feb. 19-March 14: 4‑3‑0 Best Win — 6-2 at Minnesota Feb. 25: With first place in the Big Ten stand‑ ings on the line, Michigan went into Minnesota and led the Golden Gophers from start to finish. U‑M opened the scoring at 11:19 of the first period and held a 2‑0 lead after 40 minutes, with senior goalie Steve Racine the MVP of the first two frames, stopping 18 shots. In the third, the Wolverines' offense came alive, netting four goals in a span of 4:22, and junior right wing Alex Kile tallying his third of the night for the first hat trick of his career. Michigan vaulted (temporarily) into first place and broke a five‑game losing streak to the Gophers in Minneapolis. Worst Loss — 7-4 to Ohio State March 4: Michigan ultimately lost the Big Ten regular‑season title by a single point and will look back on a pair of ties against last‑place Wisconsin Dec. 5 and Feb. 13 with regret. However, a 7‑4 loss to the Buckeyes at home, where the Maize and Blue were 13‑2‑2 this year oth‑ erwise, is the game that will stick in their craw for a while. Michigan led OSU 2‑0, but everything fell apart after that. The Wolverines surrendered six unanswered goals before clawing back to make it 6‑4 with 5:55 Downing: "It's a good conference. It's just a weird time right now where a couple traditional teams [Michigan State and Wisconsin] are down but then someone like Penn State is up, probably before most people were expecting them to be good. "I'd like to see two teams or more added. Illinois would be the perfect team because of all the Chicago kids. We really need to get a little bigger to eight or 10 teams." The Wolverine: How is the team handling talk that this might be Red Beren‑ son's final year? Downing: "We haven't talked about his future much. Coach hasn't said any‑ thing. Everyone has their own thoughts on it in the locker room, but it's not something we're dwelling on. "It would be nice to know so we could play for him because he deserves the best going out, but that's his decision and whatever decision he makes we'll stand behind him." — Michael Spath