The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN HOCKEY HOCKEY NOTEBOOK rallied to within three points of first-place Ferris State. How- ever, a FSU sweep of Notre Dame and its series split with rival Michigan State Feb. 10-11 has left U-M (41 points) six points back of the Bulldogs (47) with four games to play in the regular season. The Wolverines also trail second-place Western Michigan (42 points) by one. Michigan will host Northern Michigan (9-9-6 in confer- STILL IN THE HUNT • After sweeping Miami (Ohio) Feb. 3-4, Michigan had that league playoffs would take place in the home arena of the regular-season champion. However, reports confirmed by the league office indicate ence play) Feb. 17-18 and travels to Bowling Green (4-16-4) Feb. 24-25, and likely needs to win all four while seeing Fer- ris fall twice to even share the regular-season conference crown. The Bulldogs, 9-0-3 in their last 12 games, finish with BGSU at home and then play a home-and-home series with Western Michigan (12-9-3). NEUTRAL-SITE AFFAIR • When the Big Ten hockey conference goes into effect in 2013-14, its postseason will have a different feel than origi- nally planned. The conference had previously announced the Big Ten will instead pick neutral site venues for the quarterfinal round (a best two out of three between the bottom four teams in the league), semifinals and final. The details have yet to be unveiled by the conference, but arenas in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, Chicago and, potentially, Pittsburgh are in play, the Star Tribune reported. awards: the All-Rookie team will be announced March 5; the All-CCHA first- and second-teams will be released March 7; and the major award finalists will be named March 8 and the winners announced March 15. Michigan is expected to have candidates for Coach of the AWARD PRESENTATION • The CCHA has revealed its lineup of dates for postseason Year (Red Berenson), Rookie of the Year (Alex Guptill), Best Offensive Defenseman (Jon Merrill and/or Lee Moffie) and Best Defensive Forward (Luke Glendening). Michigan Hockey Rewind Covering Jan. 20-Feb. 14 Hawks were determined to put up a better fight Feb. 4 than they had a night earlier in a 4-1 loss. But Michigan matched Miami's intensity from the start of the game, scoring a short- handed marker in the first period to claim a lead the Maize and Blue never surrendered. Junior defenseman Lee Moffie scored twice, and classmate Chris Brown put MU away for good with a dazzling, highlight-reel, third-period marker in which he slipped the puck through the de- fender's legs before firing the puck into the top right corner of the net. Worst Loss — 3-2 to Michigan Record: 4-2-0 (Overall: 18-10-4, CCHA: 12-8-4) National Ranking: No. 5. Pairwise Ranking: No. 4. Best Win — 3-0 over Miami (Ohio): Certainly, the Red- State: Michigan entered its Feb. 10 contest at Michigan State 14-0-3 when ahead after 40 minutes of action. However, the Wolverines' 1-0 and 2-1 second-period leads seemed tenuous because U-M sim- ply wasn't playing that well. In the third, Michigan was cited for three of its six game penalties, and in an ongoing theme for the weekend, would prove incapable of killing them off, allowing a pair of power- play goals in falling 3-2. MVP — Sophomore Jon Mer- rill: In 10 games since returning to the lineup Jan. 6, the sophomore defenseman has seven assists and is plus-7 — hardly overwhelming numbers. But with a calming pres- center is, arguably, Michigan's most talented offensive player, and after a few highs and lows this season, he's skating better than at any other point in his career. Treais rode a career-long six-game point streak into U-M's home series with Northern Michigan Feb. 17-18, con- tributing six goals and an assist during that span, including two- goal nights in victories over Miami (Ohio) Feb. 3 and Michigan State Feb. 11. Series To Watch — at Bowling ence defensively — and smart, playmaking offense — Mer- rill has had a big impact on the Wolverines. Most impor- tantly, Michigan has improved its goals-against average from 2.59 to 2.25 (moving up from 20th to seventh nation- ally) and its penalty-killing from 80.0 percent to 83.0 percent (90.0 percent success rate since Merrill's return). On The Rise — Junior A.J. Treais: The 5-8, 163-pound In his first 10 games in the lineup, sophomore defen- seman Jon Merrill helped the Wolverines improve their goals-against average (from 2.59 to 2.25) and penalty-killing (from 80.0 percent to 83.0 percent). PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Green Feb. 24-25: What was un- thinkable at the end of November (with U-M 3-5-2 in CCHA play) — Michigan contending for the reg- ular-season title — is possible for the Wolverines. With first- and sec- ond-place Ferris State and Western Michigan set to do battle during the final weekend of conference play, U-M heads to lowly Bowling Green, 4-16-4 in league action. A sweep, and a little help from the Broncos, and the Maize and Blue could be wearing the CCHA crown heading into the playoffs. — Michael Spath MARCH 2012 THE WOLVERINE 101