The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/751827
DECEMBER 2016 THE WOLVERINE 63 BY ORION SANG T he early storyline that sur- rounded the No. 16 Michigan hockey team's season was how the Wolverines would replace the talent that moved on after last year. The players seemed tired of the query. The coaches were surely tired of it. U-M is in luck — they may not have to answer that question much longer after splitting a Nov. 11-12 se- ries against Boston University, which entered the pair of weekend contests ranked fourth nationally. Somewhere in that series, past the long stretches of play without a single shot, past the occasional wayward zone clearances, Michigan showed they were a team that can make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. That wasn't apparent earlier this year, especially when the Wolverines struggled against nearly every team it faced. U-M barely escaped Ferris State with a win, was outplayed by Michi- gan Tech and reached the nadir of the early season after being swept by both Vermont and Dartmouth on the road. That was perhaps why many didn't give Michigan a shot against the highly ranked Terriers. U-M head coach Red Berenson is known for his recruiting prowess, but Boston's Dave Quinn has assembled what could be the nation's most talented team, rife with high-round NHL Draft picks. And when word got out just before Friday's opening face-off that Michi- gan had suspended seniors Alex Kile, Nolan De Jong, Max Shuart and Zach Nagelvoort after the group violated team policy, it appeared there was a high chance of a rout — the type of blowout that would've sent fans at Yost Ice Arena headed to the exits early. But Michigan proved it was more than up to the test, jumping all over the Terriers as soon as the puck was dropped. The Wolverines were both aggressive and physical against a Boston team that has its fair share of big bodies, and that effort paid off in a big way when freshman forward Will Lockwood and junior forward Tony Calderone both scored power- play goals less than a minute apart with around 10 minutes left in the first period. "I think both teams played physi- cal," Berenson said after his team's 4-0 victory Nov. 11. "But when you take a team's physicality out of their game by scoring on the power play, then that can change the whole game, and scoring on the first two power plays was huge." It was the best period Michigan has played all year, and now it's up to the Wolverines to sustain that over 60 minutes — which they struggled to do against the Terriers. "I think we got a little away from our game," junior forward Dexter Dancs noted after the 4-2 loss Nov. 12. "In the first two periods, the first pe- riod especially, we were physical [and] we didn't give them much. Then in the third period there were a couple defensive lapses, and they have a lot of skill and were able to capitalize." The same issue was present even in Michigan's win Friday. The Wolverines were outshot 15-3 in the second period, and if not for several crucial saves from freshman goaltender Hayden Lavigne, the game could easily have been tied heading into the final 20 minutes. But Michigan escaped the period with its two-goal lead intact, and a backhander from freshman forward Jake Slaker found the back of the net to give Michigan more breathing room in the third before Calderone's empty-netter with less than five min- utes left put the exclamation point on the Wolverines' best win of the year. "I think as a whole team we kind of survived [the second period]," Lavi- gne said after the game. "But that's why we're a team. When we don't play so well, there's other people to pick it up. Like in the first period, they only had five shots. "Really [give] credit to our offense there, how we kind of dominated that, so I think that's what being a team is about — getting through those lows and maintaining the highs." Junior Tony Calderone tallied two goals in Michigan's 4-0 victory over then-No. 4 Boston University Nov. 11. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL MICHIGAN HOCKEY Wolverines Show They Have NCAA Tournament Potential