4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 28, 2005
HITTING AFTER THE WHISTLE

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ryan Potulny
Minnesota
The forward had a hat trick on the power play,
including two goals in two minutes during the first
period. Minnesota's junior gave Michigan's pen-
alty kill headaches all night long.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"Our forwards couldn't get to
(the loose pucks) or didn't get to
them or weren't sure they wanted
to pay the price to get to them."
- Michigan coach Red Berenson on why the
Wolverines had difficulty scoring against the Badgers
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of power play goals Michigan
allowed against Minnesota on Friday.

Friday's Game
MINNESOTA 6 - MICHIGAN 3

Saturday's Game
WISCONSIN 3 MICHIGAN 2

AnothB er0-pher forBlue

6

The number of goals allowed by Michigan
on Friday, the most at home since a 6-3
loss to Bowling Green on March 4, 2000.

SCORING SUMMARY
Wisconsin 3, Michigan 2
Wisconsin ............................................... 0 2 1 - 3.
Michigan ................ .......0 1 1-2
FIRST PERIOD
No Scoring. Penalties - Jack Johnson, MICH (roughing ATW) 5:22;
Robbie Earl, UW (roughing ATW) 5:22; Kevin Porter, MICH (holding)
7:35; Zac MacVoy, MICH (contact to the head-roughing) 12:24; Robbie
Earl, UW (contact to the head-elbowing) 13:13; Jack Johnson, MICH
- (contact to the head-roughing) 18:09.
SECOND PERIOD
1. UW Ryan MacMurchy 4 (Jack Skille, Jake Dowell) 0:59; 2. UW
Robbie Earl 5 (unassisted) 9:32; 3. MICH Tim Miller 1 (Tyler Swystun,
Andrew Ebbett. Penalties - Adam Burish, UW (goaltender interfer-
ence) 5:05; Matthew Ford, UW (contact to the head-roughing) 11:23
THIRD PERIOD
4. MICH Brandon Naurato 5 (Jack Johnson, Andrew Ebbett) 2:47;
5. UW Adam Burish 4 (Robbie Earl, Joe Pavelski) 18:02. Penalties
- Ryan MacMurchy, UW (contact to the head-elbowing) 1:35; Tom Gil-
bert, UW (obstruction-hooking) 1:44; Travis Turnbull, MICH (goaltender
interference) 5:07; Adam Burish, UW (holding) 10:13; Jack Johnson,
MICH (slashing) 20:00.
Shots on goal: MICH 5-6-14-25; UW 10-11-6-27. Power plays: MICH 1 of 6; UW 0
of 4. Saves - MICH Noah Ruden (10-9-5) - 24; UW Brian Elliott (5-
5-13) -23.
Referee: Kevin Hall Attendance: 6,680.
'M' STATS
Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM Sht
Hensick 13 7 15 22 +6 10 46
cogliano 13 7 10 17 0 10 41
Johnson 13 4 13 17 +6 40 28
Hunwick 13 5 11 16 +6 16 27
Porter 13 8 5 13 +1 10 35
Ebbett 13 3 9 12 -3 19 30
Kolarik 13 4 7 11 +1 18 25
Turnbull 13 3 6 9 +6 27 21
Naurato 10 5 2 7 +1 2 21
Miller 13 1 4 5 +4 6 15
Kaleniecki 12 2 1 3 -2 25 31
MacVoy 7 1 2 3 +1 6 6
Mitera 13 0 3 3 -1 12 19
Bailey 12 1 1 2 -5 29 12
Swystun 13 1 1 2 -9 8 17
Fardig 11 1 0 1 +1 14 8
Rohlfs 13 0 1 1 0 6 10
Dest 13 0 1 1 -4 29 9
Cook 12 0 0 0 -2 19 6

TOMMA SO GOMEZ/Daily
Junior forward TJ. Hensick had one goal and two assists against Minnesota, but was held scoreless against Wisconsin on Saturday.
'M' shuts down Badger power play

M' has power
play outage
over weekend
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
If the Wolverines are looking for reasons
for their lost weekend, they will probably start
with the play of their special teams, especially
their power play.
Heading into the weekend,
Michigan ranked first in the
nation on the power play, t
converting 29.5 percent of $pOO*W
its chances. But against Min-
nesota and Wisconsin, the
Wolverines failed to convert
when they had the advantage, going 2-for-17
on the weekend.
Trailing 1-0 early in the second period of
Saturday night's game, Michigan had a power
play and a chance to even the score with Wis-
consin. But the Wolverines had trouble setting
up quality scoring chances and didn't score.
When trailing 2-1, Michigan missed a
chance to tie the game a man up midway
through the second period, but the most disap-
pointing power play came midway through the
third period. With the game knotted at two,
Michigan had a chance to take their first lead
of the game, but the Wolverines again looked
unorganized on the power play and again came
up empty handed.
After predominantly relying on the man
advantage to provide offense though the first
11 games of the season, Michigan found out
how much it will struggle this season when the
power play isn't clicking.
"I think that's one of our problems right now
- we are too dependent on the power play,"
Michigan captain Andrew Ebbett said. "This is
Michigan hockey. We should be all over teams
when we get the opportunity to play five-on-
five. We can't depend on the power play every
weekend."
Michigan went I-for-6 on the power play
Saturday night and 1-for-ll on Friday night.
Despite Michigan's poor performance, the
Wolverines managed to extend their power-
play goal streak to 13 games by converting on
one extra-man advantage in each game.
No. 1 BLUES: Michigan's 6-3 loss to No. 7
Minnesota on Friday continued a disturbing
trend. The Wolverines are now winless (0-5-
1) in their last six games immediately after
receiving the nation's top ranking.
During the 2000-01 season, Michigan fell
at home to No. 6 Michigan State, 1-0. Last
year, the Wolverines started the season atop
the polls before dropping their season opener
at home to Northeastern, 4-2.
Michigan regained the No.1 ranking before
the 2004 College Hockey Showcase, but a 5-
1 loss at No. 3 Minnesota took it off the top
spot for the rest of the season. Continuing
the trend, Michigan skated to a 3-3 tie with
Michigan State and then fell on the road the
following weekend to Alaska-Fairbanks, 4-2,
knocking the Wolverines off the top slot ear-
lier this season.
WHO'S IN NET?: After freshman Billy Sauer
allowed six goals in the loss to Minnesota on
Friday, Michigan coach Red Berenson made
a change in net. Senior Noah Ruden started
Saturday night against Wisconsin. He played a
solid game, stopping 24 of 27 shots on net, but
it wasn't enough to get Michigan a win. Sauer
has a 6-2-1 record with a 2.83 goals against
average in nine games this season. Ruden has
played in five games this year and is 3-1 with
a 2.45 goals against average.
CAGED DOG: Michigan senior alternate-
captain Brandon Kaleniecki, who is often
described as a bulldog on the ice, had his 108
consecutive games-played streak snapped
on Saturday when he was scratched from the
lineup due to a wrist injury he suffered against
Minnesota. The streak dates back to Kalen-
iecki's freshman year when he was scratched

from a Feb 22. 2003.matchup against Nebras-
ka-Omaha due to an injury.
GETTING ON THE BOARD: Michigan freshman
Tim Miller scored his first goal of the season
in Saturday night's loss to Wisconsin. Miller
took a pass from Tyler Swystun and skated
around the net for a wrap-around shot that beat
Badger goalie Brian Elliott to cut Wisconsin's
lead to 2-1.

Dunlap

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THE 'RED' LINE
In a system named for legendary coach Red Beren-
son, the Daily hockey writers grade the Wolverines on
their performance in each of four areas.
(Graded out of 4 pucks).
OFFENSE
The Wolverines were much.
improved at even strength
compared with the first
third of the season. But
five goals in two games
won't cut it against the
Mark Giannotto best teams in the CCHA.
DEFENSE
For the first time this
season, the Wolverines'
defense was unreliable at
best. From the first ine
to the third, each made
costly mistakes that pre-
James V. Dowd vented Michigan victories.
GOALTENDING
Both goalies showed flash-
es of greatness over the
weekend. But nine goals
over two games against

PENALTY KILL,
Continued from page 1B
special teams.
"When their defense walked all the
way up on (forward Phil) Kessel at
the side, he was able to get it down to
(forward Danny) Irmen," Potulny said.
"And Irmen has a couple options. It was
just a matter of getting their defense
out of position."
Wolverines' captain Andrew Ebbett
has played a key role in Michigan's
penalty killing all season long and
wasn't surprised to see Minnesota's
speed and quickness.
"We knew what they were going to
do," Ebbett said. "We tried to force
them, but we gave them a little too
much time and had a couple of chances
to block shots and they just got it by. I
think we just have to move our feet a
little quicker and get back in the pass-
ing lanes."
As the game wore on, the Golden
Gophers continued to work the puck
around the Michigan penalty kill-
ers. They mounted an insurmountable
three-goal lead at two different points
in the game, with power play goals
each time. As the goals continued to
pile up, Michigan's defensemen never
quite found their feet.
AROUND THE CCHA
Friday's results:
Minnesota 6, MICHIGAN 3
ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 3, Northern Mich 1
Wisconsin 3, MICHIGAN STATE 1
Ferris State 6, MERCYHURST 3
MIAMI (OH) 6, Bowling Green 1
COLGATE 2, Western Michigan 2
Ohio State 4, NOTRE DAME 1
LAKE SUPERIOR 3, Robert Morris 0
Neb.-Omaha 4, Providence 2
Saturday's results:
Wisconsin 3, MICHIGAN 2
Northern Mich 4, ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 1
MICHIGAN STATE 2, Minnesota 2
Ferris State 5, MERCYHURST 4
Miami (OH) 5, BOWLING GREEN 3
COLGATE 4, Western Michigan 3
Ohio State 5, NOTRE DAME 2
LAKE SUPERIOR 4, Robert Morris 3
Neb.-Omaha 6, Holy Cross 1
CCHA STANDINGS

"It's very frustrating as a defense-
man and a penalty killer when you can't
get the puck out and they are scoring,"
junior David'Rohlfs said. "You just get
frustrated and the pucks are going in
and in and in, and it's just like a snow-
ball effect."
After reviewing tape of their Fri-
day night mistakes and of Wisconsin's
power play tactics, the Wolverines
returned to familiar form on the pen-
alty kill on Saturday. Even though
Michigan lost 3-2, Michigan forced
the Badgers into a 0-for-4 mark with a
man advantage. Alternate captain Matt
Hunwick attributes the penalty kill's
turnaround to a more complete effort.
"We didn't change anything," Hun-
wick said. "We just studied their power
plays from the past few games, gave a
better effort and played with a better
attitude. We were just more determined
to kill off the penalties."
Because so much of Michigan's
success is founded in its on-ice deci-
sion-making, being mentally prepared
for Wisconsin helped the Wolverines
re-establish a dominating penalty kill.
As a team comes down the ice, the Wol-
verines' penalty killers set themselves
up using whatever formation suits the
current play best.
"It always depends on how they set
up," junior defenseman Jason Dest
SHOWCASE
Continued from page 11B
was left alone to beat goalie Billy Sau
top shelf.
"They came back strong at u
Ebbett said. "Which is hard for a tea
to do on the road. (You) give them t
many man advantages and they're goi
to take you down."
The Wolverines pulled withinone, 4
after defenseman Matt Hunwick score
power play goal, but five minutes la
Minnesota answered-with a power-pl

said. "We read and react off of them.
Minnesota set up a little differently
than Wisconsin. The coaches have
us watch film before the game so we
can see their power play for their last
games. So we kind of know what they
are doing, but we can adjust a bit on
the ice."
Although Michigan's penalty killers
were relieved that their decision-mak-
ing and game play improved in Satur-
day night's loss, they would rather see
more five-on-five action in future con-
tests.
"Penalties in the offensive zone are
penalties that you really don't need,"
Hunwick said. "We have to cut those
out. Most of the time you can kill pen-
alties that are good penalties, like pull-
ing a guy down on the breakaway, but
penalties in the offensive zones are the
ones that hurt the most."
Hunwick and Rohlfs believe the team
can cut down on unnecessary penalties
with a more disciplined approach.
"I just try to play strong and sound,"
Rohlfs, who has served just six penalty
minutes this year, said. "Sometimes
our guys go a little crazy and lose con-
trol, but I try and stay focused and stay
in control. I think I play better that
way. It's not worth it to get that little
extra chip in if you have to go to the
box for two minutes."
goal of their own from forward Ryan
Potulny. The Gophers added another goal
in the third period to put the game away
ier for good.
Berenson seemed visibly upset - but
s," not shaken - with the weekend. But
am there was no doubt he was disappointed
oo with the results.
ng "I think we got a wakeup call this
weekend," Berenson said. "And we
-3, need to take advantage of it.... Obvi-
d a ously, we have to do some soul-search-
ter ing, regroup and learn something from
lay this weekend."

0.

1. Wisconsin (11-1-2)
The Badgers continued to assert their
dominance with a pair of victories over
No. 18 Michigan State and top-ranked
Michigan. If they can pull out a sweep
against their arch-nemesis Minnesota

DAILY POWER RANKINGS
and unveiling a weapon that could
take them deep into the playoffs.
4. Michigan (9-3-1)
For the third year in a row, the Wolverines
were swept in the College Hockey
OknA1n..- . If MiehinIf.n ninnc. to a -r~h

taking an early lead in the CCHA.
They host Michigan next weekend
with the top spot in the conference
and national legitimacy on the line.
7. North Dakota (8-5-1)

top-10 competition isn't

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Player I CCHA I Ojverall I Pts