IOA - Wednesday, February 7, 2007
a new role
for Cogliano
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
ONSNE SPECIAL
Sneakpeek.'
ByJAMES V. DOWD
Daily Sports Writer
Throughout January, Michigan
fans became accustomed to the
Andrew Cogliano the Edmonton
Oilers saw when they drafted him
with the 25th overall pick of the
2005 NHL draft. After returning
from the World Junior Champion-
ships, the sophomore had gone on a
tear, dancing through defenses for
five goals in seven games and he has
now extended his scoring streak to
career-best 12 games.
But against Western Michigan
this weekend, Cogliano's magic
tricks were fewer and further in
between, as the Broncos' more phys-
ical style of play forced Cogliano to
adjust his game. And while this must
have been frustrating for the bud-
ding star, Cogliano took it in stride
as another step to prepare him for
the future.
"Youare playing against guys who
are a lot older," Cogliano said. "They
play really physical, and it's kind of
an (American Hockey League) style
... (which) will only make you bet-
ter."
Despite struggling to create the
chances that he did throughout
January, Cogliano still managed
to find the score sheet twice this
weekend, notching his 19th goal on
Friday night and his 17th assist on
Saturday.
One reason Cogliano was held
to just two points was his role as
a defenseman on Michigan's top
power-play line. During Friday's
game, the Wolverines went on the
power play nine times, and Cogliano
spent a significant portion of that
time on the blue line.
Learning to play the point on
special teams is a new experience
for Cogliano, who has developed a
sniper shot from mid and long range
since arriving at Michigan last fall.
On Michigan's first man advantage
Friday, he knocked in the game's
first goal.
But before he could take advan-
tage of any confidence built from
his goal, Cogliano misplayed a puck
on Michigan's second power play.
The miscue gave Western Michi-
gan leading scorer Mark Letestu
the opportunity to walk in alone on
Michigan goaltender Billy Sauer for
a short-handed tally.
"When you get used to playing
forward all the time and then you
go out there on defense it's tough,"
Cogliano said. "It's too bad I made a
stupid mistake and it cost us a goal.
BEN SIMON/Daily
Sophomore Andrew Cogliano has toar power-play goals this season.
It's hard to
escape the
allure of
recruiting
... Once the college foot- college.
ball season ends, we have the And c
opportunity to rekindle friend- think of
ships lost during the year: best ipated ti
friends, significant others, par- much as
ents. recruit e
Instead, we look forward to The p
today, National Signing Day, The V
the culmination of our sickness. a chance
That's because after a year of The b
tracking the statistics of high Almost.
school seniors, fans finally know Collel
where most everyone is going to proporti
HJOSE
BOSCH
The Bosch
Watch
but I think I am doing more right
things than wrong."
Instead of dwelling on his error,
Cogliano concentrates on his posi-
tive contributions to maintain the
confidence necessary to serve his
team from the blue line.
"Thankfully, things haven't hap-
pened like that for me often," Cogli-
ano said. "I just need to think about
defensive hockey and make sure that
I'm not pinching in too much."
Cogliano's ability to play in mul-
tiple roles has drawn the admiration
of his teammates. Even in playing
more minutes than he is used to,
teammates know they can rely on
him to continue playing tough.
"(Cogliano)'s in pretty good
shape," alternate captain Jason
Dest said. "He a good athlete, and
he doesn't really get tired out there.
He's always playing well outthere."
Instead of taking credit for him-
self, Cogliano believes that his
team's ability to handle Western
Michigan's physical presence with
some level of collective physicality
themselves helped to ease the load
on any individual players.
"I think we handled (the physi-
cal nature) pretty well," Cogliano
said. "We throw a lot of body checks
too. We knew we had to counteract
them because they are a physi-
cal team, and we knew that if we
played physical too, we could come
out on top."
an college football fans
the last time they antic-
he arrival of anyone as
the possible arrival of a
ach season?
ope in 1979? Nope.
Aorld Cup in 1994? Not
e.
irth of a first born?
ge recruiting has hit epic
ions. ...
0I
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