8 - Friday, February 6, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Hogan excels oim pa
anecesas his own toughest cr1ii.LcAT
By GJON JUNCAJ
Daily Sports Writer
If you walked into a Michigan
hockey practice having never met
sophomore goalie Bryan Hogan,
youmightleave the rinkthinkinghe
was a little too hard on himself.
"Youwould thinkit's pretty obnox-
ious," sophomore forward Matt Rust
said."You'd maybe
think he was a bit
of a psycho. But LSSU at
that's just how he Michigan
is. He's a competi-
tor" Matchup:
t. la - Lake Superior
to last week- State 9-11-8;
end's zeries split Michigan
against then-No. 19-9-0
1 Notre Dame, When:
Hogan stopped 47 Tonight,
of 51 shots in the 7:35 P.M.
Wolverines' big- Where
gest games of the Yost Ice Arena
year. He owns a
16-3 record with a Live Blog:
. thegame.
1.92 goals-agamst blogs.michi-
average, which is gandaily.com
eighth best in the
country.
Hogan, a Highland Township
native, is notorious for his flaring
temper after someone scores on him
in practice. His cursing reverberates
off the walls of Yost Ice Arena, and
any teammate who fires a shot past
him can expectapuck or stick flying
back in their direction.
The act of frustration is one of
Hogan's trademarks - both senior
goalie Billy Sauer and sophomore
Shawn Hunwick are much more
even-keeled during practice, regard-
less of the number of goals they give
up. And as strange (and entertain-
ing) as it may be to see Hogan lose
his bearings during shootout drills,
the coaching staff sees no problem
with players using practice to vent.
"I've seen goalies before get upset
like that," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "And they get upset
with themselves. ... They appear
mad at the player, but they're just
mad at themselves. So I like that
rather than a player who doesn't
seem to care."
The mood swings during practice
give Hogan's teammates endless
ammunition for teasing. But don't
expect to see Hogan unravel during
first time since Dec. 19.
Senior forward Carly Benson,
who has fallen victim to a scor-
ing slump during the conference
season, tried to take the game into
her own hands as the Wolverines
were down four with four min-
utes remaining. She scored five
straight points, including a clutch
3-pointer, to pull the Wolverines
within one.
But leading Northwestern scor-
er Amy Jaeschke, a 65-percent
free-throw shooter on the sea-
son, netted two from the charity
stripe to push the Wildcats' lead
to three.
After two more Northwestern
free throws, Minnfield fired up a
long-distance 3-pointer that fell
short, leaving Hicks to tear the
rebound out of her opponent's
hands and draw a foul.
With 10 seconds remaining, the
Wolverines were down just three
points and junior center Krista
Phillips was left with an open shot
from behind the arc to send the
game into overtime.
"We all thought it was going
in," Hicks said.
But it rimmed out, along with
the Wolverines' chances of finish-
ing above .500 in Big Ten confer-
ence play.
"It's clearly agame we should've
and could've won," Hicks said
of her homecoming. "No matter
where we are, no matter where I
am, a loss is the same."
'M' Note: Six gymnasts
reach Winter Cup finals
SAID ALSALAH/Dai
Sophomore Bryan Hogan stops a Miami (Ohio) shot in the Wolverines weekend sweep oftthe RedHawks almost a month ago.
this weekend's series between No. 4
Michigan (13-7 CCHA, 19-9 overall)
and Lake Superior State (6-8-6-1,
9-11-8). He has an emotional switch
he can turn on or off on cue.
"(Hogan) told me that, and I
didn't believe him," goaltending
coach Josh Blackburn said. "But he
seems to handle it pretty good in
games. I expected maybe a busted
stick or something like that in the
beginning of the year."
Given Hogan's unique practice
reputation and this season's cir-
cumstances, it is that much more
surprising how easily he can keep
his emotions in check. Hogan and
Sauer were involved a well-publi-
cized starting goalie competition
during the first half of the season.
Though their statistics mirrored
each other's, Hogan received far
better offensive support than Sauer
- 4.26 goals per game for Hogan,
compared to just 1.28 for Sauer -
and won the starting job.
It's been an incredibly pressure-
packed year for Hogan. This is his
first season as a full-time starter,
and he's playing the sport's most
scrutinized position at a premier
national collegiate power.
Plus, Sauer isn't a second-string
netminder. The Walworth, New
York native is prominently featured
in Michigan's record book: he ranks
in the top five in career wins, shut-
outs, goals-against average and save
percentage.
So while Hogan has established
himself as the Wolverines' starting
goalie, each game is treated like a
60-minute audition for the job.
"Hogan's alwaysbeen a hothead,"
Rust said, smiling. "He always will
be a hothead. I don't think he's any
looser. Although he is our No.I right
now, Billy is a skilled, top-flight
goalie. I don't think you can let up
for one second. His spot is not set in
stone."
Hogan appears uneasy at times
when discussing his individual suc-
cess. He hates discussing winning
and shutout streaks and is always
quick to credit his defensemen for
makinggames easy.
Though Hogan needs to maintain
a high stress level to stay on edge
and sharpen his focus, coaches and
teammates acknowledge that he
might be best served cutting back
on his outbursts.
"We're trying to get him to calm
down a little bit, so the boys don't
give him such a hard time," Black-
burn said with a laugh.
Blackburn took on the role of
Hogan's makeshift, on-ice therapist
this season. IHe may, by all accounts,
be a little calmer than last year,
but there's still plenty of room for
improvement.
"(Blackburn) just says funny
things when I'm getting mad out
in practice and tries to lighten the
mood a littlebit," Hogan said. "Does
it help? I don't know. I don't think
so. He just does it anyway. But it's
funny. It's gotten a lot better over
last year with that situation."
Sophomore Chris Cameron finished second on the parallel bars yesterday.
In his first Winter Cup as a col-
lege gymnast, Michigan sopho-
more Chris Cameron led a group of
eight Wolverines in Las Vegas.
Cameron, sophomore Thomas
Kelley, senior Ralph Rosso and
alumnusEddieUmphreycompeted
in the evening session, usually the
higher scoring of the Winter Cup's
two preliminaries. Cameron won
the still rings for his session with a
score of 14.90, coming in second on
the parallel bars (14.75) and sixth
on the floor (14.70). Rosso placed
fourth on the rings (14.50) and
sixth on parallel bars in the session
(14.30), with Kelley tying for fifth
on the high bar (14.35).
Intheearlier preliminary,junior
Mel Santander tied for second on
the pommel horse (14.75), with
fifth-year senior Paul Woodward
in fourth (14.40). Senior co-captain
Phil Goldberg tied for seventh on
the still rings (14.55).
The top 42 gymnasts advance
to Saturday's finals on the basis
of a descending point system - a
first-place finish earns 30 points,
down to a 30th-place finish which
earns one point. Cameron, Gold-
berg, Kelley, Rosso, Santander and
Woodward will all compete for
spots onthe national team.
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