The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 8A
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Blue looks to gain bye
in Notre Dame series
By MARK BURNS
Daily Sports Editor
After the Michigan hockey
team's home-and-home series
against Notre Dame this weekend,
the Wolverines could find them-
selves in a number of CCHA first-
round playoff matchups.
There's one clear-cut certainty:
if Michigan sweeps the Fighting
Irish and North-
ern Michigan
splits against Notre Dame
visiting Lake at Michigan
Superior State,
the Wolverines NotrepDame
won't have to 12-14-8; Michi-
play that first gan18-16-1
game at all. When: Today
But the what- 7:35 P.M
if scenarios don't
have Michigan Where: Yost
coach Red Beren- Ice Arena
son's attention in TV/Radio:
the slightest bit. FSN/Detroit
"We are
focused on our game," Berenson
said. "When the smoke clears, we'll
see where we are (in the standings).
And it'll be our doing one way orthe
other, whether we are movingup or
moving down."
Currently, the Wolverines (13-
12-1-0 CCHA, 18-16-1 overall) sit
in seventh place in the CCHA, and
because the fourth-and fifth-place
teams - Alaska and Nebraska-
Omaha, respectively - finished
their conference schedules last
weekend, Michigan still controls
its own destiny.
And it will start on the defensive
side of the red line, according to
Berenson. In last weekend's series
at Yost Ice Arena against Northern
Michigan, the Wolverines surren-
dered the first goal early in each
game. It's something that's been
a trend throughout the season for
Michigan: get down early, claw its
way back into the contest, but fail
to clinch a win.
"We have to play better defen-
sively," Berenson said. "One thing
that happens when we give the
other team two or three goals, the
pressure to score - it's harder to
'M'readies for .
west coast trip
By BOBBY REEDY them a little bit loose."
For the Daily one key freshman for the Wol-
verines is attackman Thomas Paras.
The Michigan men's lacrosse The Lakewood, Ohio native was an
team starts its regular season with All-American in high school and is
its longest road trip of the season - a expected to be a big contributor on
10-day, three-game trip to Arizona this year's squad.
and Utah. And they leave today. His skills were already on display
As the most successful club in his first game at Michigan. After
lacrosse program in the country missing the first two scrimmages of
over the last two seasons - with the preseason due to injury, Paras
back-to-back national champion- returned in the third and final
ships - the Wolverines can expect scrimmage and netted a hat trick.
that teams like Arizona, No. 4 Ari- Saturday's game against Arizona
zona State and No.5 Brigham Young will be Paras's first regular-season
will be out to knock Michigan off its game as a Wolverine.
pedestal. "We play scrimmages but you
The most anticipated game of the don't know what it's like until you
trip pits the top-ranked Wolverines get out there and see game speed,
against rival fifth-ranked Cougars. especially in the season," Paras
Prior to Michigan's run of domi- said.
nance, the Cougars were considered Although BYU has consistently
the cream of the crop in men's club had great teams, Arizona State
lacrosse, winning three national should not be overlooked, partico-
championships in 10 seasons. lary because of its offensive talent.
"It's hard not to get more amped "They have some special play-
for (BYU)," senior captain Michael ers," Wolverines coach John Paul
Bartomioli said. "You try and said. "Arizona State is loaded with
approach every game the same way, offensive talent. When you're play-
but when you're playing a team like ing teams like this, you do have to
BYU, there has to be a little some- put a little more into individual
thing extra on the table. Last year matchups than some of the other
was my first year here, so that was teams we play."
my first taste of BYU, and the atmo- The game will be interesting
sphere was just crazy." since it will be the Sun Devils' set-
And the rivalry has picked up in ond game since coming back from
recent years. Before 2008, Michigan a season-long suspension during
had lost its six consecutive games to 2009. School officials self-imposed
the Cougars, including two postsea- the suspension after being made
son losses that ended the Wolver- aware of a team incident involv-
ines' 2003 anl 2006 seasons. ing underage drinking and hazing,
But that has changed in the last accordingto Paul.
two seasons. Michigan won both Seeing as Arizona State has not
of its most recent contests against played since 2008, preparing a
BYU and also returned a favor by gameplan could become a bit of an
knocking them out of the national issue. But Paul is not worried.
tournament in the 2008 semifinals. "We don't deviate a whole lot *
This year, with many of Michigan's from what we do every game," Paul
freshmen playing their first games said. "The keys to our success are
on this trip, crowd support could be no secret - the keys to our success
a concern for the team. are riding and ground balls and a
"I think it is important (for the lot of the little things between the
freshmen) to stay loose," Bartomioli lines. Everybody deals with Xs and
said. "A lot of these guys are going Os and how you play certain play-
to be nervous - I remember when ers. We still feel like as much as we
I was a freshman, I was nervous. I do that we're going to win by the
try to talk to them before the games, things that we bring to every single
joke around with them and keep game no matter who we're playing."
MAX COLLINS/Daily
Junior Louie Caporusso has gone on an offensive tear as of late, tallying seven points in his last five games.
score....You're better off to be shut-
ting the other team down, worry-
ing about defense. And then you
get your chances."
Against Notre Dame in the
teams' home-and-home series in
mid-December, the Wolverines
scored first midway through the
first period en route to their 4-1
win in Ann Arbor. Junior forward
Louie Caporusso netted a goal and
two assists, and it's the Wood-
bridge, Ontario native's play lately
that has Michigan in a good posi-
tion to have a successful weekend.
With the former Hobey Baker
finalist boasting a line of 4-3-7 in
his last five games, and Berenson's
encouragement to shoot more
instead of trying to finagle his way
past defenders, the Wolverines are
feeling better about their chances.
But not only will they have to
shut Notre Dame down (8-11-7-2,
12-14-8) defensively, they'll have
to improve on the power play as
well. When Michigan played the
Fighting Irish earlier, it converted
only once on 10 power plays. Notre
Dame plays an aggressive style of
penalty kill, where it mininizes
the oppositions' space and time
when it comes to making decisions
inthe offensive zone.
According to Berenson, the
Wolverines will need to make
quicker decisions with the puck
as well as execute if they hope
to bypass a first round CCHA
matchup.
"Whether we get a bye or not,
as long as we have a good week-
end, we will have something to
build on," Berenson said. "I can't
say we have a lot to build on after
last weekend, not enough.We need
more than that to be ready for the
playoffs."
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