8 - Friday, February 26, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 8- Friday, February 26, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Hunwick shines in relief By MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Writer In Yost Ice Arena on the third deck, behind the net closest to Michigan's locker room, is the scout holding pen. Scouts from around the country lean NOTRE DAME 0 on the rail- MICHIGAN 4 ing and try to fill out their future rosters. As the Michigan hockey team took the ice yesterday against Notre Dame, not only was the holding pen filled to capacity, but scouts lined the upper row of the arena as well. Throw the added emotions of Senior Night for the Wolverines into the mix and this didn't feel like a game between the seventh and 10th-place teams in the conference. And the player who possibly had the biggest impact in Michigan's 4-0 win, amongst 19 NHL draft picks, was the one who no scouts had come to watch: junior goalie Shawn Hunwick. Eleven minutes into the first period, starting junior goalie Bryan Hogan stretched out to stop a backhand shot on a two-on-one. The shot clanged off the post and was cleared out of the zone, but the Wolverines' troubles weren't over. Hogan-remained on the ice, face down and still. After 15 seconds of silence, Hogan was helped off the ice with the help of trainer Rick Bancroft and junior forward Carl Hagelin, not putting any pressure on his injured leg. After the game, Michigan coach Red Berenson said it was a groin injury, making him doubtful for Saturday's game in South Bend. Hunwick entered and was put to the test with the firstshothe faced. Michigan took two penalties to force Hunwick and the Wolver- ines to kill a five-on-three power play. The Fighting Irish worked the puck around and had a clear shot from the point. Screened, Hunwick stretched and nabbed the puck with his glove, making his first save since December, and Hollins nets 27 to lead Wolverines' rally at Minnesota 'M' grabs first behind the arc, finishing at 50 per- cent for the evening. season-series sweep "We weren't going into the game like, 'Hey were going to of Golden Gophers shoot threes,' " sophomore for- ward Carmen Reynolds said. "We since 2000-01 wanted to penetrate by passes and by not putting the ball onto the By ZAK PYZIK floor. That in and of itself opens Daily Sports Writer the three." But it wasn't just the shooting There were 18 minutes left in that energized Michigan's late the Michigan women's basketball resurgence. team's contest against Minnesota Rebounding gave the Wolver- last night, and Dayeesha Hollins ines additional opportunities already had 18 points. on the offensive end of the floor. The freshman guard finished Michigan collected 36 boards, 11 with a total of of which were on the offensive 27 to help push MICHIGAN 65 glass, compared to 12 for Minne- the Wolver- MINN 54 sota (6-11,13-15). ines to a 65-54 And with about seven minutes win at Williams Arena. remaining, junior guard Veronica Hollins's 18th point brought the Hicks had a breakaway. Hicks Wolverines to within two of the missed the layup but freshnian Golden Gophers, after rallying guard Jenny Ryan was there to back from a 15-point deficit. clean up the missed shot to put "I was just able to make quick Michigan ahead for the first time decisions," Hollins said. "It was in the contest, 49-48. easy for me to get into the groove. "Jenny has a nose for the ball," We were just able to work together Hicks said. "This game I was like, and do what we need to do. Coach 'We can't get out boarded.' It takes just told me to hunt shots and all five people rebounding on the that's what I did." defensive end. But then we can Hollins was then fouled on a chase the perimeter shots down drive and drained two free throws on offense. And then it's just a foot as Michigan (7-10 Big Ten, 15-12 race. And we were able to get our overall) tied the game at 33. hustle on." The Wolverines went six-for-six As the lead began to widen in from the foul line in yesterday's the final minutes of the game, game. Golden Gopher fans started to exit "Tonight, (Dayeesha) came out the arena, and Michigan secured and she performed." Michigan its first win after a three-game coach Kevin Borseth said. "First slide. halfshekeptusinitsinglehandedly. "Better night, great win,"' ors- "We haven't shot well from the eth said. "That was amazing. We free-throw line all season." started really slow like we had And it was its perimeter pres- cement in our boots. ence that gave Michigan the upper "Then we got a lot of big stops hand when it needed it most. The and hit some key buckets, and it Wolverines sank 13 shots from feels good." SAM WOLSON/Daily Junior goaltender Shawn Hunwick backstopped Michigan to a 4-0 victory over Notre Dame in his first career shutout. inspiring the crowd into a frenzy. He also stopped the other 13, giv- ing him his first career shutout. "He does it every day in prac- tice," Berenson said of Hunwick, who played just 18 minutes this season before last night's contest. "But we're still not convinced he's a starting goalie. He's been a backup that really hasn't had the chance to be a backup." The highlight-reel stop kept the Wolverines' one-goal lead secure and allowed Hagelin to come out of the box. On his initial shift after his penalty expired, Hagelin picked up the puck at Michigan's blueline and went in two-on-one. Hagelin gave a quick pass to junior Matt Rust on the back door and Rust banged it in to put the Wol- verines up two goals. Those two goals gave Hunwick, who had been in the game for less than five minutes, some breathing room as he got used to the game- time atmosphere. Getting an early lead helped the Wolverines take a more defensive stance on the game, and Hunwick never had to make another save that was at the caliber of his first stop. Michigan added two more goals and all but assured Hun- wick's first career win. "I stood up on the bench and looked at the defensemen and said, 'Listen boys, let's commit to 'D,' " senior captain Chris Summerssaid. "That means just get pucks deep when you have to, not really tak- ing too many chances on offense. Smart, simple plays and making sure we're supporting him." After the game, during the Senior Night ceremony but before the seniors came out of the tun- nel to be honored, it was Hun- wick who garnered the attention. Chants of "Hun-wick, Hunwick" and "Se-xy Goal-ie" rang through the student section. "It was nice to hear a little feed- back from the fans," Hunwick said. "Obviously this is the first time I've been a true contributor to the team. I don't want to take anything away from the seniors. This is their night. So I'm glad they were upstairs when they started those chants." Thirteen stops, a shutout and a win over a bitter rival in his first action in almost two months? Maybe next time the scouts will know Hunwick's name. For Michigan men's hoops, a trio of tough atchups over break By Gjon Juncaj 11 Daily Sports Editor :T he Mchigat men's basketball team (6-9 Big Ten, 13-14 overall) enters its final three games of the 2009-10 campaign resigned to the role of playing spoiler. It's a bitter pill to swallow - as recent losses to Penn State and Illinois made even a consolation trip to next month's National Invitation Tournament appear. improbable.4 ut a nl as Michigan coach John Beilein has looked tryingto explain whythis season has fallen short of everyone's expectations, there will be something for the players to prove - at the very least to themselves - in the next nine days. The Wolverines face three teams, two jockeying for the Big Ten regular-season title, the other trying to lock down an NCAA Tournament berth. Here's an overview of what lies ahead. What happened last time What's happened since What's in NI' higan's favor What's not Minnesota at Michigan Matchup: Min- nesota 16-11; Michigan 13-14 When: March 2, 7 p.m. Where: Crisler Arena TV/Radio: BTN T he Wolverines surprised a lot of people with their 71-63 win at Minnesota on Feb. 11. Sims and Harris again paced the team with 47 points between them. Sims especially shined through on national television, abus- ing the Golden Gophers' imposing frontcourt (then the top shot-blocking team in the con- ference) to go 12-of-18 from the field and haul in four offensive rebounds. Michigan practi- cally threw a giant wet blanket on the Wil- liams Arena floor, deflating the home crowd and throwing a stom- ach-punch into Minnesota's NCAA Tournament hopes. " T he Buckeyes have taken 12 of their past i15 games dating back to that Jan. 3 loss at Crisler - all those games with Turner run- ning the show. The junior has been on fire as of late, even by his standards. Turner has tallied at least 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in five of his past seven games. Ohio State has played as well as almost any team in the country in the past eight weeks, earning wins at Purdue, versus Wisconsin and most recently at Michigan State. The Golden Gophers are just 2-2 since the Wolverines left town, but they've clearly woken up. Losses at North- western and to third-ranked Purdue - each by a basket - have sand- wichedblowout wins at home versus Wisconsin and Indiana. Senior guard Lawrence Westbrook and sophomore center Ralph Samp- son III haven't had simultane- ous great games in weeks. That must change if Minnesota's to make a statement in its final three contests. Lucas sprainedhis ankletwogameslater, which sent Michigan State on a three- game losing streak that took the Spartans out of contention for a top seed inthe NCAA Tournament. Michigan State (11-4 Big Ten, 21-7) also dropped a seven-point decision to Ohio State on Sunday. Although the trio of Lucas, Morgan and junior Durrell Summers have been shaky in its past five games (the three have combined for just 31 points per game on 43 percent), junior Chris Allen has picked up a lot of slack, averag- s ing 14 points at a 52 percent clip during that same stretch. The Wolverines may have caught the Golden Gophers napping two weeks ago, but they still looked like the better team. Although Michi- gan's two consecutive home loss- es won't bode well for a win next Tuesday, don't expect Minnesota coach Tubby Smith to cook up any wildly successful gameday adjustments for the rematch. If Westbrook and Sampson III are held relatively in check (14 points combined Feb. 11), Michigan will be in good shape. S hould the Golden Gophers (7-8, 16-11) steal a win at Illinois on Saturday, they'll be riding a tidal wave of momentum into Ann Arbor. Winning its final three games would put Minnesota in sixth place and over .500 in the conference, likely taking them off the NCAA Tournament Bubble. Though the Golden Gophers have been playing "must-win" games for the past couple weeks, every sports cliche applies to them from here on out. 4 4 4 4