The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I March 8, 2010
De ense,
its time-
to be the
hero
t was after Friday night's 5-2 win
over Lake Superior State when
senior captain Chris Summers
dropped a bomb regarding Michigan's
goalie situation.
"I don't know why there's so many
people who don't think that (junior
backup Shawn Hunwick) is a contend-
er to be a starting goalie," Summers
said. "He could be a starting goalie on
any team in the NCAA.
"He's proven everyone wrong."
There's no denying that Hunwick
has been serviceable. In four games of
action - his first
legitimate play-
ing time in his
three-year career
- Hunwick has two
shutouts and three
wins, with the one
slip-up coming at
the hands of Notre .
Dame in South
Bend. RYAN
He really has KARTJE
risen up as a solid
"relief pitcher," like
Berenson called him early in the sea-
son, enough so for the veteran coach
to refer to him after Saturday's 6-0
shutout of the Lakers as Michigan's
own "Rudy."
But the fate of the Wolverines' sea-
son does not rely on Hunwick proving
Summers' comments to be true - no
matter how far-fetched they may or
may not be.
Instead, Michigan's season and the
miniscule hopes of extending it past
the CCHA Tournament rest firmly
on the shoulders of Summers and the
highly touted defensive corps.
In the Wolverines' first-round sweep
of Lake Superior State, the defense
had one of its best performances of the
season, limiting the Lakers to very few
quality scoring opportunities. Aside
from a spectacular save Hunwick made
after the defense turned the puck over
in the first period of Saturday's game,
the junior goalie was rarely tested in
Michigan's dominant shutout.
By no means am I taking away from
Hunwick's performance in net. When
starting goaltender Bryan Hogan went
down with a groin injury - one that
See KARTJE, Page 3B
Senior Steve Kampfer helped aid the Michigan defense in one of its best efforts of the season on Saturday, finishing with a plus-six plus/minus rating, one of Michigan's highest this season.
RIEL BOND/Daily
Scoring explosion bolsters wins
Caporusso, Hagelin and
Wohlberg combine for 10
points in Wolverines' sweep
of Lake Superior State
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Writer
For the first time all year, the Michigan
hockey team's two seasons came together.
The season the Wolverines were sup-
posed to have, and the season they were
actually enduring became one for their
final two-game stretch of the year at Yost
Ice Arena this weekend.
The trio of players predicted to put up
big numbers in the preseason finally came
together in Michigan's sweep of Lake
Superior State (15-18-5) in its CCHA first
round series, notching a 5-2 victory Friday
and a 6-0 win Saturday.
Juniors Louie Caporusso and Carl Hage-
lin along with sophomore David Wohlberg
were the top three returning scorers from
a year ago. They combined for 10 points,
including six of the Wolverines' 11 goals on
the weekend.
On Saturday, Caporusso made sure he
wouldn't have to come back to Yost on
Sunday for a third and deciding game of
the series. After netting the team's first
and third goals, he joined a rush started by
Wohlberg to make it a three-on-two. Wohl-
berg laid the puck back to Caporusso, who
one-timed a snap shot into the net, giving
him his third career hat trick and his first
this season. r
"I had one intention, that was to work
hard and get shots on the net, put things on
the net because you never know what can
happen," Caporusso said.
But it was Wohlberg who set the offen-
sive tone for the weekend. After registering
30 points in his freshman campaign, Wohl-
berg had just 17 during the regular season
this year. But this weekend, he added three
points, including an assist on the first goal
Friday as well as the game's second goal.
Wohlberghas struggled with back issues
all season, but seems to be getting healvthy
as the team heads into the postseason.
"He just was never 100 percent," Michi-
gan coach Red Berenson said. "You could
see it in his skating. Now you can see that
he's jumping,'he's stronger, and with a lit-
tle bit of luck and hard work you get some
results. That's the David Wohlberg we saw
all last year and now he's finally feeling
healthy enough to play all out."
Hagelin, the alternate captain who has
lived up to and exceeded expectations this
season, was responsible for the final two
goals of the weekend. He also led the team
in shots, taking seven of the Wolverines'
46. Caporusso launched six, but enough
to get the extra goal that Hagelin couldn't
find late in the game.
As Michigan (21-17-1) headed into the
third period up six goals, the only drama
surrounded whether Hagelin could join
Caporusso with three goals.
"I got put on there for one shift with
him and I just was trying to get him the hat
trick," Caporusso said. "He's my best friend
I would have loved to see him getone too."
After the game, Hagelin led the Wolver-
See LAKE STATE, Page 3B
'M' out o
Loss gives Michigan
State share of
conference title
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Editor
EAST LANSING - The Michi-
gan men's basketball team is run-
ning out of answers after losses
like Sun-
days. MICHIGAN 48
"Lack MICHIGAN STATE 64
of focus
or something," junior Manny Har-
ris said in the locker room, his head
dipped. "They just outplayed us."
It's hard for anyone to explain a
game like the one Michigan played
Sunday against Michigan State,
especially when the 64-48 loss
wasn't even as close as the final
score implied.
Given how well the Wolverines
played in their last game, a home
win against Minnesota, explana-
tions become even more difficult.
Then, Michigan shot 60 percent
and played suffocating defense to
soundly beat a team that had a lot
more to play for.
Yesterday? Michigan was
attacked from the opening tip by
Michigan State's physical style of
play. The Wolverines responded
poorly, turning the ball over and
allowing the Spartans to bully
them in the post.
"It was almost like our game
(against Minnesota) last week,
but in reverse," sophomore Zack
Novak said.
Michigan (7-11 Big Ten, 14-16
overall) was in the game for the
first nine minutes, thanks mostly
f answers after rivalry loss Its a "new season,"but
s : f o""will we see a new team?
EAST LANSING -
Go ahead, throw the kitch-
en sink at me.
Tell me the reason
Michigan State won was because
it was playing for a share of the Big
Ten men's basketball title.
Say that the
Spartans need-
ed to come out
strong after
a near loss to
Penn State last
week.
Pull out the '
now-unorig- I
inal piece of NICOLE
wisdom that
Michigan's AUERBACH
shots just don't
fall sometimes.
Sure, all those things are true,
and I don't want to take anything
away from a very impressive Spar-
tan performance. But after the two
games the Wolverines played last
week, was I too optimistic when I
thought, "Hmm, maybe this won't
be a blowout"?
Michigan showed heart against
Evan Turner and Ohio State a
week ago, leading at halftime and
never mailing it in, even when
Turner turned in yet another
Player-of-the-Year-worthy perfor-
mance.
And then Wednesday came -
the Wolverines' final home game
of the season. Against Minnesota,
a team fighting to remain on the
NCAA Tournament bubble, Michi-
gan played spoiler in one of its
best all-around efforts of the year.
Again, the Wolverines showed that
they hadn't thrown in the towel.
Coming into Sunday's game, I
figured it could be close. The two
teams battled through an epic one-
point game in January, one that
DeShawn Sims nearly won at the
buzzer. How about a Round Two?
Quickly and painfully, Michigan
State made sure the game's out-
come would never be questioned.
Michigan didn't just lose on Sun-
day - it was annihilated by a very
focused, very talented Spartan
squad.
I know this routine. Just when
the Wolverines string together two
decent games (yes, I'm including
the loss at Ohio State as a decent
performance), they fall apart for
whatever reason. It could be an
opponent on fire, like Northwest-
ern. It could be the scary confines
It doesn't matter
why it happens
anymore.
It happens.
of a hostile environment like the
Kohl Center in Madison. Or it
could be for seemingly no reason
at all.
But at this point, it doesn't mat-
ter why it happens that much any-
more. It happens.
Sunday's loss to Michigan State
marked the end of a disappointing
regular season for Michigan. All
See AUERBACH Page 3B
AL GOLDIS/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein (left) yells in Saturday's loss to Michigan State. Senior Zack Gibson (right) goes up for a basket.
to Michigan State's own propen-
sity for turning the ball over.
But about halfway through
the first half, Spartan sophomore
Delvon Roe grabbed an offen-
sive rebound and got the putback.
Then, senior Raymar Morgan hit a
jumper stole the ball on the other
end and slammed home a dunk.
The score had gone from a man-
ageable 13-8 to a seemingly insur-
mountable 19-8 Michigan State
advantage.
And the Wolverines never
recovered.
Michigan scored 14 total points
in the first half, which wasn't just
the worst first-half point totals for
Michigan - it tied for the lowest
total this year in the entire con-
ference. The Wolverines shooting
1-of-11 from beyond the are had
something to do with that.
Michigan State's extremely
physical defense also had some-
thing to do with it.
"That was probably one of the
more physical games we've ever
played," senior DeShawn Sims
said. "But that was their M.O., be
physical against Michigan."
The second half didn't offer
much reprieve.
Michigan didn't score for the
first four minutes of the second
frame and allowed the Spartans
(14-4,24-7)to stretch their already
sizeable lead to 28. At one point,
Morgan's personal point total
topped that of the entire Michigan
team, 17-14.
See SPARTANS, Page 3B
The Wolverines' intrastate rivals were too Michigan capped a disappointing season
much to handle in the second round of the with a mediocre performance at Big Tens. At
Women's Big Ten Tournament. Page 4B least it was in Ann Arbor. Page 3B