9 *-. - - -wi- 6B TusdyOcobr 01 .-o 1 HUNWICK From Page 3B ultimately fell one game short of the Frozen Four in a double-overtime lossN to Miami in the NCAA Tournament, no Michigan hockey fan can deny that Hunwick's play got them there - espe- cially in the absence of top defenseman Chris Summers, who went down with an injury in the CCHA tournament. No one could've predicted Hogan's G y injury, but niu one could've predicted the way the team would respond ins front of Hunwick, either. There is a tangible team chemistry when Hun-a wick is in the net - memories of the improbable postseason run mix withR the bitter taste of an unrewarding exit. Early this season, Berenson is using a goalie-by-committee method, wheret Hogan and Hunwick swap starts each series. But a point will soon come when Michigan is going to have to pick its gy, the guy who will lead the Wolver- ines back to the NCAATournament - and to a national title this time. While Hogan is more seasoned ink the net, it is Shawn Hunwick who deserves the chance to be the it guy for 2010. There is no denying the team's chemistry when Hunwick stands between the pipes, and he has earned the chance to prove he still has the magic to get this team back to the post- season. ARIEL BOND/Daily Pagni can be reached at Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick (pictured here) led the Wolverines between the pipes during their NCAA Tournament run last season. crpagni@umich.edu Hunwick gave up the final goal against Miami (Ohio) in double overtime that knocked Michigan out of contention for the Frozen Four. HOGAN From Page 3B pummeled Falcon netminder Andrew Volkening with 43 shots, not one puck had crossed the goal line. The Wolverines, who were clutch in front of Hunwick last season, failed to capitalize on their chances the year prior. A year and half later, two Michi- gao goalies are again competing for the job, which bodes well for Hogan. Remember, in a much-talk- ed-about competition with Sauer, Hogan won out, so maybe all Hogan needs is just a little healthy battle to bring out the best in him. Although many critics would say he didn't play close to his potential last year, the front-five on the ice with him at any given time weren't usually up to par for most of the season. , Hogan's proven he can win - there's no question about that. The Wolverines have shown they can put it all together in front him, and now, it's just a matter of combining Hogan circa 2008 with last season's down-the-stretch Michigan squad, and maybe, just maybe, Berenson will win something he hasn't in more than a decade. I can hear the doubters already. Burns is heading to Durham, New Hampshire this weekend. Hopefully he gets there in one piece. He can he reached at hurnmark@amich.edu Tuesday October 12,2010 // Faceoff 2010 3 Who's the man- a between the pipes? Shawn Hun wick Bryan Hogan STAYING POWER From Page 5B was something like, 'Look how fun this place is, look how great it could be. Look at the opportunities you have and look at the chance you have to succeed here at the University of Michigan.' After (you're) given so much, you want to give so much back." After a slow start his junior year, Caporusso finished the season just six points shy of his sophomore total. Rust and Hagelin had a quieter route to this meeting. Rust "took a back seat," not talking much with the Blue Jackets, who earned his rights in a trade, while Hagelin, a seventh- round pick with the Rangers, told them early on he was staying four years. That contact with New York didn't change after he blew up last season, leading the team in scoring. They all found their way to this moment, but why? Rust, a fourth-round pick, laughs when he talks about how his team- mates get on him for taking school too seriously. "He takes school way too serious- ly," Caporusso jokes. "He spends the most hours in the library, 70 percent looking for girls, 30 percent study- ing." For these players hockey is the focus, but getting a good education is the goal. "For me, that's pretty much the only reason I came here," Hagelin says. "Back (in Sweden) we don't have college sports so I had the deci- sion of playing hockey or just stop playing hockey and get a degree. But then this chance came up, so for me, coming here was a no-brainer to stay all four years and get a degree because school is so important. "Getting that degree is something we all want and that's a reason we're staying here for the fourth year." In an era without compromises like Berenson's with the Canadiens, the motivation for school often becomes a major part of any player's decision. often it is the player facili- tating the early departure time. "I think it's a two way street with that," Caporusso said. "A lot of the time I think it's the player forcing the team to come up with some contract a lot of the time because they want to get out of school." The trio had planned to stay all four years. As much as the plan was for aca- demics, it was also for hockey devel- opment. Hagelin and Rust even admitted they didn't think they had a chance to leave early. Even as NHL draft picks, all three needed the college game to develop. "You just don't develop in one year and then you're gone because of your statistics," Berenson said. But one year's development is all that remains. A year from now all three will be fighting for an NHL spot. Whether Hagelin and Rust may have sold themselves a little short remains to be seen. The speed, the intangibles, the leadership - it's there. "You want to see players that can make plays at full speed," Dave Star- man, CBS College Sports commenta- tor and amateur scout for the Toronto Maple leafs said. "To me, Matt.Rust can make a play at top speed. Louie Caporusso can make a play at top speed. Carl Hagelin can make a play at top speed. These are three guys that are great college players and the fact that they are sticking it out and playing their fourth year is only going to enhance their pro capabili- ties." There's also a more sobering real- ity. NHL teams only have one or two new forward spots per season. Nothing is guaranteed, especially for middle-to-late round picks like them. They've seen more highly regarded classmates leave early. Max Pacioretty, a first-round pick in 2007, left after his freshman year. He's had some success, playing-in 86 NHL games; but he started this sea- son in the AHL. Palushaj left a year later and has yet to play in an NHL game. It's a reason for finishing their education: a Plan B when no one knows what Plan A is quite yet. "It is scary for us," Rust said. "That's not a reason why I'm staying, but at the end of my four years here, it's going to be intimidating to real- ize you're fighting for a spot on the roster. Obviously here we're playing for a spot on Michigan's team, but they're stuck with us in essence. It's not a job yet. When you make it to the next level, you're definitely expend- able." Together they came in. Together they will lead the Wolverines - both on the score sheet and in the locker room. Due to some early departures Hagelin, Caporusso and Rust's recruiting class was able include 12 members. Now the class is down to nine, but Hagelin, Caporusso, and Rust as captains (along with junior Luke Glendening) are in charge of this team largely because they returned for their senior season. They are also expected to reprise their scoring roles from last year. Being relied on for both leader- ship and huge numbers to begin the season is a new role for the trio. It's the next step in their development as hockey players, their final go-round in the collegiate game. Like Porter in their freshman year and Berenson nearly fifty years prior, if the Wol- verines are to compete for a national title, they need to do what Berenson expects every year - that their senior years are their best year. "You're wearing a letter on your jersey so you know you've got the responsibility of being a leader and not just trying to be a leader as an underclassman, so I think that's part of it," Berenson said. "The other part is this is their year. This is their last year and there's no next year to worry about. It's this year and they've really got to embrace that." For the three, having their best combined year means scoring more than 35 percent of Michigan's goals. But it's more than just individual development. It's more than winning Hobey Bakers or setting scoring records. It's not even about doing what Berenson and Porter did. It's about doing what Berenson and Porter couldn't: win a national title. "I think the biggest thing me and Carl can do, and Rust, is bring a national championship here to the University of Michigan again and win one for coach Berenson and the coaching staff," Caporusso said. Wherever the third-ranked Wol- verines finish at the end of the sea- son, Berenson can look back at his three senior captains and know they were here for the right reasons. Why? Because they stayed. know that Bryan Hogan was recruited to be the starting goalie at Michi- gan. I understand that Hogan has played 3,604 minutes more in Michi- gan's net than Shawn Hunwick has. Ieven recognize that Hogan won the starting job CASANDRA from then- PAGNI senior Billy Sauer - as a sophomore. But in hockey, you have to go with the hot goalie. The tough question for Red Berenson and the Wolver- ines: does Hunwick's success transfer from one season to the next? In Hunwick's case, he deserves the chance to show that he can be the lights-out goalie of last season's playoff run. If Hogan hadn't suffered a groin injury in the first period of last year's final regular sea- son series against Notre Dame, then there's a good, maybe even great chance that there would be no debate today over who Berenson's No.1I netmind- er should be this season. But then again, if Hogan had stayed healthy, would Michi- gan have upset conference rivals then-No.11 Michigan State and then-No. 2 Miami (Ohio) to win the CCHA Tour- nament and secure a place in the NCAA Tournament for the 20th straight year, after com- ing dangerously close to break- ing that streak? While it's a mere game of speculation, I'd prefer to stick the facts. The fact is that Hun- wick's incredible postseason performance was a huge rea- son Michigan found itself back into NCAA contention and one game away from the Fro- zen Four, despite the fact that Hunwick has played 60 fewer games in his collegiate career than Hogan. When Hogan went down, the Wolverines held a medio- cre 14-12-0 CCHA record. The team had just dropped four of its previous six games and was staring at the all-too-real pos- sibility of staying home for the NCAA postseason if the team didn't make an incredibly deep run into the CCHA tourna- ment. Michigan was picked to finish first in the CCHA by the coaches and media poll prior to the season, but when the regular season ended, the Wolverines in front of Hogan had played themselves to a seventh-place conference fin- ish. Michigan hadn't finished seventh in the conference since 1986-7, making last year's finish a tie for the program's worst. Ten minutes into the first period on Feb. 25 with the Wol- verines locked in a 0-0 tie with Notre Dame, Shawn Hunwick - dubbed "the short goalie" by Berenson, standing four inches shorter than Hogan -skated out to the net, unaware of the extent of Hogan's injury or the magnitude of his opportunity. Before his injury, the team played 34 of 35 games with Hogan in the net. But Hunwick didn't just fill space in Hogan's absence, he capitalized on his chance - and that's undeniable. Hunwick got his first win and his only career shutout that night, as the team rallied in front of the backup to win 4-0. And the winning didn't stop there. While Hunwick didn't have anywhere near the game-time experience of Hogan -the team managers had spent more game-time in front of the net scraping excess ice off the rink than Hunwick had at that point - he adapted on the fly. The "short goalie" didn't let the ; opportunity - or many pucks T ou could hear the gasps But Hunwick stood tall - pass him by. for Bryan Hogan. And between the pipes, winning Heading into the do-or-die, you could certainly six straightgames en route to best-of-three series, a rejuve- hear the doubters for Shawn a CCHA Tournament title and nated Hunwick led Michigan Hunwick inside Yost Ice an automatic bid to the NCAA to a sweep of Lake Superior Arena on Tournament. Not to men- State in the first round of the that Thurs- tion, he received CCHA MVP CCHA Tournament, making day night honors. 49 saves over both games. this past When the dust cleared, A victory over Northern February. Hunwick and the Wolverines Michigan made Wolverines the Skat- came up just one goal short of CCHA Tournament champions ing off the 7 making it to the Frozen Four for the ninth time in program Michigan at Ford Field. history, as Hunwick made his- hockey MARK To the casual observer, tory of his own. team's BURNS it may seem as if coach Red Hunwick took home tour- bench was Berenson should just continue nament MVP honors from then-junior to ride "Rudy". After all, he led the CCHA Tournament - the Hunwick, the 5-foot-7, backup the Wolverines on an improb- first time a Michigan goalie netminder. Then-junior Hogan able run against improbable received that distinction in had just suffered a groin injury odds. For a former walk-on, program history. against Notre Dame in the last Hunwick proved he could be Berenson called Hunwick weekend of the regular season, a No. 1 goalie on a Division I a "warrior" after the tourna- and with Hunwick having hockey team. ment. He wasn't just filling seen just 20 minutes of play- Just not this team. Hogan's shoes during the post- ing time his entire career, the And so I'm here to crash the season run last year - he was Wolverines' hopes of advanc- Shawn Hunwick party, and I'd making a name for himself. ing to the NCAA Tournament like to be the first to say wel- And he was leading a team that for the 20th-straight year come back, Bryan Hogan. caught fire behind him. appeared unrealistic. As Hunwick stepped While the Wolverines into the spotlight on Feb.25 See HUNWICK, Page 6B against the Fighting Irish, the Michigan hockey team had a transformation of sorts, reverting back to the Beren- son-coached teams of the mid 90s and early 2000s. Combining a tenacious defensive effort with a prolific offensive attack, the desper- ate Wolverines dominated the competition in those eight wins before succumbing to Miami (Ohio) in a contro- versial loss in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Scoring at least five goals five times, 6 Michigan did a complete 180 from the previous 30 or so games, and the Wolverines seemed to exhibit a different style of play in front of Hunwick. The total-team r effort -the Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde meta- morphosis in front of Hunwick - ultimately contributed to Michi- gan's success in the latter stages. But it wasn't so much Hunwick standing on his head as it was the Wolverines final- ly reaching their potential and proving they belonged in the same sentence as the Miamis, Boston Colleges and the Wis- consins. Don'tget me wrong, Hun- wick played solid in net over that 10-game stretch. He made some key stops along the way, but he never stole a game for the Wolverines. Call me pessimistic, a buzzkill, whatever you want. It's just a fact that this team, which has underperformed as of late, is ready for Hogan to right the ship, grab the start- ing job and lead Michigan to contend for its first title in more than a decade. Anyone claiming that Hun- wick should man the pipes based on the team's transfor- mative performance in front of him is clearly misguided. The Wolverines have played extremely well in front of Hogan already, and anyone saying the team plays harder for Hunwick is just, simply, wrong. Throughout his sophomore campaign, thoughts of Hogan possibly mirroring legendary goaltender Marty Turco (yes, I said it) quietly surfaced. But leave it to a first-round upset at the hands of Air Force that same season to immedi- ately stifle those beliefs. And that's where everyone seems to lose sight of Hogan ever leading Michigan back to the Frozen Four or even just hold- ing down the No.1 spot. A 2-0 loss. Eleven saves. Against the 16th-ranked and last place Falcons. For the ignorant onlooker, the common response is some- thing along the lines of, "How could a goaltender allow two goals on such few shots to such a lowly-seeded team like Air Force? Surely, the loss is Hogan's, right?" Well, if my memory serves me right, you can't win if you don't score, and after Michigan See HOGAN, Page 66