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f The Michigan Daily j michigandailycom ( January 24,2011
WA RM UP THE SLEDS
Michigan 2
Alaska O
Michigan 4
Alaska 3
Nanooks
si i sent back
to Alaska
empty-
handed after
\ weekend
sweep
SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily
It's not always pretty, but
'M'is gutting out wins
The Michigan hockey team celebrates its ninth win in its last ten games Saturday night over Alaska.
Despite shoddy defense,
Ices grab weekend sweep
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Editor
Ibo ten that the Wolver-
ines learn a lesson from the Spar-
tans.
Two weeks ago, Michigan
State scored back-to-back goals
with a two-man advantage to
beat the Michigan hockey team
in overtime. Michigan coach Red
Berenson tooknote.
And after No.6 Michigan's 4-3
victory on Saturday, in which it
killed off a five-on-three late in
the third period, the Wolverines
proved how much they learned in
two weeks.
"We had to do some serious
work on it a couple of weeks ago
to get our players to understand
how to handle that five-on-
three," Berenson said. "Then it's a gan territory - this time having
matter of a sense of urgency." just a five-on-four power play
with abottft inihiut~eft -and foundft s a
and Michigan clingig to aene- shooting Vine from thepoint.
goal lead Saturday, the crowd Senior forward Carl Hagelin
erupted. A day after the Wolver- charged out and dove to block
ines beat the Nanooks 2-0, the the shot. Langlais quickly found
student section jumped up and the loose puck and sent it down
down like a fishing bobber in the the ice - increasing the roar
water. of the already raucous Yost Ice
A slight rumble took over the Arena crowd.
building as the rest stomped "We were all pretty tired
their feet. The cheers weren't but when we heard the crowd
for a goal or a save: only a simple every time we dumped it in their
clear down the ice. zone, we went crazy just like the
Facing 57 seconds of a two- crowd," Hagelin said.
man disadvantage, the puck The body-flying, back-
squirted towards the boards against-the-wall defense was
near the faceoff circle. Senior the redeeming act of a team that
Chad Langlais dove and swat- struggled in their own zone the
ted the puck down the ice. The whole weekend. Michigan (14-
Nanooks came back into Michi- See SWEEP, Page 3B
Before boarding a plane
for Fairbanks, Alaska
in early November,
Michigan coach Red Berenson
compared the Alaska defense to
a pack of musk oxen.
Yes, those
very wooly
beasts from
the frozen
Alaskan
tundra.
Berenson
explained
that the STEPHEN J.
defense's
tendency to NESBITT
herd around
the net to
minimize the risk of an offen-
sive attack mimicked the strate-
gies of the musk oxen.
But by the time the Yost Ice
Arena student section finished
chanting "Warm up the sleds"-
after the Michigan hockey
team's 4-3 victory on Saturday,
the Nanooks had lumbered to
the dressing room dually defeat-
ed - both swept by the Wolver-
ines and knocked back to eighth
in the conference standings.
Michigan has sent several
teams home empty-handed
recently, including a pair of
sweeps against.Ferris State and
Alaska in the past two week-'
ends. More impressively, the
Wolverines are beating good
defenses - the Bulldogs and
Nanooks were Nos. 1 and 4 in
the conference, respectively -
picking them apart for 15 total
goals.
"They're a good team, boy,
they're a good team," Berenson
-said of Alaska. "I thought we
played pretty"well when we got
the puck in their zone. But they
really exploited us when they
got the puck."
Since the beginning of
December, the Wolverines have
gone unbeaten in regulation
with a record of 10-2-0 - the
two losses came in. overtime
fashion against Ohio State and
Michigan State. And just two of
those wins have been one-goal
victories.
After struggling to maintain
a cohesive attack from night to
night in the first half of the sea-
son - Michigan entered early
December with a 2-4-2 record
See NESBITT, Page 3B
ICE HOCKEY
Blue 'scoring
by committee'
Wolverines battle, but drop sixth-straight
game at the hands of No.15 Minnesota
W By CASANDRA PAGNI
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan coach Red Beren-
son dubbed it "scoring by com-
mittee," but senior forward
Scooter Vaughan simply tagged
it as "awesome." Call it what-
ever you want, but any way you
look at it, it's simple.
Couple the fact that the Wol-
verine defensemen have 20
goals so far this season with the
fact that three of Michigan's
four lines have been clicking,
recently, and it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to see the con-
nection between the Wolver-
ines' timely secondary scoring
and their recent victories.
In its back-to-back weekend
sweeps, No.6 Michigan received
offensive production from all
over the ice - with nine players
tallying at least one point in this
weekend's sweep.
In the Wolverines' 2-0 Friday
night shutout over the Nanooks,
sophomore defenseman Lee
Moffie and freshman defense-
man Jon Merrill scored the only
goals for the Wolverines.
Moffie's goal was his fourth
of the season and third in two
weekends - he earned CCHA
defensemen of the week honors
for his two-goal series against
Ferris State last weekend -
while Merrill carried over his
success into Saturday night's
contest.
Merrill scored just 1:15 into
the first period to get Michi-
gan (14-4-1-0 CCHA, 17-6-4
overall) out to the early lead.
Merrill's two-goal weekend
performance against Alaska
See COMMITTEE, Page 3B
By BEN ESTES stops, though, continually cut-
Daily Sports Writer ting into Minnesota's lead only
to see the Gophers respond
From the opening tip, it was immediately.
clear that the Michigan team It was a balanced effort that
that took the court Saturday downed the Wolverines. Four
night against Minnesota wasn't Gophers scored in double dig-
the same its, though none scored more
group that MINNESOTAN 64 than 13. Michigan had success
got blown against Minnesota (4-3, 15-4)
out at Indi- last season, finishing 2-0 in
ana and Northwestern in its last their season series, aided by the
two games. absence of Al Nolen.
But improved play didn't In Saturday's game, the
result in a win for the Wol- Gopher point guard sat out
verines. The Michigan men's the entire second half after
basketball team fell to the 15th- injuring his right ankle. This
ranked Golden Gophers, 69-64, time around his absence didn't
at Crisler Arena. matter, as the Wolverines suc-
The two teams' offenses cumbed to Minnesota's deep
struggled at times - Minne- lineup.
sota shot 63.4 percent from the "They got a lot of good play-
field but had 17 turnovers. Each ers," redshirt freshman forward
started trading baskets late in Jordan Morgan said after the
the game, as the Wolverines game. "They do a really good
scrambled to come back. job of finding the best shot for
Michigan (1-6 Big Ten, 11-9 everybody. It's not one person
overall) just couldn't get enough See MINNESOTA, Page 3B
ANNA ScHULTE/Daily
Juniorguard Stu Douglass had a team-high six assists and had two 3-point-
ers as the Wolverines dropped to1-6 in the Big Ten.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
The Michigan men's basketball team
has found itself in a slump with the recent
performances of sophomore point guard
Darius Morris. Page 4B
BOILER DOWN
The Michigan women's basketball
team picked up its third-straight win
yesterday against a talented Purdue
squad. Page 2B