The Michigan Daily I michigandaily com I February14,2011
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Chris Brown and Michigan's top line power a weekend sweep of the Buckeyes
1 sLr IJSaTIU a a n o ', seams tne - Aoo
lichigan 3
Rio State 2
ichigan 2
no State 1
By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
Before facing Ohio State, Michi-
an coach Red Berenson pieced
ogether a line so potent it could've
arried the Wolverines to the
romised Land - last year's NCAA
inals.
But that was then, and this year
s a different story. When Beren-
son created a line combination of
eniors Carl Hagelin and Louie
aporusso and sophomore Chris
rown, he was doing it on a whim
nd out of dire necessity. Their 25
oals, entering the series, were less
han half of their production from
,ast season, and 13 of those tallies
came from Hagelin's stick alone.
I Once their blades hit the ice
r arly in the first period of Friday's
-2 victory over the Buckeyes, the
igh-octane line made Berenson
ook like a regular wizard. Capo-
usso netted the game-winning
oal on Friday, and Brown did the
onors in Saturday's 2-1 win. The
rio had seven points in the Wolver-
nes' series sweep of Ohio State at
Vost Ice Arena.
The three skaters, who had just
two points in the No. 13 Michigan
hockey teams three-game skid,
gave their coach exactly what he's
been asking for all year: his best
players finally were his best players.
The weekend belonged to
Brown, who caught fire to pace the
Wolverines (16-7-1-0 CCHA,19-9-4
overall) with two goals - the fifth
and sixth of his sophomore cam-
paign.
"It feels really good (to score
again), but I've got to give a lot of
credit to Louie and Carl," Brown
said. "I think we're just click-
ing right now. It's something that
(Berenson) was hoping for, and
I think we're doing above and
beyond what he wanted.
"Since we did juggle the lines
around, there was definitely a need
of more communication, so I think
that really helped."
Brown was on the prowl all
weekend, putting on a show that
coupled his scoring finesse with his
penchant for bashing and bruising.
The Texas state flag, a tradition
that started last season in honor of
the Flower Mound, Texas native,
flew five times in the student sec-
tion on Saturday. The first two
were expected - once during
See OHIO STATE, Page 3B
t515 KIRKLAND/Daily
Sophomore forward Chris Brown celebrates with Louie Caporusso (29), Chad Langlais (7) and Jon Merrill (24) after scoring Michigan's second goal Friday.
Penalty kill carries icers
while power pla lt S ers
&
By CASANDRA PAGNI
Daily Sports Writer
Three weeks ago, Michigan
was forced to kill 57 seconds
of a 5-on-3 in the final minutes
of the game to preserve their
one-goal lead over Alaska. The
Wolverines and the Nanooks
went back-and-forth all game,
until the penalty kill came to the
rescue in the waning minutes to
shut down Alaska and secure the
narrow victory.
The Michigan faithful were
as animated as they had been all .
season at Yost Ice Arena during
those 57 seconds - that is, until
Michigan's penalty kill gave the
6,900 in attendance an even big-
ger reason to be deafeningly loud
on Saturday against Ohio State.
With the No. 13 Michigan
hockey team leading 2-1, sopho-
more forward Chris Brown
picked up a five-minute major
penalty for checking from
behind and was ejected from the
game just two minutes into the
third period. Brown's penalty
came at a crucial time for the
Wolverines. It was both late in
the game and almost immediate-
ly after Michigan's power play
failed to get a shot off for the
opening 1:28 of the third period.
But the Michigan penalty kill
more than picked up the slack of
its woebegone power play this
weekend, killing all four Buckeye
attemps - and none more impor-
tant than killing off Brown's five
minute penalty.
"It's just great for our team to
win close games like this," senior
forward Carl Hagelin said. "It
always gives the team some
extra energy for next week, and
also confidence. That penalty
kill at the end, the five minute
major that Brownie got ... that we
killed that off was key."
The Wolverines didn't just kill
the major penalty on Saturday
- the stifled the Buckeye power
play during those five minutes.
Michigan didn't allow Ohio State
to geta single shot on net during
that kill.
But the Wolverines took three
shots of their own on Buckeye
netminder Cal Heeter.
Without one of its mos(physi
cal forwards on the ice in Brown,
Michigan continually found
ways to clear the puck out of its
own zone - something the Yost
crowd couldn't get enough of.
"It's unbelievable that they
could keep (Ohio State) out of
our end for five minutes," senior
netminder Shawn Hunwick said.
Added Michigan coach Red
Berenson: "When you're killing a
See PENALTY KILL, Page 3B
SALAM RIDA/Daily
kbove: Senior goalie Shawn Hunwick (31) made 55 saves on the weekend. Below: Senior Chad Langlais gets into it
ith Sergio Somma of Ohio State.
.M'picks up sixth
_onference victory
By ZAK PYZIK seven of them.
Daily Sports Editor "It wasn't like our game plan
not to take many shots in the
A tale of two halves is the first half, it just happened that
est way to describe the Michi- way," junior guard Stu Douglass
an basketball team's 73-69 win said. "But then in the second,
gainst INDIANA 69 the baskets just opened up so we
ndiana MICHIGAN 73 took a lot more. Everybody was
t Crisler making their shots."
Srena on Saturday. After committing 10 turn-
The Wolverines (6-7 Big Ten, overs, the Hoosiers (3-10, 12-14)
6-10 overall) went into halftime were fortunate to end the first
aving taken just five 3-pointers half trailing just 32-24. Indiana
a season low for the Wolverines scored half of its points on fast
n one stanza - and making only breaks but couldn't get anything
ne of them. But in the second done in its set offense.
half, Michigan hoisted 10 shots "We just played our game,"
from 3-point land and drained See INDIANA, Page 3B
Blue allows late-game
comeback, holds off IU
By CHANTEL JENNINGS
Daily Sports Editor
In late November, just five
games into the Michigan men's
basketball season, coach John
Beilein told his team that he knew
the Wolverines were a team he
could lose with, because he knew
they were going to get better. He
knew it was a team that would
learn from its losses.
Now, with five games remain-
ing in the regular season, and
after a disappointing January,
the Wolverines have shown their
improvement through the last two
and a half weeks, going 5-1 in con-
ference play.
But on Saturday, in Michigan's
73-69 win over Indiana, it really
looked like the Wolverines were
not only the team that Beilein
could lose with, but the team he
would lose with.
Ahead by as many as 22, the
Wolverines relinquished the
lead and allowed the Hoosiers to
mount a comeback to turn what
was a blowout into a nail biter.
Michigan showed its poise during
much of the game and came out
on fire in the second half, hitting
seven 3-pointers in the second
stanza.
But in the final five minutes of
the game, the Wolverines began
to falter. They failed to hit a field
goal and missed free throw after
See COMEBACK, Page 3B
JAMES WEAVER/Daily
Freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a career-high 27 points in the narrow
win over the Hoosiers on Saturday.
* LT'S SHOWHTML
From battling injuries to Big Ten big
men, redshirt freshman Jordan Morgan
is starting to make his mark on Michigan
basketball. Page 4B
Michigan State continued its
dominance over the Michigan women's
basketball team in front of a sold-out
crowd in East Lansing. Page 2B