4B - February 21, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.c* 4B - February 21, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycorn Lynch ends scoring drought with Unlikely source three goals in sweep of Broncos Pateryn helps By STEPHEN J. NESBITT Daily Sports Editor Ninety days. Sophomore forward Kevin Lynch entered Yost Ice Arena for a weekend series against West- ern Michigan riding the worst streak of any skater on the No. 11 Michigan hockey team - an 18-game pointless streak span- ning nearly three months. Lynch wasn't just snake-bit - the monkey on his back had evolved well beyond its infancy stage. But midway through the first period of the Wolverines' 6-3 victory against the Broncos, Lynch found a rebound off to the side of Bronco goaltender Jerry Kuhn and shoveled it into the net. Streak snapped. For the Grosse Pointe, Mich. native, it was a sigh of relief months in the making. "A little while? It's been a long time," Lynch said with a laugh after the game. "It felt good to give something to the team. I thought I'd been playing well, but it hasn't been going in for me. "It was a really good feeling to get the monkey off my back." The goal - Lynch's seventh of the season - brought confi- dence. To ensure that the streak was gone, Lynch knocked in his second goal at the 11:15 mark of the third period. "We've explained to him, it's not about scoring, it's about play- ing well and playing hard and playing good defense," Michigan coach Red Berenson said Friday. "When you're not scoring, you'd better notget scored against. For the most part Lynch has kept himself in the lineup by work- ing hard, and tonight he was rewarded." Lynch was on a tear, and he left Broncos strewn in his wake. The big-bodied forward was the sheriff on the ice at Yost, pun- ishing Western Michigan and letting his physicality match the ne*wffensive outpobringl'" "Ijust think (Lynch) is playing with a little more grit," Berenson said. "Sometimes when you play more physical, good things hap- pen. When he quits hitting, he'll probably quit scoring." Blue offense roll By CASANDRA PAGNI Daily Sports Writer Michigan junior defenseman Greg Pateryn is not primarily known for his scoring ability - he came into this weekend's NOTEBOOK series with just 10 points. The Wolverines ask Pateryn to play a strong defense, and anything he nets is a bonus. But in Friday's 6-3 win over Western Michigan, Pateryn had the scoring touch from the get- go. He scored his third goal of the seasonand addedthree helpersto get the Wolverine offense off to a quick start - Pateryn couldn't remember ever accounting for four points in agame before. "I don't think ever in my hockey career," Pateryn said. "I think the last time was maybe high school when we beat a team like 9-0 or something. Guys were putting the puck in. (Senior for- ward Scooter Vaughan has) been scoring on every chance he's had basically. (Sophomore forward Kevin Lynch) put one in there for me. (Sophomore forward Chris Brown), good deflection, and (senior forward Matt Rust) made an unbelievable pass. You got to give everyone else credit, notjust myself." Pateryn notched just six total points last season - one goal and five assists - but his increased offensive production this year is a good sign for a Michigan team that looks to a different guy to play hero each night. Pateryn's offensive contributions on Fri- day helped propelthe Wolverines from the first goal onward. Just seconds after Vaughan finished servinghis penalty for elbowing, Pateryn dished the puck to Vaughanoutofthebox,who skat- ed down theTight side and placed the puck iiitheback ofthe net "(Pateryn's) keeping the game simple," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We're asking our (defensemen) to move the puck, quick up the puck. He made that play to Scooter coming out of the penalty box. That was a little bit of luck there, the timing and everything, (but) that was a nice play." POWERPLAY PERKS UP: After 22 consecutive unsuccessful power play attempts, on Satur- day, the Wolverines showed that all they needed was one more chance. On Friday, Western Michigan didn't take any penalties, so the Michigan man-advantage didn't have an opportunity to see the ice. But on Saturday, when West- ern Michigan defenseman Dennis Brown went to the box for tripping with 10 minutes remaining in the first period, the Wolverines didn't miss their 23rd opportunity. Junior defen- seman Brandon Burlon ripped a shot from the point that sopho- more forward Kevin Lynch deflected before the puck went wide right of the net, hitting the backboards. Junior forward David Wohl- berg picked the puck up on the rebound and netted his 12th goal of the season. "It was a great finish, little bit of luck, nice to see the power play capitalize," Berenson said. "It was nice to get a power play, and good for our team." Wohlberg's power-play tally moves the junior into second on the team in goals this season 4 but the Wolverine who leads the team in goals, senior forward Carl Hagelin, was also involved in getting the man-advantage unit going on Saturday. Hagelin's game-winner with just three seconds remaining in overtime came onthe powerplay, as Michigan went 2-for-4 with seven shots on net with that unit on Saturday. "NOTES: With'thlg weekend's sweep of the i'onil&i, Michig4.t is all but guaranteed a top-two finish in the CCHA. It needs only one more point to do so... Conference-leading Notre Dame is currently one point ahead of Michigan. CHRIwDZ Sophomore forward Kevin Lynch (11) snapped his 18-game scoring drought in Friday's 6-3 win with two goals. The next night, Lynch proved that Friday was no fluke. In Saturday's 5-4 barnburner, Lynch assisted on sophomore forward David Wohlberg's pow- er-play goal in the first period - the team's first man-advantage goal since a Jan. 22 matchup against Alaska. In the following period, Lynch scored the Wol- verines' biggest goal of the first 59 minutes of the game - over- shadowed only by senior for- ward Carl Hagelin's late-game heroics. Just over two minutes into the second frame, with Hagelin in the penalty box for high-stick- ing, Lynch showcased his scbr ing finesse on a short-handed attack. After picking up a loose puck in his own end, Lynch dashed the length of the ice on a two-on-two with Wohlberg. With Wohlberg covered and two men converging on him, Lynch split the defensemen with a nifty toe-drag and wristed a shot past Kuhn to tie the game at three goals each. "The short-handed goal was huge - that got us back in the game," Berenson said on Satur- day. "Great play by Lynch. We've had those go against us, as you saw, and it was good to get that one back." This wasn't the same Lynch whose inability to produce on the offensive end had befuddled both he and the coaching staff for months. Before last weekend's match- up against Ohio State, Beren- son shifted Lynch over from right wing to center, his natural position. The change didn't pay dividends against the Buckeyes, but it may have sparked Lynch against the Broncos. With time winding down in the third period on Satur- day, Lynch had four points on the weekend, but the Wolver- ines still trailed, 4-3. Berenson called a timeout with 90 sec- onds remaining to set up a final stab at sending the game into overtime. When Michigan took the ice coming out of the timeout, senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick was on the bench and Berenson sent Lynch as the extra attacker. After three months of disap- pointment, he'd earned the trust of his coach. A. minute later, Lynch Was skating alongside Hagelin whe'n the Swede deadlocked the game with 40 seconds remaining. The barn was ablaze, and nobody more so than Kevin Lynch - the weekend's most unlikely hero. BASEBALL Wolverines swept in Big East-Big Ten Challenge SOFTBALL 'M' remains perfect on season By NEAL ROTHSCHILD DailySports Writer Their opponents' big innings were too big and the Wolverines' big innings weren't big LOUISVILLE 6 enough in MICHIGAN 3 the opening weekend of S.CHN 6S 1 the Michi-M gan baseball UCONN 16 team's sea- MICHIGAN 9 son. Michigan dropped all three games of the Big Ten-Big East Challenge in St. Petersburg, Fla. after being outscored by a com- bined 17 runs in the losses. Pinpointing exactly where the Michigan baseball team fell short this weekend might be a useless task, as the Wolverines' inconsistent pitching, scattered hitting and porous defense all contributed to their fate against Louisville, St. John's and Con- necticut. The crooked number wasn't kind to Michigan (0-3) - high- scoring innings hurt the Wolver- ines in all three games. "The number one thing we preach is staying out of the big inning," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "And the big inning occurs from walks, hit batsmen or errors. That just can't happen, but it did." On Friday, No. 22 Louisville's four-run second inning put the Cardinals ahead, 5-0 - a deficit Michigan chipped away at, but couldn't overcome en route to a 6-3 loss. Two four-run innings on Sat- urday helped No. 31 St. John's make easy work of the Wolver- ines in the Red Storm's 13-6 victory. Michigan sophomore starting pitcher Ben Ballantine was chased in the fourth inning after surrendering six runs on nine hits, capped by a three-run double from sophomore outfield- er Jeremy Baltz. "There were several times where we could have stopped the bleeding if we would have been able to make one more pitch in a pressure situation," Maloney said, pointing to Baltz's base-clearing double. "That one pitch set the momentum on fire for them. Had we made that pitch and got out of the situation, the whole game could have been different." And Sunday, it was shoddy defense that led to No. 17 Con- necticut's big innings - a six- run second inning and a five-run third. With two outs and only one run across in the second inning, sophomore shortstop Derek Dennis committed an error on a fielder's choice that would have ended the inning. Five runs later, the blowout was on. Michigan tallied four errors on the day, which led to six unearned runs. But despite the weekend's deflating results, Michigan did receive promising performances from a handful of players. Sopho- more first baseman Garrett Ste- phens went 4-for-12 and knocked in eight of the Wolverines' 18 runs in the Challenge. Meanwhile, freshman right- fielder Michael O'Neill"- neph- ew of former major leaguer Paul O'Neill - earned his way into the third spot in the lineup against Connecticut to finish 5-for-11 in the series. He also starred in the field, gunning down two runners with outfield assists and registering a running catch. Maloney said it was just the second time he has batted a freshman third in the lineup. "It's a big confidence boost that Coach has confidence in me to hit me third - that's big," O'Neill said. "I think guys on the team know that (I'm) for real." Michigan also had to deal with some of its players getting their first starts collegiate starts. Stephens, O'Neill, redshirt soph- omore infielder Kevin Krantz and freshman third baseman Alex Lakatos all started their first games this weekend. "We're going to be going through some growing pains." "We've got a lot of guys who don't have experience that we have a lot of confidence in and that we think over time are going to be really good players," Maloney said. "We're going to be going through some grow- ing pains and we have a very difficult schedule to go through those growing pains." In order to make sure that the Wolverines' come out with their first win of the season next weekend, Maloneysaid improve- ment on pitching and defense would be emphasized this week in practice. "We just have to get better so that at some point we can learn from all these experiences," Maloney said. Wolverines defeat Massachusetts to capture FAU Kickoff Classic title By EMILY BONCHI DailySports Writer After three shutouts, nine home runs and five wins, the No. 11 Michigan softball team clinched top honors at the Flor- ida Atlantic University Kickoff Classic this past UMASS 1 weekend MICHIGAN 5 and kept an unblemished record. After going 4-0 during Fri- day's and Saturday's matchups in Boca Raton, Fla., the Wol- verines earned first-seed hon- ors, facing Massachusetts in the bracket championship for a weekend rematch. "I thought today was one of our best efforts," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said after the game. "It was a very com- petitive game against a good UMass team and a very good pitcher. "We've got a lot of work to do, we've got a lot of new-kids. We are definitely getting better." For the first time this sea- son, Michigan (10-0 overall) dropped a game's first run, after an error allowed Minutewoman Jordan Storro onto first base in Sunday's championship game. She eventually stole her way around the diamond, scoring the first run of the game. Michigan quickly rebounded in the bottom of the first, put- ting its own tally on the board. After two consecutive singles by freshman outfielder Nicole Sap- pingfield and senior first base- man Dorian Shaw, junior third baseman Amanda Chidester singled up the middle to send Sappingfield home. Three scoreless innings passed, with most of the work coming off the defensive ends of each team. Massachusetts pitcher Sara Plourde registered one strikeout, while Michigan pitchers sophomore Stephanie Speierman and senior Jordan Taylor (who came into the game during the fourth inning) each sent two girls back to the dug- out. The Wolverine offense found new life in the bottom of the fifth, as junior Bree Evans made the most of a Minute- women error and a wild pitch by Plourde to work her way into scoring position. With one out, Shaw sent a deep sacrifice fly to left field - giving Evans the opportunity to score and put Michigan in the lead. "We all wanted to win that last game," Evans said. "And we knew it was a tough pitcher so we all adjusted, and the major difference is that we ended up having a better outcome on this one." The Wolverines pulled farther ahead after two sixth-inning home runs by sophomores Ashley Lane and Amy Knapp. Michigankept Massachusetts off the board for the remainder of the game, beating them for the second time in two days, 5-1. "We have a number of girls that have been waiting in the wings," Hutchins said. "You look at Marley Powers, who's a senior. And you look at Amy Knapp and Ashley Lane, and those are people who really need to step in and help us be success- ful throughout the course of the season. They've all been doing their part and contributing." The Wolverines kicked off the tournament last Friday with a doubleheader against Long Island and Classic host Florida Atlantic. Taylor led Michigan against the Blackbirds, throwing her seventh career no-hitter to give the Wolverines the 6-0 shut- out to start the weekend. Later that day, Speierman followed suit, blanking the owls in five innings, 11-0. Friday also included strong offensive performances, paced by two home runs apiece by Shaw and Lane. Michigan's success continued into Saturday's double-header with closer games against Tulsa and Massachusetts. Taylor continued to dominate on the mound, tossing a one-hit- ter and striking out 10 against the Minutewomen, as the Wol- verines took the first meeting of this series, 3-0. "It's my senior year and I don't want to start it off poor, Taylor said. Michigan's closest game of the weekend series came against Tulsa. After Evans and Sappingfield led off in the first inning with back-to-band sin- gles, Chidester broke the game open early with a two-run dou- ble, sending both base runners back to the plate. The inning was retired with the Wolverines already leading 3-0, but an offensive surge start- ing in the third inning by Tulsa prompted the veteran Taylor to come in for Speierman to earn her second save of the season. Michigan took the game, 4-3, and earned the top slot for the bracket championship. Coming off their best start in years, the Wolverines will con- tinue tournament play in Flor- ida during Michigan's spring break trip next weekend.