2B - October 10, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 41
Late-game goals propel 'M' PORISMONDAY COLUMN
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Editor
The puck lying in the net
behind Michigan fifth-year
senior goalie Shawn Hunwick
was a wake-up call.
Bentley looked like it had just
done the improbable on Satur-
day: a team ranked 10th out of
12 in the Atlantic Hockey Asso-
ciation preseason poll apparently
took a one-goal lead late in the
second period against the No. 6
Michigan hockeyteam.
Ultimately, a wake-up call was
all that it was.
After a few brief seconds of
celebration, the referees waved
off the goal due to a goaltender
interference penalty on Bentley
forward Joe Campanelli.
The scare, though, was real.
The Falcons hung close with
the Wolverines for both games
of the weekend series, even
though the score was lopsided
in the two Michigan victories.
Bentley trailed by just one goal
entering the final frame in both
contests, but the constant Michi-
gan onslaught - the Wolverines
dominated shots 93-41 on the
weekend - eventually broke
down the Falcons in each game.
"We've been conditioning
pretty hard all spring and sum-
mer," said sophomore forward
Luke Moffatt. "I think right now
(it's) just the fatigue factor. We're
able to wear down the other team
and by the third period, they just
can't keep up with us."
Conditioning from three
games prior to the weekend
series also earned Michigan (3-0)
an upper-hand in the third peri-
od. Bentley (0-2) hadn't played
a single game before this week-
end's series.
Third-period performance
decided each contest. The Wol-
verines outscored Bentley a com-
bined 5-0 in the final frame, led
by junior forward A.J. Treais and
freshman forward Alex Guptill,
who each scoredtwo goals apiece
in the third period.
Still, it took the near-Bentley
ALDEN REISS/Daily
Junior forward A.J. Treais scored two goals ina weekend sweep of Sentley.
I
I
goal to light a spark under the
Michigan offense.
Freshman forward Phil Di
Giuseppe tapped in the go-ahead
goal just 34 seconds after the
penalty thanks to a feed to the
crease by Moffatt.
"That was a pretty big momen-
tum switch," Moffatt said. "We
were able to get that power play
goal and boost up the whole
bench, and it gave us a lot of
momentum after that."
Conditioning hasn't been the
sole contributor to the boost
in third-period play. Michigan
coach Red Berenson replaced
Guptill on the first line with
freshman forward Travis Lynch
for the third period on Friday.
Senior forward David Wohlberg
had been playing center with
Guptill and senior forward Luke
Glendening on the wings, and
Berenson believed they could
generate more offense with
Wohlberg there too.
The move paid off. Glendening
scored the Wolverines' second
goal ofthethird period on Friday,
and Lynch and Wohlberg record-
ed assists. All three of Michigan's
third-period goals in that game
came in a three-minute span,
transforming a one-goal game
with five minutes remaining into
a blowout.
Scoring has been contagious
for Michigan this season: it
scoredthree goals in five minutes
against Niagara, and just 80 sec-
onds separated goals by Guptill
and Treais on Saturday, although
Guptill's was an empty-netter.
"College hockey is all about
momentum," Berenson said.
"That's the great thing about
Yost Ice Arena and playing at
Michigan. If we can get some-
thing going and the crowd gets
into it and the players just get'
into it, there just seems to be
another level. And it can intimi-
date an opponent and the game
changes."
The momentum on Saturday
came from Bentley's mistake
rather than anything that the
Wolverines did. Hunwick likely
would have made a routine save
if Campanelli hadn't impeded his
path to the puck, butthe momen-
tum swing proved decisive.
And Michigan capitalized
when it mattered.
"That was big," Berenson said.
"We were lucky that it didn't
count, because we would have
been climbing an uphill battle.
That doesn't mean we couldn't
have come back, but you'd rather
play with a lead."
ED MoCH/Daily
Michigan fans congragated en masse Saturday at Ryan Field. The Wolverines felt right at home in Evanston,
Don't take the l ouse
experience for granted
EVANSTON -
Nathan Anderson trudged
up to Gate T at Ryan
Field three hours before
kickoff. He held a gallon of sweet
tea in one hand and a bag of chips
in the other.
Nathan,
a junior at
Northwest-
ern, lives for
game day. But '
he's stuck in a
city that hard-
ly has a foot- STEPHEN J.
ball culture to NESBITT
speak of.
Nathan
rarely sees a sellout at Ryan
Field. The smallest stadium
in the Big Ten seats a capacity
crowd of 47,130 - a mere 62,771
less than at Michigan Stadium. .
He knew Saturday would be dif-
ferent, but it wouldn't be pretty:
Michigan was coming to town.
So he arrived three hours
early to sit outside the student
entrance, which opens 90 min-
utes before kickoff, and sat out-
side Gate T for hours, wishing to
feel the typical college football
atmosphere.
The minds are brilliant, the
teams are good - but the two
don't mix. More students in
Evanston stroll around in busi-
ness suits on football Saturdays
than in Wildcat purple. Along
the front of the stadium, a ban-
ner proclaims, "Northwestern:
Chicago's Big Ten Team." This
season, Illinois countered with
a rival campaign to claim the
Fighting Illini as "Kings of Chi-
cago."
In proximity, Northwestern
is Chicago's team. But in reality,
due to the small student body,
Northwestern has the second-
fewest alumni living in the
Chicagoland area of any Big Ten
school.
In the early hours on Satur-
day morning, block 'M's lined
the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Tailgates dotted every open
parking lot on campus - all of
them hoisting Michigan flags and
tents.
Northwestern students
receive football tickets as part
of their tuition package - atten-
dance is first come, first served.
No one was there to battle
Nathan, as he sipped his sweet
tea and waited for the gate to
swing open.
Once the cold lake wind and
snow begin swirling over Evan-
ston, Nathan said showing up an
hour before the game would still
guarantee a spot in the front 15
rows.
The Michigan game marked
the first home game of the scho-
lastic year with the students on
campus for the fall semester. The
situation for the team - and the
fans - was clear:
If we don't win thisgame,
nobody will come back to the next
one.
So they came. The stadium
filled to the brim. An attendance
of 47,330 was announced.
On the sidewalk bordering
Central Street, directly in front
of the stadium, a pair of Michi-
gan fans were searching for
tickets.
"I've got two for $180 each,"
one scalper said.
"I went to the Michigan-Notre
Dame game and got two for $150,
man," the fan said.
"Yeah, well this is a big game,
too."
Not for Michigan. But it was
giant for Northwestern coach Pat
Fitzgerald and Wildcat football.
The students and Northwest-
ern faithful faced an opposing
sideline nearly 70-percent filled
with Michigan fans. That was
hard. It was the Little Big House.
z But then they suffered the
same second-half heartbreak the
Wildcats' have conditioned them
to expect.
In the post-game press con-
ference, Fitzgerald knew what
everyone was thinking. He ended
his opening statement by plead-
ing with students to return, to
remember the first-half Wildcats.
"There was great fan support
tonight, especiallyour students,"
Fitzgerald said. "It was an abso-
lutely outstanding environment,
one not only that we thank them
for but one we expect of them as
we move forward.
"So we'll see them back here in
a couple weeks for homecoming."
But many won't be back.
Before the game, one student
remarked on the student sec-
tion's 2011 T-shirts.
"We should have a new motto
on them," she said. "How about,'
All we do is almost win?"'
Michigan coach Brady Hoke
doesn't have to coddle the stu-
dent section. Fitzgerald has
to coddle the entire fan base.
Michigan students don't have to
be told by a head coach what is
expected of them.
It's almost hard to fathom a
scenario where college students
would choose not to attend a full
slate of games they've already
paid for. But that's the Michigan
difference - or one of them.
At Michigan, the expectations
are from within, not beamed
down from Hoke or Athletic
Director Dave Brandon. It's why
Michigan, unlike Northwest-
ern, has home-field advantage.
It's why every home game since
November 8, 1975 has drawn a
crowd of more than 100,000.
"It was a good environment,
we just let our fans down," said
Northwestern quarterback Dan
Persa. "We've got to play a lot bet-
ter than that."
The difference is that when the
Wildcats let their fans down, they
don't come back. Denard Robin-
son can always expect 100,000
surrounding the field at Michigan
Stadium.
We're lucky at Michigan. We're
blessed.
Don't take the Big House
experience for granted. Nathan
wouldn't.
- Nesbitt can be reached at
stnesbit@michigandaily.com or
on Twitter: @stephenjnesbitt
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