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February 13, 2012 - 3B

Red-hot Treais
trouble for MSU

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team has posted a 19-4 record at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit during the last five seasons.
M m akes th e Joe Yost East'

DETROIT -
The lights go off, the
crowd gets loud, and a
man with a Zorro mask
skates around the ice as spot-
lights twirl for player introduc-
tions.
During
the game,
checks deliv-
ered on the
boards rattle
the glass
just a little
more than
usual, and EVERETT
the piped-in COOK
music is just
a little louder.
When junior forward Kevin
Lynch flipped in the game-win-
ning goal less than two minutcs
into overtime, the crowd noise
rose to decibel levels that are
impossible to achieve in the
Wolverines' regular home.
Yost Ice Arena might be one
of the best places to watch a
college hockey game in the
country, but it's not Joe Louis
Arena. The Joe is an entirely
different animal. I realized this
at some point before I walked
up what felt like 10,000 stairs
to get to the press box - with
two Coney dogs from Lafayette
Coney Island in my belly, none-
theless - and at some point
after I got lost trying to find
the door back to the stairwell,
which was marked with some
very helpful signs that said "Do
Not Enter."
There is something about that
arena that feeds the psyche of
the Wolverines. It could be that
SPLIT
From Page 1B
"Hunwick was bigger than
life," Berenson said. "Let's face
it, he wasn't very big, but he
played like he was big."
Killing the penalty at the
end of the game keyed a huge
momentum swing. But it seemed
even bigger because of how thel
unit had performed the night
before. Before the Spartans' sec-
ond goal on Friday, the Wolver-l
ines had killed 26 consecutive
penalties. By the end of Friday'sl
game, they had surrendered two
power-play goals.1
After a scoreless first frameI
in that contest, Michigan took a
two-goal lead thanks to Treais
and Lynch, but Michigan State]
kept creating scoring opportu-
nities. It eventually paid off fort
them. A slapshot from the top of

the arena feels like it was built
exclusively for people under
6-feet-tall, so fifth-year senior
goaltender Shawn Hunwick
feels right at home.
It could be that Michigan
coach Red Berenson likes coach-
ing in an arena that was built the
year after he retired from his
17-season NHL career, remind-
ing him of the glory days.
Or maybe it's that the Wolver-
ines look up to the rafters and
see NHL championship banner
after championship banner as
they skate on the same ice that
some of the best hockey players
in the world have skated on for
the last 32 years.
Whatever the reason, Michi-
gan doesn't mess around in
Detroit. Over the last five sea-
sons, Michigan is 19-4 at the
Joe. 19-4 against high-level
competition. That's not good -
that's legendary.
On Saturday, the game very
easily could have gone Michi-
gan State's way. Both teams
had great looks they couldn't
finish in the last 10 minutes of
the third period, where a lucky
bounce one way or the other
could've decided the outcome.
In overtime, Michigan won
because a Spartan whiffed
at blocking the puck, leaving
Lynch with a wide-open look
to end it. Two months earlier,
sophomore defenseman Kevin
Clare ended the Great Lakes
Invitational from almost the
exact same spot on the opposite
side of the ice.
Luck of the Joe, I guess.
Or maybe it's more than that.
the circle midway through the
second period cut the Wolver-
ines' lead in half.
Then came the slew of penal-
ties, starting at the beginning of
the third period.
It only took Michigan State's
Torey Krug one minute to capi-
talize on a boarding penalty and
fire a slapshot past Hunwick.
Another one followed three
minutes later. It was difficult for
Berenson to hold in his frustra-
tion at the end of the game.
"Our team was not good,"
Berenson said bluntly. "You
can't take penalties. You can't
keep taking penalties."
But Berenson's stern talk with
the team about playing short-
handed paid off - he was all
smiles after winning at the Joe.
"I think we were good,"
Berenson said. "I liked our ...
spirit (and) work ethic, and I
thought we were generating
something." F

The building fits Michigan's
style of play - an old-school
brand of hockey that favors
defense and opportunistic scor-
ing over flashy offensive for-
wards and 5-4 wins.
Michigan won't have a
20-goal scorer this season.
There's not one flashy name.
When the Joe's speakers play
Avicii, it feels like that scene
in Back to Future when Marty
McFly rips a guitar solo at prom
in the 1950s - the music doesn't
match the surroundings.
Michigan probably won't
have an All-American skater
this season. The Joe is one of
three professional hockey are-
nas in the country that doesn't
have a corporate-sponsored
name, instead using the name of
the boxing legend.
Michigan's best player is a
5-foot-6 former walk-on who
was told he wouldn't play at the
beginning of his career, only to
be well on his way to becom-
ing one of the best goalies in
Michigan history. The Joe has
ridiculous press box seating
that makes me feel like Gulliver
among the Lilliputians.
Maybe that's why Michigan
is so successful at the Joe, the
throwback program in the
throwback building. 19-4 in the
last five years doesn't happen by
accident.
It wasn't hard to imagine the
game on Saturday being played
in 1980 - that's the beauty of the
Joe. Even if I didn't fit.
The 6-foot-5 Cook can be
reached at evcook@umich.edu.

By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Editor
DETROIT - Ever since
Michigan coach Red Beren-
son decided to throw fresh-
man Alex Guptill, junior
Chris Brown and senior
David Wohlberg on a line
together during the team's
trip to Alaska in December,
their prolific scoring has
powered the offense.
Michigan traveled 4,000
miles to find the formula for
its best line, but it took a far
shorter trip to find its sniper.
That top line should have
no qualms sharing the work-
load during the stretch run.
With just four regular-sea-
son games remaining, junior
forward A.J. Treais has
answered the call, providing
depth as a sharpshooter.
"We had one line going
before, and now A.J.'s line is
going, and that really helps
our team," Berenson said.
Treais is flanked on the
left by one of the team's ris-
ing stars in freshman Phil Di
Giuseppe and is joined on the
right by Michigan's leader,
captain Luke Glendening.
Instead of getting lost in the
shuffle, Treais has stood out
by, well, playing like himself.
"A.J. - he's really start-
ing to be A.J.," Berenson
said. "And that's huge for our
team. He's scoring key goals."
The two he scored against
Michigan State at Joe Louis
Arena on Saturday night
helped propel the Wolverines
to a 3-2 overtime victory.
And Treais's areaof opera-
tion has expanded in the
past five games, a span dur-
ing which he has notched
six goals. His tallies are no
longer just the blue-collar
type, where he fools goal-
tenders from the crease. He's
still earning those goals,
but Treais has also become
quite the sniper for Michi-
gan, to the point that oppos-
ing coaches break a sweat at
the sight of him between the
circles.
"He played too well,"
Michigan State coach Tom
Anastos said of Treais.
"Obviously, he scored some

nice goals for them, and we
didn't do a good enough job
of containing him."
His first tally against the
Spartans in Detroit was
exactlythe type that Treais is
used to scoring. After hisshot
from the slot was deflected
by Spartan netminder Will
Yanakeff, Treais's eyes wid-
ened to the size of pucks. The
rebound was a backhand flip
away from resting comfort-
ably in the net, and Treais
had no problem sticking it
through. It wasn't a high-
light-reel goal, but worked.
In the second period,
Glendening started an odd-
man rush, with Treais just
strides behind. The captain
fired off a no-look pass that
Treais seemed to be expect-
ing - justanother example of
the chemistry the second line
has developed. Treais made
his way into the slot and fired
off a quick snapshot that beat
Yanakeff wide.
In Michigan's 3-2 loss
to the Spartans on Friday,
the Wolverines had a simi-
lar opportunity, with Di
Giuseppe replacing Glenden-
ing as Treais' running mate.
Treais waited back while
Di Giuseppe weighed his
options. The shooting win-
dow did close, butthe passing
lane, as Treais said, was open
for Di Giuseppe to cross to
Treais, leading to aone-timer
snipe that found twine.
Treais, a Bloomfield Hills,
Mich. native, wears his heart
on his sleeve when playing
against the in-state rivals,
some of whom he grew up
facing in youth hockey. His
mannerisms after the game
said it all. After Friday's loss,
Treais didn't look up from
the ground, visibly upset
that his team let a two-goal
advantage slip away.
"The game's never out of
reach, especially in a rivalry
game against State," Treais
mumbled after the loss.
After the win on the Red
Wings' home ice, he was all
smiles. But Treais acknowl-
edged how easily the win -
and the three "huge" league
points that came with it -
could have eluded Michigan.

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
ifth-year senior goalie Shawn Hunwick and the Michigan penalty kill had a rocky weekend against the Spartans.


ILLINOIS
From Page 1B
of the way. The Wolverine lead
straddled double digits during
the second half and Weber's team
wasn't able to threaten that lead.
Though guard Brandon Paul
tried to keep the Illini alive in the
final minutes, Michigan made its
free throws down the stretch to
shut the door.
Along with Smotrycz, junior
Matt Vogrich gave Michigan a
boost off the bench. After burying
three 3-pointers on Wednesday
against Nebraska, he drained two
more in the second half on Sun-
day.
The first came with just under
ten minutes left to add to the Wol-
verines a nine-point lead, and
the second came from the corner
to give Michigan a command-
ing 56-44 advantage. The Illinois

native finished with eight points.
"It's just a confidence thing,"
Vogrich said. "Making that first
one at Nebraska was huge, and
I just feel good shooting the ball
right now ... The rim just seems to
grow."
Added Beilein: "We get that
type of bench production, we can
keep winning at a pretty high
pace. We needed that.".
Sunday's victory gave Michi-
gan its 14th home victory in
as many tries. In the Big Ten,
only No. 11 Michigan State also
remains unbeaten at home. But
the next game should prove to
be the most difficult one yet. The
Wolverines host the third-ranked
team in the country on Saturday.
"We got a tough one on Satur-
day with Ohio State coming here,
and we're going to enjoy this
win," Hardaway said. "But in the
meantime, we all are thinking
about what happened when we
lost there."

LYNCH
From Page 1B
season that maybe he thought
it might be offensively," Beren-
son said earlier in the week.
"And so, if he's going to help
our team, here's how you can
help the team: you don't have
to score, but you haveto work."
Somehow, Lynch always
seems to emerge from hiber-
nation in pressure situations.
In the Great Lakes Invita-
tional, Lynch was there. He
scored the game-tying goal
with one minute left in regu-
lation. The Wolverines beat
Sparty in overtime.
Lynch was there in the first
round of the NCAA Tourna-
ment last year. He put in the
game-winner against Nebras-
ka-Omaha in overtime to give
Michigan the 3-2 win.

And]
second
Tourna
though
against
was ov
cials, w
goalie h
"i
1H
yoi
ti
On
appeare
gold or
backha
point-bl
sent itv
wait tor
After th

Lynch was there in the puck out of the zone, DeBlois
round of the NCAA flipped the puck past the blue
ment two years ago, line in front of Michigan State
his overtime goal goalie Will Yanakeff. Spartan
No. 1 Miami (Ohio) defenseman Matt Crandell
erturned by the offi- went down to a knee to collect
vho deemed that the the slow bouncing pass, but
ad covered the puck. somehow, the puck slid under
his stick, through his legs
and right to Lynch. Yanakeff,
expecting Crandell to make
ere's howr the play, was out of position,
and Lynch capitalized.
u can help Crandell's mistake, more
than anything Lynch did, cre-
he team." ated the goal. But the tally was
more than enough to erase the
memory of a game that was lit-
erally painful for Lynch. The
Saturday, Lynch man who started the game
d to strike late-game by cutting his finger ended it
nce again. He had a by giving Michigan State the
nd look from near unkindest cut of all.
lank range, but he "I was battling," Lynch said.
wide. He didn't have to "I was battling through that....
ng for another chance. That kind of made it a little bit
ie Spartans cleared the better."