4B — February 23, 2015 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPLIT DECISION Michigan splits with Ohio State, moves into first place in Big Ten By JEREMY SUMMITT Daily Sports Editor It’s been the Hyman and Larkin show for quite a while now, and the show will go on. Senior forward Zach Hyman and freshman forward Dylan Larkin each netted a goal and recorded three assists in Sunday’s 5-2 victory over Ohio State as the No. 15 Michigan hockey team moved into a first-place tie with Minnesota atop the Big Ten standings. “We’ve been together since the start of the year, so every game we’ve gotten better,” Hyman said. “We’re good friends off the ice, so there’s chemistry there, and it just carries over onto the ice.” The win comes two days after the Wolverines’ 10-game unbeaten streak over the Buckeyes, dating back to 2011, was snapped in Columbus. Michigan coach Red Berenson cited a lackluster defensive effort as the root of his team’s mediocre performance Friday, but all that was cleaned up for the final meeting of the season between the Wolverines (9-5 Big Ten, 17-11 overall) and the Buckeyes (4-10, 9-17-2). “We had a meeting Saturday, and a lot of guys bought in, and you could see it on the ice,” Larkin said. “We had some good chances come from hard work back, and it was a good team effort.” Midway through the second period, the Wolverines killed a five-minute penalty committed by sophomore defenseman Michael Downing for contact to the head, helping them ride a wave of momentum built by two second-period goals. “That was a lot of hard work, and I think our team really knuckled down when we got that five-minute major and that really helped us,” Berenson said. “Sometimes that can be a motivator for your team to really even play harder and be more desperate.” The first of those two goals came off the stick of Larkin at the 5:15 mark thanks to a feed across the slot from junior forward Boo Nieves. Just over three minute later, freshman defenseman Zach Werenski netted his sixth goal of the season off a slapshot from the blue line. His tally was set up by Larkin and Hyman, who swung the puck around the zone and created space for Werenski just as a Michigan power play was expiring. Werenski would add his second goal of the night at the 14:34 mark of the third period for the second multi-goal game of his career. Werenski’s second goal provided a resounding answer to Ohio State’s first tally of the game. Forward Tanner Fritz corralled a pass in the slot and beat junior goaltender Steve Racine over his left shoulder with 7:35 left in the game. And it was forward Tyler Lundey who netted the Buckeyes second goal of the night that came in the final minute of regulation. The two late goals left a minor blemish on an otherwise stout night for Racine and Michigan’s defensive unit. “I think we paid more attention to playing better defense,” Berenson said. “Sometimes when you’re a good player, all you do the whole game is you’re hoping to get the puck and then you get it and then you hope to get it. During that hope time, we’ve been giving up too many scoring chances and too many goals. “We’re trying to get that hope out of our game and know when we’re defending and when we’re attacking.” The Wolverines’ defensive effort crept into its special-teams play. They were perfect on the penalty kill, stymying all five of the Buckeyes’ opportunities with the man-advantage. On its own power play, Michigan took advantage of Ohio State’s abysmal penalty-killing unit — one that has just a 73-percent success rate — converting on one of three chances with the extra attacker. Most impressively, Michigan’s top-ranked offense got going again, particularly at even strength. Larkin’s nifty behind- the-back pass to Hyman with 6:43 remaining in the first period got the ball rolling on the Wolverines’ dire effort to split the weekend series. “Playing on our chemistry, I just threw it, I knew he was going to be there and it was going in,” Larkin said. “We had a good night, and, more importantly we weren’t out for many goals.” Larkin recorded his third assist of the night on junior forward Justin Selman’s goal nine minutes into the third period. A cross- zone pass to the left circle was all Selman needed, as he caught goaltender Christian Frey off his angle to net his seventh goal of the year. In the final month of the season, the wins and the points start to mean a little more than they did in November and December. Berenson and his players agreed that this win was huge in propelling them toward a late-season push. Sunday’s game marked the first time Michigan played at Yost Ice Arena in 43 days, and Hyman didn’t hold back about the importance of protecting home ice. “The season is winding down, and the last place you want to play is away,” he said. “Being at Yost is awesome, and we love playing here.” JAMES COLLER (top) and SAM MOUSIGIAN (bottom)/Daily The Michigan hockey team fell at Ohio State on Friday (top) before bouncing back with a home win Sunday (bottom). Wolverines rout Pittsburgh, Duke Michigan closes dual-meet season with 28-9, 33-7 non-league wins By MICHAEL GRIFFIN For the Daily In the final weekend of dual meets this season, the Michigan wrestling team made a point to assert itself against strong out- of-conference competition. The Wolverines dominated No. 24 Pittsburgh in a 28-9 win Friday night before beating Duke on Saturday, 33-7. Michigan looked strong over the course of both meets and received important and sometimes unexpected contributions from several wrestlers. The most surprising performance of the weekend came from Garrett Sutton, a freshman wrestling at 165 pounds. After losing his first two matches of the season, he helped carry the Wolverines to victory all weekend, winning 4-1 and 10-3 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Michigan coach Joe McFarland was pleased with Sutton’s improvement. “Garrett was lean and light a couple of weeks ago,” McFarland said. “He’s got his body back up, he’s feeling good now, he’s feeling like he’s got more zip and energy out there. You can see it. His body just looks better.” Associate head coach Sean Bormet emphasized the technical aspect of Sutton’s wins. “He’s making good adjustments, getting more relaxed and comfortable out there,” Bormet said. “He really focused on riding tough. In the other matches (in weekends past) he was overthinking and letting guys go a little too easy. He’s really tough on top, and he’s got to use that to his advantage. He did that this weekend.” While the wins gave the team confidence as the dual season wraps up, the meets also highlighted concerns about depth on the squad, a recurring problem all season. The Wolverines returned two wrestlers who had been out for extended periods in junior Rossi Bruno and redshirt sophomore Taylor Massa. But only one, Bruno, enjoyed success this weekend. Massa sat out Saturday after dropping his match on Friday, and his replacement, fifth-year senior Jake Salazar, lost a heartbreaker against Duke’s Trey Adamson, 4-3, in the final seconds. The Wolverines were also without freshman standout Alec Pantaleo, who both coaches said was taking the weekend off to deal with a few small injuries. Replacing Pantaleo was redshirt sophomore Angelo Latora, who lost both of his matches at the 149-pound weight class. The losses in the two events wrestled by replacements were the only ones Michigan dropped, and they were also the only truly close matches of the weekend, highlighting the need for depth in an otherwise strong team. The strongest performances, though, came from the team captains, fifth-year senior Max Huntley and sophomore Adam Coon. Huntley, wrestling for the last time at Cliff Keen Arena, had two successful matches, scoring a technical fall against Duke on Saturday and winning 17-6, while scoring a 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh’s Nick Bonaccorsi on Friday. Coon, coming off a victory at Iowa last weekend, contributed two wins, including a major decision Saturday. With their two final matches and home schedule complete, the Wolverines head into the Big Ten Championships on March 7 in Columbus two wins richer and boasting quite a bit more confidence. WRESTLING Home ice, blocked shots help Michigan to bounce-back win Yost crowd lifts Wolverines to major penalty kill, Sunday win By ERIN LENNON Daily Sports Editor Midway through the second period Sunday, sophomore defenseman Michael Downing stonewalled an Ohio State skater in front of the bench, drawing a major penalty and a game ejection as a packed Yost Ice Arena booed in disapproval. But with each pad save and cleared puck, all 5,800 fans — back to watch the Michigan hockey team skate on home ice for the first time since Jan. 11 — cheered louder, and the Wolverines killed the five- minute power play opportunity. “That’s huge,” said senior forward Zach Hyman. “We were up 3-0 at that point, so the next goal was really big from that standpoint. “That’s what your PK needs to do, is kill those kind of penalties, and we did that today.” Following a road loss Friday in Columbus, the Wolverines’ defense looked similarly reenergized in their regular- season series finale with the Buckeyes, helping junior goaltender Steve Racine to a 5-1 victory. A second period featuring five penalties — two against Ohio State, three against Michigan — may have otherwise hurt the Wolverines, who have struggled both to find twine on the power play and to kill penalties of late. The offense had been frustrated by Ohio State’s shot blocking Friday and had many of its best chances shooed away. Instead, Michigan capitalized on both of its chances against the nation’s worst penalty kill. After having his shot blocked in the first period, freshman defenseman Zach Werenski scored from the blue line just moments after the second power play expired. Perhaps more importantly, the Wolverines closed the gap in shots blocked, blocking nine attempts to Ohio State’s 11. The Buckeyes out-blocked Michigan in the first period, 7-3. Werenski — who took a penalty in the first period — got a second goal from the left circle late in the third period. And on his final shift, Werenski blocked two shots from a desperate Ohio State forecheck. Despite being outshot in the game, 30-23, the Wolverines won the shot-blocking battle and ultimately the game. Michigan blocked 18 shots to the Buckeyes’ 16. “We were better,” Berenson said. “We had some good shot blocks on our end, and we didn’t allow them to block as many shots. … They’re a good team in shot-blocking — as good as anybody we play.” The long- awaited return to Yost was also highlighted by guest appearances from football coach Jim Harbaugh and former quarterback Denard Robinson. After the final buzzer, “The Victors” echoed for the first time in seven weeks. “The season is winding down, and the last place you want to play is away,” Hyman said. “Being at Yost is awesome, and we love playing here.” Friday, on the other hand, the Wolverines struggled to slow down Ohio State. Though Racine — who allowed six goals in his last start at Value City Arena — was far from outstanding, the defense in front of him wasn’t much better. The loss was in large part a consequence of blocked shots. Michigan outshot the Buckeyes 39-32 and won the faceoff battle handily, but blocked fewer than 10 shots in the game. “Look at the blocked shots for Ohio State,” Berenson said Friday. “They did a great job, and we didn’t. I don’t know if that was the difference in the game, but that shows up.” For comparison, the Wolverines blocked 17 shots in a losing effort to Minnesota. But the Buckeyes couldn’t duplicate their winning recipe Sunday at Yost, where they left the ice without a win. SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Freshman defenseman Zach Werenski scored late in the third period and blocked two shots to hold off Ohio State. “Being at Yost is awesome, and we love playing here.”