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.”

