BSportsMonday
GAME OF INCHES
n Michigan came within a few points
of upsetting No. 6 Ohio State before
suffering another heartbreaking loss.
Page 3B
EVERY GAME COUNTS
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | October 26, 2015
n Seeking its first NCAA Tournament bid
since 2012, the Michigan hockey team
isn’t taking anything for granted.
SportsMonday Column, Page 2B
M ichigan 5 , Union 5
M ichigan 5 , RPI 2
Improving defense
seeks consistency
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
TROY, N.Y. — The No. 11
Michigan hockey team has played
just four games this season, but
its 2015 campaign already looks
much different than the last.
Last
year,
the
Wolverines
opened the season with a loss to
Ferris State before falling to 2-5
over the following six games. This
year, Michigan stands at 3-0-1
after leaving upstate New York
with a tie and win over No. 18
Union and Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, respectively.
But despite the contrasting
starts, one thing has followed the
Wolverines from 2014: defensive
inconsistency.
This weekend, the defensive
unit
showed
it’s
more
than
capable of excellence, but only on
occasion. The talent is there, it’s
just a matter of bringing it out on
a game-to-game basis.
To
start,
sophomore
defenseman Zach Werenski has
been as good as advertised, and
junior Michael Downing has
complemented him well on the
first line.
Junior Nolan De Jong has
improved drastically after an
impressive offseason that earned
acknowledgment
from
the
coaching staff.
Freshmen
Nick
Boka
and
Joseph Cecconi have quickly
adapted to the collegiate level,
earning
significant
minutes
through the first four games.
To round out the regulars,
sophomore Cutler Martin has
been a physical presence on the
ice.
But in its two-game road trip
this weekend, Michigan’s defense
looked
like
two
completely
different teams.
The Wolverines allowed Union
to pile on five goals on 33 shots
Friday, and would have suffered an
upset if it weren’t for late heroics
from junior center JT Compher
and senior forward Justin Selman.
Michigan struggled to clear
the puck out of the defensive zone
and committed careless turnovers
that
turned
into
dangerous
opportunities for the Dutchmen.
“Part of it is we had some bad
shifts where we didn’t get the
puck out of our zone and we tried
to beat guys one on one,” said
Michigan coach Red Berenson.
“We got a lot of little hockey plays
that we’ll talk about that we can do
better. There were shifts where it
was like (Union) had a power play,
EMPIRE SKATE
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
See DEFENSE, Page 2B