The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsTuesday
January 19, 2016 — 3B

he stopped 43 Buckeye shots to
earn his eighth win of the season.

The first line of Compher,

Connor
and
Motte
finished

with a combined 12 points and
accounted for six of Michigan’s
eight goals.

“They’re playing the right

way,” Berenson said. “They’ve got
confidence, they’ve got chemistry,
and they’re leading our team.”

Earlier this year, Compher

said Michigan didn’t want to be
known as the “comeback kids.”
But the team’s inconsistent play
has forced it to be just that.

And somehow, they’re getting

by quite well.

“It’s
old
time
hockey,”

Berenson said. “We’re trying
to play better defensively, but
that’s what you get tonight. They
had too many shots, too many
chances. We had 40 shots against
after two periods tonight. That’s
unacceptable, but that’s the way
the game is played.

“If it snows out, you have to

deal with it.”

HOCKEY
From Page 1B

Top line dominant vs. Buckeyes

By KEVIN SANTO

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan hockey team

entered Value City Arena in
Columbus on Friday night as close
to perfect as it had been all season.

The Wolverines were coming

off
back-to-back
weekends

that featured a Great Lakes
Invitational title and a series
sweep against Michigan State.

Michigan notched its two

victories against the Spartans in
a commanding fashion, recording
its largest series goal differential
of the season — finding twine 15
times while conceding just five
goals on the defensive end.

But the Wolverines’ two-game

stint against Ohio State ended in
a different fashion: with players
from both sides trading blows at
Yost Ice Arena in a fight that is
rare in college hockey.

The brawl was emblematic

of
Michigan’s
experience
all

weekend. The Buckeyes repeatedly
put the Wolverines on the ropes,
mercilessly landing shots that
would reduce most teams to an
embarrassing two-loss weekend.

Each time Ohio State had

seemingly locked down an upset
victory, though, Michigan was
saved by the play of its first line.

That line — comprised of

junior forward JT Compher,
junior forward Tyler Motte and
freshman forward Kyle Connor
— combined for nine of the 13
goals the Wolverines scored this
weekend, leading them to a tie
Friday and a victory Sunday.

“I don’t have to give them a

message,” said Michigan coach Red
Berenson. “They’re leading our
team, and good for them. You need
somebody, or a group, to really lead
your team — particularly when you
get behind.”

The sheer total of goals the first

line scored isn’t even what’s most
impressive about its performance
this weekend. Instead, Motte,
Compher and Connor seemed to
have the clutch gene in their DNA
against the Buckeyes, lighting the

lamp just when Michigan needed
it time and time again.

Just over a minute into the

third period Friday, Connor
sniped a one-timer past Ohio
State netminder Matt Tomkins to
extend Michigan’s unanswered
scoring run to three.

After allowing three straight

goals to open the game, Connor’s
finish was a key one — providing the
Wolverines with an opportunity to
play the third frame as if it were a
brand-new game.

Though Michigan went on to

let a win slip through its fingers
on a defensive zone faceoff with
seven seconds to play, Connor’s
goal was the spark that allowed
the Wolverines to be in a position
to steal three points from the
Buckeyes.

The freshman rounded out the

weekend with two more goals
Sunday, both of which trimmed
Ohio State’s lead to one. Connor’s
second goal of the night came just
52 seconds into the third period
and led to the four consecutive
finishes
that
left
Michigan

standing on top.

With his three-goal weekend,

Connor is now tied for first in the
NCAA in goals this season with 18.

As if an offense that scores an

NCAA-high 4.86 goals per game
isn’t scary enough, Motte is one
of the three players Connor is
tied with in the category.

The Buckeyes had no answer

for Motte on Sunday, as the
junior forward notched his first
career hat trick to close out the
series, and had an assist to go
with it.

Like Connor, Motte found the

back of the net at moments that
entirely shifted the momentum of
the contest — tallying a go-ahead
goal in the first period before
burying an equalizer and another
go-ahead in the third.

“For me, it’s just working with

these guys,” Motte said. “They
make it pretty easy on me, getting
me the puck in prime scoring
areas. The timing of them just
happened to be (go-ahead and
tying goals) tonight.”

And then there’s the captain.

Compher
didn’t
endlessly

pepper the back of the net like
his two line partners, but he did
add a pair of goals for himself.
The more important of those two
came Friday.

With the score sitting at 4-3 and

just 2:41 remaining on the game
clock, Compher held the puck
behind the goal line searching
for an opening before cleverly
banking a shot off the goaltender’s
back and into the net.

And while Motte and Connor

may be leading the NCAA in
goals, they can largely thank
Compher for that.

The junior has been the

maestro behind the offense all
year, racking up 25 assists in 21
games — good for second in the
NCAA in that category.

“I think since (our line has)

been put together, we just move
the puck well,” Compher said.

This weekend, the Wolverines

were very far from perfect.

But with the first line they

have, maybe, imperfection will
do for now.

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Michigan’s line of Kyle Connor, JT Compher and Tyler Motte scored nine of the Wolverines’ 13 goals against Ohio State.

Wolverines rally,
knock off Illinois

Michigan leans on
back end to beat

second consecutive
ranked opponent

By NATHANIEL CLARK

Daily Sports Writer

Once
again,
the
No.
10

Michigan wrestling team found
itself trailing a ranked opponent
in the second half of a meet. And
once again, the Wolverines rallied
to win.

Michigan
defeated
No.
13

Illinois, 25-14, and erased a 14-8
deficit with four matches to go.
The Wolverines’ victory comes
directly on the heels of a 21-11
triumph over then-No. 6 Ohio
State on Jan. 9 — a meet in which
Michigan trailed, 11-9, after the
sixth bout.

“If we’re coming in at 184

(pounds) and the dual is tied,
we’re going to win the dual,” said
sixth-ranked, 197-pound, sixth-
year senior Max Huntley. “There
was no way that we were going to
lose two of the three (matches) at
that weight class.”

It all started in the 174-pound

class when redshirt freshman
No.
16
Davonte
Mahomes

earned a 12-3 major decision
over Emery Parker. Mahomes
scored
five
takedowns
and

accumulated 1:39 of riding time
during the bout.

“At the 174 (pound) match,

I looked at the scoreboard
and said, ‘we have to win this
match,’ ” said Michigan coach
Joe McFarland. “It was good to
see (Mahomes) go out there and
really take control and dominate
that match.”

The Wolverines took the lead

when No. 10 junior Domenic
Abounader
earned
two

takedowns in the third period en

route to an 8-2 victory over Jeff
Kopke at 184 pounds.

But it was Huntley who sealed

the match for the Wolverines.
He pinned Jeff Kopke 2:39 into
the match to give Michigan an
insurmountable 21-14 edge. No. 4
junior heavyweight Adam Coon
put the cherry on top, earning an
11-2 major-decision win against
No. 19 Brooks Black.

“We’re getting the work done

in the practice room and it’s
showing up on the mat,” Coon
said. “We’re definitely happy
with our performances, but we’re
never satisfied.”

Yet
Michigan’s
final
four

wrestlers were not the only ones
to shine Friday. No. 19 redshirt
junior Conor Youtsey opened the
meet with a 25-10 technical-fall
victory over Francis Edelen at 125
pounds. The performance gave
the Wolverines a 5-0 lead at the
time.

In spite of the win, there were

a few moments Michigan would
probably like to forget.

In the 157-pound class, No. 5

junior Brian Murphy suffered
a technical-fall defeat at the
hands of No. 1 Isaiah Martinez
4:44 into the bout, turning
an 8-6 Wolverine lead into
an 11-8 deficit. Also, redshirt
sophomore George Fisher lost
his match against Brock Ervin,
8-6, which gave the Fighting
Illini a 6-5 edge.

With a matchup against No. 1

Penn State on Jan. 31, as well as Big
Ten and NCAA championships
looming, McFarland was quick to
point out areas where Michigan
needs to improve.

“In some cases, we allowed

guys to slow us down,” McFarland
said.
“We
want
high-paced,

inspired wrestling. We have guys
who are capable of doing that,
but right now we don’t have all 10
guys doing that. We need to get
there.”

Wolverines fall short at Windy City Invite

Michigan finds room

for improvement
after Big Ten foes
dominate meet

By COLE ZINGAS

Daily Sports Writer

At the Windy City Invitational

in
Chicago
on
Sunday,
the

Michigan men’s gymnastics team
lined up against five top-16 teams,
hoping to establish legitimacy as a
national contender.

But
after
the
meet,
the

Wolverines’ first of the year,
they returned to Ann Arbor
dissatisfied. For Michigan, a fifth-
place finish in a six-team field did
not sit well.

The fifth-ranked Wolverines

(1-4, 0-4 Big Ten) ended up
behind four other Big Ten teams
— No. 2 Ohio State, No. 6 Illinois,

No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Iowa
— finishing with a 413.700 team
score. That put them 12.250
points behind the Fighting Illini,
who edged out Ohio State by .250
points to win the meet.

Senior captain Nolan Novak

addressed the team after the meet,
telling them to remember the
feeling they had at that moment.

“We need to attack each

practice with that feeling in our
gut and say, ‘I don’t want to feel
that way ever again,’ ” Novak said.

But the end result was not

representative of the beginning
of
the
competition
for
the

young Michigan squad. To start
the meet, freshmen Anthony
MacCallum and Emyre Cole and
junior Anthony Stefanelli took
to the vault and finished second,
third and fifth, respectively.

They all scored a 15 or higher,

and in Michigan coach Kurt
Golder’s opinion, the routines
should have been scored even

higher.

“The first team up normally

gets lower scores, then the judges
get loosened up as the meet goes
on,” Golder said. “I think they
were real tight on us in some
vaults.”

Nevertheless, the Wolverines

won the vault team event by 1.5
points, a wide margin for a single
event.

But after that, the team was

shaky, showing its inexperience
and youth in events such as the
pommel
horse,
parallel
bars

and high bar. Michigan finished
second to last in all three of those
events.

Part of the reason could be

because
several
Wolverines

had to face new challenges in a
meet Novak called a “learning
experience.”

Novak competed in the high

bar for the first time Sunday.
Freshman Matt Whitaker, an
alternate, was slotted for the

parallel bars at the last minute.
Sophomore
Marty
Strech

competed in the all-around for the
first time in his Michigan career
and seven freshmen competed in
their first collegiate meet.

But to Golder, having an

inexperienced team means there
is much more potential to improve
than other top-10 teams.

“If (Michigan) met Utah in

football at the end of the season,
we would have beat them,” Golder
said. “Hopefully that will happen
with our team.”

Though the Michigan football

team never got another crack at
the Utes, the men’s gymnastics
team will face the top two teams
from Sunday, Illinois and Ohio
State, again later in the season.

“We’ve got some pretty darn

talented
guys,”
Golder
said.

“They’re certainly going to be
scoring a lot higher at the end of
the year than they are right now.”

Golder said the vault team is

already realizing its potential, but
the floor team is also very talented
and did not show what it’s capable
of Sunday. He also foresees
improvement
in
the
parallel

bars, which was the Wolverines’
downfall this weekend.

Michigan is now determined to

make these improvements. After
falling to three teams ranked
below them, the Wolverines know
they need to perform better in
order to reassert themselves as
one of the nation’s teams to beat.

“This is going to fuel the fire

for the rest of the season,” Novak
said. “We have more motivation
than anyone else because we have
a lot more to prove.”

Michigan hopes to ignite that

fire very quickly, as five days of
preparation is all the Wolverines
have before their next meet.
Saturday, they will have a prime
opportunity to prove themselves—
they will take on No. 1 Oklahoma
at Cliff Keen Arena.

WRESTLING

MEN’S GYMNASTICS