The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
December 5, 2016 — 3B

CLAIRE ABDO/Daily

Jack LaFontaine made 70 saves over the weekend, but also let in seven goals.
Goaltending 
wasn’t the 
problem 

for Michigan

S

TATE COLLEGE — How 
difficult is it to play in 
Pegula Ice Arena? On a 

scale of one to 10, probably a 
10. If you’re a goaltender, make 
that 20.

The No. 20 Michigan 

hockey team learned that first 
hand this weekend, when a 
destructive performance from 
the seventh-ranked Nittany 
Lions 
featured a 
whopping 
106 shots 
over two 
games, 
both of 
which were 
blowout 
wins for 
Penn State.

This 

offense 
propelled Penn State to 6-1 
and 5-1 wins on Thursday 
and Friday, respectively. The 
Nittany Lions proved they 
could outshoot, outscore and 
outplay the Wolverines in 
almost every aspect of the 
game.

And Michigan’s netminders 

still had to stand on their 
heads to keep it that close. 
Goaltending wasn’t the 
problem.

Senior Zach Nagelvoort and 

freshman Jack LaFontaine 
basically went into the 
weekend’s games with targets 
attached to them. Between 
Penn State’s offense — which 
offered no mercy in the Big Ten 
season opener 
— and little 
defense in front 
of them, both 
goaltenders 
had to make 
an excessive 
amount of 
saves.

LaFontaine 

not only played 
at the end of 
the game on 
Friday, but also 
the entire game 
Saturday. He 
faced a combined 77 shots on 
the weekend, allowing seven 
goals.

“He’s tough,” said senior 

forward Alex Kile. “He’s a 
freshman, it’s not easy during 
this game. We didn’t really 
give him a great effort tonight 
defensively. We gave up 50-plus 
shots, so anytime you’re a 
goalie and you see 50 shots, it’s 
tough to win games and stop all 
the pucks.

“I’m not going to sit here 

and blame it on him because 
it wasn’t his fault, it was 
completely a team effort tonight, 
and we weren’t good defensively 
and you guys saw that.”

But almost more aggressive 

than the Nittany Lions was 

their student section. At 
Pegula, the visiting team is 
positioned to start and end on 
the same end of the ice that 
holds home to the sprawling 
Penn State student section, the 
“Roar Zone.”

It’s a section that students 

wait hours outside to get front-
row seats for. It sold out season 
tickets in less than five minutes. 
And it has absolutely no love for 
visiting goaltenders.

“We’re definitely trying 

to get inside their heads, 
especially the goalie, we’re 
really trying to get inside his 
head a lot,” said Mike Good, a 
senior at Penn State. “We have 
a really good student section 
here, and I think it’s a really 
good advantage we have when 
an opposing team comes here.”

The student section has 

cheers and chants specifically 
tailored to the opposing 
team’s goaltender, as do many 
throughout college hockey. 
But with such a large number 
of students and fans who 
participate — directly behind 
the person they’re chanting 
at — it’s undoubtedly difficult 
for a goaltender to save 53 of 
58 shots, as LaFontaine did on 
Saturday.

Someone who knows this 

well is the Nittany Lions’ 
freshman goaltender Peyton 
Jones, who doesn’t let his 
student section’s devotion go 
unnoticed.

“As a goalie, it’s pretty tough 

when you’re getting heckled 

all the game,” 
said Jones. 
“They’re 
screaming, 
yelling, 
banging on the 
boards, telling 
you, ‘You suck’ 
and all that 
stuff. Like it’s 
just tough, it 
really is. They 
don’t realize 
how big they 
are for us 
when they do 

that, because it really does get 
in a goalie’s head.”

A 6-1 or 5-1 loss is never 

going to be encouraged 
or supported. The losses 
Michigan faced on the road 
this weekend were high-
scoring and brutal, and there’s 
no denying that the Wolverines 
faced an uphill battle.

But LaFontaine and 

Nagelvoort did something this 
weekend that Michigan coach 
Red Berenson says often of his 
goaltenders — “They gave us a 
chance” — and really, what else 
can you ask from them?

Byler can be reached at 

dbyler@umich.edu and on 

Twitter @laneybyler.

“As a goalie, it’s 

pretty tough 
when you’re 

getting heckled 
all the game.”

‘M’ loses another blowout

STATE COLLEGE — Near 

the end of the second period, a 
scrum broke out between the 
Michigan 
and 
Penn 

State 
hockey 
teams. 
Senior 
defenseman 

Nolan De Jong jumped on the 
back of Penn State forward Zach 
Saar, pulling him to the ground, 
while Nittany Lion forward 
Nikita Pavlychev lay on top of 
sophomore forward Brendan 
Warren, pinning him to the ice.

Moments 
later, 
freshman 

defenseman 
Griffin 
Luce 

retaliated against a Penn State 
player after the whistle and was 
called for a penalty.

After all was said and done, 

the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions 
(2-0-0 Big Ten, 13-1-1 overall) 

took a 5-on-3 power play and 
a 3-1 lead into the second 
intermission.

Neither stat would stand 

long, though.

Just 24 seconds into the third 

period, 
Penn 
State 
forward 

Andrew Sturtz tipped a puck into 
the net past freshman goaltender 
Jack 
LaFontaine, 
extending 

the Nittany Lions’ lead and 
putting them well on their way 
to a physical 5-1 victory over the 
20th-ranked Wolverines.

“One 
team 
was 
getting 

embarrassed,” said Michigan 
coach Red Berenson on the 
physicality of the game. “We’ve 
got some pride, too.”

Added senior forward Alex 

Kile: “Any time we play Penn 
State, it’s going to be a physical 
game, especially in this rink. 
It’s a great crowd and a great 
student section. So when they 
get involved, it really helps 

the home team. They played 
physical, and it kind of makes us 
respond in the same way.”

Michigan’s only goal came 

early in the first period. After 
Penn State had taken an early 
1-0 lead, senior forward Max 
Shuart took the puck into the 
offensive zone. He then laid the 
puck off backhand for junior 
forward Cutler Martin, who 
fired the puck into the back of 
the net to even the score.

But the Wolverines (0-2-0, 

6-7-1) ultimately couldn’t keep 
up with the Nittany Lions, 
being outshot, 58-23. And much 
like senior goaltender Zach 
Nagelvoort the night before, 
LaFontaine was praised for 
his play on the night. Despite 
allowing 
five 
goals, 
the 

freshman set a career-high in 
saves with 53.

“I thought he played well,” 

Berenson said. “I thought he 

stayed in the game and gave us 
a chance.”

Arguably the strongest part 

of Michigan’s team all season 
has been its penalty kill — the 
Wolverines’ unit entered the 
weekend ranked first nationally 
in the category. But even that 
unit was exposed by Penn State, 
which scored four power-play 
goals on the weekend.

Michigan will return home 

next week to take on Wisconsin 
— which boasts another top-
20 offense — before taking 
a break for Christmas. And 
if the Wolverines are unable 
to shore up their defensive 
weaknesses that were exposed 
this weekend, they may be in for 
another long series.

“As a unit of five on the ice, we 

have to be better,” Bernson said. 
“Penn State put on a clinic this 
weekend, and we’ve got to learn 
from it.”

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

LANEY
BYLER

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Junior forward Cutler Martin scored Michigan’s only goal in the Wolverines’ 5-1 loss at Penn State’s Pegula Ice Arena on Friday.

MICHIGAN
PENN STATE 

1
5

Massa leads ‘M’ to ninth-place finish

Many of Michigan’s young 

wrestlers 
walked 
into 
the 

biggest event of their careers this 
weekend, but they were prepared.

Redshirt 
freshman 
Logan 

Massa 
became 
the 
fourth 

Michigan wrestler to win an 
individual title at the Cliff Keen 
Las Vegas Invitational, and the 
first to do so since 2007.

During 
this 
weekend’s 

tournament, named after the 
famed Michigan wrestler Cliff 
Keen, Massa led a Wolverine 
squad that notched 73 points to 
finish ninth out of 36 competing 
teams.

Despite falling two spots from 

last year’s seventh-place finish in 
the tournament, Michigan coach 
Joe McFarland was still pleased 
with his wrestlers.

“This is our first two-day 

tournament, 
a 
big 
test 
for 

us,” 
McFarland 
said. 
“(I’m) 

pleased with some individual 
performances.”

Massa defeated Wisconsin’s 

Isaac Joseph to win the title 
in the 165-pound weight class, 
finishing with a 6-0 record in the 
tournament. 

“It’s pretty cool, a great 

experience,” Massa said.

McFarland also had a lot of 

praise for his wrestler, calling 
him a “fierce competitor” and 
“very focused.”

Besides Massa, two other 

freshmen placed 
top-three in their 
respective weight 
classes. 
Myles 

Amine 
finished 

third in the 174-
pound 
division, 

after 
he 
was 

defeated by Iowa 
State’s 
Leland 

Weatherspoon, 
ending 
the 

tournament 
with a 6-2 record. Stevan Micic 
finished second in the 133-
pound weight class after he was 
defeated by Ohio State’s Nathan 
Tomasello, 
the 
nation’s 
top-

ranked wrestler in that weight 
class.

Two other Michigan wrestlers, 

freshman Sal Profaci and senior 
Brian Murphy, made it past 
the first day of the invitational. 
Murphy is also the top-ranked 
wrestler in the 157-pound weight 
class.

Propelled by five top-three 

performances, 
Ohio 
State 

finished first in the invitational 

with 118.5 points. 
Wisconsin 
and 

Virginia 
Tech 

finished 
second 

and 
third, 

respectively.

With 
their 

solid showing at 
the invitational, 
the tournament 
provided another 
opportunity 
for 

the Wolverines to 

showcase their strong freshman 
class.

Six 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ 

starters in the invitational were 
freshmen, and having so many 

young wrestlers on the team this 
year has left an impact.

“We’re all really close as a 

group, get along great,” Massa 
said. “(We) push each other to get 
better.”

McFarland pointed out that 

having such a young group poses 
unique challenges to his strategy, 
but it also provides the group 
many opportunities to develop. 
He commented on how he has 
changed up his coaching style 
because of the large number of 
underclassmen.

While 
Michigan’s 
coach 

was satisfied with his team’s 
performance, especially given the 
fact that the season is still young, 
he also added that the Wolverines 
need to work on improving some 
areas.

“I can’t emphasize enough 

how 
important 
that 
match 

readiness is,” McFarland said. “In 
some cases, our guys just weren’t 
at that level of intensity and 
readiness that we needed to be.

“And in some cases I think that 

was the difference.”

CHRISTIAN NEUBACHER

Daily Sports Writer

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Redshirt freshman Logan Massa became the fourth Michigan wrestler of all time to win an individual weight class at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

“We’re all 

really close as a 

group, get 

along great.”

