MINNEAPOLIS 
— 
The 

zamboni swept around the rink 
Friday morning, slowly clearing 
any shreds of ice that had been 
loosened by the skates of a 
hockey team minutes before. The 
machine’s unmistakable droning 
filled the arena, bouncing off the 
maroon and gold colored seats 
and rising to the rafters where 
countless banners hung from the 
ceiling, detailing the program’s 
history.

After a while, the zamboni 

disappeared, entering the bowels 
of the stadium, and it was quiet in 
Mariucci Arena.

Everything in Mariucci, it 

seems, is bigger. Mariucci is a 
modern-day coliseum without the 
gladiator games. This is the type 
of facility where children, playing 
pond hockey in the biting cold 
while holding onto their dreams 
as tightly as they grip their sticks, 
aspire to play one day.

The rink is Olympic-sized, 

which means it’s wider than 
the majority of college arenas. 
Opposing 
teams 
have 
been 

overcome by the speed and pace of 
the game on this ice in particular. 
Those same banners in the rafters 
are evidence of that. The arena 
practically comes with a script 
to be followed: the opposing 
team tires out from having to 
cover more ice or fails to cover its 
defensive zone assignments, the 
home team pounces, and the fans 
go home happy.

And the fans — they show up in 

droves. Mariucci, opened in 1993, 
is cavernous. The seats start at 
rink level and flow approximately 
two to three stories upward. The 
arena is one of the largest in the 
nation, seating 10,000 people 
— almost 3,500 more than the 
venerable Yost Ice Arena can hold.

For a beleaguered Michigan 

hockey team, this is where it 
found itself over the course of one 
January weekend as it sought to 
rekindle the embers of a dying 
season.

The Wolverines began the 

weekend — and the second 
half of their season — with an 
unremarkable 8-9-1 record, sitting 
at No. 34 in the PairWise Rankings. 
It was a hole that they had dug 
themselves into, slowly but surely, 
over the course of several months. 
Their fading hopes of returning 
to the NCAA Tournament this 
spring lay with the pair of games 
against the Golden Gophers, who 
were tied atop the conference 
standings with Penn State — a 
team that had already dismantled 
the Wolverines earlier this season. 

The dimensions of the rink, 

the size of the crowd and the skill 
level of the home team are all 
reasons why Mariucci is a difficult 
place for any team to exorcise its 
demons. It just happens that this is 
especially true for Michigan.

The Wolverines entered the 

series having won only once over 
their past six games at Mariucci. 
A 6-2 win last year — thanks to an 
explosive offense long gone to the 
NHL — broke a winless streak that 
had dated back to 2008.

Nine years ago, the roles were 

reversed. The Golden Gophers 
were just beginning a three-year 
stretch of missing the postseason, 
while Michigan was still in the 
midst of its record-setting 22-year 
NCAA Tournament streak. But 
Minnesota corrected its course — 
it has made the tournament in four 
of the past five seasons and has 
won the Big Ten every year since 
its formation. The Wolverines, on 
the other hand, have faltered.

The NCAA Tournament streak 

ended in 2013, and what was once 
the expectation every year has 
now become an uphill climb, as 
Michigan has made it only once in 
the past four years.

A win or two against No. 9 

Minnesota would have provided 
the Wolverines with some much-
needed 
momentum 
as 
they 

entered the final stretch. Both the 
players and coaches recognized 
this. After all, opportunities to hit 
a partial reset on your season don’t 
come around very often.

“I’m hoping that we take some 

steps toward that,” said Michigan 
coach Red Berenson two days 
before the opener. “I think our 
team is right there, but there’s 
got to be a galvanizing moment 
or event or game or something 
happens with our group.”

Winning the games so that 

Berenson’s hope would come to 

fruition — that was the challenge 
they faced Friday and Saturday. 
But this wouldn’t have been the 
first Michigan team in recent 
memory to have turned things 
around with one series.

***
The streak began on the road 

against an old CCHA rival. Miami 
(Ohio) won two close games 
against the Wolverines, the first 
in regulation and the second by 
shootout. Then it spiraled out 
of control, as they suffered four 
straight losses at home over the 
course of nine days.

After six consecutive losses, 

the 2011-12 Michigan team — once 
ranked No. 1 in the nation — was 
staring at a .500 record near the 
midway point of the season.

A trip to Alaska awaited, and 

after that, uncertainty. Prior to the 
series against the Nanooks, seven 
of the nine teams remaining on 

the Wolverines’ regular-season 
schedule were ranked in the top-
20.

Michigan needed a win in the 

worst way before it entered the 
meat of its schedule. But that was 
easier said than done.

The 
Wolverines, 
according 

to 
former 
goaltender 
Shawn 

Hunwick, had tried everything 
to end the losing streak. They 
had 
changed 
their 
pre-game 

rituals, from not listening to music 
before the game to switching up 
their stretches. The coaching 
staff had tried mixing up the 
lines and making other strategic 
adjustments. 
Still, 
the 
team 

continued to lose and plummet in 
the rankings.

“At that point, you’re like, 

‘There’s nothing else to change.’ 
We were going to go out there 
and throw everything up against 
(Alaska) because we were the 
30th-ranked team in the country 
at that point in time,” Hunwick 
said. “What do we have to lose?”

The team traveled to Alaska 

early that week. It would have to 
find a way to win away from the 
friendly confines of Yost — though 
Hunwick believes leaving Ann 
Arbor actually helped.

“I do think there’s something 

about going on the road, getting 
away from the pressures of 
playing at home (and) the grind 
of going to school,” Hunwick said. 
“These guys are going to class on 
Fridays and stuff. When you get on 
the road, sometimes you just (say), 
‘We’re all going to come together 
here and we’re going to battle.’ ”

Hunwick’s theory was on its way 

to becoming true when Michigan 
scored a little over two minutes 
into the series opener. But then 
disaster struck — Alaska responded 
10 minutes later to tie the game, 
before scoring two more goals in 
the span of just seven seconds to 
take a commanding two-goal lead 
en route to a 4-3 win.

The losing streak had reached 

seven. Salvation would have to 
wait.

Meanwhile, 
the 
Wolverines 

regrouped. The team was led 
by a quartet of seniors that 
year: Hunwick, who was the 
assistant captain, forwards Luke 
Glendening and David Wohlberg 
and defenseman Greg Pateryn.

Younger players like Mike 

Chiasson, a freshman defenseman 
that season, looked up to those 
four 
during 
this 
particularly 

trying stretch.

“... Those guys had been through 

a lot in their time here,” Chiasson 
said. “We leaned on those guys a 
lot, and I don’t remember exactly 
who got the goals or who made 
the big plays at times, but it was 
probably a bunch of different guys 
who stepped up, whether it was 
a freshman or a big save by the 
goalie or one of the leaders on the 
team.”

Hunwick thought of himself as 

the least vocal leader out of the 
four seniors. But while he may 
not have been the loudest in the 
locker room, his play that year 
spoke for itself. Hunwick turned 
in a historic season, posting a 2.00 
goals-against-average with a .932 
save percentage to earn a spot as a 
Hobey Baker finalist.

And in the second game of 

the series, he turned in a gutsy 
performance 
when 
his 
team 

needed it most, tallying a 25-save 
shutout.

Unfortunately for Michigan, 

Alaska’s 
Scott 
Greenham 

happened to be just as good as 
Hunwick 
during 
regulation, 

saving all 41 shots he faced to force 
the game into overtime.

But less than a minute into the 

extra period, Michigan freshman 
forward Alex Guptill threw a 
bouncing puck to the net and 
Greenway could not make his 42nd 
save. The Wolverines had ended 
their losing streak, thanks to the 
efforts of their senior goaltender 
and Guptill’s dose of luck.

“... It was a fluky goal,” 

Hunwick 
said. 
“I 
remember 

getting a shutout thinking I could 
have given up five or six goals that 
game. I was fortunate to get out 
(of) that game without giving up 
a goal. I didn’t feel particularly 
comfortable, probably due to a 
seven-game losing streak and the 
pressure that goes with that. I 
think we were just fortunate to 
get out (with a win). It was just a 
battle.”

However fluky the win may 

have been, it was the cure 
Michigan needed. The Wolverines 
went on to win 16 of their next 21 
games, resuscitating what had 
once seemed like a lost season, 
before 
falling 
to 
Cornell 
in 

overtime of the NCAA Midwest 
Regional.

Chiasson and Hunwick have 

kept up with this year’s team 
and both felt it could pull off a 
turnaround similar to their own.

And 
both 
also 
felt 
that 

turnaround started with the series 
at Minnesota.

“... Minnesota’s going to be 

a tough task,” Hunwick said. 
“That’s a tough place to go just like 
Alaska was, but games like that, in 
situations like this, it can change 
your whole season.”

Added Chiasson: “... It could 

just take one weekend for them. 
It doesn’t have to be a sweep, it 
could just be a good weekend for 
them to get their game and their 
feet underneath them. That’s 
the special crazy thing about 
this sport — you look at what the 
Columbus Blue Jackets have done 
with their win streak.

“It 
happens 
quick, 
and 

sometimes all it takes is just a 
couple wins to get going and to 
find your legs and to find your 
game.”

***

For a short time, it seemed 

like the Wolverines had a chance 
in the series opener against the 
Golden Gophers to capture a win 
like that of their predecessors 
against Alaska.

The game started quickly, with 

Minnesota firing several shots at 
senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort 
in the first few minutes.

But Nagelvoort and Michigan 

were up to the task early, stopping 
whatever the Golden Gophers 
threw at them, and nearly nine 
minutes into the first period, the 
Wolverines took the lead.

Senior forward Evan Allen 

found the puck along the boards 
and passed it to senior forward 
Max Shuart, whose one-timer 
beat Minnesota goaltender Eric 
Schierhorn.

It felt like the moment Michigan 

had been waiting for. Then things 
fell apart in the span of just six 

minutes. 

The 
Wolverines’ 
defense 

continued 
to 
surrender 

opportunity after opportunity, 
and Nagelvoort could only stop so 
many chances.

The first goal beat him short side 

to tie things up. The second was a 
perfectly-placed deflection that 
he didn’t have much of a chance 
on. And the third — the true 
backbreaker — came with just 1.7 
seconds left in the opening period, 
when Michael Szmatula struck 
home a rebound that seemed to 
visibly deflate the visitors.

A short-handed goal in the 

second period briefly cut the deficit 
to one, but Michigan still could not 
generate any consistent offense, 
while the defense struggled to stay 
with Minnesota’s explosive top 
line — especially forward Tyler 
Sheehy, who slammed home a juicy 
rebound before sniping one past 
Nagelvoort late for the final score.

All the problems the Wolverines 

dealt with throughout the year, 
from leaving the goaltender out 
to dry, suffering breakdowns 
on defense and taking too many 
penalties, were present in Friday’s 
performance.

“We’re giving up too many 

goals — it was just about the same 
old story,” Berenson said after 
Friday’s game. “Too many shots, 
too many chances against, and 
we weren’t good enough with the 
puck and we weren’t good enough 
without the puck. … We have to 
be better. Do I think we can play 
better? Yeah. That’s our job, and 
it’s our players’ job to figure this 
out and to get ourselves playing at 
a better level, with or without the 
puck.”

Whatever 
post-game 
talk 

Berenson gave his team appeared 
to work the following night — at 
least for the first period.

Michigan 
was 
aggressive 

on both ends of the ice, forcing 
turnovers and creating chances 
of its own. The Wolverines’ 
newfound intensity and effort 
were making the Golden Gophers 
look sluggish — until another last-

minute calamity befell Michigan.

With 
just 
seconds 
left, 

Minnesota’s Vinni Lettieri carried 
the puck down the ice before 
unleashing a shot at a partially 
screened 
Hayden 
Lavigne. 

Obstructed 
or 
not, 
Lavigne 

couldn’t find the puck, and the 
Golden Gophers took the lead with 
just 2.3 seconds left in a period in 
which they had been outplayed.

The Wolverines seemed dazed 

as they skated to the locker room, 
and it showed when they came 
back out for the next period.

It took Michigan nearly 12 

minutes just to register a shot on 
goal. The Golden Gophers scored 
again in the waning seconds, 
entering the third period with a 
two-goal lead.

Then things turned from bad to 

worse.

A late cross-checking penalty 

gave the Wolverines a power play 
heading into the final period, 
but just 30 seconds in, Michigan 
coughed up the puck.

Senior forward Alex Kile was 

forced to pull down Minnesota’s 
Lettieri 
on 
the 
short-handed 

breakaway, and Lettieri calmly 
converted the ensuing penalty 

shot.

The Wolverines added two 

goals later in the period, but the 
damage had already been done.

“Those are tough goals to give 

up,” Berenson said. “I’ve said all 
along, first-minute goals or last-
minute goals (are tough to give 
up), and I think we gave up four 
of them this weekend. Whether 
it was just coincidence or it was a 
breakdown or letdown, I couldn’t 
tell you. But those goals are 
backbreakers.

“... We finally got back in the 

game late, but too little, too 
late. They had a penalty shot 
opportunity — we had a power 
play and sure enough, they get 
a breakaway against it, and the 
game turns that quickly.”

***
Michigan arrived in Minnesota 

looking for redemption and found 
none. An already low PairWise 
Ranking — often just the top-16 
make the NCAA Tournament — 
dropped three more spots to No. 37.

Glimpses of the team that had 

beaten No. 5 Boston University 
and No. 11 Union had appeared 
at times against the Golden 
Gophers. But glimpses aren’t 
enough, especially with just 14 
games left in the regular season. 
For every few minutes Michigan 
played Minnesota tough, there 
were still long stretches of play 
when the Golden Gophers had 
their way with the Wolverines. 
Michigan, it would appear, still 
lacks the consistency of an NCAA 
Tournament team.

Berenson and senior captain 

Nolan 
De 
Jong 
remained 

optimistic 
about 
the 
team’s 

trajectory after the sweep. The 
Wolverines’ effort the second 
night, in comparison to the 
opener, was something they hoped 
to build on.

“We talked (last night) about 

a commitment to playing team 
defense 
and 
playing 
harder 

without the puck and not giving 
them so much time and space in 
our zone,” Berenson said Saturday. 
“And I thought we did that. I 
thought we played better most of 
the game. Let’s face it, we only had 
one shot most of the way through 
the second period. We killed two 
penalties but they had us on our 
heels. But I thought we started the 
game stronger and we competed 
harder all night.”

Added De Jong: “Obviously 

we didn’t get the win, but I liked 
the way our team came out in the 
third and at least showed some 
grit, showed some character. That 
pushback is something that we 
haven’t had enough this year.”

When asked how he thought 

the 
team 
could 
improve 
its 

consistency, De Jong spoke about 
the work Michigan would have 
to put in this week at practice to 
limit the type of letdowns they 
suffered against Minnesota. He 
spoke about the need for the 
Wolverines to believe that they 
could play with full intensity for 
all 60 minutes. He mentioned that 
a sweep of Michigan State would 
be “huge” for the Wolverines.

And yet whether he wants to 

admit it or not, De Jong and his 
team already had a chance to 
reignite their season.

But like so many in recent years, 

they fell prey to Mariucci.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsTuesday
January 17, 2017 — 3B

Wolverines struggle in Mariucci Arena

ORION SANG

Daily Sports Editor

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

Senior defenseman Nolan De Jong believes the Wolverines still have an opportunity to revive their season with a matchup against Michigan State.

