4B — Tuesday, January 16, 2018
SportsTuesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A sustainable difference
M
INNEAPOLIS — Two
shots.
That’s all
Michigan allowed in the third
period against No. 9 Minnesota
on Saturday.
The
Wolverines
entered the
final frame
up by two
goals — just
20 minutes
away from
earning its
first sweep
at Mariucci
Arena in 41
years. There’s
a reason it had been that long.
The Golden Gophers don’t
lose often at home. They don’t
lose often, period. In those last
41 years, they’ve had just three
losing seasons.
But they reach a different
level at Mariucci. Coming into
the weekend, Minnesota was
11-2 there and 1-8-1 anywhere
else this season. While they
struggle on the road, the
Gophers’ talent-laden roster —
14 players have been drafted by
NHL teams — shines through
at their home arena, with
more room to operate on its
larger, Olympic-sized rink. In
desperate need of points of any
kind to stay afloat in the Big
Ten, Minnesota surely had no
plans to simply roll over.
Instead, Michigan held the
Gophers to two shots in the
third period. Neither of which
seriously challenged sophomore
goaltender Hayden Lavigne.
That type of performance
wouldn’t have happened two
months ago.
While this weekend was the
most stunning result of the
Wolverines’ season so far, they
aren’t any stranger to surprises.
They defeated the then fourth-
ranked Gophers 5-4 in overtime
on Nov. 11 after rallying from
an early 3-0 hole. They fell
behind 4-0 a night later and
came back yet again, salvaging
a tie that felt just as much like
a victory.
If the enthusiastic,
“Michigan hockey is back!”
takes didn’t begin in earnest
after the Wolverines came one
minute away from sweeping
Penn State in its own building
two weeks prior, they surely did
so after a win and a tie against
a team many picked to win the
Big Ten.
But it turns out they were a
bit premature.
Michigan won only one of
its next seven games after
the Minnesota series. It was
outscored 30-18 over that span
— part of a larger stretch where
the Wolverines gave up a brutal
44 goals in 10 games.
Despite a porous defense,
Michigan could still score.
That’s never been in question.
But the Wolverines’ diet of
goals was unbalanced. They
were subsisting off their top
line of seniors Dexter Dancs
and Tony Calderone and junior
Cooper Marody, a trio which
in the aforementioned 10-game
stretch accounted for 42.6
percent of Michigan’s total
points. The proverbial fruits
and vegetables — the second,
third and fourth lines — weren’t
a part of the Wolverines’ diet,
and their opponents were
proving it unsustainable.
“The makeup came off and
we saw a lot of the blemishes
this weekend,” said Michigan
coach Mel Pearson after a 5-1
loss to Ohio State on Nov. 25.
“We were able to cover some
things up, (but) this weekend
we saw a little bit of some of the
issues that we’re going to have
going forward.”
A few of those issues looked
on course to be corrected,
starting with two encouraging
performances against Notre
Dame last weekend. Michigan
held the then-No. 2 team in
the nation to two goals in both
games and outshot the Fighting
Irish a combined 70-63. If not
for Notre Dame goaltender Cale
Morris erecting a brick wall in
front of the net, the Wolverines
likely would have come away
with points of some variety.
All of these positive
developments culminated this
weekend.
The defense continued to
flourish, allowing just two
goals in even-strength play.
Lavigne stopped 41 of the 45
shots sent in his direction.
The Gophers had precious few
opportunities to show their
individual skill, with Quinn
Hughes, Sam Piazza, Luke
Martin and Joseph Cecconi
seemingly always in the right
position in the defensive zone.
Michigan’s penalty-kill was
maybe the only unit that had
even a mediocre performance
against Minnesota, allowing
goals in both games. However,
the Gophers needed almost
all of the allotted two minutes
to score each time. The group
stepped up when it needed
to as well, with a huge stop
in the third period Saturday,
and Pearson saw noted
improvement on special-teams
after he “didn’t like” Friday’s
performance.
On the other end of the ice,
the Wolverines scored eight
goals — less than the 11 they
scored in November’s series,
but more than enough to
win. These goals came early,
too — Michigan was on the
scoreboard within two minutes
in both contests.
“We played with the lead
all weekend and when you can
do that on the road that really
helps,” Pearson said. “Not like
the previous games where it
seems like we’ve been down
2-0 every game, so that was
a change this weekend and I
thought it really gave our guys
some confidence.”
While Marody, Calderone
and Dancs still pulled the cart
on offense, that cart weighed
much less this time, as the unit
tallied just six of Michigan’s
19 points. At the same time,
other lines emerged — for
the first time this season, the
Wolverines’ lineups remained
the same for both games of
a weekend series. Junior
forward Brendan Warren
scored Michigan’s first goal
Saturday with a snipe from the
slot, and sophomore forward
Josh Norris, playing on the
wing for the first time this
season, followed suit with a
one-timer off a beautiful feed
from sophomore forward Jake
Slaker.
The third line of freshman
Dakota Raabe and sophomores
Adam Winborg and James
Sanchez excelled, as did the
fourth line of sophomore Nick
Pastujov and freshmen Jack
Becker and Michael Pastujov,
which totalled four points on
Friday. Even the Wolverines’
floundering power-play, which
had scored just 14.8 percent
of the time entering the
weekend, was much improved,
as it capitalized on two of their
three opportunities with the
man-advantage Saturday.
“I liked Winborg, Raabe,
Sanchez — they had a shift
there at the end of the game
and didn’t let Minnesota out
of their zone for literally 45
seconds,” Pearson said. “Just
a great shift that you need at a
time like that. Becker, Pastujov
and Pastujov are playing well.
I like Slaker and Norris, we put
Norris on the wing, and he’s got
some renewed energy — think
he’s got three, four points in his
last couple games here, so good
for him.”
After being swept, Minnesota
fell to 4-9-1 in the Big Ten,
ahead of only Michigan State.
This is a talented, but horribly
inconsistent, Gopher team.
Despite how monumental such
a result is for Michigan, it
hardly means the Wolverines
are “back.”
But this weekend, Michigan
did something that those
Wolverines teams of yesteryear
never accomplished, and looked
dominant in doing so, no
less. Sure, there’s always luck
involved, but what Michigan
did this weekend — winning
with goaltending, defense and
depth on offense — is perfectly
sustainable.
No makeup needed.
Shames can be reached at
jacosham@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman forward Josh Norris scored the game-winning goal in Saturday’s game to complete Michigan’s first road sweep of Minnesota in 41 years.
DAILY
WRITER
Wolverines defeat Golden Gophers, 3-1, to earn weekend series sweep
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s been
three years since the Michigan
hockey team recorded a sweep
on the road.
It’s
been
about
as
long
since Minnesota
was
swept
at
Mariucci Arena.
And it’s been
41
years
since
Michigan
came
away
from
Minneapolis
with a sweep.
All three of
those
streaks
came to an end Saturday night.
On Saturday, the Wolverines
(5-7-2 Big Ten, 10-10-2 overall)
defeated
the
ninth-ranked
Golden Gophers, 3-1, putting
finality
on
their
most
impressive weekend of
the season.
After falling 5-3 a
night prior, one might
have expected Minnesota
(4-9-1, 13-12-1) to come out
in attack mode Saturday. But
instead, Michigan blitzed the
Gophers out of the gate.
The Wolverines couldn’t do
anything wrong to begin the
game.
The
puck
practically
never left Minnesota’s zone, and
every pass by a Michigan player
seemed to hit the
sweet spot of his
teammates’ stick.
While
the
Wolverines
didn’t score 15
seconds into the
game
as
they
did Friday, that
hardly mattered
— they needed
just
58
more
seconds
this
time. Junior forward Brendan
Warren, on the heels of a two-
goal outing, took the puck on the
right wing, skated in front of the
crease and snapped the game’s
first score past Eric Schierhorn.
A minute later, freshman
forward Josh Norris bullied
his way towards the net with
the puck, but a replay review
determined
that it did not
cross the plane
of the goal. An
undeterred
Norris, however,
was
rewarded
for his efforts
shortly after,
streaking
down
the
ice
and
lacing
a
one-
timer
off
a
pinpoint
pass
from
sophomore
forward Jake Slaker.
After a dizzying first eight
minutes of hockey, Michigan led
in shots, 8-0, and in goals, 2-0.
“I thought yesterday we had
some good chemistry,” Norris
said. “And tonight we got a
couple quick ones first five
minutes, so that
felt good.”
The
Gophers
managed to turn
the tide slightly —
granted,
simply
possessing
the
puck
in
the
Wolverines’ zone
for any length
of
time
would
have counted as
such for these
purposes — but did little with
their eight shot attempts in the
first period, all of which were
saved by sophomore goaltender
Hayden Lavigne.
However, it
wasn’t any
of
those
shots
that
told
the
story
of
Minnesota’s
night. On a power-
play late in the first, forward
Casey Mittelstadt cruised into
the slot, gearing up for a golden
opportunity to score. But all he
did was uncork a weak knuckler
that bounced well wide of the
net.
The Gophers capitalized late
on their second power play,
though. A series of desperate
swings at the puck by a cadre
of Michigan defenders couldn’t
knock it away from Darian
Romanko, who gave Minnesota
some life with 4:34 remaining in
the second period.
But that momentum didn’t
last long. After Minnesota’s Sam
Rossini was sent to the box for
roughing,
senior
forward
Tony
Calderone
set up behind the
net and found junior
forward Cooper Marody just
behind the red line. Somehow,
Marody precisely angled his
shot up and into the goal.
The third period saw no goals
and just 10 shots combined for
both teams — a surprisingly
anti-climactic ending to the
Wolverines’ biggest road win of
the season.
That
anticlimax
was,
in
large part, a result of a marked
improvement on special teams,
after
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson stated that he “didn’t
like” his team’s penalty kill on
Friday. The Wolverines spread
all
over
the
ice
to
block
shots from the
Gophers’ power
play
in
the
third
period,
but
according
to
Pearson,
Lavigne,
who
registered
17
saves
on
18
opportunities,
was
most
responsible
for
the
special
teams’
success.
“I thought we did a great
job penalty killing,” Pearson
said. “Your goaltender’s got to
be your best penalty killer…
The one we killed in the third
period was excellent. Blocking
shots, doing a lot of good things,
getting sticks.”
With 1:53 left to play, during
the final timeout of the game,
Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”
began
to
echo
throughout
Mariucci Arena. At that point,
though, faced with a confident
and
rock-solid
Michigan
defense, it seemed like the
few
Minnesota
fans left in the
building had long
ago ceased to do
so.
The
Wolverines,
meanwhile,
arrived
in
Minneapolis
earlier
this
weekend ranked
No.
27
in
the
PairWise rankings, far below the
cutoff for NCAA Tournament
contention. Coming away with
a positive result of any kind
seemed absolutely necessary.
Winning
one
game
would
have likely been seen as a solid
weekend.
Sweeping the No. 9 team
in the nation, in one of the
toughest
places
in
college
hockey for visitors to play,
where they hadn’t done so in
multiple
generations?
That’s
closer to unbelievable.
And now, after a historic
weekend,
Michigan
returns
to Ann Arbor after jumping 12
spots in Pairwise and recording
its first sweep in Minnesota in
decades.
This weekend could have
been a mortal blow to the once-
slipping belief in the Wolverines’
postseason chances. The end
result couldn’t have been more
different.
“This is a huge weekend
for us in terms of standings,
Pairwise, so we’re just going to
enjoy the win,” Lavigne said.
“It’s hard to sweep anywhere,
let alone on the road.”
Added Pearson: “You let them
enjoy it. We haven’t had one for
a while, it was good to sing the
song, and we’ll let them enjoy
it until Monday. Then we’ll get
back to work.”
Sweep a result of a strong all-around game for Michigan, and it was its first sweep at Mariucci Arena in 41 seasons
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
“Your
goaltender’s got
to be your best
penalty killer.”
“This is a huge
weekend for
us in terms of
standings.”
“I thought
yesterday we
had some good
chemistry.”