4B — Monday, March 5, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan seals semifinal berth, likely NCAA Tournament bid with 7-4 win
The chanting began with
17 minutes to play in the third
period.
Michigan
sophomore
defenseman
Griffin
Luce
lasered a shot from the left
point past Jack Berry, giving
the Wolverines a three-goal
lead. “Be-rry, Be-rry, Be-rry,”
the Children of Yost taunted the
Wisconsin goaltender, who had
allowed six goals off 22 shots for
a ghastly .727 save percentage.
Later in the period, the jeers
returned — “You suck!” followed
by an obscenity.
With four minutes to play,
Berry was gone. The Badgers
pulled him in favor of an empty
net, sacrificing their last line of
defense for a desperate chance
at the two goals that would have
extended their season.
The Children’s chants kept
coming. But the goals didn’t.
With a 7-4 victory Saturday at
Yost Ice Arena, the Wolverines
(20-13-3 overall, 11-10-3 Big Ten)
not only clinched a semifinal date
with No. 6 Ohio State next week,
but also all but punched their
ticket to the NCAA Tournament
in coach Mel Pearson’s debut
season.
Wisconsin
(14-19-4,
8-13-
3) opened the scoring just 23
seconds after the initial puck
drop
when
forward
Ryan
Wagner slipped around junior
defenseman
Joseph
Cecconi
and fired just above sophomore
goaltender
Hayden
Lavigne’s
right shoulder. But Michigan was
quick with a response.
Four minutes and 18 seconds
into the game, Badger forward
Trent Frederic was knocked
off the puck in his own zone,
the loose change bouncing to
Dexter Dancs in the high slot.
On Friday, the senior forward hit
the pipe deep in the third period
with the Wolverines up one,
missing a chance to potentially
seal the game. Dancs made no
such mistake this time, snapping
a wrister into the upper-left
corner to equalize.
The rest of the period trended
in Michigan’s direction. With
6:19
remaining,
sophomore
forward Nick Pastujov found
Jack Becker with a line-drive
pass from the right wing, and
the freshman forward’s eighth
goal of the season gave the
Wolverines a 2-1 lead that stood
until intermission. It could have
been more — just 30 seconds
prior, sophomore forward Adam
Winborg’s tip off a point shot was
disallowed after official review.
In the second period, it was
Michigan’s turn for a first-
minute
goal.
A
hard-nosed
forecheck
effort
by
junior
forward Brendan Warren led to
an attacking opportunity, but
Wisconsin
defenseman
Peter
Tischke cleared it inches in front
of the line. Tischke was merely
delaying the inevitable, though
— the rebound bounced outside
to freshman defenseman Quinn
Hughes, and Warren finished
what he had started by tipping
Hughes’ point shot past Berry.
However,
the
Wolverines
were unable to make it four
straight goals, as the next 19
minutes were effectively played
on a seesaw. Six minutes into the
period, Badger forward Linus
Weissbach shot just wide from
the point, but Lavigne left his left
post open and Cameron Hughes
took advantage off the rebound
to make it 3-2.
Twenty-six
seconds
later,
Michigan came roaring back.
Senior forward Niko Porikos
jumped on a turnover in the
Wisconsin zone and bolted down
the left flank, with Cecconi
and freshman forward Dakota
Raabe joining him on a three-
on-one. Four flicks of the stick
later — Porikos to Cecconi to
Porikos to Raabe to the net — the
Wolverines were back in front by
two.
“I’ve talked about that a lot,
our secondary scoring — we’ve
got
more
guys
contributing
which we need,” Pearson said.
“And I think that’s part of the
success of the second half, that’s
why we’ve won, whatever it
is, 12 games second half of the
year. But we’re getting more
contributions from more players.
We put a couple guys in tonight,
we won a game, we were able to
slot two guys in tonight. Porikos
does a nice job on the one goal,
makes a great play to Raabe.”
Wisconsin
replied
halfway
through the period, as its top line
continued to match Michigan
blow for blow. Wagner found
Frederic all by himself in the
middle of the slot, and Frederic’s
shot hissed past Lavigne’s glove.
The two teams held serve for
almost the entire remainder of
the period. But “almost” wasn’t
enough for the Badgers — on a
two-on-one with seven seconds
to go in the period, Dancs, who
opened the scoring, fired home
the eventual game-winner to put
the Wolverines up, 5-3.
“To be honest, I didn’t know
there was seven seconds left on
the clock,” Dancs said. “We were
in the middle of a shift, and I just
shot and it went in, and it was a
good goal.”
Wisconsin forward Matthew
Freytag added a garbage goal
in front of the net with 4:42 to
play, forcing Michigan to keep
its feet glued to the gas pedal.
The situation was reminiscent
of so many that took place down
the stretch of the season, where
Pearson has constantly stressed
the importance of learning to
play with a lead.
“I was never comfortable in
the game,” Pearson said. “Even
when it was 6-4, I was never
comfortable until that last goal,
then you could breathe a sigh
of relief. That’s just the way the
game was. They’ve got so many
dangerous players, you give them
a little bit of room or time or
space, they make plays and they
can score.”
But
Lavigne
was
never
seriously threatened, needing to
make only one save. And with 18
seconds left, sophomore forward
Jake Slaker chipped home the
empty-net
clincher,
allowing
Pearson and the Wolverines to
breathe easy.
Michigan was able to exhale
in a larger sense, too. With the
win, the Wolverines maintained
their position at No. 8 in the
Pairwise Rankings, far beyond
the precarious influence of the
NCAA
Tournament
bubble.
Their season is basically ensured
to
continue,
regardless
of
whether or not they fall to the
Buckeyes next weekend.
“Well, I hope so,” Pearson said.
“I don’t know where we’re at, but
we’ve got a goal of winning the
Big Ten championship. We’re
trying to get as far as we can and
then let the chips turn and fall
where they may. We know that if
we just continue to win, we’ll be
in great shape.”
Of
course,
winning
the
Big Ten championship would
automatically put Michigan in
the tournament — no ifs, ands or
buts about it.
And the Wolverines — after
winning just 13 games last year,
their lowest since 1987, after
being picked to finish sixth out
of seven teams in a loaded Big
Ten, after languishing in the
high-20s in Pairwise as late as
mid-January — are now just two
games away from doing so.
“We’re playing really good
hockey right now,” Slaker said.
“We have six games left to win
a national championship. We’re
not looking too far ahead, we’re
just going to focus on the next
game.”
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Sophomore forward Jake Slaker helped seal the Michigan hockey team’s 7-4 win over Wisconsin on Saturday night with an empty-net goal.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
Led by Calderone and Dancs, Wolverine seniors secure legacy at Yost
The Michigan hockey team’s
Senior Night officially took place
last Saturday against Arizona
State.
After
the
Wolverines
closed the regular season with a
5-3 victory over the Sun Devils,
the sellout crowd at Yost Ice
Arena
honored
the
six-man
senior class — forwards Tony
Calderone, Dexter Dancs, Alex
Roos and Niko Porikos, along
with defensemen Sam Piazza
and Cutler Martin.
Traditionally, Senior Night
marks the last time that a
graduating class plays in its own
arena in front of its own fans. But
that wasn’t the case this year.
One week after the festivities,
Michigan was back at Yost — this
time to take on Wisconsin in a
best-of-three quarterfinal series
of the Big Ten Tournament.
With two straight wins, the
Wolverines advanced to the
semifinals, where a road trip to
No. 6 Ohio State awaits.
Saturday’s 7-4 triumph over
the Badgers was, in all likelihood,
Michigan’s last game at Yost
this season — only a Wolverine
win in Columbus, coupled with
a Penn State victory over Notre
Dame in the other semifinal,
would change that. However,
there was no official tribute, no
large-scale displays of gratitude,
no post-game tears at center-
ice — after all, you can only say
goodbye so many times before its
significance is diluted.
Instead,
this
weekend’s
series felt like an encore from
Michigan’s seniors — a show
of thanks to their fans, their
program and their university,
giving them one final moment to
remember them by.
Calderone and Dancs, first-
line
mainstays
all
season,
scored
the
game-winning
goals on Friday and Saturday,
respectively, and led the way
with six of the Wolverines’ 13
goals. Piazza and Porikos added
crucial assists both nights as
well.
“Really
happy
for
our
seniors,” said Michigan coach
Mel Pearson. “If this is our last
game at Yost, which it might be,
good way to go out.”
Calderone,
in
particular,
saved his best for last. The
Wolverines’ leading scorer found
the net a career-high four times
in Friday’s win, striking in every
way possible.
A searing one-timer from
junior forward Cooper Marody
off an odd-man rush. A close-
range redirection of freshman
defenseman
Quinn
Hughes’
shot from the point into the
net. Another one-timer off a
gorgeous feed from Hughes. And
to cap it off, a garbage goal after
a rebound off the goaltender’s
pads, giving Michigan a 6-5 lead
that it would hold for the rest of
the game.
“He’s a shooter, he’s a scorer,”
Pearson said. “I’m so happy for
him. You want your seniors to
have your best year and he’s far
exceeded my expectations. He’s
not done and we’re not done.”
While Piazza and Porikos
didn’t light the lamp themselves,
they were integral in the buildup
to
two
of
the
Wolverines’
prettiest goals not just of the
weekend, but the entire season.
During a power play in Friday’s
first period, Piazza received
the puck on the left circle with
no Badger in his vicinity. With
oceans of space,
Piazza
sliced
the
Wisconsin
penalty kill wide
open, firing a pass
across
the
slot
to an open Jake
Slaker
for
the
game-tying goal.
A
day
later,
Porikos
won
the
puck
after
a
neutral
zone
giveaway and burst down the left
wing. Porikos, along with junior
defenseman
Joseph
Cecconi,
freshman forward Dakota Raabe
and sophomore forward Adam
Winborg, bore down on Badger
defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk at
full speed. The resulting “tic-
tac-toe” goal — Porikos-Cecconi-
Porikos-Raabe — belonged in the
Louvre.
And then there was Dancs,
the oft-overlooked member of
the high-scoring “DMC” top
line, with just 22 points on the
season compared to Marody
and Calderone’s 44 and 39,
respectively.
No one would
be able to ignore
the
North
Vancouver,
B.C.
native’s
presence
on
Saturday,
however.
He
made that clear
with a wrister
from
the
high slot four
minutes into the game to tie the
score at one apiece. And another
wrist shot on a two-on-one with
just seven seconds remaining in
the second period took Michigan
to the intermission riding all the
momentum.
Guess
who
assisted
on
both goals? None other than
Calderone.
“It’s really special, obviously
Tony’s night last night was
incredible and he had another
great
night
tonight,”
Dancs
said. “He’s been my best friend
for four years now, and we’ve
played together for pretty much
our whole time here. So for him
to get the assist on those goals,
it’s pretty special and will be
something to talk about for our
whole lives.”
As the Wolverines’ seniors
skated off the ice after the final
horn, the poignant realization
that they had likely done so for
the last time had yet to hit home.
“Last weekend, senior night
was sad, and this weekend was
all business and stuff, try not to
think about it, I’m sure,” Dancs
said Saturday. “Tonight and
tomorrow, the seniors will talk
about it and it will kind of sink
in, but we’re enjoying it right
now.”
And courtesy of Michigan’s
senior class, there’s a lot to enjoy.
It’s a group that has been
through just about everything
in four seasons. As role players
just finding their way in college
hockey, they came oh-so-close
to
the
NCAA
Tournament
their freshman season, losing
in the Big Ten Tournament
championship to Minnesota. A
year later, they would get their
revenge on the Golden Gophers
in the title game, helping the
Wolverines return to the NCAA
Tournament after a four-year
drought.
As juniors, they endured the
malaise of Michigan’s worst
season in 30 years, despite
playing more prominent roles
than ever — Calderone led the
team with 15 goals, while Piazza
led all defensemen with 14
points en route to being named
the Wolverines’ only All-Big Ten
honoree.
This season was supposed to
be one of transition. With a first-
year head coach and young talent
such Hughes, Slaker, Josh Norris
and Will Lockwood continuing
to
grow
and
develop,
the
upperclassmen were expected
to bridge the gap and impart
their wisdom on the youthful
Wolverines in hopes of building
an eventual juggernaut under
Pearson.
Instead, they took the reins,
leading Michigan to 12 wins in
its last 16 games and an all-but-
guaranteed NCAA Tournament
bid.
“They’ve had some struggles
here and they’ve had some good
moments here also,” Pearson
said. “Really happy for them.
You need your seniors to be your
leaders. … Those guys have really
stepped up so good for them and
good for us, we need them.”
The seniors’ time at Yost
is probably over. But with a
dominant performance in their
final appearance, their legacy is
secure.
Oh yeah, a second Big Ten
championship — and maybe
more — is still very much in play.
“It’s been an awesome ride
here at Yost,” Dancs said. “Sad
that it’s coming to an end, but … I
love the team we have right now,
we’re really hot, so we’re having
a lot of fun right now and we’re
going to try to keep going.”
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Senior forward Dexter Dancs played a crucial role in his team’s 7-4 win over Wisconsin on Saturday night, scoring a pair of goals.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
“He’s a shooter,
he’s a scorer.
I’m so happy
for him.”