4B — Monday, October 8, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A stumble and a scrimmage
Unlike Friday night, the result
of Sunday’s game was not in
question for very long.
The Michigan hockey team
(0-1) took the ice at Yost Ice Arena
for the second time in as many
days. After losing to Vermont,
5-2, in their season opener, the
Wolverines looked to rebound
in an exhibition match against
Waterloo.
And rebound is just what they
did.
Michigan’s offense wasted no
time as sophomore forward Josh
Norris streaked towards the net on
the right side of the ice and tucked
the puck under the crossbar and
over goaltender Trevor Martin’s
left shoulder. After going scoreless
in their previous 50 minutes of
play, the Wolverines were finally
on the board.
Just three minutes later, junior
forward Nick Pastujov extended
the lead to 2-0 after he found
space in front of the net on a pass
from the left wing off the stick of
junior forward Jake Slaker. The
goal came during a four-on-three
advantage for Michigan.
The Wolverines would pour in
two more goals in the first period
and entered the first intermission
with a 4-1 lead.
In
addition
to
the
early
offensive
initiative,
freshman
goaltender Strauss Mann made
his debut for the Wolverines. His
collegiate career got off to a less-
than-ideal start after a shot from
center ice bounced towards the
goal and over his left pad. After
allowing Waterloo on the board
seven minutes into the contest,
the freshman settled in and
looked more comfortable in the
crease.
His aggressive style showed
as he often came out of the net
to play the puck, allowing his
team to quickly transition on
the offensive break. Michigan’s
29 shots on target through the
first two periods were a result of
its aggressiveness starting from
the back and the effective puck
movement in the offensive zone.
The Wolverines added three
more goals in the second period
on goals from junior forward Will
Lockwood, freshman forward
Jack Olmstead and sophomore
forward Jack Becker.
Olmstead,
who
made
his
collegiate
debut,
impressed
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“[Olmstead] didn’t play last
night, but he got in there tonight,”
Pearson said. “He played strong,
he played hard and he had a nice
goal.”
Added Pearson: “I like this
class, and I’m really looking
forward to seeing the growth in
them.”
Nine of out 10 members of the
freshman class have now made
their debuts for the Wolverines,
with the only exception being
goaltender Jack Leavy.
Despite sloppy play from the
Wolverines towards the end of
the game, the early lead created a
margin for error. Waterloo scored
the only goal in the third frame,
but the four-goal deficit coming
into the final period of play proved
to be insurmountable as Michigan
bounced back from its loss on
Saturday, notching a 7-4 win.
Although the Wolverines came
out on top, they allowed nine goals
through their first two games.
Pearson acknowledged that it
is something his team needs to
address moving forward.
“We’ve
got
to
get
better
defensively,” Pearson said. “Even
tonight, four goals is too many
… We’ve got to get better in that
area. I’m a little surprised that
we’re not better –– that we gave
up as many goals as we did this
weekend. So that’s going to be an
area that we have to take care of.”
Michigan will get another
chance to make its defensive
adjustments in an exhibition
match on Friday against USA
Hockey’s U-18 National Team
Development
Program
before
returning to regular season play
against Western Michigan on Oct.
19.
No. 4 Michigan falls to Vermont in season-opener, 5-2
Wolverines rebound for exhibition win over Waterloo
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore forward Jack Becker scored one of Michigan’s three second-period goals in its exhibition win on Sunday.
As senior right wing Will
Lockwood glided around the
right circle at the 3:30 mark of
the second period, there was a
moment, albeit a brief one, where
there was nothing but clear ice
between he and his second goal
of the game.
Lockwood sized up the puck
and hesitated, but by the time
he
was
ready
to
shoot,
the
Catamounts had
already
taken
possession. Once
again,
Vermont
had
pulled
the
rug
out
from
under the No. 4
Michigan hockey
team.
In
the
Wolverines’
season-opening 5-2 loss against
the Catamounts, they found
themselves
constantly
trying
to fight back from Vermont’s
sucker punches. Right away,
Michigan couldn’t establish itself
on offense; for the most part the
Catamounts closed off all the
passing lanes in the middle of the
ice for the Wolverines, forcing
Michigan to bring up its backline
to kickstart an offensive flow.
“We wanted to play fast,”
said senior defenseman Joseph
Cecconi. “Our team is fast, we
want to move the puck fast, and in
the first period, we were moving
a little slow, not physical. Coach
[Pearson] came in the locker room
and asked us to move the puck
quicker and take more shots.”
Just like that Vermont, made
them pay — twice. Four minutes
into the game, the Wolverines
faced a 2-0 deficit, off two goals
— one of them on a powerplay —
from Catamounts forward Alex
Esposito. Four minutes into the
season, Michigan was in trouble
against a team that went 10-20-7
last year.
“We weren’t ready to play
tonight,” said Michigan coach
Mel Pearson. “I think we came in
here with the mindset that it was
going to be easy, and that we’d
score ten goals on them.”
As one does when punched
in
the
mouth,
though,
the
Wolverines punched back as hard
as they could. Five minutes later,
Michigan earned a power play
of its own. Using their newfound
open
ice,
the
Wolverines
finally
found
some
room
to
breathe,
whirring
the
puck
around
to
the
top
of
the
right
circle to a calm
and
waiting
Lockwood.
As
Lockwood
prepared his slapshot, sophomore
left
wing
Michael
Pastujov
screened off Vermont goaltender
Stefanos
Lekkas,
rendering
Lockwood’s shot-— and goal —
effectively invisible to Lekkos.
Just 58 seconds later, junior left
wing Jake Slaker careened a shot
gloveside, and junior defenseman
Nick
Pastujov
flicked it in.
“I
think
we
need to be a lot
better at getting
the puck from our
defensive
zone
into the offensive
zone,”
Nick
Pastujov said. “As
you can see, once
you spend a lot of
time down there
that’s when you get five or six
shots in a shift.”
Vermont, though, pulled the
same trick that the Wolverines
did at the end of the period,
using a screener to clear the
way for a goal by forward Max
Kaufman. Michigan outshot the
Catamounts through the first
period and the second period,
but the Wolverines constantly
fumbled passes and fell back into
the same disjointed offense that
plagued them at the start of the
game.
This time, Michigan didn’t
claw back. With three minutes
remaining in the final period,
Vermont
put
the game away
for good on a
close-range
shot
by
left
wing
Martin
Frechette
and
rubbed
in the wound
with
another
goal
with
18
seconds left in
regulation.
For all of the Wolverines’ sky-
high expectations and hopes
coming into the season, the
Catamounts hit them with a
dose of reality. Time will tell if
Michigan can come up with the
response that it couldn’t find
today.
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer
“Our team is
fast, we want to
move the puck
fast.”
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
Time will tell if
Michigan can
come up with
the response.
Defensive effort difference in weekend performances for ‘M’
It’s funny how different a
narrative can be when a team
allows four goals in back-to-
back games.
You have a sloppy blue line
that didn’t put enough effort —
didn’t make those hustle plays.
And you have a high-intensity,
defensive match with a few bad
bounces.
The difference? Well, it’s just
that. The defensive intensity
and effort.
It’s hard to justify giving
up four goals in any game.
Especially not from this veteran
group
of
Michigan
hockey
defensemen
that
teammates
have dubbed one of the best in
the nation.
But
after
the
weekend
passed, with the fourth-ranked
Wolverines dropping four goals
and an empty-netter to lose 5-2
to Vermont and bouncing back
for a 7-4, exhibition-game win
against Waterloo, it became
much easier to justify one than
the other.
And not because one mattered
and one didn’t.
In Friday’s matchup against
the Catamounts, it was evident
the hustle wasn’t there for the
Michigan
defense.
Multiple
times,
the
blueliners
had
possession of the puck in the
offensive
zone
with
little
pressure put on them but would
let the possession go to waste
by accidentally pushing it into
neutral ice — forcing a reset.
“I thought we weren’t ready
to play tonight,” said Michigan
coach Mel Pearson after Friday’s
game. “We weren’t really ready
to play.”
Pearson
made
sure
to
emphasize “ready” the second
time. Because it was as clear
to him as it was clear to
everyone else watching that
the Wolverines had expected a
cakewalk.
“I think we came into today
with the mindset thinking it was
going to be easy,” Pearson said.
“I just didn’t like our stuff.”
On the defensive end, the
Michigan
defensemen,
like
sophomore
Quinn
Hughes,
gambled on the puck, leaving
odd-man
rushes
if
their
interception
attempt
went
astray, putting junior goaltender
Hayden
Lavigne
in
tricky
situations.
The Wolverines flipped the
script the next day, though.
“Happy with today,” Pearson
said. “Got a little sloppy at times,
coming off a tough loss last
night and a quick turnaround,
you expected some of that.”
Coming out 4-1 after the 1st
period, the Wolverines kicked
the defensive gears into place.
They put good pressure on the
puck, preventing any dangerous
situations. The one goal that
Waterloo scored was from a bad
bounce off a neutral-ice slapper,
a puck freshman goaltender
Strauss Mann would want back
— but only partially.
“(Mann) laughing a little bit
after the game,” Pearson said. “I
think he’d like to have a couple
back, he fell over a little bit at
the end.”
The job for Mann became
much easier with the increased
defensive
intensity.
Late
in
the second period, freshman
defenseman
Jake
Gingell
dove for a loose puck in the
offensive zone, sacrificing his
body — which got sandwiched
between a Warrior and the
boards. It wasn’t a necessary
play by any means. Michigan
had a comfortable lead in a
meaningless game, but it was the
type of play that Gingell needed
to make after the blueline’s poor
showing Friday night.
Of course, in the latter half
of the game, that intensity and
effort that was the difference-
maker disappeared. As Pearson
noted, exhibition games are
hard to play. When stats don’t
count, when there’s not a lot on
the line, intensity falls.
“We freelanced too much. We
got a little bit sloppy,” Pearson
said “ … And it’s a fine line.
Just intensity, You lose your
intensity, and things sort of just
shut down for you.”
But that didn’t stop some
players
from
making
plays.
In the middle of the third
period, sophomore center Josh
Norris had a careless turnover,
accidentally tapping the puck to
neutral ice with no one back.
It became a scramble for
the puck, and the first one to
reach it was a Waterloo player.
But not far behind was senior
defenseman Nicholas Boka. His
hustle prevented a two-on-none
situation, instead forcing the
Warriors to reset the offensive
push — giving time for all
the players to return to the
defensive zone.
“We have guys who can
score,” Pearson said. “That’s not
going to be an issue this year.
We have enough guys who can
score. We just have to continue
to play on the right side of the
puck.
“That’s my biggest concern.
The goal scoring will come. If
you’re forced to have to score
five, it gets difficult. If you give
up four goals, it gets tough to
score five.”
Again,
it’s
funny
the
difference in narratives after
games have been played. The
question everyone posed before
the season began was where the
scoring production would come
from after the “DMC” line —
the top line responsible for 124
of the 365 points Wolverines
produced last season — had
departed. Now it will be who
will step up on the defensive
end, a problem few anticipated.
“I’m a little surprised that
we’re not better, that we gave up
as many goals that we did this
weekend,” Pearson said. “So
that’s going to be an area that
we’re going to take care of.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson said he didn’t think his team was “ready to play” on Saturday night, but the Wolverines turned up their defensive efforts to win their exhibition game on Sunday.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer