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