4B — February 11, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
With 5-2 win, ‘M’ completes sweep of Spartans
DETROIT — More than just the
“Iron D” trophy was on the line
when the Michigan hockey team
took the ice on Saturday.
Coming into the annual “Duel
in the D” against Michigan State,
just five points separated the
Wolverines — who are deadlocked
with Minnesota for second place
— from last place in the Big Ten
standings. With Ohio State 11
points ahead in the conference
standings, and the battle for a first-
round bye effectively over, home-
ice in the first round of the Big Ten
Tournament is on the line with
each game.
Coming off a 5-3 win on Friday
night at Yost Ice Arena against
Michigan State, Michigan looked
to complete its first conference
series sweep of season. And,
with the game still in the balance
minutes into the third period,
freshman forward Nolan Moyle
collected the puck along the right-
side boards.
He sprinted up the right wing
with no one to beat but Michigan
State goaltender Drew DeRidder.
As he curled in toward the slot,
the freshman went forehand,
backhand and fired into the top of
the net to push the Michigan’s lead
to 3-0.
The goal from Moyle would
prove to be the difference maker
for the Wolverines, who went on
to win, 5-2.
The
opening
minutes
of
Saturday night’s contest featured
back and forth play with both
teams gauging each another.
Sophomore defenseman Quinn
Hughes helped ignite the offense
when he collected a loose puck
that was heading toward the
blue line and out of Michigan’s
offensive zone. Hughes gathered
the puck, skated up the left-side
boards and curled in towards the
net. He found sophomore forward
Dakota Raabe, who was crashing
the net as the play developed.
Raabe’s one timer from the top of
the crease gave the Wolverines a
1-0 lead, 5:30 into the first period.
Michigan State struggled to get
into their offensive sets early on.
After generating a few chances,
their momentum was halted by a
penalty on forward Tommy Apap
for boarding. And seconds into
the power play for Michigan, the
Wolverines extended their lead to
2-0.
Hughes launched the puck
towards the net. It hit junior
forward Nick Pastujov in front
of the crease. Junior forward
Will Lockwood then crashed the
net and fired the loose puck past
DeRidder.
The second goal gave Michigan
the momentum for the remainder
of the period and into the first
intermission.
The Spartans came out in
the second period with a more
concerted
offensive
attack,
challenging freshman goaltender
Strauss Mann early on.
Forward Patrick Khodorenkdo
drew in two Wolverine defenders
as he floated towards the right
faceoff circle. He laid off the puck
across to forward Taro Hirose
who was one-on-one with Mann.
Hirose took a stride towards the
net and fired a shot five-hole on
Mann who came up with the save
to preserve the two-goal lead.
Despite some defensive miscues
in the second period, Mann’s
performance in net sustained the
two-goal lead heading into the
third period.
“I can’t say enough about our
goaltender Strauss Mann,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“I thought he stood tall tonight
and maybe didn’t have too many
saves, but he had some great saves
on some of their top players and I
think he was a real difference in
the hockey game.”
Minutes into the final period,
Moyle provided Michigan with
a three-goal cushion on his
breakaway goal, increasing the
lead to 3-0.
But the Spartans weren’t dead
yet.
A goal from forward Mitchell
Lewandowski from a rebound
off Mann’s stick cut into the lead,
3-1, with just under seven minutes
remaining in the game.
Less
than
three
minutes
later, the Spartans would get
another one back. Defenseman
Jerad Rosburg weaved entered
the
offensive
zone,
weaving
through the defense and into the
slot. He laid the puck across to
Lewandowski to make the game a
one-goal contest, 3-2.
“When the first one went in, I
was nervous then,” Pearson said.
“Second one goes in and you have
to stay positive. You have to keep
your bench calm and positive and
I think that’s the biggest thing. I
knew we were in a dogfight.”
The comeback fell short for
Michigan State, though. Redshirt
sophomore Luke Morgan and
freshman Nolan Moyle scored
empty net goals in the final two
minutes to push the lead to 5-2.
For the third consecutive season
now, the Wolverines are taking
home the “Iron D” trophy. But
more importantly for Michigan,
it now sits alone in second place,
three points ahead of third-place
Minnesota.
“It was a huge weekend for
the team,” Pearson said. “A big
weekend.
Anytime
you
play
Michigan State it’s a huge weekend
but with the implications of the Big
Ten standings and everything, I
thought it was a huge weekend for
our team. Now, we get to enjoy it,
maybe on the bus ride home, but
Tuesday we get right back at it
against Notre Dame.”
Wolverines exact revenge, top Wisconsin 62-51
It was ugly as ugly gets, and
Michigan will take it just fine.
When Wisconsin comes to
town, there isn’t any other
option.
And, as the ball found Zavier
Simpson at the top of the arc
with just over three minutes
to go, the Wolverines up by
three and a chance to put the
Badgers away materializing,
it seemed they had managed
to beat Wisconsin at its own
game. Then, the shot clanked
off the rim.
That
scene
replayed
throughout the second half of
Saturday’s game — Michigan
finding an open three and being
unable to convert, the Badgers
hanging on as a result. Finally
though, with 1:28 to go, it was
Charles
Matthews
finding
nylon, not from 3-point range,
but his usual spot on the right
block, giving the Wolverines a
five-point lead.
A minute later, time winding
and the crowd at its crescendo,
it
was
Matthews
again,
bouncing a few feet in front of
the free throw line and nailing
another jumper, extending the
lead to seven.
It would prove
decisive as No. 7
Michigan (22-2
overall, 11-2 Big
Ten) found its
way to a 61-52
win over No. 19
Wisconsin (17-7,
9-4).
“This is who
I believe — what
I
envisioned
for (Matthews) when he came
here,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein. “And there’s been
times in the games that he’s not
sure what he should do. Should
he shoot it? Should he take it to
the basket? Should he pass it?
… In this second half, he had
a great mix of making those
decisions.”
Three weeks ago in Madison,
the
Badgers
handed
the
Wolverines their first loss of
the year, fans storming the
court as players filed out, backs
turned.
Michigan didn’t forget.
“People storming the court,
we don’t like that,” Beilein said.
“... It’s not like, ‘Wow, they’re
storming the court on us?’ No,
it’s like, ‘No, we don’t like that
situation.’
Our
kids were pretty
fired up about
playing, because
they haven’t lost
much.”
For
much
of
Saturday’s
rematch,
the
first
game
seemed
to
be
on repeat. Only,
the Wolverines
were in front.
The score was deadlocked
at 27 going into halftime and
stayed that way for nearly three
minutes, the second half’s first
review happening before its
first bucket. It was emblematic
of the game — a slow, unyielding
stretch in which neither team
played well and yet you couldn’t
look away.
Without a single 3-pointer
falling for Michigan in the
second half, Matthews held the
key to Michigan’s offense. The
redshirt junior hit midrange
shots, got to the rim and
even found junior center Jon
Teske for an and-one layup by
spinning a pass around Nate
Reuvers’ back. He finished
with 18 points, 16 in the second
half, on 9-of-15
shooting.
“He was able
to get his shots,”
said
sophomore
guard
Jordan
Poole.
“Just
being aggressive.
Picking his spots
and (taking) the
shots you know
he’s confident in
making and being
able to knock them down down
the stretch was huge for us
today.”
Michigan had three weeks to
find an answer for Ethan Happ,
who dominated with 26 points,
10 rebounds and seven assists
when the Badgers toppled the
Wolverines in Madison. Early
on, it seemed nothing had
changed. The fifth-year senior
scored eight of Wisconsin’s
first 10 points, going at, under
and around Teske down low,
finding repeated success.
After Happ picked up his
third foul to start the second
half, leading to a stretch on the
bench, things shifted. Happ
shot just 2-of-9 from the field
over the final 20 minutes as
Teske took the upper hand in
the
matchup
on both ends,
finishing with
17 points and
12 rebounds.
“The whole
idea was, guard
him
without
bad
fouls,”
Beilein
said.
“Well I think
he
guarded
him about as
physical as he could guard him
in the second half.”
When the game ended, Happ
found Beilein on the court,
telling the coach he hopes to
see him again this season.
“No
Ethan,”
Beilein
said,
recounting the story, “I don’t
want to see you again the rest
of my life.”
In 12 seasons at Michigan,
Beilein had beaten Wisconsin
all of five times before Saturday.
He’ll happily take the sixth.
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
If
playing
goaltenders
Hayden
Lavigne
on
Friday
and Strauss Mann on Saturday
guaranteed
wins,
Michigan
coach Mel Pearson would run
with it, no doubts in his mind.
Since Oct. 25-26 against St.
Lawrence, it’s become evident
that Michigan has struggled
to close a weekend. Fans knew
it. Pearson knew it. Michael
Pastujov even admitted it.
“We struggle on Saturdays,”
Pastujov noted.
After that series, Michigan
has failed to sweep a series until
last weekend against Michigan
State, when the Wolverines
completed their first Big Ten
weekend series — exorcizing
demons
built
throughout
a
string of ties and losses. Their
record for Saturday games up
until that point? Two wins, six
losses and two ties that ended in
losses.
“Yeah that was absolutely
huge,” said junior forward Will
Lockwood on Saturday’s win.
“We’ve been getting a lot of
Friday wins previous to that
and to finally get over that hump
was huge for our team. I think
it’s great for our team and was
well-deserved.”
The turnaround didn’t come
out of nowhere. Pearson saw the
struggles and knew something
needed to be done. He needed to
make changes.
“We’ve gotta clean some
things up and we have to be
better tomorrow,” Pearson said
Friday. “I just told the team
tonight that, you know what,
enjoy it, but when you leave the
rink tonight, this game’s over.
This game’s over. So when you
go downstairs and your friends
or family or someone tells you,
‘Oh, great game,’ just tell them,
‘you know what, thank you, but
we have to be better.’ ”
The first change he queued up
was
switching
goaltenders.
“We’ll
probably
make
that
decision
tomorrow,”
Pearson
said
Friday
on
Saturday’s
goaltending.
“At this point,
it’s
open.
I
think Hayden’s
played well but we’ve gotta
find a way to win that Saturday
game. We’ve gotta break this,
‘win Friday and not do as well
Saturday.’ ”
Lavigne
had
earned
the
starting job coming back from
break. When the team needed
his best in big games, he
delivered. But the consistency
in goaltending wavered on the
second leg of a back-to-back
series. In turn, Mann saw time
in the net in the worst situations.
But after Mann displayed
lockdown performances every
time he was put in relief,
Pearson started to entertain the
idea of switching goalies on the
backend of weekend series.
“He’s gone in a backup role
but he played extremely well,”
Pearson said. “He only gave up
one goal in four periods last
couple weeks in a mopped-up
role, and we had do something
to change the Saturday funk.
“And it’s not all on him, it’s
not all on Hayden Lavigne. But
sometimes we need a change,
and sometimes coaches don’t
want to change.”
The
difference
between
wants and needs is something
the coaching staff recognized
during the game preparation.
All season, Pearson wanted
the team to buy in and play
hard-nose, hustle defense. The
team didn’t realize they needed
it until they came to grasp that
changes needed to be made.
For
sophomore
defenseman
Quinn Hughes, he had to come
to terms with it after his weak
performance
against
Penn
State on Jan. 26 — in which
he committed several costly
turnovers that directly led to
opposing goals.
“First you have to own it,”
Pearson said. “I think that’s the
first thing is you have to own it
to be able to move forward and
make changes.”
Since then, Hughes and the
rest of defensemen made strides
in order to rectify the defensive
lapses
that
sporadically
occurred.
Even
amongst
forwards,
that
defensive
mentality carried over.
Against the Spartans, the
team made changes that the
fourth line — consisting of
Nolan Moyle, Garrett Van Wyhe
and Dakota Raabe — made
earlier in the season. They
worked harder, skated faster
and put their nose to the ground
to make plays.
“(The
fourth
line)
play
the right way,” Pearson said.
“They’re
not
maybe
your
offensive stars, but they accept
how they need to play. And I
think that was a big key.”
Another key were changes
made to the power play. In the
Minnesota
series,
Michigan
drew
10
power
plays.
It
converted none of them.
To reverse their inability to
convert
the
man-advantage,
the Wolverines made changes
to their special teams. After
the series against the Golden
Gophers, the first improvement
they made was to get the
puck around faster. Getting
defensemen out of position was
a key factor to power plays, and
junior Jake Slaker noted the
team needed to move the puck
faster to do just that.
Against
the
Spartans,
Michigan saw those changes
pay off.
“We
made
some changes,”
Pearson
said.
“We didn’t get, I
think, anything
from it, but we
had some good
looks. But we
just — I thought
they
looked
much
better.
But we have to
continue to work on that and be
a threat and that’ll really help
our game.”
With the changes at hand,
the Wolverines pulled out the
broom for the second time this
season. And it was an opportune
time.
The sweep put Michigan
solely in second place in the Big
Ten with 30 points. With only
six points separating second
place from second-to-last place,
a single bad week can cost a
team home advantage in the
upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
“Every win is huge at this
point in the season,” Moyle said.
“And I think this weekend can
really turn around our season
and we just need to continue to
ride this wave.”
Added Pearson: “We’ve got
five games left now and we have
to grind it out. But this should
give us some confidence and
we’ve got a, like I said, short
turnaround.
“I can’t stress enough how
important this weekend was.
I think we’re up on State six
points now with a game in hand.
That’s huge this time of year. It’s
hard to make up points because
everybody’s playing the same
teams. Everybody is playing
each other. Someone’s gonna
win, someone’s gonna lose, so
it’s important if you can string a
sweep together.”
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team earned its first sweep of Big Ten play.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe helped Michigan to a dominating win over Michigan State on Saturday.
Michigan’s first sweep,
and its implications
To finally get
over that hump
was great for
our team.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske scored 17 points with 12 rebounds and slowed Ethan Happ to help Michigan win on Saturday.
People
storming the
court, we don’t
like that.
The whole idea
was, guard him
without bad
fouls.