4B — February 10, 2020
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
lsa.umich.edu/philosophy
Lecture is free and open to the public
CHARLES W. MILLS
The City University of New York
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020
4–6pm | Rackham Auditorium
2020 TANNER LECTURE ON HUMAN VALUES
Michigan earns sweep with 5-3 win
Less than five minutes into
the third period Saturday night,
senior forward Jacob Hayhurst
went hunting solo.
He entered the attacking
zone near the left side, with
multiple defenders headed his
way. Hayhurst quickly got to
the net to set up his trap. He had
the puck stretched far and away,
which lured goaltender Daniel
Lebedeff to bite left. But then
Hayhurst seamlessly brought
the puck back in and across to
finish the job backhanded.
That
goal
widened
the
Michigan hockey team’s lead to
three in an eventual 5-3 victory
over Wisconsin (10-17-1 overall,
5-14-1-1 Big Ten). The outcome
helped the Wolverines (13-12-3,
8-8-2-1) seal their second sweep
of the new year.
After the 8-4 victory on
Friday, Michigan coach Mel
Pearson
was
disappointed
in how his team performed
despite the wide margin of
victory. Preparation, defense,
turnovers
and
effort
were
areas that troubled him. But on
Saturday — Pearson’s birthday
— he saw improvement.
“Better
effort
tonight,”
Pearson said. “Even though you
could look at the score and say,
well better effort? But we did.
We played with more urgency
and they played hard, too,
tonight. I thought it was a good
game.”
Less than six minutes into
the contest, senior forward
Nick Pastujov won a faceoff in
his team’s defensive zone. Soon
after,
freshman
defenseman
Keaton Pehrson got the puck
and went on the attack. He took
a shot at the left side of the net
that Lebedeff appeared to have
under control, but then Pehrson
crashed in to grab a quick
rebound and score through
Lebedeff’s legs.
Michigan extended its lead
with
under
three
minutes
to go in the first frame.
Sophomore
forward
Jimmy
Lambert
skated
the
puck
down the right side of the
offensive zone, with freshman
forward Nick Granowicz on
his left. Granowicz grabbed the
opposing defense’s attention,
getting close to the crease.
Lambert then swung the
puck across the ice, to senior
forward Jake Slaker who came
trailing in down the left side.
Without
hesitation,
Slaker
rifled the puck into the net to
double the margin.
Nearing the end of the
opening period, the Wolverines
went on their first penalty kill
of the night after Summers
got called for roughing. The
Badgers made the most of the
extra man.
Sophomore
goaltender
Strauss
Mann
collected
a
loose puck near the goal line
and handed it over to senior
defenseman
Luke
Martin.
Martin wrapped around the net
and attempted a pass across the
low slot, but it hit an opposing
player right in front of the
crease. Right away, forward
Cole Caufield sent a pass to
forward Max Zimmer who
found twine from the left side
with less than six seconds to go
in the first frame.
Michigan returned from the
initial intermission ready to go.
Less than two minutes into the
second frame, Summers helped
his team regain the two-goal
lead. Lambert collected the
puck at the far left side of the
goal line and sent it directly
backwards to the blue line.
Summers was waiting there,
and soon took a strong shot that
sounded the buzzer.
After that goal, Slaker got
a
one-on-one
opportunity
with Lebedoff but couldn’t
convert. And a short while later,
Pastujov’s shot clanked off the
right post.
Both
goaltenders
got
involved with seven minutes
remaining in the second period,
starting with Lebedeff. He
charged far away from the
net and dove to flick the puck
away before a streaking Slaker
could touch it. And then right
away, forward Sean Dhooghe
went on a rush but crashed into
Mann with force. Dhooghe got
called for charging, sending the
Wolverines on their sole power
play of the night. Michigan
couldn’t convert.
Each side faced calamity in
the final frame. First, Lambert
dove to try and block a passing
lane near his goal but then hit
the boards awkwardly. And a
bit later, Dhooghe collided with
Beecher in the neutral zone
and hit the ground hard. Both
needed help coming off the ice
and never returned.
“We won’t know much till
Monday or Tuesday,” Pearson
said of Lambert’s injury. “I’d
say he’s questionable for the
weekend. I don’t think it’s,
hopefully as bad as what it was.
But they’ll look at him, probably
some time tomorrow. But we
need him. I mean, he was really
good. But again, it’s next man
up, that’s what we need to do
and injuries are part of the
game.”
Wisconsin tallied a second
goal midway through the final
period when forward Linus
Weissbach found the puck near
the crease for a tap-in. And then
with just over a minute left,
defenseman
K’Andre
Miller
fired a shot from the right side
to bring the game within one
while Lebedeff was pulled.
But by then the Wolverines
had enough separation that it
didn’t matter. Lebedeff stayed
on the sidelines as the Badgers
tried to level the game, and
sophomore forward Garrett Van
Wyhe notched an empty-netter
with six seconds remaining for
the final say.
“It’s late in the season and
as you can see in the standings,
it’s
really
tight,
so
every
game counts,” Hayhurst said.
“Obviously a sweep just lifts
morale in the room and makes
everyone that (much) more
happy and makes them want
to work that much harder to
continue to win.”
ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer
Jack Summers and Keaton Pehrson add offense from defense in win
Last season, two of the five top
point scorers for the Michigan
hockey team were defensemen.
It was part of the system —
defensemen creating offense — an
emphasis coach Mel Pearson made
sure to call out after Michigan
swept Notre Dame in mid-January.
It was the reason for its success
then,
and
against
Wisconsin,
Saturday,
a
defensive
pairing
stepped up to fit that role in the 5-3
win to seal another sweep.
Jack Summers and Keaton
Pehrson have had their fair share
of disappointment.
Against Ohio State the prior
weekend, Summers made a dive
for a loose puck that jeopardized
his defensive positioning. The
Buckeyes scored off his turnover,
sealing the game in their favor.
Pehrson had a puck deflect off
his skate against the Wolverines’
last matchup with the Badgers to
convert a game-winning goal for
Wisconsin.
But
Saturday,
the
two
generated
much-needed
offense in a
high-scoring
affair.
“Both
(Pehrson) and
(Summers)
have to be a
little
more
aggressive,” Pearson said. “They
play a lot of hockey, our team has
done extremely well and they
continue to play as a good solid
pair.”
Pehrson opened the scoring
by tapping in a rebound from a
poor goaltender catch. Wisconsin
Daniel Lebedeff saw Pehrson
approach and swing his body to
face the defenseman. Pehrson saw
his options. He had a
teammate waiting on
his far side, but there
were
two
Badger
skaters in front of him,
blocking the passing
lane.
He took the smart
approach,
a
simple
flick on net to see if
the goaltender would
slip-up. And Lebedeff
did. He dropped the
puck and was unable to cover it
immediately. Upon seeing the error,
Pehrson perked with excitement
and drove in with his stick for a
tap-in goal — the first of his career.
Pehrson
has
never
been
pegged as an offensive-minded
defenseman. He’s stout defensively
and plays fundamentally — to the
point where Pearson noted he’s one
of the only players Pearson doesn’t
harp on in-game
for his defense.
But Saturday, he
played aggressive
and
determined,
and it resulted in
a goal.
On the other
hand,
Summers,
his defensive-pair
partner,
focused
on controlling the
aggression. Often
times, he would play the puck too
forcefully and if the puck didn’t
bounce his way, the opposing team
would create a Grade-A breakaway.
But he sat back and played a safer
game to ensure his turnovers
wouldn’t be costly.
And playing at the point, he
received the puck near the start of
the second period and swung it on
target.
“Honestly,
I
was just trying
to get something
on
the
net,”
Summers said. “I
wasn’t expecting
it to go in.”
The
purpose
of the play was
to
spread
the
defense out for
an easier time to
crash the crease
for rebounds. The Badger skaters
had packed center ice. Freshman
forward
Nick
Granowicz
recognized this and played the
puck low to high to create space,
passing it out to Summers camped
at the point. Summers simply
wanted to send it to the net so one
of them could make the play. But
instead, he scored.
Head held high, arms around
his
teammates,
Summers’
celebration couldn’t have been any
more contrasting to the look of
disappointment he had shown just
last week, wearing his head deep
into his gloves after his turnover.
And the first one to his side was his
partner, Pehrson.
“We’ve been trying to play
well together and to get a couple
points really helps our confidence,”
Pehrson said. “So it felt good.”
Added Pearson: “They don’t
get the press or the coverage
or the points the other guys do.
But they’re a solid pair for us. A
freshman and a sophomore, they’re
doing well.”
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
HOCKEY
SQUAD
GOALS
MICHIGAN SWEEPS
WISCONSIN WITH 13
GOALS ON WEEKEND
Asha Lewis/ Daily | Design by Jack Silberman
Both (Pehrson)
and (Summers)
have to be ...
aggressive.
I was just
trying to get
something on
the net.
We played with
more urgency
and they
played hard.