8 — Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

BEHIND TWO POWER PLAY GOALS, MICHIGAN 
CRUSHES SPARTANS, 4-1, MOVING TO THIRD IN 
BIG TEN BEHIND 8-1-1 RECORD IN 2020

KEEMYA ESMAEL / Daily

POWERING 
FORWARD

Design by Jack Silberman

Wolverines win Duel in the D, 4-1

DETROIT — Nick Blankenburg 
extended his two hands out and 
wagged them up and down like 
paws. At first glance, it seemed 
like an innocent gesture. His 
teammates even imitated him 
as they wrapped him in hugs of 
celebration.
But the message from his 
mouth matched the motion of his 
arms in a more crude way.
“Sit 
down,” 
he 
told 
the 
Michigan State portion of the 
crowd at Little 
Caesars Arena.
The 
only 
problem 
was 
he 
and 
the 
Michigan hockey 
team gave the 
audience 
little 
reason 
to 
sit 
quietly in their 
seats in a 4-1 win 
over 
Michigan 
State on Monday 
night.
Blankenburg had just scored 
a goal, the third of the night for 
the Wolverines, in a highlight-
reel fashion. In the second period, 
Michigan drew a power play, and 
after an unsuccessful first shift, 
switched to their primary unit. 
Blankenburg got the puck at the 
blue line and slung a bullet high. 
And the top-shelf snipe rang off 
the post and into the net. 
Only a few stayed in their 
seats.
“We had timely scoring,” 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson 
said. “I give Michigan State a lot 
of credit. … They’re a tough team 
to play against when you get 
behind them. We were fortunate, 
again, to play with the lead.”
The Wolverines had built 
that 
lead 
much 
earlier 
in 
the game, going back to five 
minutes into the first period. 
Lockwood corralled the puck in 
the defensive and pushed down 
central ice. The line out on the 

ice was desperate for a change, 
but that’s not what Lockwood 
had in mind.
There were two Spartans in 
front of him — one to the left and 
one to his right. 
He beat both of them to the 
slot. He snapped his wrist, 
looking only at the net.
A strong start was what 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson had 
wished for before the game, and 
as it was, his wish was granted: 
Lockwood scored on his one-
man breakaway into traffic. 
Graduate transfer forward Jacob 
Hayhurst added 
to 
the 
early 
scoring with a 
power play goal 
from Lockwood 
and Slaker later 
in the first.
The 
start 
wasn’t 
without 
its 
caveats, 
however. 
A 
minute 
after 
Lockwood’s 
opening 
goal, 
the 
Spartans 
answered with a two-on-one 
rush.
Senior 
defenseman 
Griffin 
Luce 
was 
conducting 
the 
transition defense, but as he 
started to commit to the puck 
handler, Spartan Adam Goodsir, 
he failed to notice Goodsir’s pass 
to the open man, Dennis Cesana. 
Sophomore goaltender Strauss 
Mann had also committed on 
Goodsir and was unable to do 
anything to stop Cesana’s open-
net shot.
It was the only mistake of 
the night for Mann, though the 
second period gave him plenty of 
chances to make another. 
Michigan State had a game-
high 13 shots in the second and 
there were plenty of saves to be 
made, of all difficulties. Two 
point-blank shots in the crease 
forced Mann to make high-
degree saves. Minutes later, the 
Spartans had a Grade-A open 
shot, but Mann stuck out his stick 

at the last second to deflect it. 
The puck bounced off his helmet, 
and teetered the goal line before 
freshman forward Nolan Moyle 
cleared it.
“I don’t know how it stayed 
out, honestly,” Lockwood said. 
“He does that at practice day in 
and day out, so we’re kind of used 
to it at this point. But you see it live 
like that, it’s pretty spectacular.”
Mann 
had 
played 
what 
Pearson had called his best game 
of the second half of the season. 
But as stout as Michigan was 
defensively, it was equally so on 
offense. And they hammered 
that point home in the third 
period.
A minute into the frame, Luce 
stopped the puck at the point and 
shot. It was unclear if Lockwood 
was there willingly, to screen 
or to try and top the shot, but he 
did both anyways. He held the 
flat of his stick to face the twine, 
and as the puck reached his stick, 
the shot was redirected. The 
puck slowly slipped between the 
goaltender’s blockers and to the 
back of the net.
Lockwood 
skated 
to 
the 
side. He had already raised his 
stick with one hand, but with 
the other, he swung upwards, 
motioning for all to rise. But 
there was no need. Everyone was 
already up.

‘M’ goes 2-for-2 on power play in win

DETROIT — Dennis Cesana 
didn’t have an answer for the 
two power play goals his team 
allowed.
“I’m not sure they changed 
anything up too much,” the 
Michigan State defender said 
about the Wolverines’ power 
play. 
But Cesana was wrong. 
All week long in practice, 
Michigan ran power play drills 
and made adjustments as it saw 
fit. It moved players around to 
different positions with hopes 
of throwing off the Spartan 
penalty killers. Monday night, 
the Wolverines did just that on 
their way to a 4-1 win.
“I don’t think they really 
had a game plan for some of the 
things we were doing,” senior 
forward Will Lockwood said.
Michigan scored two power 
play goals — good for a 100 
percent conversion rate. Both 
came at pivotal moments in the 
game. The first gave Michigan 
the lead, the second separation. 
The 
first 
power 
play 
opportunity came with just 
under five minutes remaining 
in the first period and the 
Wolverines wasted no time in 
capitalizing. 

Senior forward Jake Slaker 
and Lockwood connected on a 
pass in between two Michigan 
State defensemen. Lockwood 
was in the right faceoff circle, 
all alone. He stick-handled 
twice before throwing a pass 
to graduate transfer forward 
Jacob Hayhurst.
Hayhurst turned his hips 
toward the goal when he saw 
the puck coming his way, 
positioning 
himself 
directly 
in front of Spartan goaltender 
John Lethemon. With a quick 
flick of his wrist, he beat 
Lethemon and 
broke the 1-1 
tie.
“The power 
play was good 
tonight,” 
Michigan 
coach 
Mel 
Pearson 
said. 
“Scoring 
the 
power 
play 
goal was big 
because 
they 
came right back. You know, 
we scored, they come back to 
make it 1-1. To get that next one 
again. To play with the lead is 
important, especially against 
good teams like this.”
While Hayhurst’s goal ended 
up being the game-winner, 
the Wolverines’ power play 
units weren’t satisfied yet. 
Ninety 
seconds 
into 
the 
second period, Michigan was 
presented with another man 
advantage opportunity.
This 
time, 
the 
goal 
came 
from 
the 
stick 
of 
sophomore defenseman Nick 
Blankenburg. At the blueline 
of his team’s offensive zone, 
freshman defenseman Cam 
York 
passed 
the 
puck 
to 
Blankenburg. With his head 
looking to the goal, he assessed 
his options. Lockwood and 
Slaker were drifting near the 
net, but rather than finding 
one of them, he passed back to 
York.

York took advantage of the 
few feet of open ice in front of 
him, drawing two Michigan 
State defenders to him. This 
movement freed up Blankenburg, 
still positioned at the blueline. 
When he received the second pass 
from York, he’d already made up 
his mind — he was shooting.
A second later the puck blew 
past Lethemon.
The Wolverines now had a 
two-goal lead, and it was all due 
to their special team’s success.
“The 
puck 
movement, 
I 
thought we moved it really 
well,” Lockwood 
said. “We did all 
practice this past 
week. So leading 
into 
these 
two 
games we were 
expecting 
to 
succeed, 
and 
I think we did 
well.”
After 
Friday, 
Michigan’s 
power 
play 
conversion sat at 17.8 percent. 
It’s not great, or even good. 
It’s average. But it’s strides 
ahead of where it was a few 
months ago. In a November 
series against Minnesota, the 
Wolverines went 0-for-9 on the 
man advantage. The success 
rate sat at just 17.6 percent.
But in this series against 
Michigan 
State, 
the 
power 
play found its footing. The 
adjustments Michigan made 
— which Pearson declined to go 
into specifics about — clearly 
worked. In Friday night’s game 
against the Spartans, the power 
play went 1-for-5, and Monday 
night it was perfect, going 2-for-
2. 
The Wolverines are becoming 
serious contenders for the Big 
Ten regular season title — 
something that a few months 
ago seemed out of the question. 
Building on their power play 
success is a key to getting 
there.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer

KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
The Michigan hockey team poses with the Iron D trophy after beating the Spartans.

We were 
fortunate, 
again, to play 
with the lead.

I thought we 
moved (the 
puck) really 
well.

