Jan. 7, 2010
By Christy Hammond, U-M Media Relations
At the start of the season, the University of Michigan ice hockey team set out with a goal to win the NCAA championship and finish in the top four in its own conference en route to completing that objective. With 18 returning players from last season's squad, which finished 20-8-0 in CCHA play to tie for second place, these goals seemed ambitious yet very realistic.
However, the Wolverines completed their first half of the 2009-10 season with an overall 10-10-0 record, going 5-7-0 in conference play. The team currently sits 10th in the CCHA. In reviewing the final conference standings over the past few seasons, the Maize and Blue needs to post a CCHA record in the neighborhood of 11-5 down the stretch if it wants to have a shot at fourth place.
Michigan's players and coaches certainly believe that the team can turn it around, get hot, and finish No. 4 in the CCHA, but it is going to take an optimistic attitude, a lot of hard work, and strong play in order to do so.
"If you look around the league right now, the fourth-place team [Alaska] has one more win than we do," captain Chris Summers pointed out. "So in this type of league, anything can happen, especially of late in the past two years. There are a lot of things that can happen for us and against us so we have to keep a positive mindset and just look towards the next game."
The Maize and Blue plays four of its next six games and eight of its final 17 contests at Yost Ice Arena, which gives the Wolverines a chance to use home ice and the Yost crowd to their advantage in the coming weeks.
"I think the pressure comes from ourselves," junior left wing Carl Hagelin explained. "We know we can be a better team than we've been so far, especially in the CCHA. I'd say in the last seven or eight games we actually felt a lot better. We've been dominating most of the games. We've just had some trouble scoring, like against RPI. We should see this as a new season, get on our roll now, and we should be fine to be one of the top four teams."
So what does the team need to do differently or continue to do in the second half of the season to finish in the top four in the CCHA and have a chance to qualify for its 20th straight NCAA Tournament?
Offense
The Maize and Blue has seen scoring from some unlikely players over the last couple of series. At the Great Lakes Invitational, freshman left wing Lindsay Sparks scored his first two career goals against Michigan Tech, while senior left wing Brian Lebler also contributed a pair of markers. Freshman right wing Kevin Lynch recorded his first career goal as well against the RPI Engineers.
In each of the past five seasons, Michigan has ranked among the top five in the country in goals per game. This season, the Wolverines are averaging 2.90 goals per game (30th nationally), which means the team can no longer outscore all of its problems. It is important for the Wolverines to get goal scoring from their top forwards but to also see offense from their depth players if they hope to rebound in the second half.
"I think we need that -- all four lines and the 'D' scoring goals and making plays," junior center Louie Caporusso said. "Especially this year, goals haven't been coming easy for our team, so anytime you can get production from anywhere it's great."
Hagelin has been the most consistent contributor on offense, leading the team with 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists) and is the only Wolverine to post at least one point in each of the 10 series of play.
Sophomore left wing David Wohlberg has seen a drop in offense due to some back troubles, which appear to be clearing up. A healthy Wohlberg, who was the CCHA Rookie of the Year last season with a 15-15-30 line, may be the difference-maker the Wolverines need heading into the second half of this season.
"The difference between our team and, let's say, the number one team in the country (Miami) is 18 goals," head coach Red Berenson said. "It's either 18 goals for or 18 goals against or a combination of the two and that's pretty much a goal a game. Wohlberg could help a lot in that department, like he could be a player that could make up a big part of the difference."
The Wolverines are 9-2-0 when they score first and 9-0-0 when ahead after the first period. This trend continued during the GLI over the holiday break when U-M trailed RPI 2-0 after the first period and eventually lost 4-3 in their first game of the tournament. In the third-place game, Michigan led 1-0 after the first 20 minutes of play against Michigan Tech and went on to win 5-3.
"I don't know, but I feel like every game we have to score that first goal or else we're not winning," Caporusso said. "It seems to be that way so far throughout this year. I don't know what it is, if it's luck or coincidence, but if scoring the first goal seems to be a trend we've got to start scoring again."
Defense
Coming into this season, the Wolverines' defense was seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey because of the unit's experience and skill. It is not necessarily that the blue line has played well below these projections, but the margin of error for this season's squad is pretty slim, thus any mistakes become more pronounced.
"We used to be able to outscore our problems or our mistakes," Berenson noted. "We can't do that this year. The message to the team is that we've got to go out and be a lot stingier defensively and we have to be more opportunistic when we get our chances."
Through 20 games, Michigan has allowed 2.40 goals per game, which ranks 11th-best in the country. When U-M can limit its opponent to two or fewer goals, the Wolverines own an 8-3-0 record. In CCHA play, U-M's defense is yielding 2.58 goals per game -- fifth in the league.
"It's kind of the same story all year," Summers explained, "just tighten up, make sure we're paying attention to detail, good communication with [Bryan] Hogan and stay positive. You get scored on, that's just part of the game. Just look to the next shift."
Goaltending
Berenson believes that goaltending will be the key for this team to succeed down the stretch.
"If we don't get solid goalkeeping then we're going to find ways to lose games," Berenson said. "For example, last year we went into the GLI and gave up one goal. Hogan gave up one goal in two games so we won the GLI easily. The year before, Billy Sauer gave up no goals and we won the GLI. This year, we gave up seven. Is it a goalie thing? Team thing? It's an every body thing. The team that won it this year gave up two goals and that's why you win. Our goals against have to come down."
Junior netminder Bryan Hogan has an overall goals-against average of 2.35, which puts him 21st out of 77 goalies across the country. His 2.51 GAA in conference play puts him in the middle of the pack of CCHA goalkeepers, while his .889 save percentage in conference play ranks 15th. With all this pressure riding on Hogan, what is Berenson's message to his goaltender?
"To stay focused," Berenson said. "He knows he can play well and he just has to be focused every time, every game. Every game is a huge game so he should be confident, but he's got to be focused."
If Hogan can return to the form he demonstrated in late November, the Wolverines should be good to go. Hogan posted a career-best shutout streak of 134:30 from Nov. 21-28, a span that included a shutout of Minnesota and a 39-save performance against Wisconsin for one of his premier games as a Wolverine.
Penalty Kill
Michigan's penalty kill ranks fourth in the country with an 89.0-percent success rate (97-109) and sits second in conference play at 89.7 percent, killing 61-of-68 penalties against fellow CCHA teams. A troubling statistic is that the Wolverines lead the CCHA in penalty minutes per game with a 19.5 average.
"I think our five-on-four has been very good," Summers explained. "It's the five-on-three that's kind of killing us (U-M has allowed six goals while down two skaters). We can be the best five-on-three killing team in the nation, but if we keep putting ourselves in that position where we're five-on-three for more than two minutes it's tough to stop them all."
The Maize and Blue has recorded 11 perfect games on the penalty kill through 20 contests thus far this season.
"I think we have a really good PK unit," Hagelin said. "We've improved on it over the last three years. This year, we started off really, really good but have just been unlucky in the last couple of games. Maybe one time we missed a blocked shot, a one-timer kind of late seeing, lazy to get back -- that's going to cause damage if you miss out on easy stuff."
Power Play
In CCHA play, U-M has recorded nine goals in 65 power-play opportunities for a 13.8-percent success rate. This stat is lower than the Wolverines' 17.5-percent success rate overall, which ranks 34th in the country, but indicates possible room for improvement with the man-advantage, particularly against conference competition.
The Wolverines have recorded a power-play goal in nine of the last 10 games for a 23.6-percent success rate, which shows the power-play unit is getting in sync. When examining Michigan's overall goal total, power-play scoring represents 34.5-percent of the goals scored.
"Well, the second half of the first half we picked it up," Caporusso said of the power play. "We looked at our 10-game segments and it went up. We're doing a lot better on the power play so we're heading in the right direction. I don't think we're at the point where we want to be yet, but if we keep working hard, not think too much, put pucks on the net and get those ugly goals, I think we'll get up there."
Conclusion
In what will be a key month for the Wolverines, Michigan looks to start its turnaround this weekend in its home-and-home series against Western Michigan, which is currently tied with Bowling Green for 11th in the CCHA.
"This month is huge," Hagelin admitted. "It's the beginning of what we want to call a new season. It's time to start winning games starting with WMU and we can't look too far ahead."
As cliché as it may sound, Michigan will focus on one game at a time because it cannot win two, three and four games all at once. A good game has to turn into a good weekend and then momentum can build.
"The biggest game of the year is Friday night at Western and then you worry about Saturday's game," Berenson explained. "You have a good weekend and then it's next weekend against Alaska and then Ferris State and so on. Can we win 10 in a row? Absolutely. We can go .500 too and we'd be pulling our hair out."
