Wolverines Back on Track

Earlier this season I wrote about what was wrong with the University of Michigan. Following a 4-3 loss at Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 27, the Wolverines were just 7-8-2 overall less than eight months after coming within an overtime goal of a national championship.

Fast forward almost two months from that game in Fairbanks, and whatever ailed the Wolverines seems to have been cured. A 4-1 win over Ohio State outdoors at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Sunday completed a weekend sweep of the rival Buckeyes and left U-M with an overall mark of 14-9-4 overall.

Since a split at Alaska, and prior to last night's 3-1 setback at Notre Dame, Michigan had gone 7-0-2, including yet another Great Lakes Invitational title in December in Detroit when they bested both Boston College and Michigan State in back-to-back contests.

The return of defenseman Jon Merrill from a semester-long suspension has helped. So has the formation of a forward line of NHL draft choices in senior David Wohlberg, freshman Alex Guptill, and junior Chris Brown, who have 25 points apiece this season to lead all Wolverine scorers. Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick has been steady in net, and is 14-8-3 this winter with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .926save percentage.

Michigan was also seventh in the nation in goals scored per game (3.44), and 11th in goals given up per outing (2.41). The Wolverines were also ranked seventh in NCAA Division I in the latest Pairwise Rankings, and should be in good shape to both compete for a CCHA crown and extend an NCAA Tournament streak that began back in 1991.

Break up the Buckeyes

Six straight wins and a road sweep of arch-rival Michigan later, Ohio State is 10-3-1 overall and 7-2-1 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, where the Buckeyes currently reside in first place.

OSU goaltender Cal Heeter keyed Friday night's 2-1 win at U-M's Yost Arena with 29 saves. Darik Angeli scored both goals for the Buckeyes, including the game-winner with just under 12 minutes remaining in regulation to break a 1-1 tie. Mac Bennett had Michigan's only goal, while Shawn Hunwick took the loss despite 31 saves.

The Buckeyes outlasted the host Wolverines, 6-5, on Saturday to complete the two-step sweep. Alex Lippincott and Ryan Dzingel each tallied two goals and two assists for the visitors, while Chris Crane scored one goal and set up two others. Heeter finished with 26 saves to improve to 9-1-1 on the season, and made Lipincott's goal early in the third period stand up as the game-winner when Michigan's Alex Guptill scored with 1:40 left.

Guptill scored twice for the Wolverines, while Mike Chiasson had a goal and two assists, and Hunwick (7-4-2) made 31 saves. Three of OSU's goals came on the power play, while Michigan struck twice with the man advantage, one night after the two teams went a combined 0-for-9 while skating a man up.

OSU's nine-game unbeaten streak began on Oct. 17 with a 2-2 tie against Alaska. Since then the Buckeyes have posted a win against Alaska, followed by sweeps of Alabama-Huntsville, Northern Michigan, and now U-M. Next up is Lake Superior on Dec. 2-3 in Columbus, where the Buckeyes are 4-1-1 so far this season.