Wolverines Tame Wildcats, Berenson Reaches Milestone

Friday, January 12, 2007
Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Michigan hockey team won their second straight game of the new year, playing their second straight solid game as they disposed of the visiting Wildcats from Northern Michigan by a five to two score. While the win was important for the hockey team it had the added benefit of being coach Red Berensons 600th win, all of them coming from behind the Michigan bench.

In the twenty-three years that he has led the Maize and Blue coach Berenson he has amassed a record of 600-286-63 (.665 winning percentage). Among active coaches he trails only Rick Comley (MSU, who recently passed 700 wins as a college coach), Jack Parker (Boston University), and Jerry York (Boston College). Jack Parker is the only other coach to garner his wins at the same University. While his record is impressive it is even more so when put in perspective with the other leading coaches. York is in his 35th year as a coach, while Parker and Comley are both in their 34th years as coaches. Given the fact that Berenson is only in his 23rd season as a college coach it is a testament to the strength of the program he has built at Michigan to be just over 100 wins behind those three coaches, while having ten plus fewer years behind the bench.

The Wolverines once again hit the ice flying in this game, putting pressure on the Wildcat goal early and often. With just over fifteen minutes left to play in the opening period that pressure would pay off with a goal. Michigan had moved the puck quickly through the neutral zone and into the Wildcat zone, when they half passed, half punched the puck toward the net. A quick pass out of a crowd on the left side of the net to the right, where a wide open Naurato finished things off by burying the puck in the net. Both Dest and Miller picked up assists on the score.

With the clock just a couple of ticks under ten minutes the Wolverines scored their second goal of the period in similar fashion to their first, just a little farther out in the zone than the first goal. The puck was along the left boards and the entire Northern team was pressing to the that side. A quick pass through the slot to the right found a wide open Ciraulo who banged it home for the score, his first point ever as a Wolverine. Kampfer and Dest each picked up an assist on the goal.

The first period would come to an end with Michigan holding a two to nothing lead. Each team finished the first twenty minutes of play with eleven shots on goal.

With about seventeen and half minutes to play in the second period the Wolverines added to their lead when they tipped a puck out of the air and into the net. Michigan had the puck in tight on the Northern goal when it popped up into the air. A stick quickly flashed in, hit the puck, directing it into the net for the goal. The goal was reviewed to insure that the stick was below the cross bar and was quickly ruled a goal. Credit for the score went to Miller, while assists went to Rohlfs and Naurato.

About twenty seconds later, with just over seventeen minutes to play, the Wolverines were whistled for a penalty, putting the Wildcats on the power play. Just twenty-eight seconds into the power play the Wolverines broke out, charged into the Wildcat zone, and buried the puck for a short handed goal. It all started with a battle for the puck along the boards at the Michigan blue line. Michigan was able to chip the puck out to central ice, where Hensick quickly jumped on it and raced into the Wildcat zone. At the last minute he slid a great pass across the ice to Porter who buried the puck for the score. Porter got the goal, while Hensick and Mitera each picked up assists.

With just five minutes left in the period the Wildcats would get the puck past Sauer on a weird little hop, to ruin any thoughts of back to back shut outs for Michigan. The Wildcats had the puck in the Michigan zone and sent a relatively soft looking shot to the far post. It looked like Sauer was over in time to scoop the puck up in his glove, but at the last second it appeared to glance off the glove and flutter into the net for the score.

The second period would come to an end with the Wolverines holding a four to one lead. Michigan out shot the Wildcats sixteen to fifteen in the period to end forty minutes of play with a twenty-seven to twenty-six advantage in shots on goal.

With just over fifteen minutes to play in the final period the Wildcats were whistled for a penalty, putting Michigan on the power. Just over thirty seconds into that power play the Wolverines would score their fifth goal of the game, using some great passes to setup the score. Hensick got things started by passing out of the Michigan zone to Porter at center ice. Porter then fed the puck to Cogliano at the Wildcat blue line, who carried the puck into the Wildcat zone, firing off a laser of a shot from the top of the circle that found the top corner of the net. Cogliano got credit for the goal, while Porter and Hensick each picked up an assist.

A few seconds later, with about fourteen and a half minutes to play, the Wolverines would find themselves in the sin bin and this time the Wildcats would find a way to make Michigan pay. With the clock just under thirteen minutes and another strange hop the puck found its way behind Sauer for the score. The Wildcats were in fairly tight on the Michigan goal trying to make something happen when the puck bounced straight up into the air. When it came down it looked like it landed on Sauers shoulder or upper arm before finally falling down his back and over the goal line for the score.

The game would come to an end with the Wolverines holding a five to two lead. The Wildcats out shot Michigan nine to four in the final period to end the game with a thirty-five to thirty-one advantage in shots on goal.

This is when things have tended to get unsettled for the Wolverines this season. They have just played two solid games against teams that they should have beat and they did. Tomorrow night they have to play game number two against one of those teams and to many times this year the Wolverines have dwelled more on what they have done in the previous nights game and not focused enough on what they need to do to win the current game. The mental focus of the Wolverines is probably all that stands between them and a sweep of the visiting Wildcats.