Kornacki: Nieves, Selman Reunite, Ignite against Penn State
3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
March 12, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team got its groove back in a crucial game to assure no worse than second place and keep their hopes of a Big Ten regular-season championship alive.
Their resounding 7-1 victory Friday night (March 11) over Penn State assured a first-round bye for Michigan in next week's Big Ten Tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota. And with first-place Minnesota losing to Wisconsin, the Golden Gophers are one point ahead with one game remaining Saturday night (March 12).
The finale at Yost Ice Arena will be Senior Night, but the No. 9 Wolverines' three seniors got a jump on that Friday night.
Goalie Steve Racine rebounded from a tough two games with Ohio State last weekend to stop 35 of 36 shots -- including a great glove save of Nittany Lions forward Tommy Olczyk and another in the final seconds of the second period.
Senior forwards Justin Selman and Cristoval 'Boo' Nieves were reunited on the same line by Coach Red Berenson after they were split up six weeks ago for becoming stagnant. They came to life to combine for three goals in the third period, turning a tight game into a rout.
"That was good for them," said Berenson. "It's a big weekend for them. We haven't talked about it all week. We're not talking about Senior Night or senior this or senior that. We just need our team to show up and really play well, hoping and expecting that our seniors are going to be a big part of it. And they were tonight -- so, good for them.
"Selman and Boo have played together most of the year, and I thought Selman (a center) played really well at Ohio in a losing cause. We put him back on that line (with left wing Nieves and right wing Alex Kile), and they were effective."
The senior duo ended long scoring droughts.
Selman had played seven consecutive games without a goal and had not scored at Yost since Dec. 5. But he scored a pair to push his total to 12 for the season. The first came on a power play and the second while Michigan was shorthanded.
Nieves had gone nine straight games without a goal, and his last at Yost was on Dec. 11. But he tapped in a goal on a nice feed from Kile.
"We started off the year together," said Nieves, "and our chemistry off the ice translates to our chemistry on the ice. We play really well with each other and read each other, and A.K. (Kile) obviously fills in the missing pieces.
"Coach doesn't want to make it about the seniors, and neither do we. But it was definitely nice to have Selman back on our line and get the win tonight."
They hadn't played on the same line since a Jan. 28 win at Penn State.
"We've been trying to do a good job of eliminating senior weekend as a distraction," said Selman. "I think internally we know how special the weekend is, and tomorrow, after the game, I think it will really sink in. But we've got to treat it as any other Big Ten weekend and finish this team off and send a message going into the Big Ten Tournament."
It was 2-1 Friday night headed into the final 20 minutes, but Michigan dialed up its third-period dominance to pull away with five goals.
Kyle Connor put Michigan in control by scoring his second of the game just 30 seconds into the third period to give him 28 on the season and increase his lead in the national scoring race with 59 points -- the most ever by a freshman in Berenson's 32 seasons as coach.
Selman joked that taking Connor to get his blond hair styled with a trendy European-style cut contributed to the big night.
"Look at his haircut," said Selman, drawing laughs from reporters at their press conference.
Connor chuckled and said the haircut had nothing to do with his scoring.
"We went last night," added Selman, "and took him to this special barber. It worked for him, too, with two goals tonight."
Connor said other than barber tips, Selman and Nieves have taught him plenty "about how to act off the ice and how to be professional" with a consistent work ethic.
The press conference trio scored all but one of the five goals Michigan tallied in the final period to put the game away.
The Wolverines have a 68-23 scoring edge in third periods.
"I think we've always been a pretty good third-period team," said Selman. "We knew it was a close game, and we just decided to come together a little and put our foot on the pedal and go to work. I think we just buried our chances, which was good.
"We talked this week about playing Dickie Moore hockey, working hard, kind of like playoff-style hockey, and I think we started to do that today."
Moore, a Hockey Hall of Fame left wing whom Berenson played with briefly on both the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues, was a high-scoring player who was so tough he once played the second half of the season with a broken wrist in a cast.
"We had something to prove after last weekend," said Berenson. "That was part of it. The other part is, this is a conference game that wouldn't put us in first place but at least a bye position for our upcoming Big Ten playoffs, and that was important. So, we're in a better position, and our team earned it."
The Wolverines didn't use tired legs as an alibi for losing the tournament championship game last year to Minnesota without a bye. However, Michigan had to win twice, while the Gophers needed only one win to reach the finals, which they won, 4-2, by scoring the only goals in the third period with one even-strength and one empty-net goal.
Both Minnesota and the Wolverines will play a lower-seeded survivor in Friday (March 18) semifinal games at Xcel Energy Center, home of the NHL's Minnesota Wild.
"I mean, we could be playing this team next Friday," Berenson said of third-place Penn State, which will play sixth-place Wisconsin Thursday night (March 17). The winner of that game plays the second-place team in the semifinals.
But for now, the Wolverines are concerned only about beating Penn State for the fourth time this season to win both games against a Big Ten team in a weekend series for the first time since beating the Nittany Lions Jan. 28 and 30.
Selman said junior captain JT Compher had a short talk with his teammates after Friday night's game about closing out the series the right way.
"Going into this tournament stretch we've got to close out weekends to keep moving on and furthering our chances at a national championship and even the Big Ten championship," said Selman. "So, tomorrow night's a really good test for us."
It will be Senior Night and so much more.
• Third-Period Goal Rush Helps U-M to Big Win over Penn State
