Kornacki: Wolverines Search for Firepower
1/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Jan. 21, 2017
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Nobody expected the University of Michigan ice hockey team's offense to come close to what it accomplished last year.
The CCM Line of Kyle Connor, Tyler Motte and JT Compher was the nation's best on the top scoring team in the land. Connor, Motte, forward Cristoval "Boo" Nieves and defenseman Zach Werenski have gone from those Wolverines to play in the NHL this season. Though, only Werenski currently is up and thriving there.
Wolverine head coach Red Berenson took a realistic approach to this season, knowing what had been lost. He said his team would have to find ways to win low-scoring games, playing better defense and scoring timely goals.
However, Michigan is getting so little offense that even stand-on-your-head goalie play and strong defense might not be enough to win games.
The Wolverines (8-12-1, 1-6 Big Ten) had chances to win a defensive battle with Michigan State Friday night (Jan. 20) at Yost Ice Arena but got shut out for the third time this season, dropping a 3-0 game to an archrival they've dominated recently.
"We're not a tic-tac-toe team that can come at you like we did last year," said Berenson. "We're a team that has to get the puck in deep, and we didn't do it.
"You saw us turn it over, and each time we turned it over in the neutral zone, they went back in our zone and ended up scoring a goal. One of our players tried to go end to end in the third period, and they turned it over, and it ended up with a goal against."
Michigan had nothing to show for four power-play opportunities and has only one power-play goal in its last five games.
"The power play went flat in the third period," said Berenson, who had three extra-man opportunities in the final 20 minutes.
But the most frustrating sequence came early in the third period when, with a two-goal deficit, Will Lockwood missed a good opportunity out front. Cooper Marody got the rebound and had an open net to the right of goalie Ed Minney. However, his shot was well wide of its target.
"You can't have it on a platter better than that," Wolverine radio analyst Andrew Merrick told listeners.
Berenson said, "We had some pretty good chances and goals are precious -- goals for and goals against. And we're just on the wrong side of the goals against."
Senior Alex Kile took seven shots and came up scoreless.
And so, after getting swept at Minnesota last weekend, Michigan finds itself in a three-game funk with only four goals and is scoring 2.3 fewer goals per game than last season.
"I think we're better in practices than we are in the games," said Berenson. "So, you've got to do it in the games. The games happen a lot faster than in practice, and we're doing some good things in practice that didn't show up in the game tonight."
The Wolverines played without leading goal scorer Tony Calderone, who has an upper body injury, but the problems went beyond missing their best offensive threat.
"We're not playing well enough without the puck," said Berenson, "and we're not finishing our chances. I think we missed two open nets, and the puck wasn't going in for us.
"You've got to grow as the year goes on, and our young guys are supposed to be getting better at this time of the year, and we have seniors that need to have a sense of urgency. It's not just the young guys that are dropping the ball out there. So, yeah, it's a concern."
Left wing Max Shuart and defenseman Nolan De Jong, both seniors, were asked about the struggles.
"It's definitely tough getting shut out there tonight," said Shuart. "We need to regroup and get pucks on the net. It's been a focus that we haven't been doing, and we just have to keep working hard to unload and get pucks on net and see what happens."
De Jong said, "We're trying everything as much as we can. Honestly, we're a pretty frustrated group right now. We're putting the work in, but we're not executing and seeing the results."
There were games when the offense clicked. The Wolverines beat No. 4 Boston University, 4-0, with Calderone scoring twice, and freshmen Jake Slaker and Lockwood also finding the back of the net. And Michigan beat a good Wisconsin team, 4-0. But those games seem like mirages now.
What went well in those games that needs to be recaptured?
"For our forward group," said Shuart, "it's been really a game of momentum for us. When we get on them and get some bodies laid in the corners, we've been controlling play for stretches of games. But we have to be consistent for 60 minutes to find some success."
De Jong added, "We've got to do a better job of putting pucks on sticks, and coaches have been showing us video of when we do get physical down low it will turn into a shot a lot of times. We know what we have to do but haven't been able to have that consistency."
Michigan had won seven of the last nine games with the Spartans, beating them, 5-4, in overtime only three weeks ago in the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Calderone scored the winner in overtime.
But the Wolverines came out slow and couldn't match the Spartans (5-15-1, 1-6 Big Ten), who broke a nine-game losing streak and now host Michigan Saturday night (Jan. 21).
"We have to be better tomorrow night or it's going to be a tough weekend," said Berenson. "We've got to salvage the weekend now."
Kile and Dexter Dancs had combined to score seven goals against the Spartans in their careers but got nothing in this one. However, the beauty of the back-to-back weekend games is that potential redemption is only 24 hours away.
Michigan needs to find a way to win those close, defensive games Berenson predicted would be the norm this season. Its offense just doesn't have nearly the firepower this year to make comebacks or overwhelm opponents.
The Wolverines had eight players with 10-plus goals last season, when Connor and Motte led the way with 31 apiece. But the season is now two-thirds complete, and only Calderone has reached that plateau with exactly 10 goals. Freshman Lockwood (seven goals) is the only other one on pace to score 10 or more, and nobody else has more than five.
Michigan averaged 4.8 goals, 37.3 shots and 1.3 power-play goals per game last season. Those averages are down to 2.5 goals, 24.8 shots and .76 power play goals this season.
It's difficult to adjust to such a radical change in capabilities, but it's something these Wolverines must do to make a successful stretch run.
