GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- Honors Hockey Seniors -- Awaits CCHA Tournament Second Round Foe

Posted at 4:00pm — 3/2/2012

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — Honors Hockey Seniors — Awaits CCHA Tournament Second Round Foe

The Wolverine Icers have completed their regular season and have earned a first round bye this weekend. They completed the season last weekend splitting at Bowling Green, losing Friday 4-3 and rebounding for a tense 3-0 victory on Saturday. The #6 Wolverines (21-11-4) blew a 3-2 lead on Friday enroute to only their second loss of the season while leading after 40 minutes. The loss, combined with a shootout loss by Ferris State, secured the Bulldogs second regular season CCHA title in their history. The Wolverines responded with a three goal third period on Saturday to spoil the Falcon’s Senior Night and secure 2nd place in the CCHA. WMU completed their sweep of the Bulldogs and finished third, while Miami and MSU rounded out the top five teams- securing a first round playoff bye.

#6 ranked Michigan now awaits the first round games this weekend and will face the second lowest seed remaining at Yost arena next weekend. The first round match-ups feature 6th seeded NMU hosting 11th seeded BGSU; 7th seeded LSSU will host the 10th seeded Alaska Nanooks; 8th seeded Notre Dame will host the 9th seeded Buckeyes. All series are best of three. The only second round series that is confirmed is the MSU/Miami match-up which will take place in Oxford. Miami is the hottest CCHA team right now, winning their final six games.

The Wolverines currently are 3rd in the PWR behind #1 Minnesota-Duluth and #2 Boston College and would qualify as a top seed at (most likely) one of the two western regionals (either Minneapolis or Green Bay). #4 Ferris State would take the other top seed and would be shipped most likely to an eastern regional (Worcester, Ma. or Bridgeport, Cn.) Much has to be settled, though, before this is finalized including the at-large spots in the tournament as well as the auto bids as determined by the conference championships. Both the WCHA and the Hockey East Association have yet to complete their regular season, so the PWR is still dynamic.

Michigan concluded the regular season as the 10th offensive team in the nation at 3.33 gpg. They surrendered a 2.19 gpg average (8th) in the nation. The power-play still is an inconsistent work in progress and only converted 16.4% of their chances (42nd.) The penalty kill is much improved, though, climbing to 10th nationally at 84.4%. The team averages 13.33 PIM’s per game which ranks them 28th out of the 58 teams in Division I hockey.

**HONORING THE SENIORS **

Michigan fans will bid farewell to four key seniors who will play in their final home series during the 2nd round of the CCHA tournament. Here is a brief summary of their accomplishments:

GREG PATERYN

The physical defenseman was probably the team’s steadiest blue-liner and was on the ice for all crucial situations this season. The Montreal Canadiens draft choice is 6th in power play points (6) and team assists (13). Pateryn also is fourth in +/- with a +15, but also has the dubious honor of racking up the second most penalty minutes (63) and shares the team high in a single game penalty minutes total (19) in a February home battle with Miami.

The Sterling Heights, Michigan native only needs three points during the playoffs to set a career high and also tied last season’s +15. He will graduate with a degree in Movement Science from the School of Kinesiology.

LUKE GLENDENING

The Captain was a walk -on from East Grand Rapids (Mi.) High School and The Hotchkiss School (Conn.) and was awarded a scholarship during his freshman season. He was given an alternate Captain designation as a sophomore, a co-captain designation as a junior and finally the ‘C’ as a senior. Luke scored the lone hat trick of his career this season against St. Lawrence and is tied for his career hgh in goals (8). Glendening is a tireless worker and a relentless penalty killer. He epitomizes the spirit of a Michigan Man and will graduate with a Political Science degree from the College of LS&A.

DAVID WOHLBERG

The South Lyon, Mi. native and New Jersey Devil draftee is a steady points maker, centering the top line with Chris Brown and Alex Guptill. Wohlberg is second in scoring (30 points) and has tallied six goals in the last eight games, including the GWG this past Saturday night. His honors this season include being the CCHA POTW (1/9/12) and being named as a GLI All Tournament Team Forward. “Wohly” enjoyed a four point night against St. Lawrence on 10/13/11 and only needs one more point to set a career high and two goals to tie his career high in markers. Wohlberg toiled with the USNDT prior to joining the Wolverines and is finishing his degree in General Studies as part of the College of LS&A.

SHAWN HUNWICK

Perhaps the most valuable player on the team, the undrafted Hunwick went from second string back-up as a sophomore (where he did not see any playing time thus allowing a fifth season) to taking the Wolverines to the National Championship game as a fourth year junior in 2010-11. The Sterling Heights, Mi. native followed in the footsteps of his NHL defenseman and former U-M Captain (brother) Matt to Michigan after entertaining an offer to play for Division III power, Adrian.

As a third year sophomore, Hunwick led the Wolverines to a miracle run in the CCHA tournament to preserve a 20 year string of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Michigan had to win a first round home series followed by a second round road series over MSU. Hunwick then led the Wolverines to the title and the auto-bid with victories over #1 seed Miami and NMU. He was named the CCHA tournament MVP (first time a U-M goaltender earned that honor) and was named to the all-tournament team. Hunwick then led Michigan to a victory over Bemidji State in the NCAA Midwest regional before succumbing in 2OT to Miami in the regional final.

As a fourth year junior, Hunwick led the Wolverines to the GLI Title, the CCHA regular season title and to the semi-finals of the CCHA tournament. He also helped the team win the West regional by defeating UNO in OT and CC. “Hunny” was named to the all regional team and was selected as the regional’s Most Outstanding player. He was the #1 star in the national semi-final game, shutting out powerful North Dakota, 2-0 in the process of making 40 saves. He made 35 of 38 saves in a devastating 3-2 OT loss to Minnesota Duluth in the national championship game. He led the CCHA in GAA (1.95) in conference play and set a personal best with 22 wins while sharing time with Bryan Hogan. Hunwick set a personal best record of shutting out opponents with 110:40 of scoreless hockey from 3/25-26/2011 against UNO and CC.

This season, Hunwick is 21-10-3 with a 2.04 GAA and a .932 save %. He has five shutouts in 35 games. He made a season/career high 46 saves against OSU on 1/13/12. Hunwick was named the HCA National Player Of The Month (January) and well as being named CCHA POTW on three separate occasions: 10/9/11, 1/16/12 and 2/5/12. Hunwick was also named CCHA POTM in October and January.
Shawn is a Hobey Baker candidate and ranks 10th in the nation in GAA and 5th in the CCHA. Hunwick is 4th nationally in save % and is tied for 3rd in shutouts nationally and 11th in winning %. Hunwick has 10 career shutouts and will finish his career with over 5,000 career minutes in net for Michigan as well as being their all time leader in save % and GAA.

Hunwick will graduate with a degree in History from the College of LS&A.

Congratulations to our senior leaders- GBMWolverine wishes all of you the best in your future endeavors. The senior class of 2012 has won three GLI championships, one regular season CCHA title and one CCHA tournament championship. They have finished as the CCHA regular season runner-up twice and qualified for the NCAA playoffs in 2008-09, 2009-10 (quarterfinals) and 2010-11 (Frozen Four/National Championship runner-up.) At a minimum they will extend Michigan’s NCAA leading 22nd consecutive appearance in the 2012 NCAA tournament and will again challenge for a CCHA tournament championship.

Thank you gentlemen, good luck in the playoffs and Go Blue!

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

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