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Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Wisconsin at Michigan Saturday Recap

By Eroc Wolverine

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Posted at 4:00pm — 3/1/2015

Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Wisconsin at Michigan Saturday Recap

Another sluggish start for Michigan made fans nervous on Saturday afternoon. But true to their record, Wisconsin folded under pressure in the third period as the Wolverines squeezed out a 5-2 win, scoring three times in the second half of the period to seal it.

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The Badgers came out as they did on Friday, bumping and banging Michigan. The Wolverines blinked first, coughing up an unforced turnover at their blueline which led to coverage confusion and eventually a rebound goal for the visitors. They took that lead to the dressing room- and short of some outstanding goaltending by Steve Racine, it could have been much more.

The second period saw more frustrated play by the Wolverines as they tried to solve the Wisconsin neutral zone trap. Wisconsin finally made their own error on a bad defensive pinch which led to an odd man rush by the Wolverines top line of Hyman, Larkin and Selman. The play appeared bogged down by the Wisconsin defenders in the Badger end as several players overskated a loose puck sitting in the right faceoff circle.

Selman swooped in though and lasered a shot over Badger netminder Joel Rumpel’s shoulder for the tie. Minutes later Michigan capitalized on their first of two PPG’s on the afternoon. A designed faceoff play resulted in a cross ice pass and one time shot across his body by Chicago Black Hawks draftee, JT Compher. The quick release beat Rumpel as he dove to his right to give the Wolverines the lead, 2-1. That lasted until the last :30 of the period when a controversial goal mouth scramble resulted in a long review and eventually a goal awarded to Wisconsin’s leading points maker, Grant Besse. Both teams skated off tied at 2 after 2 periods.

Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

That was a crossroads for the Wolverines- they could have come out sluggish again, but actually carried the play in the third period both physically and emotionally. They forced Rumpel to make several good saves before taking a penalty that cost them the game. On the ensuing powerplay, JT Compher entered the Badger zone with time running out on the PP and wristed a snapshot high and on the shortside over Rumpel’s shoulder for the lead with twelve minutes left.

Four minutes later, Dylan Larkin blew down the right wing and drew the Wisconsin defense to him before sliding a pass to a wide open Selman who had no trouble burying a shot into a half empty net. The Wolverines closed out the afternoon with Compher earning his first hat trick of his career, stealing the puck from a Badger defender and scoring into an empty net with two minutes left.

Racine had a terrific weekend, turning aside everything he saw on Friday and yielding 2 goals on 28 shots on Saturday. Compher added 4 goals on the weekend and Selman had two goals. Hyman earned two assists on Saturday and Larkin added an assist.

Yostmeister’s three stars on Saturday:

1. JT Compher
2. Steve Racine
3. Justin Selman

The Wolverines now close out the regular season with a two game road trip to Penn State next weekend and a home & home series with MSU in two weeks.
Michigan MUST win all four games to:

1. Secure their first B1G Ten regular season title
2. Keep pace in the running for a NCAA at-large berth

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    • As it stands today, Michigan is three points ahead of Minnesota, five points ahead of MSU and eight points on top of PSU for the B1G Ten lead. The Gophers will travel to OSU and host PSU to end the season. PSU- which just got swept at OSU, will be urgent to beat the Wolverines next weekend. The Spartans will face Wisconsin at home before the showdown with Michigan, first in East Lansing, then at Yost on Saturday- 5:05 PM in two weeks.

    The B1G Ten regular season title does not guarantee a bid to the NCAA tournament. The winner of the B1G Ten tournament will receive an autobid.

    Michigan sits tied for 15th in the PWR- a precarious spot considering the unpredictability of other conference tourney winners. Minnesota sits 11th. Both teams could fallout of the top 16 PWR IF they do not win the remainder of their games moving into the conference tournament.

    First though, Michigan MUST win next weekend at PSU- a program that knocked the Wolverines off three times last season including the first round B1G ten tournament game that ended the Wolverine’s season. They split a series 3-2 & 8-1 earlier this season at Yost arena.

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    Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Yostmeister

    Go Blue — Wear Maize!


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