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Michigan Hockey Is Starting To Play Like A Champion

The Michigan hockey team (16-3-4) treated U-M fans to a perfect day in New York Saturday, beating Penn State 6-3 to give the Wolverines victories on the hard court and on the ice in the inaugural Big Ten Super Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

“Michigan has a lot of pride and to see our basketball team win in the morning and then for us to win in the afternoon, Coach [Red] Berenson said we’re headed back with the basketball team so it will be a happy plane ride for everyone,” said senior center Justin Selman, who netted the game-winner.

The Maize and Blue followed the same tried and true formula to success that has Michigan 11-1-3 in its last 15 games (and earned U-M a 7-4 win at Penn State on Thursday), relying on a relentless offensive attack that has scored 87 goals during this stretch, averaging 5.80 goals per game.

With the nation’s top offense (5.00 goals per contest), U-M is never down and out even when it plays poorly for long stretches of a game, like it did Saturday in falling behind 3-2 after 40 minutes.

The Wolverines scored early in the third, at 2:19, to tie it at 3-3, and hit the back of the net three more times in the period to the dismay of the partly partisan Penn State crowd (it was a home game for the Nittany Lions but there were probably 3,500-4,000 Michigan fans in attendance).

“We regrouped,” said senior center Boo Nieves, who tallied the game-tying goal off a nifty pass from sophomore defenseman Sam Piazza. “We had been in this position before, where we trailed, and we definitely had a lot of game left and we had a lot left in the tank.

“We’ve shown it throughout the year that we can be resilient.”

Boo Nieves had the game-tying goal in Saturday's 6-3 win.
Boo Nieves had the game-tying goal in Saturday's 6-3 win.

Relatively quiet for most of the game, save junior center J.T. Compher’s shorthanded goal in the second period, U-M’s top line finished off the Blue and White with a perfect tic-tac-toe combination, freshman Kyle Connor extending his point streak to 13 games with an assist, Compher making the play to junior classmate Tyler Motte, who buried his team-leading 21st goal of the season (he later added No. 22 on an empty net).

But it was really the story of Michigan’s other three lines, the second line featuring Nieves, junior Alex Kile and sophomore Dexter Dancs recording to two goals, and Selman jumpstarting the third line by his move to center.

“I thought Selman had a great game,” Berenson said. “He hasn’t played center all year but I needed some experience with that third line and he made the line better, and then he ended up scoring a big goal.”

Everyone had a hand in this one, including senior goalie Steve Racine, who had 33 saves in earning his 11th victory of the year.

With the win, Michigan has slid up to fourth in the Pairwise Rankings (if the season ended today, U-M would be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament) and into a share for first place in the Big Ten with Minnesota (both at 24 points).

With just five of 11 games remaining against teams in the top 30 of the Pairwise Rankings – two at No. 17 Minnesota, two at home against No. 18 Penn State and one at home against No. 30 Ferris State – and the Wolverines playing well, Michigan finds itself no longer asking if this is an NCAA Tournament season but if this might just be a championship team.

“I think we’re just proving that we’re maybe … I explained to our team a month ago there are teams with only one or two or three losses, and if we can be a one of those teams, we could be a special team,” Berenson said.

“Our team is finding a way.

“Like the boys said, they have some confidence, some momentum, and now we’re getting contributions from other guys.”

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