It’s not often that a losing coach sounds happier with his team’s performance than does the winner of the game, but that’s how it was after Michigan beat New Hampshire, 2-1, to salvage a split on the weekend after the Wildcats beat the Wolverines 5-1 Friday night.
“It was a hard-fought weekend and obviously we had a real good second period last night, jumped on top of them, and scored a goal late in the first period,” said UNH’s Dick Umile. “They came out tonight real hard in the first period, but I thought our team battled back. I thought we had a really strong third period trailing two to one. Their goalie played well, our goalie played well. It was a hard-fought contest.
“We were happy with the way we competed on the weekend, especially the way we competed in the second half of this game.”
Michigan’s Red Berenson said that he and his coaching staff needed to show the Wolverines how they lost in last night’s home opener, and it wasn’t a pleasant endeavor.
“We had to really sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk and show them on the video,” said Berenson. “They were as embarrassed as we were for them. We can play better than we did last night. We proved it tonight.”
All of the scoring in tonight’s contest came in the second period, with two Michigan defensemen scoring two goals less than two minutes into the second, while one of New Hampshire’s leading returning scorers, senior Matt Willows, registered the sole goal for the Wildcats at 14:25.
After a scoreless first period in which the Wolverines dominated puck possession, sophomore Michael Downing opened the scoring for Michigan 28 seconds into the second on a rocket from the right point that beat UNH freshman goaltender Adam Clark clean. At 1:50, freshman Cutler Martin scored his first collegiate goal in his first collegiate game, a shot from the left point that found its way through big traffic in front of the crease and past a screened Clark.
Willows scored after the puck jumped Downing’s stick near the UNH blue line on a Michigan power play. The UNH forward flew into the Michigan zone with Downing trailing and beat junior goaltender Steve Racine on the glove side.
The third period saw UNH battle back, but the Wildcats were unable to beat Racine, who stopped 31 shots in the game, 16 alone in the third. Racine saw time in 13 games for the Wolverines last season with a 7-4-1 record in 12 decisions; Zach Nagelvoort, now a sophomore, emerged as Michigan’s starter in 2013-2014.
“He’s been chomping on the bit to get his chance,” said Berenson. “We started the year with Nagelvoort being our starter and it’s still early in the year, but Racine has been working hard in practice and he got his chance tonight and took advantage of it.”
Berenson said that the difference between last night’s loss and tonight’s win, the first of the season for the Wolverines, was “night and day.”
“You talk about the mental part of the game,” said Berenson, “and after being embarrassed last night, I think everybody in that locker room knew that they had to play better, they had to prepare better, they had to contribute in a team way rather than just in an individual way.
“I think everyone got caught up in this first home game business and we were in a lot of bad habits last night. I thought we just stuck to hard-nosed, hard-working hockey tonight and we got the breaks we needed.”
Both the Wildcats and the Wolverines are 1-2-0 on the season after the weekend split. Clark, who had 32 save in the contest, has been the goalie of record for UNH in all three contests.
Next weekend, Michigan travels east for more nonconference action against Hockey East opponents, taking on Massachusetts-Lowell Friday (Oct. 24) and Boston University the following night. The Wildcats are home for a single game against Colorado College next Saturday.
