For the second straight weekend, Michigan put on a Saturday night offensive clinic, this week a 6-0 victory, after having struggled in their Friday night weekend opener.
This weekend's victim, Rensselaer, dominated the game's first five minutes with their strong forechecking style.
Once Wolverine Kevin Lohan found a way to sneak the puck past Rensselaer goaltender Scott Diebold for the game's first goal at 7:23, the Michigan offensive onslaught kicked into gear.
Boo Nieves set up Alex Kile for Michigan's second goal on a power play at 14:50 and Nieves scored his first of two goals two minutes later to stake the Wolverines to a 3-0 first period lead.
Michigan coach Red Berenson pointed out post-game how important that first goal by Lohan became.
"It was important," said Berenson of the Lohan marker. "Regardless of the score, I was really impressed with that team (Rensselaer) and the way they played all weekend. They're hard to play against, and they don't give you much. It could have been a 1-0 game either way, so it was important that we got the first goal."
Nieves scored the second period's only goal on what was probably the prettiest Michigan goal of the season, to date. The junior forward picked up the puck in his own zone, accelerated quickly and maneuvered around every Rensselaer player in his path. Nieves jetted toward the Engineer's net where he beat Diebold with a nifty move.
Michigan scored two third period goals to wrap up the contest, a JT Compher beauty of his own and Tony Caldrone's first career goal. Tyler Motte nearly willed the goal for Calderone, waiting for just the right moment to make the clinching pass to set up the freshman forward.
"I thought we got better as the weekend went on, not only because we scored some goals, but we just played better," summarized Berenson. "We got out of our own zone more cleanly and started to play the right way. Last night, we were doing a lot of things wrong compared to the way we want to play and the way we can play, and today we took a step forward. We were better on faceoffs; we didn't give up as many shots or chances against. I thought they were the better team for the first three or four minutes of the game, and after that we started to play like us."
Zach Nagelvoort supplied the level of netminding that Berenson has been waiting patiently for him to provide through both games of the weekend, especially in Saturday night's shutout performance.
"Goaltending has to be a factor," said Berenson. Zach Nagelvoort didn't allow any bad goals or any good goals; there were no goals at all (tonight), and there's nothing like that to give your goaltender some confidence. He's had to go through some ups and downs this year, so it's good to see him going in the right direction."
Nagelvoort shared the shutout with senior goalie, who Michigan put in net for the game's final 4:41 as a reward for his hard work and unselfish manner as the consummate teammate.
Of Dwyer's cameo appearance, Berenson said, "It was good. Good for our team, and the good thing about our team is that they're more excited for Luke to go in than Luke was. Luke works hard every day. He's one of those guys who does everything right and cares about the team like it's his own family, and it's good to see them care about him."
Saturday's win allowed Michigan to post a winning record for the first time this season at 7-6-0.
This weekend's victim, Rensselaer, dominated the game's first five minutes with their strong forechecking style.
Once Wolverine Kevin Lohan found a way to sneak the puck past Rensselaer goaltender Scott Diebold for the game's first goal at 7:23, the Michigan offensive onslaught kicked into gear.
Boo Nieves set up Alex Kile for Michigan's second goal on a power play at 14:50 and Nieves scored his first of two goals two minutes later to stake the Wolverines to a 3-0 first period lead.
Michigan coach Red Berenson pointed out post-game how important that first goal by Lohan became.
"It was important," said Berenson of the Lohan marker. "Regardless of the score, I was really impressed with that team (Rensselaer) and the way they played all weekend. They're hard to play against, and they don't give you much. It could have been a 1-0 game either way, so it was important that we got the first goal."
Nieves scored the second period's only goal on what was probably the prettiest Michigan goal of the season, to date. The junior forward picked up the puck in his own zone, accelerated quickly and maneuvered around every Rensselaer player in his path. Nieves jetted toward the Engineer's net where he beat Diebold with a nifty move.
Michigan scored two third period goals to wrap up the contest, a JT Compher beauty of his own and Tony Caldrone's first career goal. Tyler Motte nearly willed the goal for Calderone, waiting for just the right moment to make the clinching pass to set up the freshman forward.
"I thought we got better as the weekend went on, not only because we scored some goals, but we just played better," summarized Berenson. "We got out of our own zone more cleanly and started to play the right way. Last night, we were doing a lot of things wrong compared to the way we want to play and the way we can play, and today we took a step forward. We were better on faceoffs; we didn't give up as many shots or chances against. I thought they were the better team for the first three or four minutes of the game, and after that we started to play like us."
Zach Nagelvoort supplied the level of netminding that Berenson has been waiting patiently for him to provide through both games of the weekend, especially in Saturday night's shutout performance.
"Goaltending has to be a factor," said Berenson. Zach Nagelvoort didn't allow any bad goals or any good goals; there were no goals at all (tonight), and there's nothing like that to give your goaltender some confidence. He's had to go through some ups and downs this year, so it's good to see him going in the right direction."
Nagelvoort shared the shutout with senior goalie, who Michigan put in net for the game's final 4:41 as a reward for his hard work and unselfish manner as the consummate teammate.
Of Dwyer's cameo appearance, Berenson said, "It was good. Good for our team, and the good thing about our team is that they're more excited for Luke to go in than Luke was. Luke works hard every day. He's one of those guys who does everything right and cares about the team like it's his own family, and it's good to see them care about him."
Saturday's win allowed Michigan to post a winning record for the first time this season at 7-6-0.
