Michigan on a similar path as last season with series splits

The No. 10 Michigan hockey team is three weekends into its season with just three wins to its name. The Wolverines are winning weekly, but never dominating. 

Michigan is still searching for its first series sweep of the season. While the Wolverines have dealt with roster turnover and spent the early weeks figuring out their line chemistry, the inability to finish out weekends is quickly becoming a trend. 

This inconsistency isn’t a new problem for Michigan, which started a similar way last season, splitting its first three series of the year as well. And again, since the first weekend of the season, winning a series is a barrier the Wolverines haven’t broken through this year. 

Michigan’s most recent series split came at the hands of No. 12 St. Cloud State. After spending the first two periods of Friday’s game neck-and-neck, the Wolverines finally ended the silence in the third period. Three different players found the back of the net in a game-clinching performance that could have set the tone for the weekend.

But when Saturday rolled around and Michigan hit the ice, the game’s story had a much different ending than the night before. 

While the Wolverines set up their offense to win in the final period Friday, Saturday they were unable to find that success once more. Michigan started its weekend shutting out the Huskies before receiving a shutout of its own on Saturday.

“It’s really hard to sweep in college hockey,” freshman forward Christian Humphreys said on Tuesday. “I thought we played well enough to win that game on Saturday, but their goalie was standing on their head. We just didn’t execute and didn’t put the puck in the net.”

The Wolverines are capable of converting their opportunities into goals, but they’ve tended to make it happen in only one game of a series. 

Michigan’s series against Arizona State the week prior showed the same pattern. After sophomore forward Garrett Schifsky added his second shorthanded goal of the season and a hat trick, the Wolverines went into Saturday with the opportunity to clinch their first weekend. But instead of repeating the overpowering performance, Michigan’s lead diminished in the final minutes of the game, ultimately leaving with a tie.

The Wolverines’ season-opening series showed the early signs of instability in the offensive performances. Rather than not being able to finish the series strong against No. 18 Minnesota State, Michigan had to fight to put a game in the win column. After dropping that first game 5-2, the Wolverines held on to an early lead in the first period before closing the second game out with two empty-net goals. 

Through its demanding non conference schedule, Michigan’s problem with sweeping programs might become a bigger issue. The Wolverines are showing they are capable of winning one game, but as No. 3 Boston University looms in two weeks, winning both won’t be any easier against harder competition.

“It’s the mentality throughout the week that you’re going to get better,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “It’s doing it then believing you can. We didn’t really do it early last year and (we were) snake bit for all those third periods. Then you can kind of find a way at the end, but you’ve got to build that belief.”

The Wolverines are struggling to find the consistency they need through these early tests. From a defensive shutout performance to then suddenly searching for offensive cohesion, Michigan is still finding different ways to win a game. But the Wolverines need to learn how to make one win into two.

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