Film sessions are becoming increasingly more frustrating for Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson.

With a 14.1 percent success rate, his power-play unit is ranked 42nd in the nation and seventh in the conference. The Wolverines have converted just eight of their last 71 man-advantage opportunities.

Even when Michigan’s power play has clicked, its success has hinged too much on one player, with eight of 21 of its power play tallies coming from sophomore forward Louie Caporusso. No other Wolverine has scored more than twice on the power play.

Should the Wolverines’ current power-play statistics continue, they would be the lowest of any Michigan team this decade.

Berenson, in his 25th season at the helm in Ann Arbor, has to go back much further for a point of reference – and he still has trouble finding one.

“I can’t remember when our power play has struggled like this,” Berenson said. “We’ve had our issues before, because power plays get hot and cold. … That’s all it is. You can have good players and have a bad power play.”

Berenson analyzes the power play in four phases: offensive zone faceoffs, breaking out into transition, puck movement and creating traffic in front of the net. When evaluating the unit on film, Berenson says the Wolverines are lacking in every area.

Michigan has lost too many draws in the opponent’s zone only to have the other team ice the puck. When the Wolverines bring the puck up through the neutral zone, Berenson has noticed far too much dump-and-chase action, and opponents wind up beating Michigan to the loose pucks.

“I can’t tell you how many times Bowling Green and Miami just dumped it out,” Berenson said. “We had no retrieval. We had no real outworking or outnumbering the other team. ... We work on this in practice, but I can tell you, it’s been a real challenge for our players and our coaches.”

After last Friday’s shutout loss to Bowling Green, Berenson thought the Wolverines got “too cute” with the puck at times. Desperate for great scoring chances, Michigan tried zipping passes through heavy traffic, which caused loose pucks and turnovers.

The coaching staff is also searching for a consistent physical presence who can sit in front of the opposing team's net, block the goaltender's vision and score goals off deflections and rebounds. Senior Travis Turnbull, junior Brian Lebler and freshman David Wohlberg have all tried wreaking havoc around the crease, but Berenson said Michigan’s net-screening has found “limited success.”

Because power play success is streaky by nature, there’s no exact science to bringing a struggling unit out of a funk. In the past, the coaching staff has shown the players highlight films of all their power-play goals up to that point in a season. Showing the tapes is intended to have the players learn from recent success and maintain confidence.

The players don't believe the cold streak has rattled them, but they sometimes joke about escaping reality any way they can.

“For power plays, I don’t know if it takes your confidence down throughout the game,” sophomore forward Aaron Palushaj said. “When we get on a power play, some of the guys are like ... 'let’s play five-on-five.’ ”

As quick as he is to illustrate Michigan’s shortcomings on the man advantage, Berenson also stresses the importance of putting it in perspective.

“It’s not a success rate,” Berenson said. “It’s a failure rate. 75 percent of the time, the best power play in the world fails. So you’ve got to stay patient. You’ve got to stay positive and you’ve got to stay focused.”