Before last Christmas, then-junior forward Louie Caporusso had just seven goals and was nowhere near the torrential 24-goal pace of his sophomore season. But in the last 15 games of the season, Caporusso altered his game mentality to a “keep it simple, shoot more” philosophy. And with the modification came results: 14 goals, 8 assists to be exact.

This season, the No. 6 Michigan hockey team's power play, which is converting at a 21-percent rate, could take a page out of the former Hobey Baker finalist’s book.

While converting one in five opportunities is certainly respectable, with the Wolverines’ depth and senior leadership in Caporusso, Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust, there’s no question Michigan (3-0-1-0 CCHA, 4-1-3 overall) should be seeing better results with the man advantage.

“We’ve turned it over way too often,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said after Tuesday’s practice. “Certain players have been guilty of that, and we’ve got to change that. … We know these teams are good defensively — we saw it with (Nebraska-Omaha), we saw it with Ferris (State) — these teams aren’t going to give you time to look around and decide what you’re going to do with the puck.

“You’ve got to do it quick, you’ve got to move it and you’ve got to know what you’re doing with it.”

And as Berenson said, it starts with not holding onto the puck for too long and knowing where the four other players are on the ice, followed by tape-to-tape passes, according to Hagelin.

“You can see the difference when we make good passes or not,” Hagelin said. “If you make a few good passes, the other team is going to start running around. If you make a bad pass, the puck is out (of the zone) right away. So, (we're) just making sure that we’re making the right plays and more patient with the puck this weekend.”

Hagelin added that, in practice this week, Berenson has the players executing more of an overload style of power play before the Wolverines' two-game road series at Alaska (2-1-1-1, 5-2-1) starting Friday. An overload style means the team attempts to work the puck off the end boards, as opposed to an umbrella-type strategy, in which various plays are generally executed from the top of the offensive zone.

But along with a few technical adjustments, there is definitely a need to shoot the puck more. Through the first month of the season, the Wolverines have accumulated just 49 shots on 42 power plays.

And for Michigan to create more grade-A scoring opportunities this weekend, it will need to pepper Fairbanks’ netminder Scott Greenham and future goalies with all the rubber they can handle.

A certain aspect of the power play is luck and getting a favorable bounce here and there. But at the same time, Hagelin admitted that with a little persistence and hard work, the goals are going to come and the puck is going to bounce their way eventually.

Said Caporusso, “Sometimes you get bounces and people will be like, ‘Oh, you have a sweet power play,' but really you’re just getting lucky ... It’s a lot of luck actually, when you think about it. The Pittsburgh Penguins last year had some of the most talented guys in the world and the worst power play in the NHL, so go figure that one out.”