MINNEAPOLIS — Just like with a box of chocolates, with the 2010 Michigan men’s hockey team, you never know what you’re going to get.

The eighth-ranked Wolverines have shown inconsistency on a nightly basis for the majority of the season, and the players feel the frustration.

“Mediocrity is not going to win you games,” senior center Matt Rust said on Sunday night. “We got out chances, we didn’t capitalize.”

After leaving Madison with a 4-4 tie with the unranked Badgers on Friday, the Wolverines dropped the final game of the 18th annual College Hockey Showcase, 3-1, to No. 15 Minnesota on Sunday.

Michigan (7-2-1-0 CCHA, 8-4-4 overall) has struggled to string two complete games together this season. Last weekend’s home matchup against Lake Superior State marked the Wolverines’ first series sweep since playing at Bowling Green on Oct. 8 and 9. In that month and a half between its two sweeps, Michigan couldn’t complete two consecutive victories. Before sweeping the Lakers at home, the Wolverines held a 1-3-1 record on Friday and were 5-0-2 on Saturday.

The Wolverine offense has shown flashes of brilliance this season, including their rout of Lake Superior State last Friday when Michigan scored a season-high seven goals and every forward — except freshman Jacob Fallon — tallied at least one point.

Michigan has proven it can light the lamps. The Wolverines feature a balanced scoring attack that has scored three or more goals in a period on five occasions.

But this weekend’s matchups against Wisconsin and Minnesota showed a snapshot of the team’s inconsistencies this season.

Until Friday, the Michigan power play hadn’t chipped in much help to the offense, ranking 32nd in the country with a 16.32-percent conversion rate. Heading into the matchup with Wisconsin, the Michigan power play hadn't scored in 18 consecutive opportunities and gave up a shorthanded goal to Alaska-Fairbanks.

The power play seemed to wake up in Friday night’s contest against Wisconsin. In that game, the Wolverines’ power play unit found some footing when Hagelin and sophomore forward Chris Brown converted two of Michigan’s five chances.

But Michigan was held to just one goal on Sunday against the Gophers, racking up just four power play shots in 13 total minutes with the man-advantage.

On Friday, Michigan spent the early part of the game in the driver’s seat, scoring two goals in two minutes to take the quick lead at the Kohl Center. But the Wolverines couldn’t keep the Badgers from mounting a comeback, despite the clutch play of senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick in the third period and overtime, making 11 saves in those two frames.

On Sunday, when the Wolverines let up three goals, they could only find an answer for one of them. Though Michigan held a 37 to 26 shot advantage on the Gophers, they couldn’t find a way to net one home.

“You know you’ve got to get one back,” Berenson said after Sunday’s loss. “I can’t tell you we changed our gameplan. We still got a lot of pucks at the net. But (Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas) wasn’t giving up rebounds, there were no loose pucks, there were no second shots. And that’s good defensive hockey on their part.”

Hagelin said the team lacked “desperation” in the Minnesota loss. Earlier this season after 4-2 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 22nd, Berenson said it was "conviction" that they lacked.

Call it what you like, but the team knows it needs to find a way to muscle out some wins, even if one phase of its game is having an off night.

The fact of the matter is that the Wolverines have too much top-tier talent to keep spinning 180 degrees from game to game.

“Overall, we didn’t come out flying the way we wanted to,” Hagelin said on Sunday. “We just didn’t have desperation, no intensity, we showed up maybe the last 10 minutes of the third and that’s not going to be enough against a team like Minnesota.”