BOWLING GREEN — Heading on the road for the first time this season, the Michigan hockey team felt a great sense of urgency. After a lackluster tie to unranked Mercyhurst to open the season, the fourth-ranked Wolverines needed just one win to give coach Red Berenson 700 in his career — and to start their 2010 CCHA season out on the right note.

With a weekend sweep of Bowling Green, Michigan (2-0-0 CCHA, 2-0-1 overall) accomplished both feats — but it wasn’t pretty, or easy.

The Wolverines took game one on Friday, 4-1, and game two on Saturday, 4-2, but Berenson wouldn’t dwell on his personal accomplishment. Instead, he chose to focus on the team’s series sweep and the adjustments it needs to make heading into the rest of the conference season.

Penalties remained an area of concern for Michigan this weekend. The Wolverines compiled a total of 62 minutes in penalties over both games — including two checking from behind and game misconduct calls that led to the ejections of senior left wing Scooter Vaughn and freshman defenseman Mac Bennett on Saturday.

But Michigan made up for its time in the box with offense. The Wolverines out-shot Bowling Green 53 to 36 on the weekend.

"If you win the first game on the road you know the second game is going to be tougher and it was,” Berenson said after Saturday's game. “We were fortunate to get the lead in the first period, but Bowling Green battled back and they were always in the game. You never felt like you were safe, even with a two-goal lead.”

On Saturday, junior left wing David Wohlberg scored his second goal of the season and the series to put the Wolverines up 1-0 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first period.

Freshman defenseman Jon Merrill added a power play goal three minutes later and junior defenseman Brandon Burlon netted Michigan’s third goal of the night as the Wolverines looked unstoppable in the first period.

"Obviously, taking the crowd out of the game I think is important,” Berenson said. “We're on the road and you don't want to play from behind. We were fortunate to get the lead, so I thought that was a big advantage. We played the whole game pretty much with the lead."

While Michigan would never relinquish its one-goal advantage Saturday, 25 penalty minutes in the second period alone put the Wolverine penalty kill in overdrive. Senior center Louie Caporusso found himself called to play on the penalty kill for the first time in his Michigan career this weekend and didn’t miss his opportunity to impress, as he scored a shorthanded goal five minutes into the second period.

Caporusso’s responsibilities increased when senior center Matt Rust — a crucial member of Michigan’s top line and penalty-kill unit — went down with an undisclosed injury on Saturday.

But the Wolverines didn’t miss a beat. Senior netminder Bryan Hogan — the starter in Saturday’s contest — came up big for the Wolverines, making 16 saves to get the win.

His counterpart, senior goalie Shawn Hunwick, got the nod in Friday’s game and didn’t disappoint either. Hunwick made 17 saves to grab Michigan’s first win of the season against the Falcons (0-2-0 CCHA, 0-2-0 overall).

In Friday’s matchup, the Wolverines found themselves down 1-0 after eight minutes in the first period, when Bowling Green made good on a power play. But Michigan responded less than two minutes later with a power play goal of its own when Rust scored on the give-and-go from senior forward Carl Hagelin.

Wohlberg added his name to the stat sheet just over one minute later when he split the Falcon defenders and scored blocker-side to put Michigan up 2-1 heading into the second period.

“We started off strong,” Rust said after Friday’s game. “Our first four or five shifts, we matched their intensity. We knew that they were going to come out strong and hit. It’s always that way. This rink transitions really, really fast and you’ve got to get ready for the physical game.”

Sophomore right wing Kevin Lynch added a power play goal just 52 seconds into the second period to give Hunwick a comfortable two-goal lead.

“Lynch’s goal was huge,” Berenson said.