Posterize.

The emotions that this sports verb encompasses run the gamut.
For the receiving object, the posterizee, there are feelings of
pain, loss, subservience and unadulterated embarrassment. For the
acting subject, the posterizer, there are sensations of
gratification, victory and sheer dominance. Saturday at Yost Ice
Arena during Michigan’s 7-0 thumping of Western Michigan,
Michigan center T.J. Hensick enjoyed the latter as posterizer on
many different occasions. Although the freshman phenom, who earned
the game’s first star, repeatedly humiliated the Bronco
defense, one first-period play stood above the rest.

Senior captain Andy Burnes punched a pass through to Hensick on
the right side of the Western Michigan blueline. Quickly met by the
Bronco defense, Hensick retreated toward center ice. But Hensick
recognized an opening and reversed skate, scooting up the right
side of the ice toward Western Michigan’s net. Hensick had
one defender to beat. But the defender, assistant captain Mike
Jarmuth, was no slouch. Jarmuth — the lone senior defenseman
in the Broncos’ lineup — was named Western
Michigan’s most valuable defenseman in 2002-03. Face-to-face
with Jarmuth, Hensick swiftly maneuvered the puck under
Jarmuth’s stick and juked his way around the 6-foot,
203-pound roadblock. In the clear, Hensick deked Bronco goaltender
Scott Foster into bewilderment and slipped the puck through the
five-hole. The goal came with just over four minutes left in the
first period and served as the Bronco dagger.

“I think my instincts just took over,” said Hensick,
who totaled two goals and two assists on the night.
“It’s just one of those plays that you don’t see
too often because the defensemen are so skilled and they take a
body. But I made a move and luckily got around him, and it was me
and the goalie, and I found a little hole between the goalie's pads
and it went in.

“It brought a big smile to my face.”

Hensick’s individual brilliance capped off a period that
included a one-time goal by sophomore Brandon Kaleniecki and a
breakaway score courtesy of freshman Mike Brown.

“It was a good start,” Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. “They’re a good team, and I thought we kept them
on their heels. You didn’t want the period to end because you
knew that they would regroup.”

Michigan (10-4-1 CCHA, 16-7-1 overall) continued its offensive
onslaught in the second period, tallying three more goals.
Kaleniecki notched his second goal in the period’s third
minute, burning Foster with a high slapper from the top of the left
faceoff circle. Halfway through the period, Brown converted another
breakaway chance, beating Foster stick-side with a post-deke
backhand. Sophomore Andrew Ebbett finished the period with an
impressive individual effort as he skated across the crease and
chipped a backhand into the left side of the net.

In the third period, Hensick added Michigan’s last goal on
the powerplay, but the story of the period was a 10-player
tussle.

With just over a minute left in the game, a weekend of emotions
flared and a brawl of WWE proportions ensued. Referees handed out
16 penalties and ejected four players, including Michael Woodford
Jr. and Brown from Michigan.

On Friday, Michigan traveled to Kalamazoo and defeated the
Broncos 4-1. Down 1-0 entering the third period, Western Michigan
(9-8-2, 13-10-3) scored its only goal of the weekend. Vince
Bellissimo shot a heavy wrister that Michigan goalie Al Montoya
redirected with his right leg. Thinking he had possession of the
puck, Montoya sat out of position and left the net wide open for a
Brent Walton slapper from the left faceoff circle. The fluke goal
was Montoya’s lone blemish on the weekend, as he stopped 51
of Western Michigan’s 52 shots over both games.

“Originally it got deflected,” said Montoya of
Bellissimo’s shot. “It hit my knee, so I felt it, so I
thought it was underneath me.”

Michigan retook the lead with a controversial goal less than two
minutes later. With a defender draped all over him, Eric Nystrom
crashed to the net, and ran into Foster. Freshman Jason Dest
quickly recognized the open net and fired a shot inside the left
post just before the goal was dismounted from its pegs. The home
crowd wanted an interference call on Nystrom.

“I like to drive the net,” Nystrom said. “I
was taking my ‘D’-man with me and I kind of got twisted
around and, incidentally, I made contact with the goalie. I just
kind of tangled into him.”