SAULT STE. MARIE — Junior Louie Caporusso smiled widely as he pumped his fist in celebration. His new linemates, junior Carl Hagelin and freshman Chris Brown, and defensemen Lee Moffie and Steve Kampfer surrounded him as the red light behind the net illuminated.

Caporusso had scored his first goal of the season. And the Michigan offense had come alive.

It was the third goal of Friday's 5-1 win against Lake Superior State, but it represented much more for a fifth-ranked Wolverine team that had been previously underachieving on offense. The team’s most dangerous weapon was dormant during the season's first four games.

“You start telling yourself things that aren't true and worse things creep into your head, and you wonder if you're ever going to score again,” Caporusso said. “When I did score, I felt like a little kid again. It was like my first goal in house league.”

Caporusso and the Wolverines’ offensive momentum carried into Saturday, during Michigan’s 6-3 win at Taffy Abel Arena. Everyone was on the attack — eight different Wolverines scored in the opening weekend of CCHA play. Fifteen players tallied at least one point over the weekend.

“It’s good to see some balanced scoring,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said Friday. “Even though it’s a different lineup, we still had the same cast of characters who were playing well. And for our fourth line to score two goals, that’s a bonus.”

On Friday, Michigan (4-2-0 overall, 2-0-0 CCHA) attacked the crease and scored three rebound goals including Caporusso's. Junior Scooter Vaughan and sophomore Luke Glendening also scored their first goals of the season.

Saturday featured the same prolific scoring attack.

The Lakers (4-4-0, 1-3-0) matched the Wolverines’ aggressiveness out of the gate. But despite outshooting Michigan 20-10 in the first frame, Lake Superior State still trailed 3-2.

After allowing a goal less than two minutes into Saturday’s game, junior goalie Bryan Hogan settled down and finished the game with a season-high 35 saves. Hogan stalled the Lakers’ attack by making nine saves during Lake Superior State power plays.

The Wolverine defense also helped out on a few occasions with goal-saving plays throughout the weekend. And even though the unit’s only goal came as an empty-netter, the defense was just as active in the offensive zone.

Precise passing and continuous movement made things easy for Michigan, who was leading or tied with the Lakers for all but eight minutes of this weekend's games.

“When you play in games, the intensity in the games is hard to duplicate in practice,” Berenson said. “We’re getting better. … We should be getting better every week. If we can stay healthy and stay confident and work hard, it’s a lot of hard work, (then) we’re going to play better. We had some real good spurts this weekend.”

Michigan has had good spurts throughout the young season, but sustaining that high level of play is key in the Wolverines' development. Having so many players in on the action this weekend developed confidence that is a step in the direction of playing three solid periods of hockey.

Earlier this week, Berenson changed up the forwards’ lines after he said that his team was underachieving. This weekend, those changes paid off.

Getting Caporusso going in Michigan’s first two CCHA games could prove to be just as important as the two wins the Wolverines got in Sault Ste. Marie.

“I just heard a bunch of the crowd and some of our supporters go, ‘Yo Louie.’ And I was just like, ‘I guess everyone knew I was in a slump.’ I didn’t know how public this was,” Caporusso said of the reaction to his first goal.

Caprousso seemed happy to answer questions about scoring goals again. And if his teammates continue the aggressive style of offense that they displayed this weekend, he won’t have to worry about carrying the entire load.