If the Michigan hockey team keeps playing this wild first-to-six-goals-wins style of hockey, then its forwards are going to have to keep scoring at a torrid pace. And when called upon to create opportunities and score goals, Michigan must keep looking to sophomore center T.J. Hensick.
Hensick’s remarkable skating and stick-handling ability were on display Saturday against Western Michigan when, on a power play, he took the puck from behind the net and circled out to the high slot. He surveyed the ice and headed toward the goal. A defender made him juke right, and, before he knew it, he was heading back to his original position behind the net. He had literally skated a circle around the four Broncos on the ice. Few players in college hockey are fast enough to do that.
Hensick is not just a speedster, though. His passing ability was apparent last season when he led the CCHA in assists as a freshman. But this year, he has taken his game to the next level. He leads Michigan with 13 goals this season. He scored 12 all of last season. Michigan coach Red Berenson appreciates that Hensick has evened out his assist-to-goal ratio.
“I like the fact that he’s a threat to score,” Berenson said. “Even (Wayne) Gretzky reached a point where he needed to shoot the puck more so that then he’d be a threat to score. Then (the defense) would come to him, and then he would make a play.”
In addition to his 13 goals, the sophomore sniper has already tallied 15 assists in 19 games thus far. He is on pace to score more points than he did last season when he led the Wolverines with 46 points in 43 games.
He tallied a combined two goals and two assists in Michigan’s 6-4 and 6-5 wins over Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday night. In both shootouts, Western Michigan was the team to first light the lamp, and, in both instances, it was Hensick who played a critical role in leveling the score to keep the Wolverines from falling too far behind.
On Friday night, Hensick found himself in the right place at the right time. He was just to the side of the net when senior Milan Gajic fired a shot at Broncos goalie Daniel Bellissimo. The rebound squirted to Hensick, who promptly evened the score at 1-1.
On Saturday at Western Michigan — one of the most hostile environments the Wolverines have played in all season — the Broncos fed off their crowd and looked to push their lead to 2-0. But almost immediately after Michigan was granted its first power play of the game, it was Hensick who set up the tying goal. Hensick skated behind the net and centered the puck. The puck was deflected but found Milan Gajic at the top of the left circle. Gajic slapped the puck into the net, and the Wolverines were back in business.
Hensick’s value was even more apparent during the three games that he missed this season. In the 19 games that Hensick has played this season, Michigan has averaged 4.7 goals per game. And in the three games that Hensick has missed, Michigan has averaged just two goals per contest.
Berenson benched Hensick for a game against then-No. 2 Wisconsin. The veteran coach wanted to send a message to his leading scorer that he needed to make a better effort on the defensive end of the ice. However, he maybe should have waited for the Wolverines to compete against a weaker team. Without Hensick, the offense sputtered, and Michigan lost 3-1.
Hensick also missed Michigan’s two games in the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament when he traveled — with fellow Wolverines Mike Brown, Matt Hunwick, Al Montoya and Kevin Porter — to play for the U.S. squad at the World Juniors Championship. Without its young star, Michigan’s offense stalled again. After a 4-2 win over a lowly Michigan Tech squad (2-17-1), Michigan struggled on offense against a familiar foe: Michigan State. The Wolverines dropped a 2-1 decision in overtime against the Green and White. Earlier this season, Michigan swept the Spartans in a weekend series, winning 4-2 and 5-4 on the strength of three goals by Hensick.
Going into this weekend, Berenson was not sure how much he would be able to get out of his players who had just returned from the World Juniors, but apparently, he learned his lesson from the Wisconsin game. In Saturday’s 6-5 win, Hensick received the most ice time of any Michigan player.