Coming into this weekend’s home-and-home series against Ferris State, the Michigan hockey team sat in seventh place in the CCHA standings. And with just six weeks left in conference play, wins, and preferably, weekend sweeps, are a must this late in season for the Wolverines.
- Ariel Bond/Daily
- Michigan forward Luke Glendening (#23) plays against Ferris State University on Friday, January 22, 2010 at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines won 2-0.
- Ariel Bond/Daily
- Michigan forward Scooter Vaughan (#3) plays against Ferris State University on Friday, January 22, 2010 at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines won 2-0.
Additionally, the top four teams clinch a first-round playoff bye, and Michigan hasn’t finished lower than third since 1990.
The Wolverines (9-7-1-0 CCHA, 14-10-1 overall) helped out their chances of inching their way up the CCHA hierarchy with a 2-0 shutout win over the Bulldogs (10-5-2-2, 16-7-2) on Friday at Yost Ice Arena. It was Bryan Hogan’s third shutout of the season.
Michigan out-chanced, out-shot and out-performed Ferris State all night. After a scoreless first period, junior center Louie Caporusso threw a cross-ice pass to sophomore Luke Glendening at the lower harsh marks. Glendening then fired a wrist shot that beat Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle glove side.
Glendening got his second tally of the night five minutes later. Junior Scooter Vaughan got a backhand shot blocked by a Bulldog defenseman at the outer edge of the crease. The puck then ricocheted back to a wide-open Glendening. The assistant captain made no mistake about it as he deposited the puck off the right post.
That was all the scoring there would be as the Wolverine shut down Ferris State’s top line of Blair Riley, Casey Haines and Todd Pococke, who account for about 35 percent of the Bulldogs’ offense for the season.
The Wolverines will travel to Big Rapids tomorrow night to play the second game of weekend. The puck is scheduled to drop at 8:05 p.m., with the game televised on CBS College Sports.