By Michael Caples –
ANN ARBOR – The Wolverines scored early and often Friday night in Ann Arbor.
It made for an easy third period against their main rivals.
Propelled by two goals in the first period, a dominating second period and a hat trick from Andrew Sinelli, the Wolverines coasted to a 7-1 win over the Michigan State Spartans in the first of a home-and-home Big Ten hockey season.
“It’s just momentum,” Red Berenson said after the game. “College hockey’s a game of momentum. If you get on your heels, it’s hard to get going. On the other hand, if you’ve got something going and you’ve got some confidence and momentum going, especially at home – this is classic home ice tonight, we took advantage of it and the puck went in for us.”
The win bumps the Wolverines’ record to 17-10-4 overall, and 9-6-2-1 in Big Ten play. Michigan has only three Big Ten games remaining before the start of the playoff tournament.
Derek DeBlois, Luke Moffatt, Zach Hyman, Phil Di Giuseppe and Sinelli all scored in the Wolverines’ third win over Michigan State this season. Their lone loss against the Spartans came in the outdoor Great Lakes Invitational consolation game at Comerica Park.
Sinelli, a Dexter native and junior for the Wolverines, was moved back to the blue line after playing his first two seasons as a forward. He had four career goals coming into the contest, and was quick to point out that he had some assistance on his big night.
“My first two goals were garbage,” Sinelli said. “One went off a D’s stick, the other one I was just lucky enough to be in front of the net with a wide-open net. I think the thing that’s good for us is that we only gave up one goal, which is something that we’ve been struggling with lately, so it was a really positive thing for us.”
Steve Racine stopped 18 of his 19 shots to earn the win between the pipes. With the wide goal margin, the Wolverines were able to send redshirt junior Luke Dwyer in for the final 3:22 for his first NCAA game action.
“Well I thought we worked hard and we got lucky,” Berenson said. “I can’t tell you we played that well in the first period, but we got the lead, and the second period was all ours. I liked the way our team responded to having a so-so first period, coming out with a strong second period, and then we got lucky around the net. We got some bounces that maybe weren’t going in against us, or not going in for us, but nevertheless, they went in tonight.”
Matt Berry had the lone goal for the Spartans, registered at the 14:45 mark of the first period. They fall to 9-16-7 on the season, and 3-8-6-4 in Big Ten play.
The two clubs will meet once again tomorrow night, this time at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing.