T.J. Hensick knows that what he can
do with the puck on his stick is his meal ticket into
the NHL. But he finally figured out that if he wants
to stick around long enough to finish dinner, he needed
to get better defensively.
This season, Michigan’s star junior
center has worked at becoming a complete player by
concentrating on what he does when the opponent has
possession. Early in his Wolverine career, Hensick
bordered on being a defensive liability, looking to
break out offensively before taking care of his primary
responsibilities. He sometimes was tagged with the
dreaded term “floater.”
But that hasn’t been the case
this year, even though Hensick still is a work in
progress. As one of the few upperclassmen on a young
squad, he knew he would be counted on to do more than
score. He had to do things few thought likely when
he arrived on campus, such as killing penalties.
“I wasn’t where I should
be defensively when I came here,” Hensick said
Wednesday. “Growing up, it was always offense,
offense, offense. But
everybody in the NHL can score. What separates players
is how they play without the puck.”
Blessed with superior speed, Hensick
is a naturally dangerous forechecker. In Tuesday’s
2-0 loss to Michigan State, he generated one of the
Wolverines’ few good scoring chances by chasing
an MSU defenseman around the net, taking the puck
right off his stick and attempting a wraparound all
in the same motion. He’s always been able to
make plays like that.
It’s Hensick’s own-zone
play that has taken a step forward.
“The coaches came to me over the
summer and showed me some tapes of what I was doing
wrong,” he said. “I would do a good job
pinning a guy against the wall, but then I would turn
my back on him, and he would get to the net and score.
It was me not being aware.
“I consider myself dangerous with
the puck, but I should be just as dangerous without
it.”
His improvement isn’t beared out
in statistics – he’s just a plus-3 this
season after finishing last season plus-19 –
but that’s partly because he’s playing
against the opponent’s top line more often.
The change is more noticeable in hustle plays and
increased defensive enthusiasm.
“Obviously, scoring goals is fun,
but playing defense can be that way, too,” Hensick
said. “I remember we were killing a 5-on-3 against
Boston College earlier this year, I blocked a shot
off my head, and the gratitude I got at the bench
was just like scoring a goal. You have to look at
it as being just as good in a different kind of situation.”
Overall, looking at the work he’s
put in, Hensick paid himself a simple but telling
compliment:
“I consider myself a two-way forward
now.”
SEEN AND HEARD IN THE CCHA
Slump? Ha!: Mighty
Miami is just 2-2-2 in its last six games, but that’s
not a concern to RedHawks assistant captain Matt Davis.
A seven-point lead in the CCHA standings probably
helps calm nerves heading into this weekend’s
home set against Western Michigan.
“It’s nothing to worry about,”
Davis said. “I think that after being away for
so long and not being on the ice together during the
holidays, some guys came back and it just took some
time to start jelling again.”
The RedHawks’ biggest problem
for the last month and a half has been putting the
puck in the net. They’ve scored three or fewer
goals in eight of their last nine games. By and large,
the team’s superb defense and goaltending has
kept them afloat, as Miami has equaled its overall
win total from last year (15) and surpassed its CCHA
mark with 12 wins.
“Defense is always our No. 1 concern,”
said Davis, a senior who switched from defenseman
to forward last year. “When we’re good
defensively, the offense will come. Those go hand-in-hand,
as far as I’m concerned. No question, we have
the skill to put up goals, but that comes when we’re
good at the other end of the ice.”
Cracker Jack: The rules
of college hockey might not be a good fit for Michigan
defenseman Jack Johnson, who was the center of controversy
again at the end of Tuesday’s loss. Just a few
months into his freshman season, Johnson has come
under fire for a hit on Miami’s Nate Davis (Matt’s
brother) after Davis scored a goal (drawing a game
misconduct), a fight at the end of a game against
Alaska Fairbanks (for which he only got a minor penalty)
and now a game disqualification for excessive roughness
after a hit that left Spartan Tyler Howells’
face bloodied with 38 seconds to go Tuesday.
And that doesn’t include the incident
at the World Junior Championship when Johnson elbowed
Canadian pest Steve Downie in the head after an empty-net
goal by Canada – an act that enraged the Vancouver
crowd.
It’s debatable whether Johnson,
the third pick in last year’s NHL draft, deserved
a DQ for the Howells hit, but referees aren’t
going to give him the benefit of the doubt with his
history of brutish late-game behavior. That’s
what concerns U-M coach Red Berenson.
“There has to be a certain amount
of self-control,” Berenson said regarding Johnson.
“When you take a lot of penalties, you’re
going to get a reputation, so you have to have even
more (sportsmanship). But he’s a young player
and he’s learning. He’s a great kid and
he means well. He’ll learn.”
Johnson won’t cause any trouble
against Bowling Green on Friday, because the disqualification
penalty carries an automatic one-game suspension.
Howells, meanwhile, is expected to be available for
this weekend’s series at Nebraska-Omaha.
Great Weekend Getaway
Lake
Superior State at Ferris State (Fri.-Sat.) Interestingly, each of the top six
teams in the league standings plays a team from
the lower half this weekend, robbing us of marquee
matchups. But this is close enough. Though in
third place, the Lakers have been mediocre (3-4-0)
in league games on the road, and Ewigleben is
never an easy trip. With little margin for error,
points here are critical to LSSU’s chances
for a first-round bye. Ferris has fallen a bit
after a surprisingly solid start, but the Bulldogs
have proved they can hang with anyone. Plus,
they have games in hand on most of the conference.
Fatigue could be a factor this weekend. LSSU
has been off since Jan. 7, while Ferris will
be playing its fourth and fifth games in nine
days.
While you’re there:
Other than hockey, it looks like a pretty slow
weekend in Big Rapids, so you probably could
do worse than heading to the Sawmill Saloon,
which boasts “the best live music in the
area.”
Stick
Salute
Western
Michigan forward Brent Walton and Northern Michigan
forward Andrew Contois turned in wonderful
individual efforts last weekend. Walton netted
four goals in Friday’s win over Bowling
Green, while Contois amassed four goals and
an assist during a sweep of Ferris State, including
a hat trick Friday. Also deserving of mention
is FSU’s Dan Riedel,
who collected a hat trick and an assist in Monday’s
6-5 victory at BGSU.
Bench
Minors
Bowling
Green and Western Michigan get docked
for providing evidence that a two-goal lead
is the most dangerous advantage in hockey, as
the cliche says. In their home-and-home series
last week, each host team took a two-goal lead
(BG 3-1 on Friday, WMU 2-0 on Saturday) only
to blow it and lose. Of course, you could
look at that and give both teams credit
for battling back from a deficit to win on the
road. Maybe this is just a backhanded Stick
Salute.
A second minor goes to Michigan
State for only drawing 5,580 fans to
the 6,470-seat Munn Ice Arena for Tuesday’s
game against Michigan. We remember, oh, several
decades when Michigan games were as tough of
a ticket as anything on campus, but MSU’s
hockey attendance has been weak overall the
last two years. Maybe it’s time to slash
the $20 ticket prices or expand the quaint student
section.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
• MSU note: Spartans coach Rick
Comley moved into sole possession of fifth place on
the all-time wins list with Saturday’s victory
over Alaska Fairbanks. He passed former Clarkson and
Boston College coach Len Ceglarski and now has a 676-531-84
record in his 33-year career.
• UAF note: The Nanooks’
impressive penalty-killing streak ended Saturday at
48 consecutive kills.
• MSU/UAF note: Alaska Fairbanks
will be without sophomore defenseman T.J. Campbell
for Friday’s game against Ohio State because
he picked up a game disqualification for fighting
last weekend. Michigan State sophomore forward Chris
Mueller got a DQ in the same scrap and sat out Tuesday’s
game.
• UAF coach Tavis MacMillan, whose
team has played Minnesota, Michigan, Lake Superior
State and Northern Michigan, had surprisingly high
praise for a Michigan State team that’s just
7-5-4 in the CCHA. “Of all the teams we’ve
played this year, up to now, the team we played against
this weekend was the best team I’ve seen this
year,” MacMillan told the Fairbanks Daily
News-Miner.
• Injury report: Lots of guys
have returned to health after missing some time last
weekend, including Miami defenseman Kevin Roeder (cut
leg), Miami forward Geoff Smith (shoulder), Western
Michigan goalie Daniel Bellissimo (groin), Ohio State
defenseman Johann Kroll (leg) and MSU goalie Dominic
Vicari (eye). All are expected to be available this
weekend. One guy who will be out for a while is OSU
defenseman Tyson Strachan (6-8 weeks with a broken
wrist). Less certain are Michigan forwards Brandon
Kaleniecki (groin) and Jason Bailey (rib), who are
considered questionable for this weekend.
• Some might be surprised to see
that Northern Michigan has risen to second place in
the CCHA standings, given the feeling among many in
Marquette that the team has underachieved this season.
Granted, NMU has played a league-high 18 CCHA games,
but their candidacy for a first-round playoff bye
is legitimate. The Wildcats have only three more road
games the rest of the way, and only one overnight
trip (Jan. 27-28 at Western
Michigan).
• Notre Dame is a significantly
improved team this season, but just imagine how good
the Fighting Irish would be if they won some tight
games. After Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Miami, Notre
Dame is 4-6-3 in games decided by two goals or fewer.
That’s not terrible, but the Irish blew late
leads in several of those contests. “We have
to learn how to win close games,” coach Jeff
Jackson said. “But when you haven’t experienced
success in games that are close (dating to last season),
maybe you struggle with closing them out.”
• We’re hoping this quote
from coach John Markell, included in Ohio State’s
official game release after Saturday’s 2-2 tie
against Nebraska-Omaha, was taken out of context:
“It’s nice to come out with a point in
a physical series.” Really? Considering OSU
was at home, UNO entered in second-to-last place,
the Buckeyes are supposed to be an experienced, talented
force, and they’re hanging by their fingernails
to NCAA Tournament contention, we thought Ohio State
would be gunning for
more than the one point they got.
• Former Notre Dame goalie Forrest
Karr (1995-99) has been named the athletic director
at UAF.
A variety of sources were utilized
in the compilation of this report.
