IU club hockey falls twice to Michigan

The IU club hockey team suffered two losses against Michigan over the weekend. The Hoosiers have now lost four in a row after losing two games to Davenport the week before. The team’s record is 6-4.

Friday’s game was neck-and-neck, with the score deadlocked at one for most of the contest. The Wolverines managed to get a power play goal to go ahead 2-1. Then a fluke goal on a bounce gave Michigan a 3-1 lead, which proved to be insurmountable, as that became the final score.

“It was another close game all the way through,” IU coach Tom Orr said. “Towards the end, we dominated play but just couldn’t get a goal.”

Orr said his team outplayed Michigan, even though it failed to show on the scoreboard. Despite the rivalry between the two teams, he said there weren’t a lot of penalties.

“Friday was probably the least physical game of the year,” he said. “There was just a lot of good defense – one of those type of games where you hope someone makes a mistake to open things up.”

“I definitely think that we probably could have played a little bit better, but it’s still early in the year,” said junior Joe Fornari. “It’s still not a cause for concern yet, it’s just a little hiccup.”

Freshman Travis Montembeault said things could have turned out differently this week.

“They got a couple of lucky breaks; we don’t need any major changes,” he said. “We have a very strong team.”

Montembeault also said Michigan couldn’t match IU under normal game conditions.

“When it was five-on-five, they couldn’t play with us at all, but they did good with advantaged goals,” he said.

In Saturday’s game, more goals were scored by both teams, but Michigan broke the game open late, winning 7-4. After a few power play goals, the Hoosiers pulled their goalkeeper to get an extra player on the ice, but it backfired, as the Wolverines got their seventh goal of the game to put it out of reach.

Fornari believes part of the reason for the struggle was Michigan’s good goaltending.

“They had a pretty good goalie, and we got a lot of shots on them,” he said. “He was pretty strong on Friday.”

While Montembeault agreed good tending from the opposition played a part, he said the struggle was due to shot placement.

Despite four straight losses, he said he believes the road trip was still important for the team’s progression.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “Everybody was working together.”

Fornari said he believes the team is still building.

“I think we’re still getting our foundation and our best line combinations,” he said. “Michigan’s just a good team, and they always play really tough.”

After five straight road games, the team’s next seven will be at home, starting with a rematch hosting Wright State. The Hoosiers defeated Wright State in both games last month and will try to continue their undefeated home record.