Michigan ousts Northern Michigan

Hobey Baker award candidate T.J. Hensick tallied his second-career hat trick and added an assist Saturday as No. 11 Michigan swept its CCHA quarterfinal series against Northern Michigan, defeating the Wildcats, 8-3, at Yost Ice Arena.

With the triumph, Michigan advances to the semifinal round of the conference tournament. The Wolverines will face rival Michigan State this Friday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Andrew Cogliano notched two goals and two assists for U-M last night and goalie Billy Sauer made 14 saves before Mike Mayhew played the final 5:27 and stopped both shots he faced.

"He is a special player," Michigan head coach Red Berenson said of Hensick. "Your best players have to be your best players, but he's on a mission. He's making the most of his senior year. There was talk last summer that he might not come back, but I think he came back for the right reasons. He knew he had to be a better player. He wanted to graduate with his classmates and he wanted to be a student-athlete and do it right. I think he's doing that."

Hensick (pictured) said UM has all the momentum right now and will need that to battle MSU.

"I think it's pretty important right now," said Hensick. "We got two in a row and I don't think we've done that in a while. It gives us consistency and confidence heading into the game. It looks like we're going to be playing Michigan State and it's going to be pretty emotional. This weekend's games were emotional, so that should help us heading into that game on Friday night."

Jack Johnson, Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik each had a goal and two assists for the Wolverines (25-12-1).

Captain Pat Bateman, Mike Santorelli and Ray Kaunisto scored for NMU while Bill Zaniboni and Brian Stewart combined for 19 saves. Santorelli's goal was his 30th of the season.

Tim Hartung contributed a pair of assists in the loss for the Wildcats (15-24-2).

Friday night, Michigan took a 4-1 win behind Sauer's 21-save performance.

Hensick rang up two assists and four different skaters - captain Matt Hunwick, Chris Summers, David Rohlfs and Cogliano - scored for the Wolverines.

Nick Sirota scored the lone goal for NMU and Stewart finished with 34 saves.