Michigan gains sweep of Broncos

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer

Michigan looks to be getting back on track after taking both ends of a home-and-home series with Western Michigan this past weekend.

The Wolverines scored four power-play goals in a 4-3 win Friday night in Kalamazoo and then dominated in a 6-1 win Saturday night back home in Ann Arbor.

UM head coach Red Berenson was pleased, obviously, with the outcomes, but noted that these were just two games.

"It's another step," said Berenson. "We've talked about taking it one game and one weekend at a time. There is no room for error at this point. We have to take advantage of this weekend. I think it will give us a boost of confidence."

Friday night, Steve Kampfer, Lindsay Sparks and Brandon Burlon each had a goal and two assists and Louie Caporusso added a goal and an assist to back Bryan Hogan's 19-save performance.

At the other end, Riley Gill stopped 43 shots for the Broncos, who got goals from Greg Squires, Max Campbell and Jared Katz. J.J. Crew added two assists.

"The power play is a funny thing," said Berenson. "We work hard on it and we don't seem to make much progress and then every so often you see a bright light and tonight was one of those nights. The puck went in whereas another night it might not. They weren't all great plays. You get the puck at the net. We moved the puck a little better and we got rewarded."

Carl Hagelin got rewarded Saturday night with two goals and a pair of assists to pace the Wolverines' attack.

Kevin Lynch added three assists, Ben Winnett chipped in a pair, and Chad Langlais, Matt Rust, A.J. Treais and David Wohlberg tallied the rest of the goals.

Hogan finished with 25 saves.

For WMU, Travis Paeth scored and Gill kicked out 30 shots.

"We have two home games coming up," Hagelin said. "It's important for us to get some confidence from this weekend. We played well and we had a good week of practice last week. It starts in practice - we talk a lot about that. It has to come from ourselves. We have to have a good week of practice and build from this weekend [for next weekend]."

Michigan (12-10-0, 7-7-0 CCHA) hosts Alaska next weekend, while the Broncos (6-12-4, 2-11-3-1 CCHA) are idle before heading down to Bowling Green Jan. 22-23.