Michigan swept for first time vs. UNO

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer

Not the best time of year to drop two straight on the road, but Michigan did last weekend against Nebraska-Omaha.

The host Mavericks topped the Wolverines Friday night, 4-3, and then 4-1 Saturday night for their first-ever sweep over Michigan.

"We made too many mistakes and they capitalized on them," Michigan defenseman Steven Kampfer said. "That's what killed us this weekend."

Friday night, UM had a 1-0 lead early, but allowed three straight goals to Nebraska-Omaha and never recovered.

Chris Brown, Louie Caporusso and Kampfer scored for the Wolverines, while Bryan Hogan made 27 saves in net.

"The first 10 minutes, I think we were playing excellent," Caporusso said. "Then you saw what happened in the second 10 minutes. We weren't paying attention to the turnovers and they're a great transition team and really stuck it to us in the second half. That was the game-changer, I think."

Then Saturday night, Caporusso again scored for the third game in a row, breaking up the UNO shutout at the 16:33 mark of the third period, but that was all Michigan could muster.

"I liked our game better tonight than I did last night," Michigan head coach Red Berenson said. "I thought our team competed better. We worked harder. We needed the first goal. Obviously, we did not get it. Our power play didn't get to play much. I don't know where the penalties came from. We took six penalties in the first two periods and obviously that was not in the game plan. I don't know if they were good calls or not, but that seems to be what we're running into. You can't kill six penalties in a row and then expect your team is going to come out on top."

Hogan finished with 24 stops for Michigan (17-15-1, 12-11-1-0 CCHA).

With just four games left in the regular season, Michigan returns to Ann Arbor for a three-game homestand starting next weekend against Northern Michigan. Both games start at 7:35 p.m.