The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN HOCKEY once back in a winged helmet, notch- ing just four goals and five assists in U-M's final 21 games, averaging 0.43 points per contest. Larkin appears to be in the same category as Montoya. "I thought he came back with le- gitimate confidence, and he left for World Juniors already with good confidence," Berenson said. "The tournament really legitimized his season as a prospect when he's out there playing with all the kids his own age and a year older and he re- ally handled himself well. "I don't know if I expected this type of production, but I'm not sur- prised by what he's doing. He's ca- pable of playing like this. He had a good start but the second half of the season is usually the best half of a freshman's season; Dylan played well in the first half, but he's taking it to another level." Aaron Palushaj was the last Michi- gan freshman to hit the 40-point mark, with 44 points as a rookie in 2008, and Larkin will almost cer- tainly equal or surpass that feat; with at least nine games remaining — eight regular season and one Big Ten Tournament contest — he would need to average less than a point per game to hit 40 and his current pace of 1.33 points per game to match Palushaj's 44. Expecting him to keep scoring like he has recently is probably un- feasible. Consider that in the past 15 years, only two Big Ten Confer- ence freshman have ever averaged 1.30 points per game in a season: Minnesota's Thomas Vanek (1.38 in 2002-03) and Phil Kessel (1.31 in 2005-06). "Dylan is a special talent," Powers said. "To see a freshman have this kind of impact doesn't happen often." ❑ HOCKEY REWIND: JAN. 16-FEB. 14 Overall Record: 16-10-0 Record Jan. 16-Feb. 14: 4-3-0 Big Ten Record: 8-4-0 Pairwise Ranking: No. 16 Best Win — 6-0 at Wisconsin Jan. 24: A night after staging a 7-4 comeback win over the Badgers — U-M trailed 4-1 before scoring six unanswered goals — the Wolverines used the momentum of their rally to play one of their best games all season. Michigan scored four first-period goals on 19 shots, and dominated through- out, holding Wisconsin to a mere 17 shots on goal. Nine different players re- corded at least one point and the Maize and Blue posted their second shutout of the season and first since Nov. 29. Worst Loss — 6-2 at Minnesota Feb. 13: Michigan entered the game 8-1 in its last nine, 12th in the Pairwise Rankings and first in the Big Ten, in control of its own conference destiny. The matchup was supposed to pit two of the