The glow from Michigan hockey’s Friday night blanking of Western Michigan, 4-0, barely had time to wear off.

The Broncos ambushed the Wolverines with two goals in the first three minutes in the Saturday night rematch as both teams held serve in their own home arenas in the weekend split. After those two early goals, Western Michigan limited Michigan to only one second-period goal the rest of the game in a 4-1 decision.

Michigan used the same tactic of establishing an early lead in their Friday night win. Freshman forward Johnny Beecher scored his first career goal just over five minutes into the opening stanza, finding an open slot between Western Michigan freshman goalie Brandon Bussi’s legs with a long range snap shot.

“It’s kind of how I dreamt it, right in front of the student section,” Beecher said of his first goal as a Wolverine. “It was like something out of a dream. I couldn’t be happier.”

The goal was a welcome offensive contribution from Beecher who has specialized in penalty killing and successfully taking faceoffs so far this year.

“A big part of my game is contributing all 200 feet,” the first-year center noted. “Whether it’s defense, killing penalties, just playing an all-round game style to help the team win. I take a lot of pride in that.

"Whatever the team needs to win, I’m willing to do it.”

Sophomore forward Nolan Moyle added another Wolverine goal two minutes later to give Michigan a two-goal lead after the first 20 minutes.

The all-senior forward line of Will Lockwood, Nick Pastujov and Jake Slaker did the rest of the offensive work for Michigan in the opener. Pastujov netted a second-period power-play goal, and Lockwood added an early third-period even-strength score to complete the Wolverine scoring for the night.

The return of freshman defenseman Cam York to the lineup from a three-game injury hiatus paid dividends for Michigan. York assisted on two of Michigan’s four goals and finished the evening with a +3 plus/minus rating.

Sophomore goaltender Strauss Mann backstopped Michigan to the win with his second shutout of the young season, stopping 36 Western Michigan shots.

Get a free 60-day trial to TheWolverine.com with promo code Blue60

“You can just see his confidence growing and growing with every game,” Michigan head coach Mel Pearson said of Mann’s performance. “Then, your team gets confidence in him also to the point where we might be trying to play on the wrong side of the puck too much to back him up — but good for him.

"He’s been a winner wherever he’s played. It’s just a matter of time before he really starts to put some games together. It’s a small sample. It’s early in the year. The way he’s playing right now, it’s lights out.”

Saturday night’s loss was especially disappointing to Michigan after the Wolverine coaching staff had made getting solid early starts a point of emphasis for the weekend.

Lockwood’s power-play goal in the second period was the only Michigan score of the night in the second contest.

First Star — Sophomore goalie Strauss Mann

Mann’s 67 combined saves over the two nights, including Friday’s shutout performance, gave the Wolverines a defensive base to work from each night.

Second Star — Senior forward Will Lockwood

Lockwood is counted on to be the offensive leader on the team. His two-goal weekend is an encouraging sign after a slow start to the season.

Third Star — Freshman forward Johnny Beecher

Supplying special teams excellence with deadly faceoff results have made Beecher a key player in Michigan’s 200-foot game.

“We had a good meeting [Friday] at 1:15 and the message of the meeting was that we had to have a good start, we had to start on time. It’s been a problem on Fridays.

"It’s good to get that early lead. We got away from our game a little bit, but overall I’m really pleased with the performance. What can you say about Strauss Mann? He was excellent again tonight.

"Our whole team did a great job of blocking shots. I thought we were selfless tonight. We needed to because we got stuck in our own zone a little too much."

— Michigan head coach Mel Pearson on Friday’s preparation and performance

Michigan opens Big Ten Conference play when they travel south to Columbus for two games against defending regular-season champion Ohio State. The Buckeyes have gotten off to a 4-1-1 start using a solid defense that has yet to allow more than two goals in any of their six opening contests.

Friday

Michigan State 1 at Colorado College 3

#8 Minnesota Duluth 5 at #20 Minnesota 2

Lake Superior State 2 at #5 Notre Dame 5

Mercyhurst 2 at #15 Ohio State 7

Robert Morris 1 at #12 Penn State 2

Clarkson 4 at #6 Wisconsin 0

Saturday

Michigan State 5 at Colorado College 1

#20 Minnesota 0 at #8 Minnesota Duluth 2

Lake Superior State 4 at #5 Notre Dame 6

Mercyhurst 1 at #15 Ohio State 3

Clarkson 3 at #6 Wisconsin 4

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook