Just like basketball, a three-week pause of all Michigan athletics came at a terrible time for the hockey team. After struggling to put together the expected results in the fall portion of the season, the Wolverines came out of the break hot with five wins in six games against a trio of rivals. The last thing the team needed was to suddenly halt.
That is how things go, however. No. 8 Michigan kept its place in the poll, but will need to keep accumulating wins to lock in a postseason bid. It is not clear if the missed games will be made up, nor how the selection process will work this year, so every game on the schedule is pretty important, starting with a huge series this weekend.