Hunwick, Hensick Named CCHAs Best This Week

T.J. Hensick is becoming very dangerous with the puck in his possession. Perhaps even more dangerous than he was a year ago when he led the Wolverines in assists (34) and points (46), while scoring 12 goals. Hensick has scored in four straight games since head coach Red Berenson made him a healthy scratch Dec. 27 versus Wisconsin, and with three goals and two assists in Michigan's weekend sweep of Bowling Green Dec. 10-11 Hensick has earned CCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Hensick is not basking in recognition alone – classmate Matt Hunwick, who recorded his first career hat trick in Friday's 8-3 victory, has been named the CCHA Defensive Player of the Week. Hensick and Hunwick's honors mark the second consecutive week Michigan has collected two conference honors. Last week senior Brandon Rogers was named the Defensive Player of the Week and freshman Kevin Porter earned Rookie of the Week recognition.

Hensick's season started slow (for him at least), scoring only two goals, and adding seven assists in Michigan's first eight games. Since then, however, the sophomore has scored nine goals in U-M's last 10 games, including one game he sat out. Over that span he has also collected six assists, but it's his goals that are drawing more attention these days.

"The dominant players in this league are a threat to score every night," Berenson said. "That's the difference between a dominant player and a pretty good player -- who is a threat to score every night. T.J. is becoming one of those players.

"We've had some dominant players in the past. Mike Cammalleri could at times. Mike Comrie could and before that it was players like [Brendan] Morrison, and [Bill] Muckalt his senior year. David Oliver his senior year was a dominant player. Mike Knuble his senior year. Johnny Madden. We've had some players, and T.J. right now is really starting to play with that sense of urgency and that confidence and authority. It will be interesting to watch him in World Juniors to see if he can keep this up."

Last weekend, Hensick was dominant. He began Michigan's home-and-home series with BGSU with two goals, including the game winner, and an assist in the Wolverines' 8-3 victory. The next night, Hensick scored another goal and added another assist in U-M's 5-4 win. For the weekend, he finished plus-three.

Hensick is currently on a four-game point and goal streak (5-3-8), and leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and 13 assist for 24 points.

Hunwick picked up his first career hat trick on Friday night versus the Falcons and in the process set personal single-game records for goals (three) and points (3-0-3). On Saturday, Hunwick notched two assists with the first coming on the game-tying goal and the second just minutes later on the game-winner.