Red Berenson walked into the Michigan hockey team's dressing room, hoping to find a silver lining.

He looked around the room, struggling to find a handful of players that had played to their potential in a 4-2 home loss to Nebraska-Omaha. He knew the Mavericks would be a handful, but he couldn't figure out how his team - ranked No. 3 in the country - had managed to play with such a lack of focus or urgency.

Senior forward Carl Hagelin called it a wake-up call. Regardless of how talented the Wolverines are, he and his teammates admitted they couldn't afford to win on skill alone.

"I think it took us losing for us to figure that out," junior forward David Wohlberg said this week. "Now, we have that in our mindset every weekend coming up - that we need to come out big every day."

Michigan (3-1-2, 2-0 CCHA) gets a prime chance tonight when the No. 4-ranked Wolverines begin a home-and-home series with Ferris State in Big Rapids. The Bulldogs are 4-2 and have won three of their four games at home.

Ferris State has traditionally played well at Ewigleben Ice Arena, where the Bulldogs posted a 15-3-1 record last season. For Michigan, Friday's series opener is a chance to remain perfect in league play and to set the tone for the weekend before the series shifts back to Yost Ice Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

In last weekend's Friday loss, Michigan struggled to set up decent scoring chances and didn't take advantage of five power-play opportunities. The Wolverines took seven penalties and goalie Shawn Hunwick didn't play well, giving up four goals before Michigan's offense finally came alive in the third period.

Berenson said he was disappointed by the performance, but found one bright spot.

"We know we can play better than that," he said. "If we would have played our best and got beat that bad, you would have really been discouraged.

"It was a disappointing game, but we've got to move on. We've got tougher games ahead. We've got to make sure we're more ready to play better and execute better."

The teaching moments were plentiful, but provided Wohlberg and his teammates lessons they say they'll carry with them throughout the rest of the season.

"It should only take one time and then you're ready to go the rest of the time," Wohlberg said. "You really don't want to make a habit of that, and so I'm hoping that was the first and last time for us."

The passion the Wolverines lacked in the Friday night loss returned a night later. Wohlberg scored 8 seconds into the game and the Wolverines rebounded with a 6-1 win.

Michigan played with a style it used throughout its run last season to its 20th straight NCAA tournament appearance. Once considered a long-shot to advance, the Wolverines strung together a series of wins, each building off the last. Throughout the run, Michigan's players talked of a sense of desperation that senior Louie Caporusso needs to continue this year.

But before Michigan made its run, there were nights when the Wolverines failed to meet expectations. The Wolverines hovered around .500 and finished seventh in the regular-season standings after being picked to win the league in the preseason.

With one bad game out of the way, Caporusso said Michigan showed its a different team based on the way it responded.

"I don't think you would have seen that last year," Caporusso said. "Last year, we didn't know how to rebound, and if you're going to be a top team in the NCAA and you're going to be a contender, you have to know how to rebound.

"It's pretty fresh in our minds what we did last season, and we're able to remember how to get back on those winning ways and I saw that tenacity we played with. Hopefully, it continues."

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.