The Venue: Not a Mundane Detail, Michael

So, about the OHL playing a game at Michigan Stadium thing. Not happening, from the sound of it!

After Dave Ablauf told the Michigan Daily that the rumors were "not true" this morning, Matt Slovin was able to further confirm:

[A]n OHL source with one of the teams involved informed the Daily that the league is, in fact, planning an outdoor doubleheader. The source went on to name Detroit’s Comerica Park as the most likely venue.

A couple of others asked around and heard similar things. Spath talked with Red about it and apparently got the glare. Sorry, Mike! (And sorry to Dave Brandon for blowing up his Twitter feed, though I still think that was a good exercise, just in case there were any lingering thoughts!)

As for the original source of the rumor, there's this now:

As soon as I heard last night that Comerica is likely setting up a rink I agree that that will be the site of #OHL DH Dec. 31

So as it turns out, this:

Can confirm NHL has approved the CHL request to play an outdoor DH @ Big House Dec. 31st. Teams not confirmed but LDN/SAG, WSR/PLY likely

...turned out to be not entirely true and wasn't actually based on any knowledge of the venue. The other reporter for CTV, Norman James, is now saying Comerica Park as well:

What we know at this point is that the NHL has approved a CHL request to hold multiple outdoor games December 31st in Detroit. The target venue seems to be Comerica Park, where we could see the Knights and Spitfires in action against the OHL's two Michigan based clubs.

That makes much more sense. It's closer to Windsor, closer to London, roughly the same distance from Plymouth, and no one in Saginaw gives a crap anyway. Plus you aren't making Red Berenson's head explode. Or mine.

Anyway, in hindsight, I wish I had tweeted at the original reporter and asked the "Are you sure it's the Big House and not Comerica?" question before calling in the cavalry, but he posted three different times saying basically, "confirmed request to play" "at the Big House".

For something like that, I didn't want to wait to hear it actually being confirmed before I reacted. Remember the uproar over SBC wanting to purchase the naming rights for the Michigan/Ohio football game, and how Michigan eventually called it off? To me, this story was like that. Except times a billion. 

I'm happy to hear that Michigan hasn't sold their souls, from the sound of it. There is still that tiny part of me that remembers they denied the Winter Classic rumors at first as well, but Comerica makes much more sense for a lot of reasons.

If nothing else, I got to remind everyone once again why the OHL is evil, and I like doing that. It was also really rewarding to get to see the passion in our fanbase. Thank you to everyone who immediately took up the cause. That was pretty cool to see.

Just Say No to the OHL

I don't get riled up all that often, but I saw something on Twitter tonight that needs to be stopped if there's even one hint of truth to it (and you know I'm serious since I'm more than willing to deploy single-sentence paragraphs and single word sentences in this post!):

According to a tweet by Brent Lale, a reporter for CTV in London, Ontario, the NHL has approved a request by the CHL to play an outdoor double-header at Michigan Stadium as part of the Winter Classic festivities. London vs. Saginaw and Windsor vs. Plymouth are the rumored teams. Sportsnet would be televising it.

This needs to be stopped immediately.

The OHL is a competing product. They steal our recruits. They play dirty and continue to recruit players after they've signed with colleges. They steal players during the season when it's too late for the NCAA team to replace them. They do everything they can to convince prospects that the CHL is a superior path to the NHL. Michigan should not be allowing them to use our beautiful stadium to showcase their product. 

Trevor Lewis. Jared Knight. AJ Jenks. Jack Campbell. John Gibson. Robbie Czarnik. Lucas Lessio. Tyler Swystun. Danny Richmond. Jason Bailey. All players that have committed to Michigan, signed with Michigan, or played for Michigan, before being poached by teams in the CHL in the not-so-distant past. If you want to go back further, do Mike Comrie and Mike Van Ryn ring a bell? I'm sure there are more.

To this point, I've only talked about kids affiliated with Michigan. Need more evidence? A couple of the rumored teams played roles in the mass exodus of NCAA-bound players to the OHL this summer. Plymouth signed JT Miller, a North Dakota recruit. Saginaw signed Jamie Oleksiak, a defenseman who would have been entering his sophomore year with Northeastern. Additionally, Gibson bailed from Michigan after signing a Letter of Intent. Reid Boucher, a Michigan State recruit, signed with Sarnia. Connor Murphy passed up Miami to sign with Sarnia as well. And that was all in about a week's span. Not to mention BU and BC lost a trio of much younger recruits as well.

Michigan wouldn't let Michigan State and Ohio State play an outdoor game in Michigan Stadium, and rightfully so. They're competitors. Why would you give them an opportunity for the positive publicity that an outdoor game at Michigan Stadium in conjunction with the NHL's Winter Classic would provide? You wouldn't. It would be stupid. Don't do anything to help your rivals, especially if they'd never return the favor.

The same thing applies here. The OHL is not only not a friend to college hockey, they're an enemy. Truth be told, I'd be less offended if it was FYS and Ohio State playing in our stadium than I am about the prospect about OHL teams playing there. There's no way in hell they'd extend the same invitation to a collegiate team if the situation was reversed, unless they thought there was some way that they could steal a player or two while the team was in Canada.

The NCAA, and specifically Michigan, should do NOTHING to accommodate them in any way, shape or form. If the OHL wants an outdoor game, they can host one in Canada or have it at Comerica with the rest of the ancillary events.

There have been some people that think having pro hockey in Michigan Stadium taints the Big House in some way. I don't feel the same way about the NHL, but I certainly do feel that way about the O. They don't belong anywhere near Michigan Stadium. Not as long as the playing field is so unequal with regard to poaching players. The thought of having an OHL game (or two) at the Big House is souring me on the whole thought of the Winter Classic there, and that's too bad since I'm probably one of the people who was most excited about it initially.

And the teams they're throwing around? Windsor STOLE OUR MOTHER FREAKING GOALIE (thank God for Shawn Hunwick) and they have the rights to Evan Allen and Phil Di Giuseppe. Plymouth took Robbie Czarnik mid-season, signed AJ Jenks away, and don't think for a second they didn't immediately call Jon Merrill when his suspension was announced. London signed *anny Richmon* away, landed Michigan-commit Jared Knight and convinced Max Domi to not go the college route (the latter isn't that big of a deal, but I figured I'd mention it since he was a pretty high-profile recruit). They've been one of the most troublesome OHL teams from an NCAA perspective over the years. Saginaw just acquired the rights to Boo Nieves and they have the rights to JT Compher.

None of this even includes future players that are deciding between the NCAA (specifically Michigan) and the OHL. Michigan is constantly in a battle with this league for recruits and they're constantly fighting a (one-sided) battle to keep the recruits that have already signed (or the players that are already on the friggin team). It would be the ultimate kick in the face to see Phil Di Giuseppe and Evan Allen playing at Michigan Stadium for the Windsor Spitfires next year.

This. Cannot. Happen.

I seriously urge everyone to email or tweet at Dave Brandon and make your feelings known. I'd hope that Red has as well. Based on the initial reaction from people on Twitter, I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. Maybe it's too late, or maybe it's no longer in his control. Maybe it's just a silly internet rumor that I'm freaking out about for nothing. But just on the off-chance this happens--or could happen--I don't want to sit quietly.

The OHL has no business playing a game at Michigan Stadium. They're a competitor--and not one that competes in good faith. They're not our friend. If Windsor could find a way to steal Di Giuseppe away, they'd do it in a heartbeat. We should not be helping them to market their product. The answer shouldn't be "Yes" if they ask to use the ice at Michigan Stadium. It actually shouldn't even be "No". It should be something more along the lines of, "Hell no. Go **** yourselves." Slam phone down.

I'm 100% behind the AD making money. I have a very progressive view in this regard. I'm firmly of the belief that if you don't want advertising in Michigan Stadium but you want renovations to Michigan Stadium, Crisler, and Yost, and you want a basketball practice facility, lacrosse teams, etc. that the AD needs to have the ability to host events like the Winter Classic. You're going to get Arby's sponsoring The Big Chill. It's unreasonable to ask them to ignore all these potential sources of revenue. But this is the ultimate in selling out. You'd be letting a dirty competitor come into your house, use it to help market their product, indirectly (or directly) steal players away from you, and make it harder for your own team to compete. And for the minimal amount of revenue that a pair of OHL games would provide.

This. Absolutely. Cannot. Happen.

Edit: Some good news today, as Michigan's Dave Ablauf has called the rumors "not true" and an OHL source has confirmed to the Michigan Daily's Matt Slovin that a doubleheader is in the works, but suggested that Comerica Park is the most likely location, which is how it should be.

That said, Michigan initially denied the Winter Classic rumors when they first came out. It is certainly comforting to hear that one of the OHL teams involved is saying Comerica as well, though.

Michigan Splits at Notre Dame

Hunwick was sharp both games this weekend, earning himself a #2 and #1 star

The Wolverines and Fighting Irish entered the weekend tied for fifth in the PWR and two points apart in the CCHA standings and that's how they remain. Notre Dame won Friday night's contest 3-1 (with a late empty-netter). On Saturday, the Wolverines got out to a 2-0 first-period lead before hanging on to win 2-1.

On Friday, Notre Dame made it their goal to seemingly hit Shawn Hunwick as much as possible and try to get in his head. They ran into him, slashed him after the whistle, high-sticked him, at least a half-dozen times (many in the first period alone). The first instance led to a power play. Then the incompetent boobs officiating the game, Keith Sergott and Barry Pochmara, decided to basically let ND do whatever they wanted to our goalie. At one point, Hunwick got frustrated enough that he threw his stick to the ice after a scrum. I thought they then called him for unsportsmanlike conduct--that seemed to be the consensus on the telecast as well--but in the box score they've got him down for slashing. I'm guessing the reaction was based on them evening it up after he got slammed into for at least the fifth time.

Outside of Notre Dame hitting anything that moved--or wore goalie pads--the game was characterized by Michigan failing to convert on some gorgeous scoring chances. Steve Summerhays played very well--he was the #1 star (and Hunwick was 2)--but a lot of the problems were self-induced. Chris Brown had Summerhays beat on a breakaway late in the first period and rung it off the bar. Just after Notre Dame made it 2-0, Brown led a 3-on-1, decided to shoot, and missed the net high. In the third, with the game 2-1, Derek DeBlois walked in all alone after a Riley Sheahan turnover and missed the net. It was that kind of night.

After Michigan failed to take advantage of an early power play for Hunwick getting run over, Pateryn was sent to the box for a fairly normal slash. On that power play, Hunwick absolutely robbed Sheahan off a great pass from Tynan, who was spectacular on Friday night.

Wohlberg was called for holding, but the best chance on that power play was Mac Bennett's, who was the recipient of an awful turnover from Robbie Russo. He walked in all alone and Summerhays made a good stop. Moffatt just missed connecting with PDG on a 2-on-1. The pass was a little behind him.

Notre Dame made it 1-0 on a rush by TJ Tynan. He brought the puck in, faked the shot and got Hunwick down, then circled behind the net and fed a cutting Sam Calabrese. Calabrese juuuuust snuck the puck inside the far post.

The Irish then hit Hunwick again. Michigan came to his aid this time and somehow things ended up evened up. Apparently Hunwick slashed someone. Probably the guy that nailed him. Shortly thereafter, he got slashed on the glove after he had the puck covered. Hunwick was clearly getting aggravated and the refs didn't want to hear any of it. I was worried at this point because it seemed like Hunwick's head wasn't in the game, but, outside of throwing his stick down at one point, he handled it well.

Wohlberg was blatantly hauled down driving the net, no call, though they did call both players for roughing as they came back up ice. The first period of this game was just awful officiating.

Brown then intercepted a Sheahan drop pass and that put him off to the races. He beat Summerhays clean, but put it off the bar.

Things calmed down in the second period. Michigan failed to convert on an early power play, earned when Hyman was hauled down.

Notre Dame had a few chances on a scramble, Hunwick got knocked down again, Michigan came up ice and both Treias and Glendening had chances, then ND came back and scored. They rushed the puck up on a 3-on-2. Bennett took his man to the boards, then Pateryn went down to block a centering attempt. Calabrese got deep into the zone and finally threw one at the net. Hunwick blockered it away, but it went right to Lorenz, who was able to score on the rebound.

Bennett was then on the good end and bad end of a couple of scoring chances. He made a slick move through the offensive zone, but Summerhays made a stop, then Sheahan absolutely walked him and shot high.

Kevin Lynch had a good opportunity to get Michigan on the board, but couldn't pull the trigger with an empty net to shoot at. His line (both Lynches and DeBlois) was very good in the second frame. They had a really good shift right before intermission as well.

Early in the third, Mike Voran was called for tripping and the Wolverines were able to capitalize. They had some really nice passing to get the puck down to the goalie's left, reverse it back to the right, and then Pateryn's shot was tipped in by Alex Guptill...

...and immediately after the ensuing faceoff, Luke Glendening was called for boarding. Not a play that you want to see out of your senior captain. It didn't come back to bite Michigan as DeBlois had the best chance of the power play off another horrible Sheahan turnover.

Lynch was then sprung on a breakaway. Sheahan hooked him very early and there was a delayed call. Lynch came in, was slashed worse than what Pateryn got called for, and it prevented him from getting a good scoring chance. The original penalty was the only thing that was called. Later on the NBC telecast, Kerry Fraser, longtime NHL official, questioned why that wasn't a penalty shot. It would have taken some cojones to whistle them for two infractions on the same play, but the slash was worse than the hook that was being called in the first place.

Michigan had two more good chances to tie the game up, but Clare shot wide with Summerhays down and out, and then the ND netminder made a very good save on Wohlberg off a great centering feed from Brown.

Hunwick then kept the Wolverines in the game with a big stop on Voran. Voran caught up to an alley-oop pass and cut to his left to try to get around Hunwick, but Hunwick stayed with him and just got a toe on it. The defense then lost Costello, someone (Tynan maybe?) fed him in the slot, and Hunwick got over to make the save.

Summerhays then made his stop of the night as PDG worked some Datsyukian magic down behind the net, shrugged his defender, and fed Treais in front. Treais got a good shot away going five-hole, but Summerhays made the stop.

The Wolverines got Hunwick to the bench and had one good opportunity off a Moffie feed, but then Jon Merrill bombed a shot right into Billy Maday's shin pads and it put him off to the races with an empty net. He didn't miss. Merrill did have some traffic in front if the shot got through. It was fitting that the game ended on another ND blocked shot. They blocked 16 attempts on the night, and that was Maday's third.

For the game, Notre Dame outshot Michigan 35-31 and outhit them badly, though I don't have the final stats on that.

Treais had a stellar individual effort for the GWG on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Bill Rapai

On Saturday, there were some good chances early on. Anders Lee hit the bar right out of the gate. Sparks, back in the lineup for the first time in a month, had two or three good chances early. Then Larson hit the post, though Hunwick had that side completely covered and didn't really give him much else to shoot at.

The Wolverines went to a power play after Lee was called for tripping and they capitalized. PDG fed Treais and Summerhays stopped him, but later in the power play, Guptill got a tip on a Pateryn shot from the point for his second tip-in from Pateryn in as many nights. Berenson would later compare his goal to something that Holmstrom would do. Guptill called it high-praise.

Merrill went for a hit and it led to an odd-man rush. Sparks got back but ND had a couple of very good scoring chances. Pateryn then went for a hit and got called for kneeing. It was pretty much the same thing that Maday did to Hyman (uncalled) the night before. Sparks then shot the puck into a crowd of players, got a ten-minute misconduct for him, and I'm not sure we saw him back on the ice the rest of the night. He certainly didn't do anything noticeable after that. Probably not the way to endear yourself to the coaches after sitting out for a month and a half. I thought he did some good things in the first period, though. He even had a nice defensive play.

After the kill, Costello was sent to the box for slashing Guptill and the Michigan power play struck again. PDG kept the puck in at the line and Treais picked it up. He cut all the way across the zone, got the defenseman to bite on a fake shot, got Summerhays off his angle, and then snapped it past him to the far side. That was a great, great goal.

Notre Dame pulled within one early in the second as Wuthrich went to the front of the net unmolested and Lee found him.

Moffie saved a goal with a nice defensive play after some fancy passing by the Irish. The Irish started to buzz in the middle part of the second period and PDG prevented a great scoring chance with a backcheck/stick-lift.

Guptill and Brown then broke in on a 2-on-0. They passed it back and forth 3 times and the return feed to Guptill was just out of his reach. Kind of the way breakaways/shootouts have gone for Michigan this year. Maybe I shouldn't complain about the lack of a penalty shot on Friday night.

Shots were 12-6 in Notre Dame's favor in the third period, but they couldn't solve Shawn Hunwick. Outside of a good chance by Stephen Johns and a great save on Gerths, I didn't notice any particularly interesting chances in the final frame. Michigan's best chance was a Treais one-timer from a Glendening feed that Summerhays stopped.

Notre Dame played the puck with a high-stick after Summerhays had gone to the bench and that took them out of any real chance to capitalize with the extra skater. The faceoff came back into their end with 45 seconds left and they never really threatened after that.

A split was probably the right result for the weekend. I thought Notre Dame was very impressive, albeit fairly dirty on Friday night. They're a damn good hockey team. They fore-check like crazy, their defense hits like crazy, and Tynan and Lee are amazing hockey players. I could see them doing some damage in the tournament if they get goaltending like they did this weekend. Summerhays doesn't have good numbers, but I thought he was very good the whole weekend. He was the number one star on Friday night. The Treais goal was the only one that he had a chance on.

The best sign for Wolverine fans was that Michigan got the power play going and the penalty killing was great. Michigan was 3-for-8 with the man advantage on the weekend, and a couple of the failed attempts were abbreviated. Notre Dame was 0-for-8 and managed 6 shots on goal. Coming in, the Irish had only been held without a power play goal on 5 occasions (in 24 games) this season, so to hold them off the board for a weekend is pretty impressive. In Saturday's win, ND had just two shots on goal in 6:54 of power play time. Bravo to the PK.

And bravo to Hunwick, who was great the entire weekend. He stopped 32 of 34 on Friday and came back with 38 saves on 39 shots on Saturday. The Irish actually outshot Michigan 39-24 last night. Hunwick stole that game.

Guptill has now scored in 5 straight games and has 5-5--10 in his past six. For the year, he has 14-12--26, to lead the team in goals and point (tied with Brown). He actually has the national lead for points by a freshman, though he's 8th in points per game.


The Wolverines now have a week off to prepare for the stretch run where they'll face Miami at home, a road-and-Joe against FYS, NMU at home, and BGSU on the road. Coming out of road series with OSU and Notre Dame with a 3-1-0 record is a nice start to this tough slate of games.

Notre Dame Preview

What the hell is the matter with me? Three posts in one day?

Anyway, the teams that are tied for fifth in the Pairwise rankings square off this weekend as #7 Notre Dame takes on #10 Michigan at the new Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend.

Notre Dame will play Friday night's game without third-leading scorer (and Red Wings prospect) Riley Sheahan, as he was suspended one game for a hit to the head against Western Michigan.

Notre Dame is 13-8-3 on the season and 8-5-3-0 in the CCHA. They've been struggling as of late, going 3-6-0 in their last nine, though two of the wins were against Minnesota and Boston University. They were swept 3-2 and 3-1 by WMU last weekend.

The Irish have played a tough schedule this season. Their non-conference slate has featured two games against Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, Boston University, and Minnesota. They're actually 4-1 in those games, yet somehow got bitch-bombed 9-2 by Northeastern.

Notre Dame has been uncharacteristically weak in between the pipes this year. While they rank a middle-of-the-pack 27th in goals against average (2.75), their goaltenders are 62nd and 67th out of 76 qualifying goalies in save percentage. Steven Summerhays has an .893 and Mike Johnson has an .887. Johnson has 18 GP to Summerhays's 10, but it's been Summerhays more often than not lately. Johnson has lost five straight starts after being unbeaten in 10. In the 9-2 loss to Northeastern, he was pulled after giving up goals on the first three shots of the game. His start in a loss to WMU last Saturday night was his first start since 12/9/11. In his five-game losing streak he has a 4.55 goals against and a .792 save percentage. In two games against Michigan last season, Johnson was 1-1 and gave up 6 goals on 57 shots (he stymied Michigan one game and gave up 5 on 33 the next night).

Summerhays has been better. He's 6-2-0 on the season and made 30+ stops against Minnesota and BU within his last 3 appearances. He, too, got shellacked by Northeastern (4 goals on 12 shots), but he's been much more sound than Johnson overall. Last year he had a 3.04/.863, so this is an improvement. Summerhays gave up 3 on 22 shots in a losing effort at Michigan last March.

The Irish are also middle-of-the-pack in offense. They rank 25th in the nation, scoring exactly 3 goals per game. They've got some talent up front, though. TJ Tynan has a 9-22--31 line in 23 games this season to rank in the top-10 nationally in points per game. He's actually ahead of his point-scoring pace from last season, when he had 54 points as a freshman. Tynan has been held off the score-sheet on just 5 occasions this year and he has 3-3--6 in his last four games. He started the year with 14 points in his first seven games.

Anders Lee has 14 goals and is just a tick off his point-a-game pace from last season. Lee has cooled off significantly after a scorching-hot start. He had 10 goals in the first seven games of the season (and he scored at least once in all of them) and had 12 in his first 11. In the 13 games since then, he's scored just twice, both in one game against BU. He has just 3 assists over that span as well. Lee and Tynan have combined for 11 power play goals.

Sheahan has 21 points on the year, and they've got 5 others with 10+ points, including 3 defensemen.

For a team that hasn't lit up the scoreboard, the Irish are strong on the power play. They've tallied at least one power play goal in 19 of their 24 games this year. They only rank 17th in PP (20.7%) but they've been effective. Only Minnesota, Union, Maine, and Connecticut have more tallies with the man-advantage. Then again, only Minnesota-State, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, and Vermont have had more chances on the power play. The PK is 28th in the country at 82.4%.

The special teams edge goes to Notre Dame. Michigan is -4 on special teams. Notre Dame is +9. They've been short-handed 16 fewer times and have had 21 more power play opportunities.

Michigan has 6 players with 3-career points against Notre Dame. Glendening and Wohlberg are the only players with multiple goals. Shawn Hunwick is 2-2-0 in his career with a 2.64 goals against and a .914 save percentage. 

Tomorrow night's game airs at 7:35 on NBC Sports (formerly Versus). Saturday's game is at 7:35 and will be on CBS College Sports. (Edit: I originally went with the USCHO times. NBC Sports lists it as a 7:35 faceoff as does Michigan, so we'll go with that. USCHO had it as 7:05.)

Yost Renovation is a Go

The Regents authorized bidding out and rewarding construction contracts for a $14 million renovation to Yost Ice Arena following this season. The seating areas on three of the four sides will be replaced, the press box will be converted into luxury seating and a new press box will be built above that (I can't wait to see how they pull this off!).

Additionally, it is possible that the covered up windows on the south side of the arena will again be uncovered. Window technology has improved to the point where sun could shine through and not harm the ice.

Here was an artist's rendering from back in June.

That's pretty darn cool if you ask me. Gotta find somewhere else for the GLI, Frozen Four, and National Champions banners!

The renovations should be complete by next hockey season. I really love the commitment by the athletic department to keeping Yost functional for as long as possible. It's going to be a sad, sad day when the hockey team has to move to a new facility.

Having a Seat Over There: Kyle Connor

It appears that Michigan has a new commitment for the incoming class of 2015: Kyle Connor, a forward from Belle Tire. BradyThomas posted on The Wolverine hockey board that the rumor at the U16 tournament in Boston was that Connor had committed to Michigan. I did some hunting on the internet and found that HSP Athletes, a division of ASP Athlete, listed Connor as a client, and also as a U of M verbal.

 

I sent a Tweet to Dylan Larkin, another Michigan commitment and a teammate of Connor's, asking if he had heard anything and he responded, "Yes committed for the 2015 year!".

 

Connor appears to be a big get! He has 13-37--50 in 36 games for Belle Tire this season, which puts him first on the team in points (by 9), fourth on the team in goals, and first in assists (by 16). He also has 5 game-winners. He's tied for second in the league in points, and leads everyone in assists.

 

In BradyThomas's post, he said that Connor is 6'0" and cited his speed and acceleration. He also had him as a probable NTDP player.

 

Connor recently had an eight-game point streak snapped. In that span, he collected 3-16--19 and had six-straight games with multiple assists. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more info about him in the near future!

Sweep of Ohio

The outfield crowd looks ugly, but the baselines were packed. Photo: Tim Williams

The Wolverines went to Ohio this past weekend for a pair of games against the Buckeyes and came out of the weekend with their unbeaten streak in tact (and now up to 9 games). After a 4-0 win on Friday night in Columbus, Michigan absolutely dominated the Frozen Diamond Faceoff to draw within 5 points of the Buckeyes in the CCHA standings.

On Friday, Michigan got a career-high 46 saves from Shawn Hunwick en route to a 4-goal win that was closer than the final score. Alex Guptill's shot in the middle part of the first period was kicked out to the right by Cal Heeter. The puck went right to Lee Moffie who sent a laser into the open net to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.

Late in the first, AJ Treais sent a shot through traffic one second after a Michigan power play had ended. That was all the offense Michigan needed. Hunwick was perfect on the night, stopping 19 shots in the first, 14 in the second, and 13 in the third.

Michigan would add empty-net goals from Luke Glendening and Alex Guptill for the final margin of victory.

My notes are pretty brief since I got home from my hockey game at 10:30 or so and still had to pack for Cleveland. I made it a goal to watch the game on the DVR in an hour. I did note that I thought both PDG and Wohlberg had quite a few chances. PDG, in particular, was buzzing even though he was held off the scoresheet.

Jon Merrill had two assists and was +3 in the game. He also rang a shot off the post late in the game as a power play was ending. Guptill had 1-1--2, was +2, and drew a pair of penalties in the third period as the Buckeyes were trying to mount a comeback. Treais had a goal and had several really nice passes. One in the first period set up Glendening beautifully in the slot and a Buckeye back-checker probably saved a goal.

I thought the shot totals both ways were somewhat inflated. Maybe not, but OSU was credited with 19 in the first period and that seemed really high. Don't get me wrong, Hunwick was certainly tested in this one--he earned that shutout, particularly with a stop on Angelli in the first period and Dries in the third--but it didn't feel like 46 saves. Then again, I swore his career high in saves was something like 162 in the North Dakota game last year.

On Sunday, Michigan played their 3rd outdoor game in as many years and it wasn't so dissimilar from the most recent outing in The Big Chill. Michigan got out to a lead and pretty much cruised. Hunwick was strong between the pipes, and the top line put on an absolute show. Check out these numbers:
Chris Brown: 1-2--3, +3
David Wohlberg: 1-1--2, +4
Alex Guptill: 1-1--2, +4

On the blueline, Mike Chiasson and Kevin Clare were both +3 and Clare added a pair of assists.

Jon Merrill's only impact on the stat sheet was a single shot on goal. He had no points and was even on the night, but OSU Coach Mark Osiecki saw enough to call him the best defenseman in the country.

Brown kicked off the goal scoring. A shot from Clare hit him. With his back to the goalie, Brown collected the puck, spun around, and shot. Before the puck even left his stick, you could tell that one was going in. Shots like that are hard for a goalie to track, and we were sitting right behind the OSU net and could tell Heeter wasn't going to be able to get his legs closed.

Michigan made it 2-0 six minutes later on as pretty of a pass and shot as you might see all year. Heeter made the initial save on a Mac Bennett shot that probably going wide. He left the rebound out a couple of feet in front of him. Brown picked it up and threw a nifty little no-look drop pass to Guptill who just sniped one into the top corner over Heeter's glove. Guptill did a little "called strike three" motion after the goal.

The puck from that goal is actually going in my puck case. They were selling game-used pucks, including the Michigan goal pucks. I gave them my contact info and got a call today giving me first crack at which goal puck I wanted. As a puck collector, I'm really excited about that one! Not only was it the prettiest goal of the night, it was the game-winner to boot.

OSU drew back within one on a power play goal early in the second period. They nearly tied it a few minutes later, but a great shoulder save by Hunwick and a diving play by Pateryn to break up a 3-on-1 after a turnover kept Michigan ahead. The Wolverines iced the game with goals 28 seconds apart in the middle part of the frame.

The Buckeyes tried wrapping a puck around the boards and out of the zone, but Wohlberg stopped it on the sideboards. He shot it in front where Derek DeBlois was waiting to tip it past Heeter.

If that goal didn't take the wind out of the Buckeye sails, the next one surely did. David Wohlberg drove hard to the net and the puck kind of rolled off his stick, right underneath Heeter. That was it for the Buckeye goalie.

OSU outshot Michigan 11-10 in the third, but never really seemed like they had a prayer of getting back into the game. A couple of very late penalties gave them a 5-on-3, but the Wolverines were able to kill off the remaining time and head home with a 4-1 win.

Guptill and Wohlberg each have 3-5--8 lines in their last four games. Brown has 3-4--7. Between having a true top line, getting the best defenseman in the country back in the lineup, seeing Kevin Clare's confidence continue to rise after the GLI, and having Shawn Hunwick in net, it's easy to see why the Wolverines were able to sweep a highly-ranked opponent on the road. If the pucks start going in for the second line at some point--PDG has been all over the place lately and hasn't been rewarded--they're going to be a really dangerous team. If they aren't already.

The wins take Michigan up to #5 in both the PWR and the RPI. They're now in third place in the CCHA, but things have gotten a little thrown off because of games in hand.

It doesn't get any easier with the road games. Michigan will now head to South Bend to take on the co-#5 Fighting Irish. Friday night's game will air on the NBC Sports Network (fka Versus). Saturday will be on the CBS College Sports Network. Notre Dame is coming off a pair of losses to Western Michigan, but recently beat Minnesota and Boston University. More on them later in the week.

One thing to mention: I know people have made a lot of jokes about the crowd, but I thought the Frozen Diamond Faceoff was a really great event. The announced attendance was probably pretty close to legit, Progressive Field is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and so was the outcome. I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine that they made pretty good money on that one. The rink was already installed for their Snow Days, so to have an even with ~25k (especially at those ticket prices) isn't bad at all. I'd go back again. I'd also like to give a tap of the stick to Angel in the pro shop for helping me out in landing the goal puck.