Round three of the CCHA Tournament pits the Wolverines against the #1-seeded Miami RedHawks. Miami edged out Notre Dame for the CCHA crown and currently sits tied for 3rd in the Pairwise. They come into this weekend 24-10-5 on the season but 10-7-2 away from home. They punched their ticket for the Joe by beating FYS in three games (0-3, 4-1, 4-1).
Miami is a team that won't overwhelm you offensively, but they do have some talent up front. They have both the CCHA MVP (Austin Czarnik--man, I guess we got the wrong one, eh?) and the CCHA Rookie of the Year (Riley Barber) playing forward for them. Barber led the team in scoring and was the top-scoring freshman in the nation with a 15-23--38 line. Czarnik has 14-22--36, though four of his goals were empty-netters (4 also came short-handed). Freshman defenseman Matthew Caito has chipped in with 5-15--20 on the season.
Overall, though, they rank just 38th nationally in offense at 2.54 goals per game. Like Western Michigan, however, they earn their wins on the defensive end. After a shaky week by Quinnipiac, the RedHawks now rank #1 nationally in team defense at 1.62 goals per game. Ryan McKay has taken the reigns in net after splitting time most of the year. He's made the last six starts. On the season he has an unbelievable 1.20 goals against average and .954 save percentage (tops in the nation in both categories).
He has only given up more than two goals on one occasion this season, that in a 3-3 tie against NMU back in January. He has lost 3 of his last seven starts, however. The fact that he's 12-5-2 despite almost never giving up more than 2 goals means that Miami's offense is prone to letting them down. They've been shut out on seven occasions this year, including three by a 1-0 final. They have scored 4+ in four of their last seven, however, keeping in mind that those were against LSSU, OSU, and FYS.
The teams split a pair of games at Yost during the first weekend of CCHA play. Michigan won 4-2 and then lost 4-3 the next night, behind three goals in a 2:41 span. McKay only saw 5 minutes of action, however. That was also so long ago and things have changed so much that I don't think you can take a whole lot from those games. Racine did play well between the pipes during the Friday night game. The goals he allowed were of the fluky variety.
Their PP is right about where you'd expect (36th). They're sixth on the PK at 88.2%, but they have scored 8 short-handed goals on the year (4 by Czarnik), which is second to only Bobby Mo's 9.
Game time is at 4:35 pm and the game will air on FSN Detroit +. If the Wolverines win, they'll take on the winner of Notre Dame/Ohio State with a tournament berth on the line.
Showing posts with label ccha tournament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ccha tournament. Show all posts
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Back to the Joe! Michigan Sweeps WMU
The Wolverines moved one step closer to keeping their NCAA streak alive this past weekend. The went into Kalamazoo, where the Broncos had lost only twice all season, and downed WMU by 4-3 and 5-1 scores.
It was the first time all season that WMU had given up 4+ goals in back-to-back games, just the second time all season they had given up 3+ goals in back-to-back games, and, incredibly, just the second time since November they had given up even two-or-more in consecutive games.
They advanced to the CCHA semifinals thanks to a 100% team effort. Steve Racine provided great goaltending (even in giving up 3 on Friday night, he couldn't really be faulted for any of the goals). Outside of a couple of blips on Friday the defense was outstanding. The offense lit up one of the nation's best in Frank Slubowski, chasing him on Saturday. The power play scored in both games and was 2-for-7 on the weekend. The PK was a perfect 9-for-9. It doesn't get a whole lot more well-rounded than that.
Michigan was able to turn Friday night's tilt into an up-and-down the ice kind of game, which is the style they traditionally have liked to play. PDG gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead on a nifty pass from Kevin Lynch. Lynch carried the puck in deep and threaded the needle between two Broncos to give PDG a great opportunity and he buried it.
Justin Selman, who may have played the best hockey of his Michigan career this weekend, added a goal before intermission. Hyman made a nifty play to get the puck to Selman in traffic in the Michigan zone and Selman rushed it up ice. With Hyman driving the net, Selman got off a great shot that Slubowski stopped, but he left a juicy rebound. Selman jumped on it and was able to tuck it into the net.
Western didn't roll over, though. Two goals in just over a minute tied the game back up and both were the result of Michigan turnovers. After Serville and DeBlois failed to get the puck out of the zone, Szuma had to step up on Walters. That left Chase Balisy all alone in front of the net, as Copp had broken out of the zone when it looked like Michigan would clear. That's not the guy you want to give a lot of room to, and he made Michigan pay.
Moffatt then couldn't handle the puck in the neutral zone and WMU came back the other way. Hargrove wristed one past Racine on a two-on-one to even the game.
Michigan would respond three minutes later on an NHL-type play by Jacob Trouba. He picked up the puck on Michigan's side of center ice, beat one guy to gain the zone and then wound up for a slapshot. He froze the defenseman and Slubowski with the threat of a bomb, pulled it down, and lasered a wrist shot past both of them before they could move. It really isn't fair for a kid to have that kind of a slapshot only to have that kind of release and speed on a wrister as well.
Western came right back again, however. They got the puck back to Morrison at the point who flipped a shot on cage through a heavy screen that was deflected a couple of times on the way through. There was absolutely no chance for Racine to stop that one.
With Michigan on the power play in the third period, Trouba got the game-winner. He brought the puck from the left point over into the middle of the ice. Western Michigan got crossed up with who was supposed to be covering him and Trouba made them pay by bombing a shot through Slubowski. In the screen shot below, the WMU player between the top of the circles had shaded to the middle of the ice. The player nearest the blueline stopped moving to his left and was trying to pass Trouba off. You can see him pointing. That moment was all it took as Trouba was able to bring the puck to the top of the circle before uncorking one.
You can see the confidence that Red Berenson has in his young players, because which forwards were out there with less than two minutes to go in a one goal game? Sinelli, Hyman, Selman, Copp, etc.
Darren Eliot said something early in the game that I thought was interesting. He said that when he had seen the Wolverines before, he thought that their players were using the poor goaltending as an excuse not to work hard. Now that their goalie is stopping shots, the team's confidence in him has gone up, and they're all playing better. I don't know if that was the case, but I can tell you even from playing at the extremely low level of hockey that I play at, it's really deflating to work your butt off to get back into a game and then have a soft goal go in. Or to come out ready to play and find yourself down on a couple of soft goals. I'm an extremely competitive person and I hate losing more than I like winning. And I'm not going to say I've always skated my butt off in situations like that. I think there could potentially be something to that.
On Saturday Michigan finished the job without any drama. They took a 1-0 lead on another big goal by Kevin Lynch. Jon Merrill found him with an absolutely threaded pass from his own zone to the far blueline. Lynch broke in and snapped one past Slubowski.
Late in the period Michigan turned it over in their own end and Hargrove was able to put one through a screen to tie the game. Michigan outshot WMU 15-3 in the first period, but came out of it all tied up. Nieves had been absolutely robbed by Slubowski a couple of minutes before that.
In the second, though, the Wolverines left no doubt as to who was going to the Joe. They put four pucks past the WMU goaltenders, the third of which chased Slubowski from the game. Moffatt fed Treais, who took a shot from a really bad angle that Slubowski stopped. The WMU keeper was way out of position after making the save and was slow to get back into his net. Treais was able to corral the rebound and slide it back to Sinelli who put one into an empty net.
Guptill nearly made it 3-1 moments later as Trouba absolutely walked a Bronco and fed him in the slot. Slubowski made a big save. Guptill would have the last laugh, though. Moments after Slubowski robbed Lynch on another Trouba feed, the big defenseman got it to Moffatt who fed Copp in front. The puck bounced back into the slot and Guptill put it in through some traffic. Less than a minute later, the season would end for The Big Slubowski. PDG skated through seemingly the entire WMU team. His shot was stopped, but the rebound sat right in front of the net. A Bronco failed to clear and DeBlois was able to knock it home.
Different goalie, same result. Moffatt found Guptill with a nice pass, Guptill spun and beat Hafner. That was Moffatt's third assist of the period. WMU would outshoot Michigan 9-3 in the third period, including a couple of stretches in the middle of the period when they pulled their goalie while on the power play, but they weren't able to solve Racine, who is playing with all the confidence in the world.
Think that team is having fun? At the end of the highlight video, Lee Moffie comes into the celebration and yells out joyfully, "WE'RE GOING TO RICK'S!!!!!!"
Want a great stat? The Michigan PK is 41 of 42 in the third period this year.
Michigan will now take on Miami in the semifinals, just as they did back in 2010 when they were in a win-or-go-home situation. The RedHawks are another great defense (#2, just .03 behind Quinnipiac), mediocre offense (#37). They do have Ryan McKay in net, however. He has a 1.20 goals against average and a .954 save percentage. More on Miami a little later this week. Should Michigan advance, they'll play the winner of OSU and Notre Dame for the CCHA Championship and the coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With that win, Michigan heads to the Joe for the 24th consecutive season. That makes for 21 straight senior classes that made it to the Joe all four years. Impressed, Rico?
Alex Guptill now has points in 9 straight (including seven multi-point games) and has matched the 33 points he scored as a freshman. Since Ohio State weekend when Michigan's hot streak started, no player in the nation has more points than Alex Guptill. PDG has 14 points in his last 12. Trouba is one goal away from tying the Michigan freshman defenseman record of 13, and is in striking distance of Jack Johnson's freshman points record. Since Racine retook the goaltending duties, he is 7-0-1 with a 1.98 goals against and a .919 save percentage.
In other CCHA news, it appears the Red Wings are close to signing goaltender Jared Coreau to a contract. Love that signing if it happens. Big goalie, who was outstanding for the Wildcats. He was a big reason I (incorrectly) picked them to finish high up in the standings than most. Nice to see them dipping into the college free agent waters.
It was the first time all season that WMU had given up 4+ goals in back-to-back games, just the second time all season they had given up 3+ goals in back-to-back games, and, incredibly, just the second time since November they had given up even two-or-more in consecutive games.
They advanced to the CCHA semifinals thanks to a 100% team effort. Steve Racine provided great goaltending (even in giving up 3 on Friday night, he couldn't really be faulted for any of the goals). Outside of a couple of blips on Friday the defense was outstanding. The offense lit up one of the nation's best in Frank Slubowski, chasing him on Saturday. The power play scored in both games and was 2-for-7 on the weekend. The PK was a perfect 9-for-9. It doesn't get a whole lot more well-rounded than that.
Michigan was able to turn Friday night's tilt into an up-and-down the ice kind of game, which is the style they traditionally have liked to play. PDG gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead on a nifty pass from Kevin Lynch. Lynch carried the puck in deep and threaded the needle between two Broncos to give PDG a great opportunity and he buried it.
Justin Selman, who may have played the best hockey of his Michigan career this weekend, added a goal before intermission. Hyman made a nifty play to get the puck to Selman in traffic in the Michigan zone and Selman rushed it up ice. With Hyman driving the net, Selman got off a great shot that Slubowski stopped, but he left a juicy rebound. Selman jumped on it and was able to tuck it into the net.
Western didn't roll over, though. Two goals in just over a minute tied the game back up and both were the result of Michigan turnovers. After Serville and DeBlois failed to get the puck out of the zone, Szuma had to step up on Walters. That left Chase Balisy all alone in front of the net, as Copp had broken out of the zone when it looked like Michigan would clear. That's not the guy you want to give a lot of room to, and he made Michigan pay.
Moffatt then couldn't handle the puck in the neutral zone and WMU came back the other way. Hargrove wristed one past Racine on a two-on-one to even the game.
Michigan would respond three minutes later on an NHL-type play by Jacob Trouba. He picked up the puck on Michigan's side of center ice, beat one guy to gain the zone and then wound up for a slapshot. He froze the defenseman and Slubowski with the threat of a bomb, pulled it down, and lasered a wrist shot past both of them before they could move. It really isn't fair for a kid to have that kind of a slapshot only to have that kind of release and speed on a wrister as well.
Western came right back again, however. They got the puck back to Morrison at the point who flipped a shot on cage through a heavy screen that was deflected a couple of times on the way through. There was absolutely no chance for Racine to stop that one.
With Michigan on the power play in the third period, Trouba got the game-winner. He brought the puck from the left point over into the middle of the ice. Western Michigan got crossed up with who was supposed to be covering him and Trouba made them pay by bombing a shot through Slubowski. In the screen shot below, the WMU player between the top of the circles had shaded to the middle of the ice. The player nearest the blueline stopped moving to his left and was trying to pass Trouba off. You can see him pointing. That moment was all it took as Trouba was able to bring the puck to the top of the circle before uncorking one.
You can see the confidence that Red Berenson has in his young players, because which forwards were out there with less than two minutes to go in a one goal game? Sinelli, Hyman, Selman, Copp, etc.
Darren Eliot said something early in the game that I thought was interesting. He said that when he had seen the Wolverines before, he thought that their players were using the poor goaltending as an excuse not to work hard. Now that their goalie is stopping shots, the team's confidence in him has gone up, and they're all playing better. I don't know if that was the case, but I can tell you even from playing at the extremely low level of hockey that I play at, it's really deflating to work your butt off to get back into a game and then have a soft goal go in. Or to come out ready to play and find yourself down on a couple of soft goals. I'm an extremely competitive person and I hate losing more than I like winning. And I'm not going to say I've always skated my butt off in situations like that. I think there could potentially be something to that.
On Saturday Michigan finished the job without any drama. They took a 1-0 lead on another big goal by Kevin Lynch. Jon Merrill found him with an absolutely threaded pass from his own zone to the far blueline. Lynch broke in and snapped one past Slubowski.
Late in the period Michigan turned it over in their own end and Hargrove was able to put one through a screen to tie the game. Michigan outshot WMU 15-3 in the first period, but came out of it all tied up. Nieves had been absolutely robbed by Slubowski a couple of minutes before that.
In the second, though, the Wolverines left no doubt as to who was going to the Joe. They put four pucks past the WMU goaltenders, the third of which chased Slubowski from the game. Moffatt fed Treais, who took a shot from a really bad angle that Slubowski stopped. The WMU keeper was way out of position after making the save and was slow to get back into his net. Treais was able to corral the rebound and slide it back to Sinelli who put one into an empty net.
Guptill nearly made it 3-1 moments later as Trouba absolutely walked a Bronco and fed him in the slot. Slubowski made a big save. Guptill would have the last laugh, though. Moments after Slubowski robbed Lynch on another Trouba feed, the big defenseman got it to Moffatt who fed Copp in front. The puck bounced back into the slot and Guptill put it in through some traffic. Less than a minute later, the season would end for The Big Slubowski. PDG skated through seemingly the entire WMU team. His shot was stopped, but the rebound sat right in front of the net. A Bronco failed to clear and DeBlois was able to knock it home.
Different goalie, same result. Moffatt found Guptill with a nice pass, Guptill spun and beat Hafner. That was Moffatt's third assist of the period. WMU would outshoot Michigan 9-3 in the third period, including a couple of stretches in the middle of the period when they pulled their goalie while on the power play, but they weren't able to solve Racine, who is playing with all the confidence in the world.
Think that team is having fun? At the end of the highlight video, Lee Moffie comes into the celebration and yells out joyfully, "WE'RE GOING TO RICK'S!!!!!!"
Want a great stat? The Michigan PK is 41 of 42 in the third period this year.
Michigan will now take on Miami in the semifinals, just as they did back in 2010 when they were in a win-or-go-home situation. The RedHawks are another great defense (#2, just .03 behind Quinnipiac), mediocre offense (#37). They do have Ryan McKay in net, however. He has a 1.20 goals against average and a .954 save percentage. More on Miami a little later this week. Should Michigan advance, they'll play the winner of OSU and Notre Dame for the CCHA Championship and the coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With that win, Michigan heads to the Joe for the 24th consecutive season. That makes for 21 straight senior classes that made it to the Joe all four years. Impressed, Rico?
Alex Guptill now has points in 9 straight (including seven multi-point games) and has matched the 33 points he scored as a freshman. Since Ohio State weekend when Michigan's hot streak started, no player in the nation has more points than Alex Guptill. PDG has 14 points in his last 12. Trouba is one goal away from tying the Michigan freshman defenseman record of 13, and is in striking distance of Jack Johnson's freshman points record. Since Racine retook the goaltending duties, he is 7-0-1 with a 1.98 goals against and a .919 save percentage.
In other CCHA news, it appears the Red Wings are close to signing goaltender Jared Coreau to a contract. Love that signing if it happens. Big goalie, who was outstanding for the Wildcats. He was a big reason I (incorrectly) picked them to finish high up in the standings than most. Nice to see them dipping into the college free agent waters.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wolverines Face WMU in Do-or-Die Series
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| It's been all smiles for Steve Racine as of late. Photo: Bill Rapai |
The task is daunting--the Broncos have only lost twice at home all season (13-2-3) and Michigan needs to beat them twice in a three-game span. WMU was 3-1-0 in the four games this year, splitting a pair at Yost before sweeping Michigan in Kalamazoo.
Here's the good news, though: Western can't score goals. They rank tied for 51st in the country (out of 59) in offense at 2.31 goals per game. The only teams with a worse offense are Harvard, Army, FYS (snicker), Bemidji, Maine (snicker), SEAWOLF, and Alabama-Huntsville. They're tied in offense with Sacred Heart who damn-near thought about trying to go 0fer this season. All eight of those other teams appear in a list of the 13 worst teams in the country by winning-percentage.
The reason WMU does not, and the reason they rank 8th in winning percentage? Their defense is really fricken good. They rank 3rd in team defense, giving up a stingy 1.92 goals per game. The only teams better? Quinnipiac and Miami, #1 and #3 in the PWR.
Since scoring 8 goals in a series against Michgan back in January, the Broncos have scored 5, 2, 4, 4, and 5 goals in their weekends since. They're 3-3-4 over that stretch. They've scored either 1 or 0 goals in a game in each of their last 4 series, so they've been vulnerable to a stink bomb. Michigan, on the other hand, since scoring just 3 goals while getting swept by the Broncos, has been held below 3 just one time. They've scored 8, 8, 11, 5, 9 in their last five series.
What does that mean? If the offense can put a few pucks in the net, they're going to have a chance to win this series. That's hard-hitting analysis right there, but it's true. WMU is 0-7-1 this year when they give up more than 2 goals, so they really can't outscore teams. The problem is that most teams haven't been able to put many pucks past Slubowski. Michigan only scored six times in four games this year, so easier said than done.
What they can't do is give up the soft goal that plagued them earlier in the year because Frank Slubowski is good enough to not give them back. WMU has only lost two games the entire season when giving up two-or-fewer goals: one in Michigan's 2-0 win at Yost and one in their last outing, a 1-0 loss to FYS. They were, however, taken to overtime on seven different occasions when they gave up two-or-fewer, so the offense doesn't always score enough goals to win even when Slubowski is keeping teams at bay.
I realize that I just told you "If the offense plays well, the defense plays well, and the goaltending plays well, Michigan will have a chance to win this series" and that's as "no crap" as it gets, but the Broncos play a lot of really low-scoring games. Goals in this series are like three-pointers in a basketball game against Wisconsin: They mean a little bit more than they normally do. If you can get to 3, you're going to win.
WMU has two double-digit goal scorers: Senior Dane Walters (12-12--24) and junior Chase Balisy (10-14--24). Those two and freshman defenseman Kenney Morrison (7-12--19) each have six power play goals. They make up the bulk of WMU's middle-of-the-pack power play, which is 28th at 17.8%. It feels like Walters has always killed Michigan, and it turns out he has. He has 7-5--12 in 12 games against the Wolverines. Mike Leone is about a half-point a game guy, but he's averaged more than a point per game against the Wolverines and has averaged a point per game in his postseason career, so he could be a guy to watch as well.
Rearguard Danny DeKeyser is Jacob Trouba's defense "partner" on the All-CCHA First Team. Luke Witkowski made the second team. Neither of those guys have put up huge offensive numbers (15 and 10 points, respectively) so that shows you the respect they have around the league as solid defensive defensemen.
Walters, their leading scorer, is also up for the CCHA Best Defensive Forward honors. DeKeyser is up for Best Defensive Defenseman (an award he won last season), and Morrison is up for Best Offensive Defenseman, which is totally going to Trouba.
In net, it's been The Big Slubowski all the way. The CCHA Second Team goalie has earned every decision this season and has yielded only 87 minutes of playing time to his backup. He has a 1.85 goals against average and a .922 save percentage. Only two guys have played more minutes this year. Slubowski is 4-2 with a 2.01/.924 against Michigan in his career.
Western Michigan has eliminated Michigan from the CCHA Tournament the past two seasons, but their wins in Kalamazoo this year were the first times they had beaten Michigan at Lawson since 2003, so the Wolverines are no strangers to winning in that building.
On the Michigan side, Kevin Lynch is the guy to have a huge weekend. He has 12 points in 12 games against the Broncos and we know how he does in big games. Nieves and Copp each had 3 points in four games this year. No Wolverine aside from Lynch has scored more than twice against WMU.
Friday night's game will air on FSN Detroit. Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) will be streamed on WMU's pay-per-view website.
Not gonna lie, I like Michigan's chances. I'll take the Wolverines in 3.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Michigan Sweeps First Round Series With NMU
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| Photo: Bill Rapai |
Well if the message for Saturday's game was to play desperate, message received. Michigan flat out dominated the Wildcats on Saturday, winning 6-2 and firing 50 shots at poor Jared Coreau in the NMU net.
Michigan outshot the Wildcats 12-5 in the first period on Friday's contest and put in three special teams goals. Northern Michigan took a Too Many Men penalty five minutes into the game and it came back to bite them. Jon Merrill took a shot from the point that was tipped on the way through. It came out to Coreau's right where CJ Ludwig tried to clear. He inadvertently knocked it into his own net for a 1-0 lead, and yet another sign that the puck luck might be starting to favor the Maize and Blue.
Scott Macaulay took a hooking penalty midway through the period and Michigan would capitalize once again. AJ Treais's shot from the point skipped out to Coreau's right, where Kevin Lynch was waiting. He buried it to give Michigan a two goal advantage. That was Lynch's 8th of the year, but it wouldn't be his last of the night.
Jacob Trouba took a hooking penalty and Ludwig was trying to bring the puck up ice as the Wildcats were changing. He got tangled up with one of the players changing, and Lynch picked his pocket like Ludwig was Keith Appling. He raced in all alone, made a nifty little shot fake to freeze Coreau, pulled it across the crease, and lifted the puck into the net. The move was good enough that I was celebrating before the puck even went in. I mean, he deked his way to a completely empty net. Yet another big-game goal for Kevin Lynch, in a career full of them.
Walt Kyle's team didn't roll over, however. They came out in the second period and turned the tide on the Wolverines, outshooting them 14-6 and scoring a couple of goals to get back into the game. After a strong forecheck to recover a lost faceoff in the Michigan end, Wade Epp's shot from the point was tipped by Kory Kaunisto, and after a review for a potential high stick, the goal was awarded.
Their other goal was on a fairly innocent-looking play. The Wolverines got shifted a little too much toward the right side of the ice and it left Bennett alone with two guys in the middle of the ice. Vigier took the shot, Racine left a rebound, and it was Nowick pouncing on it before Bennett could get to him.
The Wildcats had several other chances in the period, but Racine kept them at bay. They nearly tied it on a wraparound where the Nowick brought it back into the slot. Racine tracked him through traffic and made a really nice stop.
The third was much more even. The best chance for either team was DeBlois winning a race for a puck and centering for Guptill, whose tip just missed. Selman also had a good chance denied by Coreau's right pad.
NMU pulled the goalie late, but didn't have any chances of any real significance, and Michigan was able to hang on for a 3-2 win. I wanted to give a tip of the cap to Szuma and Serville, who I thought both had good games. In the second period, Serville got his stick on a puck that was going to result in a really high-quality chance for NMU. In the first, Szuma made a very nice clear in traffic to prevent a grade-A chance as well. Serville sat Saturday night, so hopefully it was just the flu bug that was going around, and Red isn't reading this thinking I'm bats*** for thinking he made some nice plays on Friday.....
The power play was 2-for-3 and the PK killed off both NMU power plays, allowing just one shot in the process and scoring a goal of their own.
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| Copp was the #1 star Saturday night as Michigan cruised to the second round Photo: Bill Rapai |
The Wildcats had an early power play, but Michigan bottled them up pretty good. The best opportunity was when one of the Michigan forwards blocked a shot at the point and tied up his man enough to spring Moffie on a partial breakaway. An NMU player caught up and forced a backhand shot.
Michigan jumped out to an early lead once again and this time it was Alex Guptill scoring his 12th of the season on kind of an odd play. Guptill was in the corner and tried to center the puck. Both Nieves and PDG skated by it tied up with their men. The puck sat in the middle of the ice until Guptill went and got it himself. He slid it 5-hole for a 1-0 lead.
Michigan's power play went to work and Nieves bombed a shot off the post. It looked like something you would have seen Trouba shoot. They had some sustained pressure, but NMU was able to kill it off. Michigan just missed finding PDG in the slot late in the power play.
Racine kept the Wildcats off the board with a great pad save on a tip by Higby in front of the net. Following that, a strong shift by Michigan led to goal #2. They had pressure down in the Wildcat end for a good 30-45 seconds, and several scoring chances. The Wildcats were nearly able to clear, but a diving effort by Trouba to keep the puck in paid off. DeBlois centered the puck for Trouba and he just blasted one home. God that kid has a bomb....
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| Trouba laughs when opposing goalies try to stop his Trouba-ombs! (Or he actually laughs when Seckel gets the gate.) Photo: Bill Rapai |
Michigan made sure it didn't matter, however. They came out in the second and it was more of the same. The Wolverines went on the power play and PDG found Bennett at the point. With Moffatt cutting to the net and possibly screening the goalie a little bit, Bennett fired a shot home to make it 3-1.
Moffatt's stickhandling nearly led to another goal. There was a scramble in front of the net and a Wildcat defenseman had to cover the puck in the crease because Coreau somehow got shuffled off to the side and was absolutely nowhere to be found. Treais took the penalty shot and tried the same move he used to score on Motte in the shootout last week. Coreau stopped that one to keep it 3-1.
Nieves then brought it on a power move to the net. NMU grabbed him and was called for a penalty. He didn't break stride and got a darn good shot away. That one had me raising my eyebrows. Between that move and the shot he bombed off the post earlier....if he stays, and if he has a summer in the Michigan weight room, watch out next year. With that speed, that shot, and his size? He could easily be a 50-point scorer. He has 29 as a freshman, and has 15 points in his last 13 games. When I watch this team and think about guys that I see in the NHL, Trouba is the clear first choice, but I think Nieves is second on the list. I think the Rangers got another steal from the Michigan program, and I think the sky is the limit for Nieves. Don't forget, he was playing prep hockey last year, so this is the first time he's really faced this quality of competition as well.
Nieves's work in front led to another Michigan goal, this one by, who else, Andrew Copp. Copp dumped it in and Guptill tied up his man, which let Copp dig it out and send it back to the point. They swung it to Trouba who took a shot and Copp knocked in a rebound. It was 4-1 after 2 and shots were 39-9.
In the third, Treais won a draw and Moffatt ripped one home. Even though Moffatt seems to be kind of an "is what he is" guy at this point, which slight improvement in his point total from year to year, he has so many passes and plays that would make the highlight reel that it just feel like he could break out at some point, doesn't it? Maybe it never happens, but he's definitely got some offensive skill.
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| Andrew Copp prepares for his penalty shot. He would score to give Michigan a 5-1 lead Photo: Bill Rapai |
Racine made two good stops to keep the game 6-1, one on a little tip in front that he got down to block, and another spectacular save on a 2-on-1. The Wildcats would slip one past him with just about a minute to go in their season as Fullmer shot back to Racine's left as he slid right and just got it past his toe. Still, a 6-2 win for the Wolverines in dominating fashion, and they advance to the second round of the CCHA Tournament.
Their opponent will be: The Western Michigan Broncos. By seeding, Michigan appeared to be headed for South Bend to take on the Irish, who were 4-0 against Michigan this year, but Michigan State has upset Alaska out in Alaska and the Spartans will head to Miami. That sends Bowling Green to South Bend, and Michigan heads to Kalamazoo.
Michigan was 1-3 against Western this year, but held a 2-0 lead in one game at Lawson before falling 3-2. The other was a blowout while Michigan was in their "fragile" phase. Western also won 4-1 at Yost (3-1 with an empty-netter). It'll be a tough series (they were 13-2-3 at home this year), but Western has been pretty inconsistent lately. More on them later in the week, hopefully.
In the meantime, the Wolverines can enjoy yet another series sweep, and yet another series where it certainly looks like they belong amongst the group of 16 teams playing for the NCAA Championship. They've still got a ton of work to do, but they're playing well at the right time. To steal a stat that Al Randall mentioned Friday night, Michigan has now given up 2 or fewer goals on 12 occasions this season. They've done it in four straight and 6 of the last 10, however. They've also given up 3 or fewer in 10 of the last 13 and in six straight. That's a good sign as they face a WMU team that is certainly not a high-powered offense. The Broncos are just 51st in the country at 2.31 goals per game. They're good because they only give up 1.92 goals per game (3rd in the country). Michigan can't let WMU put a lot of pucks in the net, because Slubowski (9th in GAA, 26th in save percentage) isn't going to give you a whole lot.
Monday, March 04, 2013
Much More Like It
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| The seniors had reason to celebrate on Senior Night once again Photo: Bill Rapai |
At this point, all I think they can really do is try to nail down home ice in the first round of the CCHA Tournament and try to be playing their best hockey come mid-March, as that's the only way they're getting in the tournament. (Does anyone hear Jim Mora when I say that?) And honestly, I'd put more of an emphasis on the latter. Try different line combos, different defense pairings when they have the bodies, since Rutledge is theoretically your most talented goalie, make it known that he's getting a few starts without having to look over his shoulder to see if that can get rid of some of his yips. Bring in Greg Harden. Anything they can come up with. Outside of home ice in round one, these remaining games really don't matter. The at-large bid is gone. Mid-March is when this team will get a chance to play and salvage their season like the team from three years ago, and everything should be pointed toward that goal. Whatever it takes.
They gave Rutledge his shot, but after 11 goals allowed in 5 periods against Notre Dame (most definitely not all his fault, but still, 2+ goals per period ain't getting it done), they turned back to Steve Racine. Outside of that? Mission accomplished. With a sweep of the Buckeyes and a 5-point weekend against Ferris State, Michigan locked up the 7-seed in the CCHA Tournament and the home playoff series that comes with it. It's impossible to not think they're playing their best hockey of the year right now, having taken 5+ points in three of their last four series, and played Notre Dame tough in the other (though the score didn't indicate it).
The offense has turned it around in a big way, scoring 31 goals in a 7-game stretch beginning with the home game against Michigan State. They've averaged 4 goals per game over their last four series. The defense has improved as well, holding Ferris State to two goals on the weekend and keeping Ohio State to six.
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| Racine was the difference, and that is a great sign heading into the postseason. Photo: Bill Rapai |
The biggest reason for confidence heading into the CCHA Tournament, however, is the play of Racine. For maybe the first time all season, the Wolverines could say they had a goaltender win them a game. Red Berenson did, in fact, say as much after the Senior Night shootout win over the Ferris State Bulldogs. From the sound of it, he was spectacular early. He was certainly spectacular late, holding the Bulldogs off the board on a breakaway in the waning seconds of overtime that was aided by having seven players on the ice, and stopping all three Bulldogs in the shootout.
I only got to see one period of action against the Buckeyes last weekend (the second period of Friday night's game), but it was the best period of hockey I've seen Michigan play all season. Ohio had one brief segment where they pressured Michigan late in the period, but aside from that, the entire session was played in OSU's end of the ice. The Buckeyes aren't Miami, but they're a solid-enough team and Michigan took it to them on their home ice for large chunks of time.
During Friday night's win over Ferris, I commented that Michigan looks like a completely different team than they did even against the Irish. Confidence is a funny thing. People have speculated that the opening-night loss to RIT and some of the early-season struggles sent the team into a funk that they couldn't get out of. The team didn't have confidence in the goaltending, some of the scorers weren't scoring, and they had a hard time responding to adversity. It's amazing what a few good things happening can do.
On Friday night, the Wolverines jumped on top 2:40 into the game when Zach Hyman was able to knock home a shot. DeBlois added another goal before the midway point in the first period off a rebound from Copp's glorious chance. Ferris drew back within 1 on a fluky play when Moffie cross-checked a guy into the crease and he was allowed to stay there for pretty much as long as he wanted. Racine was impeded, but they played on and Ferris scored.
Even after that goal, however, there didn't seem to be the "Oh, here we go...." feeling that seemed to accompany every goal against this season. The Bulldogs managed 17 shots over the second and third period, but only had a couple of grade-A scoring chances. It was a pretty awesome defensive effort and Racine was there when they needed him, making a couple of big stops along the way while the game was still in doubt. He seemed calm and comfortable in the crease, which is also something that hasn't been a common site this year.
Moffatt helped Michigan regain their two-goal lead off a great saucer pass from PDG. He took it off his skate, pulled the puck to his right and was able to tuck it past Motte as he was falling to the ice. Moffatt doesn't score a ton of goals, but they always seem to be worthy of the highlight-reel. Lee Moffie closed out the scoring on a play that seemed to indicate that maybe, just maybe, the bounces are starting to go Michigan's way. He flipped a shot from the point that skipped off the ice and eluded Motte.
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| That is a very smart Bulldog! Your cup will not protect you from a TROUBA-OMB! Also, hockey players are amazing. Photo: Bill Rapai |
On Saturday, it wasn't just the final regular season game for the seniors, it was the final regular season game for Michigan as a member of the CCHA. This one was a true goaltenders' duel. Racine (24 saves) and Motte (35 saves) were the #1 and #2 stars of the game. Both allowed just a single goal in regulation, but it was Treais getting the better of Motte in the shootout for the bonus point to the Wolverines. That point gave Michigan the #7 seed, which means they'll host Northern Michigan instead of Bowling Green next weekend. Possibly more importantly, however, the extra point means the Wolverines would get either Notre Dame (if Alaska beats FYS) or WMU (if FYS upsets Alaska) should they advance to the second round. If they were the 8-seed, they would have needed an upset to avoid a trip to Oxford.
Home ice wasn't even a certainty late in the game, however. Ferris State needed to win the game outright (not in a shootout) to host their second-round series against the Buckeyes, so they pulled their goalie in sudden-death overtime and it darn-near worked as Racine had to stop a breakaway opportunity with about 15 seconds left in the extra session.
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| Senior Kevin Lynch came through in his final regular season game at Yost Photo: Bill Rapai |
Kevin Lynch scored the lone goal for the Wolverines as Andrew Copp continued his stellar play by finding Lynch all alone in the slot. Ferris evened the game on a shot that deflected in off a Wolverine midway through the game. Then the goalies would pitch shutouts the rest of the way, though both had a little help. Motte was added by the post and a video review that never conclusively showed if a Copp/Selman shot made it over the line. Racine was aided by a Bulldog blocking his teammate's shot that was headed for the back of the net. Both goalies made plenty of saves to keep the game tied, however, possibly none better than the save Racine made right before he had a little help from his Bulldog friend.
In the shootout, Treais snapped one past Motte's glove and that was enough for the extra point. Travis Ouellette had to have at least 4 breakaways in the game, including the one in the shootout, and he was denied on all of them. I don't know if I've ever seen an opposing player have so many great chances in a highlight reel and not bury any of them, but Racine was fantastic. Even the ones he didn't have to stop because the opposing player shot wide, he left nothing to shoot at.
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| Another dramatic Senior Night comes to an end. And so, too, does Michigan's regular season tenure in the CCHA. Photo: Bill Rapai |
Maybe Michigan doesn't go into the CCHA Tournament as the favorite, but they're certainly in the conversation. Northern will present a challenge. Should Michigan advance, they're going to have to go on the road and win 2 of 3 against a good hockey team who is still fighting for their tournament lives, be it Notre Dame or Western Michigan. Then, should they advance again, they have two must-win games at the Joe.
It won't be easy. They squashed their margin for error a couple of months ago. But whereas a month ago pretty much all Michigan fans would have agreed that they had a chance in the CCHA Tournament the same way that Lloyd Christmas still had a chance with Mary Swanson, now the outlook is much brighter. The offense is clicking, the defense is getting healthy, they're getting quality play in net, their confidence is brimming, and they look like a Michigan hockey team is supposed to look.
Win six games like the 2010 team did from this very seed, and the struggles through November, December, and January don't matter anymore. Michigan still gets to play playoff hockey. It just becomes must-win a little sooner this year than in most year's past. They have a chance to salvage this, and if they keep playing like they have the past two weekends, they just might pull it off.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Wolverines Advance to the Joe!
Michigan drew a dangerous-but-underachieving Notre Dame team in round two of the CCHA Tournament and likely sent the Irish home for the season, sweeping the best-of-three series by 2-1 and 3-1 scores.
Friday night's contest was a goaltender duel, and Shawn Hunwick was slightly better than Steve Summerhays for the Irish. Michigan scored just over a minute into the contest when AJ Treais broke up a clearing attempt. Phil Di Giuseppe got off a nice shot that Summerhays got 90% of. It trickled in behind him, nicked the goalpost, and sat right on the goalline. Luke Glendening was driving the net and knocked it home.
That would be it for Michigan for the next 80 minutes of hockey. The Irish tied the game up about halfway through the third period. Hunwick stopped Tynan on a 2-on-1, but the Irish were able to regain control of the puck and get it to Anders Lee, who fired one past Shawn.
One overtime wasn't enough to settle things, even though both teams had numerous chances. Both goalies made some great saves to keep their respective team alive, and both goalies had some help from the iron. By my count (listening on the radio), the Wolverines hit three posts in the first overtime and the Irish hit a pair. Michigan had numerous chances early in the overtime. They had the benefit of a power play and nearly ended things several times, but couldn't get a puck to find the back of the net.
Early in the second OT, Travis Lynch and Jeff Rohrkemper won a battle on the sideboards for a puck. Lynch got it back to Bennett at the point, who found Chris Brown all alone by the faceoff circle to Summerhays's right. Brown sniped one shortside and the Wolverines had themselves a 1-0 lead in the series.
Hunwick made 37 stops in the contest. Tiny Jesus was spectacular at times, stopping numerous odd man rushes and flashing his glove to stymy the Irish (check out picture 25 in the photo gallery). Coach Berenson and Luke Glendening gave him credit for stealing that game.
The next night Michigan got out to a 3-0 lead behind two goals by David Wohlberg sandwiching a PDG tally. Notre Dame drew back within two on Peter Schneider's second of the year, but that was the last goal they'd score. Hunwick made 25 saves in the game, including a breakaway while it was still 0-0, and Michigan advanced to the CCHA semifinals for the 24th consecutive year. Hunwick is now 15-4 in playoff games.
Michigan took a 1-0 lead when Luke Glendening won a battle on the boards to get the puck down to PDG. Di Giuseppe centered for Wohlberg who put one off the water bottle.
The Wolverines increased their lead on another goal set up by an AJ Treais takeaway. He stripped Lorenz of the puck and threw one in front of the net that PDG tipped home. 6 1/2 minutes later, the Wolverines would score their last goal at Yost for the year. Alex Guptill tried to split the defense and had the puck poked away. It went right to Wohlberg who blasted one past Summerhays for his second of the game and 15th on the year.
Notre Dame scored just 19 seconds later to get back within two on a shot that Hunwick had no chance on. One of the Domers dumped one high off the glass out of the zone. Moffie caught it but was immediately knocked to the ice, which set up a 2-on-1 for Notre Dame down low. Sheahan got the puck across to Schneider and he was able to get one past Hunwick.
Notre Dame would come close on a shot that rolled up over Hunwick and down his back, but it somehow stayed out of the net. They had some chances in the waning moments, but the "second best" goalie in the CCHA prevented the Irish from making a game of it, and the Wolverines swept their rivals from South Bend.
For Notre Dame it's a likely end to a disappointing season that started with a lot of promise. The Irish went 10-2-3 out of the gate, Anders Lee looked like a Hobey contender, and then things pretty much just fell apart, even as their goaltending got better. (Summerhays had a sub-.900 save percentage at the time of the first meeting between these teams and ended up with a respectable-enough .910.)
The Wolverines will head to the Joe once again. Their opponent will be determined by the outcome of the lone Game 3 in the CCHA Playoffs tonight. If Ferris State beats Bowling Green, the Wolverines get Western Michigan. If the Falcons are victorious, they'll be the Wolverines' opponent. Miami absolutely rolled FYS and will be the fourth participant at the Joe.
Michigan now sits second in the Pairwise, behind only Boston College. Ferris State and Miami are 4th and 5th. Michigan State and WMU are part of a 3-way tie for 14th and the final two spots in the tournament. As things currently sit, they'd both be part of the field and Merrimack would be out. Merrimack has a Game 3 against Maine tonight. Northern, Notre Dame, Ohio, and Lake State are the next four teams out.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
CCHA Quarterfinals: Notre Dame Preview
Thanks to NMU losing a home playoff series to BGSU for the second year in a row, the Wolverines will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second round of the CCHA Tournament. Notre Dame advanced by putting Ohio out of their misery, 2-0 and 4-2.
In Friday night's contest, ND used two Billy Maday goals and 33 saves by Steve Summerhays (11 in each period) to take a 1-0 lead in the series. On Saturday, Ohio scored a pair of goals in the first period to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission, but the Irish scored three unanswered (including a Maday ENG to seal it) to end Ohio's season in all likelihood. Unbelievably, the Buckeyes were 14-4-1 on New Year's and won one game the rest of the season and finished the year .500.
Notre Dame is a more dangerous opponent than you'd typically expect to see in the second round as the #2 seed, but the Irish stumbled to an 8th place finish in the conference this year. They're 19-16-3 overall and were below .500 (12-13-3) in conference. Like Ohio, they got off to a good start (10-2-3 in their first 15), and then got wildly inconsistent. They lost 4-straight (including an ugly 9-2 loss to Northeastern), won 3 in a row, then went 6-10 down the stretch (including 5 straight losses, where they were outscored 18-4).
The offense hasn't been there lately and the defense has been hit or miss. The four goals they scored against Ohio in the clinching game of the first-round series was the first time they've put up more than 2 in a game since late January. They had gone 9-straight scoring two or fewer. The defense gave up 18 in their five game losing streak, but only gave up 25 over the past ten as a whole.
I can't imagine we'll see Mike Johnson in net. Steve Summerhays played both games last weekend, gave up 2 goals total, and made 30+ saves in both games. Johnson hasn't won since February 3 and has an ugly stat line: 9-10-3 with a 2.69/.883. Summerhays is 10-6 with a 2.43 and a .907. He's given up two goals in his past three starts, but lost his four starts prior to that. He was chased in two of them, including 5 minutes into a game against Ferris. Summerhays did hold Michigan to three goals on the weekend the last time these teams met.
Despite the offensive struggles (42nd nationally in offense), this team does have some talent up front. Everyone knows about TJ Tynan (13-28--41) and Anders Lee (16-17--33) by now. Behind them are Billy Maday and Riley Sheahan, who both have 20+ points. It doesn't seem like they get a whole heckuva lot out of the top two lines though. Outside of their top 5 forwards, no one has more than 5 goals (and no other forward has more than 11 points).
Tynan has been held in check lately. He has just one goal and four points in his last nine. He had two assists in ND's Friday-night win against Michigan earlier this year. Lee has scored goals in two of his last three, but before that he was held out of the goal column in 14-straight games and 23 of out his last 24(!!!!). He started the year with 12 goals in his first 11 games, but has really cooled off since.
Tynan, Lee, Maday, and Sheahan have combined for 24 power play goals on the season (also, all four of Robbie Russo's have come with the man advantage). ND is middle of the pack on the PP and PK.
None of the Wolverines have been overly successful against ND in their careers. No active player has more than 2 goals or 4 points against the Irish. Hunwick has a .931 save percentage, but hasn't gotten much help. He only has a 3-3-0 mark. The big stat in Michigan's favor: They've made the CCHA semifinals in 23 straight seasons.
All two/three games will be at Yost and will be 7:35 faceoffs. Saturday night's game will air on Comcast Local, but there is no TV for the other one/two games. This sure would be a nice time to have the live internet video back, Dave Brandon!
In Friday night's contest, ND used two Billy Maday goals and 33 saves by Steve Summerhays (11 in each period) to take a 1-0 lead in the series. On Saturday, Ohio scored a pair of goals in the first period to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission, but the Irish scored three unanswered (including a Maday ENG to seal it) to end Ohio's season in all likelihood. Unbelievably, the Buckeyes were 14-4-1 on New Year's and won one game the rest of the season and finished the year .500.
Notre Dame is a more dangerous opponent than you'd typically expect to see in the second round as the #2 seed, but the Irish stumbled to an 8th place finish in the conference this year. They're 19-16-3 overall and were below .500 (12-13-3) in conference. Like Ohio, they got off to a good start (10-2-3 in their first 15), and then got wildly inconsistent. They lost 4-straight (including an ugly 9-2 loss to Northeastern), won 3 in a row, then went 6-10 down the stretch (including 5 straight losses, where they were outscored 18-4).
The offense hasn't been there lately and the defense has been hit or miss. The four goals they scored against Ohio in the clinching game of the first-round series was the first time they've put up more than 2 in a game since late January. They had gone 9-straight scoring two or fewer. The defense gave up 18 in their five game losing streak, but only gave up 25 over the past ten as a whole.
I can't imagine we'll see Mike Johnson in net. Steve Summerhays played both games last weekend, gave up 2 goals total, and made 30+ saves in both games. Johnson hasn't won since February 3 and has an ugly stat line: 9-10-3 with a 2.69/.883. Summerhays is 10-6 with a 2.43 and a .907. He's given up two goals in his past three starts, but lost his four starts prior to that. He was chased in two of them, including 5 minutes into a game against Ferris. Summerhays did hold Michigan to three goals on the weekend the last time these teams met.
Despite the offensive struggles (42nd nationally in offense), this team does have some talent up front. Everyone knows about TJ Tynan (13-28--41) and Anders Lee (16-17--33) by now. Behind them are Billy Maday and Riley Sheahan, who both have 20+ points. It doesn't seem like they get a whole heckuva lot out of the top two lines though. Outside of their top 5 forwards, no one has more than 5 goals (and no other forward has more than 11 points).
Tynan has been held in check lately. He has just one goal and four points in his last nine. He had two assists in ND's Friday-night win against Michigan earlier this year. Lee has scored goals in two of his last three, but before that he was held out of the goal column in 14-straight games and 23 of out his last 24(!!!!). He started the year with 12 goals in his first 11 games, but has really cooled off since.
Tynan, Lee, Maday, and Sheahan have combined for 24 power play goals on the season (also, all four of Robbie Russo's have come with the man advantage). ND is middle of the pack on the PP and PK.
None of the Wolverines have been overly successful against ND in their careers. No active player has more than 2 goals or 4 points against the Irish. Hunwick has a .931 save percentage, but hasn't gotten much help. He only has a 3-3-0 mark. The big stat in Michigan's favor: They've made the CCHA semifinals in 23 straight seasons.
All two/three games will be at Yost and will be 7:35 faceoffs. Saturday night's game will air on Comcast Local, but there is no TV for the other one/two games. This sure would be a nice time to have the live internet video back, Dave Brandon!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
A Small Consolation
After a very subpar performance against Western Michigan the night before, Michigan was at least able to get back a little bit of momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament by knocking off Notre Dame 4-2 in the CCHA Consolation Game.
Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead on a fluky goal. Shawn Hunwick cleared the puck around the boards, but it struck the official and bounced right back into the slot where Riley Sheahan was able to put it in.
Michigan then came back with a pair of goals 15 seconds apart. Caporusso came in on a two-on-one and opted to shoot, beating Summerhays to tie the game. Hagelin then put a shot through from around the faceoff dot to make it 2-1 Michigan.
The Wolverines extended their lead in the third period. Mac Bennett let a shot go from the point that deflected off a defenseman. Summerhays lunged to cover it, but Jeff Rohrkemper just beat him to it and got enough of the puck to knock it over the goal line.
Notre Dame crawled back within one with about 1:20 left in regulation as TJ Tynan was able to bang home a rebound.
The Wolverines appeared to seal the game when Scooter Vaughan had a breakaway on an empty net from center ice in. He ended up scoring but the whistle had gone several seconds earlier. The referee ruled a hand pass and blew the play dead. Upon review, there were a couple of things wrong with that call. First, Vaughan touched the puck while it was still in the Michigan zone and hand passes are legal in your own end. Second, Vaughan was the player who played the puck with his glove in the first place. It was as bad of a call as you'll ever see. It gave Notre Dame a chance to tie the game back up. Fortunately Luke Glendening was able to put one into the empty net that did count, and Michigan escaped with a 4-2 win.
The hero of the game was Shawn Hunwick, who made a regulation career-high 42 saves in the victory. Michigan was outshot by a 44-23 margin, including 16-6 in the final frame. Hunwick made a slew of top-notch saves, but none was better than a glove stop he made on Calle Ridderwall in the third period, which prompted me to make a "Call him Kevin Quick, because he just robbed a Swede" joke. The media continued with the trend of not making him the #1 star when he was at his best. Caporusso got the nod, which, okay. He did have a goal and an assist in the 15-second span that gave us the lead, but Hunwick was fantastic once again.
The seniors end their careers 16-4-0 at Joe Louis Arena. Caporusso had 13-7--20 in those games.
So now it's off to the NCAA Tournament. USCHO has Michigan projected to be the #2 seed in the St. Louis regional, facing Nebraska-Omaha in the first round. If we advance, we would play the winner of Boston College and Colorado College.
Adam Wodon from CHN has Michigan the #2 seed in the Manchester, NH regional. He also has us facing UNO in the first round, but he would have us playing the winner of Miami/UNH if we advance. UNH is hosting yet again.
As a reminder, we were 1-1-0 against UNO this season. Both games were at Yost. We lost the opening game of the series 4-2 before throttling them 6-1 Saturday night. The Mavericks have struggled down the stretch, going 3-5-0 in their last 8 and 1-4-0 in their last 5. They've been very inconsistent since early December, sweeping only 2 series the remainder of the year (St. Cloud and Wiscy, both at home).
The selection show airs at 11:30 EDT on ESPN2.
Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead on a fluky goal. Shawn Hunwick cleared the puck around the boards, but it struck the official and bounced right back into the slot where Riley Sheahan was able to put it in.
Michigan then came back with a pair of goals 15 seconds apart. Caporusso came in on a two-on-one and opted to shoot, beating Summerhays to tie the game. Hagelin then put a shot through from around the faceoff dot to make it 2-1 Michigan.
The Wolverines extended their lead in the third period. Mac Bennett let a shot go from the point that deflected off a defenseman. Summerhays lunged to cover it, but Jeff Rohrkemper just beat him to it and got enough of the puck to knock it over the goal line.
Notre Dame crawled back within one with about 1:20 left in regulation as TJ Tynan was able to bang home a rebound.
The Wolverines appeared to seal the game when Scooter Vaughan had a breakaway on an empty net from center ice in. He ended up scoring but the whistle had gone several seconds earlier. The referee ruled a hand pass and blew the play dead. Upon review, there were a couple of things wrong with that call. First, Vaughan touched the puck while it was still in the Michigan zone and hand passes are legal in your own end. Second, Vaughan was the player who played the puck with his glove in the first place. It was as bad of a call as you'll ever see. It gave Notre Dame a chance to tie the game back up. Fortunately Luke Glendening was able to put one into the empty net that did count, and Michigan escaped with a 4-2 win.
The hero of the game was Shawn Hunwick, who made a regulation career-high 42 saves in the victory. Michigan was outshot by a 44-23 margin, including 16-6 in the final frame. Hunwick made a slew of top-notch saves, but none was better than a glove stop he made on Calle Ridderwall in the third period, which prompted me to make a "Call him Kevin Quick, because he just robbed a Swede" joke. The media continued with the trend of not making him the #1 star when he was at his best. Caporusso got the nod, which, okay. He did have a goal and an assist in the 15-second span that gave us the lead, but Hunwick was fantastic once again.
The seniors end their careers 16-4-0 at Joe Louis Arena. Caporusso had 13-7--20 in those games.
So now it's off to the NCAA Tournament. USCHO has Michigan projected to be the #2 seed in the St. Louis regional, facing Nebraska-Omaha in the first round. If we advance, we would play the winner of Boston College and Colorado College.
Adam Wodon from CHN has Michigan the #2 seed in the Manchester, NH regional. He also has us facing UNO in the first round, but he would have us playing the winner of Miami/UNH if we advance. UNH is hosting yet again.
As a reminder, we were 1-1-0 against UNO this season. Both games were at Yost. We lost the opening game of the series 4-2 before throttling them 6-1 Saturday night. The Mavericks have struggled down the stretch, going 3-5-0 in their last 8 and 1-4-0 in their last 5. They've been very inconsistent since early December, sweeping only 2 series the remainder of the year (St. Cloud and Wiscy, both at home).
The selection show airs at 11:30 EDT on ESPN2.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Turrible.
Western looked like the hungrier team. Michigan was done in by silly penalties, poor penalty killing, and a largely uninspiring performance.
The Broncos scored 4 in the second period en route to a 5-2 win.
DeBlois got called from hitting from behind (or boarding, whatever they're calling it these days) in the first period. Looked like the guy turned after he had committed to the hit, but whatever. Then on the power play, Merrill plowed the net off it's moorings on the most obvious penalty to put us down on a 5-on-3 since Komisarek chucked the puck out of the zone against St. Cloud.
Of course WMU scored. Langlais wrapped it around the boards, didn't get it out. WMU got set up and put a shot past Hunwick. That was really the only thing that happened in the first, as Michigan outshot Western by a whopping 6-4 count.
My computer actually went to sleep from a lack of typing early in the second period. DeBlois went off for another hit from behind and WMU scored again. Wrister from the high slot that went in and out really quickly, but it was clearly a goal.
After a too many men call on Michigan, the Broncos made it 3-0. Are you noticing a trend? There were three blocked shots in a row (one might have gotten through) before the rebound came out to the side for an easy tap in. Two Broncos could have scored that one.
Michigan then made it 3-1 off a Moffie shot through a Lynch screen. But with a little life, Sparks overskated a puck by the blueline and turned it over. That led to a partial breakaway. The guy shot from about 3 feet out and it juuuuuuust snuck through Hunwick and got over the goal line.
Hunwick then made a save, kicked out the rebound, stopped the next one. The puck was trickling toward the goal line and Merrill knocked it out of there------right onto the stick of O'Kane who buried it to give WMU a 5-1 lead.
Merrill then took a shot from the point that hit Sparks on the way through and brought Michigan to within 3, but that's as close as we'd get. I was in full-on fast-forward mode by that point.
Western looked like they wanted it more, and good for them. They've got a chance to get in the tournament, they were getting a little revenge for the way we stole one on Senior Night, and they definitely outplayed Michigan tonight. Our penalty kill has been better of late, but they went the route of killing off penalties as quickly as possible tonight--by giving up goals. It was pretty brutal.
We've seen these alarmingly bad performances before, and it's no less frustrating when we've got a tournament bid sewn up. The funny thing is, if all the favorites win tomorrow except for WMU over Miami, we're still a #1 seed.
As it stands right now, we're sitting 7th in the PWR and probably looking at a 2 seed, which is probably closer to where this team is at. Hopefully we'll have a better effort tomorrow against a Notre Dame team that got similarly thrashed in their semifinal.
The Broncos scored 4 in the second period en route to a 5-2 win.
DeBlois got called from hitting from behind (or boarding, whatever they're calling it these days) in the first period. Looked like the guy turned after he had committed to the hit, but whatever. Then on the power play, Merrill plowed the net off it's moorings on the most obvious penalty to put us down on a 5-on-3 since Komisarek chucked the puck out of the zone against St. Cloud.
Of course WMU scored. Langlais wrapped it around the boards, didn't get it out. WMU got set up and put a shot past Hunwick. That was really the only thing that happened in the first, as Michigan outshot Western by a whopping 6-4 count.
My computer actually went to sleep from a lack of typing early in the second period. DeBlois went off for another hit from behind and WMU scored again. Wrister from the high slot that went in and out really quickly, but it was clearly a goal.
After a too many men call on Michigan, the Broncos made it 3-0. Are you noticing a trend? There were three blocked shots in a row (one might have gotten through) before the rebound came out to the side for an easy tap in. Two Broncos could have scored that one.
Michigan then made it 3-1 off a Moffie shot through a Lynch screen. But with a little life, Sparks overskated a puck by the blueline and turned it over. That led to a partial breakaway. The guy shot from about 3 feet out and it juuuuuuust snuck through Hunwick and got over the goal line.
Hunwick then made a save, kicked out the rebound, stopped the next one. The puck was trickling toward the goal line and Merrill knocked it out of there------right onto the stick of O'Kane who buried it to give WMU a 5-1 lead.
Merrill then took a shot from the point that hit Sparks on the way through and brought Michigan to within 3, but that's as close as we'd get. I was in full-on fast-forward mode by that point.
Western looked like they wanted it more, and good for them. They've got a chance to get in the tournament, they were getting a little revenge for the way we stole one on Senior Night, and they definitely outplayed Michigan tonight. Our penalty kill has been better of late, but they went the route of killing off penalties as quickly as possible tonight--by giving up goals. It was pretty brutal.
We've seen these alarmingly bad performances before, and it's no less frustrating when we've got a tournament bid sewn up. The funny thing is, if all the favorites win tomorrow except for WMU over Miami, we're still a #1 seed.
As it stands right now, we're sitting 7th in the PWR and probably looking at a 2 seed, which is probably closer to where this team is at. Hopefully we'll have a better effort tomorrow against a Notre Dame team that got similarly thrashed in their semifinal.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
CCHA Quarterfinals: BGSU Preview
Last weekend, Bowling Green went up to Northern Michigan and became the first lowest-seeded team ever to win a CCHA playoff series by upsetting the #6-seeded Wildcats. Their reward is a trip to Yost and a second-round series with the Michigan Wolverines.
NMU took a 1-0 lead in the series, but BGSU advanced after 2-0 and 2-1 (2ot) wins. In doing so, they won two games in a row for the first time since October 22nd and 23rd against Alabama-Huntsville. (They did win and then pick up a shootout win in late January.) For the regular season in the CCHA they were 3-21-4-2, so to pick up a pair of wins on the road was pretty impressive. They actually did pick up a win against Notre Dame. They also knocked off NMU and LSSU in conference.
The Falcons were far and away the last place team in the CCHA. They scored 15 points on the season. Michigan State was 10th with 35. They were also a distant last in goals scored. Their 41 in 28 games was a full 18 behind Ferris State. They were also tied for last in goals allowed with NMU.
The offense is really, really bad. They didn't score more than three goals against a team not named Alabama-Huntsville this season (though they did have 5, 4, and 5 against UAH). They scored exactly three goals on seven occasions, but it's worth pointing out that three of those were against ND and Miami. The first game of the series against NMU (a 6-3 loss) was the only time they've scored more than two goals in 2011. Since then, they've gone 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 0, 3, 2, 2. That's ugly. They currently rank dead-last in offense at just 1.85 goals per game.
That said, they've been playing pretty decent defense. For a team that was last in the CCHA in goals allowed, they've only given up 28 goals in their last 12 games. That's not too bad, especially considering 11 of those were over 2 games. In the other 10 games, they've only given up 17. They're 34th in team defense at 2.92 goals per game.
They're led up front by sophomore Jordan Samuels-Thomas, who has followed up his 25 point freshman campaign with 9-12--21 in 34 games this year. Freshman Brett Mohler has 7-10--17 on the year. Nobody else has more than 6 goals or 15 points.
They've gotten absolutely nothing offensively out of their defensemen. No defender has more than nine points and their blueline as a whole has 7-23--30 (along with 1 PPG).
In net they had a time-split for a good chunk of the season, but senior Nick Eno has given way to sophomore Andrew Hammond. Eno did get in during Game 1 of the NMU series after Hammond got the hook, but Hammond played games 2 and 3 and allowed just one goal on 74 shots in helping the Falcons to advance. Despite playing 8 of his last 9 on the road, Hammond has given up just 17 goals over that stretch (and just 19 goals in his last 11). For the year, he is 6-15-3 with a 2.50/.918. He's solid, though the Wolverines did touch him up for 4 goals on 20 shots earlier in the year. For his career against Michigan he's 0-2-0 with a 4.98/.833. Eno has been better, 1-5-0 with a 2.64/.914, but I don't expect to see him this weekend unless it's in a relief role.
They're middle of the pack in penalties at 14.0 minutes per game. Their penalty kill is 29th at 81.9%, and they've had to kill off 35 more penalties than Michigan has. Their PP, as you would expect, sucks. They're 56th at 10.9%. They're -19 on special teams this season.
Michigan has won 5 in a row in the series. Caporusso has 4-7--11 in 8 career games against BGSU. Chris Brown has 5 points in 6 games. Hagelin (10 games) and Wohlberg (8 games) have identical 2-6--8 lines, and Matt Rust has scored 4 times. Shawn Hunwick won his only appearance against BGSU. He has a 1.00 goals against and a .944 save percentage.
We should do pretty well on draws this weekend. BGSU has one guy who has taken almost 500 faceoffs and has won fewer than 40%. David Solway is their top regular faceoff man at 52.2%. Out of the three guys who have taken 400+ faceoffs, only one is higher than 45% and he's at 50.2%. We're going to have the puck a lot.
Samuels-Thomas has had a fair amount of success against Michigan. He has 2-3--5 in 6 games. Solway has 5 points as well. The team as a whole has a 6-11--17 line in 140 career man-games.
The bottom line: We're much better than this team. They've had a terrible time putting the puck in the net. They were able to win a couple of games last weekend by keeping NMU off the scoreboard. Hammond is a solid goalie, but Michigan has gotten to him when they've played him, granted he's been really good in the second half of the season. Unless Hammond absolutely stands on his head, this should be a sweep and a fairly easy one if Michigan plays their game.
Sickness:
Red Berenson (Coach), Jon Merrill (Freshman, Offensive Defenseman, Defensive Defenseman), and Carl Hagelin (Player of the Year, Best Defensive Forward) were named finalists for various CCHA awards. Gotta say, that's kind of gross that Merrill is a finalist for both awards for defensemen as a freshman. Please come back for one more year. Please?
The Hunwick Snub:
Carl Hagelin was named to the All-CCHA First Team and Merrill was named to the Second Team (in addition to being on the All Rookie team). Brandon Burlon was an honorable mention. I think there are a couple of snubs there. I know Krug was the leading scorer amongst defensemen, but if a kid is named one of the three best offensive defensemen and one of the three best defensive defensemen in the conference--and only took four penalties the entire season--how is he not one of the top two defensemen in the conference? Sorry, that's a snub.
The bigger one though, in my opinion, is no postseason hardware for Shawn Hunwick. Four goalies in the CCHA got more votes than him (Nagle, Greenham, Reichard, and Kapalka). I have no problem with Nagle. I'm pretty sure I mentioned either here or on The Wolverine that I thought he would be a great choice. He got Ferris State a bye despite getting just a tick over 2 goals per game in support. He ran away with first-team honors. To be fair, the difference between Hunwick in 5th and Greenham in 2nd was 3 points.
You want to vote for Nagle, I've got no problem with it. But Cody Reichard? Come the f*** on. Hunwick had him in wins (14 to 9), goals against (1.94/2.04) and killed him in save percentage (.931 to .914). Oh, and Miami scored 11 more goals during conference play. It's not like we were winning games 5-4. Give me some rationale for picking Reichard over Hunwick. Reichard outplayed him head to head. That's it. For the course of the conference season it wasn't even close. I suspect Shawn doesn't care that much, but it's ridiculous that a guy with a 1.94/.931 for the conference champions finished 5th in the voting. That's turrable.
Having a Seat Over There: Alex Talcott
Nice find by Jason at MHNet, who has been killing it lately. Alex Talcott, a 5'11", 180 lb forward for Detroit Honeybaked has committed to Michigan, likely for the incoming class of 2013. USHR had him as the #7 forward in the Select 15 Tournament last year. There's lots of good stuff over in the linked article if you want to read more about him.
This is a couple years old, but here's what his high school coach had to say about him:
"For lack of a better word, he's a freak of nature, and in a very good way. He's mature, strong, and naturally very athletic, complemented by the fact that he's a great kid with a good work ethic who does the things that he needs to do to get better."
He has 8-13--21 in 37 games this year.
Future NTDPers?
Tyler Motte and JT Compher were invited to the NTDP evaluation camp.
Cappy's Back?
According to an article in The Wolverine, Billy Powers said that "the impression he gets" is that we could have Caporusso back for the CCHA Semifinals, should we advance past BGSU. That's great news given that the initial prognosis was 3-6 weeks, which could have knocked him out for the year.
Keep Patch in Your Thoughts:
Former Wolverine Max Pacioretty was injured on a hit by Zdeno Chara the other night. Pacioretty suffered a concussion and a broken vertebrae. You be the judge. Chara was not suspended for the hit, but did receive a five minute major and a game misconduct.
NMU took a 1-0 lead in the series, but BGSU advanced after 2-0 and 2-1 (2ot) wins. In doing so, they won two games in a row for the first time since October 22nd and 23rd against Alabama-Huntsville. (They did win and then pick up a shootout win in late January.) For the regular season in the CCHA they were 3-21-4-2, so to pick up a pair of wins on the road was pretty impressive. They actually did pick up a win against Notre Dame. They also knocked off NMU and LSSU in conference.
The Falcons were far and away the last place team in the CCHA. They scored 15 points on the season. Michigan State was 10th with 35. They were also a distant last in goals scored. Their 41 in 28 games was a full 18 behind Ferris State. They were also tied for last in goals allowed with NMU.
The offense is really, really bad. They didn't score more than three goals against a team not named Alabama-Huntsville this season (though they did have 5, 4, and 5 against UAH). They scored exactly three goals on seven occasions, but it's worth pointing out that three of those were against ND and Miami. The first game of the series against NMU (a 6-3 loss) was the only time they've scored more than two goals in 2011. Since then, they've gone 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 0, 3, 2, 2. That's ugly. They currently rank dead-last in offense at just 1.85 goals per game.
That said, they've been playing pretty decent defense. For a team that was last in the CCHA in goals allowed, they've only given up 28 goals in their last 12 games. That's not too bad, especially considering 11 of those were over 2 games. In the other 10 games, they've only given up 17. They're 34th in team defense at 2.92 goals per game.
They're led up front by sophomore Jordan Samuels-Thomas, who has followed up his 25 point freshman campaign with 9-12--21 in 34 games this year. Freshman Brett Mohler has 7-10--17 on the year. Nobody else has more than 6 goals or 15 points.
They've gotten absolutely nothing offensively out of their defensemen. No defender has more than nine points and their blueline as a whole has 7-23--30 (along with 1 PPG).
In net they had a time-split for a good chunk of the season, but senior Nick Eno has given way to sophomore Andrew Hammond. Eno did get in during Game 1 of the NMU series after Hammond got the hook, but Hammond played games 2 and 3 and allowed just one goal on 74 shots in helping the Falcons to advance. Despite playing 8 of his last 9 on the road, Hammond has given up just 17 goals over that stretch (and just 19 goals in his last 11). For the year, he is 6-15-3 with a 2.50/.918. He's solid, though the Wolverines did touch him up for 4 goals on 20 shots earlier in the year. For his career against Michigan he's 0-2-0 with a 4.98/.833. Eno has been better, 1-5-0 with a 2.64/.914, but I don't expect to see him this weekend unless it's in a relief role.
They're middle of the pack in penalties at 14.0 minutes per game. Their penalty kill is 29th at 81.9%, and they've had to kill off 35 more penalties than Michigan has. Their PP, as you would expect, sucks. They're 56th at 10.9%. They're -19 on special teams this season.
Michigan has won 5 in a row in the series. Caporusso has 4-7--11 in 8 career games against BGSU. Chris Brown has 5 points in 6 games. Hagelin (10 games) and Wohlberg (8 games) have identical 2-6--8 lines, and Matt Rust has scored 4 times. Shawn Hunwick won his only appearance against BGSU. He has a 1.00 goals against and a .944 save percentage.
We should do pretty well on draws this weekend. BGSU has one guy who has taken almost 500 faceoffs and has won fewer than 40%. David Solway is their top regular faceoff man at 52.2%. Out of the three guys who have taken 400+ faceoffs, only one is higher than 45% and he's at 50.2%. We're going to have the puck a lot.
Samuels-Thomas has had a fair amount of success against Michigan. He has 2-3--5 in 6 games. Solway has 5 points as well. The team as a whole has a 6-11--17 line in 140 career man-games.
The bottom line: We're much better than this team. They've had a terrible time putting the puck in the net. They were able to win a couple of games last weekend by keeping NMU off the scoreboard. Hammond is a solid goalie, but Michigan has gotten to him when they've played him, granted he's been really good in the second half of the season. Unless Hammond absolutely stands on his head, this should be a sweep and a fairly easy one if Michigan plays their game.
Sickness:
Red Berenson (Coach), Jon Merrill (Freshman, Offensive Defenseman, Defensive Defenseman), and Carl Hagelin (Player of the Year, Best Defensive Forward) were named finalists for various CCHA awards. Gotta say, that's kind of gross that Merrill is a finalist for both awards for defensemen as a freshman. Please come back for one more year. Please?
The Hunwick Snub:
Carl Hagelin was named to the All-CCHA First Team and Merrill was named to the Second Team (in addition to being on the All Rookie team). Brandon Burlon was an honorable mention. I think there are a couple of snubs there. I know Krug was the leading scorer amongst defensemen, but if a kid is named one of the three best offensive defensemen and one of the three best defensive defensemen in the conference--and only took four penalties the entire season--how is he not one of the top two defensemen in the conference? Sorry, that's a snub.
The bigger one though, in my opinion, is no postseason hardware for Shawn Hunwick. Four goalies in the CCHA got more votes than him (Nagle, Greenham, Reichard, and Kapalka). I have no problem with Nagle. I'm pretty sure I mentioned either here or on The Wolverine that I thought he would be a great choice. He got Ferris State a bye despite getting just a tick over 2 goals per game in support. He ran away with first-team honors. To be fair, the difference between Hunwick in 5th and Greenham in 2nd was 3 points.
You want to vote for Nagle, I've got no problem with it. But Cody Reichard? Come the f*** on. Hunwick had him in wins (14 to 9), goals against (1.94/2.04) and killed him in save percentage (.931 to .914). Oh, and Miami scored 11 more goals during conference play. It's not like we were winning games 5-4. Give me some rationale for picking Reichard over Hunwick. Reichard outplayed him head to head. That's it. For the course of the conference season it wasn't even close. I suspect Shawn doesn't care that much, but it's ridiculous that a guy with a 1.94/.931 for the conference champions finished 5th in the voting. That's turrable.
Having a Seat Over There: Alex Talcott
Nice find by Jason at MHNet, who has been killing it lately. Alex Talcott, a 5'11", 180 lb forward for Detroit Honeybaked has committed to Michigan, likely for the incoming class of 2013. USHR had him as the #7 forward in the Select 15 Tournament last year. There's lots of good stuff over in the linked article if you want to read more about him.
This is a couple years old, but here's what his high school coach had to say about him:
"For lack of a better word, he's a freak of nature, and in a very good way. He's mature, strong, and naturally very athletic, complemented by the fact that he's a great kid with a good work ethic who does the things that he needs to do to get better."
He has 8-13--21 in 37 games this year.
Future NTDPers?
Tyler Motte and JT Compher were invited to the NTDP evaluation camp.
Cappy's Back?
According to an article in The Wolverine, Billy Powers said that "the impression he gets" is that we could have Caporusso back for the CCHA Semifinals, should we advance past BGSU. That's great news given that the initial prognosis was 3-6 weeks, which could have knocked him out for the year.
Keep Patch in Your Thoughts:
Former Wolverine Max Pacioretty was injured on a hit by Zdeno Chara the other night. Pacioretty suffered a concussion and a broken vertebrae. You be the judge. Chara was not suspended for the hit, but did receive a five minute major and a game misconduct.
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