Even with the emergence of Steve Racine down the stretch, there was speculation that the Wolverines would look to bring in a goalie next season. They've done so, picking up a commitment from Zach Nagelvoort today. Nagelvoort played this season for Aberdeen in the NAHL (he started the season with the Soo before being traded at his request to gain some more playing time). On the season he is 17-6-2 with an impressive 2.10/.936. Since being acquired by Aberdeen, Nagelvoort is 8-1-1 with a 1.66/.949. He ranks 3rd in the league in both GAA and save percentage (though his save percentage is only 2 points out of the top spot).
Despite some great play down the stretch from Nagelvoort, the Wings missed the playoffs. I've been told he'll be with the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL for their playoffs, so maybe he'll see some postseason action yet!
While he was on the Soo, they posted a long interview with him on YouTube:
Last year he was 10-6-1 with a 2.27/.921 with Traverse City and Kalamazoo in the NAHL.
MGoBlog dug up a quote from his coach in Aberdeen that was very complimentary:
“Zach came in and immediately injected the team with confidence. He is a very confident goaltender and person and it rubbed off on the rest of the team. We know we have a chance to win every night when he is in goal and during the last two months of the season, that was the mindset in every game and one of the reasons the team played so well.” Winter also said that Nagelvoort’s strengths in goal lies within his athleticism. “Zach is a very athletic goalie, who doesn’t give up on plays and he is very quick from side to side. He makes the 2nd and sometimes 3rd saves you need to stay in the game and keep momentum going and you almost never see a bad goal scored on him. I think all that combined with his confidence makes him an elite goaltender at this level.”
This gives Michigan five goalies on the roster for next season, with Racine, Jared Rutledge, Luke Dwyer, and Adam Janecyk. I think it's pretty automatic that one of them won't be with the team next year. Racine you'd figure is a lock and I have a hard time believing that Janecyk would leave before his senior year when he's proven to be at least capable. Dwyer has never really played, and there was talk (though I don't know if it was more than speculation) that Rutledge could go back to the USHL for a year to get some confidence back. Time will tell.
Even with Racine's play, there's definitely an opportunity to earn playing time. I'd imagine that Racine gets first crack at the job, but, like last year, the best player is going to play.
Showing posts with label recruiting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recruiting. Show all posts
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Having a Seat Over There: One Buzzer In, One Buzzer Out
Yesterday the St. Michael's Buzzers pipeline to Ann Arbor was tapped once again, with 2014 defenseman Jared Walsh offering up his commitment to the Maize and Blue. Today, however, a former Buzzer is out. Daniel Milne, a freshman forward, left the hockey team to sign with Owen Sound of the OHL.
Walsh played for Team Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge where he had a pair of assists in five games. Last season he played for the Toronto Marlboros and scored 4-11--15 in 35 games.
You can follow him on Twitter at @3jwalsh. He was a second-round pick of Missassauga of the OHL. So there's that.
While one Buzzer pledged his commitment, another decided to head back to Ontario. It was announced today that Milne had left the hockey team. He had played in just seven games this season and had not tallied a point.
From the linked article in The Daily, Red voiced his disappointment but noted that Milne was in good academic standing. He'll be playing for the Owen Sound Attack in the OHL. He picked Michigan over Notre Dame (and Owen Sound). Michigan had liked (PDF link) his skating ability as well as his ability to play at both ends of the ice. I'm not a fan of players bailing midseason, but given Michigan's struggles up front and the fact that he wasn't playing very often, some frustration is certainly understandable (assuming this move is for more playing time). But seriously, F the O.
Walsh, a 5'11", 175 blueliner from Toronto, has a goal and 15 assists in 34 games for the Buzzers. He's also got 20 PIMs and six points on the power play. That's good for a tie for 34th in the league amongst defensemen, but 3rd amongst 1996-birthdays. At least 20 of the guys in front of him are either 92s or 93s.
The Buzzers' Head Coach and GM said the following about Walsh (this link has a little more detail than the previous version that was cycling around yesterday):
He has developed into a very high end defenceman early in his rookie year. He has become a force on special teams and brings a unique bag of speed, smarts, toughness and a very heavy shot. He's becoming a quiet leader and is very deserving of the attention and accolades.
Walsh played for Team Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge where he had a pair of assists in five games. Last season he played for the Toronto Marlboros and scored 4-11--15 in 35 games.
You can follow him on Twitter at @3jwalsh. He was a second-round pick of Missassauga of the OHL. So there's that.
While one Buzzer pledged his commitment, another decided to head back to Ontario. It was announced today that Milne had left the hockey team. He had played in just seven games this season and had not tallied a point.
From the linked article in The Daily, Red voiced his disappointment but noted that Milne was in good academic standing. He'll be playing for the Owen Sound Attack in the OHL. He picked Michigan over Notre Dame (and Owen Sound). Michigan had liked (PDF link) his skating ability as well as his ability to play at both ends of the ice. I'm not a fan of players bailing midseason, but given Michigan's struggles up front and the fact that he wasn't playing very often, some frustration is certainly understandable (assuming this move is for more playing time). But seriously, F the O.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
GLI Preview
After a disaster of a first-half, the Wolverines come back from the Christmas break looking to get back to the program's usual winning ways. A shutout win over Western Michigan to close the semester was a nice start. Now they'll take on Michigan Tech and either Michigan State or those same Broncos in the 48th Great Lakes Invitational.
The tournament was originally supposed to take place yesterday and today at Comerica Park, but because this is a lockout year in the NHL it was moved back indoors to the familiar confines of Joe Louis Arena and shifted to the current Saturday/Sunday format.
Michigan's first opponent is the Michigan Tech Huskies, and this will be the first time that Red Berenson has gone head-to-head against longtime assistant coach Mel Pearson, now the head man for the Huskies, as well as Assistant Coaches Steve Shields and Bill Muckalt.
In his first year, Pearson took the Huskies to just their second 15-win season since 98-99 with a 16-19-4 record, more wins than the previous three seasons combined. This year hasn't gone nearly as well, though. They currently sit at 4-10-3, bad for 11th in winning percentage in the WCHA. They do have a win over Minnesota to their credit. The other three have come against Bemidji State (2) and LSSU.
The Huskies are winless in their last seven contests. In their most recent action, they lost 6-1 and 4-1 at home against North Dakota. They've also only scored 7 goals in their last five games.
They're led in goals by sophomore Blake Pietila's 10. Pietila, however, is playing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Russia and will miss the GLI. To even things up, Michigan will be missing Jacob Trouba for the same reason. The Huskies' next leading goal-scorer is Dennis Rix with five. Both freshman Alex Petan and sophomore David Johnstone have 13 points on the season (4-9--13 lines) to lead the team. Petan has gone scoreless in his last five games, but Johnstone has been on fire. He has 10 points in his last eight games. All of Jujhar Khaira's 3 goals have come on the power play. Steven Seigo has 4 goals and 8 points on the blueline. They don't get a lot of offense out of the rest of them.
In net, they haven't been so dissimilar to Michigan. Freshman Pheonix (sic) Copley is 1-6-0 with a 4.36/.851 (this is the part where you say "Oh hell, those numbers are better than Rutledge's" and start cursing John Gibson and the bank account of the Kitchener Rangers*) and Jamie Phillips is 0-1. Senior Kevin Genoe is 3-3-3 with a 3.28/.902. Copley has only played one game since early November and has given up 3+ goals in every game he's played this year. Phillips's start was on 12/4, but it's been mostly Genoe over the last two months. I'm guessing we'll see Genoe because, yeah.
The Wolverines have won 10 in a row and 18 of 19 against Michigan Tech. All of the GLI games will air on either Fox Sports Detroit or FSD+.
On Sunday, the Wolverines will draw either the 5-10-2 Spartans or the 11-4-1 WMU Broncos, in a rematch of a really entertaining series at Yost from a couple of weeks ago. I'm not expert, but it seems like we're going to need all the PWR help we can get, so it'd be a nice boost to get wins over Michigan Tech (WCHA opponent) and Western Michigan (RPI, record against TUC), even if realistically the Wolverines are probably going to need to win the CCHA Tournament to make the NCAAs unless they get on a mega-run.
In other news, Mike Spath reported that Jon Merrill is skating with the team, and could return as soon as next weekend, pending the outcome of a doctor visit on 1/2. Again, that would be huge for Michigan's chances of getting this thing turned around. The defense has been part of the problem and adding one of the best defensemen in the country certainly helps with that.
Trouba is over in Russia at the World Junior Championships. Team USA is 1-1-0 after dropping a 2-1 decision to the host team today. Trouba has goals in both games, and was named Team USA's most outstanding player after today's game.
There have also been a couple of recruiting tidbits bandied about. Spath mentioned that the team is evaluating options in net for the future. As he said, it's too late for 2013 and they'd have to get cracking to find someone for 2014, but the play in net has been too poor and too inconsistent to chance it that one of the two will be the long-term answer. I still think it's too early to give up on either Racine or Rutledge (though I firmly think that Janecyk should be given every chance to steal the job). We saw how bad Sauer was when he started out and he was a pretty darn good goalie by the end of his time at Michigan. Some improved team defense combined with a couple of good outings in a row would probably do wonders. The problem is that they probably waited too long for them to play their way out of it and the margin for error is completely gone. Berenson has indicated that it isn't a given that Janecyk will get the start (he wanted to see something in practice today) but I'd be shocked if he's not between the pipes given how the season has gone for the freshmen and how Janecyk fared in his last start.
The other tidbit is that Keith Tkachuk and his son Matthew were at Yost visiting. Spath thinks there's maybe a 30-40% chance they land him.
*Because who likes people with money? I'm certainly not implying that the Rangers paid Gibson or did anything untoward in getting him to come play for them. Don't sue me, bro.
The tournament was originally supposed to take place yesterday and today at Comerica Park, but because this is a lockout year in the NHL it was moved back indoors to the familiar confines of Joe Louis Arena and shifted to the current Saturday/Sunday format.
Michigan's first opponent is the Michigan Tech Huskies, and this will be the first time that Red Berenson has gone head-to-head against longtime assistant coach Mel Pearson, now the head man for the Huskies, as well as Assistant Coaches Steve Shields and Bill Muckalt.
In his first year, Pearson took the Huskies to just their second 15-win season since 98-99 with a 16-19-4 record, more wins than the previous three seasons combined. This year hasn't gone nearly as well, though. They currently sit at 4-10-3, bad for 11th in winning percentage in the WCHA. They do have a win over Minnesota to their credit. The other three have come against Bemidji State (2) and LSSU.
The Huskies are winless in their last seven contests. In their most recent action, they lost 6-1 and 4-1 at home against North Dakota. They've also only scored 7 goals in their last five games.
They're led in goals by sophomore Blake Pietila's 10. Pietila, however, is playing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Russia and will miss the GLI. To even things up, Michigan will be missing Jacob Trouba for the same reason. The Huskies' next leading goal-scorer is Dennis Rix with five. Both freshman Alex Petan and sophomore David Johnstone have 13 points on the season (4-9--13 lines) to lead the team. Petan has gone scoreless in his last five games, but Johnstone has been on fire. He has 10 points in his last eight games. All of Jujhar Khaira's 3 goals have come on the power play. Steven Seigo has 4 goals and 8 points on the blueline. They don't get a lot of offense out of the rest of them.
In net, they haven't been so dissimilar to Michigan. Freshman Pheonix (sic) Copley is 1-6-0 with a 4.36/.851 (this is the part where you say "Oh hell, those numbers are better than Rutledge's" and start cursing John Gibson and the bank account of the Kitchener Rangers*) and Jamie Phillips is 0-1. Senior Kevin Genoe is 3-3-3 with a 3.28/.902. Copley has only played one game since early November and has given up 3+ goals in every game he's played this year. Phillips's start was on 12/4, but it's been mostly Genoe over the last two months. I'm guessing we'll see Genoe because, yeah.
The Wolverines have won 10 in a row and 18 of 19 against Michigan Tech. All of the GLI games will air on either Fox Sports Detroit or FSD+.
On Sunday, the Wolverines will draw either the 5-10-2 Spartans or the 11-4-1 WMU Broncos, in a rematch of a really entertaining series at Yost from a couple of weeks ago. I'm not expert, but it seems like we're going to need all the PWR help we can get, so it'd be a nice boost to get wins over Michigan Tech (WCHA opponent) and Western Michigan (RPI, record against TUC), even if realistically the Wolverines are probably going to need to win the CCHA Tournament to make the NCAAs unless they get on a mega-run.
In other news, Mike Spath reported that Jon Merrill is skating with the team, and could return as soon as next weekend, pending the outcome of a doctor visit on 1/2. Again, that would be huge for Michigan's chances of getting this thing turned around. The defense has been part of the problem and adding one of the best defensemen in the country certainly helps with that.
Trouba is over in Russia at the World Junior Championships. Team USA is 1-1-0 after dropping a 2-1 decision to the host team today. Trouba has goals in both games, and was named Team USA's most outstanding player after today's game.
There have also been a couple of recruiting tidbits bandied about. Spath mentioned that the team is evaluating options in net for the future. As he said, it's too late for 2013 and they'd have to get cracking to find someone for 2014, but the play in net has been too poor and too inconsistent to chance it that one of the two will be the long-term answer. I still think it's too early to give up on either Racine or Rutledge (though I firmly think that Janecyk should be given every chance to steal the job). We saw how bad Sauer was when he started out and he was a pretty darn good goalie by the end of his time at Michigan. Some improved team defense combined with a couple of good outings in a row would probably do wonders. The problem is that they probably waited too long for them to play their way out of it and the margin for error is completely gone. Berenson has indicated that it isn't a given that Janecyk will get the start (he wanted to see something in practice today) but I'd be shocked if he's not between the pipes given how the season has gone for the freshmen and how Janecyk fared in his last start.
The other tidbit is that Keith Tkachuk and his son Matthew were at Yost visiting. Spath thinks there's maybe a 30-40% chance they land him.
*Because who likes people with money? I'm certainly not implying that the Rangers paid Gibson or did anything untoward in getting him to come play for them. Don't sue me, bro.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Having a Seat Over There: Nolan De Jong
When Brian Wiseman tweeted over the weekend that he was in the Seattle airport, I wondered if he was possibly doing some recruiting out West. Coincidence or not (I don't know if he was recruiting, and if he was I don't know who he went to see), the Wolverines have landed a player from the Pacific Northwest.
According to his Twitter account (@JongShow), Victoria Grizzlies defenseman Nolan De Jong (6'2" 180) has committed to the Wolverines. He was originally a Cornell commit for 2014-15, but says that he will be enrolling next year at Michigan.
In 15 games this year, De Jong has 2-9--11 with 2 power play goals and six penalty minutes. He's fourth on his team in scoring, the top-scoring defenseman, and he's a 95-birthday, while the guys in front of him are all 93s or older. There are only four defensemen in the league with more points at the moment. A year ago, he had 2-15--17 in 56 games for the Grizzlies, en route to winning the team's Rookie of the Year award (along with the Scholastic Award and the Governor's Award).
The Grizz Roar Blog wrote the following about his performance last year:
The Grizzlies play in the BCHL. They're 10-4-0-1 on the season and sit in first place in the Island Division. They are currently 12th in the CJHL top 20 rankings, the second-highest BCHL team listed.
It doesn't look like the full roster has been released yet, but De Jong was named to Canada West's roster for the World Junior A Challenge selection camp, which will take place November 5-11. He was also named a "B" skater on Central Scouting's watch list, pegging him as a potential 2nd-3rd round pick. There were six players from the BCHL on that list, which also included Michigan-commit Dexter Dancs.
According to his Twitter account (@JongShow), Victoria Grizzlies defenseman Nolan De Jong (6'2" 180) has committed to the Wolverines. He was originally a Cornell commit for 2014-15, but says that he will be enrolling next year at Michigan.
In 15 games this year, De Jong has 2-9--11 with 2 power play goals and six penalty minutes. He's fourth on his team in scoring, the top-scoring defenseman, and he's a 95-birthday, while the guys in front of him are all 93s or older. There are only four defensemen in the league with more points at the moment. A year ago, he had 2-15--17 in 56 games for the Grizzlies, en route to winning the team's Rookie of the Year award (along with the Scholastic Award and the Governor's Award).
The Grizz Roar Blog wrote the following about his performance last year:
Nolan Dejong, had a tremendous rookie year last season, playing like seasoned BCHL vet rather than a 16 year old rookie. Dejong, is a defender who doesn't make a lot of mistakes, has great hockey sense and creates opportunities for the team whenever he's part of the attack. A solid two way player.
The Grizzlies play in the BCHL. They're 10-4-0-1 on the season and sit in first place in the Island Division. They are currently 12th in the CJHL top 20 rankings, the second-highest BCHL team listed.
It doesn't look like the full roster has been released yet, but De Jong was named to Canada West's roster for the World Junior A Challenge selection camp, which will take place November 5-11. He was also named a "B" skater on Central Scouting's watch list, pegging him as a potential 2nd-3rd round pick. There were six players from the BCHL on that list, which also included Michigan-commit Dexter Dancs.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Quartet of Wolverines Drafted, Trouba Goes 9th Overall
Four current and future Wolverines were drafted this weekend in the NHL's Entry Draft.
Incoming defenseman Jacob Trouba was the first college-bound player picked. He went 9th overall to the Winnipeg Jets. I was worried when the Penguins traded for the 8th overall pick and were said to be looking defense, but the Jets are the lucky team to end up with the defenseman who TSN compared to Adam Foote.
Phil Di Giuseppe went early in the second round to the Carolina Hurricanes. The New York Rangers had good luck in the past with a fast skater who was headed to Michigan, and they took another with Boo Nieves in the second round. Connor Carrick went to the Washington Capitals in the 5th round.
Trouba's highlight package on TSN included a clip of him absolutely obliterating an opposing player in a game when he was 11. He absolutely trucks that little bastard! The video is at the 1:58 mark:
Boom!
Trouba is the 17th Wolverine to go in the first round. Max Pacioretty was the most recent. Trouba reaffirmed his commitment to Michigan in his post-selection interviews, and actually made sure Winnipeg was aware that he'll be wearing maize and blue.
Di Giuseppe also said he'll be back next year.
Pro Hockey Talk had some profiles in the lead-up to the Draft:
Nieves (Learn about his nickname!)
Trouba
Bob Miller's College Hockey PROSPECTive also had profiles of Trouba (#1), Di Giuseppe (#6) and Nieves (#7) in their countdown of the top college-bound prospects available in the Draft.
Incoming defenseman Jacob Trouba was the first college-bound player picked. He went 9th overall to the Winnipeg Jets. I was worried when the Penguins traded for the 8th overall pick and were said to be looking defense, but the Jets are the lucky team to end up with the defenseman who TSN compared to Adam Foote.
Phil Di Giuseppe went early in the second round to the Carolina Hurricanes. The New York Rangers had good luck in the past with a fast skater who was headed to Michigan, and they took another with Boo Nieves in the second round. Connor Carrick went to the Washington Capitals in the 5th round.
Trouba's highlight package on TSN included a clip of him absolutely obliterating an opposing player in a game when he was 11. He absolutely trucks that little bastard! The video is at the 1:58 mark:
Boom!
Trouba is the 17th Wolverine to go in the first round. Max Pacioretty was the most recent. Trouba reaffirmed his commitment to Michigan in his post-selection interviews, and actually made sure Winnipeg was aware that he'll be wearing maize and blue.
“They respect that,” Trouba said. “I’m glad they do. I was pretty clear that that’s what I was doing and they knew that picking me. I’m set on going to Michigan.”
Di Giuseppe also said he'll be back next year.
Pro Hockey Talk had some profiles in the lead-up to the Draft:
Nieves (Learn about his nickname!)
Trouba
Bob Miller's College Hockey PROSPECTive also had profiles of Trouba (#1), Di Giuseppe (#6) and Nieves (#7) in their countdown of the top college-bound prospects available in the Draft.
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Having a Seat Over There: Dexter Dancs
Dexter Dancs, a forward for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, has committed to Michigan for the 2014-15 season.
Dancs played most of this past year with the Osoyoos Coyotes of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. He was second on the team in scoring with a 29-38--67 line in 42 games. The team's leading scorer, however, is four years older than Dancs. He had 9 goals on the power play and also chipped in with 8 game-winners, which led the team by a wide margin (the next highest had 3) and also led the league.
He contributed 6-6--12 in 6 playoff games. He was named the KIJHL Rookie of the Year for his efforts.
Dancs is a February 1995 birthday and is listed at 6'2", 180 lbs. He had 1 assist in 15 games with the Vees. He didn't play in the playoffs as the Vees won the Junior A Championship. He'll be up with them all year next year.
The Three V's has a long interview with Dancs about his commitment to the Wolverines. Dancs said, "I went there last week and I checked everything out. The arena was getting renovated and it just blew me away. The campus is beautiful. It was the first university I had ever seen and it was everything I had imagined it would be. It kind of blew me away. It's hard to say no."
He said the following about his first year in Junior B: "My goal was to get a point per game and I got a little bit more than that. I surprised myself, honestly, this year. I gained confidence and it really helped me out. Going up with the Vees helped me out more with my confidence."
He described himself as a "big guy" whose "skating is pretty good". He likes to use his feet and create opportunities for himself and his teammates.
He will be training back to North Vancouver this summer before heading back to Penticton to train with an assistant coach until training camp.
Dancs played most of this past year with the Osoyoos Coyotes of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. He was second on the team in scoring with a 29-38--67 line in 42 games. The team's leading scorer, however, is four years older than Dancs. He had 9 goals on the power play and also chipped in with 8 game-winners, which led the team by a wide margin (the next highest had 3) and also led the league.
He contributed 6-6--12 in 6 playoff games. He was named the KIJHL Rookie of the Year for his efforts.
Dancs is a February 1995 birthday and is listed at 6'2", 180 lbs. He had 1 assist in 15 games with the Vees. He didn't play in the playoffs as the Vees won the Junior A Championship. He'll be up with them all year next year.
The Three V's has a long interview with Dancs about his commitment to the Wolverines. Dancs said, "I went there last week and I checked everything out. The arena was getting renovated and it just blew me away. The campus is beautiful. It was the first university I had ever seen and it was everything I had imagined it would be. It kind of blew me away. It's hard to say no."
He said the following about his first year in Junior B: "My goal was to get a point per game and I got a little bit more than that. I surprised myself, honestly, this year. I gained confidence and it really helped me out. Going up with the Vees helped me out more with my confidence."
He described himself as a "big guy" whose "skating is pretty good". He likes to use his feet and create opportunities for himself and his teammates.
He will be training back to North Vancouver this summer before heading back to Penticton to train with an assistant coach until training camp.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Having a Seat Over There: Andrew Copp
Red Berenson isn't done adding players to the incoming class of 2012. Andrew Copp, an Ann Arbor native who has played with the NTDP the past couple of years, announced that he has committed to join the Wolverines next season.
Copp had 1-5--6 in 23 games for the Under 18s this year. He also spent nine games with the U17s and put up 5-6--11 in that span. Technically that was good for first on the team in points per game, though clearly that's a very small sample size and he was an older player. He missed a good chunk of the season with a broken collarbone suffered while quarterbacking Ann Arbor Skyline.
In 2010-11, he split time between the U17s (1-4--5 in 25 games), U18 (1-0--1 in 6 games), and Detroit Compuware (2-7--9 in 17 games).
Copp is listed as 6'0", 185 on the NTDP website.
Copp was also a part of the USA team that just brought home the gold medal at the U-18 World Championships. He had an assist on the game-winning goal in the gold medal game.
The obvious comparison (based on the situation moreso than style of play, as I've never seen Copp) is with Danny Fardig, another Ann Arbor native who split time between the U17s and U18s before becoming a very solid 3rd/4th liner for the Wolverines. Fardig wore 26 with the Wolverines, Copp wore 26 with the NTDP. There ya go.
The NTDP had a nice feature on him back in February. He was planning on playing a year in the USHL, but the chance to join the Wolverines is hard to pass up!
Copp had 1-5--6 in 23 games for the Under 18s this year. He also spent nine games with the U17s and put up 5-6--11 in that span. Technically that was good for first on the team in points per game, though clearly that's a very small sample size and he was an older player. He missed a good chunk of the season with a broken collarbone suffered while quarterbacking Ann Arbor Skyline.
In 2010-11, he split time between the U17s (1-4--5 in 25 games), U18 (1-0--1 in 6 games), and Detroit Compuware (2-7--9 in 17 games).
Copp is listed as 6'0", 185 on the NTDP website.
Copp was also a part of the USA team that just brought home the gold medal at the U-18 World Championships. He had an assist on the game-winning goal in the gold medal game.
The obvious comparison (based on the situation moreso than style of play, as I've never seen Copp) is with Danny Fardig, another Ann Arbor native who split time between the U17s and U18s before becoming a very solid 3rd/4th liner for the Wolverines. Fardig wore 26 with the Wolverines, Copp wore 26 with the NTDP. There ya go.
The NTDP had a nice feature on him back in February. He was planning on playing a year in the USHL, but the chance to join the Wolverines is hard to pass up!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Offseason Questions
As is always the case, now that the season is over, the question has to be asked: Beside the four seasons, who else are we going to lose? There are some obvious flight risks: Merrill, PDG, Bennett, Brown, and Trouba from the incoming freshman class.
The writers from The Michigan Daily got a hold of some of those players today and here are the current statuses:
PDG: Is coming back.
Merrill: Hasn't decided what he is going to do. He'll talk with Red Berenson, amongst others, before making a decision "soon".
Bennett: "I'm not ready to leave this place yet. I love it too much. I'm coming back for sure."
Spath says that Red believes Merrill will return for his junior season. And that makes sense. If he was going to bail this summer, why hang around all year to only play half a season? Spath also mentioned that PDG has learned from some friends in the OHL, including Lucas Lessio, that they don't really like it there as much as they thought they would. That's not the first time I've heard that about Lessio, though that may have also come from The Wolverine.
Lou Lamoriello, GM of the New Jersey Devils, who hold Merrill's rights, says that, "As far as we know he's staying in school, unless he tells us otherwise. It's his decision."
As for the guys who have exhausted their eligibility, Wohlberg has signed a tryout contract with the Devils and will head to Albany of the AHL. Montreal wanted Pateryn to sign, but he's going to finish out the school year and graduate.
Red believes that Glendening could be an NHLer someday and that Hunwick will get a shot in the AHL/ECHL. They'll also be voting on captains for next year and the smart money seems to be on Brown with Treais and Bennett wearing letters.
The Daily had an excellent article about Hunwick's career and legacy. For the record, the blog Hunwick references was not this one. Though, just for giggles, I dug up a few things that I wrote about him when he committed.
Right when Shawn committed, Bryan Hogan had been rumored to either be spending another year in the USHL or heading to Erie of the OHL. If you read the message board at The Wolverine, you'll remember that Hogan was my signature picture with a caption that said something along the lines of, "Please save us." I was really down on Sauer. (To Billy's credit, he had one helluva junior season and a solid senior year even though the team couldn't play in front of him.) So here was the initial post:
Before the season I broke down the entire roster in individual posts over the span of about a month--this was when I didn't have a job and could do things like that!--and I wrote the following:
Some other good stuff I've read this week:
Hoover Street Rag goes with the Hockey Christmas thing and points out that sometimes Christmas ain't all that great. Really well-written piece.
MGoBlog has his typically excellent thoughts on the Cornell game.
Melissa from The Yost Post has her thoughts as well and seems to be just as stunned and saddened by the premature end to the season as I am.
Bob Miller's College Hockey Prospective has a fun read from Mike Bagley, firing a shot at the OHL and their recruiting practices. Bob also covered Connor Carrick in his countdown of the top NHL Draft prospects that appear to be college-bound.
In other news, Michigan commit Dylan Larkin became one of the first to sign with the NTDP for next year. (HT: Chris Peters)
Also, Travis Turnbull scored his first NHL goal the other night for Buffalo. It was the type of goal you'd expect Travis Turnbull to score in the NHL, and I mean that as a compliment. He also threw down for the first time and won that one against Nick Johnson.
Here's the goal:
Atta boy, Travis!
I think that's all I've got for tonight.
The writers from The Michigan Daily got a hold of some of those players today and here are the current statuses:
PDG: Is coming back.
Merrill: Hasn't decided what he is going to do. He'll talk with Red Berenson, amongst others, before making a decision "soon".
Bennett: "I'm not ready to leave this place yet. I love it too much. I'm coming back for sure."
Spath says that Red believes Merrill will return for his junior season. And that makes sense. If he was going to bail this summer, why hang around all year to only play half a season? Spath also mentioned that PDG has learned from some friends in the OHL, including Lucas Lessio, that they don't really like it there as much as they thought they would. That's not the first time I've heard that about Lessio, though that may have also come from The Wolverine.
Lou Lamoriello, GM of the New Jersey Devils, who hold Merrill's rights, says that, "As far as we know he's staying in school, unless he tells us otherwise. It's his decision."
As for the guys who have exhausted their eligibility, Wohlberg has signed a tryout contract with the Devils and will head to Albany of the AHL. Montreal wanted Pateryn to sign, but he's going to finish out the school year and graduate.
Red believes that Glendening could be an NHLer someday and that Hunwick will get a shot in the AHL/ECHL. They'll also be voting on captains for next year and the smart money seems to be on Brown with Treais and Bennett wearing letters.
The Daily had an excellent article about Hunwick's career and legacy. For the record, the blog Hunwick references was not this one. Though, just for giggles, I dug up a few things that I wrote about him when he committed.
Right when Shawn committed, Bryan Hogan had been rumored to either be spending another year in the USHL or heading to Erie of the OHL. If you read the message board at The Wolverine, you'll remember that Hogan was my signature picture with a caption that said something along the lines of, "Please save us." I was really down on Sauer. (To Billy's credit, he had one helluva junior season and a solid senior year even though the team couldn't play in front of him.) So here was the initial post:
Personally, I'm still hoping that Hogan is coming and can get back to last year's form to contend for the starting gig. It appears less likely with today's development, however. Then again, it's also possible that this is more of a "I'm probably not making the NHL, so I might as well go get a great education at Michigan rather than play for a D-3 school, and maybe I can play some in practice" decision rather than a "They need a 3rd goalie for a year or two since Hogan isn't coming, so why not?" decision. Either way, best of luck at Michigan to Shawn.Over the weekend, I was able to get confirmation that it was Steve Jakiel who was leaving and that Hunwick had put up impressive numbers in the MWEHL and got off to a good start in the NAHL before being injured.
Before the season I broke down the entire roster in individual posts over the span of about a month--this was when I didn't have a job and could do things like that!--and I wrote the following:
Expectations: I expect him to be the third goalie, but with Hogan's illness and Sauer's problem with not stopping the puck, the goalie position has been listed as wide open. Unfortunately, Shawn came down with an illness before the Blue/White game and didn't get into the Western Ontario game, so he hasn't had a chance to show what he can do in game action.At some point in there, I know I said that I never expected Matt to get a sniff in the NHL. I'm never doubting a Hunwick again. I still can't believe that it was 2 1/2 years before anyone realized that he could play and then he turned out to be Hobey-contender good. That truly was a remarkable story. I just wish he had gotten his Cinderella ending.
He'll be the backup until Hogan is well again, but I don't expect him to see a lot of playing time.
It is fair to point out that, despite lesser competition, he did have the best save percentage last year out of all three of our goalies.
Level of Necessity: 3 out of 10.
Probably a higher rating than your typical third-goalie would normally get because there's so much of an unknown at that position. I don't expect him to play, but if the other two falter and he shows something in practice, you never know what can happen.
If nothing else, maybe shooting on a shorter goalie (Hunwick is 5'7") in practice will help them better prepare for Jeff Lerg.
Some other good stuff I've read this week:
Hoover Street Rag goes with the Hockey Christmas thing and points out that sometimes Christmas ain't all that great. Really well-written piece.
MGoBlog has his typically excellent thoughts on the Cornell game.
Melissa from The Yost Post has her thoughts as well and seems to be just as stunned and saddened by the premature end to the season as I am.
Bob Miller's College Hockey Prospective has a fun read from Mike Bagley, firing a shot at the OHL and their recruiting practices. Bob also covered Connor Carrick in his countdown of the top NHL Draft prospects that appear to be college-bound.
In other news, Michigan commit Dylan Larkin became one of the first to sign with the NTDP for next year. (HT: Chris Peters)
Also, Travis Turnbull scored his first NHL goal the other night for Buffalo. It was the type of goal you'd expect Travis Turnbull to score in the NHL, and I mean that as a compliment. He also threw down for the first time and won that one against Nick Johnson.
Here's the goal:
Atta boy, Travis!
I think that's all I've got for tonight.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Winter Classic Closer to Reality; NHL Midterm Rankings Released
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| Picture this, but with Wings/Leafs maybe? Photo: Tim Williams |
Jeff Arnold, formerly of AnnArbor.com, reported for Yahoo that the NHL is in "advanced discussions" with the University of Michigan to host the Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium in 2013.
One source told Arnold that Dave Brandon was initially against the idea but "something happened to make it go from looking like it could happen to [a point where] it probably will."
It was also reported that the NHL will make an announcement by January 29th and that they said next year's event will "break records". It's hard to think of any non-sarcastic record that a game at Comerica Park would break, so it's sounding like the NHL at the Big House is a very real possibility.
A source also told Arnold that if the game does happen at Michigan Stadium, it will be the only event played. That makes sense, given that the GLI would be just a couple of days earlier, and that's a Detroit event.
In other news, the NHL released their midterm rankings for the 2012 draft. Seven future Wolverines appear on the list, with the highest-ranking player being Jacob Trouba.
Here is the list:
North American Skaters:
9-Jacob Trouba (6'2", 193 defenseman from the NTDP)
28-Phil Di Giuseppe (You know who he is)
31-Cristoval "Boo" Nieves (6'2.75", 184 forward from the Kent School)
82-Alex Kile (5'11", 189 forward from the Green Bay Gamblers)
157-Connor Carrick (5'11", 185 defenseman from the NTDP)
175-Justin Selman (6'0", 190 center from the Sioux Falls Stampede)
North American Goalies:
36-Jared Rutledge (5'10.5", 171 from the NTDP)
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Steven Racine
Michigan has another goalie for next year! Steven Racine, the keeper for the Georgetown Raiders of the OJHL, has verbally committed to Michigan. USHR.com first reported that the former Taft goalie had committed, and MHNet confirmed it publicly via some conversations over Twitter.
In the three games he's played for Georgetown, he's 3-0-0 with a 1.30 goals against and a .961 save percentage. He pitched a 26-save shutout in his first appearance for the team. He most recently made 48 saves in a 4-3 overtime win. He had previously been with the Westside Warriors in the BCHL, where he was 7-9-0 with a 3.10/.885. After winning seven of his first nine starts this year, the Warriors went into a huge slump. They made a change after he dropped seven straight decisions, though it doesn't sound like he had a lot of help.
Prior to the BCHL, he spent quite a bit of time in the USHL and the EJHL.
Racine--and I will never say his last name without sounding like Kit from A League of Their Own--is listed at 6'3", 190 and hails from New York.
MHNet has a quote from a guy in OHL Central Scouting who called Racine a "good, solid goalie" and "Athletic, but nothing flashy".
He is expected to backup Jared Rutledge. He sounds like a solid enough pickup. He's a little bit older, he's got some experience playing in a variety of leagues, and he's got good size.
In the three games he's played for Georgetown, he's 3-0-0 with a 1.30 goals against and a .961 save percentage. He pitched a 26-save shutout in his first appearance for the team. He most recently made 48 saves in a 4-3 overtime win. He had previously been with the Westside Warriors in the BCHL, where he was 7-9-0 with a 3.10/.885. After winning seven of his first nine starts this year, the Warriors went into a huge slump. They made a change after he dropped seven straight decisions, though it doesn't sound like he had a lot of help.
Prior to the BCHL, he spent quite a bit of time in the USHL and the EJHL.
Racine--and I will never say his last name without sounding like Kit from A League of Their Own--is listed at 6'3", 190 and hails from New York.
MHNet has a quote from a guy in OHL Central Scouting who called Racine a "good, solid goalie" and "Athletic, but nothing flashy".
He is expected to backup Jared Rutledge. He sounds like a solid enough pickup. He's a little bit older, he's got some experience playing in a variety of leagues, and he's got good size.
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Split With Alaska
After the losing skid reached five and the unbeaten streak reached seven with a 4-3 loss to Alaska on Friday night, the Wolverines were finally back in the win column on Saturday. Alex Guptill scored less than a minute into the extra session to give the Wolverines a 1-0 win.
On Friday night, PDG gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead 2:47 into the contest. Alaska would tie the game in the middle of the first period just after a power play ended, and Michael Quinn and Colton Beck scored 7 seconds apart in the middle frame to give Alaska a 3-1 lead. Moffie cut it back to one just over a minute later. Beck scored again 5 minutes into the third. David Wohlberg cut it back to one with about nine minutes left to play, but despite a 17-5 shot advantage in the third, Michigan was unable to capitalize again.
Serville had maybe the best game of his Michigan career statistically, with 2 assists and a +3 rating. PDG had 1-1--2 and was +2. Greg Pateryn blocked 6 shots on the night.
The loss dropped Michigan to 10th place in the CCHA.
The next night, the Wolverines seemed to be in danger of seeing their winless streak extend to 8. After 60 minutes of play, the score remained 0-0. Guptill scored unassisted on a deflected shot just 57 seconds into the extra frame to give Michigan a much-needed win. That was Guptill's team-high sixth shot on goal of the night.
Shawn Hunwick made 25 stops in the victory. The Wolverines were unable to solve Scott Greenham on their first 41 shots of the night, but #42 was the winner.
The power play was scoreless on 8 attempts on the weekend (including a 5-on-3 that lasted an entire two minutes on Saturday), but the PK was perfect on 8 Alaska attempts and killed off a Brennan Serville boarding penalty late in the third of the scoreless contest).
The win pulled Michigan back into a tie with Miami for eighth place in the CCHA. They are only five points out of 4th, however. All the teams in the CCHA have played the same number of games, with the exception of FYS who has two games in hand on the field (and currently sits 3 points ahead of Michigan).
FYS is the next opponent on the slate. The teams will play at Yost on Friday night (on Fox Sports Detroit) before heading to East Lansing is a whore for Saturday's game, which will air on the Big Ten Network, who finally decided to stop being useless from a hockey perspective.
The Wolverines will have to do it on Saturday night without PDG, who will be attending Canada's World Junior Championships tryout camp. Several familiar names were on the 29-man list of Team USA's preliminary roster, which will be later cut to 22: Jon Merrill and Jacob Trouba (who is listed as Jake) made the list. It appears the USA goaltending duo will be former Wolverine commits. Both Jack Campbell and John Gibson are on the roster with Andy Iles listed as the emergency goalie.
In other news, according to the official Twitter account of the Hamilton Red Wings, commit Spencer Hyman was named to the OJHL All-Star Team. Hyman has 2-10--12 in 17 games this year.
On Friday night, PDG gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead 2:47 into the contest. Alaska would tie the game in the middle of the first period just after a power play ended, and Michael Quinn and Colton Beck scored 7 seconds apart in the middle frame to give Alaska a 3-1 lead. Moffie cut it back to one just over a minute later. Beck scored again 5 minutes into the third. David Wohlberg cut it back to one with about nine minutes left to play, but despite a 17-5 shot advantage in the third, Michigan was unable to capitalize again.
Serville had maybe the best game of his Michigan career statistically, with 2 assists and a +3 rating. PDG had 1-1--2 and was +2. Greg Pateryn blocked 6 shots on the night.
The loss dropped Michigan to 10th place in the CCHA.
The next night, the Wolverines seemed to be in danger of seeing their winless streak extend to 8. After 60 minutes of play, the score remained 0-0. Guptill scored unassisted on a deflected shot just 57 seconds into the extra frame to give Michigan a much-needed win. That was Guptill's team-high sixth shot on goal of the night.
Shawn Hunwick made 25 stops in the victory. The Wolverines were unable to solve Scott Greenham on their first 41 shots of the night, but #42 was the winner.
The power play was scoreless on 8 attempts on the weekend (including a 5-on-3 that lasted an entire two minutes on Saturday), but the PK was perfect on 8 Alaska attempts and killed off a Brennan Serville boarding penalty late in the third of the scoreless contest).
The win pulled Michigan back into a tie with Miami for eighth place in the CCHA. They are only five points out of 4th, however. All the teams in the CCHA have played the same number of games, with the exception of FYS who has two games in hand on the field (and currently sits 3 points ahead of Michigan).
FYS is the next opponent on the slate. The teams will play at Yost on Friday night (on Fox Sports Detroit) before heading to East Lansing is a whore for Saturday's game, which will air on the Big Ten Network, who finally decided to stop being useless from a hockey perspective.
The Wolverines will have to do it on Saturday night without PDG, who will be attending Canada's World Junior Championships tryout camp. Several familiar names were on the 29-man list of Team USA's preliminary roster, which will be later cut to 22: Jon Merrill and Jacob Trouba (who is listed as Jake) made the list. It appears the USA goaltending duo will be former Wolverine commits. Both Jack Campbell and John Gibson are on the roster with Andy Iles listed as the emergency goalie.
In other news, according to the official Twitter account of the Hamilton Red Wings, commit Spencer Hyman was named to the OJHL All-Star Team. Hyman has 2-10--12 in 17 games this year.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Dylan Larkin
At least there's some good news for the Michigan hockey program this week. 1996-born forward Dylan Larkin has committed to the Wolverines according to Mike Spath and College Hockey PROSPECTive. Larkin, a forward for Belle Tire's midget minor team, has 13-7--20 in 17 games this year.
His 13 goals this season is tops on the team, which leads the Great Lakes Division of the MWEHL with a 14-0-3 record. The next highest on the team has 9 goals. He's also second in points (Kyle Connor has 21). Surprisingly, only one of his 13 goals has come on special teams, so he's getting it done at even strength. He also leads the team with 4 game-winning goals.
League-wide, he's tied for 17th in points (and points per game) and tied for fourth in goals. The league-leader has 15 tallies.
In the 2011 MAHA State Tournament, Larkin scored 5-11--16 in five games.
A year ago, his 23-24--47 line put him third in goals, fifth in assists, and third in points. They downed the Chicago Mission 6-5 in the U14 National Championship. Larkin had a goal in the championship game.
I'm going to list him as a 2014 until I hear otherwise.
His 13 goals this season is tops on the team, which leads the Great Lakes Division of the MWEHL with a 14-0-3 record. The next highest on the team has 9 goals. He's also second in points (Kyle Connor has 21). Surprisingly, only one of his 13 goals has come on special teams, so he's getting it done at even strength. He also leads the team with 4 game-winning goals.
League-wide, he's tied for 17th in points (and points per game) and tied for fourth in goals. The league-leader has 15 tallies.
In the 2011 MAHA State Tournament, Larkin scored 5-11--16 in five games.
A year ago, his 23-24--47 line put him third in goals, fifth in assists, and third in points. They downed the Chicago Mission 6-5 in the U14 National Championship. Larkin had a goal in the championship game.
I'm going to list him as a 2014 until I hear otherwise.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Northeastern and Union Previews
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
After a rough start to the CCHA season (3-5-2-1), the Wolverines return to non-conference play for a weekend. With the demise of the College Hockey Showcase thanks to Wisconsin footballifying their non-conference hockey schedule, the Wolverines have scheduled games against Northeastern (Friday) and Union (Sunday afternoon) this weekend.
Northeastern Preview:
Northeastern is 3-7-2 on the season and are just 1-5-1 away from home in Jim Madigan's first season behind the bench. The Huskies dove right into the Hockey East schedule at the start of the season. This is actually their first non-conference game of the year.
Despite the tough start to their season, the Huskies are coming off a pair of wins last weekend. On Friday night, they defeated Providence by a 5-2 score. The next night, they downed Vermont 4-1.
They've also given some good teams a run for their money. They've lost two one-goal games to Boston College (once in overtime) and in early-November they took the only unbeaten team in the country, #1 Merrimack (yes, Merrimack), to overtime on back-to-back nights, tying one and losing one.
They'll be a test for a Wolverine team that has dropped five of its past six (counting the SOL to Miami). Northeastern has struggled to put the puck in the net against good teams, however. They've scored just 8 goals in the 5 games they've played against ranked opponents.
They've been led offensively by freshman Ludwig Karlsson, who has 6-4--10 in 10 games. He had three goals last weekend and was named Hockey East Player of the Week. Justin Daniels has 5 goals and 4 assists in 12 games. Vinny Saponari, formerly of the USA NTDP, has 8 assists on the year to lead the team.
They don't get a ton of offense out of their blueliners. The whole crew has only accounted for 14 points on the year. They're very young on defense. Junior Drew Ellement is the only upper-classman. Beyond him, they've got 3 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the roster. Junior Drew Daniels is listed as a forward but has played the entire season back on D. Last weekend they dressed 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors.
In net, all but one decision has gone to three-year starter Chris Rawlings. The junior is 3-6-2 on the year with a 2.59 goals against and a .927 save percentage. Very solid. He's improved both of those numbers each season. Last year he had a 2.68/.920. One strange note: Last year, he faced either BC or BU eight times in a 10-game stretch. He's a big dude, listed at 6'5", 207. He also just recently tied Brad Thiessen atop Northeastern's career shutouts list (9).
Northeastern has always played Michigan tough. Back in the 06-07 season, they gave up a tying goal to Chad Kolarik with 5 seconds left in regulation before falling in overtime. They rebounded the next night by knocking off Michigan at Yost. They also beat the Wolverines in the Left McFadden tournament to kick off the 2004 season. If I remember right, we were ranked #1 at the time. I definitely remember that I was working at the Michigan Union Bookstore at the time, heard the score as I was leaving for the day, and was pissed. It's amazing that I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can remember where I was when we lost a hockey game seven years ago.
Motivation:
From Northeastern's game notes:
Random:
They have seven players who have been drafted. Three of them have been picked by San Jose.
Sophomore Cody Ferriero is the brother of Benn, a former standout at Boston College.
Union Preview:
On Sunday afternoon, the Union Dutchmen come to town. The #13 team in the country is 6-3-3 on the year and have been excellent on the road, boasting a 5-1-1 record away from the Achilles Center. There are two caveats to that: 1) They play in the ECAC, so they automatically get an asterisk. Blame Yale for that. I made that rule after the NCAA Tournament last year. 2) This kind of goes along with #1, but the quality of competition is a question mark. To their credit, they tied WMU twice. Aside from that it's been Army, Niagara, RIT, UNH, American, St Lawrence, Clarkson, Brown, Yale (a 4-0 loss), and RPI.
Their prowess away from home isn't limited to this season. They're 12-1-1 in their last 14 road contests.
They have been rather stingy on defense as of late. Outside of the four goals that Yale scored, they haven't given up more than 2 since Oct. 21. That's 8 goals in 7 games (or 12 in 8 games if you include the contest against Yale).
Between the pipes has typically been sophomore Troy Grosenick. For the year, he has a 5-2-2 record with a 1.62 goals against and a .935 save percentage, good for third and fifth nationally. Last year he only recorded one decision. Against Yale, he was chased after just 22 minutes.
Offensively, senior Kelly Zajac leads the way. He is 5th nationally with 13 assists, and has 16 points on the year. He's also the brother of NHLer Travis Zajac, formerly of North Dakota. Kelly had 42 points last season.
Mat Bodie has 10 helpers from back on the blueline. Putting those pucks in the net are Jeremy Welsh (7, including 5 on the power play) and Wayne Simpson (6). Daniel Carr has 5-5--10 on the year, but three of those goals came in their last outing, a 5-1 win over RPI. Carr-Zajac-Simpson make up a dangerous top line.
Their power play is clicking along. Union ranks 5th nationally, scoring on 26.2% of their power plays. They've notched 16 goals with the man advantage this season, which works out to 1.33 power play goals per game. Staying out of the box would be nice. Their PP accounts for 42% of their offense.
They've also been really strong on faceoffs this year, at 56.2%.
Common Opponents:
We've actually played a surprising number of common opponents so far this season. Based on the results, they would point toward Michigan having an edge in this game.
They tied Niagara 3-3. We beat Niagara 5-0.
They tied WMU 2-2 and 3-3. We lost 3-2 and won 5-2.
They beat SLU 2-0. We beat them 10-3.
History:
This is the first time that Michigan and Union have ever faced off. They are the only ECAC team that Michigan has never played.
Some Love:
Some love to their athletic department for linking to my site in their official blog's preview of the weekend.
Final Thoughts:
Michigan looks to rebound from 3 tough weekends. After being unbeatable at home for nearly a full year, they've now dropped 3 of the last 4 at Yost. Northeastern has played good teams tough, but has struggled to put the puck in the net against them. Union has a better record, but has some question marks as to the quality of the competition. They're not intimidated playing on the road, however. Their road record is proof of that.
I'll take Michigan with two wins this weekend, though I think both of them will be closer games than you might typically expect, or that Red would want.
In Other News:
In other news, the Rangers have called up Carl Hagelin and he may make his NHL debut tomorrow night. Hagelin leads the Connecticut Whale with 7 goals and is second on the team with 13 points. He's also second in the entire AHL with a +12 rating. That's the player we know! Bork bork bork.
USA Hockey had a feature on Al Montoya, who hopes to make the 2014 US Olympic Team.
Michigan officially received Letters of Intent from Jacob Trouba, Boo Nieves, Justin Selman, Daniel Milne, Connor Carrick, and Jared Rutledge. Michigan Hockey Net has updates on a lot of our recruits in his weekly recruiting roundup.
Also, Bob Miller has started College Hockey PROSPECTive, a blog covering college hockey recruiting. It's very much a work in progress for the time being--he's targeting a true launch in January of 2012--but Bob is one of the best at covering the game and I very much look forward to reading his thoughts moving forward. That site will definitely be one to bookmark!
Lastly, don't forget to badger Dave Brandon about bringing back streaming video for hockey games! One again, unless you're at Yost, you won't see the games this weekend. (I'm going to keep on about this.)
After a rough start to the CCHA season (3-5-2-1), the Wolverines return to non-conference play for a weekend. With the demise of the College Hockey Showcase thanks to Wisconsin footballifying their non-conference hockey schedule, the Wolverines have scheduled games against Northeastern (Friday) and Union (Sunday afternoon) this weekend.
Northeastern Preview:
Northeastern is 3-7-2 on the season and are just 1-5-1 away from home in Jim Madigan's first season behind the bench. The Huskies dove right into the Hockey East schedule at the start of the season. This is actually their first non-conference game of the year.
Despite the tough start to their season, the Huskies are coming off a pair of wins last weekend. On Friday night, they defeated Providence by a 5-2 score. The next night, they downed Vermont 4-1.
They've also given some good teams a run for their money. They've lost two one-goal games to Boston College (once in overtime) and in early-November they took the only unbeaten team in the country, #1 Merrimack (yes, Merrimack), to overtime on back-to-back nights, tying one and losing one.
They'll be a test for a Wolverine team that has dropped five of its past six (counting the SOL to Miami). Northeastern has struggled to put the puck in the net against good teams, however. They've scored just 8 goals in the 5 games they've played against ranked opponents.
They've been led offensively by freshman Ludwig Karlsson, who has 6-4--10 in 10 games. He had three goals last weekend and was named Hockey East Player of the Week. Justin Daniels has 5 goals and 4 assists in 12 games. Vinny Saponari, formerly of the USA NTDP, has 8 assists on the year to lead the team.
They don't get a ton of offense out of their blueliners. The whole crew has only accounted for 14 points on the year. They're very young on defense. Junior Drew Ellement is the only upper-classman. Beyond him, they've got 3 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the roster. Junior Drew Daniels is listed as a forward but has played the entire season back on D. Last weekend they dressed 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors.
In net, all but one decision has gone to three-year starter Chris Rawlings. The junior is 3-6-2 on the year with a 2.59 goals against and a .927 save percentage. Very solid. He's improved both of those numbers each season. Last year he had a 2.68/.920. One strange note: Last year, he faced either BC or BU eight times in a 10-game stretch. He's a big dude, listed at 6'5", 207. He also just recently tied Brad Thiessen atop Northeastern's career shutouts list (9).
Northeastern has always played Michigan tough. Back in the 06-07 season, they gave up a tying goal to Chad Kolarik with 5 seconds left in regulation before falling in overtime. They rebounded the next night by knocking off Michigan at Yost. They also beat the Wolverines in the Left McFadden tournament to kick off the 2004 season. If I remember right, we were ranked #1 at the time. I definitely remember that I was working at the Michigan Union Bookstore at the time, heard the score as I was leaving for the day, and was pissed. It's amazing that I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can remember where I was when we lost a hockey game seven years ago.
Motivation:
From Northeastern's game notes:
Michigan is led by the junior duo of A.J. Treais and Lindsay Parks with 13 points apiece while nine skaters have registered double digits.Oops!
Random:
They have seven players who have been drafted. Three of them have been picked by San Jose.
Sophomore Cody Ferriero is the brother of Benn, a former standout at Boston College.
Union Preview:
On Sunday afternoon, the Union Dutchmen come to town. The #13 team in the country is 6-3-3 on the year and have been excellent on the road, boasting a 5-1-1 record away from the Achilles Center. There are two caveats to that: 1) They play in the ECAC, so they automatically get an asterisk. Blame Yale for that. I made that rule after the NCAA Tournament last year. 2) This kind of goes along with #1, but the quality of competition is a question mark. To their credit, they tied WMU twice. Aside from that it's been Army, Niagara, RIT, UNH, American, St Lawrence, Clarkson, Brown, Yale (a 4-0 loss), and RPI.
Their prowess away from home isn't limited to this season. They're 12-1-1 in their last 14 road contests.
They have been rather stingy on defense as of late. Outside of the four goals that Yale scored, they haven't given up more than 2 since Oct. 21. That's 8 goals in 7 games (or 12 in 8 games if you include the contest against Yale).
Between the pipes has typically been sophomore Troy Grosenick. For the year, he has a 5-2-2 record with a 1.62 goals against and a .935 save percentage, good for third and fifth nationally. Last year he only recorded one decision. Against Yale, he was chased after just 22 minutes.
Offensively, senior Kelly Zajac leads the way. He is 5th nationally with 13 assists, and has 16 points on the year. He's also the brother of NHLer Travis Zajac, formerly of North Dakota. Kelly had 42 points last season.
Mat Bodie has 10 helpers from back on the blueline. Putting those pucks in the net are Jeremy Welsh (7, including 5 on the power play) and Wayne Simpson (6). Daniel Carr has 5-5--10 on the year, but three of those goals came in their last outing, a 5-1 win over RPI. Carr-Zajac-Simpson make up a dangerous top line.
Their power play is clicking along. Union ranks 5th nationally, scoring on 26.2% of their power plays. They've notched 16 goals with the man advantage this season, which works out to 1.33 power play goals per game. Staying out of the box would be nice. Their PP accounts for 42% of their offense.
They've also been really strong on faceoffs this year, at 56.2%.
Common Opponents:
We've actually played a surprising number of common opponents so far this season. Based on the results, they would point toward Michigan having an edge in this game.
They tied Niagara 3-3. We beat Niagara 5-0.
They tied WMU 2-2 and 3-3. We lost 3-2 and won 5-2.
They beat SLU 2-0. We beat them 10-3.
History:
This is the first time that Michigan and Union have ever faced off. They are the only ECAC team that Michigan has never played.
Some Love:
Some love to their athletic department for linking to my site in their official blog's preview of the weekend.
Final Thoughts:
Michigan looks to rebound from 3 tough weekends. After being unbeatable at home for nearly a full year, they've now dropped 3 of the last 4 at Yost. Northeastern has played good teams tough, but has struggled to put the puck in the net against them. Union has a better record, but has some question marks as to the quality of the competition. They're not intimidated playing on the road, however. Their road record is proof of that.
I'll take Michigan with two wins this weekend, though I think both of them will be closer games than you might typically expect, or that Red would want.
In Other News:
In other news, the Rangers have called up Carl Hagelin and he may make his NHL debut tomorrow night. Hagelin leads the Connecticut Whale with 7 goals and is second on the team with 13 points. He's also second in the entire AHL with a +12 rating. That's the player we know! Bork bork bork.
USA Hockey had a feature on Al Montoya, who hopes to make the 2014 US Olympic Team.
Michigan officially received Letters of Intent from Jacob Trouba, Boo Nieves, Justin Selman, Daniel Milne, Connor Carrick, and Jared Rutledge. Michigan Hockey Net has updates on a lot of our recruits in his weekly recruiting roundup.
Also, Bob Miller has started College Hockey PROSPECTive, a blog covering college hockey recruiting. It's very much a work in progress for the time being--he's targeting a true launch in January of 2012--but Bob is one of the best at covering the game and I very much look forward to reading his thoughts moving forward. That site will definitely be one to bookmark!
Lastly, don't forget to badger Dave Brandon about bringing back streaming video for hockey games! One again, unless you're at Yost, you won't see the games this weekend. (I'm going to keep on about this.)
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Ferris Wrapup, Newsish Stuff, and a WMU Preview
Sorry for the lack of content. I'm out in Billings, MT for work so I've basically been in work-eat-bed mode.
Ferris Wrapup:
Michigan ended up completing the sweep of Ferris last weekend, winning the second game by a 4-0 margin. Shawn Hunwick made 24 stops, the Wolverines killed off 7 Ferris State power plays, and got goals from four different players.
Alex Guptill got things going 5 1/2 minutes into the game. Luke Moffatt threw him a nifty little between-the-legs pass to complete a give-and-go and Guptill roofed one.
In the second period, Travis Lynch and AJ Treais struck a couple of minutes apart to blow the game open. Bennett's shot from the point bounced around and Lynch took it right off Wohlberg's stick. It looked like it surprised Motte a little bit.
PDG then blocked a shot and took off the other way. He centered it for Chris Brown. A sprawling Motte kept it out of the net, but he knocked it right to Treais, who lifted it up over him into the net.
Later in the period that same trio struck again. This time it was Brown putting the puck in the net. Di Giuseppe fed Brown and he lasered one high up over the glove.
That was all the Wolverines needed. Ferris outshot the Wolverines 9-3 in the third period, but Hunwick was perfect and the Wolverines had a sweep of the #6 Bulldogs.
Travis Lynch was 13 and 2 in the faceoff circle. He has been a really pleasant surprise, though you could say that about any number of the freshmen.
Mock Drafts, Honors, and Suspensions:
It was a fairly eventful week off the ice.
Phil Di Giuseppe's OHL rights were traded from Niagara to Windsor as part of a big trade that also involved Jack Campbell. Windsor is clearly not the team you want your player to be on if you'd like to keep him in the NCAA. The thought seems to be that we don't have that much to worry about this season, but expect Windsor to take a run at him during the summer. It sounds like he was more of a guy they were taking a flier on, since he's clearly turned into a helluva find.
Speaking of PDG, he was named CCHA Rookie of the Month for October. He has 5-4--9 and a +9 rating in 8 games. Hunwick was honored as CCHA Goalie of the Month thanks to his 6-0-1 record with a 1.37 goals against and a .949 save percentage.
Di Giuseppe was also mentioned as a potential first round draft pick in a couple of mock drafts released by NHL.com. Jacob Trouba was cited as a top-ten pick in all three of them. Boo Nieves is listed as a mid-to-late first round pick in all three of the drafts. Di Giuseppe goes 11th in one of them and 28th in another.
Also check out the link above for a roundup of how our recruits have been doing this season.
Defenseman Jon Merrill was allowed to rejoin the team in practice, but has had his suspension extended from 12 games to "indefinite". Credit Red Berenson for having the balls to suspend arguably his best player for what appears to be half the season. Also, we don't know what he did, but credit Merrill for sticking it out. It would have been the easy move to sign with the Whalers, but it appears he really wants to be a Wolverine. Hopefully he can get everything straightened out off the ice and get back to being the ridiculous defenseman that we know he can be.
One player who has benefited from Merrill's absence is Mike Chiasson. The rookie blueliner is +14 and has not been on the ice for a single goal allowed this year. He also leads the team in blocked shots with 11. It's hard to believe that Michigan could have expected any more than what they're getting out of Chiasson. I was really impressed with him (Lynch, and Di Giuseppe as well) during the Niagara game, and they've all continued to be impressive as the season hits the 20% mark.
Stat Watching:
The Wolverines already have 12 players with 5+ points. If you would have told me that 8 games into the season Kevin Lynch, Zach Hyman, and Luke Moffatt would have combined for 3 goals, I would not have liked Michigan's chances to be ranked #3 right now and rank #2 in offense. They're getting goals from everywhere right now, and that's a great sign given that three of Michigan's really talented players haven't cranked it up in the goals column just yet (though 2 of them are still averaging .5 ppg, which certainly isn't bad...that projects to a 20-21 point season).
Hyman and Lynch look like the new Rust and Caporusso in the faceoff circle. How do you replace two of the best faceoff guys we've had? By bringing in two freshmen who are killer in the dot. Hyman is at 65.1% (!) right now. Lynch is just behind him at 62.1%.
WMU Preview:
This weekend Michigan welcomes in the fourth-ranked Western Michigan Broncos. They come in 5-0-3 under Head Coach Andy Murray. (Side note: Whoever gave Yale a first place vote should have their ballot rejected. Didn't we learn that lesson last year?) Western has played to a win and three ties on the road so far this year, a pair of ties against Union and a win/shootout win up in Alaska. They swept NMU last weekend at home.
WMU's 5-2 win over Michigan in the CCHA Tournament Semifinal last year snapped a 7-game Michigan winning streak in the series. Michigan has won 18 of the last 21.
Chase Balisy returns after a 30-point freshman campaign. He currently leads the team with 3-6--9 on the young season. Classmate Shane Berschbach had 29 points last season and has 4-4--8 so far. Every skater who has dressed aside from Matt Stewart (one game played) has at least a point. Defenseman Matt Tennyson had 7 goals on the PP last season. He's yet to tally a PPG this year, but he does have 5 points. He'll be one to watch when we're down a man.
Junior Nick Pisellini and freshman Frank Slubowski have split the netminding duties so far this year. Pisellini is 2-0-2 with a 1.68/.931. Slubowski is 3-0-1 with a 1.47/.918. Pretty stout, the both of them. They haven't gone with the Friday/Saturday split. Pisellini got both games at Union and one at Alaska. Slubowski played both ends of the NMU sweep. Western actually held NMU to 29 shots the entire weekend.
They're the #12 offensive team and rank 4th on defense, giving up just 1.62 goals per game. Their power play is just 15% on the year, possibly because they haven't gotten Tennyson going just yet. The PK is at 88.6%.
If Michigan is going to get Kevin Lynch out of his slump, this might be the week to do it. He has 3-5--8 in 5 games against the Broncos.
Friday night's game will air on Fox Sports Detroit, while Saturday's contest will be on Comcast Local.
Ferris Wrapup:
Michigan ended up completing the sweep of Ferris last weekend, winning the second game by a 4-0 margin. Shawn Hunwick made 24 stops, the Wolverines killed off 7 Ferris State power plays, and got goals from four different players.
Alex Guptill got things going 5 1/2 minutes into the game. Luke Moffatt threw him a nifty little between-the-legs pass to complete a give-and-go and Guptill roofed one.
In the second period, Travis Lynch and AJ Treais struck a couple of minutes apart to blow the game open. Bennett's shot from the point bounced around and Lynch took it right off Wohlberg's stick. It looked like it surprised Motte a little bit.
PDG then blocked a shot and took off the other way. He centered it for Chris Brown. A sprawling Motte kept it out of the net, but he knocked it right to Treais, who lifted it up over him into the net.
Later in the period that same trio struck again. This time it was Brown putting the puck in the net. Di Giuseppe fed Brown and he lasered one high up over the glove.
That was all the Wolverines needed. Ferris outshot the Wolverines 9-3 in the third period, but Hunwick was perfect and the Wolverines had a sweep of the #6 Bulldogs.
Travis Lynch was 13 and 2 in the faceoff circle. He has been a really pleasant surprise, though you could say that about any number of the freshmen.
Mock Drafts, Honors, and Suspensions:
It was a fairly eventful week off the ice.
Phil Di Giuseppe's OHL rights were traded from Niagara to Windsor as part of a big trade that also involved Jack Campbell. Windsor is clearly not the team you want your player to be on if you'd like to keep him in the NCAA. The thought seems to be that we don't have that much to worry about this season, but expect Windsor to take a run at him during the summer. It sounds like he was more of a guy they were taking a flier on, since he's clearly turned into a helluva find.
Speaking of PDG, he was named CCHA Rookie of the Month for October. He has 5-4--9 and a +9 rating in 8 games. Hunwick was honored as CCHA Goalie of the Month thanks to his 6-0-1 record with a 1.37 goals against and a .949 save percentage.
Di Giuseppe was also mentioned as a potential first round draft pick in a couple of mock drafts released by NHL.com. Jacob Trouba was cited as a top-ten pick in all three of them. Boo Nieves is listed as a mid-to-late first round pick in all three of the drafts. Di Giuseppe goes 11th in one of them and 28th in another.
Also check out the link above for a roundup of how our recruits have been doing this season.
Defenseman Jon Merrill was allowed to rejoin the team in practice, but has had his suspension extended from 12 games to "indefinite". Credit Red Berenson for having the balls to suspend arguably his best player for what appears to be half the season. Also, we don't know what he did, but credit Merrill for sticking it out. It would have been the easy move to sign with the Whalers, but it appears he really wants to be a Wolverine. Hopefully he can get everything straightened out off the ice and get back to being the ridiculous defenseman that we know he can be.
One player who has benefited from Merrill's absence is Mike Chiasson. The rookie blueliner is +14 and has not been on the ice for a single goal allowed this year. He also leads the team in blocked shots with 11. It's hard to believe that Michigan could have expected any more than what they're getting out of Chiasson. I was really impressed with him (Lynch, and Di Giuseppe as well) during the Niagara game, and they've all continued to be impressive as the season hits the 20% mark.
Stat Watching:
The Wolverines already have 12 players with 5+ points. If you would have told me that 8 games into the season Kevin Lynch, Zach Hyman, and Luke Moffatt would have combined for 3 goals, I would not have liked Michigan's chances to be ranked #3 right now and rank #2 in offense. They're getting goals from everywhere right now, and that's a great sign given that three of Michigan's really talented players haven't cranked it up in the goals column just yet (though 2 of them are still averaging .5 ppg, which certainly isn't bad...that projects to a 20-21 point season).
Hyman and Lynch look like the new Rust and Caporusso in the faceoff circle. How do you replace two of the best faceoff guys we've had? By bringing in two freshmen who are killer in the dot. Hyman is at 65.1% (!) right now. Lynch is just behind him at 62.1%.
WMU Preview:
This weekend Michigan welcomes in the fourth-ranked Western Michigan Broncos. They come in 5-0-3 under Head Coach Andy Murray. (Side note: Whoever gave Yale a first place vote should have their ballot rejected. Didn't we learn that lesson last year?) Western has played to a win and three ties on the road so far this year, a pair of ties against Union and a win/shootout win up in Alaska. They swept NMU last weekend at home.
WMU's 5-2 win over Michigan in the CCHA Tournament Semifinal last year snapped a 7-game Michigan winning streak in the series. Michigan has won 18 of the last 21.
Chase Balisy returns after a 30-point freshman campaign. He currently leads the team with 3-6--9 on the young season. Classmate Shane Berschbach had 29 points last season and has 4-4--8 so far. Every skater who has dressed aside from Matt Stewart (one game played) has at least a point. Defenseman Matt Tennyson had 7 goals on the PP last season. He's yet to tally a PPG this year, but he does have 5 points. He'll be one to watch when we're down a man.
Junior Nick Pisellini and freshman Frank Slubowski have split the netminding duties so far this year. Pisellini is 2-0-2 with a 1.68/.931. Slubowski is 3-0-1 with a 1.47/.918. Pretty stout, the both of them. They haven't gone with the Friday/Saturday split. Pisellini got both games at Union and one at Alaska. Slubowski played both ends of the NMU sweep. Western actually held NMU to 29 shots the entire weekend.
They're the #12 offensive team and rank 4th on defense, giving up just 1.62 goals per game. Their power play is just 15% on the year, possibly because they haven't gotten Tennyson going just yet. The PK is at 88.6%.
If Michigan is going to get Kevin Lynch out of his slump, this might be the week to do it. He has 3-5--8 in 5 games against the Broncos.
Friday night's game will air on Fox Sports Detroit, while Saturday's contest will be on Comcast Local.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Jared Rutledge
For the third straight year, the Wolverines have picked up a commitment from an NTDP goalie. Like Jack Campbell and John Gibson before him, Jared Rutledge has verballed to Red Berenson. Hopefully unlike the other two, he will wear the Maize and Blue next season. He had been mentioned as a possibility for the Wolverines over a year and a half ago.
Rutledge is listed at 5'11", 167 lbs and like Connor Carrick, he hails from Illinois.
This season, he is 3-2-1 with a sparkling 2.34 goals against and a .918 save percentage. His two losses have come against Michigan and Colorado College, two of the top 4 teams in the country. He made 33 stops against Michigan in a 3-1 loss and 38 against CC, though USA fell 5-0.
Last season with the U17s, he put up very solid numbers. He was 17-9-1 with a 2.57 goals against and a .905 save percentage. Internationally, in the Vlad Dzurilla tournament, he was 2-0-0 with a 1.00/.957 en route to the tournament title. He was in net for the final game and stopped 24 of 25 shots.
He was also 2-0-0 with a 2.00/.844 in the Four Nations Cup. In the World Under 17 Challenge, he was 3-1 with a 2.57/.844. The Americans fell 5-3 to Team Ontario in the gold medal game. Rutledge didn't get the start, but stopped 10 of 12 shots in about 48 minutes of relief work. One of the goals he allowed was on a penalty shot.
He played with the Chicago Young Americans prior to joining the NTDP and led the league in wins. His head coach said the following:
His dad now coaches other young goalies.
Dan Sallows, a scout for the Indiana Ice, had some kind things to say about him:
Rutledge is listed at 5'11", 167 lbs and like Connor Carrick, he hails from Illinois.
This season, he is 3-2-1 with a sparkling 2.34 goals against and a .918 save percentage. His two losses have come against Michigan and Colorado College, two of the top 4 teams in the country. He made 33 stops against Michigan in a 3-1 loss and 38 against CC, though USA fell 5-0.
Last season with the U17s, he put up very solid numbers. He was 17-9-1 with a 2.57 goals against and a .905 save percentage. Internationally, in the Vlad Dzurilla tournament, he was 2-0-0 with a 1.00/.957 en route to the tournament title. He was in net for the final game and stopped 24 of 25 shots.
He was also 2-0-0 with a 2.00/.844 in the Four Nations Cup. In the World Under 17 Challenge, he was 3-1 with a 2.57/.844. The Americans fell 5-3 to Team Ontario in the gold medal game. Rutledge didn't get the start, but stopped 10 of 12 shots in about 48 minutes of relief work. One of the goals he allowed was on a penalty shot.
He played with the Chicago Young Americans prior to joining the NTDP and led the league in wins. His head coach said the following:
"His anticipation for what a shooter is going to do and his reading of a situation so he can best position himself in the net are definitely his strengths," Young Americans head coach Bruno Bragagnolo said. "He's able to analyze his weaknesses about as well as any goalie I've ever coached. And then I think his movement across the crease and his play out of the net are underrated."The Skokie Review had a neat story about how his dad has helped his career along.
“I took (Jared) to NHL goalie coaches, read everything they wrote and watched every DVD. There was a tremendous amount to learn,” said Johnny, who works full-time in the music business. “I videotaped every one of Jared’s games, watched the videos and analyzed his game. It was an intensive training process. By the time (Jared) was 14 years old, I started backing off. By the time he was 15, I let him go.”
His dad now coaches other young goalies.
Dan Sallows, a scout for the Indiana Ice, had some kind things to say about him:
Rutledge is technically and positionally very sound, is excellent at controlling rebounds, handles the puck well, competes hard, has a good glove, doesn’t get phased on the rare occasion he does let in a bad goal, and is extremely good at anticipating the play. Though he isn’t overly big, he challenges exceptionally well, and makes life miserable for shooters.I'd still imagine that Michigan will bring in a second freshman goalie for next season. I don't know that they'd risk the possibility of getting whammied three years in a row.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Jacob Trouba
The Wolverines have landed a "5-star" defenseman for the incoming class of 2012. Jacob Trouba posted on Twitter this evening that he has committed to the University of Michigan. Trouba, a 6'2", 191 lb defenseman from Rochester, MI, was reported to be deciding between Michigan, Notre Dame, and playing in the OHL (his rights are held by Kitchener). While most of the U-18 team has already committed to a college, Trouba was waiting. Why?
It appears that he has finally decided on going the NCAA route.
It's hard to find an article about Trouba that doesn't gush praise. The Hockey News had a scout call him "Cam Fowler with more of an edge." The Prospect Blog called him "the next great American defenseman" and echoed the Fowler-with-an-edge comparison. Fowler, you may recall, played for the NTDP, broke his Notre Dame commitment to play in the OHL for a year, and scored 10-30--40 as a rookie for the Anaheim Ducks.
A poster at HockeysFuture compiled a list of the early 2012 Draft Rankings and had Trouba 4th overall. As I mentioned the other day, TSN has him tied for 10th in in their rankings. He's tied with Matia Marcantuoni, whose name might sound familiar to Wolverine fans. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as an "A" player on their watch list.
After he was given that distinction, the United States of Hockey chimed in:
This year so far Trouba has three assists in four games for the NTDP's Under 18 team. He had 6-13--19 in 37 games with the U-17s last season, made the USHL All-Star team, and was called up to the Under 18s at the end of the season. With the U-18s he had 6 points, including a goal in the World Under 18 Championship Game, which the USA won in overtime.
Connor Murphy played with Trouba on the U-18s last year. He gave a quick scouting report to McKeen's:
Jacob Trouba wants to be known as a man of his word.
So when the highly touted defensive prospect is ready to make his decision whether to play in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers -- who hold his CHL rights -- or the NCAA, there won't be any late de-commitments or promises broken.
"That's sort of why I haven't (committed), because I don't want to make a commitment and then back down from it," said the 17-year-old on Wednesday, while in Toronto to take part in the NHL's Research and Development Camp.
It appears that he has finally decided on going the NCAA route.
It's hard to find an article about Trouba that doesn't gush praise. The Hockey News had a scout call him "Cam Fowler with more of an edge." The Prospect Blog called him "the next great American defenseman" and echoed the Fowler-with-an-edge comparison. Fowler, you may recall, played for the NTDP, broke his Notre Dame commitment to play in the OHL for a year, and scored 10-30--40 as a rookie for the Anaheim Ducks.
A poster at HockeysFuture compiled a list of the early 2012 Draft Rankings and had Trouba 4th overall. As I mentioned the other day, TSN has him tied for 10th in in their rankings. He's tied with Matia Marcantuoni, whose name might sound familiar to Wolverine fans. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as an "A" player on their watch list.
After he was given that distinction, the United States of Hockey chimed in:
Trouba was called up to the Under-18s and had a chance to showcase himself at the World Under-18 Championship. His booming shot and excellent skating are his most notable assets. He plays a physical brand of hockey in all areas. The only thing that happened to Trouba at the U18s is that a few of his flaws that he’ll need to work on this year were exposed. His hockey sense isn’t where it needs to be just yet, as he made a few poor decisions in Germany. That said, his tools are elite. He scored Team USA’s first goal in the gold-medal game against Sweden on a one-timer. Another year of development, and focusing on making good decisions, and he could easily find himself in, or around the top five.
This year so far Trouba has three assists in four games for the NTDP's Under 18 team. He had 6-13--19 in 37 games with the U-17s last season, made the USHL All-Star team, and was called up to the Under 18s at the end of the season. With the U-18s he had 6 points, including a goal in the World Under 18 Championship Game, which the USA won in overtime.
Connor Murphy played with Trouba on the U-18s last year. He gave a quick scouting report to McKeen's:
It's been good. He's a good, strong, energy defenseman. Like you saw last night, he always has a couple big hits. He's got a good shot. We try to work to get him one-timers on the power play. So, I think he brings energy with his speed and his physical nature into the game. It really helps us out. I'm kind of more of a smart playmaking defenseman, so I can set him up or angle guys toward him to make some big hits. So, he helps us out a lot.Robbie Russo (U-18 and Notre Dame defenseman) also chimed in:
He's got a lot of power in his game. He's got a massive one-timer. He'll knock some guys off their feet, even being a young player. He doesn't back down from any of that. I'd like to see him go to Notre Dame in the future (smiles).HUGE pickup, especially with the likely defection of Jon Merrill to the NHL after this coming season. He joins NTDP teammate Connor Carrick and possibly Spence Hyman as a defenseman in the incoming class of 2012.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Links
There's not a whole heckuva lot going on right now, but there have been some good articles out there over the past couple of weeks. It won't be too much longer until things start to ramp up. The kids have moved back to Ann Arbor, football season is just a few hours away, and we're closing in on the month-to-go mark until the Wolverines drop the puck for real against Niagara. I'm especially excited because I'm going to be able to attend the home-opener thanks to a well-timed career fair that my company is sending me to. I think this will only be the second or third game at Yost that I've been to since I moved back in 07.
First up, this might not be new, but it's the first time I've seen it. CBS Sports did a feature on Yost. I love that the C-Ya chant made it in there in full. (HT to Goon for that link)
John Bacon had a great article about Steve Kampfer's road from a broken neck to Stanley Cup Champion.
Speaking of, Kampfer brought the Cup to Yost and raised some money for charity while he was at it.
Chris from The United States of Hockey had a look at the players that will make up the NTDP's U-18 team this year. Here's the article about the goalies and defensemen, which includes Michigan-commit Connor Carrick and target Jacob Trouba. He also has some thoughts on the U-17s, including Evan Allen (who needs to get into a Twitter-battle with Bacari Alexander someday), JT Compher, and Tyler Motte. He also did commentary at the Five Nations event in Ann Arbor and had some thoughts on the team, including Michael Downing. Chris Dilks chimed in on Downing's play as well. The Observer interviewed Downing as well.
Not hockey-related, but I have to link to this M-Zone article, just because it's too damn funny not to. Say it with me: O-H!
NorthJersey.com talked with Justin Selman, who will spend this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.
There have also been a couple of articles about Zach Hyman since I last posted. The Florida Panthers official site did a feature on him, as did ShalomLife.
Ryan Kennedy highlighted Boo Nieves. Just ignore the first part of the article where he talks about the goalie that was supposed to play for us this year. Kennedy also talked with Drew Cogs. CBC was impressed with Nieves when they saw him as well.
Lastly, yesterday's Inside The Fort ($ link) contained the names of five potential goalie recruits as well as a look at some potential lines.
Michigan Maize had an early preview of the team.
Also, congrats to one of my favorites--Mike Cammalleri--on the birth of his daughter.
First up, this might not be new, but it's the first time I've seen it. CBS Sports did a feature on Yost. I love that the C-Ya chant made it in there in full. (HT to Goon for that link)
John Bacon had a great article about Steve Kampfer's road from a broken neck to Stanley Cup Champion.
Speaking of, Kampfer brought the Cup to Yost and raised some money for charity while he was at it.
Chris from The United States of Hockey had a look at the players that will make up the NTDP's U-18 team this year. Here's the article about the goalies and defensemen, which includes Michigan-commit Connor Carrick and target Jacob Trouba. He also has some thoughts on the U-17s, including Evan Allen (who needs to get into a Twitter-battle with Bacari Alexander someday), JT Compher, and Tyler Motte. He also did commentary at the Five Nations event in Ann Arbor and had some thoughts on the team, including Michael Downing. Chris Dilks chimed in on Downing's play as well. The Observer interviewed Downing as well.
Not hockey-related, but I have to link to this M-Zone article, just because it's too damn funny not to. Say it with me: O-H!
NorthJersey.com talked with Justin Selman, who will spend this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.
There have also been a couple of articles about Zach Hyman since I last posted. The Florida Panthers official site did a feature on him, as did ShalomLife.
Ryan Kennedy highlighted Boo Nieves. Just ignore the first part of the article where he talks about the goalie that was supposed to play for us this year. Kennedy also talked with Drew Cogs. CBC was impressed with Nieves when they saw him as well.
Lastly, yesterday's Inside The Fort ($ link) contained the names of five potential goalie recruits as well as a look at some potential lines.
Michigan Maize had an early preview of the team.
Also, congrats to one of my favorites--Mike Cammalleri--on the birth of his daughter.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Game On! The Frozen Diamond Faceoff is a Go
The rumored outdoor game between Michigan and Ohio State is a rumor no longer. Yesterday the Cleveland Indians officially announced the Frozen Diamond Faceoff. It will take place at Progressive Field in Cleveland on January 15th (which is a Sunday) at 5:05 pm. The teams will also meet in Columbus on the 13th of January.
The President of the Indians, Mark Shapiro, said that they think the game will be a sellout. The stadium holds 43,000 people for baseball. The rink will supposedly sit around home plate and stretch down the first base line.
Frozen Diamond Faceoff tickets will go on sale in November, but you can register here for a chance to win the right to purchase tickets via a pre-sale.
This will be the fourth outdoor game for Michigan, following the Cold War, Camp Randall Hockey Classic, and The Big Chill at The Big House. Michigan is 1-1-1 in the three games. Ohio State previously took on Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.
In other news, the USA Under 17s took the gold in the Five Nations Tournament at the Cube in Ann Arbor. They still have one game to play against Switzerland, but they've already locked up the top spot on the podium. Recruit Michael Downing had 1-1--2 in the opening win over the Czech Republic. He's also captaining the squad and has drawn rave reviews from the people in attendance. The M-word was even dropped.
The Under 18s didn't have nearly as much luck at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in Bratislava, which is nowhere near Berlin. They finished in fifth place despite just one loss. Boo Nieves, however, scored a ridonkulous goal.
Nieves had 1-3--4 in the four games. Matt Herr was an assistant coach for Team USA.
The World Junior evaluation camp is also on-going. Jon Merrill made it through the first cut, which should surprise absolutely no one. The camp also features Jack Campbell, John Gibson, and Jared Knight. I will now stab myself in the eye.
On a happier note, Kukla's Korner had a nice profile of the goalie who didn't abandon us and will be back for a fifth year: Shawn Hunwick. Melissa from The Yost Post did a quick interview with JMFJ over Alumni Weekend. Michigan Hockey Net had a great interview with Michael Downing after he committed.
Lastly, after winning CJHL Player of the Year, Zach Hyman's jersey now hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Zach's dad was kind enough to pass along some photos of the exhibit, as well as a shot of Zach accepting the BJ Monro Top Prospect Award:
If you're wondering about goalie recruiting and don't subscribe to The Wolverine, now might be a good time. Supposedly in the next Inside The Fort, we'll get names of some prospective candidates for 2012-13. In this week's edition, they had Shawn Hunwick's thoughts on John Gibson.
The President of the Indians, Mark Shapiro, said that they think the game will be a sellout. The stadium holds 43,000 people for baseball. The rink will supposedly sit around home plate and stretch down the first base line.
Frozen Diamond Faceoff tickets will go on sale in November, but you can register here for a chance to win the right to purchase tickets via a pre-sale.
This will be the fourth outdoor game for Michigan, following the Cold War, Camp Randall Hockey Classic, and The Big Chill at The Big House. Michigan is 1-1-1 in the three games. Ohio State previously took on Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.
In other news, the USA Under 17s took the gold in the Five Nations Tournament at the Cube in Ann Arbor. They still have one game to play against Switzerland, but they've already locked up the top spot on the podium. Recruit Michael Downing had 1-1--2 in the opening win over the Czech Republic. He's also captaining the squad and has drawn rave reviews from the people in attendance. The M-word was even dropped.
The Under 18s didn't have nearly as much luck at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in Bratislava, which is nowhere near Berlin. They finished in fifth place despite just one loss. Boo Nieves, however, scored a ridonkulous goal.
Nieves had 1-3--4 in the four games. Matt Herr was an assistant coach for Team USA.
The World Junior evaluation camp is also on-going. Jon Merrill made it through the first cut, which should surprise absolutely no one. The camp also features Jack Campbell, John Gibson, and Jared Knight. I will now stab myself in the eye.
On a happier note, Kukla's Korner had a nice profile of the goalie who didn't abandon us and will be back for a fifth year: Shawn Hunwick. Melissa from The Yost Post did a quick interview with JMFJ over Alumni Weekend. Michigan Hockey Net had a great interview with Michael Downing after he committed.
Lastly, after winning CJHL Player of the Year, Zach Hyman's jersey now hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Zach's dad was kind enough to pass along some photos of the exhibit, as well as a shot of Zach accepting the BJ Monro Top Prospect Award:
If you're wondering about goalie recruiting and don't subscribe to The Wolverine, now might be a good time. Supposedly in the next Inside The Fort, we'll get names of some prospective candidates for 2012-13. In this week's edition, they had Shawn Hunwick's thoughts on John Gibson.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Fighting Back
Let me preface this post by saying I have absolutely no idea if anything like this is even possible. I suspect there are plenty of reasons that it can't happen, but my mind has been spinning the past couple of days (for obvious reasons) about what the NCAA could do to, if not level the playing field, at least give their teams a little more protection from the John Gibson's of the world.
I don't know all the specifics, but when a player signs with the NTDP it's binding and a settlement is required for the player to break that agreement. Chris from The United States of Hockey passed along some info to me last night about it. But the gist is that if a kid wants to play in the CHL after he signed with the NTDP, someone is ponying up.
So while colleges may not be bound by the same transfer agreement that kids for the NTDP are, I have a really hard time believing that some of the NCAA lawyers couldn't draw up a National Letter of Intent that would be legally binding and would hold up in court.
Essentially, in my fantasy land, it would go something like this: If you sign this LOI, you are playing for this college team for at least one season. If you break this agreement and go play in the CHL, you will compensate this school for the negative impact on their season by paying $X.
Then I'd open up the signing period. Right now, kids can sign over the course of a week in November and from mid-April through July. What if you just open it up? Say that you can sign anytime beginning with September the year before you are set to enroll? Again, there's probably a good reason it can't happen, but stick with me here.
So now we're a year out and it's time to start finalizing the recruiting class for the following season. You put the LOI in front of the kid and his parents and ask for the signature. The kid signs. Beautiful! He's locked in, and if he bails for the CHL the school is at least going to be compensated in some form. It at least makes it tougher to go. If he doesn't sign, then he's basically saying that he wants to keep his options open. Then the school is able to recruit as if he isn't coming because he's telling you that there's a decent chance that he isn't coming!
At least that way you're going to find out who is serious and who isn't. In the current state of recruiting, a kid isn't solid when he verbals (Jared Knight). He isn't solid when he signs his letter of intent (Alex Legion...ERRRRRR...John Gibson). He isn't necessarily solid when he sets foot on campus (no example, but I'm sure someone can throw one out there). He isn't even solid when he's played a year and change for you (Robbie Czarnik).
Something like the above would at least give the coaches notice if a player is committed to playing college hockey. If they aren't, then you have a year to find a replacement. You're more in a Jack Campbell position than a John Gibson. If they leave late in the game, at least the school is getting compensated.
There are still flaws: 1) I'm not sure it's even possible to do, which, clearly, is the big one. 2) In Gibson's case, I'm sure the Rangers would have had no problem ponying up to get their guy, which still leaves us sans-goalie. But Gibson also may not have ever signed his LOI, which would've been a clue that he wasn't coming.
In the end, these kids are doing what they think is the best for their career and it's hard to fault them for that. At the same time, when you're a guy like Gibson, the school is depending on you. They're passing up the chance to sign another talented goaltender. They're committing a scholarship to you. And really, the kid doesn't ever really have any skin in the game. He can flip at any second and leave the college in a horrible position.
Michigan now has to find at least 1 goalie for the 2012 season. Maybe two, depending on if Janecyk shows enough to count on him as a backup for a second season. What happens if they get left at the alter for a third-straight season? We're absolutely screwed.
At some point your word has to mean something. You're not just making a decision that only impacts yourself. There are people's livelihoods potentially at stake, twenty-five other kids whose team is hurt by your selfishness, plenty of blogging hours down the drain, etc. (I'm kidding about the last one. Kind of.)
The CHL can really do whatever the hell they want. Promise the kid anything. Keep talking to them after they're signed. Keep talking to them while they're playing for the college. Get in their ear during the summers. The NCAA can't do any of that. I'm not advocating that the NCAA open the door to CHL kids, as I agree with the point that it could actually lead to more top-notch players going to Major Junior. But there has to be some way that they can help their teams out, give them some more clarity as to who is coming and who isn't, and compensate them if a kid decides all of a sudden that the CHL is the way to go, even though theoretically they've had years upon years to think about it.
Feel free to tell me why this can't work. The whole premise depends upon being able to find a way to make the LOIs legally binding. Maybe it can't be done. Maybe there's a perfectly good reason not to try to implement something like this. I'm curious to hear what people think: Is there a way to help the NCAA fight back? Should they even try?
A couple of other things:
I mentioned this on Twitter, but I'd like to thank Stephen Nesbitt again for the new banner on the site. I absolutely love it!
The Big Chill was nominated for Best Collegiate Sporting Event by SportsTravel magazine. You can vote for it here. You should also vote for the Indy 500 as the Best Professional Sporting Event because it was amazing and Bryan Herta's driver won.
The Alumni Game will take place on August 5. JMFJ is in!
I don't know all the specifics, but when a player signs with the NTDP it's binding and a settlement is required for the player to break that agreement. Chris from The United States of Hockey passed along some info to me last night about it. But the gist is that if a kid wants to play in the CHL after he signed with the NTDP, someone is ponying up.
So while colleges may not be bound by the same transfer agreement that kids for the NTDP are, I have a really hard time believing that some of the NCAA lawyers couldn't draw up a National Letter of Intent that would be legally binding and would hold up in court.
Essentially, in my fantasy land, it would go something like this: If you sign this LOI, you are playing for this college team for at least one season. If you break this agreement and go play in the CHL, you will compensate this school for the negative impact on their season by paying $X.
Then I'd open up the signing period. Right now, kids can sign over the course of a week in November and from mid-April through July. What if you just open it up? Say that you can sign anytime beginning with September the year before you are set to enroll? Again, there's probably a good reason it can't happen, but stick with me here.
So now we're a year out and it's time to start finalizing the recruiting class for the following season. You put the LOI in front of the kid and his parents and ask for the signature. The kid signs. Beautiful! He's locked in, and if he bails for the CHL the school is at least going to be compensated in some form. It at least makes it tougher to go. If he doesn't sign, then he's basically saying that he wants to keep his options open. Then the school is able to recruit as if he isn't coming because he's telling you that there's a decent chance that he isn't coming!
At least that way you're going to find out who is serious and who isn't. In the current state of recruiting, a kid isn't solid when he verbals (Jared Knight). He isn't solid when he signs his letter of intent (Alex Legion...ERRRRRR...John Gibson). He isn't necessarily solid when he sets foot on campus (no example, but I'm sure someone can throw one out there). He isn't even solid when he's played a year and change for you (Robbie Czarnik).
Something like the above would at least give the coaches notice if a player is committed to playing college hockey. If they aren't, then you have a year to find a replacement. You're more in a Jack Campbell position than a John Gibson. If they leave late in the game, at least the school is getting compensated.
There are still flaws: 1) I'm not sure it's even possible to do, which, clearly, is the big one. 2) In Gibson's case, I'm sure the Rangers would have had no problem ponying up to get their guy, which still leaves us sans-goalie. But Gibson also may not have ever signed his LOI, which would've been a clue that he wasn't coming.
In the end, these kids are doing what they think is the best for their career and it's hard to fault them for that. At the same time, when you're a guy like Gibson, the school is depending on you. They're passing up the chance to sign another talented goaltender. They're committing a scholarship to you. And really, the kid doesn't ever really have any skin in the game. He can flip at any second and leave the college in a horrible position.
Michigan now has to find at least 1 goalie for the 2012 season. Maybe two, depending on if Janecyk shows enough to count on him as a backup for a second season. What happens if they get left at the alter for a third-straight season? We're absolutely screwed.
At some point your word has to mean something. You're not just making a decision that only impacts yourself. There are people's livelihoods potentially at stake, twenty-five other kids whose team is hurt by your selfishness, plenty of blogging hours down the drain, etc. (I'm kidding about the last one. Kind of.)
The CHL can really do whatever the hell they want. Promise the kid anything. Keep talking to them after they're signed. Keep talking to them while they're playing for the college. Get in their ear during the summers. The NCAA can't do any of that. I'm not advocating that the NCAA open the door to CHL kids, as I agree with the point that it could actually lead to more top-notch players going to Major Junior. But there has to be some way that they can help their teams out, give them some more clarity as to who is coming and who isn't, and compensate them if a kid decides all of a sudden that the CHL is the way to go, even though theoretically they've had years upon years to think about it.
Feel free to tell me why this can't work. The whole premise depends upon being able to find a way to make the LOIs legally binding. Maybe it can't be done. Maybe there's a perfectly good reason not to try to implement something like this. I'm curious to hear what people think: Is there a way to help the NCAA fight back? Should they even try?
A couple of other things:
I mentioned this on Twitter, but I'd like to thank Stephen Nesbitt again for the new banner on the site. I absolutely love it!
The Big Chill was nominated for Best Collegiate Sporting Event by SportsTravel magazine. You can vote for it here. You should also vote for the Indy 500 as the Best Professional Sporting Event because it was amazing and Bryan Herta's driver won.
The Alumni Game will take place on August 5. JMFJ is in!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Michael Downing
Some good recruiting news has come out this week! 2013 defenseman Michael Downing has committed to Michigan! Downing visited Yost this week and announced on his Twitter feed today that he's "officially a Wolverine".
Downing is a 6'3" 185 lb defenseman that previously played for Detroit Catholic Central. He had 7-16--23 in 26 games this past season with 18 PIMs.
He was the 3rd overall pick (and first defenseman chosen) in the USHL Futures Draft. He was selected by the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
A poster on the Yost Post mentioned him awhile back and said that he played very well at the Select 16 Festival and was supposedly the third-best defenseman there.
An OHL scout that covers Michigan said that he is a "very good skating defender with high-end offensive capabilities". He was selected in the 8th round of the OHL Draft by the Sarnia Sting.
Edit: Downing will also be a member of the USA U-17 Select Team for the Five Nations Tournament that will take place at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube from August 9-13. Target Gabe Guertler will also be on the roster. Stick tap to The United States of Hockey Blog for that one.
Downing is a 6'3" 185 lb defenseman that previously played for Detroit Catholic Central. He had 7-16--23 in 26 games this past season with 18 PIMs.
He was the 3rd overall pick (and first defenseman chosen) in the USHL Futures Draft. He was selected by the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
A poster on the Yost Post mentioned him awhile back and said that he played very well at the Select 16 Festival and was supposedly the third-best defenseman there.
An OHL scout that covers Michigan said that he is a "very good skating defender with high-end offensive capabilities". He was selected in the 8th round of the OHL Draft by the Sarnia Sting.
Edit: Downing will also be a member of the USA U-17 Select Team for the Five Nations Tournament that will take place at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube from August 9-13. Target Gabe Guertler will also be on the roster. Stick tap to The United States of Hockey Blog for that one.
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