Western College Hockey is doing a blog vote for the Hobey, so here's my ballot as it stands right now:
1 (5 points). Chris Collins (Forward, BC): The nation's leading goal scorer, second in points, second in points per game, just out of the top 20 in assists, and his team is doing fairly well. Plus I actually got to see him in person this year and he impressed the living hell out of me.
2 (4 points). Brian Elliott (Goalie, Wisconsin): 18-2-2, .944, 1.40. Stats lie sometimes, but you don't need to see a whole lot more than that with this kid. Wiscy was the consensus #1 until he got injured, and his injury is the only reason that I leave him out of the #1 spot right now. If he comes back strong, give him the award.
3 (3 points). Scott Parse (Forward, UNO): The nation's leading scorer, #1 in points per game, #2 in assists. UNO is 9th in the unadjusted Pairwise right now, and if they make the tournament, that's a big boost for his bid.
4 (2 points). Jeff Zatkoff (Goalie, Miami): He splits time, or he'd be higher. Honestly, who had Miami winning the CCHA, let alone getting a cup of coffee as the #1 team in the entire country? .938 and 1.75 go a long way toward that. Gotta give someone on that team their due, and Zatkoff is as good of a choice as any.
5 (1 point). Matt Carle (Defenseman, Denver): The top scoring defenseman in the country for the two-time champs, who are starting to get a little feisty. I had him pencilled in at #3, but as Andy Hilbert learned, pencils have erasers, and my keyboard has a backspace key. I can't give it to someone whose team probably isn't going to make the tournament. If Denver gets in, slide him up to #3.
My remaining 5 finalists: Brett Sterling, Ryan Potulny, Cory Schneider, Jamie Hunt as the token small school player, and Jeff Jakaitis because really? Lake State? Really? He would also be my "wildcard" pick for someone that shouldn't win it, but should at least get a mention.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Michigan 4, WMU 1: Two Wins in a Row? What's This?
First off, about the arena and crowd: They have to be disappointed with the showing last night. The student looked great, and the middle of the arena was full, but from about the faceoff dots in the zone on around behind the net, there were a LOT of empty seats. If you can't pack the place for Michigan, something's wrong. The concessions there are awesome. Damon's is their vendor, so they have BBQ, and you can even get a full slab of ribs if you want. But all the praise they get from me on that goes away when you take into account that THEY DON'T SELL PUCKS. What's wrong with these people? What's going to sell more? A bright orange t-shirt with "Western Michigan" on it in white writing (that was fugly by the way) or hockey pucks at a hockey game. Strong work.
On to the game:
That was a lot more like it! That's as good of a game as this team has played in a long time. They got it started right away with an absolutely gorgeous pass to Hensick for the breakaway goal.
The 4th goal of the night was also an excellent passing play. Great play by Turnbull to beat the WMU player to the puck, and then to have the vision to see Hensick coming behind him and the presence of mind to drop it to him...then TJ makes a great feed to Porter for the goal. Niiiice. Thing of beauty. Porter is just so effective and yet not even remotely flashy. Our sophomores are playing great, great hockey right now.
It was hard to see too much else, since most of the play was down at the other end of the rink and we didn't have a great view of it. Johnson made a great fake on his goal to get the WMU player to go down, then he walked right around him and had a clean lane to shoot.
Ruden was outstanding last night. They didn't have a ton of chances but he still made quite a few outstanding saves. It's nice to see a goalie have 2 good starts in a row. No question he starts vs. LSSU in my mind...hopefully he'll have a strong weekend and solidify himself for the playoff run. I wanted Sauer to win the job, but he never did it, and I think you have to go with Ruden at this point.
Fardig had a great game as well. He does such a nice job on those penalty kills. I get the feeling that he and Porter will be our go-to guys on the PK next year with Ebbett and Kal gone. It was completely obvious that Cogs was going to get a SH breakaway at some point last night. He just missed breaking up 2 passes out by the point or he would've been gone. He did manage to get one on that same PK though.
McInchak cracks me up. He didn't call a BAD game last night, it was just funny what he called and what he let go. Cook high sticks a guy...he's looking RIGHT at it. Nothing. Fardig gets a guy in a full nelson and hauls him down. He's looking right at it. Nothing. Ebbett gets his hand taken off, nothing. One of the WMU players loses a glove on a slash, nothing until 5 seconds later when he called something ticky-tack.
It makes me really happy to see Johnson and Hunwick split up--I think we're a much stronger defensive team because of it. I also think that rotating 5 defensemen for the most part is helping this team, though I'm not entirely sure why (Is it forcing guys to be more aware b/c they're not used to their partner? I don't know). Montville is not hurting this team one bit though. He had a great breakup of a budding 2 on 1 in the early stages of the game. Cook, Dest and Johnson all had outstanding defensive plays during the course of the game.
Nice to see Hensick get it going. He's been coasting way too much the last few weeks...whether it be injury or something else. We NEED him to be a threat if we're going to go anywhere in the postseason.
The defense as a whole was good. Actually, as it turned out, most of the breakdowns we had were while we were on the powerplay. WMU's only goal was shorthanded (albeit with a delayed penalty so it was 5 on 5), and they had a couple other shorthanded chances. But overall, our defense didn't give them a ton. I think all 6 of our defensemen can walk out of that building saying they played a good game. Our forwards were also being responsible for the most part--someone coming back when one of the defensemen would go. It was very nice to see.
Johnson with Mitera is working...Jack would go flying into the zone and Mitera would back completely out. They compliment each other well.
The scary moment for Michigan was when Cook, Dest, Rohlfs, and Fardig were all in the box, so we had to kill a penalty with only 4 D (including Montville, and both our emergency defensemen were in the box as well). Montville did fine though and we killed it off.
Good win, they took care of business against a much lesser team and were never really threatened. Gotta keep the momentum going into the weekend against LSSU. We really need 3-4 points this weekend.
On to the game:
That was a lot more like it! That's as good of a game as this team has played in a long time. They got it started right away with an absolutely gorgeous pass to Hensick for the breakaway goal.
The 4th goal of the night was also an excellent passing play. Great play by Turnbull to beat the WMU player to the puck, and then to have the vision to see Hensick coming behind him and the presence of mind to drop it to him...then TJ makes a great feed to Porter for the goal. Niiiice. Thing of beauty. Porter is just so effective and yet not even remotely flashy. Our sophomores are playing great, great hockey right now.
It was hard to see too much else, since most of the play was down at the other end of the rink and we didn't have a great view of it. Johnson made a great fake on his goal to get the WMU player to go down, then he walked right around him and had a clean lane to shoot.
Ruden was outstanding last night. They didn't have a ton of chances but he still made quite a few outstanding saves. It's nice to see a goalie have 2 good starts in a row. No question he starts vs. LSSU in my mind...hopefully he'll have a strong weekend and solidify himself for the playoff run. I wanted Sauer to win the job, but he never did it, and I think you have to go with Ruden at this point.
Fardig had a great game as well. He does such a nice job on those penalty kills. I get the feeling that he and Porter will be our go-to guys on the PK next year with Ebbett and Kal gone. It was completely obvious that Cogs was going to get a SH breakaway at some point last night. He just missed breaking up 2 passes out by the point or he would've been gone. He did manage to get one on that same PK though.
McInchak cracks me up. He didn't call a BAD game last night, it was just funny what he called and what he let go. Cook high sticks a guy...he's looking RIGHT at it. Nothing. Fardig gets a guy in a full nelson and hauls him down. He's looking right at it. Nothing. Ebbett gets his hand taken off, nothing. One of the WMU players loses a glove on a slash, nothing until 5 seconds later when he called something ticky-tack.
It makes me really happy to see Johnson and Hunwick split up--I think we're a much stronger defensive team because of it. I also think that rotating 5 defensemen for the most part is helping this team, though I'm not entirely sure why (Is it forcing guys to be more aware b/c they're not used to their partner? I don't know). Montville is not hurting this team one bit though. He had a great breakup of a budding 2 on 1 in the early stages of the game. Cook, Dest and Johnson all had outstanding defensive plays during the course of the game.
Nice to see Hensick get it going. He's been coasting way too much the last few weeks...whether it be injury or something else. We NEED him to be a threat if we're going to go anywhere in the postseason.
The defense as a whole was good. Actually, as it turned out, most of the breakdowns we had were while we were on the powerplay. WMU's only goal was shorthanded (albeit with a delayed penalty so it was 5 on 5), and they had a couple other shorthanded chances. But overall, our defense didn't give them a ton. I think all 6 of our defensemen can walk out of that building saying they played a good game. Our forwards were also being responsible for the most part--someone coming back when one of the defensemen would go. It was very nice to see.
Johnson with Mitera is working...Jack would go flying into the zone and Mitera would back completely out. They compliment each other well.
The scary moment for Michigan was when Cook, Dest, Rohlfs, and Fardig were all in the box, so we had to kill a penalty with only 4 D (including Montville, and both our emergency defensemen were in the box as well). Montville did fine though and we killed it off.
Good win, they took care of business against a much lesser team and were never really threatened. Gotta keep the momentum going into the weekend against LSSU. We really need 3-4 points this weekend.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Too Early to Talk 91s/Saturday Thoughts
Because U of M might be in on a potentially top-notch one. Kenny Ryan was at the Michigan/Ohio State game Friday night, and he's supposedly really really good. Then again, he's in 8th grade. If the last name sounds familiar it's because he's the younger brother of Ross Ryan, the Michigan punter.
I don't have a subscription to hockeyscouting.ca, but here's a little tidbit you can get in the teaser:
It's kind of hard to get geeked up about a kid that's going to be in the class of...umm...2010 if I did the math right, but that's definitely a name to remember for the future. And I'd imagine we have a pretty good shot at getting him as long as his brother is having a nice time in Ann Arbor. His family was with him, and Jack Johnson's dad was kiddingly trying to talk the kid out of attending Notre Dame (Daddy Ryan was a member of the Fighting Irish, and had a huge ND ring of some sort on his finger). Kenny was very amused by the penalty chant. He covered his mom's ears on a couple of them.
To the game Saturday, and a few comments that weren't in my post on the Yost Post since I just thought of them:
I was really happy to escape that game with 1 point, let alone two. What a horrid performance for the first two periods. You'd think that after Friday night they'd come out flying, but what do they do? Get outshot 9-1 in the first segment.
Luckily they turned the tables on OSU from the night before--we were the ones with 2 quick goals to start the third (that GWG was BRUUUUUTAL by the way--did Section 17 get an "Osssgood" chant going or was I just hearing things? Because that was who it reminded me of).
Kolarik was awesome again. He had the jump going the whole night and was probably Michigan's best player once again. He's been our MVP for this last segment of the season.
I'm not sure why they split up "THE Line" (that's what I'm calling them now) to start the game (Kolarik/Ebbett/Kal) but they put em back together in the third and what do they do? Score 12 seconds in. Smart move, Red.
OSU had 38 shots or something, but I feel like they didn't have all that many that were great scoring chances. As Colin alluded to in the comments below, the defense did a really nice job in keeping the shooter from getting into the slot. I felt like most of their shots were from aroudn the perimeter. Ruden was good when he needed to be (especially in the last couple of minutes), but by and large, I thought a lot of the shots were pretty low percentage. Couldn't believe when I looked up at the board and saw that shot total. He played a good game though. The team was geeked at the end of the game. All the guys mobbed him when we won. Spath says he's getting the nod tomorrow, and I can't disagree with that. Hopefully Noah will seize the job this time, because it's getting to the point in the season we NEED someone to take hold of the goalie spot. I think Sauer's confidence is too shot to trust him in a big game at this point.
The defense wasn't great, but they definitely weren't terrible. Both goals were off giveaways, but one ended up getting cycled back out to the point before OSU scored. I noticed that when Jack pinched a couple times, Ebbett immediately came back...very nice to see the awareness out of the forwards.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. I like Tim Miller more every time I see him play. He's a really nice all-around player for us.
Did Hensick play tonight? He did? Huh. Could've fooled me.
Shegos was better tonight. He still let a lot of crap go that you know damn well he would've called if it was Johnson (that hit from behind with 2 1/2 minutes left in the Buckeye end for instance), but it wasn't the Brokeback Mountain treatment he gave us Friday night. Porter's penalty was just dumb, dumb, dumb. We were getting a 5 on 3, a guy by our bench was yapping, and Porter reached over the linesman with his stick to tap him on the head, but he ended up whapping the linesman 3 times. Just dumb. Luckily we got a 5 on 3 like 20 seconds later, but it was still a potential opportunity wasted.
No "Dammit Cook!" moments for the weekend. We're making progress there. The power play? Not so much. Horrible again.
I like Rohlfs up at forward, Cook and Dest seem like they've improved their games a lot in the last couple of weeks. And "THE Line" is outstanding. It's nice to get a W, but I don't really feel good about how we played. But there were some positives to take from the weekend and hopefully they'll carry on to the Western game tomorrow. Looking forward to hitting up Lawson for the first time.
I don't have a subscription to hockeyscouting.ca, but here's a little tidbit you can get in the teaser:
1991 born Kenny Ryan one of the top Michigan prospects
By the www.hockeyscouting.ca staff
Even though Kenny Ryan, a tall winger with Detroit Honeybaked, is three years away from being eligible for the OHL Draft, scouts have been keeping a close eye on the prospect:
"I got a peak at him during a Toronto Red Wings tourney," says one scout, "he is a tall kid with top end hands. Right now he is one of the best 1991's in all of the United States."
It's kind of hard to get geeked up about a kid that's going to be in the class of...umm...2010 if I did the math right, but that's definitely a name to remember for the future. And I'd imagine we have a pretty good shot at getting him as long as his brother is having a nice time in Ann Arbor. His family was with him, and Jack Johnson's dad was kiddingly trying to talk the kid out of attending Notre Dame (Daddy Ryan was a member of the Fighting Irish, and had a huge ND ring of some sort on his finger). Kenny was very amused by the penalty chant. He covered his mom's ears on a couple of them.
To the game Saturday, and a few comments that weren't in my post on the Yost Post since I just thought of them:
I was really happy to escape that game with 1 point, let alone two. What a horrid performance for the first two periods. You'd think that after Friday night they'd come out flying, but what do they do? Get outshot 9-1 in the first segment.
Luckily they turned the tables on OSU from the night before--we were the ones with 2 quick goals to start the third (that GWG was BRUUUUUTAL by the way--did Section 17 get an "Osssgood" chant going or was I just hearing things? Because that was who it reminded me of).
Kolarik was awesome again. He had the jump going the whole night and was probably Michigan's best player once again. He's been our MVP for this last segment of the season.
I'm not sure why they split up "THE Line" (that's what I'm calling them now) to start the game (Kolarik/Ebbett/Kal) but they put em back together in the third and what do they do? Score 12 seconds in. Smart move, Red.
OSU had 38 shots or something, but I feel like they didn't have all that many that were great scoring chances. As Colin alluded to in the comments below, the defense did a really nice job in keeping the shooter from getting into the slot. I felt like most of their shots were from aroudn the perimeter. Ruden was good when he needed to be (especially in the last couple of minutes), but by and large, I thought a lot of the shots were pretty low percentage. Couldn't believe when I looked up at the board and saw that shot total. He played a good game though. The team was geeked at the end of the game. All the guys mobbed him when we won. Spath says he's getting the nod tomorrow, and I can't disagree with that. Hopefully Noah will seize the job this time, because it's getting to the point in the season we NEED someone to take hold of the goalie spot. I think Sauer's confidence is too shot to trust him in a big game at this point.
The defense wasn't great, but they definitely weren't terrible. Both goals were off giveaways, but one ended up getting cycled back out to the point before OSU scored. I noticed that when Jack pinched a couple times, Ebbett immediately came back...very nice to see the awareness out of the forwards.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. I like Tim Miller more every time I see him play. He's a really nice all-around player for us.
Did Hensick play tonight? He did? Huh. Could've fooled me.
Shegos was better tonight. He still let a lot of crap go that you know damn well he would've called if it was Johnson (that hit from behind with 2 1/2 minutes left in the Buckeye end for instance), but it wasn't the Brokeback Mountain treatment he gave us Friday night. Porter's penalty was just dumb, dumb, dumb. We were getting a 5 on 3, a guy by our bench was yapping, and Porter reached over the linesman with his stick to tap him on the head, but he ended up whapping the linesman 3 times. Just dumb. Luckily we got a 5 on 3 like 20 seconds later, but it was still a potential opportunity wasted.
No "Dammit Cook!" moments for the weekend. We're making progress there. The power play? Not so much. Horrible again.
I like Rohlfs up at forward, Cook and Dest seem like they've improved their games a lot in the last couple of weeks. And "THE Line" is outstanding. It's nice to get a W, but I don't really feel good about how we played. But there were some positives to take from the weekend and hopefully they'll carry on to the Western game tomorrow. Looking forward to hitting up Lawson for the first time.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
JJ and our Philosophy as a Whole
This deserves it's own post, because the anonymous commenter brought up a couple things I want to address.
It isn't just Jack. It isn't just Jack and Hunwick. I understand that team defense is more than just one player, and without watching the tape and knowing Michigan's strategy, it's hard to say if a defenseman made a bad pinch or if the forward was supposed to come back and didn't. I single out that duo more than I probably should because we saw how incredible they can be at the start of the year. Maybe it increased our expectations too much.
The commenter said that he feels Jack could carry this team if Red would let him. I don't necessarily doubt that. I said earlier in the year, I think that Jack would be our second best forward. He got that much offensive talent. But here's the thing: If they were to want Jack to carry them, then they have to make adjustments. I have no problem with them giving Jack the green light to go whenever he wants (I thought putting him out at forward against Michigan State was a great move, not that it lasted for more than 5 seconds, because officials seem to freak out when he hits anyone), but--and it's a big but--they need to adjust. Because there's too many occasions where Jack or Hunwick pinch and we end up seeing an odd man rush going the other way. So either they're going at bad times or too often, or the forwards aren't being defensively aware enough to get back and play some D. I suspect it's some of both. Last night--according to the captain--it was the latter:
The other point I'd like to make about Johnson having the ability to "carry" the team is this: Our offense has gone through some slumps this year, no doubt. But I'd also say that this team has a ton of offensive talent and with our goaltending alternating between shaky and piss-poor, at this point I'd rather see our defensemen pinching less, and the team as a whole making more of a commitment to defense. They're not going anywhere in the tournament if they keep giving up 4-5 goals a game, no matter how good the offense can be.
Johnson plays with passion and he plays until the final horn. I love players like that. It's what I loved about Jed Ortmeyer. God only knows we could use a lot more players with the heart those two play with.
I think it's unfair to put all the blame on the goalie(s) just as it's probably unfair to single out Jack and Hunwick all the time like a lot of fans (myself included) tend to do. There have been wayyyy too many goals that you could say "Sauer/Ruden would like to have that one back" about (The first, fifth, and sixth goals last night jump right to mind), but at the same time, there's plenty of them that our defense (that includes the forwards) needs to do a better job of helping out. The sheer number of breakaways and odd-man rushes we've given up point to some breakdown in our system.
I'm really frustrated right now. I'm not used to seeing Michigan lose this many games. I'm not used to seeing the Wolverines lose this many games at Yost. Something needs to change, because our defensive coverage hasn't been up to par. And I can't believe a coach as good as Red has let it go on this long uncorrected.
It isn't just Jack. It isn't just Jack and Hunwick. I understand that team defense is more than just one player, and without watching the tape and knowing Michigan's strategy, it's hard to say if a defenseman made a bad pinch or if the forward was supposed to come back and didn't. I single out that duo more than I probably should because we saw how incredible they can be at the start of the year. Maybe it increased our expectations too much.
The commenter said that he feels Jack could carry this team if Red would let him. I don't necessarily doubt that. I said earlier in the year, I think that Jack would be our second best forward. He got that much offensive talent. But here's the thing: If they were to want Jack to carry them, then they have to make adjustments. I have no problem with them giving Jack the green light to go whenever he wants (I thought putting him out at forward against Michigan State was a great move, not that it lasted for more than 5 seconds, because officials seem to freak out when he hits anyone), but--and it's a big but--they need to adjust. Because there's too many occasions where Jack or Hunwick pinch and we end up seeing an odd man rush going the other way. So either they're going at bad times or too often, or the forwards aren't being defensively aware enough to get back and play some D. I suspect it's some of both. Last night--according to the captain--it was the latter:
"We can't play shootout games anymore. We were rushing up the ice when Kaleniecki had a blocked shot and we had all five guys underneath the hash marks. Then they got a breakaway and took the puck the other way. I thought our defense played pretty decently tonight, but the forwards weren't helping them out on the backcheck. The offense wasn't coming back, but the defense did a great job coming back up the ice."
The other point I'd like to make about Johnson having the ability to "carry" the team is this: Our offense has gone through some slumps this year, no doubt. But I'd also say that this team has a ton of offensive talent and with our goaltending alternating between shaky and piss-poor, at this point I'd rather see our defensemen pinching less, and the team as a whole making more of a commitment to defense. They're not going anywhere in the tournament if they keep giving up 4-5 goals a game, no matter how good the offense can be.
Johnson plays with passion and he plays until the final horn. I love players like that. It's what I loved about Jed Ortmeyer. God only knows we could use a lot more players with the heart those two play with.
I think it's unfair to put all the blame on the goalie(s) just as it's probably unfair to single out Jack and Hunwick all the time like a lot of fans (myself included) tend to do. There have been wayyyy too many goals that you could say "Sauer/Ruden would like to have that one back" about (The first, fifth, and sixth goals last night jump right to mind), but at the same time, there's plenty of them that our defense (that includes the forwards) needs to do a better job of helping out. The sheer number of breakaways and odd-man rushes we've given up point to some breakdown in our system.
I'm really frustrated right now. I'm not used to seeing Michigan lose this many games. I'm not used to seeing the Wolverines lose this many games at Yost. Something needs to change, because our defensive coverage hasn't been up to par. And I can't believe a coach as good as Red has let it go on this long uncorrected.
Uggggggggggggggggggggggggh
I needed some time to calm down from last night because I was not a happy camper after that game.
Our goaltending was pathetic. Sauer gave up at least 2 that he HAS to stop, and the goal Ruden gave up was horrible. No, the defense isn't helping them one iota (e.g. Mitera made a horrible attempt to intercept a pass that turned a nothing play--a one on two--into a breakaway from OSU that ended up in our net) but at some point our goalies have to give up less than 3 goals in a hockey game consistently. Especially against a team with as problems scoring like OSU.
Johnson didn't have a good game, despite his goal. There's just too much offense and not enough defense with most of our defensemen and it keeps turning into breakaways and odd man rushes. I didn't get a look at his ejection, but tbarr said it wasn't a good call, and that's enough for me to believe it.
I finally see what MSUStudent was talking about with regard to Shegos. He and Langseth really gave us the Brokeback Mountain treatment last night. Shegos did his best Scott Hansen Buffalo '03 performance in blowing a play dead as the puck was crossing the goal line. Should've been a goal. Wasn't because he was too quick on the draw. Langseth calls a holding penalty on Michigan when Shegos is right there looking at it and not calling it. Kal gets boarded and somehow it's a 2 minute penalty, but when Jack does it--questionably--you better believe that it's 5 and a game. Thankfully not a DQ. Ref the game, not the number.
On the bright side, Ebbett/Kal/Kolarik looked very good once again. Montville didn't get a ton of ice time, but apart from letting a guy get behind him on the first shift, he didn't hurt us any.
And the biggest plus: David Rohlfs. Ho-ly. Crap. I like the kid back on D, but I love him as a forward. I don't remember him being THIS good. He was all over the ice against WMU, and he was even more visible last night. Scored a goal, had a couple other chances, and he's like a 50-pound-heavier Tomas Holmstrom on the PP. He parked himself in front of Caruso, and they couldn't do anything about it! We've found something there....He looked outstanding.
Mitera played a very good game apart from his one goof that led to the OSU goal. Didn't realize he was +3 until just now when I looked at the boxscore. At the other end of the spectrum: Hunwick and Turnbull -3 each.
Again, the power play did a much better job of moving the puck, and not just doing the same thing over and over. They were only 1-7 but they generated 12 shots on the PP. Good things will start happening if they keep it up. Still too much jacking shots into the defensemen--HENSICK!--but at least a couple times they made the effort to go down low. I love Rohlfs in front as a screen.
Too many defensive lapses, horribly shaky goaltending. But a good effort out of our forwards, and especially David Rohlfs. He just looks fantastic out there.
Shegos, you're a jackass. Langseth, you are too.
Sauer has just lost his confidence. It's not Red's fault for playing him because you can see the talent this kid has, it's the defense's fault for hanging him out to dry over and over. The kid was lights-out at the start of the year, and then our defense got worse and worse, and not coincedentally, so did Sauer's play. Now he's giving up cheapies all over the place. I don't doubt for a second these things are related.
Ruden does nothing for me and Sauer seems like he's just a wreck mentally right now. I don't envy Red about deciding who to go with down the stretch. Although, honestly...if they don't get this defensive crap fixed, it's not going to matter if we have Dominik Hasek or Stephen Hawking in net.
Our goaltending was pathetic. Sauer gave up at least 2 that he HAS to stop, and the goal Ruden gave up was horrible. No, the defense isn't helping them one iota (e.g. Mitera made a horrible attempt to intercept a pass that turned a nothing play--a one on two--into a breakaway from OSU that ended up in our net) but at some point our goalies have to give up less than 3 goals in a hockey game consistently. Especially against a team with as problems scoring like OSU.
Johnson didn't have a good game, despite his goal. There's just too much offense and not enough defense with most of our defensemen and it keeps turning into breakaways and odd man rushes. I didn't get a look at his ejection, but tbarr said it wasn't a good call, and that's enough for me to believe it.
I finally see what MSUStudent was talking about with regard to Shegos. He and Langseth really gave us the Brokeback Mountain treatment last night. Shegos did his best Scott Hansen Buffalo '03 performance in blowing a play dead as the puck was crossing the goal line. Should've been a goal. Wasn't because he was too quick on the draw. Langseth calls a holding penalty on Michigan when Shegos is right there looking at it and not calling it. Kal gets boarded and somehow it's a 2 minute penalty, but when Jack does it--questionably--you better believe that it's 5 and a game. Thankfully not a DQ. Ref the game, not the number.
On the bright side, Ebbett/Kal/Kolarik looked very good once again. Montville didn't get a ton of ice time, but apart from letting a guy get behind him on the first shift, he didn't hurt us any.
And the biggest plus: David Rohlfs. Ho-ly. Crap. I like the kid back on D, but I love him as a forward. I don't remember him being THIS good. He was all over the ice against WMU, and he was even more visible last night. Scored a goal, had a couple other chances, and he's like a 50-pound-heavier Tomas Holmstrom on the PP. He parked himself in front of Caruso, and they couldn't do anything about it! We've found something there....He looked outstanding.
Mitera played a very good game apart from his one goof that led to the OSU goal. Didn't realize he was +3 until just now when I looked at the boxscore. At the other end of the spectrum: Hunwick and Turnbull -3 each.
Again, the power play did a much better job of moving the puck, and not just doing the same thing over and over. They were only 1-7 but they generated 12 shots on the PP. Good things will start happening if they keep it up. Still too much jacking shots into the defensemen--HENSICK!--but at least a couple times they made the effort to go down low. I love Rohlfs in front as a screen.
Too many defensive lapses, horribly shaky goaltending. But a good effort out of our forwards, and especially David Rohlfs. He just looks fantastic out there.
Shegos, you're a jackass. Langseth, you are too.
Sauer has just lost his confidence. It's not Red's fault for playing him because you can see the talent this kid has, it's the defense's fault for hanging him out to dry over and over. The kid was lights-out at the start of the year, and then our defense got worse and worse, and not coincedentally, so did Sauer's play. Now he's giving up cheapies all over the place. I don't doubt for a second these things are related.
Ruden does nothing for me and Sauer seems like he's just a wreck mentally right now. I don't envy Red about deciding who to go with down the stretch. Although, honestly...if they don't get this defensive crap fixed, it's not going to matter if we have Dominik Hasek or Stephen Hawking in net.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
3 Games, 3 Wins
Imagine that. The NBA-leading Pistons are on one station, the Western Conference leading Red Wings are on another station, and I choose to watch The Big 10 Leading Michigan Wolverines basketball team. God does it feel good to be able to say that. Who would've thought I'd be picking them over the Wings and Pistons?
In between flipping back and forth, I was getting a little bit worried about the Maize and Blue. They started slow, got out to a comfortable lead, held it for a long time, and then it got close at the end. Once again, it would've been really easy for that team to fold (especially with Horton on the bench) but they were able to pull it out thanks to Dion Harris and a clutch shot by Daniel. Courtney was again MIA. 1 of 6 from the field, with 3 of his shots blocked, going up against a team that doesn't start anyone that is less than a half-foot shorter than him. Vagina. He was menstrating all over the court once again. Lester returned for 2 minutes and had a nice basket. Not sure why he didn't play more--if his aggravated his ankle, or if they were just testing it and wanted him to shut it down. Either way it was nice to see him back on the floor. Hopefully he'll be good to go against Iowa.
Something interesting that I learned yesterday. Jack Johnson's 7 minute penalty and game misconduct against Miami was reviewed by the CCHA and they actually apologized to Michigan, saying that it shouldn't have been called. Guess who was the ref? Here's a hint, he apologized to Michigan a couple years ago after waiving off a U of M goal that would've tied a game at Munn (that we ended up losing by 2...an empty-netter was the only other tally). If you said Brian Aaron, you're absolutely correct!!!
Over to the Wings, Kronwall made his return to action and man-oh-man did he look good. He had a huge hit, and two assists. Not bad for someone playing his first game in four months. Detroit may not make a deadline deal this year, but getting Kronwall back is even better. Adding a top 4 defenseman to the team is always a plus, especially when he's got a rocket of a shot and can make the outlet pass. He's going to love playing without the red line, since that's what he was used to over in Sweden, when he quarterbacked the team's Torpedo System. The highlights.
The Wings as a whole looked uninspired for the first half of the game, but luckily they got it going in time to salvage a win. The first goal Legace gave up was a cheapie, but he rebounded and made some big saves at the end to preserve the win.
Congrats to Tomas Holmstrom. With the injury to Markus Naslund, Homer has been named to the Swedish Olympic Team.
From the "This can't actually happen....can it?" file, a post on Redwingscentral.com says--citing a post on another board citing ESPN Insider (and my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious)--that the Red Wings will be going to a more "modern" look with their jerseys next season.
My BS-o-meter is beeping away on this one. While it's been rumored for awhile that the Wings would get a black third jersey, I can't see them changing the classic look that they've got now. Black numbers under a white name? Reflective piping? There's no way.
Pistons? Another game, another blowout win over Minnesota. Think that team's happy they're done playing us for the year?
Fun story for Packer fans about Max Lane--the guy that Reggie White just abused in Super Bowl XXXI. He watched the tape for the first time in conducting this interview.
And an update on my favorite racecar driver, Andretti-Green driver Bryan Herta. Who races in the offseason, but has done a better job of not flipping his car than Tony Stewart has. It's almost racing season!!!!
In between flipping back and forth, I was getting a little bit worried about the Maize and Blue. They started slow, got out to a comfortable lead, held it for a long time, and then it got close at the end. Once again, it would've been really easy for that team to fold (especially with Horton on the bench) but they were able to pull it out thanks to Dion Harris and a clutch shot by Daniel. Courtney was again MIA. 1 of 6 from the field, with 3 of his shots blocked, going up against a team that doesn't start anyone that is less than a half-foot shorter than him. Vagina. He was menstrating all over the court once again. Lester returned for 2 minutes and had a nice basket. Not sure why he didn't play more--if his aggravated his ankle, or if they were just testing it and wanted him to shut it down. Either way it was nice to see him back on the floor. Hopefully he'll be good to go against Iowa.
Something interesting that I learned yesterday. Jack Johnson's 7 minute penalty and game misconduct against Miami was reviewed by the CCHA and they actually apologized to Michigan, saying that it shouldn't have been called. Guess who was the ref? Here's a hint, he apologized to Michigan a couple years ago after waiving off a U of M goal that would've tied a game at Munn (that we ended up losing by 2...an empty-netter was the only other tally). If you said Brian Aaron, you're absolutely correct!!!
Over to the Wings, Kronwall made his return to action and man-oh-man did he look good. He had a huge hit, and two assists. Not bad for someone playing his first game in four months. Detroit may not make a deadline deal this year, but getting Kronwall back is even better. Adding a top 4 defenseman to the team is always a plus, especially when he's got a rocket of a shot and can make the outlet pass. He's going to love playing without the red line, since that's what he was used to over in Sweden, when he quarterbacked the team's Torpedo System. The highlights.
The Wings as a whole looked uninspired for the first half of the game, but luckily they got it going in time to salvage a win. The first goal Legace gave up was a cheapie, but he rebounded and made some big saves at the end to preserve the win.
Congrats to Tomas Holmstrom. With the injury to Markus Naslund, Homer has been named to the Swedish Olympic Team.
From the "This can't actually happen....can it?" file, a post on Redwingscentral.com says--citing a post on another board citing ESPN Insider (and my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious)--that the Red Wings will be going to a more "modern" look with their jerseys next season.
The new Red Wings home jersey will be red, and will feature a mid-weight ULTRAFIL polyester construction, as well as double layered shoulders, black interlock neck trim, reinforced stitching on the shoulders and armholes, with black cuffs and white polyester mesh gusset inserts for better ventilation. Below the gussets, the jersey will be black. The flying wheel chest crest will feature a black drop shadow, and the jersey will have black player numbers under the white player name. Piping across the shoulders will be reflective white.
My BS-o-meter is beeping away on this one. While it's been rumored for awhile that the Wings would get a black third jersey, I can't see them changing the classic look that they've got now. Black numbers under a white name? Reflective piping? There's no way.
Pistons? Another game, another blowout win over Minnesota. Think that team's happy they're done playing us for the year?
Fun story for Packer fans about Max Lane--the guy that Reggie White just abused in Super Bowl XXXI. He watched the tape for the first time in conducting this interview.
And an update on my favorite racecar driver, Andretti-Green driver Bryan Herta. Who races in the offseason, but has done a better job of not flipping his car than Tony Stewart has. It's almost racing season!!!!
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Michigan 7, WMU 3
It was an encouraging game to me because even though we got down by a couple goals and had a player injured, we fought back and made it not close by the end. And even when they were down 2-0 they were still playing pretty well overall.
I love Rohlfs up at forward. That had to be one of his best games in a Michigan uniform (his first game on defense down at BGSU last year would be right there as well). He looks like he hasn't missed a beat in moving up front. He and Fardig each had 5 shots on goal last night. Nice to see those guys chipping in on the offensive end. Rohlfs had a couple that could've gone. Montville didn't look out of place at all back on D, and I really feel that the defense has been better since they started switching guys around during the game.
Kal looked like Bobby Orr on the goal he scored. Too bad the photo on MGoBlue wasn't taken a half second later or it would've been perfect....
The power play looked a lot better tonight, even though they only converted on a delayed penalty, and were 0-3 overall. They had a lot of good movement, they worked it down low some, we even saw Ebbett behind the net if I'm not mistaken (someone was!). Still too many low-percentage shots from the perimeter that have no chance of getting through.
Hensick had the jump back tonight. 2 assists, +3 on the night. I'll take it!
Absolutely love Kolarik, Ebbett, and Kal together. That line was just phenomenal. Chad especially has been excellent for the last few weekends. It scares me to think of what this team would be doing if he actually WAS out for the season.....
Nice to see Digger rewarded with a couple of goals. Kid works hard every shift. He had a great PK early in the game too.
Cook played another pretty darn good game actually. As DCNole mentioned, he didn't play that 2 on 1 so well, but Mitera really hung him out to dry on that one. He had a couple of nice hits throughout the game. It's nice to see him FINALLY using his body more and more often. It's like ever since he scored that goal he's been playing with 10x more confidence, and it's showing in his game.
The defense as a whole played pretty well. Only gave up 10 shots total in the 2nd and 3rd period after giving up that many in the first. Billy made some big stops and could really only be faulted on the 2nd goal. Overall a pretty good night as a whole.
One other note: To the people on the glass in section 17....if you're going to jock my style with the dry-erase board on the glass, come up with something more creative than this. At least say who you're talking to. Bastards caught a puck that would've been right in my hands too, if I had my seats from the last 3 years. Grr!
I love Rohlfs up at forward. That had to be one of his best games in a Michigan uniform (his first game on defense down at BGSU last year would be right there as well). He looks like he hasn't missed a beat in moving up front. He and Fardig each had 5 shots on goal last night. Nice to see those guys chipping in on the offensive end. Rohlfs had a couple that could've gone. Montville didn't look out of place at all back on D, and I really feel that the defense has been better since they started switching guys around during the game.
Kal looked like Bobby Orr on the goal he scored. Too bad the photo on MGoBlue wasn't taken a half second later or it would've been perfect....
The power play looked a lot better tonight, even though they only converted on a delayed penalty, and were 0-3 overall. They had a lot of good movement, they worked it down low some, we even saw Ebbett behind the net if I'm not mistaken (someone was!). Still too many low-percentage shots from the perimeter that have no chance of getting through.
Hensick had the jump back tonight. 2 assists, +3 on the night. I'll take it!
Absolutely love Kolarik, Ebbett, and Kal together. That line was just phenomenal. Chad especially has been excellent for the last few weekends. It scares me to think of what this team would be doing if he actually WAS out for the season.....
Nice to see Digger rewarded with a couple of goals. Kid works hard every shift. He had a great PK early in the game too.
Cook played another pretty darn good game actually. As DCNole mentioned, he didn't play that 2 on 1 so well, but Mitera really hung him out to dry on that one. He had a couple of nice hits throughout the game. It's nice to see him FINALLY using his body more and more often. It's like ever since he scored that goal he's been playing with 10x more confidence, and it's showing in his game.
The defense as a whole played pretty well. Only gave up 10 shots total in the 2nd and 3rd period after giving up that many in the first. Billy made some big stops and could really only be faulted on the 2nd goal. Overall a pretty good night as a whole.
One other note: To the people on the glass in section 17....if you're going to jock my style with the dry-erase board on the glass, come up with something more creative than this. At least say who you're talking to. Bastards caught a puck that would've been right in my hands too, if I had my seats from the last 3 years. Grr!
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