A few quick things as we head into the weekend:
Max Pacioretty was invited to the NHL Draft Combine.
The USA U-17 team swept Alpena in the NAHL playoffs. Robbie Czarnik currently leads the NAHL playoffs with 5 goals and 6 points. Our other commit on the team, David Wohlberg is second with 5 points.
Detroit Bad Boys points out that the Pistons have recalled Amir Johnson to the big club. Given that the Pistons have clinched the East's #1 seed, seems reasonable that Amir is coming up to play in the Show, and not ride the pine. He's been extremely impressive in his limited minutes thusfar (When he got extended playing time he scored like 19 points and didn't miss a shot). As someone who has been on the Amir Johnson bandwagon going all the way back to his first Summer League game as a Piston, I'm geeked.
Bruce MacLeod of the Macomb Daily has a Red Wings blog now. He's got some great stuff in there. Did you know that game one against the Flames brought about Detroit's biggest "hit" total of the season? Do you know what percentage of faceoffs each of our centers has won against Calgary's centers over the last two seasons? This is the stuff that people like me want to know during the playoffs. Love it!
Great performance by the Wings yesterday. It's so huge that Pavel Datsyuk got that goal out of the way early on. Hopefully now that that monkey is off his back, he'll play like we know he can. Kipper played outstanding--the Wings really could've scored 7 or 8 in that game--but Hasek was equally good, just with less shots against him. Dom gives this team a chance.
Very impressive performance...it was especially nice to see the Wings hitting like that, even without Bertuzzi in the lineup. This isn't the same Calgary team from 2004. I can't believe how piss-poor they played defensively.
The other thing that was great to see was Zetterberg looking like he hasn't missed a beat, despite missing 19 straight games. Couldn't even tell he had been gone. That's huge for our chances.
I'm not very happy with the NHL right now. A couple of weeks ago, I shelled out $50 for the remainder of the season + playoffs of Center Ice. Then what happens? Versus picks up every damn Detroit game so Center Ice can't show it. They aren't showing a single Red Wings playoff game according to the schedule. Unbelievable. So I had to upgrade my dish package to the highest one, just so I can get the Wings games on Versus that I should've be getting on Center Ice.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Looking Ahead (Part Two)
Today we'll take a look at the remainder of Michigan's recruiting class. Here are McKeen's profiles of Llewellyn ("poor hockey sense, bad decision making, solid defensively once he gets the body on a player, strong first pass") and Caporusso ("poor man's Mike Cammalleri") that weren't included in the last update.
Season Stats: 58 GP, 20-42--62, 95 PIMs, +21
Playoffs have not begun
When he committed, all we really knew was that he played prep hockey out East. There wasn't any information about him beyond a stat line. Fast-forward a year, and he's quite possibly the jewel of the recruiting class.
McKeen's Hockey Digest lists him as the 58th best player in the upcoming draft (and the 15th best winger) putting him at the end of the second round. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as the 23rd best North American forward. He's said to have "supple" hands, and to be an outstanding passer. The knock is that he doesn't use his size that well. But he's big, can pass, and is apparently a good skater.
Maybe a version of late-in-his-Michigan-career David Moss?
There aren't too many articles on him out there, but here's a commentary on his play from McKeen's. They seem to be fairly hot and cold on him, but think he has a great upside.
Aaron Palushaj (Forward, Des Moines Buccaneers, USHL, 6'0", 185):Season Stats: 54 GP, 21-43--64, 60 PIMs, +6 (7th in USHL scoring)
Playoffs have not begun
McKeen's ranks him as the #19 winger available in the upcoming draft and the #74 player overall (Grain of Salt Alert: They rank Steve Kampfer #73. I can honestly say that I never watched him this year and thought "There's a guy that can play in the NHL" let alone "There's a guy that I would take in the 3rd round." But hey, I thought Ryan Leaf would be better than Peyton Manning, so what do I know?).
He's said to be a sniper inside 15 feet and be able to undress people with his stick-handling. He's got a heavy and accurate shot. Decent skater and willing to do the dirty work. There's some real good stuff in this McKeen's commentary, though there is one contradiction: In the first sentence they say that some scouts think that he's a selfish, me-first player and kind of a brat. They then go on to say that he's a great teammate, and passes more than he should.
From reading that commentary I get the TJ Hensick vibe. Good passer, thought of as selfish but he piles up assists, great stick-handler, good shot. Sounds like he has potential to be a great player for us. In two different places, I saw Thomas Vanek's name dropped as a comparison. Not that he'll be quite that good...but it's not a bad guy to be compared to.
Kevin Quick (Defenseman, Salisbury Prep, NEPSIHA, 6'0", 175):
Season Stats: 25 GP (max) 1-10--11, 10 PIMs, +26
Quick's numbers were well down from last year, which leads me to wonder if he missed part of the season (they don't list games played on the website). Apparently the team as a whole struggled to score in the first half of the year, though.
He was already drafted in the 3rd round of last year's NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Redline compared him to Buffalo's Brian Campbell (again, not a bad guy to be compared to).
He's said to be a great leader, solid in his own end, but offensively gifted.
Boltsprospects has him as the heir apparent to Dan Boyle as an offensive defenseman.
Long Q & A with him from McKeen's.
McKeen's profile ("Loads of offensive potential" "hard, sharp passes" "good point shot")
The original Link-o-Rama about him from my site. It has many of the same links. Bolts Prospects dropped the JMFJ comparison. Chad, from their site, dropped by to say that came from his midget coach...and also that Tampa management LOVES him.
Great article from Tampa's official website. They love his hockey sense.
It's not fair to compare the kid to Jack Johnson, but from reading these links, doesn't it sound like a poor man's JMFJ would be a nice comparison? He sounds like he's great in all aspects of the game, nice offensive upside, good leader, pretty responsible in his own end, likes to hit.
He's kind of flown under the radar because he's playing prep hockey. It's easy to forget that we've got a 3rd round pick coming in on defense next year. I'm excited about him.
Matt Rust (Center, USA NTDP Under 18 Team, 5'10", 180):
Season Stats: 48 GP, 12-17--29, 77 PIMs
Talk about under the radar, especially for a USA kid. When I think of the forwards in the incoming recruiting class, I think of Patch, Pal and Winnett. Then I look at the sidebar, see his name, and remember just how impressive he was in the game against the Wolverines this year.
I love what I've seen (and it's limited) of this kid. He was a good skater, wasn't afraid to hit even though he's not that big, and he works his butt off, very strong in his own end.
He strikes me as a player that can come in and play on our special teams, that they won't be afraid to put out there in the third period with a lead and who can do a nice job centering our third line. We've heard the Ebbett comparison for Caporusso, but I think it'd fit just as well with this kid. He's not flashy, but he can get the job done offensively...but he's a very strong defensive center.
Bob Miller's profile of him on hockeysfuture includes a quote that says he's a good faceoff man too. Love it!
CSS put him as the #124 North American forward. Which is fine. The NHL might not love him, but I think Michigan fans will.
McKeen's.
From the ISS via MHNet.
Charles "Scooter" Vaughan (Defenseman, St. Louis Bandits, NAHL, 5'11", 190)
Season Stats: 58 GP, 8-27--35, 115 PIMs
Playoff Stats (currently ongoing): 2 GP, 1-2--3, 2 PIMs
Here's my original post about him. Apparently he's pretty fast and he plays the game with an edge. He says that his favorite player is Kelly Chase because "He shows no mercy." I like that. We need a player with that attitude now that JMFJ and his "I would rather break someone's jaw with a legal hit than score a goal" mindset is off to the pros.
For a guy that I'm not positive is getting any scholarship money to come here, Vaughan could play a surprisingly key role on this team. If he comes in ready to play at this level, that will allow us to keep Chris Summers up at forward, where he's shown the ability to be an impact player. If he comes in and can't be an NCAA player yet, then Summers probably has to slide back to Defense, where he was a pretty blah player for the most part.
Sorry to say, Scooter, you're leaving a team with Ice Dolls to come to a team with no Ice Dolls. That's gotta be a huge disappointment. Maybe we can pull Molly, the old St. Cloud cheerleader, out of the strip club to come say hello.
Ben Winnett (Center, Salmon Arm Silverbacks, BCHL, 6'1" 180):
Season Stats: 39 GP, 27-30--57, 58 PIMs, 14 PPGs
Playoff Stats: 11 GP, 3-7--10, 12 PIMs
Last, but not least in this year's recruiting class, we have Ben "In it to" Winnett "like Yzerman". A highly-skilled center out of the BCHL, who plays for the same team that brought us Andrew Ebbett. He ranked 39th in league scoring, but also only played about half the season due to a separated shoulder. He ranked t-10 in points per game.
Here's a quote from his team's GM, out of the Roycal City Record:
"He does things on the ice offensively that you just can't teach. His skating ability, his stride and his ability to shoot off both feet are outstanding," Davidson said.
He was also given an "A" despite being a younger player. They like his leadership qualities. Not afraid to go in the corners, nice shot. From everything out there about him though, it seems that his speed is what separates him from other players.
Here's an article about him from Hockeysfuture.
And a mention of him from this site, where I make a similar pun with him name. Because that's not going to get old.
McKeen's profile that mentions his speed quite a bit.
My original post about him, that includes some quotes from Paul Shaheen.
So that does it for the recruiting class. Overall it looks like an extremely talented group. We're bringing in a lot of very good players up front, even if they end up not having that top-talent like Hensick. Our offense will probably drop off slightly next year. We lose a couple of big-time performers up front, but we will be a lot deeper at forward next year if everyone comes back.
Where the dropoff will come, though, is back on the blueline. JMFJ and Hunwick are gone. Quick should be able to pick up some of that slack, and you'd like to think that Kampfer will find his game after a year of getting his feet wet.
Bryan Hogan is as important a recruit as we've had in a long time. If he's for real, this team could have a chance next year. If he can't take the starting goaltender job, we're not going anywhere for the next two seasons. And that sentence means exactly what you think it means, about my confidence in our goaltender at this point. Sauer showed that he has the ability to play at a high level for a stretch, but the kid just doesn't have the confidence to be a top-flight goaltender.
Hogan is especially important because he's our last chance for the next two seasons. There's no way another goalie signs on for 08-09 with Sauer, Jakiel, and Hogan there and a roster slot won't open until Sauer leaves two years from now. So if he's not the guy, either Sauer needs to get with it, or we're done for the next two years. It's too hard to try and win an NCAA title by outscoring teams, and we've had to try and do it for 3 years now, since the last time we've had consistent goaltending was Montoya's sophomore year.
Lastly, commenter Colin expands on his War and Peace length comments from a couple of posts ago in his new blog. Well worth reading, and I look forward to reading what he has to say in the future. Unlike mgoblog, I think the name of the blog is pretty funny.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
NHL Picks
A quick diversion into the NHL before I get to the rest out the recruiting breakdown. Here's how I see the NHL playoffs shaking down. I'm tempted to pick a repeat of what I picked last year (Wings over Devils) but that didn't work out so well last year. I know it's going out on a major limb to pick both #1 seeds, but it has to happen this way. I'll explain later. We'll go with this:
Wings over Flames in 6: Kipper puts a scare in Detroit, but the Wings are better equipped to deal with Calgary than they were back in 2004.
Anaheim over Minnesota in 5: Anaheim has the defense to stop the Wild's top forwards, and the goaltending to stop them if the defense can't.
Dallas over Vancouver in 7: There might not be a player in the league with more to lose this playoff year than Marty Turco. With the up-and-coming Mike Smith watching over his shoulder, Turco could find himself on the bench or on the block with another bad playoff. He gets it done this time.
San Jose over Nashville in 7: Nothing would make me happier than to see the Predators take out the team in the West that I'm most scared of. Nashville doesn't scare me (Detroit was 6-1-1 against them this year) but San Jose scares the hell out of me. This is a great matchup of the teams who fell just short in a closely contested division battle (and it shows why I wanted to win the Central so bad). I like the Sharks because of their depth up front, but Vokoun is the better goalie. This series should be awesome.
Buffalo over NYI in 4: Wade Dubielewicz? With DiPietro the Islanders might stand a chance of taking a game or mayyyybe two. But the Sabres have too much for them.
New Jersey over TB in 6: The Bolts might have enough offense to push a few pucks past Brodeur, but the matchup in goal is so lopsided it's scary. Bad penalty-killing and subpar goaltending isn't a good duo when you're trying to pull an upset. I'll take the injury-plagued Devils.
NYR over Atlanta in 7: Lundqvist has rebounded from the embarrassment of getting cut from my last-place fantasy team (my team rebounded nicely to lose in the championship). Going "all-in" at the trade deadline has worked out well for the Thrashers (Tkachuk has gone for almost a point a game since the trade), but I'd still beware of the "just happy to be there" syndrome for this first-time playoff team.
Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 6: Too young. Next year they're a scary team. This is time to just get their feet wet in playoff action. It'll be fun to watch how Crosby does in the second season though. Then again, it's not playoff time until Ottawa has choked, so maybe the Pens have a fighting chance.
Red Wings over Dallas in 6: Detroit has faired pretty well against the Stars this year. This would be a great series, but I think the Wings have too much for them.
Anaheim over San Jose in 7: A loud cheer goes up from southwest Madison as the Sharks are vanquished. I watched quite a bit of their last regular-season meeting and the Ducks did a great job slowing the Sharks through the neutral zone. I like Anaheim's goaltending better. Great series though.
Buffalo over the Rangers in 5: Too much offense, better goaltending.
NJ over Ottawa in 6: The annual exit comes one round later than normal.
Red Wings over Anaheim in 6: I'll still take a healthy Hasek over almost anyone. If he's not healthy, the Wings are going to the Finals. I'm hoping he is.
Buffalo over NJ in 6: This could be an outstanding matchup in net with Miller going up against Brodeur. Buffalo scored 100 more goals than NJ in the regular season though. You don't make up an offensive gap like that. Especially since both teams have had injury problems.
Buffalo over Detroit in 7: It'd only be fitting. I think the hockey gods have proven that they absolutely despise me for whatever reason. Why not cap off Michigan State's Championship with their old goalie beating the Wings for the Stanley Cup in the city where the hockey gods pulled off their biggest karate kick to my balls. I'm thinking Game 7, 2-1, Triple OT, and Miller makes about 65 saves...yeah, that'd be fitting.
Wings over Flames in 6: Kipper puts a scare in Detroit, but the Wings are better equipped to deal with Calgary than they were back in 2004.
Anaheim over Minnesota in 5: Anaheim has the defense to stop the Wild's top forwards, and the goaltending to stop them if the defense can't.
Dallas over Vancouver in 7: There might not be a player in the league with more to lose this playoff year than Marty Turco. With the up-and-coming Mike Smith watching over his shoulder, Turco could find himself on the bench or on the block with another bad playoff. He gets it done this time.
San Jose over Nashville in 7: Nothing would make me happier than to see the Predators take out the team in the West that I'm most scared of. Nashville doesn't scare me (Detroit was 6-1-1 against them this year) but San Jose scares the hell out of me. This is a great matchup of the teams who fell just short in a closely contested division battle (and it shows why I wanted to win the Central so bad). I like the Sharks because of their depth up front, but Vokoun is the better goalie. This series should be awesome.
Buffalo over NYI in 4: Wade Dubielewicz? With DiPietro the Islanders might stand a chance of taking a game or mayyyybe two. But the Sabres have too much for them.
New Jersey over TB in 6: The Bolts might have enough offense to push a few pucks past Brodeur, but the matchup in goal is so lopsided it's scary. Bad penalty-killing and subpar goaltending isn't a good duo when you're trying to pull an upset. I'll take the injury-plagued Devils.
NYR over Atlanta in 7: Lundqvist has rebounded from the embarrassment of getting cut from my last-place fantasy team (my team rebounded nicely to lose in the championship). Going "all-in" at the trade deadline has worked out well for the Thrashers (Tkachuk has gone for almost a point a game since the trade), but I'd still beware of the "just happy to be there" syndrome for this first-time playoff team.
Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 6: Too young. Next year they're a scary team. This is time to just get their feet wet in playoff action. It'll be fun to watch how Crosby does in the second season though. Then again, it's not playoff time until Ottawa has choked, so maybe the Pens have a fighting chance.
Red Wings over Dallas in 6: Detroit has faired pretty well against the Stars this year. This would be a great series, but I think the Wings have too much for them.
Anaheim over San Jose in 7: A loud cheer goes up from southwest Madison as the Sharks are vanquished. I watched quite a bit of their last regular-season meeting and the Ducks did a great job slowing the Sharks through the neutral zone. I like Anaheim's goaltending better. Great series though.
Buffalo over the Rangers in 5: Too much offense, better goaltending.
NJ over Ottawa in 6: The annual exit comes one round later than normal.
Red Wings over Anaheim in 6: I'll still take a healthy Hasek over almost anyone. If he's not healthy, the Wings are going to the Finals. I'm hoping he is.
Buffalo over NJ in 6: This could be an outstanding matchup in net with Miller going up against Brodeur. Buffalo scored 100 more goals than NJ in the regular season though. You don't make up an offensive gap like that. Especially since both teams have had injury problems.
Buffalo over Detroit in 7: It'd only be fitting. I think the hockey gods have proven that they absolutely despise me for whatever reason. Why not cap off Michigan State's Championship with their old goalie beating the Wings for the Stanley Cup in the city where the hockey gods pulled off their biggest karate kick to my balls. I'm thinking Game 7, 2-1, Triple OT, and Miller makes about 65 saves...yeah, that'd be fitting.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Looking Ahead (Part One)
With the skates taken off for the final time of the 2006-07 team, it’s time to stop wondering what might’ve been if we had gotten a better draw—or taken care of business against Notre Dame—and start looking ahead to the 2007-08 edition of the Wolverines.
Louie Caporusso (Forward, St. Michael’s Buzzers, OPJHL, 5’10”, 180):
Season Stats: 37 GP, 23-27—50, 45 PIMs
Playoff Stats: 20 GP, 14-19—33
Louie has picked up where Andrew Cogliano and Mike McKenzie left off at St. Michael’s, leading the team in scoring this season (FTR, he was second in scoring last season as well). Tbarr has compared him to a more offensive-minded Andrew Ebbett. He can score, he can make plays, and apparently he’s good in his own end as well. He’s also shown the ability to come up big when it matters; 33 points in 20 playoff games is evidence of that. He’s had some injuries the last couple of seasons, but if he can stay healthy we could have a nice duo of St. Mike’s forwards next year (if “Drew Cogs” comes back).
The Wolverine article about him from December (may be $$ link)
My original post about him, which includes the text of St. Mike's press release
An ancient blurb from Redline
Carl Hagelin (Left Wing,
According to the site that I have linked on the sidebar, he tied for his team lead in scoring and ranked in the top 10 for the league as a whole, so that’s something. Even better, according to EliteProspects, he led the league in scoring.
He was 40% on faceoffs, so he’ll fit right in (ok, that was a cheapshot, he only took 5).
A post on Hockeysfuture says that "H has alot of speed and has pretty good offensive abillities. Skating and agility is above average, has an fairly good shoot and okay passingskills and vision. Not that good along the boards and has problem when meeting aggressive defensmen." (sic).
My original post about him.
Bryan Hogan (Goaltender,
Season Stats: 42 GP,
Playoffs have not started.
I would call him the most important recruit in this year’s class. After Billy Sauer’s meltdown in the game against
Can Hogan change our goaltending from a weakness to a strength? Couldn’t tell ya. I was a lot more excited about him last year, when he played well enough to get Steve Jakiel traded away from Lincoln and put up a 2.50 and a .916 (along with similar win totals).
If nothing else, he's played a lot of hockey over the past couple of years, which is something that I feel really hurt Billy Sauer upon his entrance to college.
I'll end his profile with the same plea that I have in my Yost Post signature: Please be for real.
Chad Langlais (Defenseman, Lincoln Stars, USHL, 5'8", 170):
Season Stats: 46 GP, 5-34--39, 112 PIMs, -1
Playoffs have not started.
He's not very big, but the penalty minutes suggest that he's willing to hit, and the assist numbers suggest that he makes a nice pass. He has matured this year, with his point totals going up significantly (he's increased that total by 16, despite playing 13 less games at this point). 27 of his 39 points have come on the power play, so he obviously sees a lot of time on the PP. He also averages about 2.5 shots on goal a game.
He ranks sixth on the team in points, fourth in assists (second amongst defensemen in both categories), and is second in PIMs. He'll be an older freshman (he'll be 21 by the time he plays his first game) so he probably doesn't have the upside of some of our other incoming freshmen, but he should be ready to step in and play. Plus he'll hopefully provide some leadership back there, which will be nice with as many young defensemen as we're bringing in.
One of my original posts about Langlais, which includes quotes about he and Bryan Hogan.
I hate Pat Caputo, but here's an old article (2004) about Chad and his twin, Chase.
This is from the 05-06 season on the USHL website.
Tristin Llewellyn (Defenseman, Tri-City Storm, USHL, 6'1", 193):
Season Stats: 49 GP, 3-15--18, 152 PIMs, Even
Is he really going to finally be a Wolverine? It seems like we've gone through a full class of players since he committed. He was the youngest player in the USHL back in the 04-05 season and was a very highly touted player. The hype-meter seems to have dropped off. Kyle Woodlief from Redline says that it's because he hasn't improved "one iota" in the last three years. Part of that could be boredom. He's been playing in the same league for three years. Hopefully a change of scenery will do him some good.
He's big, I assume he can hit (again with the PIMs) and the book on him a few years ago was that he was a pretty good skater.
I'll have stuff up on the remaining players (Palushaj, Pacioretty, Quick, Rust, Vaughan, and Winnett) in the near future.
Until then, here's a couple of other tidbits:
A feature from January on the USHL's site about 2009 recruit Chris Brown.
Also, we've added a new commitment, 2010 player Jared Knight. Tbarr and WCH have the scoop. He leads his league in scoring with a 35-30--65 line in 31 games. He's ten years younger than me. I feel really old.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
A Sham I Tell Ya
I didn't get to comment on this when it happened due to ongoing issues with unpacking and whatnot. The guy who probably should've won the damn award, TJ Hensick, isn't even a Hobey Baker Finalist??? Are you freaking kidding me?
In favor of who?
Dave Brown: I can live with him being there. He had a great year, ND won the CCHA regular season and playoff championships and he was a big reason why. Personally, I don't think he was the best goalie in his conference, but they aren't going to give it to someone whose team didn't sniff the NCAAs. So if you want a goalie, Brown is a good choice.
Ryan Duncan: Is he even the best player on his line? Nation's second leading goal scorer, I get it. But he only had eight more goals than a pass-first-second-and-third player in TJ Hensick (and twenty less assists). Not to mention the fact that, with all due respect to Kevin Porter and David Rohlfs, Duncan was playing with TJ Oshie and Jonathan Toews! Hell, I could put in 20 playing with those two. This nomination reeks of "OMG we just have to have a WCHA player in the Hobey Hat Trick because that conference is oh so good and the rest = teh sux."
Eric Ehn: How cute. How. How. Cute. Someone from a shitty ass conference has a good year, so let's throw him in as a Hobey finalist. Never mind the fact that Hensick had five more points, one less goal (but one more game winner), and doesn't play in ATLANTIC FREAKING HOCKEY. Is there any way to justify this beyond the fact that it's a feel-good story? Hell, let's just give Boise State a chance in a BCS game while we're at it. (Wait, they beat who in what bowl?) Scratch that last comment.
Unbelievable. I was absolutely stunned when I saw that release.
In favor of who?
Dave Brown: I can live with him being there. He had a great year, ND won the CCHA regular season and playoff championships and he was a big reason why. Personally, I don't think he was the best goalie in his conference, but they aren't going to give it to someone whose team didn't sniff the NCAAs. So if you want a goalie, Brown is a good choice.
Ryan Duncan: Is he even the best player on his line? Nation's second leading goal scorer, I get it. But he only had eight more goals than a pass-first-second-and-third player in TJ Hensick (and twenty less assists). Not to mention the fact that, with all due respect to Kevin Porter and David Rohlfs, Duncan was playing with TJ Oshie and Jonathan Toews! Hell, I could put in 20 playing with those two. This nomination reeks of "OMG we just have to have a WCHA player in the Hobey Hat Trick because that conference is oh so good and the rest = teh sux."
Eric Ehn: How cute. How. How. Cute. Someone from a shitty ass conference has a good year, so let's throw him in as a Hobey finalist. Never mind the fact that Hensick had five more points, one less goal (but one more game winner), and doesn't play in ATLANTIC FREAKING HOCKEY. Is there any way to justify this beyond the fact that it's a feel-good story? Hell, let's just give Boise State a chance in a BCS game while we're at it. (Wait, they beat who in what bowl?) Scratch that last comment.
Unbelievable. I was absolutely stunned when I saw that release.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Another Season Ends
Should any of us really be all that surprised about North Dakota 8, Michigan 5?
I hate the expression as much as I hate the radio personality who uses it as his show's title, but the Michigan hockey team "It is what it is" and in the end, the flaws that have plagued them for most of the season bit them.
We're a stupid hockey team. It starts at the top with our senior captain who could never stop taking dumbshit penalties at the worst possible time. And it goes on down from there. Dumb penalties + a fairly ineffective penalty kill aren't a good combo. Especially against a team with a power play like NoDak's. It shouldn't have taken 5 power play goals to get the point across (not that that was an exceptionally well-officiated game or anything).
As for our goaltending, wow. I think I more than anyone have been skeptical of Sauer's improved play. I never quite bought into the fact that after a year and a half of overall poor play he was suddenly a quality goaltender. Hell, my signature on the Yost Post is still a picture of Bryan Hogan with the plea "Please be for real." I was hoping he'd keep it up long enough for us to make a tournament run, but in the end a couple pucks got by and all the confidence he built up over the last couple of months seem to go away as quick as our tournament hopes.
The preceding paragraph shouldn't be taken as completely blaming last night on Sauer, however. As I mentioned earlier, we took a ton of stupid-ass penalties, and as a whole the defense sucked.
North Dakota's goalie was probably more shaky than Sauer in the early going (He gave up 5 goals on 10 shots) but to his credit, he made three big saves late in the second period that turned the game in North Dakota's favor for good.
I wish like hell for guys like Rohlfs, Hensick, and JMFJ that this season had ended better. It was a joy to watch those three especially this season and I wish them all the luck in the world in the NHL. I think Jack is the first guy that has left since I've been following the team who I didn't bat an eyelash when I saw he departed. It would've been great to see him back at Michigan next year, but this was a move he needed to make. He was beyond ready and I'd like to thank him for two great seasons. Make us proud in the NHL, Jack. And I hope the Staples Center crowd likes your family as much as we do.
My last comment for now has to deal with tape delay. Most notably how I miserably failed once again in my quest to watch a game on tape delay without finding out the outcome ahead of time. And an explanation about why I don't have all that much to say about the game.
I live in Madison, WI now, so the game was shown on tape delay at about 11:00 EDT. Around 8:45, my dad called me. I'm not sure why I answered the phone, but I figured "He can't. He knows that I'm not seeing this game live." I answer the phone, and he says "Are you watching this?" "NO!" "Well this is unbelievable." I can already tell from the tone of his voice that things aren't great. "Why are we getting killed?" "No, it's close....all I will tell you is that there have already been twelve goals scored." Already more than I wanted to know, since for the first half of the game, I didn't get remotely excited/pissed when a goal went in. I knew it was either 7-5 or 6-6, and based on his voice, I figured we were down 7-5. I also didn't get a lot of joy out of the 3-1 lead Michigan had when CSN broke into the game. I knew it was going away quickly.
It gets to the second intermission and my phone rings again. It's a friend who was out at the game. I pick up the phone and say "On my broadcast it's only the second intermission so don't tell me anything." We chat for a couple of minutes about the game to that point and then he says "I gotta go, I'm getting on the plane."
Well then. I texted him back saying "Getting on the plane huh? I guess we lost."
Then I turned the game off.
A few last comments for tonight:
-All the Eastern teams with the exception of Boston College suck. All of them.
-No more complaining from anyone about the autobids for the CHA and Atlantic Hockey. The only reason Minnesota wasn't embarassed for the second straight year was that Air Force started watching the clock and stopped doing what got them the 3-1 lead in the first place (and what allowed them to dominate the first period). Alabama Huntsville had Notre Dame on the ropes--though it was obvious they were holding on for dear life. Either way, those were two impressive performances by the "two worst teams in the tournament".
-It makes me happy that Minnesota lost again.
-It doesn't shock me that none of the #1 seeds made it to the Frozen Four. Clarkson was obviously a fraud, Minnesota had a tough game in having to face North Dakota, UNH probably wasn't favored to get past BC (and they didn't make it that far), and Notre Dame was a very beatable #1. But it does shock me that no #1s and only one #2 made it to St. Louis.
-I have to say this again, due to all the threads that I saw when I pulled the Yost Post: We didn't get screwed. It sucks that MSU got the much easier draw even though we finished ahead of them in both the regular season and conference tournament, but this is the system that we have. But we didn't get screwed. It's not the committee's job to reward the #8 seed over the #9 seed. We didn't take care of business to ensure ourselves one of those cake regionals out East or a spot in Grand Rapids. And even if we did go to Grand Rapids, there's no guarantee that we would've beaten a team that we were 0-3 against this season.
The team that really got screwed was Minnesota. They had a tougher first round game than they should have gotten because of geography. Then, instead of having Michigan and Michigan State in their regional as the #2 and #3 seeds, they got one of the hottest teams in the country swapped in over Michigan State (because conference matchups can't happen in Round One). And they lost.
Think Minnesota wouldn't have won a regional with Michigan, Michigan State, and Alabama Huntsville? They got screwed (not that I'm upset about it). We didn't. We got a bad draw. It happens. We weren't in a position to deserve a reward of any kind.
-One thing I will say, however, is that the sides of the bracket are horribly unbalanced. The regionals with North Dakota and Boston College had probably 5 of the top 6 teams in the tournament. An idea I've been kicking around has been that the Pairwise should be used to determine the field for the tournament, but that the committee should have the leeway to seed the teams as they wish.
Think about it. The controversy with the basketball tournament is always with who got in versus who didn't. There was a little talk about the Big East getting poor seeds this year, but by and large that's not a big sticking point.
This plan would at least let the committee reward a team like North Dakota for improving throughout the year and showing by the end of the season that they were one of the top teams in the country.
It would also let them alter things so that Minnesota isn't "rewarded" with a weaker three seed by putting North Dakota in their regional, when it actually probably would have been better for them to have the Michigan-Michigan State game split up by putting a "tougher" Boston University team into their region.
Sure there would be controversy, but I feel that I would rather trust humans to seed the teams versus going exclusively off the numbers--which don't take into account if a team is going in the tank or playing out of their minds coming down the stretch.
Or maybe the system itself just needs to be tweeked...
I hate the expression as much as I hate the radio personality who uses it as his show's title, but the Michigan hockey team "It is what it is" and in the end, the flaws that have plagued them for most of the season bit them.
We're a stupid hockey team. It starts at the top with our senior captain who could never stop taking dumbshit penalties at the worst possible time. And it goes on down from there. Dumb penalties + a fairly ineffective penalty kill aren't a good combo. Especially against a team with a power play like NoDak's. It shouldn't have taken 5 power play goals to get the point across (not that that was an exceptionally well-officiated game or anything).
As for our goaltending, wow. I think I more than anyone have been skeptical of Sauer's improved play. I never quite bought into the fact that after a year and a half of overall poor play he was suddenly a quality goaltender. Hell, my signature on the Yost Post is still a picture of Bryan Hogan with the plea "Please be for real." I was hoping he'd keep it up long enough for us to make a tournament run, but in the end a couple pucks got by and all the confidence he built up over the last couple of months seem to go away as quick as our tournament hopes.
The preceding paragraph shouldn't be taken as completely blaming last night on Sauer, however. As I mentioned earlier, we took a ton of stupid-ass penalties, and as a whole the defense sucked.
North Dakota's goalie was probably more shaky than Sauer in the early going (He gave up 5 goals on 10 shots) but to his credit, he made three big saves late in the second period that turned the game in North Dakota's favor for good.
I wish like hell for guys like Rohlfs, Hensick, and JMFJ that this season had ended better. It was a joy to watch those three especially this season and I wish them all the luck in the world in the NHL. I think Jack is the first guy that has left since I've been following the team who I didn't bat an eyelash when I saw he departed. It would've been great to see him back at Michigan next year, but this was a move he needed to make. He was beyond ready and I'd like to thank him for two great seasons. Make us proud in the NHL, Jack. And I hope the Staples Center crowd likes your family as much as we do.
My last comment for now has to deal with tape delay. Most notably how I miserably failed once again in my quest to watch a game on tape delay without finding out the outcome ahead of time. And an explanation about why I don't have all that much to say about the game.
I live in Madison, WI now, so the game was shown on tape delay at about 11:00 EDT. Around 8:45, my dad called me. I'm not sure why I answered the phone, but I figured "He can't. He knows that I'm not seeing this game live." I answer the phone, and he says "Are you watching this?" "NO!" "Well this is unbelievable." I can already tell from the tone of his voice that things aren't great. "Why are we getting killed?" "No, it's close....all I will tell you is that there have already been twelve goals scored." Already more than I wanted to know, since for the first half of the game, I didn't get remotely excited/pissed when a goal went in. I knew it was either 7-5 or 6-6, and based on his voice, I figured we were down 7-5. I also didn't get a lot of joy out of the 3-1 lead Michigan had when CSN broke into the game. I knew it was going away quickly.
It gets to the second intermission and my phone rings again. It's a friend who was out at the game. I pick up the phone and say "On my broadcast it's only the second intermission so don't tell me anything." We chat for a couple of minutes about the game to that point and then he says "I gotta go, I'm getting on the plane."
Well then. I texted him back saying "Getting on the plane huh? I guess we lost."
Then I turned the game off.
A few last comments for tonight:
-All the Eastern teams with the exception of Boston College suck. All of them.
-No more complaining from anyone about the autobids for the CHA and Atlantic Hockey. The only reason Minnesota wasn't embarassed for the second straight year was that Air Force started watching the clock and stopped doing what got them the 3-1 lead in the first place (and what allowed them to dominate the first period). Alabama Huntsville had Notre Dame on the ropes--though it was obvious they were holding on for dear life. Either way, those were two impressive performances by the "two worst teams in the tournament".
-It makes me happy that Minnesota lost again.
-It doesn't shock me that none of the #1 seeds made it to the Frozen Four. Clarkson was obviously a fraud, Minnesota had a tough game in having to face North Dakota, UNH probably wasn't favored to get past BC (and they didn't make it that far), and Notre Dame was a very beatable #1. But it does shock me that no #1s and only one #2 made it to St. Louis.
-I have to say this again, due to all the threads that I saw when I pulled the Yost Post: We didn't get screwed. It sucks that MSU got the much easier draw even though we finished ahead of them in both the regular season and conference tournament, but this is the system that we have. But we didn't get screwed. It's not the committee's job to reward the #8 seed over the #9 seed. We didn't take care of business to ensure ourselves one of those cake regionals out East or a spot in Grand Rapids. And even if we did go to Grand Rapids, there's no guarantee that we would've beaten a team that we were 0-3 against this season.
The team that really got screwed was Minnesota. They had a tougher first round game than they should have gotten because of geography. Then, instead of having Michigan and Michigan State in their regional as the #2 and #3 seeds, they got one of the hottest teams in the country swapped in over Michigan State (because conference matchups can't happen in Round One). And they lost.
Think Minnesota wouldn't have won a regional with Michigan, Michigan State, and Alabama Huntsville? They got screwed (not that I'm upset about it). We didn't. We got a bad draw. It happens. We weren't in a position to deserve a reward of any kind.
-One thing I will say, however, is that the sides of the bracket are horribly unbalanced. The regionals with North Dakota and Boston College had probably 5 of the top 6 teams in the tournament. An idea I've been kicking around has been that the Pairwise should be used to determine the field for the tournament, but that the committee should have the leeway to seed the teams as they wish.
Think about it. The controversy with the basketball tournament is always with who got in versus who didn't. There was a little talk about the Big East getting poor seeds this year, but by and large that's not a big sticking point.
This plan would at least let the committee reward a team like North Dakota for improving throughout the year and showing by the end of the season that they were one of the top teams in the country.
It would also let them alter things so that Minnesota isn't "rewarded" with a weaker three seed by putting North Dakota in their regional, when it actually probably would have been better for them to have the Michigan-Michigan State game split up by putting a "tougher" Boston University team into their region.
Sure there would be controversy, but I feel that I would rather trust humans to seed the teams versus going exclusively off the numbers--which don't take into account if a team is going in the tank or playing out of their minds coming down the stretch.
Or maybe the system itself just needs to be tweeked...
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Balls.
Quick hits on the Michigan/ND championship game before I get into talk about the NCAA Tournament Bracket:
-Sauer was outstanding. He made one mistake and it ended up being the game winning goal. But when you only give your goalie one goal of support, you're asking him to be perfect in order to win the game. That's a tall task. He played a great game.
-Notre Dame had the "luck of the Irish" with them on St. Patrick's Day, as we hit at least 4 goalposts--if not more.
-That was one of the worst officiated games that I've seen this year. Before the "sour grapes" comments come out, let me say that there were horrible calls against both teams. I don't believe that it cost us the game. I just feel Shegos was beyond brutal last night. The no-call on Hensick's breakaway not only kept us from getting a 5 on 3 or a penalty shot, but it also took us off the power play since Porter took a stupid-ass penalty five seconds later. Hensick was also boarded later on in the game, which was at least a two-minute penalty, but probably should've been 5. To be fair, though, the "throwing the puck" penalty on Notre Dame that had us on the power play at that moment was extremely weak as well, IMO. Notre Dame intentionally knocked the net off while Hensick was circling around the offensive zone. Those are just a few of the ones that I remember (I obviously remember the ones against us more clearly...I have no doubt that a lot of them went in our favor as well). The hit from behind on Hensick was the worst of the lot, however.
-I thought Mitera was pretty bad throughout the weekend. Kolarik was fairly quiet as well. Don't remember seeing him out there apart from missing that chance with about 10 seconds left.
-Summers had another strong game. I really like what he adds to that second line.
Now onto talk about the NCAAs:
As soon as the "BU/MSU" graphic graced my television, I had roughly the same reaction that Brian did.
Unlike a lot of my friends over at The Yost Post, however, I really don't feel that we got screwed, per se. Yes we ended up in the Bracket of Death. Yes it's very likely that our season will come to an end next weekend. Yes it sucks that even though we beat MSU, they get to stay home in a not-so-difficult regional while we get shipped out West and face the very real possibility of having to go through North Dakota, Minnesota and Boston College to get to the championship game while MSU would face something along the lines of Boston University, Notre Dame, St. Cloud. But I still don't feel that we got "screwed".
You could make the argument that since Michigan won the comparison with MSU, and finished ahead of them in both the regular season and conference tournament that we should've been rewarded by getting to stay home. The only problem with that argument, however, is that by flipping Michigan/North Dakota with Michigan State/Boston University, as the numbers go you would be giving the number one seed in the tournament a tougher 2 seed (#7 overall vs. #8 overall) as well as a tougher #3 seed (#9 vs. #10). It may not be that way in fact (as Michigan and North Dakota are likely both better than Boston University and Michigan State), but if we're going based on fact then there's no way in hell Clarkson should be a #1 seed.
Michigan--as the worst #2 seed in the tournament--hasn't done anything to deserve to be rewarded. We didn't win the CCHA, we didn't win the CCHA Tournament. We had plenty of chances to jump up and grab a low-one/high-two seed and get a nice cushy regional out East, but we didn't grab the chance when we had it, and as such, I don't think we've got a leg to stand on.
The team that really got screwed in all of this is actually the Gophers. Instead of getting to face the #16 team, Alabama-Huntsville, the committee decided to swap UAH in favor of the #15 team (I assume for attendance purposes), the Air Force Academy. So instead of getting to face a team that was six games under .500 in the regular season, they get to play the nation's second-leading scorer along with a team that's playing fairly close to home (It would basically be the equivalent of Michigan playing in Grand Rapids).
Then, instead of getting a team in MSU--that wasn't assured of a spot in the tournament until they scored a seventh goal against LSSU yesterday--as their three seed, they get one of the hottest teams in the nation in North Dakota.
It's a screwy system that actually gives the #6 team in the country the easiest road to the Finals out of anybody. There's no question that the system could be better, but at least this way there are no arguments about teams being snubbed...only the brackets that have been arranged.
So, do the Wolverines have a chance? Yes, although I think the chances of each team coming out of the region is something like:
Minnesota: 50%
North Dakota: 40%
Michigan: 10%
North Dakota smoked us last year, but in the interim our goaltending has gotten better, theirs has gotten worse. They aren't scoring as many goals as they did last year, we're scoring more. And we're also not facing them in their own building.
On the downside, North Dakota has been playing extremely well as of late. They haven't lost in regulation since the first game of 2007, and they haven't lost by more than a goal since Mid-December.
If we get through the Fighting Sioux, we would likely face a Minnesota team that freaking owns us. No, they aren't the same team that ran off 22 in a row without a loss earlier in the season (and beat us 8-2 in the process). They've been strangely human since then, going 8-8 over their next 16 games before winning 3 straight to take the WCHA playoff championship.
We're also not the same team that got beat 8-2 by them earlier in the season. Sauer has been much improved since that point, Chris Summers has sparked the second line, and I feel like we're playing a much better all-around game (Probably four of our best six games of the season have come in our last four games). The game would be on a normal-sized sheet of ice as well. For those reasons, I would give us a chance against the Gophers, but I still think they have us figured out, and our team is a bunch of Tyler Hirsches (cheap shot??) against them.
I don't think it gets to that point though. As much as I'd like to say differently, I think we go out in the first round to North Dakota for the second year in a row.
It's too bad that we got the draw that we did. This team is rounding into form nicely, and with a different draw (like the one that St. Cloud received), we really could've made a run for the Championship Game. We're the #8 seed overall, but the only teams in the country that are probably better at this point are Minnesota, North Dakota, Boston College, and I suppose you have to include Notre Dame as well, even though I feel we outplayed them yesterday.
It's just too bad that we ended up playing one of the hottest teams in the country, and then potentially a game against a team that has our number more than anybody. But...we didn't take care of business against Notre Dame. If we had, we probably would've ended up as the #5 or #6 seed rather than in the Bracket of Death. We've got no one to blame but ourselves.
-Sauer was outstanding. He made one mistake and it ended up being the game winning goal. But when you only give your goalie one goal of support, you're asking him to be perfect in order to win the game. That's a tall task. He played a great game.
-Notre Dame had the "luck of the Irish" with them on St. Patrick's Day, as we hit at least 4 goalposts--if not more.
-That was one of the worst officiated games that I've seen this year. Before the "sour grapes" comments come out, let me say that there were horrible calls against both teams. I don't believe that it cost us the game. I just feel Shegos was beyond brutal last night. The no-call on Hensick's breakaway not only kept us from getting a 5 on 3 or a penalty shot, but it also took us off the power play since Porter took a stupid-ass penalty five seconds later. Hensick was also boarded later on in the game, which was at least a two-minute penalty, but probably should've been 5. To be fair, though, the "throwing the puck" penalty on Notre Dame that had us on the power play at that moment was extremely weak as well, IMO. Notre Dame intentionally knocked the net off while Hensick was circling around the offensive zone. Those are just a few of the ones that I remember (I obviously remember the ones against us more clearly...I have no doubt that a lot of them went in our favor as well). The hit from behind on Hensick was the worst of the lot, however.
-I thought Mitera was pretty bad throughout the weekend. Kolarik was fairly quiet as well. Don't remember seeing him out there apart from missing that chance with about 10 seconds left.
-Summers had another strong game. I really like what he adds to that second line.
Now onto talk about the NCAAs:
As soon as the "BU/MSU" graphic graced my television, I had roughly the same reaction that Brian did.
Unlike a lot of my friends over at The Yost Post, however, I really don't feel that we got screwed, per se. Yes we ended up in the Bracket of Death. Yes it's very likely that our season will come to an end next weekend. Yes it sucks that even though we beat MSU, they get to stay home in a not-so-difficult regional while we get shipped out West and face the very real possibility of having to go through North Dakota, Minnesota and Boston College to get to the championship game while MSU would face something along the lines of Boston University, Notre Dame, St. Cloud. But I still don't feel that we got "screwed".
You could make the argument that since Michigan won the comparison with MSU, and finished ahead of them in both the regular season and conference tournament that we should've been rewarded by getting to stay home. The only problem with that argument, however, is that by flipping Michigan/North Dakota with Michigan State/Boston University, as the numbers go you would be giving the number one seed in the tournament a tougher 2 seed (#7 overall vs. #8 overall) as well as a tougher #3 seed (#9 vs. #10). It may not be that way in fact (as Michigan and North Dakota are likely both better than Boston University and Michigan State), but if we're going based on fact then there's no way in hell Clarkson should be a #1 seed.
Michigan--as the worst #2 seed in the tournament--hasn't done anything to deserve to be rewarded. We didn't win the CCHA, we didn't win the CCHA Tournament. We had plenty of chances to jump up and grab a low-one/high-two seed and get a nice cushy regional out East, but we didn't grab the chance when we had it, and as such, I don't think we've got a leg to stand on.
The team that really got screwed in all of this is actually the Gophers. Instead of getting to face the #16 team, Alabama-Huntsville, the committee decided to swap UAH in favor of the #15 team (I assume for attendance purposes), the Air Force Academy. So instead of getting to face a team that was six games under .500 in the regular season, they get to play the nation's second-leading scorer along with a team that's playing fairly close to home (It would basically be the equivalent of Michigan playing in Grand Rapids).
Then, instead of getting a team in MSU--that wasn't assured of a spot in the tournament until they scored a seventh goal against LSSU yesterday--as their three seed, they get one of the hottest teams in the nation in North Dakota.
It's a screwy system that actually gives the #6 team in the country the easiest road to the Finals out of anybody. There's no question that the system could be better, but at least this way there are no arguments about teams being snubbed...only the brackets that have been arranged.
So, do the Wolverines have a chance? Yes, although I think the chances of each team coming out of the region is something like:
Minnesota: 50%
North Dakota: 40%
Michigan: 10%
North Dakota smoked us last year, but in the interim our goaltending has gotten better, theirs has gotten worse. They aren't scoring as many goals as they did last year, we're scoring more. And we're also not facing them in their own building.
On the downside, North Dakota has been playing extremely well as of late. They haven't lost in regulation since the first game of 2007, and they haven't lost by more than a goal since Mid-December.
If we get through the Fighting Sioux, we would likely face a Minnesota team that freaking owns us. No, they aren't the same team that ran off 22 in a row without a loss earlier in the season (and beat us 8-2 in the process). They've been strangely human since then, going 8-8 over their next 16 games before winning 3 straight to take the WCHA playoff championship.
We're also not the same team that got beat 8-2 by them earlier in the season. Sauer has been much improved since that point, Chris Summers has sparked the second line, and I feel like we're playing a much better all-around game (Probably four of our best six games of the season have come in our last four games). The game would be on a normal-sized sheet of ice as well. For those reasons, I would give us a chance against the Gophers, but I still think they have us figured out, and our team is a bunch of Tyler Hirsches (cheap shot??) against them.
I don't think it gets to that point though. As much as I'd like to say differently, I think we go out in the first round to North Dakota for the second year in a row.
It's too bad that we got the draw that we did. This team is rounding into form nicely, and with a different draw (like the one that St. Cloud received), we really could've made a run for the Championship Game. We're the #8 seed overall, but the only teams in the country that are probably better at this point are Minnesota, North Dakota, Boston College, and I suppose you have to include Notre Dame as well, even though I feel we outplayed them yesterday.
It's just too bad that we ended up playing one of the hottest teams in the country, and then potentially a game against a team that has our number more than anybody. But...we didn't take care of business against Notre Dame. If we had, we probably would've ended up as the #5 or #6 seed rather than in the Bracket of Death. We've got no one to blame but ourselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
