There are rumors swirling that BGSU could announce the death of their hockey program as soon as two weeks from now.
I'd sure hate to see that. It's never good to see any school drop hockey, let alone a former national champion who has put a decent number of guys into the NHL. They've fallen on hard times, but I'd hate to see the Falcons go.
Of course, that would be an easy way of solving the "Where does Alabama-Huntsville play?" dilemma.
Here's hoping that we get to see those ugly jerseys and thunderstick-wielding fans for many years to come!
Save BGSU Hockey on Facebook. Whether it'll help or not, I don't know. But it's worth showing support to one of the "little guys" in our conference (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way).
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Awards Keep Rolling In
Aaron Palushaj and Louie Caporusso were named to the All-CCHA First Team today. Chris Summers and Chad Langlais were honorable mentions. They're joined on the first team by Ocho Cinco, Carter Camper, Erik Gustafsson and Ian Cole.
Like MHNet, I think it's hilarious that Jeff Lerg was named to the Second Team. I recognize that he had like no help this year and that it's probably just them throwing him a bone as a "Career Achievement" type thing, but it's still a joke. He was 14th in the conference in goals against this year and 7th in save percentage. Hogan had an identical save percentage, a GAA that was a full goal better, and was 2nd in the country in winning percentage. Jordan Pearce was 2nd in GAA and save % in the conference and backstopped ND to a runaway CCHA title. Jeff Lerg? Are you kidding me? Maybe MSU found a way to pad his numbers in the voting the same way they padded his save stats. I do have to give him his props on a great career and for being, by all accounts, a really classy kid. And he played the CCHA Tournament with a torn ACL. But yeah, ohhhh cya.
Edit: I'm not done yet. Check this out. Here are the GAAs of the goalies on the All-CCHA First and Second Teams going back to 99-00: 2.22, 1.72, 1.58, 2.31, 2.22, 1.83, 2.07, 2.89, 2.35, 2.24, 1.77, 2.42, 1.32, 2.29, 2.40, 1.36, 2.35, 2.33 (Note: These are the national stats, not the conference numbers.) So in the last decade, there has been one goalie with a GAA above 2.45 that has made all conference. That was Jordan Sigalet, who was 16-12-3 on freaking Bowling Green, and had MS to boot. Lerg was 9-20-3 on the worst FYS team in recent memory. It's not like he took them on his back and brought them to great heights. He was 14th in the conference in GAA and won 9 games for the 11th place team, who got swept in the first round of the playoffs. There is no rationale for putting him on the All Conference Team ahead of Pearce, Hogan, and Carlson. None. I respect the hell out of the kid, but if you're going based on body of work this year, he's not even close to All-Conference caliber. What Lerg did this year was basically on par with Morgan Cey's season for that gawd-awful Notre Dame team a few years back. Cey was 3-17-5 with a 2.99/.912. And to be perfectly honest, this year's FYS team probably would've killed that ND team. Their leading goal scorer was a defenseman. With 6. They didn't go making Cey All-Conference.
Carl Hagelin was named to the CCHA Scholar Athlete Team. I'm calling that a win since last year we didn't have a player that was eligible.
I also had a similar reaction to HSR when I read INCH's bit about how it would be nice to see Michigan have to take on North Dakota in Minneapolis to make up for us beating them in 98. Uhh...what dude? Sure there would be more Sioux fans there than Michigan fans, but I can't imagine the residual Gophers would be rooting for them (unless they're on the usual WCHA-Power!!! trip, which kind of got blown the eff up this year). It wouldn't be NoDak's home rink (been there, done that), they've hosted since (and made the Frozen Four in the process), and that game happened over a decade ago. Time to let it go. But don't forget, Michigan is the only team that has ever hosted. And we're definitely the only team that has ever hosted and won.
Lee Moffie netted a pair in a 3-2 OT win over Lincoln on Friday. He has 7-25--32 in 44 games (4th on the team in scoring), with 20 of those points on the PP. Waterloo is 4th in the Eastern Division and 5th overall.
Lindsay Sparks's Oakville Blades tied up their series against the Georgetown Raiders at 1 apiece with a 2-0 win. There were some fun penalties in that boxscore, including a 2 and 10 for Sparks for "Head contact/Checking". The best one is a misconduct for "Inciting an Opponent". One kid got a game misconduct for checking from behind, on a two-minute penalty. Wow.
Oakville is up 1-0 in the first period of Game 3.
Edit: Oakville ended up winning 3-2 and leads the series 2 games to 1.
Like MHNet, I think it's hilarious that Jeff Lerg was named to the Second Team. I recognize that he had like no help this year and that it's probably just them throwing him a bone as a "Career Achievement" type thing, but it's still a joke. He was 14th in the conference in goals against this year and 7th in save percentage. Hogan had an identical save percentage, a GAA that was a full goal better, and was 2nd in the country in winning percentage. Jordan Pearce was 2nd in GAA and save % in the conference and backstopped ND to a runaway CCHA title. Jeff Lerg? Are you kidding me? Maybe MSU found a way to pad his numbers in the voting the same way they padded his save stats. I do have to give him his props on a great career and for being, by all accounts, a really classy kid. And he played the CCHA Tournament with a torn ACL. But yeah, ohhhh cya.
Edit: I'm not done yet. Check this out. Here are the GAAs of the goalies on the All-CCHA First and Second Teams going back to 99-00: 2.22, 1.72, 1.58, 2.31, 2.22, 1.83, 2.07, 2.89, 2.35, 2.24, 1.77, 2.42, 1.32, 2.29, 2.40, 1.36, 2.35, 2.33 (Note: These are the national stats, not the conference numbers.) So in the last decade, there has been one goalie with a GAA above 2.45 that has made all conference. That was Jordan Sigalet, who was 16-12-3 on freaking Bowling Green, and had MS to boot. Lerg was 9-20-3 on the worst FYS team in recent memory. It's not like he took them on his back and brought them to great heights. He was 14th in the conference in GAA and won 9 games for the 11th place team, who got swept in the first round of the playoffs. There is no rationale for putting him on the All Conference Team ahead of Pearce, Hogan, and Carlson. None. I respect the hell out of the kid, but if you're going based on body of work this year, he's not even close to All-Conference caliber. What Lerg did this year was basically on par with Morgan Cey's season for that gawd-awful Notre Dame team a few years back. Cey was 3-17-5 with a 2.99/.912. And to be perfectly honest, this year's FYS team probably would've killed that ND team. Their leading goal scorer was a defenseman. With 6. They didn't go making Cey All-Conference.
Carl Hagelin was named to the CCHA Scholar Athlete Team. I'm calling that a win since last year we didn't have a player that was eligible.
I also had a similar reaction to HSR when I read INCH's bit about how it would be nice to see Michigan have to take on North Dakota in Minneapolis to make up for us beating them in 98. Uhh...what dude? Sure there would be more Sioux fans there than Michigan fans, but I can't imagine the residual Gophers would be rooting for them (unless they're on the usual WCHA-Power!!! trip, which kind of got blown the eff up this year). It wouldn't be NoDak's home rink (been there, done that), they've hosted since (and made the Frozen Four in the process), and that game happened over a decade ago. Time to let it go. But don't forget, Michigan is the only team that has ever hosted. And we're definitely the only team that has ever hosted and won.
Lee Moffie netted a pair in a 3-2 OT win over Lincoln on Friday. He has 7-25--32 in 44 games (4th on the team in scoring), with 20 of those points on the PP. Waterloo is 4th in the Eastern Division and 5th overall.
Lindsay Sparks's Oakville Blades tied up their series against the Georgetown Raiders at 1 apiece with a 2-0 win. There were some fun penalties in that boxscore, including a 2 and 10 for Sparks for "Head contact/Checking". The best one is a misconduct for "Inciting an Opponent". One kid got a game misconduct for checking from behind, on a two-minute penalty. Wow.
Oakville is up 1-0 in the first period of Game 3.
Edit: Oakville ended up winning 3-2 and leads the series 2 games to 1.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Burlon, Wohlberg CCHA All-Rookie Selections
In what should be a shocker to nobody, the CCHA named David Wohlberg and Brandon Burlon to the All-Rookie Team today. They join Connor Knapp, Chris Wideman, Matt Martkowski, Zac Dalpe, and Billy "Ye of the kicked-in goal" Maday. Wohlberg and Maday tied for the freshman scoring lead in conference play.
Friday's game is at 7:35 on Comcast Local. Saturday's game will take place at 7:05 (note the start time if you have tickets) on Fox Sports Detroit. Sunday's if-necessary game is 7:35.
The Ann Arbor News had a great interview with Red. I liked reading this:
And this got a laugh out of me:
Jack Campbell started all three games for the U17s this weekend against Alpena (2 wins and an OTL, 7 goals allowed on 86 shots), which goes against the usual goalie rotation. I think we have the reason why: Will Yanakeff, the MSU commit who split time with Campbell, was kicked off the team along with Stuart Higgins (Maine), and possibly Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame).
Friday's game is at 7:35 on Comcast Local. Saturday's game will take place at 7:05 (note the start time if you have tickets) on Fox Sports Detroit. Sunday's if-necessary game is 7:35.
The Ann Arbor News had a great interview with Red. I liked reading this:
And I've always said, if a kid is ready to play in the NHL - and I know what that's like; that's a dream come true - and it's time, I'll drive you to the airport. But, on the way, we'll talk to you about how you can graduate. Even (Los Angeles Kings defenseman) Jack Johnson (who left U-M after two seasons) went to school all last spring and summer. And, he's coming back again this summer. But, he's a special kid. He's 60 (credit) hours away. Good for him.
And this got a laugh out of me:
If I wanted to sign a five-year contract, they could easily do it. And they would, I'm sure. But I don't think that's entirely fair, because I don't know if I can live up to that. I just didn't want to make a five year commitment and say: 'Geez, I'm going to be here until I'm 75 or something.' And recruits might come in and say: 'Holy Christ, he's gonna be our coach?'
Jack Campbell started all three games for the U17s this weekend against Alpena (2 wins and an OTL, 7 goals allowed on 86 shots), which goes against the usual goalie rotation. I think we have the reason why: Will Yanakeff, the MSU commit who split time with Campbell, was kicked off the team along with Stuart Higgins (Maine), and possibly Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame).
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Michigan to Face WMU in Second Round
Michigan will face Patrick Galivan, the CCHA's leading scorer in the regular season, and the Western Michigan Broncos in the second round of the CCHA Playoffs next weekend. WMU came back after losing game one of their series against LSSU to win in double OT last night and 3-1 tonight to advance.
The teams split their lone series this year. WMU won 2-1 at Yost and Michigan returned the favor the next night with a 5-0 win at Lawson.
I'll have a full preview later in the week. The other CCHA matchups will be Notre Dame vs. UNO,The Dynasty against NMU, and Alaska vs. OSU.
Also, the worst kept secret in college sports was revealed on Friday. Michigan and Wisconsin will play outdoors at Camp Randall Stadium on February 6, 2010. Tickets will be $25 and include the first game of the double-header: the Wisconsin women against Bemidji State.
The teams split their lone series this year. WMU won 2-1 at Yost and Michigan returned the favor the next night with a 5-0 win at Lawson.
I'll have a full preview later in the week. The other CCHA matchups will be Notre Dame vs. UNO,The Dynasty against NMU, and Alaska vs. OSU.
Also, the worst kept secret in college sports was revealed on Friday. Michigan and Wisconsin will play outdoors at Camp Randall Stadium on February 6, 2010. Tickets will be $25 and include the first game of the double-header: the Wisconsin women against Bemidji State.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Michigan vs. FYS Outdoors? It's On!
A day after it came out that Michigan was interested in hosting an outdoor game in 2010 comes the announcement that the game is on, likely for Dec 11, 2010 and that FYS will be the opponent. Michigan will be hosting two games that weekend, Friday night at Yost, and Saturday at The Big House (with Sunday as a backup day). With Ford Field hosting the Frozen Four in 2010, the Wolverines could potentially play four games in football stadiums in that calendar year.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Red's Sticking Around; Another Outdoor Game to Come?
No drama from Red. Michigan announced today that Coach Berenson will return in 2009-2010 for his 26th season behind the Michigan bench. I would fully expect him back in 2010-11 as well, because who could turn down the chance to coach that incoming class?
There was a video feature about Mac Bennett on a local news station out East. The same reader who sent that along also said that Mac was named "All New England", but it was a $ link so I didn't get to read the story about it.
The other big story is from The Ann Arbor News. If Michigan and Wisconsin break the attendance record set at The Cold War, it likely won't last very long. Michigan has expressed interest in hosting an outdoor game at....wait for it....THE BIG HOUSE in December of 2010. They're just now starting to put a plan together so no opponent was mentioned. One of the rumors I had heard in the early stages of the Camp Randall talk was that we were looking to do a home-and-home outdoor series with Wisconsin. Clearly FYS would be an option as well. I suppose they could invite OSU and play up the Michigan/OSU at the Big House thing, but I think I'd prefer to see a traditional hockey school. I wouldn't mind seeing one of the Boston schools. I like getting to play BC and BU.
It'll also be interesting to see if they end up having a Wings game there as well. I know Michigan has talked with the Wings in the past about Detroit playing at The Big House.
Matt Hunwick played forward for the Boston Bruins with Milan Lucic out with an injury and had a goal and an assist in his first game up front. NESN was pretty complimentary of his play as well.
David Moss is playing the Tomas Holmstrom role on the Flames' power play. He's playing alongside Mike Cammalleri. It seems to be working out well, as Mosser had his first career hat trick tonight, giving him 19 goals on the year.
The ex-Wolverines in the NHL have now combined for 162 goals this season, which is more than 6 NHL teams have. That's in 914 man-games. But when you consider that the average NHL team has played 62.9 games and dresses 18 skaters a night, the average NHL team has had 1132 man-games this season. Adjust for that, and the Wolverines would have scored just over 200 goals this year, making them the 8th highest-scoring team in the league. When you factor in that we've got more forwards than the typical team, and account for 6 defensemen and 12 forwards dressing a night, we'd have 177 goals, which would be good for 18th in scoring. Still not at all bad.
Jacob Fallon now has 15-20--35 in 44 games for the U-17s. Luke Moffatt has 17-13--30 in 47 games. Defenseman Kevin Clare has 4-5--9 in 46 games. Jon Merrill has 2-1--3 in 24 games. And Jack Campbell has posted an 18-5-1 record with a 2.08/.915, with four shutouts. Sparkling numbers for a goal on the U-17s.
For the U-18s, AJ Treais continues to lead the team in scoring (who saw that one coming?) with a 14-23--37 line in 40 games. He also leads the team in assists. Kevin Lynch has 12-15--27 in 46 games. Chris Brown has 13-13--26 in 45 games. He also leads the team in PIMs (96) and PPGs (8). Insert your own joke here about someone named Chris Brown playing rough. I'm not going there. That would be in poor taste, even for me.
Campbell gets a mention in this article about the Windsor Spitfires, who hold his OHL rights. Stay away, ya hear me?
Well there ya go. You can bat .750. Bring in Johns, Kenny Ryan, and Cam Fowler. Leave Jack to us. Works for me.
Lindsay Sparks's Oakville Blades advanced to the Division Final against the Georgetown Raiders in the OJHL Playoffs. It doesn't look like Sparks played in the deciding game in the series against Burlington. He has 2-9--11 in seven playoff games though.
There was a video feature about Mac Bennett on a local news station out East. The same reader who sent that along also said that Mac was named "All New England", but it was a $ link so I didn't get to read the story about it.
The other big story is from The Ann Arbor News. If Michigan and Wisconsin break the attendance record set at The Cold War, it likely won't last very long. Michigan has expressed interest in hosting an outdoor game at....wait for it....THE BIG HOUSE in December of 2010. They're just now starting to put a plan together so no opponent was mentioned. One of the rumors I had heard in the early stages of the Camp Randall talk was that we were looking to do a home-and-home outdoor series with Wisconsin. Clearly FYS would be an option as well. I suppose they could invite OSU and play up the Michigan/OSU at the Big House thing, but I think I'd prefer to see a traditional hockey school. I wouldn't mind seeing one of the Boston schools. I like getting to play BC and BU.
It'll also be interesting to see if they end up having a Wings game there as well. I know Michigan has talked with the Wings in the past about Detroit playing at The Big House.
Matt Hunwick played forward for the Boston Bruins with Milan Lucic out with an injury and had a goal and an assist in his first game up front. NESN was pretty complimentary of his play as well.
David Moss is playing the Tomas Holmstrom role on the Flames' power play. He's playing alongside Mike Cammalleri. It seems to be working out well, as Mosser had his first career hat trick tonight, giving him 19 goals on the year.
The ex-Wolverines in the NHL have now combined for 162 goals this season, which is more than 6 NHL teams have. That's in 914 man-games. But when you consider that the average NHL team has played 62.9 games and dresses 18 skaters a night, the average NHL team has had 1132 man-games this season. Adjust for that, and the Wolverines would have scored just over 200 goals this year, making them the 8th highest-scoring team in the league. When you factor in that we've got more forwards than the typical team, and account for 6 defensemen and 12 forwards dressing a night, we'd have 177 goals, which would be good for 18th in scoring. Still not at all bad.
Jacob Fallon now has 15-20--35 in 44 games for the U-17s. Luke Moffatt has 17-13--30 in 47 games. Defenseman Kevin Clare has 4-5--9 in 46 games. Jon Merrill has 2-1--3 in 24 games. And Jack Campbell has posted an 18-5-1 record with a 2.08/.915, with four shutouts. Sparkling numbers for a goal on the U-17s.
For the U-18s, AJ Treais continues to lead the team in scoring (who saw that one coming?) with a 14-23--37 line in 40 games. He also leads the team in assists. Kevin Lynch has 12-15--27 in 46 games. Chris Brown has 13-13--26 in 45 games. He also leads the team in PIMs (96) and PPGs (8). Insert your own joke here about someone named Chris Brown playing rough. I'm not going there. That would be in poor taste, even for me.
Campbell gets a mention in this article about the Windsor Spitfires, who hold his OHL rights. Stay away, ya hear me?
Rychel hopes he can also add Johns and Campbell when their two years are up.
"We like to get them all," Rychel said. "It it realistic? No, but we'd like to bat .750.
"Campbell is the best goalie in his age group in North America and Johns is a defenceman who needs to come to the OHL to learn how to play in the NHL. It'll make him better and make for an easier transition and the OHL is the fastest route to the NHL."
Well there ya go. You can bat .750. Bring in Johns, Kenny Ryan, and Cam Fowler. Leave Jack to us. Works for me.
Lindsay Sparks's Oakville Blades advanced to the Division Final against the Georgetown Raiders in the OJHL Playoffs. It doesn't look like Sparks played in the deciding game in the series against Burlington. He has 2-9--11 in seven playoff games though.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Michigan Sweeps Ferris, Takes Second Place
It was Senior Night at Yost and the seniors came to play. Billy Sauer got a shutout in what may very well be his final appearance in a Michigan uniform, Mark Mitera and Brandon Naurato had goals in their final regular season games at Yost, and Mitera, Turnbull, and Fardig all had assists as the Wolverines upended Ferris State 4-0.
Combine that with a 6-1 win last night and a Miami loss to OSU Friday, and the Wolverines came back to tie the RedHawks for second place in the standings, winning the tie-breaker based on not having any phony-baloney shootout wins. Remarkably, the Wolverines made it through the entire 36 game regular season without playing an overtime contest.
Michigan will sit out the first round of the CCHA Playoffs, and will play the second-worst team (by points) remaining in the field. We cannot play Notre Dame, Miami, Alaska, Ohio State, Northern Michigan, or Bowling Green, which means our second round opponent will either be Western Michigan, LSSU, FYS, UNO, or Ferris. I would consider it very unlikely that we would face FYS in the second round (they'd have to beat Northern and BGSU would have to beat OSU). Likewise, I think it's unlikely we'll play LSSU (since either FYS or BGSU would have to win their series in addition to LSSU beating Western, which wouldn't be a huge shocker). So it'll more than likely be Ferris, UNO, or Western Michigan.
How big was OSU's loss to Miami tonight? Instead of getting a first round bye in the CCHA Playoffs and then hosting the second round, they now have to play in the first round and if they win, they'll have to travel to Fairbanks for round two. Ouch.
One very underrated reason that it's great we jumped ahead of Miami? In addition to gaining home ice advantage in the CCHA Semifinals (if we make it), taking second place means that it's impossible for us to see NMU in the second round. I would consider them to be the team I'd least like to face amongst the 5-12 teams. They're 11-3-2-1 in their last 16 contests.
The best sight this weekend had to be Mark Mitera making his return after missing nearly the entire season with a knee injury sustained in the first period of the opening game. The Wolverines have their captain back and, more importantly, they have arguably their best player back on the ice. Maybe he's rusty, but it's two weeks until the CCHA Playoffs start, and darn near a month until the NCAA Tournament. The chances of us having a full-speed Mark Mitera by that point seem very good.
The next best thing? Billy Sauer pitching a shutout on Senior Night. How can you not feel good about something like that? And how bout the revamped defense corps allowing 14 shots tonight? Our defense corps is as good as any team in the country now.
The Wolverines have gone 17-3 since that 9-7 start (and it would probably be 19-1 with competent officiating). They've gone from 7th place in the CCHA to 2nd, and very likely will be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Amazing what having healthy defensemen can do, huh?
The CCHA first round matchups are as follows:
12 BGSU at 5 OSU
11 FYS at 6 NMU
10 LSSU at 7 WMU
9 FSU at 8 UNO
I think that Ferris/UNO series is a perfect example of why maybe every team shouldn't get to play post-season hockey. Get this: Those teams have combined for four wins (at least in regulation) since the start of 2009. Four. Out of 32 games played. Omaha hasn't won a game since January 9. And they're hosting.
Another interesting fact: Alaska averaged 1.93 goals per game in conference play and earned a first round bye as the 4th place team. Jordan Pearce will probably get CCHA Goaltender of the Year, but how do you not give it to Ocho Cinco? ND allowed one more goal than Alaska, but they were the #8 scoring offense in the country. Alaska is 53rd. That's pressure when your team is popping in less than 2 a night. It's a lot easier to play goal when they're scoring a goal and a half more per game. Image Michigan playing the way they played in front of Sauer all year and landing themselves a first round bye. That's what Chad Johnson did this year.
And congrats to Billy Sauer and Bryan Hogan for tying with UA for the CCHA version of the Jennings Trophy. Both teams allowed 51 goals on the season in conference play, edging out ND who gave up 52.
Other stuff:
Michigan had just four double-digit goal scorers in the regular season, but still has the 6th highest scoring offense in the country.
After 22 goals and just 11 assists in his first 30 games, Caporusso has turned into quite the setup guy. He has a goal and nine assists over his past six.
Aaron Palushaj (35 points) and Louie Caporusso (34) were edged out for the CCHA scoring crown by Patrick Galivan of WMU, who had 36. Caporusso was also second in the goal-scoring race, to Carter Camper. Palushaj had the most assists by a wide margin (29-22).
Tim Miller and Travis Turnbull were both ejected Saturday night for apparently jawing too much at the end of the period. Neither were DQ'ed so they'll be eligible to play in our first playoff game. The funny thing is that neither player has missed a game in his Michigan career. If they had both been DQ'ed, they both would've had their consecutive games streak snapped by getting DQ'ed on Senior Night.
Michigan now sits tied with Denver for third in the PWR ranking (Denver would win the tiebreaker). Check out the whacked out teams that would get 2-seeds if the tournament started today: Northeastern, Vermont, Yale, and UNH. Wow. Colorado College, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Boston College are still on the outside looking in.
Edit: One last thing. A few posts back, I stated that Jeff Lerg was set to become the all-time NCAA saves king. That's untrue. He took over 1st in CCHA history tonight and is 2nd all-time in the NCAA, but Robbie Moore from Michigan still holds the crown, and not even FYS can inflate his shot total enough to give him 450 saves over the rest of the season.
MVictors has some really great photos of the game, and of Gordie Howe, who was in attendance.
Combine that with a 6-1 win last night and a Miami loss to OSU Friday, and the Wolverines came back to tie the RedHawks for second place in the standings, winning the tie-breaker based on not having any phony-baloney shootout wins. Remarkably, the Wolverines made it through the entire 36 game regular season without playing an overtime contest.
Michigan will sit out the first round of the CCHA Playoffs, and will play the second-worst team (by points) remaining in the field. We cannot play Notre Dame, Miami, Alaska, Ohio State, Northern Michigan, or Bowling Green, which means our second round opponent will either be Western Michigan, LSSU, FYS, UNO, or Ferris. I would consider it very unlikely that we would face FYS in the second round (they'd have to beat Northern and BGSU would have to beat OSU). Likewise, I think it's unlikely we'll play LSSU (since either FYS or BGSU would have to win their series in addition to LSSU beating Western, which wouldn't be a huge shocker). So it'll more than likely be Ferris, UNO, or Western Michigan.
How big was OSU's loss to Miami tonight? Instead of getting a first round bye in the CCHA Playoffs and then hosting the second round, they now have to play in the first round and if they win, they'll have to travel to Fairbanks for round two. Ouch.
One very underrated reason that it's great we jumped ahead of Miami? In addition to gaining home ice advantage in the CCHA Semifinals (if we make it), taking second place means that it's impossible for us to see NMU in the second round. I would consider them to be the team I'd least like to face amongst the 5-12 teams. They're 11-3-2-1 in their last 16 contests.
The best sight this weekend had to be Mark Mitera making his return after missing nearly the entire season with a knee injury sustained in the first period of the opening game. The Wolverines have their captain back and, more importantly, they have arguably their best player back on the ice. Maybe he's rusty, but it's two weeks until the CCHA Playoffs start, and darn near a month until the NCAA Tournament. The chances of us having a full-speed Mark Mitera by that point seem very good.
The next best thing? Billy Sauer pitching a shutout on Senior Night. How can you not feel good about something like that? And how bout the revamped defense corps allowing 14 shots tonight? Our defense corps is as good as any team in the country now.
The Wolverines have gone 17-3 since that 9-7 start (and it would probably be 19-1 with competent officiating). They've gone from 7th place in the CCHA to 2nd, and very likely will be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Amazing what having healthy defensemen can do, huh?
The CCHA first round matchups are as follows:
12 BGSU at 5 OSU
11 FYS at 6 NMU
10 LSSU at 7 WMU
9 FSU at 8 UNO
I think that Ferris/UNO series is a perfect example of why maybe every team shouldn't get to play post-season hockey. Get this: Those teams have combined for four wins (at least in regulation) since the start of 2009. Four. Out of 32 games played. Omaha hasn't won a game since January 9. And they're hosting.
Another interesting fact: Alaska averaged 1.93 goals per game in conference play and earned a first round bye as the 4th place team. Jordan Pearce will probably get CCHA Goaltender of the Year, but how do you not give it to Ocho Cinco? ND allowed one more goal than Alaska, but they were the #8 scoring offense in the country. Alaska is 53rd. That's pressure when your team is popping in less than 2 a night. It's a lot easier to play goal when they're scoring a goal and a half more per game. Image Michigan playing the way they played in front of Sauer all year and landing themselves a first round bye. That's what Chad Johnson did this year.
And congrats to Billy Sauer and Bryan Hogan for tying with UA for the CCHA version of the Jennings Trophy. Both teams allowed 51 goals on the season in conference play, edging out ND who gave up 52.
Other stuff:
Michigan had just four double-digit goal scorers in the regular season, but still has the 6th highest scoring offense in the country.
After 22 goals and just 11 assists in his first 30 games, Caporusso has turned into quite the setup guy. He has a goal and nine assists over his past six.
Aaron Palushaj (35 points) and Louie Caporusso (34) were edged out for the CCHA scoring crown by Patrick Galivan of WMU, who had 36. Caporusso was also second in the goal-scoring race, to Carter Camper. Palushaj had the most assists by a wide margin (29-22).
Tim Miller and Travis Turnbull were both ejected Saturday night for apparently jawing too much at the end of the period. Neither were DQ'ed so they'll be eligible to play in our first playoff game. The funny thing is that neither player has missed a game in his Michigan career. If they had both been DQ'ed, they both would've had their consecutive games streak snapped by getting DQ'ed on Senior Night.
Michigan now sits tied with Denver for third in the PWR ranking (Denver would win the tiebreaker). Check out the whacked out teams that would get 2-seeds if the tournament started today: Northeastern, Vermont, Yale, and UNH. Wow. Colorado College, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Boston College are still on the outside looking in.
Edit: One last thing. A few posts back, I stated that Jeff Lerg was set to become the all-time NCAA saves king. That's untrue. He took over 1st in CCHA history tonight and is 2nd all-time in the NCAA, but Robbie Moore from Michigan still holds the crown, and not even FYS can inflate his shot total enough to give him 450 saves over the rest of the season.
MVictors has some really great photos of the game, and of Gordie Howe, who was in attendance.
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