2010 Michigan Hockey Season Preview Part 1

Let's talk some freaking hockey!

First up, let me introduce the official Yost Built Twitter page.

The Wolverines open the 2010-11 season at Yost this Saturday against Mercyhurst. They'll face Western Ontario in an exhibition game Sunday.

The USA Today poll was released today and the Wolverines are the pre-season #4 team in the country, behind BC, NoDak, and Miami.

The last time we saw these Wolverines, they were skating off the ice after one of the great screw-jobs in recent memory, which denied them a trip to the Frozen Four in Detroit and denied Shawn Hunwick the chance to potentially complete one of the greatest stories in the history of college sports.

When attempting to project how this season will go, it's kind of difficult. Are they the team that damn near made it to the Frozen Four, where they would have been a scary team to play, or are they the team that needed to win six games (and the CCHA Tournament) just to keep their NCAA streak alive? For good parts of the season, they played largely uninspired hockey (culminating in that debacle of a weekend against UNO) and took an unbelievable number of insanely stupid penalties (lots of them when we had a man advantage).

That being said, they ended the year with more goals (albeit in 3 more games played) than the season before when they were a number one seed. The big difference was the defense gave up 18 more goals, though they certainly found something down the stretch once Hunwick came in. Hopefully that re-dedication to team defense carries over another year.

The power play was much better than a season before, but it was good in bunches. They scored 31 of their 48 power play goals in their 14 multi-PPG games. The PK wasn't bad, though it wasn't up to Michigan's typical standards (I'm still having Brendan Smith flashbacks). With guys like Glendening, Rust, and Hagelin, though, it should be pretty solid.

The team returns largely in tact from an offensive perspective. Thanks to the decisions of Rust, Hagelin, Caporusso, Brown, and Burlon to return to school, Michigan loses just 24 of their 148 goals from a season ago (14 from Lebler, 3 from Kampfer, 4 from Summers, 3 from Czarnik who left mid-season last year).

The blue line will look somewhat different. Gone are two-year captain Chris Summers (40 GP) and Steve Kampfer (45 GP) (along with Eric Elmblad who didn't play last season). That's a lot of minutes to replace, but there is a bunch of talent amongst the noobs. (We'll get to that in the positional previews later in the week.)

Hogan and Hunwick both return, and they're joined by freshman Adam Janecyk who replaces Patrick Summers as the third goalie.

Michigan just announced their TV schedule. Sadly, due to Comcast's general suckitude, the TV that hosts my Slingbox is now a U-Verse TV, so I won't get the seven Comcast Local games. We do have six or seven on FSN Detroit, 5 or 6 on the Big Ten Network, and a couple on CBS College Sports.

The plan is to preview the forwards tomorrow, the defense on Wednesday, goalies on Thursday, and have 10 Things to Know about Mercyhurst on Friday. I might juggle the schedule based on life (it's easier to write a goalie preview than talk about the forwards), but Ozzie is in midseason form and I'm ready to talk hockey!

Having a Seat Over There: Two Commits to Talk About

Remember me? I used to write about Michigan hockey?

Well I'm back, now that life should calm down for a little while. First off, I'd like to give a great big welcome to my new sponsor(s): Underground Printing and Moe's Sport Shops. I'm looking forward to working with them and hopefully we'll have some fun announcements to make later this season.

Next up, we have a couple of commits to talk about. One new, and one from a couple of weeks ago. (I'm particularly looking forward to talking about that one since I've had the browser window open for like 15 days.)

First up is Justin Selman. He will be playing with Des Moines in the USHL this fall. He was also invited to play for the USA Under 18 Select Team which took the silver medal in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament. He tallied a goal in USA's 5-2 win over Finland and had an assist in their semifinal victory over Sweden. He's a late 93 who is slated to be a 2012 recruit. Chris Heisenberg has him listed at 6'0", 191.

He captained the North Jersey Avalanche to the silver medal at the 2010 USA Hockey Nationals in the Midget 16 AAA division, scoring 5-1--6 in 6 games during the tournament. He had 25-36--61 in 34 games last year.

A quote:

"Michigan is a powerhouse for putting guys in the NHL," Selman said. "I definitely want to be [at Michigan] for at least two years. … My goal right now is to play in college and one day the NHL."

MGoBlog has some additional hockeysfuture goodness. Supposedly he's good on draws.

The other commit is from '94 Daniel Milne out of Ontario. He played for the Toronto Young Nationals last year and had 46-54--100, with 46 PIMs in 80 games (PDF link). He's listed as 5'11", 175. Chris Dilks reported that he picked Michigan over Notre Dame and Owen Sound of the OHL. He was a third-round pick of the Attack in the OHL Draft this year, and as recently as a few days ago, it sounded like he was tearing it up in their rookie camp.

"Milne is one of those players who does all the little things really well and he goes to the areas (in front of the net) to find goals," said [Owen Sound coach] Reeds.

He's listed as being from Newmarket of the OJHL, but he's not on their roster, so I guess we'll see? I guess this is another opportunity to hold our breath for two years waiting for the kid to make it to campus while the OHL sniffs around. Hopefully it works out for the good guys this time.

Other Stuff:
MGoBlue had a great article about where the name "The Big Chill" came from, and other pop-culture references to U of M. Air Force One and Lost were the ones that jumped right to my mind. I can't believe I didn't notice The Cold War in the Burn Notice pilot. Might have to pull that one back out.

Speaking of The Big Chill, if anyone is going to have extras, let me know. I'm looking for an additional 4-6 for friends of the family. 

The roster was apparently on MGoBlue for a time. The new numbers:
9 Luke Moffatt
18 Derek DeBlois
8 Jacob Fallon
24 Jon Merrill
37 Mac Bennett
4 Kevin Clare
30 Adam Janecyk

Less than a month to go!

Meet JMFJ and Marty Turco

On Tuesday from 11 am - 2 pm at the Best Buy at Westland Mall, the NHL 2k11 RV will be pulling in, giving fans a chance to demo the game and meet the players that are helping them out. Slated to appear? Jack Johnson and Marty Turco (along with Ryan Kesler).

And I promise I'll start writing again soon.

NHL Draft: Day 2

Jon Merrill was selected 38th overall by the New Jersey Devils, who just love picking Wolverines. According to the official Michigan Hockey Twitter page, Merrill becomes the 12th Michigan player to be selected by New Jersey.

Dallas selected Alex Guptill with the 17th pick of the third round (77th overall).

Lee Moffie went to the Sharks in the 7th round.

Luke Moffatt became the fourth Wolverine to get picked. The Colorado Avalanche selected him in the seventh round.

Kevin Clare and Jacob Fallon were not selected.

Merrill not Drafted in Round One

The first round of the NHL Entry Draft concluded tonight and Jon Merrill did not hear his name called. He should go very early tomorrow.

De-commit Jack Campbell was selected 11th overall by the Dallas Stars, which is interesting because in addition to Turco, they also drafted the last goalie to commit to Michigan and end up in the OHL instead (Jason Bacashihua). And, come to think of it, they drafted Michigan de-commit Matt Nickerson as well. Things didn't work out so hot for the last two. Hopefully things go a lot better for the goalie formerly known as JMFC. I suppose I have a thought as to where Jared Knight will end up tomorrow.

Also mentioned was that the Oilers were looking to get back into the first round and offered up Andrew Cogliano for the 15th pick, but were turned down.

Improvements to Yost Coming?

An article on AnnArbor.com from a couple of days ago mentioned that Michigan's revenues for the 2011 fiscal year are projected to top $100 million. What are they going to do with that money? AD David Brandon indicates that some improvements to Yost might be coming:

“We’re looking at some updates and enhancements to Yost ­- bleachers, the concession areas, the circulation space, lighting,” Brandon said. “And we’re looking at some real interesting things as it relates to the scoreboard and technology in all of our venues, including the football stadium.

“We’re in a situation where one of the things we have to attend to at some point in the future would be update the technology because there’s HD technology, bigger screens and higher resolution that our fans would really enjoy.”

Mmmmm...video screen at Yost that does more than say "Go! Fight! Win!"

The hockey schedule is out, and it's on starting October 2nd! It's kind of interesting that we play a real game (Mercyhurst) before our yearly beatdown of a Canadian team. You've got the one-game trip out East (to play UNH, which could be fun). You've got the potential for four games against FYS in a month's span. (The Big Chill, GLI, and an early-January home-and-home. 

The College Hockey Showcase is a Friday/Sunday series this year, with our game at Minnesota coming on Sunday. 

No midweek games outside of the GLI and our exhibition game against the NTDP. 

We've got UNO coming to Yost for a non-conference series, as the Mavericks slide to the WCHA. 

It's kind of interesting that we go to BGSU for a series, rather than the usual home-and-home, but we have a pair of home-and-homes against Ferris. You could about walk to BGSU. Ferris? Not so close.

The evaluation camp roster for the 2010-11 USA World Junior team has been released as well. Chris Brown, Kevin Lynch, and Jon Merrill are on the list. So is the goalie formerly known as JMFC, who has to be a lock.

USCHO had a very nice writeup about Jon Merrill. Red Berenson had some lofty praise, comparing him to a Nick Lidstrom-type. Merrill said that he'd like to be drafted by the Wings, as if we ever take players from Michigan. He would also like to marry Miley Cyrus.

TJ Hensick was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Julian Talbot. He is an RFA and there have been rumblings about him heading to the Swedish Elite League, but hopefully he'll finally get a shot in St. Louis. Kevin Porter signed a two-way deal with the Avs.

Lastly, Coach isn't going anywhere! Red signed a three year extension, which would carry him through the 2012-13 season. It's a good thing Ted Thompson isn't our AD. He'd be getting tired of the retirement questions and would push for the coach of the future to take over. 

Back

There hasn't been a ton going on lately, but it's been so long since I've written that I suppose a few things have piled up. So I give you some new stuff, some old stuff that I still want to comment on, and probably a few things that you don't care about.

First up, The Daily had another great article--this one about the evolution of the student section at Yost. I don't just say it's great because it has a few quotes from yours truly about the shining moment of the decade at Yost--the Molly game. All five pages of it are a great read. It's really well-researched and Mike has quotes from people that attended games in several different eras. The best part, however, is how the story goes full circle--from the Spartan fans filling up Yost to the "Children of Yost" packing Munn at the end of last season.

God that paper has come a long way. Today they have articles like this one during the offseason. We got season previews that picked Dan Ellis as CCHA Player of the Year after he had already friggin' left school.

The comments section on that article is bringing back a lot of good memories. "Mrs Cockburn", going through every college in Michigan (and some high schools) before getting to "If you can't get into X go to Ferris"....God I miss Yost.

Other stuff:
Jeff Jillson was a member of the HC Pardubice team that Dominik Hasek led to the Czech league title.


Talk that the CHL teams were going to be in NHL 2011 spawned some talk about if that would lead to a recruiting advantage for the Canadian junior teams. But fear not! It looks like the NCAA teams might be in the game as well, which would be AMAZING. In the era of downloadable rosters, it wouldn't be too hard for some enterprising souls to turn C 12 into Hagelin. And it would save me from having to make rosters made up of college alumni teams, like I do pretty much every year. That would turn the NHL 2011 release date into the way I used to feel about the NCAA football games.

Hagelin and Glendening will wear Cs next season, while Rust and Caporusso will be alternates. Good choices, all of them.

MGoBlog had a detailed look at the forwards, defense, and goaltending for next season. I think I already commented on the forwards part. A commenter in the goalie article says that our third goalie for next year will be a walk-on named Adam Janeck. I had heard that Summers wouldn't be back. I ran a quick Google search, and there's a goalie named Adam Janecyk that is from Michigan and played for Sioux City in 08-09. Worth mentioning....

DeBlois is for sure coming. Lessio attended Oshawa's camp, but the smart money is still on him ending up in Ann Arbor.

NHL Home Ice on XM runs little draft previews during commercial breaks, and I swear the Jack Campbell one eats a little bit of my soul every time I hear it.

Deadspin is a couple of years behind the times, but Charles Clinton's "Back to you, guys!" finally went mainstream.

Rules changes may be coming to a rink near you! MGoBlog, MHNet, and WCH had their takes on it. The rules committee will be meeting for the next four days in Indianapolis. On the docket:
-Half-shields vs. full cages. I vote keeping the full cages. I know people think that it causes a lot of shots to the head, but you see a guy like Yzerman get hit in the eye with a puck, and you wonder why everyone isn't wearing the full cage. 

-Various options for overtime:

Those options for games tied after regulation, in addition to the current format (five-on-five for five minutes): five-on-five for 10 minutes; four-on-four for five minutes; four-on-four for 10 minutes; five-on-five for five minutes, then four-on-four for five minutes; five-on-five for five minutes, then a shootout; and four-on-four for five minutes, then a shootout. The last is the method used by the NHL.

Gotta say, I kind of like the 5-on-5 for five minutes and then 4-on-4 for five minutes. I think you'd get a winner more often than not. I think I like watching shootouts more than I actually like the fact that they exist. 

-Officials: Don't care, but I'd like some that are competent. 

-Icing: Kind of like the idea of a hybrid icing rule. If a forward is clearly going to win the race, then it can be waived off, otherwise, it's no-touch icing. I don't care one way or the other about the attainable pass rule. They call it so randomly anyway. 

-I love the idea of making a team clear their zone on a delayed penalty in order to get a whistle. Sadly, apparently there's not much support for that one.

-I also really like the proposed change to not allow a team to change players if they shoot the puck over the glass in their own end. The automatic delay of game for that is the worst rule in hockey aside from the trapezoid, but treating it like an icing? I'm ok with that.

Western College Hockey also covered Jon Merrill and Jacob Fallon in their annual draft preview.

Alex Guptill is going to get a Top Prospect award from the OHA. Mike Cammalleri, Andrew Cogliano, and Jeff Carter are among the past recipients. Where will Guptill play next year?

Already committed to play for the University of Michigan in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) either this year or in 2011, Guptill said his immediate future, including where he might play come winter, will become more clear at the end of June.
“It is all up to — if a (NHL) team takes me — what their stance is and then Michigan’s,” Guptill said. “It will go from there.”

I think part of me is still pissed about the way the season ended. After Galarraga's should-have-been perfect game, and the reaction of the Detroit fans after Joyce's apology, the thought that immediately jumped to mind was how that was the perfect way to handle the situation, and how it was the exact opposite of what happened in the wake of our loss to Miami. Show contrition. Admit you blew the call. Apologize. People are forgiving. Don't make the ref available for comment and have some asinine explanation that he got the call right because he lost sight of it....ERRRRRR the guy touched the puck? People stay pissed. Can you imagine what the reaction of the Detroit crowd would have been the next day if Joyce had said, "I got the call right because in my mind the guy beat the throw?" There wouldn't have been cheers, I assure you.

I can't promise this site is going to be updated with any consistency for the rest of the summer, but I'll try to not go another month between posts.