One of these days, I'll actually get to watch a game!
Led by a great performance out of the power play and a sparkling performance out of Shawn Hunwick, Michigan played UNH to a 3-3 tie in Durham. The Wolverines never trailed, but UNH capitalized on a power play late in regulation to send the game to overtime. Both teams had chances to win in the extra session--though UNH held an 8-1 shot advantage in the extra session--but the 3-3 score held up and there was no pointless shootout.
The teams alternated goals. Michigan never trailed, but they also never led by more than a goal. All three of Michigan's tallies were on the power play. Michigan scored on all three of their power play chances, and actually they scored on all three of their power play shots. It took a total of 2:39. Now that's efficiency!
Michigan continued to see semi-unlikely players contribute their goals. This game it was Vaughan, Brown, and Burlon. Hagelin and Rust each had a pair of assists.
The star of the game was Hunwick, though. He made a career-high 45 saves, including 8 in overtime. He also made 11 stops during a 5:32 span where the Wolverines were continuously killing penalties.
These penalties are kind of getting ridiculous. Just one of UNH's 5 power plays came when the Wolverines didn't have the lead. 7 of Mercyhurst's 8 power plays came while they were trailing (and the other was in overtime). 15 of Bowling Green's 17 came while they were trailing. So if you're counting, Michigan is 2-0-2, and yet 26 of the 30 power plays we've faced have come while we've had the lead.
One thing that I've noticed is that it seems like Scooter Vaughan is all over the place. He added another goal, led a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway, and has 3 points in 4 games. At least according the line chart, they elevated him up to the third line, and it seems that he's earned it. From the limited amount that I've heard, it sounds like he's off to a really great start.
48 is more shots than you'd like to give up, and it's disappointing to blow another third-period lead, but going on the road and getting a tie against a top ten opponent is a solid performance. Hunwick is proving that the end of last season wasn't a fluke--he's a legitimate goalie on this level. The power play is clicking, it seems like Merrill has stepped in and been everything they were expecting. There's definitely reason to be optimistic thusfar. They've got to clean up the penalties, though. We can't keep putting ourselves down a man (or two) for 5 minutes at a time and for half a period (or more) a game.
This week we've got a pair at home against the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. It's a good chance to pick up a couple of wins against a WCHA-foe, which would help in the PWR at the end of the year. I'll talk more about the Mavericks later in the week, but they do come in with the #1 offense in the NCAA, averaging 5.50 goals per game. They're 4-0 with wins over Clarkson, RIT, and a pair at Minnesota (tear).
One other thing that I'd like to mention: Minnesota-Duluth equipment manager Chris Garner is battling MDS (formerly known as pre-leukemia). He is undergoing treatment, including a bone marrow transplant. As a way of helping to offset some of the costs of this treatment, Jeremiah Minkel, SCSU's equipment manager, has organized an online auction which will begin on October 24th.
The items aren't up on the site yet, but they've got a pretty great collection of jerseys, sticks and other memorabilia. It's definitely worth checking out next week. They've got a Michigan jersey on there as well as some Mike Modano stuff, for you Wings fans out there.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A Piss-Poor UNH Preview
Let's face it. It's an hour before kickoff. You're probably not going to read this. But if anyone happens to subscribe to the YostBuilt twitter feed and happens to notice that I posted during a TV timeout or something, here's a quick and dirty UNH preview.
They're 1-1-0 on the season, having split a pair of 6-3 decisions at Miami last weekend. You have to give them credit for starting off the season with a pair of games against hockey's version of the early-60s Celtics and then following it up with a game against the Wolverines.
They had 9 different players score goals last weekend. Senior Phil DeSimone led the way with 3 points. Junior defenseman Blake Kessel (yes, that Kessel) is another one to watch. He is the nation's top returning scorer amongst defensemen and had a pair of assists last weekend. He should be a strong contender for the Hobey this year.
Their goaltender is junior Matt DiGirolamo, who takes over from Brian Foster between the pipes. He gave up 8 goals on 79 shots against Miami, but made 36 saves in their win on Saturday night. Even though he is a junior, he's very inexperienced, having only played 8 games prior to this season. His career numbers are now 3-3-1 with a 4.17/.872. His lone decision last year was a win over Providence where he made 32 saves on 35 shots. As a freshman, he tied Northeastern and then got lit up in a big way against BC and UMass-Lowell (7 goals on 36 shots, and 8 goals on 35 shots).
Last year the Wildcats had the #10 offense in the country, just a tick ahead of Michigan. Their defense was #36, giving up 3.13 goals per game. Paul Thompson is their leading returning scorer. He had a 19-20--39 line last year. Kessel ended up with 38 points from back on the blueline. DeSimone just missed a point per game, with 37 points in 39 games.
Laptop battery is about to die, so the quick upshot: UNH should be a good team, per usual, and having gone on the road and beaten Miami shows that. It'll be a tough game, but I fully expect an entertaining, high-scoring contest, since it doesn't seem like they played much defense last year, and their goalie doesn't appear to be very good (albeit in limited action).
What could be the deciding factor? New Hampshire was the least penalized team in all of college hockey last year, and the only team to average fewer than ten penalty minutes a game (9.6). We're averaging 31 minutes per game this year (granted a lot of that are misconducts associated with being ejected for hits from behind). Stay out of the box!
They're 1-1-0 on the season, having split a pair of 6-3 decisions at Miami last weekend. You have to give them credit for starting off the season with a pair of games against hockey's version of the early-60s Celtics and then following it up with a game against the Wolverines.
They had 9 different players score goals last weekend. Senior Phil DeSimone led the way with 3 points. Junior defenseman Blake Kessel (yes, that Kessel) is another one to watch. He is the nation's top returning scorer amongst defensemen and had a pair of assists last weekend. He should be a strong contender for the Hobey this year.
Their goaltender is junior Matt DiGirolamo, who takes over from Brian Foster between the pipes. He gave up 8 goals on 79 shots against Miami, but made 36 saves in their win on Saturday night. Even though he is a junior, he's very inexperienced, having only played 8 games prior to this season. His career numbers are now 3-3-1 with a 4.17/.872. His lone decision last year was a win over Providence where he made 32 saves on 35 shots. As a freshman, he tied Northeastern and then got lit up in a big way against BC and UMass-Lowell (7 goals on 36 shots, and 8 goals on 35 shots).
Last year the Wildcats had the #10 offense in the country, just a tick ahead of Michigan. Their defense was #36, giving up 3.13 goals per game. Paul Thompson is their leading returning scorer. He had a 19-20--39 line last year. Kessel ended up with 38 points from back on the blueline. DeSimone just missed a point per game, with 37 points in 39 games.
Laptop battery is about to die, so the quick upshot: UNH should be a good team, per usual, and having gone on the road and beaten Miami shows that. It'll be a tough game, but I fully expect an entertaining, high-scoring contest, since it doesn't seem like they played much defense last year, and their goalie doesn't appear to be very good (albeit in limited action).
What could be the deciding factor? New Hampshire was the least penalized team in all of college hockey last year, and the only team to average fewer than ten penalty minutes a game (9.6). We're averaging 31 minutes per game this year (granted a lot of that are misconducts associated with being ejected for hits from behind). Stay out of the box!
Friday, October 08, 2010
10 Things to Know About BGSU
Michigan's first CCHA opponent of the year is the Bowling Green State University Falcons. Again, Fridya's game will air on Comcast and both games can be purchased on the B2Network. Here are ten things to know about the team that's just a quick trip down US-23.
1) This is the first time we've gone to Bowling Green for a weekend series since 2004. While we've won 3 straight in the series by a combined 10-2, Bowling Green has won 4 of the last 11 contests. They've only beaten Michigan twice in their home rink since the 99-00 season, in 2006 and 2007.
2) While the Wolverines were busy "choking" last weekend in their opening regular season contest and playing a tougher-than-expected exhibition game, the Falcons nearly blew a lead of their own. They got out to a 3-0 lead on Wilfrid Laurier before the Fightin' Lauriens (not really) came storming back to cut the lead to 4-3. That's where it ended, however. Nick Eno stopped 12 of 13 shots in the game and Andrew Hammond stopped 11 of 13.
3) The Falcons scored three power play goals, which was more than 1/8th their total from all of last season. They ranked third from the bottom in power play percentage at 11.7%. Their penalty kill was worse, giving up fifty power play goals on the season, coming in at 74.9%. Only Michigan Tech was worse on the PK. They were also one of only five teams to not score a short-handed goal all year. None of that is a good thing when you are the fourth-most penalized team in the country.
4) BGSU is coached by longtime Miami assistant Chris Bergeron. He replaces Scott Paluch, who took a position with USA Hockey. From everything I've read, it sounds like Bergeron was a really solid hire. He played at Miami and coached there for ten seasons, also helping out with their excellent recruiting.
5) The Falcons are coming off a dreadful season where they won just five games. One of those, unfortunately, was against the Wolverines at Yost. They also scored a season high (matched 4 other times) four goals in that contest. By contrast, they gave up 4+ on 18 occasions and only held teams below two goals twice.
6) Last year, Bowling Green's leading scorer was freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas, who returns for his sophomore season. He led the team in goals (11), assists (14) and points (25), as well as power play goals (4). They actually lose six of their top eight scorers from last year's team. Samuels-Thomas and senior David Solway (5-13--18) are the two that return.
7) Senior Nick Eno and sophomore Andrew Hammond pretty much split time last year. Eno played 27 games and picked up all five of the Falcons' wins, going 5-13-4 with a 3.30/.896. Hammond was 0-12-2 with a 4.30/.880.
8) They've actually come up with some jerseys that aren't butt-ugly. They're going to a throwback-style, similar to the jerseys they wore in their national championship season of 1983-84. I actually really like the white ones, apart from the captain letter. The brown ones aren't nearly as bad as some of the jerseys they've had over the years.
9) Louie Caporusso has had 3-3--6 in six career games against the Falcons. Chris Brown had 5 points in 4 games as a freshman. Matt Rust (3-1--4 in 7 games) is the only other player with multiple goals against BGSU in his career. Bryan Hogan is 5-1-0 with a sparkling 1.84 goals against average in his career vs. Bowling Green. Shawn Hunwick has yet to face the Falcons.
10) In the 112 meetings between the two teams, there have only been five shutouts--four by Michigan. Interestingly enough, four of the shutouts have come in the last ten meetings. You have to go all the way back to 1993 for the other.
1) This is the first time we've gone to Bowling Green for a weekend series since 2004. While we've won 3 straight in the series by a combined 10-2, Bowling Green has won 4 of the last 11 contests. They've only beaten Michigan twice in their home rink since the 99-00 season, in 2006 and 2007.
2) While the Wolverines were busy "choking" last weekend in their opening regular season contest and playing a tougher-than-expected exhibition game, the Falcons nearly blew a lead of their own. They got out to a 3-0 lead on Wilfrid Laurier before the Fightin' Lauriens (not really) came storming back to cut the lead to 4-3. That's where it ended, however. Nick Eno stopped 12 of 13 shots in the game and Andrew Hammond stopped 11 of 13.
3) The Falcons scored three power play goals, which was more than 1/8th their total from all of last season. They ranked third from the bottom in power play percentage at 11.7%. Their penalty kill was worse, giving up fifty power play goals on the season, coming in at 74.9%. Only Michigan Tech was worse on the PK. They were also one of only five teams to not score a short-handed goal all year. None of that is a good thing when you are the fourth-most penalized team in the country.
4) BGSU is coached by longtime Miami assistant Chris Bergeron. He replaces Scott Paluch, who took a position with USA Hockey. From everything I've read, it sounds like Bergeron was a really solid hire. He played at Miami and coached there for ten seasons, also helping out with their excellent recruiting.
5) The Falcons are coming off a dreadful season where they won just five games. One of those, unfortunately, was against the Wolverines at Yost. They also scored a season high (matched 4 other times) four goals in that contest. By contrast, they gave up 4+ on 18 occasions and only held teams below two goals twice.
6) Last year, Bowling Green's leading scorer was freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas, who returns for his sophomore season. He led the team in goals (11), assists (14) and points (25), as well as power play goals (4). They actually lose six of their top eight scorers from last year's team. Samuels-Thomas and senior David Solway (5-13--18) are the two that return.
7) Senior Nick Eno and sophomore Andrew Hammond pretty much split time last year. Eno played 27 games and picked up all five of the Falcons' wins, going 5-13-4 with a 3.30/.896. Hammond was 0-12-2 with a 4.30/.880.
8) They've actually come up with some jerseys that aren't butt-ugly. They're going to a throwback-style, similar to the jerseys they wore in their national championship season of 1983-84. I actually really like the white ones, apart from the captain letter. The brown ones aren't nearly as bad as some of the jerseys they've had over the years.
9) Louie Caporusso has had 3-3--6 in six career games against the Falcons. Chris Brown had 5 points in 4 games as a freshman. Matt Rust (3-1--4 in 7 games) is the only other player with multiple goals against BGSU in his career. Bryan Hogan is 5-1-0 with a sparkling 1.84 goals against average in his career vs. Bowling Green. Shawn Hunwick has yet to face the Falcons.
10) In the 112 meetings between the two teams, there have only been five shutouts--four by Michigan. Interestingly enough, four of the shutouts have come in the last ten meetings. You have to go all the way back to 1993 for the other.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Michigan 4, Mercyhurst 4...or Mercyhurst 5, Michigan 4...
...what the hell is the proper final score of that game to put in a game wrapup? Michigan 4, Mercyhurst 4 (Mercyhurst wins shootout 2-1) maybe?
Whatever. No matter how you slice it, we blew a 4-0 lead to a team that didn't win or tie a game out of conference all season. It goes down as a tie in the record books for PWR purposes, but they went to a shootout and we lost.
I caught the third period--so most of the meltdown--on the radio and it sounded like, unfortunately, it was a flashback to the bad part of last season. Lots of defensive zone turnovers, lots of penalties (which isn't really unexpected with Sergott calling the game), lots of continuing to run into the freaking goalie David Wohlberg Louie Caporusso.
MHNet tweeted a great quote from Matt Rust: "I think we did well for the most part until we choked."
Glendening called most of the penalties "unnecessary", though from most accounts the one that really hurt (Hagelin getting tossed) was a terrible call.
On the bright side, Caporusso scored. We got some goals from guys who don't normally put the puck in the net (Pateryn and Vaughan) and it sounded like Vaughan was making quite a few good things happen out there. He darn near won the game during overtime and had 4 shots on goal in the game. They had almost 13 minutes of power play time and the net was 0. They had one PPG and we had a shortie. And we slaughtered them on faceoffs. It was especially nice to see that Treais won 10 of his 14, since he was at about 48% last year. Hunwick made a career-high 33 saves, and it sounded like he had a few blockbusters.
The downside to that: Hunwick needed to make 33 saves.
The next night, we beat Western Ontario 4-2. They're supposedly a very good team for a Canadian university. Their goalie was a veteran of 70 or so OHL games.
Glendening had 2-1--3 in the game, Wohlberg had a goal and an assist, Caporusso had 0-3--3. Hogan stopped 27 of 29 shots, and one of the goals deflected in off a defenseman. All good signs. I love seeing Louie piling up points early on, even it was an exhibition game.
What wasn't so good? After UWO scored 20 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2, the Wolverines gave them six power play chances in the final 20 minutes--including a too many men on the ice call and a pair of penalties on Llewellyn that each put us down two men.
We'll open CCHA play this weekend with a pair of games at Bowling Green. Friday night's game will be on Comcast and both games will be available for purchase on the B2Network.
Whatever. No matter how you slice it, we blew a 4-0 lead to a team that didn't win or tie a game out of conference all season. It goes down as a tie in the record books for PWR purposes, but they went to a shootout and we lost.
I caught the third period--so most of the meltdown--on the radio and it sounded like, unfortunately, it was a flashback to the bad part of last season. Lots of defensive zone turnovers, lots of penalties (which isn't really unexpected with Sergott calling the game), lots of continuing to run into the freaking goalie David Wohlberg Louie Caporusso.
MHNet tweeted a great quote from Matt Rust: "I think we did well for the most part until we choked."
Glendening called most of the penalties "unnecessary", though from most accounts the one that really hurt (Hagelin getting tossed) was a terrible call.
On the bright side, Caporusso scored. We got some goals from guys who don't normally put the puck in the net (Pateryn and Vaughan) and it sounded like Vaughan was making quite a few good things happen out there. He darn near won the game during overtime and had 4 shots on goal in the game. They had almost 13 minutes of power play time and the net was 0. They had one PPG and we had a shortie. And we slaughtered them on faceoffs. It was especially nice to see that Treais won 10 of his 14, since he was at about 48% last year. Hunwick made a career-high 33 saves, and it sounded like he had a few blockbusters.
The downside to that: Hunwick needed to make 33 saves.
The next night, we beat Western Ontario 4-2. They're supposedly a very good team for a Canadian university. Their goalie was a veteran of 70 or so OHL games.
Glendening had 2-1--3 in the game, Wohlberg had a goal and an assist, Caporusso had 0-3--3. Hogan stopped 27 of 29 shots, and one of the goals deflected in off a defenseman. All good signs. I love seeing Louie piling up points early on, even it was an exhibition game.
What wasn't so good? After UWO scored 20 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2, the Wolverines gave them six power play chances in the final 20 minutes--including a too many men on the ice call and a pair of penalties on Llewellyn that each put us down two men.
We'll open CCHA play this weekend with a pair of games at Bowling Green. Friday night's game will be on Comcast and both games will be available for purchase on the B2Network.
Friday, October 01, 2010
10 Things to Know About Mercyhurst
1) After a 15-20-3 season a year ago, when they placed fourth in Atlantic Hockey with a 15-10-3 record, the Lakers were picked to finish second in the AHA and garnered two first place votes. I might not be a math genius, but that means that the Lakers were 0-10-0 against non-conference foes a year ago. They lost to both Alaska schools and both Colorado schools, got swept by Western, lost to Duluth and Huntsville, and got swept by Canisius in the AHA tournament. Combined goals? 48-18.
2) Even though nobody on their team really lit it up (their leading scorer, Mike Gurtler, had 14 goals and 30 points), they were 18th in the country in offense at 3.18 goals per game (about a tenth of a goal per game behind Michigan). Phil Ganand ranked fifth on the team in offense as a freshman before missing most of last year with an injury. Grant Blakey, who hails from Canton, had 11-16--27 as a freshman playing on the top line. He was also second on the team with a +16 rating and finished the year with 12 points in the final 11 games. Scott Pitt had 15-30--45 as a sophomore before a bit of a down year last year (7-18--25).
3) Defensively, they ranked 34th a year ago, giving up 3.11 goals per game. Gone is their top-scoring defenseman, along with another senior who played in 30 games last year. Senior Jeff Terminesi was a team high +17 last year.
4) Senior Ryan Zapolski got most of the work in net last year, going 15-17-3 with a 2.79/.918. His save percentage matches the guy starting in the nets for Michigan, Shawn Hunwick. Backup Max Strang was 0-3 with a 4.39/.875. They also bring in Jordan Tibbett, a one-time Michigan State commitment who played for Detroit Honeybaked back in the day.
5) Tibbett sat a row in front of me at Yost one time and denied me of the best chance I've ever had to catch a puck. A shot came into the seats and, I kid you not, the kid reached behind him and snared it as it was going by. My jaw hit the ground. The coach laughed and said "That's our goalie!" I had to tip my hat to him because that was a helluva grab. If he plays, call him a sieve a few extra times for me! Or if he's sitting on the bench, call him a backup sieve a few extra times for me!
6) Their power play was brutal a year ago. 13.4% and they gave up four shorties. Matt Fennell scored all six of his goals with the man advantage last year, to lead the team in PPGs. He graduated though. Brandon Coccimiglio had 4.
7) The PK was also subpar-just 79.8%-but they did score 8 shorties. Only St. Cloud, Boston U, and Army had more SHGs. Matt Gurtler, their leading scorer and a load at 6'2" 222, put in four of those to lead the nation. Gurtler actually scored three of those shorties in the same game, becoming just the seventh player in history to accomplish that feat.
8) These teams have played twice in their history. Michigan won the first meeting at an NCAA Regional in Grand Rapids by a 4-3 score (leading to the game against St. Cloud the next night where Miss Molly would grow to hate the "horrible people" that are Wolverine fans). In 03-04 they met again and Michigan prevailed 5-3.
9) Mercyhurst's head coach Rick Gotkin is looking for his 400th career win tomorrow night. He would be just the 11th coach to win 400 games at one school. Red Berenson is also going for his 700th career win tonight. So unless they tie, it is a milestone night for someone.
10) This is the only game in the nation that will be played this weekend which counts in the standings.
2) Even though nobody on their team really lit it up (their leading scorer, Mike Gurtler, had 14 goals and 30 points), they were 18th in the country in offense at 3.18 goals per game (about a tenth of a goal per game behind Michigan). Phil Ganand ranked fifth on the team in offense as a freshman before missing most of last year with an injury. Grant Blakey, who hails from Canton, had 11-16--27 as a freshman playing on the top line. He was also second on the team with a +16 rating and finished the year with 12 points in the final 11 games. Scott Pitt had 15-30--45 as a sophomore before a bit of a down year last year (7-18--25).
3) Defensively, they ranked 34th a year ago, giving up 3.11 goals per game. Gone is their top-scoring defenseman, along with another senior who played in 30 games last year. Senior Jeff Terminesi was a team high +17 last year.
4) Senior Ryan Zapolski got most of the work in net last year, going 15-17-3 with a 2.79/.918. His save percentage matches the guy starting in the nets for Michigan, Shawn Hunwick. Backup Max Strang was 0-3 with a 4.39/.875. They also bring in Jordan Tibbett, a one-time Michigan State commitment who played for Detroit Honeybaked back in the day.
5) Tibbett sat a row in front of me at Yost one time and denied me of the best chance I've ever had to catch a puck. A shot came into the seats and, I kid you not, the kid reached behind him and snared it as it was going by. My jaw hit the ground. The coach laughed and said "That's our goalie!" I had to tip my hat to him because that was a helluva grab. If he plays, call him a sieve a few extra times for me! Or if he's sitting on the bench, call him a backup sieve a few extra times for me!
6) Their power play was brutal a year ago. 13.4% and they gave up four shorties. Matt Fennell scored all six of his goals with the man advantage last year, to lead the team in PPGs. He graduated though. Brandon Coccimiglio had 4.
7) The PK was also subpar-just 79.8%-but they did score 8 shorties. Only St. Cloud, Boston U, and Army had more SHGs. Matt Gurtler, their leading scorer and a load at 6'2" 222, put in four of those to lead the nation. Gurtler actually scored three of those shorties in the same game, becoming just the seventh player in history to accomplish that feat.
8) These teams have played twice in their history. Michigan won the first meeting at an NCAA Regional in Grand Rapids by a 4-3 score (leading to the game against St. Cloud the next night where Miss Molly would grow to hate the "horrible people" that are Wolverine fans). In 03-04 they met again and Michigan prevailed 5-3.
9) Mercyhurst's head coach Rick Gotkin is looking for his 400th career win tomorrow night. He would be just the 11th coach to win 400 games at one school. Red Berenson is also going for his 700th career win tonight. So unless they tie, it is a milestone night for someone.
10) This is the only game in the nation that will be played this weekend which counts in the standings.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
2010 Michigan Hockey Season Preview: The Defensemen and Goalies
Forwards down, now it's time to take a look at the guys primarily responsible for keeping the puck out of the net: The defensemen and goalies.
While up front we only lost one major contributor, on the back end we lose a pair: Steve Kampfer and Chris Summers (along with Eric Elmblad). Summers may have been the captain and the most talented, but God was Steve Kampfer good last year. If you want to talk about a kid who got a lot better during his time here, look no further than our former #5. (Maybe it's a number thing. It happened with Brandon Rogers too. Wait, what's that? Jeff Jillson wore #5? Ahhh never mind then.) After scoring 34 points in his first three seasons combined, Kampfer exploded for 26 last year, and was a +18 to boot. He closed the year with 9 points in his last seven games, and had 2 assists in the game that should have put Michigan into the Frozen Four. He faced a lot of adversity as a junior and responded with a huge senior season. We're going to miss him.
Same with Summers. I think everyone had fantasies about him playing forward for an extended period at some point in his career, but bad things seemed to happen to fellow teammates whenever it would look like he was going to move up front. He was always a really solid blueliner who could chip in on the offensive end. While he didn't necessarily have his best year as a senior, he was a good player.
Replacing them are three noobs: Mac Bennett, Kevin Clare, and Jon Merrill. Bennett was a third round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 09 Draft and comes from a long line of hockey players. He skated for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the USHL and was named to the All-Star team as well as the All-Rookie team. Hard to imagine that he's not an immediate contributor.
Clare was another one of those USA guys that were pretty highly touted and then didn't have a great year last year. He actually spent quite a bit of time down with the U-17s. That said, he's a big kid (6'1", 210) and from what I understand he's a pretty solid stay-at-home guy, which was can always use because we've got some talented offensive defensemen already. He'll be in a battle for ice time in this deep defense corps.
With Campbell deciding to play in the OHL, Merrill is the prize of the class. He was a second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils and most people were surprised he didn't go a little earlier. He's huge (6'3", 209) but disciplined (only 14 PIMs in 47 games), offensively gifted (30 points), and stepped it up in big games (he was named one of the three best Americans at last year's Under 18 challenge). He's going to play a major role early (In The Wolverine Blog's interview with Mike Spath, Spath indicated that he's been practicing with Langlais on the top pairing). It seems like forever ago that he committed and it's nice to see that he finally made it to campus.
Greg Pateryn became a mainstay on the blueline toward the end of last season and started to play really well. He's another big body (6'3", 214!), and seems to have curtailed his penalty problems as he only took 9 last year. He has a nice shot, and was 4th on the team in blocked shots despite only playing 33 games.
Burlon had a bit of a sophomore slump last year. After a freshman season where he put up 15 points and was +17 in just 33 games, he didn't make the kind of leap you'd expect. He tallied just 14 points (in 45 games this time) and was +12. He was second to only Steve Kampfer in blocked shots and does a nice job of staying out of the box. I expect big things out of Burlon this year.
I've always liked Chad Langlais and it's hard for me to believe that he's a senior already. We didn't really know what we were getting when he came in as an overager, but he's been great since day one. Last year he put up 5-16--21. He does take penalties (second to only Wohlberg in PIMs and minor penalties), but he's a good power play quarterback and he does a fine job in his own end.
Lee Moffie is an interesting one. After being in and out of the lineup in the early part of the season, he became a regular and played in 13 straight games. After a blunder against Bowling Green, he fell out of favor and started sitting again. He still ended up with 4-8--12 in 29 games. He's definitely more of an offensive defenseman than someone that you're going to confuse for a stay-at-home guy. He was worst amongst our defensemen at +2. When we were struggling with offense last year, there were definitely people who suggested sliding him up front because of his offensive talents. He did end up getting picked by San Jose late in this year's draft.
Lastly, there's Tristin Llewellyn. Oh if he could just stay out of the box! He's a solid defenseman--yet another big body out there (6'2", 209). He plays a good, physical game, but he's prone to taking some of the dumbest penalties you'll ever see. He had 22 minors last year (second to Wohlberg's 23) and found himself out of the lineup on occasion because of it. When he's not taking penalties, though, he's a solid player. Hopefully maturity comes with age and he'll play with a little more control, without losing the edge that he plays with.
As you've probably noticed, that's 8 defensemen with only six slots. Langlais, Burlon, and Merrill are playing every night. Toward the bottom of the pairings, though, there's going to be some nice competition for ice time. I have to believe that Bennett is going to end up playing more often than not as well. That leaves two slots for Pateryn, Llewellyn, Clare, and Moffie. The first two out of those four will play more often than not as well--though Moffie's offensive game intrigues me. If he's learned to play some more defense he could be hard to keep out. It'll be interesting to see how the defense shakes out. Competition is definitely a very good thing.
In net, the coaches have been pretty clear that both guys are going to play. With the season Hogan was having last year, it wasn't pleasant thinking about the upcoming season with no Jack Campbell. But somewhere along the line, Shawn Hunwick went from third-stringer to the man who kept our NCAA streak alive.
In Hogan, you've got a guy who was very solid as a sophomore and might have been better than we were giving him credit for as a junior. His numbers were decent...well at least the 2.33 goals against was. The .901, not so much. But he had an unbelievably annoying tendency to give up soft goals. I don't think I'm overly exaggerating when I suggest it was upwards of one per game. Soft goals, goals at really bad times, goals after we peppered the opposing goalie for ten minutes. But I do think he's a good goalie. He certainly wasn't at his best for a lot of last season, but to be fair, neither was most of the team. They re-dedicated themselves to defense once Hogan got hurt and some of the forwards who hadn't done anything offensively all year woke up toward the end of the year.
Shawn Hunwick's story is very well known. He had hardly played, got thrown into the mix when Hogan went down, the team rallied around him and he played really well en route to the NCAA quarterfinals (going 8-3-0 with a 1.82/.918). Honest to God, if Kevin Lynch's goal counts, Hunwick goes to Detroit with a chance to become one of the greatest stories in the history of college sports. Fans went from wondering where that 2011 goalie commit was going to come from to discussing whether Hunwick would be able to take a redshirt season for 08-09 and come back.
It will be interesting to see if he just got on a roll late last year or if he really is as good as he showed. I suspect it's more the latter than the former, even if it's still hard to believe that he was "hiding" for that long. The coaches have named him the starter for Saturday's opener against Mercyhurst, and I have to believe he's going to get a long, loud ovation when he's announced.
We have some nice evidence in Hogan's favor as well. When he was competing with Billy Sauer for the starting job in 08-09, he was great. When he didn't have any competition last year, he really wasn't good. Maybe he's just one of those guys who needs to battle. As with the defense corps, competition is a very good thing. Hogan got "Sauered" a little bit last year, where maybe the team didn't play that great in front of him and hung him out to dry a lot. He's going to get his chance and I think we'll be solid in net this year. Not spectacular, but solid. Good enough to win the CCHA, and when you get to the tournament who knows.
I was in the Twin Cities last weekend and was thinking how great it would be to be back there again in April. I even went by the Red Roof Inn where I stayed back in 2002. Shangri-La! Hahaha! There are three people reading this who get that joke and they all started laughing hysterically, just for the record.
Two days til the puck drops.
While up front we only lost one major contributor, on the back end we lose a pair: Steve Kampfer and Chris Summers (along with Eric Elmblad). Summers may have been the captain and the most talented, but God was Steve Kampfer good last year. If you want to talk about a kid who got a lot better during his time here, look no further than our former #5. (Maybe it's a number thing. It happened with Brandon Rogers too. Wait, what's that? Jeff Jillson wore #5? Ahhh never mind then.) After scoring 34 points in his first three seasons combined, Kampfer exploded for 26 last year, and was a +18 to boot. He closed the year with 9 points in his last seven games, and had 2 assists in the game that should have put Michigan into the Frozen Four. He faced a lot of adversity as a junior and responded with a huge senior season. We're going to miss him.
Same with Summers. I think everyone had fantasies about him playing forward for an extended period at some point in his career, but bad things seemed to happen to fellow teammates whenever it would look like he was going to move up front. He was always a really solid blueliner who could chip in on the offensive end. While he didn't necessarily have his best year as a senior, he was a good player.
Replacing them are three noobs: Mac Bennett, Kevin Clare, and Jon Merrill. Bennett was a third round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 09 Draft and comes from a long line of hockey players. He skated for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the USHL and was named to the All-Star team as well as the All-Rookie team. Hard to imagine that he's not an immediate contributor.
Clare was another one of those USA guys that were pretty highly touted and then didn't have a great year last year. He actually spent quite a bit of time down with the U-17s. That said, he's a big kid (6'1", 210) and from what I understand he's a pretty solid stay-at-home guy, which was can always use because we've got some talented offensive defensemen already. He'll be in a battle for ice time in this deep defense corps.
With Campbell deciding to play in the OHL, Merrill is the prize of the class. He was a second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils and most people were surprised he didn't go a little earlier. He's huge (6'3", 209) but disciplined (only 14 PIMs in 47 games), offensively gifted (30 points), and stepped it up in big games (he was named one of the three best Americans at last year's Under 18 challenge). He's going to play a major role early (In The Wolverine Blog's interview with Mike Spath, Spath indicated that he's been practicing with Langlais on the top pairing). It seems like forever ago that he committed and it's nice to see that he finally made it to campus.
Greg Pateryn became a mainstay on the blueline toward the end of last season and started to play really well. He's another big body (6'3", 214!), and seems to have curtailed his penalty problems as he only took 9 last year. He has a nice shot, and was 4th on the team in blocked shots despite only playing 33 games.
Burlon had a bit of a sophomore slump last year. After a freshman season where he put up 15 points and was +17 in just 33 games, he didn't make the kind of leap you'd expect. He tallied just 14 points (in 45 games this time) and was +12. He was second to only Steve Kampfer in blocked shots and does a nice job of staying out of the box. I expect big things out of Burlon this year.
I've always liked Chad Langlais and it's hard for me to believe that he's a senior already. We didn't really know what we were getting when he came in as an overager, but he's been great since day one. Last year he put up 5-16--21. He does take penalties (second to only Wohlberg in PIMs and minor penalties), but he's a good power play quarterback and he does a fine job in his own end.
Lee Moffie is an interesting one. After being in and out of the lineup in the early part of the season, he became a regular and played in 13 straight games. After a blunder against Bowling Green, he fell out of favor and started sitting again. He still ended up with 4-8--12 in 29 games. He's definitely more of an offensive defenseman than someone that you're going to confuse for a stay-at-home guy. He was worst amongst our defensemen at +2. When we were struggling with offense last year, there were definitely people who suggested sliding him up front because of his offensive talents. He did end up getting picked by San Jose late in this year's draft.
Lastly, there's Tristin Llewellyn. Oh if he could just stay out of the box! He's a solid defenseman--yet another big body out there (6'2", 209). He plays a good, physical game, but he's prone to taking some of the dumbest penalties you'll ever see. He had 22 minors last year (second to Wohlberg's 23) and found himself out of the lineup on occasion because of it. When he's not taking penalties, though, he's a solid player. Hopefully maturity comes with age and he'll play with a little more control, without losing the edge that he plays with.
As you've probably noticed, that's 8 defensemen with only six slots. Langlais, Burlon, and Merrill are playing every night. Toward the bottom of the pairings, though, there's going to be some nice competition for ice time. I have to believe that Bennett is going to end up playing more often than not as well. That leaves two slots for Pateryn, Llewellyn, Clare, and Moffie. The first two out of those four will play more often than not as well--though Moffie's offensive game intrigues me. If he's learned to play some more defense he could be hard to keep out. It'll be interesting to see how the defense shakes out. Competition is definitely a very good thing.
In net, the coaches have been pretty clear that both guys are going to play. With the season Hogan was having last year, it wasn't pleasant thinking about the upcoming season with no Jack Campbell. But somewhere along the line, Shawn Hunwick went from third-stringer to the man who kept our NCAA streak alive.
In Hogan, you've got a guy who was very solid as a sophomore and might have been better than we were giving him credit for as a junior. His numbers were decent...well at least the 2.33 goals against was. The .901, not so much. But he had an unbelievably annoying tendency to give up soft goals. I don't think I'm overly exaggerating when I suggest it was upwards of one per game. Soft goals, goals at really bad times, goals after we peppered the opposing goalie for ten minutes. But I do think he's a good goalie. He certainly wasn't at his best for a lot of last season, but to be fair, neither was most of the team. They re-dedicated themselves to defense once Hogan got hurt and some of the forwards who hadn't done anything offensively all year woke up toward the end of the year.
Shawn Hunwick's story is very well known. He had hardly played, got thrown into the mix when Hogan went down, the team rallied around him and he played really well en route to the NCAA quarterfinals (going 8-3-0 with a 1.82/.918). Honest to God, if Kevin Lynch's goal counts, Hunwick goes to Detroit with a chance to become one of the greatest stories in the history of college sports. Fans went from wondering where that 2011 goalie commit was going to come from to discussing whether Hunwick would be able to take a redshirt season for 08-09 and come back.
It will be interesting to see if he just got on a roll late last year or if he really is as good as he showed. I suspect it's more the latter than the former, even if it's still hard to believe that he was "hiding" for that long. The coaches have named him the starter for Saturday's opener against Mercyhurst, and I have to believe he's going to get a long, loud ovation when he's announced.
We have some nice evidence in Hogan's favor as well. When he was competing with Billy Sauer for the starting job in 08-09, he was great. When he didn't have any competition last year, he really wasn't good. Maybe he's just one of those guys who needs to battle. As with the defense corps, competition is a very good thing. Hogan got "Sauered" a little bit last year, where maybe the team didn't play that great in front of him and hung him out to dry a lot. He's going to get his chance and I think we'll be solid in net this year. Not spectacular, but solid. Good enough to win the CCHA, and when you get to the tournament who knows.
I was in the Twin Cities last weekend and was thinking how great it would be to be back there again in April. I even went by the Red Roof Inn where I stayed back in 2002. Shangri-La! Hahaha! There are three people reading this who get that joke and they all started laughing hysterically, just for the record.
Two days til the puck drops.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
2010 Michigan Hockey Season Preview: The Forwards
First up is a look at the forwards. See MGoBlog for his preview from earlier in the offseason.
Our men up front scored 126 goals last year. 109 of those goals return for another season. That's 87% of the goal scoring from our forwards that's coming back. Last year, we brought back just over 69%. The year before that we brought back just 52% (God, Porter, Kolarik, and Pacioretty were good!). The point is, we didn't lose very much up front and we have significant less work to do to replace the outgoing offense than in years past. Brian Lebler, Anthony Cirualo, and kind of Robbie Czarnik were the only losses up front from last year's roster. In their place, we bring in Jacob Fallon, Luke Moffatt, and Derek DeBlois.
Moffatt was a highly-touted recruit, once thought to be the best forward in his class. He went #2 in the WHL Draft and very likely would have gone number one had he not made a commitment to the NTDP and college hockey. After a great season for Compuware in 07-08 (37-19--56 in 30 games) he never really replicated that success with the NTDP--though he certainly didn't play badly for them. He put up 21-20--41 in 67 games on the Under 17s in 08-09 and then was 9th in scoring on the U-18s with a 13-17--30 line in 56 games last year, including 5-10--15 in 28 USHL games. Red didn't talk much about him when he signed, but mentioned that he likes his hands.
Fallon is another very talented recruit whose stock took a dive last year. He was involved in some off-ice incidents that led to him being suspended for the early part of last year. He eventually left the USA program and went to the Indiana Ice of the USHL where he struggled, managing just a goal and 8 assists in 26 games. Still, he's a kid that's going to have a chance to come in and help us on the offensive end. Bang the MGoBlog link above for lots more on the freshmen.
DeBlois is a long-time teammate and friend of incoming defenseman Mac Bennett. He scored 11-22--33 in 55 games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL last year, good for sixth on the team in points. He also was right up there in +/- and led the team in goals in the playoffs. McKeen's cited his tenaciousness and ability to get to the net as strong suits.
Now...who's back? Carl Hagelin becomes the first 50-point scorer to return for another season since Kevin Porter elected to come back for his senior year and won the Hobey in the process. Hagelin had increases of 6 goals, 13 assists, and 42 shots from his sophomore season. He went all Kolarik, taking far and away the most shots on the team (170...the next highest were Caporusso and Brown with 122 apiece). He was also Porter-ian in his consistency--he had points in 35 of Michigan's 45 games, including 19 of the last 21. He also had 5-6--11 during Michigan's run in the CCHA Playoffs and NCAA Tournament.
Louie Caporusso had what was thought of as a somewhat disappointing season after the previous year when he was one of the ten finalists for the Hobey. By the end of the year, however, he wasn't too far off his sophomore year's totals. He ended up with just 3 fewer goals and 3 fewer assists (albeit in 4 more games). His seasons did a complete 180 though. As a sophomore he started out on fire, scoring 18 goals in the first 20 games before cooling off in the second half. Last year, he had just 5 goals after the GLI (and just 7 after the outdoor game in mid-February), but finished up with 14-8--22 in our final 15 games. If he can put together an entire season, look out.
Chris Brown ended last season just 28th in points per game amongst freshmen, but Andy Taranto, Stephane Da Costa, and Danny Kristo were the only major conference rookies who had more goals. He faltered down the stretch (2 goals in our last 16 games), but proved to be a player who could make an impact on this level, getting to the front of the net, scoring some ugly goals, and becoming a finalist for CCHA Rookie of the Year in the process.
Yost Built favorite Matty Rust put up a very quiet 40 points, an 18 point increase from the previous season. He didn't increase his goal total much, but his assists went from 11 to 27. As always, he's a solid defensive player who takes shockingly few penalties (just 12 last year) for as physical as he can be. He's a great penalty killer and he takes more faceoffs than anyone on the team.
Then you've got David Wohlberg who scored 15 goals as a freshman, but just 10 last year. I seem to remember him having some nagging injury (back, maybe?). He's another physical presence who can play at both ends. I actually kind of forgot about him and then broke into a big grin when I looked at the roster again. I really like Wohlberg and I fully expect a bounce-back year.
Keep going down the line: Kevin Lynch was an absolute BEAST against Miami in the Regional Final and scored the game-winning goal in overti......aww crap. He had just 1 point before the GLI last year, but ended up with 16. Luke Glendening (another favorite) put up 21 points and was named a captain midseason. AJ Treais never really got rolling, but showed enough flashes to indicate that he'll be a pretty decent player for us. Lindsay Sparks had 4 goals and six points in a four game stretch, but didn't play a whole lot in the stretch run. Winnett was good for 6-8--14 and had one of the nicest shots of the year against FYS in the CCHA Playoffs, though he pretty much is what he is at this point. Scooter Vaughan has moved up front permanently, and I thought he did a lot of good things even if he's never going to put points on the board. Jeff Rohrkemper never looked out of place as a walkon.
There are a lot of good forwards on this team and a lot of depth. Last year was a bit of a down year in terms of offense by Michigan's standards, but we still ranked 12th in the nation in offense by the end of the year. If guys like Caporusso, Wohlberg, and Brown put full seasons together, we're going to score a bunch of goals.
I fully expect us to have a Hobey Finalist again this year. I can't decide if it will be Hagelin or Caporusso, but I think one of them ends up in the top ten. I love Hagelin's defense, his effort, his consistency, and how he's a pretty darn underrated offensive player--50 points really isn't easy. But I keep thinking about Caporusso's ability to get on rolls where he just can't be stopped. He's had half a season of that each of the last two years. If he gains some consistency, he could have a Chad Kolarik type senior season.
Either way, assuming that Louie stays with Glendening and Wohlberg (that line caught fire toward the end of the year) and Hagelin plays with Rust and Brown, we're going to have two dangerous lines who are every bit as good defensively as they are offensively. I think we'll be up closer to 160 goals this year, which would probably put us back into the top 5 in the country in offense.
I love two things about our forwards: Our best players don't give up anything in the defensive zone and most of our guys are killer in the faceoff circle.
Hagelin, Rust, Glendening, Wohlberg....they're all top-notch defensive players. I thought that Caporusso improved and made some really nice defensive plays as well. I remember him saving a couple of goals hustling on the backcheck. It was nice to see. Maybe that will end up being another area where we can end up comparing him to Kolarik.
As for the faceoffs, check this out:
Caporusso: 57.6% of 772 draws
Wohlberg: 54.7% of 159 draws
Glendening: 53.8% of 186 draws
Rust: 51.3% of 875 draws
Winnett and Treais were the only two who took a significant number of faceoffs and weren't over 50% (and Treais was just over 48 percent, which certainly isn't bad). After years of faceoffs being a weakness, it's really become a strength of ours--except apparently when we play outside. Caporusso, Wohlberg, and Rust were all within a couple tenths of a percent of their percentages from the previous season, so there's no reason to think anything will change this year.
Anyway, those are the guys up front for the 2010-11 Wolverines. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the defensemen.
Our men up front scored 126 goals last year. 109 of those goals return for another season. That's 87% of the goal scoring from our forwards that's coming back. Last year, we brought back just over 69%. The year before that we brought back just 52% (God, Porter, Kolarik, and Pacioretty were good!). The point is, we didn't lose very much up front and we have significant less work to do to replace the outgoing offense than in years past. Brian Lebler, Anthony Cirualo, and kind of Robbie Czarnik were the only losses up front from last year's roster. In their place, we bring in Jacob Fallon, Luke Moffatt, and Derek DeBlois.
Moffatt was a highly-touted recruit, once thought to be the best forward in his class. He went #2 in the WHL Draft and very likely would have gone number one had he not made a commitment to the NTDP and college hockey. After a great season for Compuware in 07-08 (37-19--56 in 30 games) he never really replicated that success with the NTDP--though he certainly didn't play badly for them. He put up 21-20--41 in 67 games on the Under 17s in 08-09 and then was 9th in scoring on the U-18s with a 13-17--30 line in 56 games last year, including 5-10--15 in 28 USHL games. Red didn't talk much about him when he signed, but mentioned that he likes his hands.
Fallon is another very talented recruit whose stock took a dive last year. He was involved in some off-ice incidents that led to him being suspended for the early part of last year. He eventually left the USA program and went to the Indiana Ice of the USHL where he struggled, managing just a goal and 8 assists in 26 games. Still, he's a kid that's going to have a chance to come in and help us on the offensive end. Bang the MGoBlog link above for lots more on the freshmen.
DeBlois is a long-time teammate and friend of incoming defenseman Mac Bennett. He scored 11-22--33 in 55 games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL last year, good for sixth on the team in points. He also was right up there in +/- and led the team in goals in the playoffs. McKeen's cited his tenaciousness and ability to get to the net as strong suits.
Now...who's back? Carl Hagelin becomes the first 50-point scorer to return for another season since Kevin Porter elected to come back for his senior year and won the Hobey in the process. Hagelin had increases of 6 goals, 13 assists, and 42 shots from his sophomore season. He went all Kolarik, taking far and away the most shots on the team (170...the next highest were Caporusso and Brown with 122 apiece). He was also Porter-ian in his consistency--he had points in 35 of Michigan's 45 games, including 19 of the last 21. He also had 5-6--11 during Michigan's run in the CCHA Playoffs and NCAA Tournament.
Louie Caporusso had what was thought of as a somewhat disappointing season after the previous year when he was one of the ten finalists for the Hobey. By the end of the year, however, he wasn't too far off his sophomore year's totals. He ended up with just 3 fewer goals and 3 fewer assists (albeit in 4 more games). His seasons did a complete 180 though. As a sophomore he started out on fire, scoring 18 goals in the first 20 games before cooling off in the second half. Last year, he had just 5 goals after the GLI (and just 7 after the outdoor game in mid-February), but finished up with 14-8--22 in our final 15 games. If he can put together an entire season, look out.
Chris Brown ended last season just 28th in points per game amongst freshmen, but Andy Taranto, Stephane Da Costa, and Danny Kristo were the only major conference rookies who had more goals. He faltered down the stretch (2 goals in our last 16 games), but proved to be a player who could make an impact on this level, getting to the front of the net, scoring some ugly goals, and becoming a finalist for CCHA Rookie of the Year in the process.
Yost Built favorite Matty Rust put up a very quiet 40 points, an 18 point increase from the previous season. He didn't increase his goal total much, but his assists went from 11 to 27. As always, he's a solid defensive player who takes shockingly few penalties (just 12 last year) for as physical as he can be. He's a great penalty killer and he takes more faceoffs than anyone on the team.
Then you've got David Wohlberg who scored 15 goals as a freshman, but just 10 last year. I seem to remember him having some nagging injury (back, maybe?). He's another physical presence who can play at both ends. I actually kind of forgot about him and then broke into a big grin when I looked at the roster again. I really like Wohlberg and I fully expect a bounce-back year.
Keep going down the line: Kevin Lynch was an absolute BEAST against Miami in the Regional Final and scored the game-winning goal in overti......aww crap. He had just 1 point before the GLI last year, but ended up with 16. Luke Glendening (another favorite) put up 21 points and was named a captain midseason. AJ Treais never really got rolling, but showed enough flashes to indicate that he'll be a pretty decent player for us. Lindsay Sparks had 4 goals and six points in a four game stretch, but didn't play a whole lot in the stretch run. Winnett was good for 6-8--14 and had one of the nicest shots of the year against FYS in the CCHA Playoffs, though he pretty much is what he is at this point. Scooter Vaughan has moved up front permanently, and I thought he did a lot of good things even if he's never going to put points on the board. Jeff Rohrkemper never looked out of place as a walkon.
There are a lot of good forwards on this team and a lot of depth. Last year was a bit of a down year in terms of offense by Michigan's standards, but we still ranked 12th in the nation in offense by the end of the year. If guys like Caporusso, Wohlberg, and Brown put full seasons together, we're going to score a bunch of goals.
I fully expect us to have a Hobey Finalist again this year. I can't decide if it will be Hagelin or Caporusso, but I think one of them ends up in the top ten. I love Hagelin's defense, his effort, his consistency, and how he's a pretty darn underrated offensive player--50 points really isn't easy. But I keep thinking about Caporusso's ability to get on rolls where he just can't be stopped. He's had half a season of that each of the last two years. If he gains some consistency, he could have a Chad Kolarik type senior season.
Either way, assuming that Louie stays with Glendening and Wohlberg (that line caught fire toward the end of the year) and Hagelin plays with Rust and Brown, we're going to have two dangerous lines who are every bit as good defensively as they are offensively. I think we'll be up closer to 160 goals this year, which would probably put us back into the top 5 in the country in offense.
I love two things about our forwards: Our best players don't give up anything in the defensive zone and most of our guys are killer in the faceoff circle.
Hagelin, Rust, Glendening, Wohlberg....they're all top-notch defensive players. I thought that Caporusso improved and made some really nice defensive plays as well. I remember him saving a couple of goals hustling on the backcheck. It was nice to see. Maybe that will end up being another area where we can end up comparing him to Kolarik.
As for the faceoffs, check this out:
Caporusso: 57.6% of 772 draws
Wohlberg: 54.7% of 159 draws
Glendening: 53.8% of 186 draws
Rust: 51.3% of 875 draws
Winnett and Treais were the only two who took a significant number of faceoffs and weren't over 50% (and Treais was just over 48 percent, which certainly isn't bad). After years of faceoffs being a weakness, it's really become a strength of ours--except apparently when we play outside. Caporusso, Wohlberg, and Rust were all within a couple tenths of a percent of their percentages from the previous season, so there's no reason to think anything will change this year.
Anyway, those are the guys up front for the 2010-11 Wolverines. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the defensemen.
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