I didn't get to see/hear any of the games this weekend, but based on some box score reading and highlight-watching it seems like it was a little harder than it should have been on paper. Michigan swept Bentley by 5-1, 4-1 scores, but those margins of victory probably weren't indicative of how the games went.
On Friday night, Michigan fell behind 1-0 on a power play goal by Alex Grieve. They would draw even on a goal by Greg Pateryn and then take the lead on David Wohlberg's first of the year, but the score would remain 2-1 until late in the third period. Guptill, Glendening, and Treais all scored in the last five minutes of regulation to turn a close game into a rout. Unfortunately on the highlights, several of the goals were NONE OF OUR BUSINESS (as Pressdog would say about the IndyCar races). Michigan outshot the Falcons 23-3 in the third period and 49-19 for the game. Treais (8), Glendening (7), Pateryn (7!), and Guptill (6) combined for over half of Michigan's shots on goal, as well as four of the five tallies.
The next night, the Wolverines once again found themselves in a tight game in the third period. A Moffatt shot through traffic was blocked by the defenseman, but the puck sat right at the top of the paint and Di Giuseppe made a quick move to knock it in. After Di Giuseppe's goal, Bentley tied the game up and then had a goal waived off. Di Giuseppe scored on the power play, taking a cross-crease feed from Moffatt off his skate and then burying it to put Michigan up 2-1. It remained that way deep into the third for the second straight night when AJ Treais tallied his second goal in the last 3 minutes of the game in as many nights off a slick give-and-go from Moffatt. Guptill would add an empty-netter, and Michigan would skate out with a 4-1 win. Hunwick made 21 stops in the win and was named CCHA Goaltender of the Week for his 3-0 record with a 0.74 goals against and .947 save percentage.
It's hard to get a great idea of how the game was based on watching some highlights, but it seems that Treais, Moffatt, and Di Giuseppe were all over the place the entire weekend. PDG could have easily had 2 or 3 more goals, even just based on the highlights I saw. Moffatt was showing flashes of what made him such a highly-touted recruit, and Treais had 2-2--4 with 11 shots on goal on the weekend.
Other things of note:
-Michigan broke the team record for longest home-winning streak. This is 16 straight wins at Yost and 17 straight home wins (counting the Big Chill).
-Every player that was in the lineup on Saturday has at least one point this year. Pretty good through 3 games and 14 goals! Moffie and Guptill have points in all three games.
After five games in eight days to start the season, Michigan now gets a little bit of a break. They'll face St. Lawrence on Thursday night at Yost before getting the weekend off. I'll have more about the Saint Lawrence Saints (WE'RE SAINTS!) later in the week, but they are not off to a good start. They dropped their exhibition game to something called Carleton before getting swept by Ferris State this past weekend.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Friday, October 07, 2011
Michigan 5, Niagara 0, Bentley is Next
This post is brought to you by Charter Communications
This is a new one. I don't think I've ever blogged from 20,000 feet before!
Anyway, the Wolverines kicked off their season on Tuesday against the Purple Eagles from Niagara. There was some apprehension heading into the game with the way the exhibition season had gone, but Michigan jumped on the board just over a minute into the game.
Zach Hyman made a beautiful centering pass from the side of the next that either Chris Brown or Lindsay Sparks could have put in. Initially the goal was credited to Sparks (his first of 3 on the night), but it was later changed to Brown.
With the Wolverines shorthanded in the middle of the first period, Shawn Hunwick's clearing attempt hit off a Niagara player and bounced over to Travis Lynch. Lynch went end-to-end with it, spinning around and shooting when a defenseman stepped up. The puck got through the goaltending for Lynch's first of his Michigan career.
With the game still 2-0, Shawn Hunwick absolutely robbed Iuorio on a cross-ice pass following a Wohlberg turnover at the blueline. That was the turning point in the game. Michigan would add three goals before the end of the second period to turn a fairly close game into a rout.
Sparks made an early-season entry in the "Michigan Goal of the Year" category as he jumped up to take an errant pass away before streaking down the left wing and then faking a forehand shot before pulling it to his backhand and putting it top-shelf. Great move and a better shot. He got that thing up in the air quick.
Sparks would add another a minute later. Alex Guptill used his big body to fend off Kevin Ryan. He slid it back to Clare at the point. He gave it back to Guptill, who fed Sparks. Lindsay's shot hit off Matt Williams (actually, I'm not so sure that Lynch's shot didn't do the same) and deflected into the net.
Three minutes later, Sparks would add his third point of the night. He got the puck to Hyman, who threw a picture-perfect pass off the sideboards to spring Chris Brown. Brown brought the puck in and uncorked a ridiculous wrist-shot from the faceoff dot, beating Carsen Chubak over his blocker. That thing was a frigging laser.
Adam Janecyk saw the first extended playing time of his career in the third period, as Shawn Hunwick came out of yet another game with a shutout in tact. Janecyk made 3 or 4 really nice saves to preserve the shutout. He was officially credited with 8 saves in 9 minutes.
Overall it probably wasn't the prettiest game Michigan has ever played. The Wolverines gave up a whopping 38 shots on goal and gave the Purple Eagles 6 power plays, but it was a pretty good performance overall.
I was really, really impressed with the play of a lot of our freshmen.
Travis Lynch was one of the best players on the ice the entire night. In addition to his goal, he saw a ton of time on the penalty kill and was the only Wolverine to win more than 50% of his faceoffs (uh-oh), going 11/18 on the night.
Hyman had two beautiful passes to set up goals. Di Giuseppe didn't get on the scoresheet, but I thought he was pretty active out there. He had a lot of puck touches and did some good things. They set him up in front of the net on a few occasions, and they were trying to set up the little "screen the goalie, send the pass down low, the screener pivots around and looks for a centering pass" play to him a couple of times.
I thought Mike Chiasson had a really solid game on the blueline as well. He made a great stick check to break up a Niagara opportunity, and he had the look of a guy that isn't going to want to come out of the lineup.
Guptill had an assist and led the team with 5 shots on goal. He saw a bunch of time out on the PK as well. We need penalty killers and it seemed like they were more than willing to give a bunch of guys chances to play out there. I thought a lot of the freshmen looked really good in that role.
Kevin Clare had a gorgeous breakup of a Niagara rush. He chased the guy down, dove, and knocked the puck away without even making the slightest contact with the Purple Eagle. It was nice seeing Brown get on the scoresheet twice early in the season after the way he struggled out of the gate last year. He's going to be critical to Michigan's success this year. Treais and Moffatt had some chances as well. (Moffatt also ended up with 5 shots on goal.)
All in all, a pretty successful first game! The new scoreboard is fantastic. They have some kinks to work out with replays and whatnot, but I'm sure more of the effort has been focused into getting the football scoreboard up and running. It didn't seem like any pucks came close to hitting it this game, though I know at least one got it in exhibition play. Man it felt good to be back at Yost.
Now the Wolverines welcome Bentley into Ann Arbor for a weekend series. The Falcons come out of Atlantic Hockey, where they were picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll. Six of their top eight scorers and all six defensemen return from a team that finished 10-18-6 a year ago. The highlight of their season was a 2-1 win over Northeastern fairly early on. They fell 6-3 to Sacred Heart in the first round of the AHA Tournament.
Sophomore Brett Gensler was their leading goal scorer last year and is their top-returning points man. He had 13-11--24 last year. They have a trio of junior forwards that had 15-18 points last year. They didn't get much offense out of the defense. Mike Switzer and Ryan Kayfes each had 3 goals and 12-13 points, but the rest of the D combined for 4-19--23 on the year, or less than we'd expect out of Jon Merrill in a full year. Freshman defenseman Matt Maher did put up 40 points in the BCHL a year ago, which led all defensemen.
In net, Joe Calvi is gone. He was in net for 16 decisions a year ago. In his place are senior Kyle Rank (4-5-2, 3.46/.904) and sophomore Brandom Komm (1-5-1, 3.16, .890).
Bentley had far-and-away the worst power play in the country last year, at only 8.4%. They scored 13 PPGs, but gave up 7 SHGs. Dustin Cloutier, who had 4 of the 13 goals, graduated. The PK was pretty solid, though. Middle of the pack.
No reason not to get two Ws this weekend.
In other news, it was announced that the Wolverines will be hosting the 2013 NCAA West Regional. They'll be playing at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Since the NCAA would rather punish Ohio State than let Michigan host at Yost again, it seems U of M decided to bid out a different arena. This works. You're still in friendly confines, and you're guaranteed to not have to go play another team in their home arena. I'd rather be at Yost, because the atmosphere was unreal, but it's better to host in Grand Rapids than see what the NCAA comes up with for the bracket.
This is a new one. I don't think I've ever blogged from 20,000 feet before!
Anyway, the Wolverines kicked off their season on Tuesday against the Purple Eagles from Niagara. There was some apprehension heading into the game with the way the exhibition season had gone, but Michigan jumped on the board just over a minute into the game.
Zach Hyman made a beautiful centering pass from the side of the next that either Chris Brown or Lindsay Sparks could have put in. Initially the goal was credited to Sparks (his first of 3 on the night), but it was later changed to Brown.
With the Wolverines shorthanded in the middle of the first period, Shawn Hunwick's clearing attempt hit off a Niagara player and bounced over to Travis Lynch. Lynch went end-to-end with it, spinning around and shooting when a defenseman stepped up. The puck got through the goaltending for Lynch's first of his Michigan career.
With the game still 2-0, Shawn Hunwick absolutely robbed Iuorio on a cross-ice pass following a Wohlberg turnover at the blueline. That was the turning point in the game. Michigan would add three goals before the end of the second period to turn a fairly close game into a rout.
Sparks made an early-season entry in the "Michigan Goal of the Year" category as he jumped up to take an errant pass away before streaking down the left wing and then faking a forehand shot before pulling it to his backhand and putting it top-shelf. Great move and a better shot. He got that thing up in the air quick.
Sparks would add another a minute later. Alex Guptill used his big body to fend off Kevin Ryan. He slid it back to Clare at the point. He gave it back to Guptill, who fed Sparks. Lindsay's shot hit off Matt Williams (actually, I'm not so sure that Lynch's shot didn't do the same) and deflected into the net.
Three minutes later, Sparks would add his third point of the night. He got the puck to Hyman, who threw a picture-perfect pass off the sideboards to spring Chris Brown. Brown brought the puck in and uncorked a ridiculous wrist-shot from the faceoff dot, beating Carsen Chubak over his blocker. That thing was a frigging laser.
Adam Janecyk saw the first extended playing time of his career in the third period, as Shawn Hunwick came out of yet another game with a shutout in tact. Janecyk made 3 or 4 really nice saves to preserve the shutout. He was officially credited with 8 saves in 9 minutes.
Overall it probably wasn't the prettiest game Michigan has ever played. The Wolverines gave up a whopping 38 shots on goal and gave the Purple Eagles 6 power plays, but it was a pretty good performance overall.
I was really, really impressed with the play of a lot of our freshmen.
Travis Lynch was one of the best players on the ice the entire night. In addition to his goal, he saw a ton of time on the penalty kill and was the only Wolverine to win more than 50% of his faceoffs (uh-oh), going 11/18 on the night.
Hyman had two beautiful passes to set up goals. Di Giuseppe didn't get on the scoresheet, but I thought he was pretty active out there. He had a lot of puck touches and did some good things. They set him up in front of the net on a few occasions, and they were trying to set up the little "screen the goalie, send the pass down low, the screener pivots around and looks for a centering pass" play to him a couple of times.
I thought Mike Chiasson had a really solid game on the blueline as well. He made a great stick check to break up a Niagara opportunity, and he had the look of a guy that isn't going to want to come out of the lineup.
Guptill had an assist and led the team with 5 shots on goal. He saw a bunch of time out on the PK as well. We need penalty killers and it seemed like they were more than willing to give a bunch of guys chances to play out there. I thought a lot of the freshmen looked really good in that role.
Kevin Clare had a gorgeous breakup of a Niagara rush. He chased the guy down, dove, and knocked the puck away without even making the slightest contact with the Purple Eagle. It was nice seeing Brown get on the scoresheet twice early in the season after the way he struggled out of the gate last year. He's going to be critical to Michigan's success this year. Treais and Moffatt had some chances as well. (Moffatt also ended up with 5 shots on goal.)
All in all, a pretty successful first game! The new scoreboard is fantastic. They have some kinks to work out with replays and whatnot, but I'm sure more of the effort has been focused into getting the football scoreboard up and running. It didn't seem like any pucks came close to hitting it this game, though I know at least one got it in exhibition play. Man it felt good to be back at Yost.
Now the Wolverines welcome Bentley into Ann Arbor for a weekend series. The Falcons come out of Atlantic Hockey, where they were picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll. Six of their top eight scorers and all six defensemen return from a team that finished 10-18-6 a year ago. The highlight of their season was a 2-1 win over Northeastern fairly early on. They fell 6-3 to Sacred Heart in the first round of the AHA Tournament.
Sophomore Brett Gensler was their leading goal scorer last year and is their top-returning points man. He had 13-11--24 last year. They have a trio of junior forwards that had 15-18 points last year. They didn't get much offense out of the defense. Mike Switzer and Ryan Kayfes each had 3 goals and 12-13 points, but the rest of the D combined for 4-19--23 on the year, or less than we'd expect out of Jon Merrill in a full year. Freshman defenseman Matt Maher did put up 40 points in the BCHL a year ago, which led all defensemen.
In net, Joe Calvi is gone. He was in net for 16 decisions a year ago. In his place are senior Kyle Rank (4-5-2, 3.46/.904) and sophomore Brandom Komm (1-5-1, 3.16, .890).
Bentley had far-and-away the worst power play in the country last year, at only 8.4%. They scored 13 PPGs, but gave up 7 SHGs. Dustin Cloutier, who had 4 of the 13 goals, graduated. The PK was pretty solid, though. Middle of the pack.
No reason not to get two Ws this weekend.
In other news, it was announced that the Wolverines will be hosting the 2013 NCAA West Regional. They'll be playing at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Since the NCAA would rather punish Ohio State than let Michigan host at Yost again, it seems U of M decided to bid out a different arena. This works. You're still in friendly confines, and you're guaranteed to not have to go play another team in their home arena. I'd rather be at Yost, because the atmosphere was unreal, but it's better to host in Grand Rapids than see what the NCAA comes up with for the bracket.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
2011-12 Season Preview Part 3: Defensemen, Goalies and a Niagara Preview
Michigan lost a lot of minutes on their blueline with Brandon Burlon turning pro, Chad Langlais graduating, and Tristin Llewellyn...umm...doing something.
Michigan fans thought we had dodged a bullet with Jon Merrill deciding to pass up a pro contract to return for his sophomore season. Last week, however, he was suspended for a dozen games (including the two exhibitions) due to a violation of team rules.
When he's in the lineup, though, he's as good as anyone we've had in a long time. As a freshman, he was a finalist for the CCHA Rookie of the Year, the CCHA Best Offensive Defenseman, and the CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman. He also made 2nd team All USCHO, 2nd team All CCHA, and was named to both the CCHA All-Rookie team and the INCH All Rookie team. 7-18--25 in 42 games, +11, only 16 PIMs, and he posted a pair of goals during the Big Chill. He also was far-and-away the team leader in blocked shots with 70. He's absolutely fantastic and I really hope that he doesn't have any thoughts about joining Plymouth to avoid this suspension. Outside of Shawn Hunwick, this is the guy that Michigan can least afford to lose.
He's joined by four other returners on the blueline. Greg Pateryn is the lone senior rearguard and he's as underrated as they come. After putting up 1-10--11 his first two years combined, he exploded offensively for 3-14--17 in 40 games a year ago. His +/- also jumped to a career-best +15. He made the All Regional team after Michigan knocked off UNO and CC in the Tournament a year ago. He does a pretty nice job of getting shots through--and actually took the shot that ultimately led to the game-winner against UNO. 28 PIMs may be a just a tick higher than you would want, but it's certainly not egregious for what he brings to the table. He's a really solid all-around guy.
Lee Moffie also made the All Regional team last year. He's a pretty nice offensive threat back on the blueline. Even though he only had the same number of points as Pateryn, who is thought of as more of a stay-at-home guy, he did lead all Michigan defensemen in goals with 8. Only Wohlberg, Brown, Lynch, and Treais scored more goals last year and return to the team this year. That's slightly scary. He put in 5 on the PP (second to Hagelin's 7). He struggled to get into the lineup early in the year, only playing in 8 of the first 17 games, but only sat out 3 times after the GLI (Llewellyn's dismissal clearly had something to do with that). After Llewellyn was given the boot, Moffie responded with a 3-game goal streak, and a four-game point streak (going for 3-2--5). He also had 4 goals and 7 points during post-season play. Even though he's more known for his offensive instincts, don't forget his check in OT on senior night that started the play that led to Hagelin's winner.
Kevin Clare struggled at some points last season, but still ended the year +12, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering he only had 2 points. He's definitely a stay-at-home guy, but God knows we need one of those every now and then. The biggest thing with Clare was that he couldn't consistently get on the ice. During the regular season, he played back-to-back games on just one occasion. He did play 6 consecutive games to close the year, however.
I think we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what Mac Bennett will be able to do. The kid can absolutely fly. One of the Wolverines (I think it was Treais), Tweeted the other day that Bennett "skates like Summers". He had 2-10--12 and was +12 in 32 games a year ago. I mentioned last year that I thought Bennett sometimes was trying to go too fast. He turned the puck over quite a bit, and a lot of the time it was because he was just moving too quickly and he lost it. Now that he's got some experience and the game will slow down a little bit, I think he's going to have a very nice season.
I profiled Szuma, Serville, and Chiasson when I talked about the freshmen. It sounds like Szuma is a little bit nicked up right now.
Now to the goaltenders:
With Shawn Hunwick returning for a fifth-year and the talented John Gibson coming in, Michigan was set up to have the best goalie duo in the country. Gibson bailed, so the Wolverines are left once again completely depending on the short but aggressive netminder. As long as Hunwick stays healthy, we're fine. Despite where he ends up being ranked in the CCHA polls, we have one of the best goaltenders in the country. The kid is just money.
It's amazing that he continues to get overlooked in some circles after what he's done the past two seasons. He was 22-9-4 last year with a 2.21/.925, was named the West Region's Most Outstanding Player, and was USCHO 1st team. He also won the CCHA Best Goaltender award for having the lowest GAA, but was NOT one of the goalies named to the All-Conference Team, which was an absolute joke. Nagle, Greenham, Reichard, and Kapalka all received more votes. Christ, he had a 1.94/.931 in conference.
Given a chance to redeem themselves, the voters repeated their mistake again with the Preseason All Conference teams. Reichard was the first team goalie, which you absolutely cannot make a case for over Hunwick. Greenham was second-team and Kapalka was an Honorable Mention. He was also not mentioned in USCHO's top-ten goalies in the nation, though 4 other CCHA goalies made the list.
Backing up Hunwick is Adam Janecyk. Who the frig knows what we've got in him! He's played 1:32 in his career. You kind of wonder if they'll be more reluctant to throw guys in during garbage time in case they find the next Hunwick at some point. Thank God they didn't play him his sophomore season...Anyway, back to Janecyk. He comes from a good lineage, as his father had more than a cup of coffee as a goaltender in the NHL in the 80s (he actually played 51 games one year for LA). Adam played in the USHL before coming to Michigan and was 8-13-4 with a 3.56/.887 during his year with Sioux City.
Luke Dwyer will apparently be the third goalie.
So yeah...we'll see. Michigan fell to the Ontario Institute of Technology in exhibition play, but rebounded with a 3-1 win over the NTDP tonight. Di Giuseppe has scored in both games, which is really nice to see. I think he could surprise some people this year. Moffatt and Sparks had the other goals tonight. Also good guys to see light the lamp and we need Moffatt to step up, and I'd like to see Sparks end up with some more ice time, given that Michigan will probably struggle to score goals at times.
Niagara won their exhibition over Queens by a 7-2 count. Scott Arnold had a hat trick in that game and CJ Chartrain had a playmaker.
Niagara was picked to finish 4th in Atlantic Hockey. Last year, Dave Burkholder's team was 18-13-4 but they lost an awful lot. Paul Zanette (29-26--55) and Bryan Haczyk (28-17--45) are gone, and take their 20 combined power-play goals with them. So is Ryan Annesley, who had 4-23--27 on the blueline. Arnold is the top returning goal-scorer. He had 16-6--22 in 34 games and they really like him. They do have another Zanette, though he isn't as good as his All-American brother. After scoring 7-13--20 as a freshman, he had just 4-3--7 in 34 games as a sophomore. Giancarlo Iuorio is the leading returning scorer. He had 9-24--33 in 31 games last year.
Arnold played with Ryan Rashid and Patrick Divjak on an all-freshman line last season. They accounted for 32 goals in 35 games.
The Purple Eagles played four different goalies last year. Chris Noonan played the most often, going 8-3-2 with a 2.93/.903. He'll be a senior this year, and I have to believe he's the starter (though he's the only one that didn't play in their exhibition game). Cody Campbell was 4-6-1 with a 3.38/.895 during his freshman campaign. Another freshman, Carsen Chubak, was 4-3-1 with a 2.80/.899. All three of those goalies saw time against Queens. Chubak actually got the start and gave up 1 goal on 2 shots. Campbell got the win, with 3 saves on 4 shots. Colby Drost, a freshman, made 4 saves in a perfect third period.
Michigan fans thought we had dodged a bullet with Jon Merrill deciding to pass up a pro contract to return for his sophomore season. Last week, however, he was suspended for a dozen games (including the two exhibitions) due to a violation of team rules.
When he's in the lineup, though, he's as good as anyone we've had in a long time. As a freshman, he was a finalist for the CCHA Rookie of the Year, the CCHA Best Offensive Defenseman, and the CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman. He also made 2nd team All USCHO, 2nd team All CCHA, and was named to both the CCHA All-Rookie team and the INCH All Rookie team. 7-18--25 in 42 games, +11, only 16 PIMs, and he posted a pair of goals during the Big Chill. He also was far-and-away the team leader in blocked shots with 70. He's absolutely fantastic and I really hope that he doesn't have any thoughts about joining Plymouth to avoid this suspension. Outside of Shawn Hunwick, this is the guy that Michigan can least afford to lose.
He's joined by four other returners on the blueline. Greg Pateryn is the lone senior rearguard and he's as underrated as they come. After putting up 1-10--11 his first two years combined, he exploded offensively for 3-14--17 in 40 games a year ago. His +/- also jumped to a career-best +15. He made the All Regional team after Michigan knocked off UNO and CC in the Tournament a year ago. He does a pretty nice job of getting shots through--and actually took the shot that ultimately led to the game-winner against UNO. 28 PIMs may be a just a tick higher than you would want, but it's certainly not egregious for what he brings to the table. He's a really solid all-around guy.
Lee Moffie also made the All Regional team last year. He's a pretty nice offensive threat back on the blueline. Even though he only had the same number of points as Pateryn, who is thought of as more of a stay-at-home guy, he did lead all Michigan defensemen in goals with 8. Only Wohlberg, Brown, Lynch, and Treais scored more goals last year and return to the team this year. That's slightly scary. He put in 5 on the PP (second to Hagelin's 7). He struggled to get into the lineup early in the year, only playing in 8 of the first 17 games, but only sat out 3 times after the GLI (Llewellyn's dismissal clearly had something to do with that). After Llewellyn was given the boot, Moffie responded with a 3-game goal streak, and a four-game point streak (going for 3-2--5). He also had 4 goals and 7 points during post-season play. Even though he's more known for his offensive instincts, don't forget his check in OT on senior night that started the play that led to Hagelin's winner.
Kevin Clare struggled at some points last season, but still ended the year +12, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering he only had 2 points. He's definitely a stay-at-home guy, but God knows we need one of those every now and then. The biggest thing with Clare was that he couldn't consistently get on the ice. During the regular season, he played back-to-back games on just one occasion. He did play 6 consecutive games to close the year, however.
I think we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what Mac Bennett will be able to do. The kid can absolutely fly. One of the Wolverines (I think it was Treais), Tweeted the other day that Bennett "skates like Summers". He had 2-10--12 and was +12 in 32 games a year ago. I mentioned last year that I thought Bennett sometimes was trying to go too fast. He turned the puck over quite a bit, and a lot of the time it was because he was just moving too quickly and he lost it. Now that he's got some experience and the game will slow down a little bit, I think he's going to have a very nice season.
I profiled Szuma, Serville, and Chiasson when I talked about the freshmen. It sounds like Szuma is a little bit nicked up right now.
Now to the goaltenders:
With Shawn Hunwick returning for a fifth-year and the talented John Gibson coming in, Michigan was set up to have the best goalie duo in the country. Gibson bailed, so the Wolverines are left once again completely depending on the short but aggressive netminder. As long as Hunwick stays healthy, we're fine. Despite where he ends up being ranked in the CCHA polls, we have one of the best goaltenders in the country. The kid is just money.
It's amazing that he continues to get overlooked in some circles after what he's done the past two seasons. He was 22-9-4 last year with a 2.21/.925, was named the West Region's Most Outstanding Player, and was USCHO 1st team. He also won the CCHA Best Goaltender award for having the lowest GAA, but was NOT one of the goalies named to the All-Conference Team, which was an absolute joke. Nagle, Greenham, Reichard, and Kapalka all received more votes. Christ, he had a 1.94/.931 in conference.
Given a chance to redeem themselves, the voters repeated their mistake again with the Preseason All Conference teams. Reichard was the first team goalie, which you absolutely cannot make a case for over Hunwick. Greenham was second-team and Kapalka was an Honorable Mention. He was also not mentioned in USCHO's top-ten goalies in the nation, though 4 other CCHA goalies made the list.
Backing up Hunwick is Adam Janecyk. Who the frig knows what we've got in him! He's played 1:32 in his career. You kind of wonder if they'll be more reluctant to throw guys in during garbage time in case they find the next Hunwick at some point. Thank God they didn't play him his sophomore season...Anyway, back to Janecyk. He comes from a good lineage, as his father had more than a cup of coffee as a goaltender in the NHL in the 80s (he actually played 51 games one year for LA). Adam played in the USHL before coming to Michigan and was 8-13-4 with a 3.56/.887 during his year with Sioux City.
Luke Dwyer will apparently be the third goalie.
So yeah...we'll see. Michigan fell to the Ontario Institute of Technology in exhibition play, but rebounded with a 3-1 win over the NTDP tonight. Di Giuseppe has scored in both games, which is really nice to see. I think he could surprise some people this year. Moffatt and Sparks had the other goals tonight. Also good guys to see light the lamp and we need Moffatt to step up, and I'd like to see Sparks end up with some more ice time, given that Michigan will probably struggle to score goals at times.
Niagara won their exhibition over Queens by a 7-2 count. Scott Arnold had a hat trick in that game and CJ Chartrain had a playmaker.
Niagara was picked to finish 4th in Atlantic Hockey. Last year, Dave Burkholder's team was 18-13-4 but they lost an awful lot. Paul Zanette (29-26--55) and Bryan Haczyk (28-17--45) are gone, and take their 20 combined power-play goals with them. So is Ryan Annesley, who had 4-23--27 on the blueline. Arnold is the top returning goal-scorer. He had 16-6--22 in 34 games and they really like him. They do have another Zanette, though he isn't as good as his All-American brother. After scoring 7-13--20 as a freshman, he had just 4-3--7 in 34 games as a sophomore. Giancarlo Iuorio is the leading returning scorer. He had 9-24--33 in 31 games last year.
Arnold played with Ryan Rashid and Patrick Divjak on an all-freshman line last season. They accounted for 32 goals in 35 games.
The Purple Eagles played four different goalies last year. Chris Noonan played the most often, going 8-3-2 with a 2.93/.903. He'll be a senior this year, and I have to believe he's the starter (though he's the only one that didn't play in their exhibition game). Cody Campbell was 4-6-1 with a 3.38/.895 during his freshman campaign. Another freshman, Carsen Chubak, was 4-3-1 with a 2.80/.899. All three of those goalies saw time against Queens. Chubak actually got the start and gave up 1 goal on 2 shots. Campbell got the win, with 3 saves on 4 shots. Colby Drost, a freshman, made 4 saves in a perfect third period.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
2011-12 Season Preview Part 2: The Returning Forwards
Last week, we covered the guys that won't be returning. Last season, they accounted for 41.7% of Michigan's 146 goals and 50.6% of the assists. That's a lot, but Michigan has handled similar losses before (50% and 46% in 08-09 and 07-08). Here are some quick blurbs about the forwards who return:
Chris Brown: Really struggled to put the puck in the net for long stretches of last season. He had just two goals when he left to join Team USA for the World Juniors, but rebounded a bit in the second half of the year to finish with a 9-14--23 line. He was held scoreless in the NCAA Tournament, however.
Kevin Lynch: Lynch had a long drought last season as well, but his came in the middle of the year. After scoring 6-3--9 in the first 14 games, he was held scoreless for eighteen straight games. He didn't tally a point from November 21-February 17 before scoring 7 points in Michigan's final 12 games (including the game-winner as part of a two-goal effort against UNO in the NCAA Tournament). There are those who think very highly of his game, and I'd expect that he'll get plenty of chances to have a big season offensively.
David Wohlberg: Michigan's top-returning goal scorer (15) has been on a downward trajectory in terms of points (31, 27, 21 in his first three years), but he did match his freshman-year's goal total last year. Wohlberg was heating up at the right time last year. He has a four-game goal streak before a broken collarbone ended his season in the first round of the CCHA Tournament.
AJ Treais: A really offensively-gifted player who took a step up as a sophomore. He had 13 points as a freshman and increased that to 22 as a sophomore. He went 8 games without a point to start the year, but came on after that. He had 13 points in 16 games at one point during the season. Needs to be a little more careful with his breakout passes from the boards in his own end. I fully expect to see him up around 30 points this year.
Lindsay Sparks: Kind of an intriguing player really. He doesn't play all that often, but has looked really good at times. He had 3 goals and 4 points during the CCHA Tournament before finding a seat on the bench during the NCAA Tournament. Had 4-2--6 in 17 games. We'll see if he can gain the coaches' trust this year and find a spot in the lineup.
Luke Glendening: The captain has really turned into a nice player for Red Berenson. A one-time preferred walk-on, Glendening has scored 21 goals and 28 assists in 124 games, including 8-10--18 last year. This will be the third season he's worn a letter, and the second season he's had the C. He'll be a key player on the penalty kill, as we lost most of the guys that made up those units.
Luke Moffatt: A highly-regarded recruit, Moffatt struggled offensively for a good portion of last season after getting off to a pretty good start. He had 8 points in an 8-game span in November, before putting up just 3 goals and 2 assists the rest of the way. He'll at least get a shot to earn his way onto the power play and see more ice time. Time will tell if he lives up to the hype he had coming out of the MWEHL.
Derek DeBlois: I really kind of like DeBlois. He caught the "Hit people from behind" bug at one point last season, but I liked what I saw out of him. He ended up +8 on the year and didn't hurt Michigan when he was out there most of the time. Chipped in with 6 points.
Jeff Rohrkemper: He sure picked a good time to score a couple of his 3 goals last year. He put one in in the NCAA Championship and had the game-winner in the CCHA Third Place Game. I don't think he ever really looked out of place, despite being put into a tough position having played only 7 games all year before being pressed into service in the CCHA and NCAA Tournament. Outside of his boarding penalty against CC that darn-near killed me, you can't complain about his contributions in a very limited amount of ice time.
Hopefully sometime tomorrow, I'll have the defense and the goalies.
Chris Brown: Really struggled to put the puck in the net for long stretches of last season. He had just two goals when he left to join Team USA for the World Juniors, but rebounded a bit in the second half of the year to finish with a 9-14--23 line. He was held scoreless in the NCAA Tournament, however.
Kevin Lynch: Lynch had a long drought last season as well, but his came in the middle of the year. After scoring 6-3--9 in the first 14 games, he was held scoreless for eighteen straight games. He didn't tally a point from November 21-February 17 before scoring 7 points in Michigan's final 12 games (including the game-winner as part of a two-goal effort against UNO in the NCAA Tournament). There are those who think very highly of his game, and I'd expect that he'll get plenty of chances to have a big season offensively.
David Wohlberg: Michigan's top-returning goal scorer (15) has been on a downward trajectory in terms of points (31, 27, 21 in his first three years), but he did match his freshman-year's goal total last year. Wohlberg was heating up at the right time last year. He has a four-game goal streak before a broken collarbone ended his season in the first round of the CCHA Tournament.
AJ Treais: A really offensively-gifted player who took a step up as a sophomore. He had 13 points as a freshman and increased that to 22 as a sophomore. He went 8 games without a point to start the year, but came on after that. He had 13 points in 16 games at one point during the season. Needs to be a little more careful with his breakout passes from the boards in his own end. I fully expect to see him up around 30 points this year.
Lindsay Sparks: Kind of an intriguing player really. He doesn't play all that often, but has looked really good at times. He had 3 goals and 4 points during the CCHA Tournament before finding a seat on the bench during the NCAA Tournament. Had 4-2--6 in 17 games. We'll see if he can gain the coaches' trust this year and find a spot in the lineup.
Luke Glendening: The captain has really turned into a nice player for Red Berenson. A one-time preferred walk-on, Glendening has scored 21 goals and 28 assists in 124 games, including 8-10--18 last year. This will be the third season he's worn a letter, and the second season he's had the C. He'll be a key player on the penalty kill, as we lost most of the guys that made up those units.
Luke Moffatt: A highly-regarded recruit, Moffatt struggled offensively for a good portion of last season after getting off to a pretty good start. He had 8 points in an 8-game span in November, before putting up just 3 goals and 2 assists the rest of the way. He'll at least get a shot to earn his way onto the power play and see more ice time. Time will tell if he lives up to the hype he had coming out of the MWEHL.
Derek DeBlois: I really kind of like DeBlois. He caught the "Hit people from behind" bug at one point last season, but I liked what I saw out of him. He ended up +8 on the year and didn't hurt Michigan when he was out there most of the time. Chipped in with 6 points.
Jeff Rohrkemper: He sure picked a good time to score a couple of his 3 goals last year. He put one in in the NCAA Championship and had the game-winner in the CCHA Third Place Game. I don't think he ever really looked out of place, despite being put into a tough position having played only 7 games all year before being pressed into service in the CCHA and NCAA Tournament. Outside of his boarding penalty against CC that darn-near killed me, you can't complain about his contributions in a very limited amount of ice time.
Hopefully sometime tomorrow, I'll have the defense and the goalies.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Having a Seat Over There: Jacob Trouba
The Wolverines have landed a "5-star" defenseman for the incoming class of 2012. Jacob Trouba posted on Twitter this evening that he has committed to the University of Michigan. Trouba, a 6'2", 191 lb defenseman from Rochester, MI, was reported to be deciding between Michigan, Notre Dame, and playing in the OHL (his rights are held by Kitchener). While most of the U-18 team has already committed to a college, Trouba was waiting. Why?
It appears that he has finally decided on going the NCAA route.
It's hard to find an article about Trouba that doesn't gush praise. The Hockey News had a scout call him "Cam Fowler with more of an edge." The Prospect Blog called him "the next great American defenseman" and echoed the Fowler-with-an-edge comparison. Fowler, you may recall, played for the NTDP, broke his Notre Dame commitment to play in the OHL for a year, and scored 10-30--40 as a rookie for the Anaheim Ducks.
A poster at HockeysFuture compiled a list of the early 2012 Draft Rankings and had Trouba 4th overall. As I mentioned the other day, TSN has him tied for 10th in in their rankings. He's tied with Matia Marcantuoni, whose name might sound familiar to Wolverine fans. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as an "A" player on their watch list.
After he was given that distinction, the United States of Hockey chimed in:
This year so far Trouba has three assists in four games for the NTDP's Under 18 team. He had 6-13--19 in 37 games with the U-17s last season, made the USHL All-Star team, and was called up to the Under 18s at the end of the season. With the U-18s he had 6 points, including a goal in the World Under 18 Championship Game, which the USA won in overtime.
Connor Murphy played with Trouba on the U-18s last year. He gave a quick scouting report to McKeen's:
Jacob Trouba wants to be known as a man of his word.
So when the highly touted defensive prospect is ready to make his decision whether to play in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers -- who hold his CHL rights -- or the NCAA, there won't be any late de-commitments or promises broken.
"That's sort of why I haven't (committed), because I don't want to make a commitment and then back down from it," said the 17-year-old on Wednesday, while in Toronto to take part in the NHL's Research and Development Camp.
It appears that he has finally decided on going the NCAA route.
It's hard to find an article about Trouba that doesn't gush praise. The Hockey News had a scout call him "Cam Fowler with more of an edge." The Prospect Blog called him "the next great American defenseman" and echoed the Fowler-with-an-edge comparison. Fowler, you may recall, played for the NTDP, broke his Notre Dame commitment to play in the OHL for a year, and scored 10-30--40 as a rookie for the Anaheim Ducks.
A poster at HockeysFuture compiled a list of the early 2012 Draft Rankings and had Trouba 4th overall. As I mentioned the other day, TSN has him tied for 10th in in their rankings. He's tied with Matia Marcantuoni, whose name might sound familiar to Wolverine fans. NHL Central Scouting ranked him as an "A" player on their watch list.
After he was given that distinction, the United States of Hockey chimed in:
Trouba was called up to the Under-18s and had a chance to showcase himself at the World Under-18 Championship. His booming shot and excellent skating are his most notable assets. He plays a physical brand of hockey in all areas. The only thing that happened to Trouba at the U18s is that a few of his flaws that he’ll need to work on this year were exposed. His hockey sense isn’t where it needs to be just yet, as he made a few poor decisions in Germany. That said, his tools are elite. He scored Team USA’s first goal in the gold-medal game against Sweden on a one-timer. Another year of development, and focusing on making good decisions, and he could easily find himself in, or around the top five.
This year so far Trouba has three assists in four games for the NTDP's Under 18 team. He had 6-13--19 in 37 games with the U-17s last season, made the USHL All-Star team, and was called up to the Under 18s at the end of the season. With the U-18s he had 6 points, including a goal in the World Under 18 Championship Game, which the USA won in overtime.
Connor Murphy played with Trouba on the U-18s last year. He gave a quick scouting report to McKeen's:
It's been good. He's a good, strong, energy defenseman. Like you saw last night, he always has a couple big hits. He's got a good shot. We try to work to get him one-timers on the power play. So, I think he brings energy with his speed and his physical nature into the game. It really helps us out. I'm kind of more of a smart playmaking defenseman, so I can set him up or angle guys toward him to make some big hits. So, he helps us out a lot.Robbie Russo (U-18 and Notre Dame defenseman) also chimed in:
He's got a lot of power in his game. He's got a massive one-timer. He'll knock some guys off their feet, even being a young player. He doesn't back down from any of that. I'd like to see him go to Notre Dame in the future (smiles).HUGE pickup, especially with the likely defection of Jon Merrill to the NHL after this coming season. He joins NTDP teammate Connor Carrick and possibly Spence Hyman as a defenseman in the incoming class of 2012.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
2011-12 Season Preview: Comings and Goings
It's only a week until Michigan hockey fans get a first look
at the 2011-12 Wolverines in an exhibition game against the University
of Ontario Institute of Technology. For the first part of
my season preview, let's take a look at the departures and the players
who will be joining the squad.
Departures:
Scooter Vaughan, Chad Langlais, Carl Hagelin, Ben Winnett, Matt Rust, Louie Caporusso, and Bryan Hogan exhausted their eligibility. Brandon Burlon decided to forego his senior season and signed a professional contract. Also, Jacob Fallon and Tristin Llewellyn will not be back. Llewellyn was out of eligibility anyway, and it was determined that Fallon would not return. That's ten players gone from a team that made the National Championship game last season, and almost all of them were heavy contributors.
Scooter Vaughan was the most improved player on the team and one of the most improved players in the country. He really took to playing forward, and after scoring just 14 points in his first three seasons, he exploded for 14-10--24 as a senior. He also had a +15 rating, after being a +10 through his first three seasons. He scored some darn pretty goals as well.
Langlais was the iron man. The Wolverines played 173 games during his career and he was in the lineup for all of them, setting the Michigan record for consecutive games played. Only Ted Kramer suited up that many times for the Maize and Blue, and had that damn ref kept the whistle in his pocket two years ago, Chad would stand alone at the top. As it is, he played the most games of any Michigan defenseman in history and finished his career 16th for points amongst defensemen.
It almost completely goes without saying that Carl Hagelin is a huge loss. He was a staple on Michigan's penalty killing unit since he arrived on campus, locked down the CCHA's Best Defensive Forward award as a senior, won numerous academic awards, won the team MVP award twice, and, oh, just happened to put up 152 points in 171 games and registered a +78 rating. 6 of his 18 goals a year ago were game-winners. Who will ever forget his Senior Night magic against Western Michigan? Plain and simple, one of my favorite Wolverine players of all-time. He makes the pantheon with Ortmeyer and JMFJ.
Winnett never put up the offensive numbers that were expected with him coming out of the BCHL and all (21-27--48 for his career), but he developed into a very-solid two-way player. He played his best hockey at the end of his career. He had the game-winning goal against North Dakota in the NCAA Semifinals this past season and also scored in the National Championship game.
Rust was just a solid all-around guy. He posted 111 points in 164 games, including 40 points as a junior. While he didn't have the kind of season offensively as a season that I'm sure he was looking for, he was an integral part of the team and still managed to end the year second in assists and third in points. He was also a killer faceoff guy, Camp Randall Hockey Classic not withstanding.
Hogan will go down as having had one of the strangest careers in the history of Michigan hockey. As a freshman, he was expected to come in and compete for playing time from the get-go. He caught mono, Billy Sauer got it together, and Hogan barely played. Then Sauer had another meltdown at the Pepsi Center and Hogan was thrown in in the Frozen Four. He had one of the best statistical seasons in the history of our program as a sophomore (24-6-0, 1.97, .914) and then was done in by his groin in back-to-back seasons. His injury against Notre Dame as a junior turned the reigns over to Shawn Hunwick and the magical run a couple years ago. Senior year, he split time with Hunwick but seemed to be in position to be named the full-time starter before he injured his groin again and Hunwick led the squad to the National Championship Game.
I don't know that we ever got the full story on Burlon. Various rumblings indicated that he was unhappy about being a healthy scratch in the Frozen Four after missing some time late in the season. Whatever the reason, he decided to turn pro. He had 5-13--18 last season with a +14 rating and ended the year as an All-CCHA Honorable Mention. It would've been really nice to have him back for his senior year, but I think the Wolverines will have an easier time handling a loss on defense than they would have been able to deal with David Wohlberg, for instance, turning pro.
(It's also worth mentioning that goaltender John Gibson never made it to campus. Apparently there's this league called the OHL. I hadn't heard of them either. Anyway, when he found out about that league, it proved to be too tempting and he decided to go that route.)
Incoming Players:
Looking to replace the excellent senior class are a group of nine freshmen.
Mike Chiasson was a late addition to the class. He committed in late-May, which pretty much put an end to the rumors that Burlon had a change of heart and was going to return for his senior year. He's the son of former NHLer (and Red Wing) Steve Chiasson, and wears #3 just like him. He's an older freshman (20) and brings 122 games of USHL experience to the table. He had 4-11--15 for the Omaha Lancers last season, and was unanimously selected as team captain. With the losses of Burlon, Langlais, and Llewellyn, there are some minutes to be had on the blue line. Given his age and USHL experience, I'd expect that he would be able to come in and play right away.
Brennan Serville is another defenseman, and a highly-regarded one at that. A former Canisius commit, he was a 3rd-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in the 2011 entry draft. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff cited his skating ability and his size as reasons that they drafted him fairly early on. Serville is listed at 6'3", 194. He played for the Stouffville Spirit of the OJHL and posted a 3-27--30 line in 36 games. He also represented Canada (along with Zach Hyman) in the 2010 World Junior A Challenge. He sounds like he has the potential to be a big-time player at this level. I'm looking forward to finally seeing him on the ice.
Phil Di Giuseppe really intrigues me. He was a member of the OJHL's Villanova Knights the past two seasons. Last year he scored 24 goals and assisted on 39 others in 49 games. He also posted 16 points in 10 playoff games. Those numbers were good for 29th in league scoring (47th in goals, 26th in assists), but now keep this in mind: Di Giuseppe is an October of 1993 birthday. Of the 28 players that finished ahead of him in scoring, there were 5 92s (including Zach Hyman, who we'll get to in a minute), 8 91s, and the rest were 90s. Not only was he the highest-scoring 1993 birthday in the league, he's almost a 94 birthday. That's why I'm really interested to see what he's going to become in his career. He put up really nice numbers and he'll only be 17 when he plays his first game for the Wolverines. He has good size (6'1", 200) as well. He's kind of an under-the-radar recruit because there isn't a ton of information out there about the OJHL and it wasn't his draft year, but he could be another guy that replaces some of that scoring that was lost in the offseason.
Zach Hyman is the third of our incoming recruits that played in the OJHL last year. Dominated might be a better word. He had 42-60--102 in 43 games, which was good for second in the league in scoring. (The kid that had 109 points played in 5 more games and was 2 years older). He was third in goals and second in assists. The accolades kept rolling in: He was named the Canadian Junior A Player of the Year, the top pro prospect, the most gentlemanly player, and the MVP of the Hamilton Red Wings. His story is well-documented: A Princeton commit, he decided to look around after Princeton's head coach took the top job at Penn State. He and his brother Spence (a 2012 or 2013 commit) both committed on the same day to Red Berenson. Hyman was a 5th round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010, at least partially due to concerns about him continuing to play in the OJHL instead of opting for the OHL like former linemates Jeff Skinner and Tyler Seguin. As I mentioned when he committed, 8 of the last 11 players to win CJHL Player of the Year and then play college hockey scored 10 goals and 30 points as a freshman. One of the guys that didn't ended up winning the Hobey. All 11 ended up being productive college players (with at least one 30-40 point season to their credit). This is the guy to watch.
Andrew Sinelli is an interesting story. He committed to FYS a couple years back. At that time, he was right there with Luke Moffatt at the top of the MWEHL scoring ranks. Since then, he hasn't been nearly as prolific offensively, but it sounds like he's kind of reinvented himself. He calls himself a high-energy forward that likes to hit and likes to block shots. When he's in the lineup, I'd expect to see him spending some time on the penalty kill. He filled that role in the USHL and with Winnett, Caporusso, Vaughan, Hagelin, and Rust all graduating, there are plenty of spots available on the PK. He had 6-3--9 in 45 games last season and 6-11--17 the year before.
I cited Di Giuseppe as an intriguing prospect, but Travis Lynch might be right there with him. He, too, calls himself a fast player that likes to throw his body around. He comes from the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Actually, he may have more offensive punch than has been previously thought. In the first 30 games for the Gamblers, he had 5-3--8 (he had 5 points through 24 games). That was right around the time he committed, so I had him pegged as a checker and penalty killer. He absolutely caught fire in the second half of the season and ended up second on the team in goals, 4th on the team in points, and rose up into the top-25 in league scoring. After scoring points in 8 of the first 30 games (which was the halfway point of the season), he was only held off the score sheet seven times the remainder of the year. In the final 30 games, he posted 15-21--36. If he had kept up that pace the entire season, he would've been 4th in the league in goals, sixth in assists, and fourth in points. Suddenly, the checker/PKer looks like another guy that could contribute offensively as well.
Mike Szuma is a preferred walk-on on the blueline. He hails from Novi and played for the Michigan Warriors in the NAHL last year. He posted 7-15--22 in 56 games and was invited to the NAHL Top Prospect Showcase. Coach Moe Mantha said that he can play both ends of the ice, and that he's a mobile defenseman.
Alex Guptill is the fifth forward in the class. He played in the OJHL for a couple of seasons before moving to the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks for the 2010-11 campaign. He's tall, if not big (6'3", 189). He fought through an injury-plagued season to score 13-12--25 in 43 games. The Dallas Stars made him a 3rd round selection in the 2010 Draft. I didn't have a link about this when I originally posted about it, and I don't see it in his MGoBlue bio, but I wrote before that he received a top prospect award from the OHA that was previously given to Mike Cammalleri, Andrew Cogliano, and Jeff Carter.
The final new Wolverine is goaltender Luke Dwyer. He's a sophomore that previously started for four years at Ann Arbor Huron and was all-state twice.
Melissa from The Yost Post has her take on the new defensemen and forwards.
Departures:
Scooter Vaughan, Chad Langlais, Carl Hagelin, Ben Winnett, Matt Rust, Louie Caporusso, and Bryan Hogan exhausted their eligibility. Brandon Burlon decided to forego his senior season and signed a professional contract. Also, Jacob Fallon and Tristin Llewellyn will not be back. Llewellyn was out of eligibility anyway, and it was determined that Fallon would not return. That's ten players gone from a team that made the National Championship game last season, and almost all of them were heavy contributors.
Scooter Vaughan was the most improved player on the team and one of the most improved players in the country. He really took to playing forward, and after scoring just 14 points in his first three seasons, he exploded for 14-10--24 as a senior. He also had a +15 rating, after being a +10 through his first three seasons. He scored some darn pretty goals as well.
Langlais was the iron man. The Wolverines played 173 games during his career and he was in the lineup for all of them, setting the Michigan record for consecutive games played. Only Ted Kramer suited up that many times for the Maize and Blue, and had that damn ref kept the whistle in his pocket two years ago, Chad would stand alone at the top. As it is, he played the most games of any Michigan defenseman in history and finished his career 16th for points amongst defensemen.
It almost completely goes without saying that Carl Hagelin is a huge loss. He was a staple on Michigan's penalty killing unit since he arrived on campus, locked down the CCHA's Best Defensive Forward award as a senior, won numerous academic awards, won the team MVP award twice, and, oh, just happened to put up 152 points in 171 games and registered a +78 rating. 6 of his 18 goals a year ago were game-winners. Who will ever forget his Senior Night magic against Western Michigan? Plain and simple, one of my favorite Wolverine players of all-time. He makes the pantheon with Ortmeyer and JMFJ.
Winnett never put up the offensive numbers that were expected with him coming out of the BCHL and all (21-27--48 for his career), but he developed into a very-solid two-way player. He played his best hockey at the end of his career. He had the game-winning goal against North Dakota in the NCAA Semifinals this past season and also scored in the National Championship game.
Rust was just a solid all-around guy. He posted 111 points in 164 games, including 40 points as a junior. While he didn't have the kind of season offensively as a season that I'm sure he was looking for, he was an integral part of the team and still managed to end the year second in assists and third in points. He was also a killer faceoff guy, Camp Randall Hockey Classic not withstanding.
Hogan will go down as having had one of the strangest careers in the history of Michigan hockey. As a freshman, he was expected to come in and compete for playing time from the get-go. He caught mono, Billy Sauer got it together, and Hogan barely played. Then Sauer had another meltdown at the Pepsi Center and Hogan was thrown in in the Frozen Four. He had one of the best statistical seasons in the history of our program as a sophomore (24-6-0, 1.97, .914) and then was done in by his groin in back-to-back seasons. His injury against Notre Dame as a junior turned the reigns over to Shawn Hunwick and the magical run a couple years ago. Senior year, he split time with Hunwick but seemed to be in position to be named the full-time starter before he injured his groin again and Hunwick led the squad to the National Championship Game.
I don't know that we ever got the full story on Burlon. Various rumblings indicated that he was unhappy about being a healthy scratch in the Frozen Four after missing some time late in the season. Whatever the reason, he decided to turn pro. He had 5-13--18 last season with a +14 rating and ended the year as an All-CCHA Honorable Mention. It would've been really nice to have him back for his senior year, but I think the Wolverines will have an easier time handling a loss on defense than they would have been able to deal with David Wohlberg, for instance, turning pro.
(It's also worth mentioning that goaltender John Gibson never made it to campus. Apparently there's this league called the OHL. I hadn't heard of them either. Anyway, when he found out about that league, it proved to be too tempting and he decided to go that route.)
Incoming Players:
Looking to replace the excellent senior class are a group of nine freshmen.
Mike Chiasson was a late addition to the class. He committed in late-May, which pretty much put an end to the rumors that Burlon had a change of heart and was going to return for his senior year. He's the son of former NHLer (and Red Wing) Steve Chiasson, and wears #3 just like him. He's an older freshman (20) and brings 122 games of USHL experience to the table. He had 4-11--15 for the Omaha Lancers last season, and was unanimously selected as team captain. With the losses of Burlon, Langlais, and Llewellyn, there are some minutes to be had on the blue line. Given his age and USHL experience, I'd expect that he would be able to come in and play right away.
Brennan Serville is another defenseman, and a highly-regarded one at that. A former Canisius commit, he was a 3rd-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in the 2011 entry draft. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff cited his skating ability and his size as reasons that they drafted him fairly early on. Serville is listed at 6'3", 194. He played for the Stouffville Spirit of the OJHL and posted a 3-27--30 line in 36 games. He also represented Canada (along with Zach Hyman) in the 2010 World Junior A Challenge. He sounds like he has the potential to be a big-time player at this level. I'm looking forward to finally seeing him on the ice.
Phil Di Giuseppe really intrigues me. He was a member of the OJHL's Villanova Knights the past two seasons. Last year he scored 24 goals and assisted on 39 others in 49 games. He also posted 16 points in 10 playoff games. Those numbers were good for 29th in league scoring (47th in goals, 26th in assists), but now keep this in mind: Di Giuseppe is an October of 1993 birthday. Of the 28 players that finished ahead of him in scoring, there were 5 92s (including Zach Hyman, who we'll get to in a minute), 8 91s, and the rest were 90s. Not only was he the highest-scoring 1993 birthday in the league, he's almost a 94 birthday. That's why I'm really interested to see what he's going to become in his career. He put up really nice numbers and he'll only be 17 when he plays his first game for the Wolverines. He has good size (6'1", 200) as well. He's kind of an under-the-radar recruit because there isn't a ton of information out there about the OJHL and it wasn't his draft year, but he could be another guy that replaces some of that scoring that was lost in the offseason.
Zach Hyman is the third of our incoming recruits that played in the OJHL last year. Dominated might be a better word. He had 42-60--102 in 43 games, which was good for second in the league in scoring. (The kid that had 109 points played in 5 more games and was 2 years older). He was third in goals and second in assists. The accolades kept rolling in: He was named the Canadian Junior A Player of the Year, the top pro prospect, the most gentlemanly player, and the MVP of the Hamilton Red Wings. His story is well-documented: A Princeton commit, he decided to look around after Princeton's head coach took the top job at Penn State. He and his brother Spence (a 2012 or 2013 commit) both committed on the same day to Red Berenson. Hyman was a 5th round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010, at least partially due to concerns about him continuing to play in the OJHL instead of opting for the OHL like former linemates Jeff Skinner and Tyler Seguin. As I mentioned when he committed, 8 of the last 11 players to win CJHL Player of the Year and then play college hockey scored 10 goals and 30 points as a freshman. One of the guys that didn't ended up winning the Hobey. All 11 ended up being productive college players (with at least one 30-40 point season to their credit). This is the guy to watch.
Andrew Sinelli is an interesting story. He committed to FYS a couple years back. At that time, he was right there with Luke Moffatt at the top of the MWEHL scoring ranks. Since then, he hasn't been nearly as prolific offensively, but it sounds like he's kind of reinvented himself. He calls himself a high-energy forward that likes to hit and likes to block shots. When he's in the lineup, I'd expect to see him spending some time on the penalty kill. He filled that role in the USHL and with Winnett, Caporusso, Vaughan, Hagelin, and Rust all graduating, there are plenty of spots available on the PK. He had 6-3--9 in 45 games last season and 6-11--17 the year before.
I cited Di Giuseppe as an intriguing prospect, but Travis Lynch might be right there with him. He, too, calls himself a fast player that likes to throw his body around. He comes from the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Actually, he may have more offensive punch than has been previously thought. In the first 30 games for the Gamblers, he had 5-3--8 (he had 5 points through 24 games). That was right around the time he committed, so I had him pegged as a checker and penalty killer. He absolutely caught fire in the second half of the season and ended up second on the team in goals, 4th on the team in points, and rose up into the top-25 in league scoring. After scoring points in 8 of the first 30 games (which was the halfway point of the season), he was only held off the score sheet seven times the remainder of the year. In the final 30 games, he posted 15-21--36. If he had kept up that pace the entire season, he would've been 4th in the league in goals, sixth in assists, and fourth in points. Suddenly, the checker/PKer looks like another guy that could contribute offensively as well.
Mike Szuma is a preferred walk-on on the blueline. He hails from Novi and played for the Michigan Warriors in the NAHL last year. He posted 7-15--22 in 56 games and was invited to the NAHL Top Prospect Showcase. Coach Moe Mantha said that he can play both ends of the ice, and that he's a mobile defenseman.
Alex Guptill is the fifth forward in the class. He played in the OJHL for a couple of seasons before moving to the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks for the 2010-11 campaign. He's tall, if not big (6'3", 189). He fought through an injury-plagued season to score 13-12--25 in 43 games. The Dallas Stars made him a 3rd round selection in the 2010 Draft. I didn't have a link about this when I originally posted about it, and I don't see it in his MGoBlue bio, but I wrote before that he received a top prospect award from the OHA that was previously given to Mike Cammalleri, Andrew Cogliano, and Jeff Carter.
The final new Wolverine is goaltender Luke Dwyer. He's a sophomore that previously started for four years at Ann Arbor Huron and was all-state twice.
Melissa from The Yost Post has her take on the new defensemen and forwards.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Links
There's not a whole heckuva lot going on right now, but there have been some good articles out there over the past couple of weeks. It won't be too much longer until things start to ramp up. The kids have moved back to Ann Arbor, football season is just a few hours away, and we're closing in on the month-to-go mark until the Wolverines drop the puck for real against Niagara. I'm especially excited because I'm going to be able to attend the home-opener thanks to a well-timed career fair that my company is sending me to. I think this will only be the second or third game at Yost that I've been to since I moved back in 07.
First up, this might not be new, but it's the first time I've seen it. CBS Sports did a feature on Yost. I love that the C-Ya chant made it in there in full. (HT to Goon for that link)
John Bacon had a great article about Steve Kampfer's road from a broken neck to Stanley Cup Champion.
Speaking of, Kampfer brought the Cup to Yost and raised some money for charity while he was at it.
Chris from The United States of Hockey had a look at the players that will make up the NTDP's U-18 team this year. Here's the article about the goalies and defensemen, which includes Michigan-commit Connor Carrick and target Jacob Trouba. He also has some thoughts on the U-17s, including Evan Allen (who needs to get into a Twitter-battle with Bacari Alexander someday), JT Compher, and Tyler Motte. He also did commentary at the Five Nations event in Ann Arbor and had some thoughts on the team, including Michael Downing. Chris Dilks chimed in on Downing's play as well. The Observer interviewed Downing as well.
Not hockey-related, but I have to link to this M-Zone article, just because it's too damn funny not to. Say it with me: O-H!
NorthJersey.com talked with Justin Selman, who will spend this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.
There have also been a couple of articles about Zach Hyman since I last posted. The Florida Panthers official site did a feature on him, as did ShalomLife.
Ryan Kennedy highlighted Boo Nieves. Just ignore the first part of the article where he talks about the goalie that was supposed to play for us this year. Kennedy also talked with Drew Cogs. CBC was impressed with Nieves when they saw him as well.
Lastly, yesterday's Inside The Fort ($ link) contained the names of five potential goalie recruits as well as a look at some potential lines.
Michigan Maize had an early preview of the team.
Also, congrats to one of my favorites--Mike Cammalleri--on the birth of his daughter.
First up, this might not be new, but it's the first time I've seen it. CBS Sports did a feature on Yost. I love that the C-Ya chant made it in there in full. (HT to Goon for that link)
John Bacon had a great article about Steve Kampfer's road from a broken neck to Stanley Cup Champion.
Speaking of, Kampfer brought the Cup to Yost and raised some money for charity while he was at it.
Chris from The United States of Hockey had a look at the players that will make up the NTDP's U-18 team this year. Here's the article about the goalies and defensemen, which includes Michigan-commit Connor Carrick and target Jacob Trouba. He also has some thoughts on the U-17s, including Evan Allen (who needs to get into a Twitter-battle with Bacari Alexander someday), JT Compher, and Tyler Motte. He also did commentary at the Five Nations event in Ann Arbor and had some thoughts on the team, including Michael Downing. Chris Dilks chimed in on Downing's play as well. The Observer interviewed Downing as well.
Not hockey-related, but I have to link to this M-Zone article, just because it's too damn funny not to. Say it with me: O-H!
NorthJersey.com talked with Justin Selman, who will spend this season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.
There have also been a couple of articles about Zach Hyman since I last posted. The Florida Panthers official site did a feature on him, as did ShalomLife.
Ryan Kennedy highlighted Boo Nieves. Just ignore the first part of the article where he talks about the goalie that was supposed to play for us this year. Kennedy also talked with Drew Cogs. CBC was impressed with Nieves when they saw him as well.
Lastly, yesterday's Inside The Fort ($ link) contained the names of five potential goalie recruits as well as a look at some potential lines.
Michigan Maize had an early preview of the team.
Also, congrats to one of my favorites--Mike Cammalleri--on the birth of his daughter.
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