The exhibition season is in the books. The next time the Wolverines takes to the ice at Yost, they'll be playing for real!
Having not seen either game thanks to the lack of streaming video at Yost these days, I have to go off of internet reports, but it sounds like things were mostly good for Michigan in the exhibition season.
First, the downers: Jon Merrill left tonight's game against Windsor after getting his bell rung on a hit early in the second period. Late in the contest, Justin Selman was also helped to the locker room with what was said to be a bad cut on the back of his leg.
Clearly that's not what Michigan wanted to have happen in an exhibition game. The game sounded like it was fairly hard-hitting for an exhibition game. Hopefully both guys are okay, especially with a quick turnaround before RIT comes to town on Thursday.
Other than that, it's hard to complain about what we saw. If you were going to make a list of guys that you'd want to shine in the early going, you'd probably have to include Kevin Lynch and Luke Moffatt on the list.
Lynch had a pair of assists on Guptill goals in the Blue/White game to stake Blue to a 2-0 lead. The first was a feed to Guptill on a 2-on-1. Gupill was able to lift one over the goaltender (I believe it was Rutledge). The second one, Guptill walked out from behind the net and stuffed one home. White tied the game up thanks to a pair of goals from alum Mike Knuble (one from Andy Hilbert and Matt Hunwick). Guptill completed his hat trick in the middle part of the second period on an absolute SNIPE from the right wing before Derek DeBlois added some insurance on a similar shot.
Yost Section 25 had some thoughts on the scrimmage as well as his view of some of the freshmen.
Tonight Michigan took on Windsor in the usual exhibition-against-a-Canadian-team. Unlike last year, which saw Michigan fall to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the Wolverines took it to their opponents from south of the border.
Michigan scored early in the game but the goal was waived off--nice to see the CCHA is in midseason form already. Windsor scored on the power play and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Steve Racine took over for Rutledge for period two and kept the Lancers off the scoreboard. Michigan responded with five in the second stanza. Moffatt got things going just seven seconds into the period off a goalmouth feed from PDG. A couple of freshmen gave Michigan the lead when Daniel Milne fed Justin Selman.
Moffatt then notched his second of the night, this one on the power play off a rebound from a Trouba shot. PDG then scored from Moffatt and Trouba and the floodgates were officially open. Just over a minute later Andrew Copp got on the board. Trouba got the puck behind the net, fooled the goalie, and got it to Copp for an easy tap-in. That made it a natural playmaker for Trouba (is that such a thing? Assists on three straight goals?).
The onslaught continued early in the third as DeBlois scored from Travis Lynch and Lindsay Sparks in the first minute. Windsor got one back on a wraparound that Janecyk wasn't quick enough to get to. DeBlois, Sparks, and Lynch hooked up again later in the third as a DeBlois one-timer regained the five-goal lead for the good guys. Windsor added one more goal late and Michigan skated off with a 7-3 win.
From the sound of it, Moffatt, Treais, and PDG looked very good on the top line and Trouba was as advertised (three assists, a couple of bomb shots, a couple of nice hits). It's nice to see Michigan generating offense from a lot of different sources, especially with Guptill, Kevin Lynch, Moffie, Bennett, and Hyman given the night off. They gave up way too many shots in the third period (18), but that could just be a let-down in the third period of a blowout exhibition game.
Moving on, it's time to unveil my picks in the CCHA. These were made before the start of exhibition play. Ryan Kennedy from The Hockey News can vouch for me. (Speaking of Kennedy, Michigan made his list of five teams he's excited to see this year.) Here's what I've got:
1. Western Michigan (Lots of the contenders have question marks in net. Western does not with the Big Slubowski.)
2. Michigan (Lost a lot of good players, but the freshman class is one of the nation's best. Should have the defense to allow the goalies to get their feet wet. Maybe the best D corps in the country.)
3. Notre Dame (Added some top-notch forward prospects. Don't trust their goaltending at all.)
4. Ferris State (CCHA regular season champs last year, NCAA runner-up. Lost top scorer, top D, and their goalie. CJ Motte was solid when he was in net a year ago, though.)
5. Miami (Talented but so young. Lost Reilly Smith, both goalies, Biggs, and more. Bring in the USA Hockey goalie of the year.)
6. NMU (Lost some good players, return Coreau in net, and he's a good one.)
7. Michigan State (Lots of new faces on the blue line. Lost Krug. Yanakeff is a good goalie. Some upward mobility here.)
8. Ohio State (Great first half, awful second half last year. Lost Heeter and Dries. Really solid recruiting class, including the 3x leading scorer for Des Moines in the USHL.)
9. LSSU (Offseason defections hurt, otherwise they were looking solid. Can Kapalka regain his freshman form?)
10. BGSU (Hammond is really good in net. Their top freshman is suspended for most of the year.)
11. Facing the wrath of HOCKEYBEAR, but......Alaska (Lost an awful lot, including Greenham. They do bring in a stud dman.)
Really I think the middle part of the conference is going to be a complete CF again, like it was last year. Paula Weston agrees that it's going to be really competitive. She has the Wolverines coming out on top in the league's final season.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Thursday, October 04, 2012
2012-2013 Season Preview: The Defense and Goaltending
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| Photo: Bill Rapai |
When you think about it, it's easy to see why Connor Carrick opted for the OHL. Where would he have played? Trouba, Merrill, Bennett, and Moffie are playing every night. Clare played 39 games last year, so he probably isn't coming out of the lineup either. Then you've got two other guys who played 30+ games in their freshman seasons last year (Chiasson and Serville). Plus Mike Szuma for depth (2 GP last year). That's a tough group to crack.
Really, that illustrates the depth of this team. Even without Carrick, who sits? You're going to have a guy who played 30+ games last year sitting out every single night.
So here's a look at the guys we've got:
Jon Merrill decided to come back for his junior season when it would have been really easy for him to bail. He had 11 points and was +11 in 19 games after being suspended for the first half of the year. He was phenomenal out of the gate (Michigan gave up just 10 goals in his first seven games back, and the PK was 96.1%) before faltering late in the year. One would expect that without a long layoff, he'll have a monster season for the Wolverines.
Merrill will be paired initially with Jacob Trouba, the ninth overall pick in the NHL Draft. The freshman has drawn rave reviews from practice, and it sounds like he's poised to wreck anyone cutting through the middle of the ice. They've actually had to reign him in in practice so he doesn't hurt anyone. Several guys from the team have referred to him as JMFT, and if that's not praise, I don't know what is. Red Berenson was asked about his freshman and he responded, "You never know. The only one I'm sure of is Trouba. Trouba is ready."
Mac Bennett, one of the alternate captains, was about a half-point a game guy last year (4-17--21 in 41 games). He's a steady, puck-rushing/puck-moving defenseman who stays out of the penalty box (14 penalties in two seasons).
Lee Moffie had a breakout season last year with 32 points (good for 10th nationally in points per game by a defenseman) and a +22 rating. He was named to CHN's All Second Team in the preseason, as one of the projected top-four defensemen in the country. He, too, is wearing a letter this season and taking on additional leadership. Like Merrill, he faltered down the stretch and didn't play his best hockey in the NCAA Tournament.
Knowing that Merrill and Trouba will be one pairing, I would expect Moffie and Bennett to be split up, and anchoring pairs 2 and 3. They're both offensive-defensemen, so I'd expect each of them to be paired with a more-defensive partner.
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| Photo: Bill Rapai |
After playing only 18 games as a freshman, Kevin Clare was a mainstay in the lineup as a sophomore. He played in all but two games and earned a +10 rating. He's a solid, stay-at-home type of defenseman, but he has only sat in the box for ten minutes in his career. He'll be a perfect guy to pair with a Bennett or Moffie to let them rush the puck when they want to. Clare actually got into the offense a little bit last year, scoring three goals, including the GLI Championship-winning goal against the Spartans.
Mike Chiasson, son of the late long-time NHLer Steve, came in as an older freshman and they plugged him in right away. Chiasson saw action in 30 games, put up 9 points and a +12 rating, and blocked 45 shots.
Brennan Serville is an interesting one. He's got really good size (6'3", 202), can definitely skate, and was a third-round draft pick of Winnipeg back in 2011. He came in fairly highly-touted and had kind of a rough freshman year, getting benched mid-game on several occasions. He seemed like he struggled to adjust a little bit, but man, if you're looking for a defenseman who could take a big leap forward maybe he's the guy. Great size, good speed, really talented. If the lightbulb goes on for him, that'd be pretty huge. He seems to be a pretty under-the-radar guy. Maybe I'll see if one of the guys with access to the coaches can get some comment about him. I'm curious what they're expecting out of him.
Mike Szuma only saw action in two games last season and I don't know that I actually got to see him play. He's a depth defenseman, and probably won't see a ton of time given the loads of talent in front of him. (That's not a knock on him because I certainly have no idea how good he is or isn't. It's just a testament to the defensemen on this team.)
That's a solid group. If you checked out the link to The Wolverine that I posted above, Moffie had some really good comments about how they are challenging themselves to be the best defense corps in the country.
That would certainly be welcomed, because there's a whole batch of unproven behind them, between the pipes.
Gone (tear) is Tiny Jesus, Shawn Hunwick. The greatest story pretty much ever rose from walkon-who-we're-scared-to-put-in-the-net to the freaking NHL, winning a whole helluva lot of games and setting a whole helluva lot of Michigan goaltending records (GAA and freaking save percentage) along the way.
Replacing him are freshmen Jared Rutledge and Steve Racine, and returning players Adam Janecyk and Luke Dwyer.
Rutledge played for the NTDP and posted solid numbers, even though he was frequently overshadowed by teammate (and now-Buckeye) Collin Olson. Rutledge was 17-8-4 with a 2.55/.904. Olson's GAA was a tick better; his save percentage a tick worse. He comes in as the presumed starter, but, as I mentioned yesterday, he hasn't practiced because of an eye issue that required surgery and may miss the start of the season.
I would assume that Racine gets the next crack in Rutledge's absence. He has good size (6'2") and, despite moving around a lot in juniors, had a fantastic finish to his season last year. After transferring to the OJHL's Georgetown Raiders, Racine went 15-0-0 with a 1.66/.938 in the regular season. He finished second in the league in shutouts, despite only playing 15 games. He's 21 and also brings some USHL experience to the table.
Adam Janecyk, the son of an NHL goalie, saw action in five games last year and was the goalie of record in two games. He posted a 3.17/.897, largely because he got shelled coming off the bench against NMU after Hunwick was ejected when he clocked someone after he had enough of the refs giving opponents free reign to run him. That 28-minute span accounted for four of the seven goals he allowed last year. In his one start, with Hunwick unable to go after taking a puck in the mask the night before, he made 34 stops in a 2-2 tie against LSSU and was a big reason Michigan stayed in the game. He can't be written off.
And really Dwyer can't either. I know when he arrived on campus, the coaches were said to really like him (and they must if they're keeping four goalies this year). We haven't really seen him, but after Hunwick's rise, you can't count any goalie out.
Next up: My CCHA predictions. Then we drop the puck!
Lastly, we lost The Yost Post blog during the offseason, but we've gained a new Michigan hockey blog: Yost Section 25. He's got some great photos of the new Yost, and I'm looking forward to reading what he has to write. The more, the better.
YostMeister from GBMWolverine has posted the first part of his season preview as well. His game previews absolutely blow mine away, so if you haven't yet checked that site out, I highly recommend doing so.
MHNet has your recruiting update for the week.
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Rutledge Out For a Bit With Eye Injury
It's thought that expected starting goalie Jared Rutledge is going to miss a bit of time after an eye problem was discovered in his initial exam. Red Berenson told reporters today that he hasn't been able to take shots in practice yet and that it wasn't a guarantee that he'd play in the opener.
From @MattSlovinhttps://twitter.com/MattSlovin:
I haven't seen any comments from Berenson yet as to if fellow freshman Steve Racine or junior Adam Janecyk would be the likely starter in Rutledge's absence. (Luke Dwyer is also on the roster, and I guess we should know better than to rule any goalie out!). I suppose it depends how they look in practice and the exhibition game. I'll have more on the goalies in the season preview.
From @MattSlovinhttps://twitter.com/MattSlovin:
Per CCHA media call, Michigan presumed starting goaltender Jared Rutledge has had contact issues and hasn't faced shots yet.
Berenson said Rutledge's eye injury "could definitely" preclude him from being the starting goalie at season's beginning.
Sounds like team doctors found something wrong with Rutledge's eye during initial exam. Needed retinal surgery to fix.It doesn't sound serious, though you never want to see the words "retinal" "surgery" used with anyone, particularly your supposed starting goalie. Best wishes to Jared on a quick recovery!
I haven't seen any comments from Berenson yet as to if fellow freshman Steve Racine or junior Adam Janecyk would be the likely starter in Rutledge's absence. (Luke Dwyer is also on the roster, and I guess we should know better than to rule any goalie out!). I suppose it depends how they look in practice and the exhibition game. I'll have more on the goalies in the season preview.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
2012-2013 Season Preview: Focus Mainly on the Forwards
The run for #10 starts all over again a week from tonight with an exhibition against the University of Windsor. Two days later, RIT will come to town to officially kick off the 2012-13 season. Here's the first part of my season preview, covering mainly the forwards. I'll get to the defense and goaltending as well as my CCHA preseason rankings a little bit later in the week.
The Wolverines bring in seven freshmen (including high draft picks Jacob Trouba and Boo Nieves) to help replace Shawn Hunwick, David Wohlberg, Luke Glendening, Greg Pateryn, and Chris Brown. Michigan "only" lost five players, but those are five big players to lose. You're talking a Hobey Baker candidate goalie who accounted for 39 of the 41 decisions last year, a guy who was tied for the team lead in scoring, a player who wore a letter for two seasons and most of a third and contributed double-digit goals and 20+ points, probably your best defensive-defenseman and certainly your top shot-blocker, and a prototypical power forward who had just set a career-high in points.
In terms of scoring, well, it's not too ugly in terms of what needs to be replaced. 40 goals and 100 points go out the door, but Michigan returns 70% of their goal scoring and 72.7% of their points.
By comparison, last year Michigan had to attempt to replace greater than 41% of their goals and over half their assists. They also lost 50% and 46% of their goals in 08-09 and 07-08, respectively).
Now for the bad news: They don't have to replace that many goals, but they also didn't score very many goals to start with. The 132 goals Michigan scored last year was the lowest single-season total for the program since 1981-82 (i.e. the lowest total of my lifetime). That said, it seems like offense was down in college hockey as a whole last year, and their 3.22 goals per game still ranked 10th in the NCAA.
The previous season, 3.22 gpg would have ranked them 21st nationally and they would have been around 17th/18th the year before that. Last year no team hit the four goal per game mark or even came close. Minnesota led the nation with 3.60 goals per game. I went back over a decade and outside of last year, the lowest goals per game total by a team that led the nation in goal-scoring was BC with 3.93 in 08-09. Is that a sign of a talent pool depleted by a mass exodus to major junior or a one-year blip? I guess time will tell.
The happy side: Michigan's defense has tightened up in recent years as well. Of the past 45 seasons, Michigan has only been below 90 goals allowed three times and those have all come within the past five seasons. (Granted they likely don't hit that mark last year if they advance out of round one.)
What I'm getting at is that this isn't likely to be a Michigan team that is going to win games 5-4. The strength of this team is unquestionably the blueline as opposed to having blue-chip talent up front or a Hobey-candidate between the pipes.
They scored by committee last year and I expect more of the same this year. Wohlberg and Guptill tied for the team lead in points last year with identical 16-17--33 lines. That's an ungodly low total for Michigan (hell, when Porter won the Hobey, he had 33 points on goals alone!). Since 2000, the lowest point total for a player that led Michigan in scoring was Tambellini with 45 points in 02-03.
So where does that 40-50 goal improvement come from if Michigan is to get back into the 140s in goals scored? I think most of it is going to have to come from returning players. They'll get some help from the freshmen, but Nieves, Selman, and Milne all had ~2:1 (or higher in Nieves's case) assist-to-goal ratios last year and offense isn't really Copp's game.
Nieves was singled out by Red as someone who could contribute (in the video I linked yesterday), but I would still think that PDG's totals from last year (11-15--26) would be an absolute best-case scenario, and I feel like I wouldn't be at all disappointed in something like 8-13--21.
Who else then? Amongst the obvious targets, clearly you're hoping that Guptill and PDG improve on their freshman seasons and that Treais breaks out into the 45-50 point guy that he probably has the talent to be.
Guptill was a bit of a surprise last year, winning CCHA Rookie of the Year after leading the team in goals and points. He cooled off late in the year (6 points in his final 12 games) but was absolutely on fire in the middle part of the season when he went for 20 points in a 16-game stretch, including 11 points during a 7-game point streak.
Di Giuseppe had multiple points in 6 of Michigan's first 17 games, then went 14 games without a goal over 2 1/2 months. He did have points in 10 of Michigan's final 14 games, however, and that bodes well for his sophomore season. Also, keep in mind that as an October 1993 birthday, he's young for his class. Serville (June) was the only other 93 we brought in last year period, and Justin Selman is actually a week older than PDG. Most of the freshmen are early 94s. I don't think it's unreasonable that he could approach a point per game this year and be up in the high-30s, low 40s.
The captain, Treais, has improved by about 10 points every season he's been at Michigan, going from 13 to 22 to 32 last year. He had a breakout season last year with 15-17--32 and a +24 rating that actually led the team. Like PDG, he had a rough middle part of his year. He got off to a great start with 13 points before Thanksgiving, but after a DNP against Northeastern, had just two points over the next twelve games. He filled up the stat sheet late in the year, however, with points in 13 of Michigan's final 14 games. Again, I think he should be up around a point a game.
Outside of the top three forwards Moffatt (6-10--16), Kevin Lynch (8-5--13) and Zach Hyman (2-7--9) seem to be the most likely targets to emerge from the guys who didn't do a ton of scoring a year ago.
Moffatt has shown flashes of being a high-end offensive talent in his two seasons in Ann Arbor, but hasn't been able to string together a lot of results. He did set career highs in all the scoring categories last season and I would think he'll get more of a look on the power play, where he had a couple of goals last year. Red did cite him as someone that he's looking toward to help generate offense.
Kevin Lynch has always been someone that I've been waiting on to really break out. Not to go all Kevin Porter, but to be up around the team leaders in goals and kind of in that 25-point range. He seems to always come up big in big games (OT winner against UNO in the tournament, early goal against Cornell, the late goal to tie up the GLI final last year, the incorrectly waived-off overtime goal that would have sent Michigan past Miami into the Frozen Four) and I've been waiting on that to carry through a season. After 11 goals as a sophomore, I think he'd consider the 8-5--13 he had last year to be disappointing. He just never could seem to get untracked after a slow start.
Hyman is the third guy that I could see having a semi-large jump in numbers. He didn't have the kind of year offensively that anyone was expecting, but I thought he was good in his own end (much better than his team-worst +/- would indicate) and matched K. Lynch as the best face-off guy on the team at 54%. I honestly can't remember too many guys, though, who had worse puck-luck than Hyman did last year. I felt like he did a lot of good things in the offensive zone and just never got a break. Like. Ever. He went the final 16 games of the year without a point, but I keep going back to the fact that literally every single player who won the CJHL Player of the Year award and played college hockey (going back to Mike Comrie) went on to become a solid offensive player at some point in their career. All eleven of them posted at least 30 points in a year at some point. The guy who had the fewest goals out of all of them in his freshman year went on to win the Hobey (Lessard). I highly doubt that happens, but Hyman is going to score more than 9 points and if you're looking for a guy who could potentially make an 8-10 goal jump, maybe he's that guy.
There's also the enigma, Lindsay Sparks, who I have no clue what to think about at this point. Nothing would surprise me from him. Literally anything from "scratched 80% of the time" to a 40-point season, I swear to God I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Sparks had 13 points in Michigan's first 10 games (including 11 in the first 7) and then didn't record a point the rest of the season and was a scratch for 8- and 5-game stretches. Dude had 4 multi-point games in the first seven of the year and then wasn't able to get it going after that. He proved he can play at this level. He didn't just beat up on the weak sisters of the poor. He had multi-point games against Ferris State and Western, both of whom had great years. Ferris won the conference and made the National Championship game. So yeah. I have no clue.
Then you've still got Sinelli, DeBlois, Travis Lynch, and Jeff Rohrkemper. None of those guys are "supposed" to be scorers, but Lynch had 15 points as a freshman (which is nothing to sneeze at--hell, he outscored all of the guys that I mentioned in the last section) and DeBlois hit 14 last year as a sophomore. Either of them could step forward, and T. Lynch may be pretty far up the underrated list.
Rohrkemper and Sinelli aren't going to be scorers, but they're both good at what they do defensively. I thought Sinelli had some real nice games around the middle of the season.
Red thinks he has as many as 15 forwards who can play at this level. Competition is a good thing, and they've certainly got plenty of options for who could be the guy to step up and contribute in a big way.
The Wolverines bring in seven freshmen (including high draft picks Jacob Trouba and Boo Nieves) to help replace Shawn Hunwick, David Wohlberg, Luke Glendening, Greg Pateryn, and Chris Brown. Michigan "only" lost five players, but those are five big players to lose. You're talking a Hobey Baker candidate goalie who accounted for 39 of the 41 decisions last year, a guy who was tied for the team lead in scoring, a player who wore a letter for two seasons and most of a third and contributed double-digit goals and 20+ points, probably your best defensive-defenseman and certainly your top shot-blocker, and a prototypical power forward who had just set a career-high in points.
In terms of scoring, well, it's not too ugly in terms of what needs to be replaced. 40 goals and 100 points go out the door, but Michigan returns 70% of their goal scoring and 72.7% of their points.
By comparison, last year Michigan had to attempt to replace greater than 41% of their goals and over half their assists. They also lost 50% and 46% of their goals in 08-09 and 07-08, respectively).
Now for the bad news: They don't have to replace that many goals, but they also didn't score very many goals to start with. The 132 goals Michigan scored last year was the lowest single-season total for the program since 1981-82 (i.e. the lowest total of my lifetime). That said, it seems like offense was down in college hockey as a whole last year, and their 3.22 goals per game still ranked 10th in the NCAA.
The previous season, 3.22 gpg would have ranked them 21st nationally and they would have been around 17th/18th the year before that. Last year no team hit the four goal per game mark or even came close. Minnesota led the nation with 3.60 goals per game. I went back over a decade and outside of last year, the lowest goals per game total by a team that led the nation in goal-scoring was BC with 3.93 in 08-09. Is that a sign of a talent pool depleted by a mass exodus to major junior or a one-year blip? I guess time will tell.
The happy side: Michigan's defense has tightened up in recent years as well. Of the past 45 seasons, Michigan has only been below 90 goals allowed three times and those have all come within the past five seasons. (Granted they likely don't hit that mark last year if they advance out of round one.)
What I'm getting at is that this isn't likely to be a Michigan team that is going to win games 5-4. The strength of this team is unquestionably the blueline as opposed to having blue-chip talent up front or a Hobey-candidate between the pipes.
They scored by committee last year and I expect more of the same this year. Wohlberg and Guptill tied for the team lead in points last year with identical 16-17--33 lines. That's an ungodly low total for Michigan (hell, when Porter won the Hobey, he had 33 points on goals alone!). Since 2000, the lowest point total for a player that led Michigan in scoring was Tambellini with 45 points in 02-03.
So where does that 40-50 goal improvement come from if Michigan is to get back into the 140s in goals scored? I think most of it is going to have to come from returning players. They'll get some help from the freshmen, but Nieves, Selman, and Milne all had ~2:1 (or higher in Nieves's case) assist-to-goal ratios last year and offense isn't really Copp's game.
Nieves was singled out by Red as someone who could contribute (in the video I linked yesterday), but I would still think that PDG's totals from last year (11-15--26) would be an absolute best-case scenario, and I feel like I wouldn't be at all disappointed in something like 8-13--21.
Who else then? Amongst the obvious targets, clearly you're hoping that Guptill and PDG improve on their freshman seasons and that Treais breaks out into the 45-50 point guy that he probably has the talent to be.
Guptill was a bit of a surprise last year, winning CCHA Rookie of the Year after leading the team in goals and points. He cooled off late in the year (6 points in his final 12 games) but was absolutely on fire in the middle part of the season when he went for 20 points in a 16-game stretch, including 11 points during a 7-game point streak.
Di Giuseppe had multiple points in 6 of Michigan's first 17 games, then went 14 games without a goal over 2 1/2 months. He did have points in 10 of Michigan's final 14 games, however, and that bodes well for his sophomore season. Also, keep in mind that as an October 1993 birthday, he's young for his class. Serville (June) was the only other 93 we brought in last year period, and Justin Selman is actually a week older than PDG. Most of the freshmen are early 94s. I don't think it's unreasonable that he could approach a point per game this year and be up in the high-30s, low 40s.
The captain, Treais, has improved by about 10 points every season he's been at Michigan, going from 13 to 22 to 32 last year. He had a breakout season last year with 15-17--32 and a +24 rating that actually led the team. Like PDG, he had a rough middle part of his year. He got off to a great start with 13 points before Thanksgiving, but after a DNP against Northeastern, had just two points over the next twelve games. He filled up the stat sheet late in the year, however, with points in 13 of Michigan's final 14 games. Again, I think he should be up around a point a game.
Outside of the top three forwards Moffatt (6-10--16), Kevin Lynch (8-5--13) and Zach Hyman (2-7--9) seem to be the most likely targets to emerge from the guys who didn't do a ton of scoring a year ago.
Moffatt has shown flashes of being a high-end offensive talent in his two seasons in Ann Arbor, but hasn't been able to string together a lot of results. He did set career highs in all the scoring categories last season and I would think he'll get more of a look on the power play, where he had a couple of goals last year. Red did cite him as someone that he's looking toward to help generate offense.
Kevin Lynch has always been someone that I've been waiting on to really break out. Not to go all Kevin Porter, but to be up around the team leaders in goals and kind of in that 25-point range. He seems to always come up big in big games (OT winner against UNO in the tournament, early goal against Cornell, the late goal to tie up the GLI final last year, the incorrectly waived-off overtime goal that would have sent Michigan past Miami into the Frozen Four) and I've been waiting on that to carry through a season. After 11 goals as a sophomore, I think he'd consider the 8-5--13 he had last year to be disappointing. He just never could seem to get untracked after a slow start.
Hyman is the third guy that I could see having a semi-large jump in numbers. He didn't have the kind of year offensively that anyone was expecting, but I thought he was good in his own end (much better than his team-worst +/- would indicate) and matched K. Lynch as the best face-off guy on the team at 54%. I honestly can't remember too many guys, though, who had worse puck-luck than Hyman did last year. I felt like he did a lot of good things in the offensive zone and just never got a break. Like. Ever. He went the final 16 games of the year without a point, but I keep going back to the fact that literally every single player who won the CJHL Player of the Year award and played college hockey (going back to Mike Comrie) went on to become a solid offensive player at some point in their career. All eleven of them posted at least 30 points in a year at some point. The guy who had the fewest goals out of all of them in his freshman year went on to win the Hobey (Lessard). I highly doubt that happens, but Hyman is going to score more than 9 points and if you're looking for a guy who could potentially make an 8-10 goal jump, maybe he's that guy.
There's also the enigma, Lindsay Sparks, who I have no clue what to think about at this point. Nothing would surprise me from him. Literally anything from "scratched 80% of the time" to a 40-point season, I swear to God I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Sparks had 13 points in Michigan's first 10 games (including 11 in the first 7) and then didn't record a point the rest of the season and was a scratch for 8- and 5-game stretches. Dude had 4 multi-point games in the first seven of the year and then wasn't able to get it going after that. He proved he can play at this level. He didn't just beat up on the weak sisters of the poor. He had multi-point games against Ferris State and Western, both of whom had great years. Ferris won the conference and made the National Championship game. So yeah. I have no clue.
Then you've still got Sinelli, DeBlois, Travis Lynch, and Jeff Rohrkemper. None of those guys are "supposed" to be scorers, but Lynch had 15 points as a freshman (which is nothing to sneeze at--hell, he outscored all of the guys that I mentioned in the last section) and DeBlois hit 14 last year as a sophomore. Either of them could step forward, and T. Lynch may be pretty far up the underrated list.
Rohrkemper and Sinelli aren't going to be scorers, but they're both good at what they do defensively. I thought Sinelli had some real nice games around the middle of the season.
Red thinks he has as many as 15 forwards who can play at this level. Competition is a good thing, and they've certainly got plenty of options for who could be the guy to step up and contribute in a big way.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Housekeeping
Summer hiatus is over. It's time to crank the coverage back up for the final season of the CCHA. Michigan has a newly renovated Yost and a new look for the team, who will be playing without a Hunwick on the roster for the first time since the 2002-03 season (!).
Michigan comes into the season ranked third in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Preseason Poll. The Wolverines trail only Minnesota and Boston College, who tied for first with BC getting 20 first-place votes to Minnesota's 12. That seems about 5 spots too high to me given the question marks in net and with scoring goals in general, though I certainly haven't studied everyone in close proximity to Michigan.
Based on the USA Today poll, here's how they have the top part of the CCHA:
1) Michigan (3rd)
2) Miami (9th)
3) Notre Dame (10th)
4) Western Michigan (11th)
5) Ferris State (14th)
6) FYS (19th)
7) Ohio State (22nd)
8) Northern Michigan (T-28th)
First a few housekeeping things, and then we'll get on with the season preview in the near future.
MGoBlue posted a video taking you inside the new Yost and it looks absolutely fantastic in there. The aluminum seating combined with the natural light has made it so bright inside. I'd imagine the aluminum will also be louder. I still want one of those old bleachers. If anyone from the Athletic Department happens to read this site and knows of any still hanging around, please get in touch. I'd pay.
In the linked video, Red talks about his team--he says he likes the defense they're going to have out there and thinks the goalies will be just fine playing behind that defense. Up front, clearly the trio of Treais, PDG, and Guptill will be looked to for goals, but he's looking for K. Lynch and Moffatt to help out as well. Nieves was singled out as a freshman that could contribute.
Red also mentions that the Blue/White game will take place next Sunday and, assuming compliance okays it, you'll see guys like Jack Johnson, Matt Hunwick (there always has to be one!), and possibly Mike Knuble out there. With no alumni game due to the renovations, maybe this is a chance for some of our former players to get back out on the Yost ice.
After the Blue/White game will be the traditional Skate With the Wolverines. After that will be an AHL exhibition game between Grand Rapids and Erie, which will feature the return of Luke Glendening to Yost. Additionally, Erie is coached by David Oliver.
A few of our recruits were in action last night in the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. Michael Downing, Tyler Motte, JT Compher, and Evan Allen were all on Team Housley, which fell to Team McClanahan by a 5-2 score. Allen scored both goals for Housley's team.
The United States of Hockey has a thorough recap, with mentions of Allen and Compher on the positive side, and Downing as someone who struggled a little bit, though he was coming off an injury.
MHNet has you covered for what our recruits have been up to in the early-going this year. Here's the list of where they're all playing:
USA Under 18 Team:
Evan Allen
JT Compher
Tyler Motte
USA Under 17 Team:
Dylan Larkin
USHL:
Bryson Cianfrone - Cedar Rapids
Kyle Connor - Youngstown
Michael Downing - Dubuque
Alex Kile - Green Bay
Max Shuart - Muskegon
Alex Talcott - Indiana
OJHL:
Spencer Hyman - Hamilton
BCHL:
Dexter Dancs - Penticton
HPHL (High Performance Hockey League):
Brendan Warren - Compuware
I'll get the links updated on the sidebar in the near future.
Next up: I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the Verizon Wireless Midwest Fans sports blogger program. Basically here's the gist: They're giving me a couple of devices (along with service plans for five months) to try out and provide my honest opinions about them. The first gadget they gave me is the new Motorola Droid Razr M. It's a pretty nice little phone--the screen is surprisingly big for the size of the phone and the picture is absolutely fantastic.
The internet in my house wasn't working yesterday, so I actually watched about half of the first period of the All American Prospects Game on it and it streamed perfectly over the 4G LTE. Not going to lie, watching that game on the internet was really making me wish Michigan would go back to streaming the non-TV games live. There are a lot of schools with a lot less money that have their games on the internet. Even pay-per view would be a step up from what we've got now. Hopefully the new renovations to Yost included the infrastructure to make it happen. It's 2012. We shouldn't be going backwards in terms of accessibility of games for people who aren't fortunate enough to be at the venue.
But anyway, I switched to Verizon about two years ago because of their support of the IndyCar series and my favorite driver, Will Power, so it's kind of cool to be asked to examine how using their devices can enhance my sports-viewing experience. They already have for awhile because their IndyCar Mobile app is fantastic. I watch races live because I can watch the whole thing from Power's car and hear his conversations with his crew.
I think that covers everything! I'm on a work trip this week and working the night shift Tuesday-Thursday night. Because of that, I'll probably be staying up late tomorrow night so I can sleep as much during the day Tuesday as possible. Sounds like a good time to write a season preview.
Michigan comes into the season ranked third in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Preseason Poll. The Wolverines trail only Minnesota and Boston College, who tied for first with BC getting 20 first-place votes to Minnesota's 12. That seems about 5 spots too high to me given the question marks in net and with scoring goals in general, though I certainly haven't studied everyone in close proximity to Michigan.
Based on the USA Today poll, here's how they have the top part of the CCHA:
1) Michigan (3rd)
2) Miami (9th)
3) Notre Dame (10th)
4) Western Michigan (11th)
5) Ferris State (14th)
6) FYS (19th)
7) Ohio State (22nd)
8) Northern Michigan (T-28th)
First a few housekeeping things, and then we'll get on with the season preview in the near future.
MGoBlue posted a video taking you inside the new Yost and it looks absolutely fantastic in there. The aluminum seating combined with the natural light has made it so bright inside. I'd imagine the aluminum will also be louder. I still want one of those old bleachers. If anyone from the Athletic Department happens to read this site and knows of any still hanging around, please get in touch. I'd pay.
In the linked video, Red talks about his team--he says he likes the defense they're going to have out there and thinks the goalies will be just fine playing behind that defense. Up front, clearly the trio of Treais, PDG, and Guptill will be looked to for goals, but he's looking for K. Lynch and Moffatt to help out as well. Nieves was singled out as a freshman that could contribute.
Red also mentions that the Blue/White game will take place next Sunday and, assuming compliance okays it, you'll see guys like Jack Johnson, Matt Hunwick (there always has to be one!), and possibly Mike Knuble out there. With no alumni game due to the renovations, maybe this is a chance for some of our former players to get back out on the Yost ice.
After the Blue/White game will be the traditional Skate With the Wolverines. After that will be an AHL exhibition game between Grand Rapids and Erie, which will feature the return of Luke Glendening to Yost. Additionally, Erie is coached by David Oliver.
A few of our recruits were in action last night in the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. Michael Downing, Tyler Motte, JT Compher, and Evan Allen were all on Team Housley, which fell to Team McClanahan by a 5-2 score. Allen scored both goals for Housley's team.
The United States of Hockey has a thorough recap, with mentions of Allen and Compher on the positive side, and Downing as someone who struggled a little bit, though he was coming off an injury.
MHNet has you covered for what our recruits have been up to in the early-going this year. Here's the list of where they're all playing:
USA Under 18 Team:
Evan Allen
JT Compher
Tyler Motte
USA Under 17 Team:
Dylan Larkin
USHL:
Bryson Cianfrone - Cedar Rapids
Kyle Connor - Youngstown
Michael Downing - Dubuque
Alex Kile - Green Bay
Max Shuart - Muskegon
Alex Talcott - Indiana
OJHL:
Spencer Hyman - Hamilton
BCHL:
Dexter Dancs - Penticton
HPHL (High Performance Hockey League):
Brendan Warren - Compuware
I'll get the links updated on the sidebar in the near future.
Next up: I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the Verizon Wireless Midwest Fans sports blogger program. Basically here's the gist: They're giving me a couple of devices (along with service plans for five months) to try out and provide my honest opinions about them. The first gadget they gave me is the new Motorola Droid Razr M. It's a pretty nice little phone--the screen is surprisingly big for the size of the phone and the picture is absolutely fantastic.
The internet in my house wasn't working yesterday, so I actually watched about half of the first period of the All American Prospects Game on it and it streamed perfectly over the 4G LTE. Not going to lie, watching that game on the internet was really making me wish Michigan would go back to streaming the non-TV games live. There are a lot of schools with a lot less money that have their games on the internet. Even pay-per view would be a step up from what we've got now. Hopefully the new renovations to Yost included the infrastructure to make it happen. It's 2012. We shouldn't be going backwards in terms of accessibility of games for people who aren't fortunate enough to be at the venue.
But anyway, I switched to Verizon about two years ago because of their support of the IndyCar series and my favorite driver, Will Power, so it's kind of cool to be asked to examine how using their devices can enhance my sports-viewing experience. They already have for awhile because their IndyCar Mobile app is fantastic. I watch races live because I can watch the whole thing from Power's car and hear his conversations with his crew.
I think that covers everything! I'm on a work trip this week and working the night shift Tuesday-Thursday night. Because of that, I'll probably be staying up late tomorrow night so I can sleep as much during the day Tuesday as possible. Sounds like a good time to write a season preview.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Having a Seat Over There: Brendan Warren
Kyle Connor has company as a 2015 recruit: Compuware forward Brendan Warren has committed to join the Wolverines in a few years.
Warren recently took place in the Select 15 Festival, where he "was arguably the top forward" according to Yost Post poster BradyThomas. Thomas also said that one scout likened him to Tyler Seguin.
Last season, Warren had 8-5--13 in 10 games for Compuware. His teammates had 24 games played, so I'm assuming there was an injury or something. His 1.3 ppg were good for fourth on the team. He also had 3-3--6 in five playoff games. In 2010-11 he had 33-18--51 in 31 games, which was tied for the team lead in points and first in goals. He also finished first in the league in goals and tied for third in points.
Amazingly (assuming Pointstreak is right), only 1 of his 33 goals came with the man advantage. I have a hard time believing that's accurate, but if it is, it shows he can get it done at even-strength!
MichiganHockey.net has some Twitter comments about him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, after some scary-sounding rumors during the Devils prospect camp, Jon Merrill announced that he will return to Michigan for his junior season. He told Red that he wants to be competing for a job in the NHL when he leaves, and that he doesn't want to play in the minors, which you know has to thrill Coach Berenson.
Despite a subpar end to the season, in the month after he returned from suspension Merrill showed just how amazing he can be. I fully expect a mega-season out of him.
TheWolverine talked with Billy Powers about a variety of subjects including Merrill's return. It sounds like they'll definitely have Merrill and Trouba paired together at times.
Speaking of Coach Berenson, Red signed an extension that will keep him behind the bench through the 2015-16 season. It sounds like that will probably be the end of the line, but it's nice to know that Red will be guiding us into the B1G era.
Lastly, I still want a bleacher from Yost. Dammit.
Warren recently took place in the Select 15 Festival, where he "was arguably the top forward" according to Yost Post poster BradyThomas. Thomas also said that one scout likened him to Tyler Seguin.
Last season, Warren had 8-5--13 in 10 games for Compuware. His teammates had 24 games played, so I'm assuming there was an injury or something. His 1.3 ppg were good for fourth on the team. He also had 3-3--6 in five playoff games. In 2010-11 he had 33-18--51 in 31 games, which was tied for the team lead in points and first in goals. He also finished first in the league in goals and tied for third in points.
Amazingly (assuming Pointstreak is right), only 1 of his 33 goals came with the man advantage. I have a hard time believing that's accurate, but if it is, it shows he can get it done at even-strength!
MichiganHockey.net has some Twitter comments about him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, after some scary-sounding rumors during the Devils prospect camp, Jon Merrill announced that he will return to Michigan for his junior season. He told Red that he wants to be competing for a job in the NHL when he leaves, and that he doesn't want to play in the minors, which you know has to thrill Coach Berenson.
Despite a subpar end to the season, in the month after he returned from suspension Merrill showed just how amazing he can be. I fully expect a mega-season out of him.
TheWolverine talked with Billy Powers about a variety of subjects including Merrill's return. It sounds like they'll definitely have Merrill and Trouba paired together at times.
Speaking of Coach Berenson, Red signed an extension that will keep him behind the bench through the 2015-16 season. It sounds like that will probably be the end of the line, but it's nice to know that Red will be guiding us into the B1G era.
Lastly, I still want a bleacher from Yost. Dammit.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
HockeyBear's Take on the OHL
Today's guest column is by HOCKEYBEAR, renowned primeval force of destruction known for his appearances in University of Alaska hockey intro videos. When not traveling across the galaxy destroying planets and stars, he lives in Fairbanks and supports his hometown Nanooks. You can follow HOCKEYBEAR's satirical path of destruction and links to cute polar bear videos on Twitter at @AKhockeybear.
All opinions are that of HOCKEYBEAR. Don't sue me, bro.
Greetings, small humans of Michigan! It is I, HOCKEYBEAR, destroyer of worlds and institutions of higher learning. I am pleased that the people of Michigan respect me and are awed by my prowess in destruction.
Although my astonishing destructive capabilities are known throughout the galaxy, you should be aware that HOCKEYBEAR is a complex caniform with interests that go far beyond rampaging. For instance, I care deeply about education, which is why I have allied myself with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
"But bear," you ask me, terrified that your question will fill me with rage. "In your famous video, you destroy the campuses of Ohio State, Michigan State, and Miami. Is that not inconsistent with your professed concern for education?" Fear not, small human. I am not enraged by your reasonable question. For you see, that video was shot in an alternate dimension in which all inhabitants of earth had been relocated to the planet Phoenix. Using my tremendous powers, I led a UAF film crew to document my destruction of alternate earth for use in their pump-up video. In this task I was joined by two HOCKEYBEARS from other alternate dimensions. One of those HOCKEYBEARs lives in a universe where time is reversed, and he actually supports Florida Atlantic University.
It has come to my attention that the Ontario Hockey League has been attempting to deprive young hockey players of a university education by convincing them that NCAA hockey is not a path to professional success. While the NCAA is an imperfect organization in need of a good rampagement, it does attempt to provide players with higher education. On the other hand, the OHL messes up the high school educations of its players, leaving them at a disadvantage in non-hockey-related careers. HOCKEYBEAR does not approve.
HOCKEYBEAR most definitely does not approve of OHL teams suing the Michigan Daily over properly-sourced reporting. What are the characteristics of this strange league that plays hockey and is yet so unlike HOCKEYBEAR? Let's find out by looking at some of its teams' logos.
All opinions are that of HOCKEYBEAR. Don't sue me, bro.
Greetings, small humans of Michigan! It is I, HOCKEYBEAR, destroyer of worlds and institutions of higher learning. I am pleased that the people of Michigan respect me and are awed by my prowess in destruction.
Although my astonishing destructive capabilities are known throughout the galaxy, you should be aware that HOCKEYBEAR is a complex caniform with interests that go far beyond rampaging. For instance, I care deeply about education, which is why I have allied myself with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
"But bear," you ask me, terrified that your question will fill me with rage. "In your famous video, you destroy the campuses of Ohio State, Michigan State, and Miami. Is that not inconsistent with your professed concern for education?" Fear not, small human. I am not enraged by your reasonable question. For you see, that video was shot in an alternate dimension in which all inhabitants of earth had been relocated to the planet Phoenix. Using my tremendous powers, I led a UAF film crew to document my destruction of alternate earth for use in their pump-up video. In this task I was joined by two HOCKEYBEARS from other alternate dimensions. One of those HOCKEYBEARs lives in a universe where time is reversed, and he actually supports Florida Atlantic University.
It has come to my attention that the Ontario Hockey League has been attempting to deprive young hockey players of a university education by convincing them that NCAA hockey is not a path to professional success. While the NCAA is an imperfect organization in need of a good rampagement, it does attempt to provide players with higher education. On the other hand, the OHL messes up the high school educations of its players, leaving them at a disadvantage in non-hockey-related careers. HOCKEYBEAR does not approve.
HOCKEYBEAR most definitely does not approve of OHL teams suing the Michigan Daily over properly-sourced reporting. What are the characteristics of this strange league that plays hockey and is yet so unlike HOCKEYBEAR? Let's find out by looking at some of its teams' logos.
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