Before I get into the fact that, yup, it happened again, I have one image running through my head over and over. It's a scene from Mystery, Alaska--for my money, the greatest sports movie ever. After a crushing defeat in which the team from Mystery put a shot off the post in the waning seconds and the Rangers scored one goal thanks to a BS no-call, the silence is broken by Burt Reynolds--the coach of the team--clapping. One by one, the heartbroken fans stand up and slowly clap along with him, until the crowd is cheering so loudly you would think the team had won.
So Michigan Wolverines:
(The clip I'm thinking of is at the thirteen second mark.)
So yeah, it happened again.
Michigan has been plagued for at least a couple of seasons by replays gone wrong, quick whistles when the puck is loose, slow whistles when it's not, pucks kicked in, and it happened again.
In the first overtime session, Carl Hagelin wrapped the puck around the net. Connor Knapp spun in a circle because he had no idea where it was. Kevin Lynch got to the loose puck and slammed it into the n........TWEEEEEEEET! Roughly a tenth of a second before Lynch put the puck into the goal, the whistle sounded. Play's dead. No goal. What made it even more agonizing was the fact that on Miami's second goal, the puck sat underneath Hunwick's pad for at least a second before Cannone chipped it out from under him into the net. The ref darn near touched his toes in an effort to see the puck. Not this time. TWEEEET! Maybe he was tired too.
Michigan continued to dominate the first overtime, outshooting the RedHawks something like 20-6 and outscoring them 1-0. Usually that's enough in sudden death overtime, but tonight it apparently wasn't. Anyone who has watched playoff hockey for any amount of time knew how this one would end. When one team dominates an overtime session and doesn't score, they typically don't win.
Sure enough, just a couple of minutes into overtime, someone named Alden Hirschfeld corralled a loose puck and slipped it past Hunwick for the game winner.
It was the type of game that we've seen so many times before. Outshoot the other team badly, have a goal waived off for no reason other than sheer incompetence, lose in the most heartbreaking way possible.
That said, this one doesn't feel as bad as some of the others (e.g. 2003 Frozen Four in Buffalo). Part because I had all but said goodbye to this season three months ago. Part because we were playing with the house's money just to make the tournament. And part because it was just so goddamn predictable that we were going to lose after the goal was waived off.
It was an amazing effort out of these Wolverines, however. David Wohlberg had a great individual effort for our first goal--to answer Miami's power play tally very quickly. He was a man possessed in the early part of this game. In addition to his goal, he had 2 or 3 breakaways that he just couldn't convert. He also made one of the defensive plays of the season in one of the overtime sessions, though at this point I couldn't tell you what it was if my life depended on it. Just that it was really darn good.
Carl Hagelin seemed like the only player on either team with any jump in his step as the overtime dragged on, and he darn near won the game on three or four different occasions. Matt Rust rang one off the crossbar in the first overtime. Shawn Hunwick made several incredible stops to save our season. Chad Langlais and Louie Caporusso each had huge blocks in the extra session.
Rust, Hagelin, and Lynch combined for 21 shots in the game.
You've got to give credit to Connor Knapp, who was stellar between the pipes for Miami. He stopped 55 of Michigan's 58....err...57 shots, many of which were at point blank range. He stopped 20 shots in the first overtime alone.
In the end, Michigan had plenty of chances to put this one away and just couldn't quite put that third puck past Knapp. They had two uninspired power plays at the end of regulation and during the first overtime (that was our consolation prize for the game-winning goal being waived off....a power play).
That being said, it was a phenomenal effort and it was really enjoyable to watch this team come together through the stretch run. They realized how to "play the right way" (to use a Larry Brown term) and they just may have found themselves a goalie in the process.
Had we won tonight, this is the section where I would be blasting the hell out of those incompetent boobs that were officiating the game. Having lost, it would sound like sour grapes, so I'm not going to complain about much else other than the fact that I really wish they had called a penalty when Hagelin was hauled down right in front of the ref about 20 seconds before Miami scored their second goal. With the way they were calling the second period, you have to make that call. There are a lot more things to complain about, but...whatever.
I will say this. If you're an official, there's only three things that I ask: 1) Call it both ways. 2) Don't decide the game. 3) Don't lose control of the game and let Andrew Conboy assault somebody. This pair massively failed on two of those three requests.
It wasn't a great season. But the last month sure was one heckuva ride. They came up a little bit short, but it was completely unexpected that they ended up making it as far as they did. In January, I can't say I would have complained if you told me we'd be in double OT with a shot to go to the Frozen Four on the line--or that we'd have a chance to get screwed on yet another quick whistle with a regional championship on the line.
Thank you, Shawn Hunwick.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Michigan 5, Bemidji State 1
You know, it wasn't all that long ago where I'd start these game recaps by saying it was the same thing over and over again and be really pissed about it. But right now, I'm happy to keep on writing it.
Yet another great effort by the Michigan Wolverines in a 5-1 win in the Midwest Region semifinals over Bemidji State in a game that was much closer than the final score.
Luke Glendening got the Wolverines going at the 6:15 mark on a gorgeous tip of a Chad Langlais shot. Glendening darn near had two more fairly early on in the game. Bakala made a nice save sliding to his right to stop Glendening off a BSU turnover, and then he stacked the pads and robbed our sophomore alternate captain again in the second period on a pretty feed from Caporusso.
Louie Caporusso may have not gotten as much ice time as he's accustomed to due to all the Michigan penalties, but he sure did make one count late in the second. Chris Brown picked a Beaver's pocket and fed Caporusso cross-ice. Louie took his time and uncorked a shot into the top corner with just 38 seconds left in the second period to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
BSU would answer on their sixth power play of the night. Shortly after blasting a shot off the post, they got the Wolverines running around a little bit and leading scorer Ian Lowe blasted one past Hunwick to pull the Beavers within one.
Michigan regained the two-goal lead quickly, though. Hagelin and Lynch worked a two-on-one beautifully with Hagelin feeding Lynch and then getting the return pass for an easy goal. Hagelin would add another tally, this time after a questionable (and predictable) call on Rohrkemper. Rust found him for a shorthanded breakaway and he slipped it under Bakala to put the Wolverines up 4-1. A Brian Lebler empty-netter sealed the deal and a game that was 2-1 with under ten minutes to play turned into a rout.
Shawn Hunwick made 26 saves in the victory--and a pretty decent number of those were grade-a scoring chances. The first two stops of the game were both great pad saves. He also made a phenomenal save with his arm, diving to his left after a Beaver was left all alone in front of the net. He was fantastic between the pipes yet again. He looks comfortable back there and Michigan looks really comfortable with him back there. And notice how many players jumped to his aid when the Beavers were jabbing between his legs trying to knock a puck loose late in the third.
That was a really entertaining hockey game. Very up and down, a lot of great rushes, a lot of nice stickwork by the defensemen. Aside from the frequent whistles to send Michigan players to the penalty box as if they were playing Wisconsin, the game had a great pace.
Steve Kampfer continued his fantastic play in the post-season with a pair of assists and a +2 rating. Chad Langlais had a pair of assists and was +3 on the night. Summers was rock-solid in his return. It's nice to have him back.
That Hagelin/Rust/Lynch line has turned into something special. 2-4--6 and +7 for the game. Lynch has fit in great with those two and he's playing the best hockey of his young Michigan career at the right time. And you can't possibly say enough about Hagelin and Rust. Not just what they've done offensively, but their incredible work in their own zone and on the penalty kill. They're so fun to watch out there and their speed has just been a complete B for teams to play against. Hagelin cracked the 50 point mark with his (very unselfish) assist on Brian Lebler's ENG. He has 19-31--50 on the season and looks like someone who could be a legit Hobey candidate next season.
Add in Caporusso coming to life and the Wolverines have a pair of extremely dangerous lines. Cappy has 13-7--20 since the outdoor game.
Where this game was really won, however, was on the penalty kill. From the 9 minute mark of the first period until the 3 minute mark of the second, the Wolverines had to kill off five full BSU power plays. That's 10 minutes of penalty killing in a 14 minute span, and an incredible eight minutes in a ten minute span from 13 minutes of the first to 3 minutes of the second. They killed off the rough equivalent of back-to-back major penalties and gave up 5 shots on goal in the process. The penalty kill was just ridiculous.
Short of putting on a Bemidji State jersey and trying to knock the puck past Shawn Hunwick, I'm not sure what else the officials could have done to aid the Beaver cause tonight. Doubtlessly, there were a couple of really, really stupid penalties on our part but a few of those were ridiculous, especially with regard to the other stuff they were letting go. My favorite was our guy getting blasted after the horn sounded to end the period and the penalties getting evened up. I also really enjoyed how there was a call literally ten seconds after I asked my dad, "So how long will the officials wait to give them one more power play [late in the game]?" So predictable. They need to play smarter tomorrow against Miami. I know the BSU power play is far better than Miami's, but we were playing with fire tonight and I'm not overly anxious to do it again.
Here's a fun fact for you: After being held off the scoresheet in five of Michigan's first eleven games, Hagelin has only failed to register a point in four games the rest of the season. Two of those were the weekend against FSU. Since that series (on January 22 and 23), the first game of the LSSU series is the only game he hasn't registered at least one point. Incredible. He's still only 35th in the country in points per game, but he's only 3 back of second place in the national scoring race (tied for 8th overall). If they re-did the Hobey voting right now, wouldn't Hagelin have to get some mention?
So now we get the matchup that everyone wanted to see: Michigan vs. Miami. The rematch of the CCHA Championship. Miami knocked off Alabama-Huntsville 2-1 today, and while they held a substantial lead in shots on goal, I wasn't overly impressed. They did kind of sit back once they got a 2-0 lead. The best thing that they likely got out of that game was some confidence for Cody Reichard, since he had had a couple of rough outings in a row.
I'm not going to spend much time previewing the RedHawks. They're a helluva hockey team and everything I wrote last week still applies. We should be in for a great one tomorrow night. It wouldn't shock me a bit if whoever wins this game wins the National Championship. Keep doing what you're doing, boys.
Elsewhere, there were a couple of shockers today:
-The RIT Tigers are off to the Frozen Four after blowing out the University of No Hardware.
-The team that I think pretty much everyone was afraid of, North Dakota, bowed out in the first round. They got down 3-0 to Yale and couldn't quite complete the comeback. Yale looked much better than I expected, and they got their first NCAA Tournament win since something like 1952. That was a stunner.
In the other games, BC and Alaska played a tight one with the Eagles coming out on top and Wisconsin knocked off St. Cloud in a penalty-filled game to reach the Frozen Four and earn a date with Cinderella (RIT). They look really solid, though I swear they've been on the power play for 90% of the minutes I've watched them play this year--or at least that's what it seems like.
Six teams left and the Michigan Wolverines are still standing.
Yet another great effort by the Michigan Wolverines in a 5-1 win in the Midwest Region semifinals over Bemidji State in a game that was much closer than the final score.
Luke Glendening got the Wolverines going at the 6:15 mark on a gorgeous tip of a Chad Langlais shot. Glendening darn near had two more fairly early on in the game. Bakala made a nice save sliding to his right to stop Glendening off a BSU turnover, and then he stacked the pads and robbed our sophomore alternate captain again in the second period on a pretty feed from Caporusso.
Louie Caporusso may have not gotten as much ice time as he's accustomed to due to all the Michigan penalties, but he sure did make one count late in the second. Chris Brown picked a Beaver's pocket and fed Caporusso cross-ice. Louie took his time and uncorked a shot into the top corner with just 38 seconds left in the second period to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
BSU would answer on their sixth power play of the night. Shortly after blasting a shot off the post, they got the Wolverines running around a little bit and leading scorer Ian Lowe blasted one past Hunwick to pull the Beavers within one.
Michigan regained the two-goal lead quickly, though. Hagelin and Lynch worked a two-on-one beautifully with Hagelin feeding Lynch and then getting the return pass for an easy goal. Hagelin would add another tally, this time after a questionable (and predictable) call on Rohrkemper. Rust found him for a shorthanded breakaway and he slipped it under Bakala to put the Wolverines up 4-1. A Brian Lebler empty-netter sealed the deal and a game that was 2-1 with under ten minutes to play turned into a rout.
Shawn Hunwick made 26 saves in the victory--and a pretty decent number of those were grade-a scoring chances. The first two stops of the game were both great pad saves. He also made a phenomenal save with his arm, diving to his left after a Beaver was left all alone in front of the net. He was fantastic between the pipes yet again. He looks comfortable back there and Michigan looks really comfortable with him back there. And notice how many players jumped to his aid when the Beavers were jabbing between his legs trying to knock a puck loose late in the third.
That was a really entertaining hockey game. Very up and down, a lot of great rushes, a lot of nice stickwork by the defensemen. Aside from the frequent whistles to send Michigan players to the penalty box as if they were playing Wisconsin, the game had a great pace.
Steve Kampfer continued his fantastic play in the post-season with a pair of assists and a +2 rating. Chad Langlais had a pair of assists and was +3 on the night. Summers was rock-solid in his return. It's nice to have him back.
That Hagelin/Rust/Lynch line has turned into something special. 2-4--6 and +7 for the game. Lynch has fit in great with those two and he's playing the best hockey of his young Michigan career at the right time. And you can't possibly say enough about Hagelin and Rust. Not just what they've done offensively, but their incredible work in their own zone and on the penalty kill. They're so fun to watch out there and their speed has just been a complete B for teams to play against. Hagelin cracked the 50 point mark with his (very unselfish) assist on Brian Lebler's ENG. He has 19-31--50 on the season and looks like someone who could be a legit Hobey candidate next season.
Add in Caporusso coming to life and the Wolverines have a pair of extremely dangerous lines. Cappy has 13-7--20 since the outdoor game.
Where this game was really won, however, was on the penalty kill. From the 9 minute mark of the first period until the 3 minute mark of the second, the Wolverines had to kill off five full BSU power plays. That's 10 minutes of penalty killing in a 14 minute span, and an incredible eight minutes in a ten minute span from 13 minutes of the first to 3 minutes of the second. They killed off the rough equivalent of back-to-back major penalties and gave up 5 shots on goal in the process. The penalty kill was just ridiculous.
Short of putting on a Bemidji State jersey and trying to knock the puck past Shawn Hunwick, I'm not sure what else the officials could have done to aid the Beaver cause tonight. Doubtlessly, there were a couple of really, really stupid penalties on our part but a few of those were ridiculous, especially with regard to the other stuff they were letting go. My favorite was our guy getting blasted after the horn sounded to end the period and the penalties getting evened up. I also really enjoyed how there was a call literally ten seconds after I asked my dad, "So how long will the officials wait to give them one more power play [late in the game]?" So predictable. They need to play smarter tomorrow against Miami. I know the BSU power play is far better than Miami's, but we were playing with fire tonight and I'm not overly anxious to do it again.
Here's a fun fact for you: After being held off the scoresheet in five of Michigan's first eleven games, Hagelin has only failed to register a point in four games the rest of the season. Two of those were the weekend against FSU. Since that series (on January 22 and 23), the first game of the LSSU series is the only game he hasn't registered at least one point. Incredible. He's still only 35th in the country in points per game, but he's only 3 back of second place in the national scoring race (tied for 8th overall). If they re-did the Hobey voting right now, wouldn't Hagelin have to get some mention?
So now we get the matchup that everyone wanted to see: Michigan vs. Miami. The rematch of the CCHA Championship. Miami knocked off Alabama-Huntsville 2-1 today, and while they held a substantial lead in shots on goal, I wasn't overly impressed. They did kind of sit back once they got a 2-0 lead. The best thing that they likely got out of that game was some confidence for Cody Reichard, since he had had a couple of rough outings in a row.
I'm not going to spend much time previewing the RedHawks. They're a helluva hockey team and everything I wrote last week still applies. We should be in for a great one tomorrow night. It wouldn't shock me a bit if whoever wins this game wins the National Championship. Keep doing what you're doing, boys.
Elsewhere, there were a couple of shockers today:
-The RIT Tigers are off to the Frozen Four after blowing out the University of No Hardware.
-The team that I think pretty much everyone was afraid of, North Dakota, bowed out in the first round. They got down 3-0 to Yale and couldn't quite complete the comeback. Yale looked much better than I expected, and they got their first NCAA Tournament win since something like 1952. That was a stunner.
In the other games, BC and Alaska played a tight one with the Eagles coming out on top and Wisconsin knocked off St. Cloud in a penalty-filled game to reach the Frozen Four and earn a date with Cinderella (RIT). They look really solid, though I swear they've been on the power play for 90% of the minutes I've watched them play this year--or at least that's what it seems like.
Six teams left and the Michigan Wolverines are still standing.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
NCAA First Round: Michigan/Bemidji State Preview
There's already been a lot of great stuff written about this matchup:
MGoBlog has a long preview of this game as well as a hypothetical second round game with Miami or UAH. He also includes lots of stats about what BSU might look like if they were in a major conference.
John Bacon has a solid article about our new man in net.
Hoover Street Rag has their typically awesome previews. Click the link to the left for the main site. Or here is Michigan and Bemidji State.
Maize N Brew has a few words about the team as well as some information about the city of Fort Wayne.
The Wolverine Blog has a bunch of info about BSU straight from The Beaver Pond.
Last year, they were the cute and cuddly team fighting for their program. Possibly spurred by their unlikely run to the Frozen Four, the Beavers were extended an invitation to join the WCHA after the demise of their conference once this season ends.
This year, they're Michigan's opponent in the first round of the Midwest Regional. The Beavers come in with a 23-9-4 record on the season, and won the CHA regular season championship with a 14-3-1 record. They had 29 points in 18 games. They were the only team in the conference above .500. Their conference suuuucks.
That being said, with only 18 conference games, that opens the door for a lot of games against non-conference teams. They swept Air Force, beat and tied NMU, split with Minnesota, beat Miami but lost to Ohio State, got swept by MSU-Mankato, played WMU to a 0-0 tie before beating them 3-0 the next night (Yup, WMU sucks), swept Duluth and split with Omaha. So that's actually a pretty solid mix of games and as Brian asserts, they'd likely be right around 4th place in a conference like the CCHA.
Leading scorer Matt Read has matched his sophomore-year total of 40 points. He was shut out in the CHA semis and consolation game, but had 5 goals and 8 points in the six games before that. He had 2-3--5 in five games against NCAA Tournament teams that aren't UAH.
Ian Lowe leads the team in goals with 20. Eight of those have come on the power play. That's 20 goals after 2 as a freshman and 2 as a sophomore. Safe to say the light has come on. He's got 6 goals in his last eight games. He had 2-0--2 in five games against non-UAH tourney teams. He did have a stellar weekend against Duluth, however.
Jordan George is fifth in the country in points per game amongst freshmen, with 13-21--34 in 35 games.
The Beavers have five 10+ goal scorers and four that cracked the 30-point mark. Sophomore Brad Hunt has 7-26--33 from back on the blueline, good for fifth in the country in points per game for defensemen. He had 32 points as a freshman and had 7 markers with the man advantage last season. He needs to not go all Brendan Smith on us. That said, he hasn't scored a goal in thirteen games, though he does have one assist in seven of his last eight. He had four assists against Northern early on in the season. And you don't see it very often for d-men, so it's worth mentioning: He had a 3-1--4 line in a game against UAH.
Nobody else on the blueline has more than a goal or more than ten points.
Dan Bakala, a sophomore, has gotten the nod in the net more often than not this season, after not playing a single minute a year ago. He's played 30 games and has a 19-7-3 record with a 2.27/.919 (11th in goals against and 12th in save percentage). He has been fairly shaky as of late, having just won one of his last five starts. He got chased in the CHA consolation game after giving up three goals in 2:06 against Bobby Mo. The game before that he gave up 5 on 25 shots against Niagara. There are a lot more 3s, 4s, and 5s in the "Goals Allowed" column than you'd probably like for a guy who played so many games against Robert Morris, Niagara, and UAH. He did give up just 2 against Miami, and had a 24 save performance (1 GA) against UNO.
The Beavers are sixth in the country in goals per game, with 3.53. They also have the #5 defense, allowing the same 2.28 goals per game as the Wolverines. They're also one of the least-penalized teams in the country at just 12.2 minutes per game.
The power play is just 19.0%, 26th in the country, though they've got several players with high PPG totals. They're at 84.8 on the PK (#12 in the country) and have scored five shorties.
It's tempting to look ahead to a possible matchup with the Miami RedHawks, but the Beavers are a good hockey team and they've got the Frozen Four appearance to prove it. They're not sneaking up on anyone this year. As long as the Wolverines keep playing the way they have been playing, I have to like our chances.
There have been some surprises in the NCAA Tournament thusfar. Denver was knocked out in the first round for the third straight season. This time it was the RIT Tigers pulling the upset. Additionally, perennial chokers St. Cloud finally won their first tournament game (in double OT against NMU) and the University of No Hardware knocked out trendy pick Cornell. Wisconsin advanced on the strength of three power play goals. I can't wait for Brendan Smith to play for the Red Wings.
Tomorrow is the best day of the year if you're a college hockey fan. Six games, all one-and-done. Two Frozen Four berths on the line. Doesn't get much better than that. Michigan/Bemidji, Miami/UAH, BC/Alaska, Yale/North Dakota, RIT/New Hampshire (hard to believe one of those teams will be Frozen Four bound), and Wisconsin/St. Cloud. It's gonna be a great day!
MGoBlog has a long preview of this game as well as a hypothetical second round game with Miami or UAH. He also includes lots of stats about what BSU might look like if they were in a major conference.
John Bacon has a solid article about our new man in net.
Hoover Street Rag has their typically awesome previews. Click the link to the left for the main site. Or here is Michigan and Bemidji State.
Maize N Brew has a few words about the team as well as some information about the city of Fort Wayne.
The Wolverine Blog has a bunch of info about BSU straight from The Beaver Pond.
Last year, they were the cute and cuddly team fighting for their program. Possibly spurred by their unlikely run to the Frozen Four, the Beavers were extended an invitation to join the WCHA after the demise of their conference once this season ends.
This year, they're Michigan's opponent in the first round of the Midwest Regional. The Beavers come in with a 23-9-4 record on the season, and won the CHA regular season championship with a 14-3-1 record. They had 29 points in 18 games. They were the only team in the conference above .500. Their conference suuuucks.
That being said, with only 18 conference games, that opens the door for a lot of games against non-conference teams. They swept Air Force, beat and tied NMU, split with Minnesota, beat Miami but lost to Ohio State, got swept by MSU-Mankato, played WMU to a 0-0 tie before beating them 3-0 the next night (Yup, WMU sucks), swept Duluth and split with Omaha. So that's actually a pretty solid mix of games and as Brian asserts, they'd likely be right around 4th place in a conference like the CCHA.
Leading scorer Matt Read has matched his sophomore-year total of 40 points. He was shut out in the CHA semis and consolation game, but had 5 goals and 8 points in the six games before that. He had 2-3--5 in five games against NCAA Tournament teams that aren't UAH.
Ian Lowe leads the team in goals with 20. Eight of those have come on the power play. That's 20 goals after 2 as a freshman and 2 as a sophomore. Safe to say the light has come on. He's got 6 goals in his last eight games. He had 2-0--2 in five games against non-UAH tourney teams. He did have a stellar weekend against Duluth, however.
Jordan George is fifth in the country in points per game amongst freshmen, with 13-21--34 in 35 games.
The Beavers have five 10+ goal scorers and four that cracked the 30-point mark. Sophomore Brad Hunt has 7-26--33 from back on the blueline, good for fifth in the country in points per game for defensemen. He had 32 points as a freshman and had 7 markers with the man advantage last season. He needs to not go all Brendan Smith on us. That said, he hasn't scored a goal in thirteen games, though he does have one assist in seven of his last eight. He had four assists against Northern early on in the season. And you don't see it very often for d-men, so it's worth mentioning: He had a 3-1--4 line in a game against UAH.
Nobody else on the blueline has more than a goal or more than ten points.
Dan Bakala, a sophomore, has gotten the nod in the net more often than not this season, after not playing a single minute a year ago. He's played 30 games and has a 19-7-3 record with a 2.27/.919 (11th in goals against and 12th in save percentage). He has been fairly shaky as of late, having just won one of his last five starts. He got chased in the CHA consolation game after giving up three goals in 2:06 against Bobby Mo. The game before that he gave up 5 on 25 shots against Niagara. There are a lot more 3s, 4s, and 5s in the "Goals Allowed" column than you'd probably like for a guy who played so many games against Robert Morris, Niagara, and UAH. He did give up just 2 against Miami, and had a 24 save performance (1 GA) against UNO.
The Beavers are sixth in the country in goals per game, with 3.53. They also have the #5 defense, allowing the same 2.28 goals per game as the Wolverines. They're also one of the least-penalized teams in the country at just 12.2 minutes per game.
The power play is just 19.0%, 26th in the country, though they've got several players with high PPG totals. They're at 84.8 on the PK (#12 in the country) and have scored five shorties.
It's tempting to look ahead to a possible matchup with the Miami RedHawks, but the Beavers are a good hockey team and they've got the Frozen Four appearance to prove it. They're not sneaking up on anyone this year. As long as the Wolverines keep playing the way they have been playing, I have to like our chances.
There have been some surprises in the NCAA Tournament thusfar. Denver was knocked out in the first round for the third straight season. This time it was the RIT Tigers pulling the upset. Additionally, perennial chokers St. Cloud finally won their first tournament game (in double OT against NMU) and the University of No Hardware knocked out trendy pick Cornell. Wisconsin advanced on the strength of three power play goals. I can't wait for Brendan Smith to play for the Red Wings.
Tomorrow is the best day of the year if you're a college hockey fan. Six games, all one-and-done. Two Frozen Four berths on the line. Doesn't get much better than that. Michigan/Bemidji, Miami/UAH, BC/Alaska, Yale/North Dakota, RIT/New Hampshire (hard to believe one of those teams will be Frozen Four bound), and Wisconsin/St. Cloud. It's gonna be a great day!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Having a Seat Over There: Two Quick Recruiting Notes
Jeff Teglia, the goalie for the Omaha Lancers, will not be our next goalie. He committed to play for U-Mass.
CH247 has an article about NTDP tryout camp invitee Ray Pigozzi that might be of interest. He currently plays for the Chicago Mission and had 11-7--18 in 29 games this year.
CH247 has an article about NTDP tryout camp invitee Ray Pigozzi that might be of interest. He currently plays for the Chicago Mission and had 11-7--18 in 29 games this year.
We're Dancing! Michigan 2, NMU 1
It's been 13 years and I still remember it well. One of the lasting images of the Red Wings 1997 run to the Stanley Cup was a fan who was holding up a sign that said, "Vernon, I'm Sorry!"
In that same vein, here you go 2010 Michigan Wolverines:
I'm sorry for doubting you. I'm sorry for telling a few people that part of me hoped that LSSU would just mercy-kill us in the first round so I wouldn't have to keep watching the same uninspired hockey-like substance. I'm sorry for jokingly referring to David Wohlberg as Josh Langfeld for half the season. I'm sorry for extending my business trip to Hawaii on the front end, so I'll be there when the National Championship game is on-going. I'm sorry for not even glancing at the schedule to see when Regionals were before picking a weekend for my parents to come visit.
Just one month ago, the Wolverines were headed into the CCHA Tournament faced with a task of winning six games in an eight game span--something they did just once during the regular season (and that stretch included two against WMU, and games against Notre Dame and Michigan Tech). This would include a three-game series on the road and two games at Joe Louis against the top teams the CCHA had to offer.
To put that in perspective a little bit more, the CCHA Tournament started March 5th. To encompass the previous six Michigan wins, you would have to go all the way back to January 22nd, a span of 13 games. It's not like the Wolverines were going all North Dakota on the nation--sucking for the first half, going on a huge streak in the second half and having to wonder if it would be enough. Michigan was consistently inconsistent the entire season. Prior to the CCHA Tournament, they had swept two series the entire season. (Three if you count the College Hockey Showcase.) Then they did it back-to-back, and added wins over the #1 team in the country and a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament to boot.
They're on an absolutely incredible run right now. Other than the Sioux, is there a hotter team heading into the tournament? Michigan's best players are heating up at the right time. Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust have been fantastic at both ends of the ice, David Wohlberg is healthy and producing, and Louie Caporusso has transformed a disappointing season into the exact reverse of last season.
When Caporusso was a Hobey-finalist a year ago, he had 24-25--49, but scored just six goals after the first of the year--and five of those were against LSSU, WMU, and a dreadful FYS team. This year it's the opposite. After just 7 goals in his first 30 games, Caporusso has now ripped off 13 goals and 20 points in the last 13, which includes five multi-goal games and a playmaker. He also hasn't gone consecutive games without a point this calendar year.
Hagelin has scored a point in every game except one since the FYS series at the end of January. Rust has points in all but five of those games, and has 16 points in his last 17.
You can even look at guys like Kevin Lynch, AJ Treais, Steve Kampfer and Scooter Vaughan and say that they're playing their best hockey headed into the tournament. Kampfer was something like +12 in the CCHA Tournament, and added five points in six games. He stepped up in a big way in the absence of our captain. Lynch, who was invisible for a big chunk of the early part of the season has found a home playing with Hagelin and Rust. He scored a pair of third-period goals to help bury Miami.
We haven't even addressed the goaltending. What can you possibly say about Shawn Hunwick? Apparently, on the radio this morning he said that when he walked on, he was just hoping to get to play the last five minutes of Senior Night, if we were winning big. A month ago, he was a backup goalie who had played one game in almost three seasons--and was thrilled that had happened. Now he's the CCHA Tournament MVP, the starting goalie for a very dangerous hockey team heading into the NCAA Tournament, and he has a chance to become one of the best stories in the history of college athletics. The smallest guy on the team--who ended up at Michigan due to a strange series of events involving a severe head injury and Steve Jakiel being awful--is the biggest reason the Wolverines have a chance. This is Rudy, except with a player worth a damn.
Let's talk a little bit about last night. That was a helluva hockey game. You didn't see the typical feel-out process that you typically see in a one-and-done environment. The teams went at each other from the drop of the puck. We saw back and forth hockey. The Wolverines largely dominated the first half of the first period. NMU came back and controlled more of the play in the second half.
It appeared we were headed for the third period still deadlocked at 0, but with just about a half minute left in the second and the Wolverines on the power play, a broken stick changed everything. Matt Rust broke his stick and headed to the bench. Louie Caporusso jumped over the boards in his place, and fired one into the net to put the Wolverines ahead going to the third.
Midway through the third period, Caporusso struck again to put the Wolverines up by two. He hit the goalpost on a shot, circled behind the net, tapped his stick on the ice to call for the puck, and made a gorgeous tip on a shot-pass from Steve Kampfer.
NMU would get within one on a turnover by Treais and a goalmouth scramble, but the defense was strong and the Wolverines held on for a 2-1 win.
The penalty killers held NMU's top-ranked power play to 0-5 on the night, with just seven shots. A lot of guys got in on the action as well, as all of our penalties were to penalty-killers (Rust, Winnett, Glendening, Kampfer, and Wohlberg).
I'm too happy to really get into the fact that the CCHA should be ashamed that McInchak and Shegos are the best they have to offer. I have no problem with both Glendening's hit and Florek's hit being two. I have no problem with both hits being five and a game, but you can't toss one guy and not the other--especially when Florek's hit was worse and Wohlberg didn't even have the puck. But by all means, toss one of our best penalty killers and leave one of their best players in the game. (Notice who set up NMU's lone goal.) Pio, here's another plea for you to come out of retirement. We need you back.
So now the Wolverines head to Fort Wayne, IN to take on the Bemidji State Beavers. If they win, that would set up a potential rematch with the Miami RedHawks, who play Alabama-Huntsville in the other game. A lot of story lines in this bracket. You've got the Michigan/Miami thing, Hunwick, the RedHawks playing for Brendan Burke, the fact that Alabama-Huntsville has no conference for next season, UAH potentially getting a crack at two teams from the conference that denied them entry, etc.
Even though we ended up in a bracket with two Frozen Four teams from a year ago, it's hard not to be happy about the draw. We're in a location where a lot of Wolverine fans will be able to attend. We avoid North Dakota in the first round. The #1 seed in our bracket is a team that we just rolled. Miami is still the #1 team in the country and have to be favored to come out of the Midwest, but Michigan has a chance. Possibly a damn good chance.
Quite honestly, they could have put us in a bracket with Miami, Denver, and BC and scheduled the games at the Goggin Center in Oxford and I still would have been grinning ear to ear. The NCAA Tournament seemed like a pipe dream a month ago. I'm not sure I would have even taken 100-to-1 odds for them to win the CCHAs. Now we're in the dance and a team no one wants to play.
The Wolverines play the second game of the Midwest Regional. The game will air on ESPN360.com and on tape delay at 11:30 pm EDT on ESPNU. It was a lot nicer when other networks would pick up the rights to these games, and we'd actually get to see them live. But hey, it's the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA tournament. I guess I can't complain about tape delay.
The best part of the selection show, outside of our draw: Getting to see the highlights of last year's BU/Miami game again, and thinking of the look on Blasi's face as he was watching.
Other stories about the game:
The Wolverine
Inside College Hockey (written by my former hockey teammate--BlackBears forever!--James Dowd)
MGoBlog loves our bracket. Can't blame him.
Every player on that team should be proud of themselves for the performances we've seen over the past month. Red also gave a lot of props to the Wolverine fans who showed up in droves to East Lansing and Detroit.
The run continues.Somehow.
In that same vein, here you go 2010 Michigan Wolverines:
I'm sorry for doubting you. I'm sorry for telling a few people that part of me hoped that LSSU would just mercy-kill us in the first round so I wouldn't have to keep watching the same uninspired hockey-like substance. I'm sorry for jokingly referring to David Wohlberg as Josh Langfeld for half the season. I'm sorry for extending my business trip to Hawaii on the front end, so I'll be there when the National Championship game is on-going. I'm sorry for not even glancing at the schedule to see when Regionals were before picking a weekend for my parents to come visit.
Just one month ago, the Wolverines were headed into the CCHA Tournament faced with a task of winning six games in an eight game span--something they did just once during the regular season (and that stretch included two against WMU, and games against Notre Dame and Michigan Tech). This would include a three-game series on the road and two games at Joe Louis against the top teams the CCHA had to offer.
To put that in perspective a little bit more, the CCHA Tournament started March 5th. To encompass the previous six Michigan wins, you would have to go all the way back to January 22nd, a span of 13 games. It's not like the Wolverines were going all North Dakota on the nation--sucking for the first half, going on a huge streak in the second half and having to wonder if it would be enough. Michigan was consistently inconsistent the entire season. Prior to the CCHA Tournament, they had swept two series the entire season. (Three if you count the College Hockey Showcase.) Then they did it back-to-back, and added wins over the #1 team in the country and a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament to boot.
They're on an absolutely incredible run right now. Other than the Sioux, is there a hotter team heading into the tournament? Michigan's best players are heating up at the right time. Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust have been fantastic at both ends of the ice, David Wohlberg is healthy and producing, and Louie Caporusso has transformed a disappointing season into the exact reverse of last season.
When Caporusso was a Hobey-finalist a year ago, he had 24-25--49, but scored just six goals after the first of the year--and five of those were against LSSU, WMU, and a dreadful FYS team. This year it's the opposite. After just 7 goals in his first 30 games, Caporusso has now ripped off 13 goals and 20 points in the last 13, which includes five multi-goal games and a playmaker. He also hasn't gone consecutive games without a point this calendar year.
Hagelin has scored a point in every game except one since the FYS series at the end of January. Rust has points in all but five of those games, and has 16 points in his last 17.
You can even look at guys like Kevin Lynch, AJ Treais, Steve Kampfer and Scooter Vaughan and say that they're playing their best hockey headed into the tournament. Kampfer was something like +12 in the CCHA Tournament, and added five points in six games. He stepped up in a big way in the absence of our captain. Lynch, who was invisible for a big chunk of the early part of the season has found a home playing with Hagelin and Rust. He scored a pair of third-period goals to help bury Miami.
We haven't even addressed the goaltending. What can you possibly say about Shawn Hunwick? Apparently, on the radio this morning he said that when he walked on, he was just hoping to get to play the last five minutes of Senior Night, if we were winning big. A month ago, he was a backup goalie who had played one game in almost three seasons--and was thrilled that had happened. Now he's the CCHA Tournament MVP, the starting goalie for a very dangerous hockey team heading into the NCAA Tournament, and he has a chance to become one of the best stories in the history of college athletics. The smallest guy on the team--who ended up at Michigan due to a strange series of events involving a severe head injury and Steve Jakiel being awful--is the biggest reason the Wolverines have a chance. This is Rudy, except with a player worth a damn.
Let's talk a little bit about last night. That was a helluva hockey game. You didn't see the typical feel-out process that you typically see in a one-and-done environment. The teams went at each other from the drop of the puck. We saw back and forth hockey. The Wolverines largely dominated the first half of the first period. NMU came back and controlled more of the play in the second half.
It appeared we were headed for the third period still deadlocked at 0, but with just about a half minute left in the second and the Wolverines on the power play, a broken stick changed everything. Matt Rust broke his stick and headed to the bench. Louie Caporusso jumped over the boards in his place, and fired one into the net to put the Wolverines ahead going to the third.
Midway through the third period, Caporusso struck again to put the Wolverines up by two. He hit the goalpost on a shot, circled behind the net, tapped his stick on the ice to call for the puck, and made a gorgeous tip on a shot-pass from Steve Kampfer.
NMU would get within one on a turnover by Treais and a goalmouth scramble, but the defense was strong and the Wolverines held on for a 2-1 win.
The penalty killers held NMU's top-ranked power play to 0-5 on the night, with just seven shots. A lot of guys got in on the action as well, as all of our penalties were to penalty-killers (Rust, Winnett, Glendening, Kampfer, and Wohlberg).
I'm too happy to really get into the fact that the CCHA should be ashamed that McInchak and Shegos are the best they have to offer. I have no problem with both Glendening's hit and Florek's hit being two. I have no problem with both hits being five and a game, but you can't toss one guy and not the other--especially when Florek's hit was worse and Wohlberg didn't even have the puck. But by all means, toss one of our best penalty killers and leave one of their best players in the game. (Notice who set up NMU's lone goal.) Pio, here's another plea for you to come out of retirement. We need you back.
So now the Wolverines head to Fort Wayne, IN to take on the Bemidji State Beavers. If they win, that would set up a potential rematch with the Miami RedHawks, who play Alabama-Huntsville in the other game. A lot of story lines in this bracket. You've got the Michigan/Miami thing, Hunwick, the RedHawks playing for Brendan Burke, the fact that Alabama-Huntsville has no conference for next season, UAH potentially getting a crack at two teams from the conference that denied them entry, etc.
Even though we ended up in a bracket with two Frozen Four teams from a year ago, it's hard not to be happy about the draw. We're in a location where a lot of Wolverine fans will be able to attend. We avoid North Dakota in the first round. The #1 seed in our bracket is a team that we just rolled. Miami is still the #1 team in the country and have to be favored to come out of the Midwest, but Michigan has a chance. Possibly a damn good chance.
Quite honestly, they could have put us in a bracket with Miami, Denver, and BC and scheduled the games at the Goggin Center in Oxford and I still would have been grinning ear to ear. The NCAA Tournament seemed like a pipe dream a month ago. I'm not sure I would have even taken 100-to-1 odds for them to win the CCHAs. Now we're in the dance and a team no one wants to play.
The Wolverines play the second game of the Midwest Regional. The game will air on ESPN360.com and on tape delay at 11:30 pm EDT on ESPNU. It was a lot nicer when other networks would pick up the rights to these games, and we'd actually get to see them live. But hey, it's the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA tournament. I guess I can't complain about tape delay.
The best part of the selection show, outside of our draw: Getting to see the highlights of last year's BU/Miami game again, and thinking of the look on Blasi's face as he was watching.
Other stories about the game:
The Wolverine
Inside College Hockey (written by my former hockey teammate--BlackBears forever!--James Dowd)
MGoBlog loves our bracket. Can't blame him.
Every player on that team should be proud of themselves for the performances we've seen over the past month. Red also gave a lot of props to the Wolverine fans who showed up in droves to East Lansing and Detroit.
The run continues.Somehow.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Lessio Projected as a First Rounder
Quick post before the CCHA Championship. I'm not sure if I mentioned this last month or not, but the International Scouting Service released their top 30 prospects for the 2011 Draft, and Lucas Lessio checked in at #24.
TheCCHL.com talked with Lessio about his ranking.
"I want to go a lot higher than twenty fourth, I'm going to keep pushing myself every day," said Lessio. "I know that I'm up there, I know that the scouts know where I am and how I'm playing. Now it's just a matter of continuing to work at it and get even higher than twenty fourth because the overall accomplishment for me is simple, I want to get drafted as high as possible."
He was also said to be "far and away leading all 1993 born players in CCHL scoring".
TheCCHL.com talked with Lessio about his ranking.
"I want to go a lot higher than twenty fourth, I'm going to keep pushing myself every day," said Lessio. "I know that I'm up there, I know that the scouts know where I am and how I'm playing. Now it's just a matter of continuing to work at it and get even higher than twenty fourth because the overall accomplishment for me is simple, I want to get drafted as high as possible."
He was also said to be "far and away leading all 1993 born players in CCHL scoring".
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