That was something!
The Wolverines were a Jeff Rohrkemper boarding penalty away from playing as close to a perfect defensive hockey game as you can possibly play. One night after the CC Tigers destroyed a Boston College team that I think pretty much everyone was afraid to (to the tune of 8 goals), Jon Merrill, Chad Langlais, Greg Pateryn, Shawn Hunwick and company shut down the high-powered CC offense.
They gave up only 22 shots in the game, and completely dominated 5 on 5. The penalty killing was spectacular, and were one second away from being perfect against the CC power play. Thankfully that second ticked off and the Tigers' goal with 3:35 to play negated the remainder of Rohrkemper's penalty. Otherwise it would've been a 2-1 hockey game with CC on the power play for another minute and a half, and I would've had a heart attack.
After a shift where Michigan was really running around in their own end, Scooter Vaughan got things started 2:23 into the game with a gorgeous inside-out move before roofing one to put Michigan on top 1-0. Seriously, where the hell did he learn to do that? Vaughan was one of the best players on the ice tonight. He's got surprising moves, and one heckuva good shot. If there's a Most Improved Player award, he has to be a shoo-in.
The Wolverines went up 2-0 on a 5-on-3 power play. Moffie blasted a shot off a Tiger defender past Howe. That came not too long after the Wolverines killed a long 5-on-3 of their own. Chris Brown killed a dude and Carl Hagelin inexplicably tripped the goalie. Hunwick made a couple of dandies though.
After 20 minutes, the Wolverines were outshooting CC 13-7. CC had an early 5-3 shot edge, so Michigan really put the clamps down after the CC 5-on-3.
The second period was almost all Michigan. Just a completely dominant performance that resulted in no pucks in the net. We hit at least three pipes, Carl Hagelin just missed on a wrap-around, Rohrkemper fanned on an empty net after a great feed from Moffatt, AJ Treais missed on a breakaway. Howe made some great stops. Michigan did everything but put the puck in the net. Shots in the second stanza were 20-7 in favor of Michigan for a 2-period total of 33-14. Still, CC was one shot from getting right back in the hockey game.
The penalty killers were again sharp in the second period. Lynch took his man down after failing to do anything with the puck on a 4-on-2, and after Hunwick made a stop on a failed clear, the Wolverines were great.
I wasn't the only one having flashbacks to Buffalo in 2003 when Michigan led the Gophers 2-0, but really should've been up by 4 or 5 goals.
The third was back and forth hockey at it's best. We went a good 7-8 minutes at one point without a stoppage. Then the teams started competing to see who could take the worst penalty late in the game. A Tiger checked Hunwick into the board when he came out to play the puck. Then Rohrkemper drilled a guy from behind. That led to about 9 seconds of 4 on 4 and then a long CC power play. They won a faceoff in our end and were able to score on a goalmouth scramble. Thank God that last second ticked off the clock so it counted as a power play goal.
Winnett then drew one on the Tigers. As he was sneaking between a CC player and the sideboards, he got drilled. His head was pounded into the glass and the ref was right there. About 45 seconds remained when he came out of the box. After a faceoff with about 30 seconds left, Michigan couldn't get the puck out, but Hunwick rose to the occasion, the defense did a nice job as well and the Wolverines are headed to the Frozen Four for the 24th time in their history!
They'll play the winner of North Dakota (6-0 winners over RPI) and Denver (who overcame a late 3rd period deficit to defeat WMU in double overtime by a 3-2 score). Minnesota-Duluth has punched their ticket as well. They'll play the winner of Notre Dame and New Hampshire.
Absent from the remaining teams? Miami University. Tee hee.
You have to give a shout out to Joe Howe, who made 41 stops in the loss. He was a perfect 20 for 20 in the second period when Michigan could have really broken the game open.
For the Wolverines, Jon Merrill was so unbelievably good tonight. Really, the whole defense was. Outside of two bad turnovers by Moffie (he atoned with the GWG!) and one by a player whose number I didn't catch, they were fantastic all night. The penalty killers? Fantastic. I haven't seen an all-around performance like that in a long, long time. With a little puck luck, that game is a blowout. Instead it was a nail-biter, but a dominant performance nonetheless.
Louie Caporusso back-checked like a mad-man. He's been positively Kolarikian in his transformation into a player that can impact the game at either end. Hagelin, Rust, Brown....you could go on and on. The silly penalties were there, but the penalty killers bailed their guys out for the most part.
Shawn Hunwick wasn't busy (21 stops) but he was big when they needed him to be. Think about this. If Steve Jakiel doesn't leave school, Hunwick is probably playing for Adrian College right now. Instead, he's backstopped Michigan to the Frozen Four and is one quick whistle from having done it in back-to-back years. How big of a moment in retrospect was it that our third goalie decided to take off for Curry College, when he was stuck behind Sauer and Hogan on the depth chart? Have a bad goalie's decision and another man's groin troubles ever meant so much?
The seniors started their careers at the XCel Energy Center with an overtime win over Boston College. They will end their careers at the XCel Energy Center, either in heartache or by bringing home #10.
Also, a sweep of the WCHA is in play, which would go down as the greatest thing that has ever happened ever.
Update: Hunwick, Moffie, Pateryn, Lynch, and Hunwick were named to the All-Regional Team. Hunwick was named Most Outstanding Player
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Michigan 3, UNO 2 (ot). CC Next
The puck was in. I don't think any of us ever had a doubt. You saw it go under the goaltender's pad, his pad was in the net, the puck reappeared on the goal line moving forward out of the next. Logic says that if the puck was on the goal line moving back toward the ice, the puck was previously in the net. Unfortunately, they don't get to make calls based on logic.
When I first saw the replay from the end zone cam, my reaction was "OH THAT'S A GOAL!......and they're never going to let it stand." The longer the review went on, however, the more I started to feel they were going to count it. It was a matter of could they find the indisputable video evidence to overturn the call on the ice of goal.
Ten minutes. That's how long it took to decide if Kevin Lynch would be a hero, or if he'd be two unbelievably controversial calls away from being Chris friggin' Drury. Lynch, you'll remember, scored the game-winner against Miami last year to put Michigan into the Frozen Four but for that damn premature whistle. It seemed almost cruel that it could happen again.
The review went on. The camera picked up the refs flipping between the end-zone feed and the overhead camera--thank God for that rule change that they could use all angles available to them.
Finally there was action. The refs exited the penalty box. One spoke to the scorer. Then what will possibly be the iconic image of the tournament: A Michigan fan in the front row jumped up and pointed to center ice repeatedly. Two seconds later, the ref removed all doubt: GOAL!
It was a controversial end to a truly great hockey game. Stick taps all around to the Mavericks. That's a good hockey team, they're extremely well-coached, and I actually do miss having them in the CCHA. If they hadn't jumped conferences, last night's game wouldn't have been possible. So really, you did this to yourselves.
After a great first shift, Michigan got a power play only about a minute into the game. Michigan turned the puck over and Rich Purslow had himself a breakaway from center ice in. He put it five-hole on Hunwick. 1-0. Then, before the ten-minute mark, the puck was over by the sideboards, Alex Hudson drove the net, Caporusso lost him and he had an easy tap in to give the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
They'd go to the intermission that way. Michigan actually played a pretty decent period, but found themselves on the wrong end of a two-goal deficit. But you know what they say, a two goal lead is the hardest to protect.
On a Michigan power play early in the second period, Louie Caporusso snapped a shot through traffic from the top of the circle to pull Michigan within one. Chad Langlais then pulled a nifty dispy-doo out of traffic to get to the middle of the ice and send a pass to the left sideboards where Kevin Lynch one-timed it past Faulkner to tie the game.
In overtime, the Wolverines were victimized by an absolutely abysmal call on Matt Rust. He drilled a Maverick in the shoulder, they called him for boarding. Several times it appeared that Omaha was going to end the game and have me be the one bitching about the officiating, but Jon Merrill saved the season. A shot got past Shawn Hunwick, but there was Merrill, sliding into the crease to knock the puck away. He was there for the rebound as well, though I think Hunwick may have gotten over to make that stop. And breathe.
Just a few moments later, Greg Pateryn took a shot from the point. It kicked off the end boards where Lynch touched it into the slot. The puck hit Hudson's skate, deflected in on Faulkner, and ten minutes later, the Wolverines were off to the second round.
A few points:
-Louie Caporusso played like he wasn't ready for his Michigan career to end. He was all over the place from the second period on. He had a goal and an assist on our two regulation goals. I believe he hit another post.
-Shawn Hunwick was very good between the pipes. Couldn't fault him on either Maverick goal and after the first period, he was perfect. When you get down by 2 goals after the first, you've still got time, but you need your goalie to give you a chance and he did. With a little help from Mr. Merrill.
The Wolverines will now face Colorado College, who upset (and steamrolled) one of the favorites. Boston College was 22-2-1 in their last 25 games. John Muse was 8-0 in the NCAA Tournament and something absurd like 22-1 in tournament play (NCAA and Hockey East, not sure if it counted the Beanpot). BC got up 1-0 not even 20 seconds into the game. CC responded by jumping out to a 7-2 lead en route to an 8-4 victory.
They looked really good offensively. Jaden Schwartz, who didn't play the first time these teams met, had two goals and four points. His brother Rylan had 1-3--4 in the game. The Tigers had 3 on the power play (including an ENG) and two shorthanded. BC incredibly seemed largely disinterested after they got down, and hung Muse out to dry on several occasions. It was amazing to watch the transformation from "YES! BC is going to lose!" to "Oh crap, CC looks amazing" amongst the live-bloggers.
The best thing that happened for Michigan was that the third period was largely meaningless. CC was up 7-2 and it was basically an exercise in skating off 20 minutes without getting anyone injured or DQed. That has a way of sapping momentum. Also, BC scored a pair of goals, hit a pair of pipes, and Cam Atkinson managed to get robbed again. They softened Joe Howe up a bit. I like it.
There were a lot of offensive chances there. Even when BC was down 7-2, it could have been much closer. Atkinson had a chance with a wide open net and Howe somehow got the glove up to rob him. They hit another pipe. CC wasn't exactly playing lock down defense.
We have to be strong on special teams tonight. They killed us with their power play in the first meeting (a 6-5 Michigan win) to the tune of 4 goals. And that was without J. Schwartz (granted we didn't have Merrill or Brown). Schwartz also was injured at World Juniors and missed about two months, so CC is probably better than their record.
More about them later.
When I first saw the replay from the end zone cam, my reaction was "OH THAT'S A GOAL!......and they're never going to let it stand." The longer the review went on, however, the more I started to feel they were going to count it. It was a matter of could they find the indisputable video evidence to overturn the call on the ice of goal.
Ten minutes. That's how long it took to decide if Kevin Lynch would be a hero, or if he'd be two unbelievably controversial calls away from being Chris friggin' Drury. Lynch, you'll remember, scored the game-winner against Miami last year to put Michigan into the Frozen Four but for that damn premature whistle. It seemed almost cruel that it could happen again.
The review went on. The camera picked up the refs flipping between the end-zone feed and the overhead camera--thank God for that rule change that they could use all angles available to them.
Finally there was action. The refs exited the penalty box. One spoke to the scorer. Then what will possibly be the iconic image of the tournament: A Michigan fan in the front row jumped up and pointed to center ice repeatedly. Two seconds later, the ref removed all doubt: GOAL!
 |
| Epic |
It was a controversial end to a truly great hockey game. Stick taps all around to the Mavericks. That's a good hockey team, they're extremely well-coached, and I actually do miss having them in the CCHA. If they hadn't jumped conferences, last night's game wouldn't have been possible. So really, you did this to yourselves.
After a great first shift, Michigan got a power play only about a minute into the game. Michigan turned the puck over and Rich Purslow had himself a breakaway from center ice in. He put it five-hole on Hunwick. 1-0. Then, before the ten-minute mark, the puck was over by the sideboards, Alex Hudson drove the net, Caporusso lost him and he had an easy tap in to give the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
They'd go to the intermission that way. Michigan actually played a pretty decent period, but found themselves on the wrong end of a two-goal deficit. But you know what they say, a two goal lead is the hardest to protect.
On a Michigan power play early in the second period, Louie Caporusso snapped a shot through traffic from the top of the circle to pull Michigan within one. Chad Langlais then pulled a nifty dispy-doo out of traffic to get to the middle of the ice and send a pass to the left sideboards where Kevin Lynch one-timed it past Faulkner to tie the game.
In overtime, the Wolverines were victimized by an absolutely abysmal call on Matt Rust. He drilled a Maverick in the shoulder, they called him for boarding. Several times it appeared that Omaha was going to end the game and have me be the one bitching about the officiating, but Jon Merrill saved the season. A shot got past Shawn Hunwick, but there was Merrill, sliding into the crease to knock the puck away. He was there for the rebound as well, though I think Hunwick may have gotten over to make that stop. And breathe.
Just a few moments later, Greg Pateryn took a shot from the point. It kicked off the end boards where Lynch touched it into the slot. The puck hit Hudson's skate, deflected in on Faulkner, and ten minutes later, the Wolverines were off to the second round.
A few points:
-Louie Caporusso played like he wasn't ready for his Michigan career to end. He was all over the place from the second period on. He had a goal and an assist on our two regulation goals. I believe he hit another post.
-Shawn Hunwick was very good between the pipes. Couldn't fault him on either Maverick goal and after the first period, he was perfect. When you get down by 2 goals after the first, you've still got time, but you need your goalie to give you a chance and he did. With a little help from Mr. Merrill.
The Wolverines will now face Colorado College, who upset (and steamrolled) one of the favorites. Boston College was 22-2-1 in their last 25 games. John Muse was 8-0 in the NCAA Tournament and something absurd like 22-1 in tournament play (NCAA and Hockey East, not sure if it counted the Beanpot). BC got up 1-0 not even 20 seconds into the game. CC responded by jumping out to a 7-2 lead en route to an 8-4 victory.
They looked really good offensively. Jaden Schwartz, who didn't play the first time these teams met, had two goals and four points. His brother Rylan had 1-3--4 in the game. The Tigers had 3 on the power play (including an ENG) and two shorthanded. BC incredibly seemed largely disinterested after they got down, and hung Muse out to dry on several occasions. It was amazing to watch the transformation from "YES! BC is going to lose!" to "Oh crap, CC looks amazing" amongst the live-bloggers.
The best thing that happened for Michigan was that the third period was largely meaningless. CC was up 7-2 and it was basically an exercise in skating off 20 minutes without getting anyone injured or DQed. That has a way of sapping momentum. Also, BC scored a pair of goals, hit a pair of pipes, and Cam Atkinson managed to get robbed again. They softened Joe Howe up a bit. I like it.
There were a lot of offensive chances there. Even when BC was down 7-2, it could have been much closer. Atkinson had a chance with a wide open net and Howe somehow got the glove up to rob him. They hit another pipe. CC wasn't exactly playing lock down defense.
We have to be strong on special teams tonight. They killed us with their power play in the first meeting (a 6-5 Michigan win) to the tune of 4 goals. And that was without J. Schwartz (granted we didn't have Merrill or Brown). Schwartz also was injured at World Juniors and missed about two months, so CC is probably better than their record.
More about them later.
Indisputable
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!!
A couple of posters over at MGoBoard provided screen caps for all. This clearly shows it. The puck's in the net. Game over. They got it right.
Thank you Cowbellguy and Skone82.
I'm sorry the Frozen Four won't include 5 WCHA teams this year, but Michigan won and it was the correct call. The puck is actually moving toward the goal line in this photo, so even if all the white space between the black blob and black line doesn't convince you, there's absolutely no question that the puck was in the net.
I love the internet.
A couple of posters over at MGoBoard provided screen caps for all. This clearly shows it. The puck's in the net. Game over. They got it right.
Thank you Cowbellguy and Skone82.
I'm sorry the Frozen Four won't include 5 WCHA teams this year, but Michigan won and it was the correct call. The puck is actually moving toward the goal line in this photo, so even if all the white space between the black blob and black line doesn't convince you, there's absolutely no question that the puck was in the net.
I love the internet.
Friday, March 25, 2011
You Be the Ref
Goon doesn't like it.
I think it's clear the puck was in. I don't know that the video "conclusively" backs it up, but it's obvious that the puck was in the net. The end-zone camera shows the puck either over the line or on the line, and it's on its way back out. There's no physical way that puck wasn't in the net. Like I said, if you want to say the video wasn't conclusive, I won't argue with you. After 10 minutes, I have a tough time believing they were 100% convinced. That said, they got it right. The puck was in the net and it's about goddamn time one of those calls went our way. I couldn't have handled another OT goal waived off.
More later. Still watching CC/BC.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
West Regional Preview: Michigan vs. Nebraska-Omaha
Game on. After a strange regular season in which the Wolverines won the CCHA regular season title despite struggles on offense and special teams, it's time to play for keeps. Michigan doesn't come in with a whole lot of momentum on their side. They were rolling through the later part of the regular season, but after eight straight wins their play fell apart at the Joe.
Michigan took third place in the CCHA Tournament, but looked awful against Western Michigan and, despite the W, didn't look a whole lot better against Notre Dame, getting outshot 44-23 and needing a career game out of Shawn Hunwick to at least head into the NCAAs on a winning note.
That said, outside of the downer of a game against Western, the Wolverines have found some offense late in the season. They've scored 4+ goals in six of the last ten games and have 3+ in eight of the last ten.
Nebraska-Omaha isn't coming in to the NCAA Tournament on a particularly high note either. They hosted Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA Tournament and were swept out. The Beavers kind of owned them this season, going 5-0-1 against the Mavericks. Omaha has gone 1-4-0 in their last five and 3-5-0 in their last eight.
Earlier in the season the teams met at Yost. UNO won the first game by a 4-2 margin. Michigan--as was typical at the beginning of the season--responding to a poor outing on Friday by beating the Mavericks 6-1 on Saturday. They chased John Faulkner in that contest after scoring 3 on 18 shots. Wohlberg, Hagelin, Vaughan (2), Glendening and Winnett scored for the Wolverines.
The night before, UNO jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two periods. The Wolverines scored a pair of goals a minute apart to make it a little interesting, but despite coming very close, couldn't put another shot past Faulkner. Lynch and Wohlberg had the goals in that game. Hunwick stopped 22 of 26 in the loss and it didn't sound like he played particularly well.
The Wolverines will be short-handed this weekend as David Wohlberg was lost for the season after having collarbone surgery. Also, we'll be down a defenseman. Brandon Burlon did not make the trip to St. Louis after having an allergic reaction to medication he was given to treat a case of strep throat. Reports were that he's lost 15 pounds. Those are two big losses. Wohlberg was second on the team with 15 goals and Burlon is tied for first amongst defensemen with a +14 rating.
Kevin Clare will once again play in Burlon's place. Despite struggling at times this year, Clare did manage a +11 rating in 14 games, despite only picking up a single point. He's not the offensive threat that Burlon is, but seems to have settled down. Red was quite complimentary toward him this week.
Mike Spath reported that the Wolverines will unveil some new lines this week. Winnett will play on the second line with Rust and Glendening. Lynch will center Vaughan and Treais on the third line.
Nebraska-Omaha, the third place team in the WCHA during the regular season, has eight players with 10+ goals. Michigan will dress only three. They also have 5 30+ point scorers and 9 20+ point scorers. Michigan has 1 (though he has 48 points and UNO's leading scorer has 34) and 8, respectively. Despite that, Michigan ranks 12th in offense (3.42 gpg) to Nebraska-Omaha's 17th (3.32 gpg).
Matt Ambroz leads the way with a 17-17--34 line. Six of his goals have come with the man advantage. Joey Martin has 11-23--34 and Rich Purslow is having his best year as a senior with a 12-20--32 line. Eric Olimb leads the way amongst blueliners with 3-24--27 (his 13 power play points lead the team). Bryce Aneloski also scores a half-point per game back on defense.
In net it's been all John Faulkner. He's played all but 142 minutes this season. For the year, he is 20-14-2 with a 2.55/.908. Omaha is 14th in the country in team defense. Michigan is 8th and gives up about a quarter of a goal per game less than UNO.
Faulkner was a microcosm of Nebraska-Omaha's inconsistency. He was 6-6-0 against tournament teams, splitting series against Michigan, North Dakota, CC, North Dakota again, DU, and Minnesota-Duluth. He gave up 35 goals in those 12 games. Minnesota-State, Michigan Tech, and Alabama-Huntsville were the only series all season where he gave up 2-or-fewer goals in both games. He had shutouts against North Dakota and Colorado College, but gave up 6 and 5 goals in the other game of the weekend. He's very capable of being great, and he's very capable of being chased. We saw both ends of the spectrum earlier in the year. Friday night, he stopped 34 of 36 shots. The next night, he lasted just over 23 minutes before getting the hook.
The Mavericks ice three very potent lines. Their second and third lines are completely made up of 20+ point scorers. When you've got Broadhurst-Hudson-Purslow as your third line, that's pretty good. Martin (34 points) centers Searfoss (9 goals and 13 points) and Ambroz (34 points) on the top line.
Despite a pretty good offense, the Maverick power play is middle of the pack. They rank 34th with a 17.6% success rate with the man advantage. Michigan has scored three more power play goals on nine additional opportunities to rank 24th at 18.5%.
Their PK is 20th at 83.4%, but they have scored 5 short-handed goals on the season. Michigan's PK is 25th at 82.4% with 8 shorties. So we're one percent better on the power play, they're one percent better on the PK. Michigan is +4 on special teams. The Mavericks are +3. Not really an advantage for either team.
Omaha puts a lot of shots on net. They outshot their opponent in all but four of their losses, and average 36.2 shots per game, 8.5 more than their opponents. Michigan averages 33 shots per game.
The Wolverines have an edge in the faceoff dot. They're 54.1% on the season, which I have to believe would be pretty far up the national ranks. Omaha is just a tick below even at 49.4%. Caporusso (57.7%) and Rust (56.4%) are the two best regulars in the game. Omaha does have a good one, though. Brock Montpetit is 55.8% on the season.
Omaha has won three of the last four meetings between the teams after losing eight in a row.
Other Viewpoints:
MHNet has thoughts on the West Regional and makes a fair point that we shouldn't give BC a bye to the second round (they have CC in Round One) and NoDak a bye to the Frozen Four (with a potential matchup against Denver in the second round).
The Hoover Street Rag has their typically excellent breakdown of every team in the tournament. The West Regional hasn't been done yet, so here's a link to the list as a whole. Check it tomorrow before the game. You'll be glad you did.
Go Blue M Wolverine has part one of their ridiculously-detailed preview.
Recruiting:
MHNet talked with Honeybaked's coach about Evan Allen. He loves Allen's shot. Called it "an NHL shot".
There was also a tidbit about John Gibson in Unverified Voracity today. The United State of Hockey was quite impressed, saying that he "looks like a pro goalie".
Final Thoughts:
While Michigan stumbled at Joe Louis, they've played pretty good hockey since getting thrashed by the RedHawks in Miami. Omaha has been inconsistent the entire season and have faltered on the way in to the tournament. There's no advantage for either team on special teams. Omaha has more 10+ scorers, but Michigan has more overall depth. In the end, I think Shawn Hunwick is the difference and Michigan squeaks by, despite being outshot in what ends up being a stressful game to watch.
For the four regions, I'll take:
BC over Michigan
NoDak over Denver
Miami over Notre Dame
Minnesota-Duluth over Yale
Hope I'm wrong...I usually am when I fill out brackets.
The game will air on Comcast Local, ESPN3.com, and Altitude live. ESPNU will have the game on tape delay. Both Dish Network and DirecTV carry Altitude as a part of their sports package.
GO BLUE!
Michigan took third place in the CCHA Tournament, but looked awful against Western Michigan and, despite the W, didn't look a whole lot better against Notre Dame, getting outshot 44-23 and needing a career game out of Shawn Hunwick to at least head into the NCAAs on a winning note.
That said, outside of the downer of a game against Western, the Wolverines have found some offense late in the season. They've scored 4+ goals in six of the last ten games and have 3+ in eight of the last ten.
Nebraska-Omaha isn't coming in to the NCAA Tournament on a particularly high note either. They hosted Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA Tournament and were swept out. The Beavers kind of owned them this season, going 5-0-1 against the Mavericks. Omaha has gone 1-4-0 in their last five and 3-5-0 in their last eight.
Earlier in the season the teams met at Yost. UNO won the first game by a 4-2 margin. Michigan--as was typical at the beginning of the season--responding to a poor outing on Friday by beating the Mavericks 6-1 on Saturday. They chased John Faulkner in that contest after scoring 3 on 18 shots. Wohlberg, Hagelin, Vaughan (2), Glendening and Winnett scored for the Wolverines.
The night before, UNO jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two periods. The Wolverines scored a pair of goals a minute apart to make it a little interesting, but despite coming very close, couldn't put another shot past Faulkner. Lynch and Wohlberg had the goals in that game. Hunwick stopped 22 of 26 in the loss and it didn't sound like he played particularly well.
The Wolverines will be short-handed this weekend as David Wohlberg was lost for the season after having collarbone surgery. Also, we'll be down a defenseman. Brandon Burlon did not make the trip to St. Louis after having an allergic reaction to medication he was given to treat a case of strep throat. Reports were that he's lost 15 pounds. Those are two big losses. Wohlberg was second on the team with 15 goals and Burlon is tied for first amongst defensemen with a +14 rating.
Kevin Clare will once again play in Burlon's place. Despite struggling at times this year, Clare did manage a +11 rating in 14 games, despite only picking up a single point. He's not the offensive threat that Burlon is, but seems to have settled down. Red was quite complimentary toward him this week.
Mike Spath reported that the Wolverines will unveil some new lines this week. Winnett will play on the second line with Rust and Glendening. Lynch will center Vaughan and Treais on the third line.
Nebraska-Omaha, the third place team in the WCHA during the regular season, has eight players with 10+ goals. Michigan will dress only three. They also have 5 30+ point scorers and 9 20+ point scorers. Michigan has 1 (though he has 48 points and UNO's leading scorer has 34) and 8, respectively. Despite that, Michigan ranks 12th in offense (3.42 gpg) to Nebraska-Omaha's 17th (3.32 gpg).
Matt Ambroz leads the way with a 17-17--34 line. Six of his goals have come with the man advantage. Joey Martin has 11-23--34 and Rich Purslow is having his best year as a senior with a 12-20--32 line. Eric Olimb leads the way amongst blueliners with 3-24--27 (his 13 power play points lead the team). Bryce Aneloski also scores a half-point per game back on defense.
In net it's been all John Faulkner. He's played all but 142 minutes this season. For the year, he is 20-14-2 with a 2.55/.908. Omaha is 14th in the country in team defense. Michigan is 8th and gives up about a quarter of a goal per game less than UNO.
Faulkner was a microcosm of Nebraska-Omaha's inconsistency. He was 6-6-0 against tournament teams, splitting series against Michigan, North Dakota, CC, North Dakota again, DU, and Minnesota-Duluth. He gave up 35 goals in those 12 games. Minnesota-State, Michigan Tech, and Alabama-Huntsville were the only series all season where he gave up 2-or-fewer goals in both games. He had shutouts against North Dakota and Colorado College, but gave up 6 and 5 goals in the other game of the weekend. He's very capable of being great, and he's very capable of being chased. We saw both ends of the spectrum earlier in the year. Friday night, he stopped 34 of 36 shots. The next night, he lasted just over 23 minutes before getting the hook.
The Mavericks ice three very potent lines. Their second and third lines are completely made up of 20+ point scorers. When you've got Broadhurst-Hudson-Purslow as your third line, that's pretty good. Martin (34 points) centers Searfoss (9 goals and 13 points) and Ambroz (34 points) on the top line.
Despite a pretty good offense, the Maverick power play is middle of the pack. They rank 34th with a 17.6% success rate with the man advantage. Michigan has scored three more power play goals on nine additional opportunities to rank 24th at 18.5%.
Their PK is 20th at 83.4%, but they have scored 5 short-handed goals on the season. Michigan's PK is 25th at 82.4% with 8 shorties. So we're one percent better on the power play, they're one percent better on the PK. Michigan is +4 on special teams. The Mavericks are +3. Not really an advantage for either team.
Omaha puts a lot of shots on net. They outshot their opponent in all but four of their losses, and average 36.2 shots per game, 8.5 more than their opponents. Michigan averages 33 shots per game.
The Wolverines have an edge in the faceoff dot. They're 54.1% on the season, which I have to believe would be pretty far up the national ranks. Omaha is just a tick below even at 49.4%. Caporusso (57.7%) and Rust (56.4%) are the two best regulars in the game. Omaha does have a good one, though. Brock Montpetit is 55.8% on the season.
Omaha has won three of the last four meetings between the teams after losing eight in a row.
Other Viewpoints:
MHNet has thoughts on the West Regional and makes a fair point that we shouldn't give BC a bye to the second round (they have CC in Round One) and NoDak a bye to the Frozen Four (with a potential matchup against Denver in the second round).
The Hoover Street Rag has their typically excellent breakdown of every team in the tournament. The West Regional hasn't been done yet, so here's a link to the list as a whole. Check it tomorrow before the game. You'll be glad you did.
Go Blue M Wolverine has part one of their ridiculously-detailed preview.
Recruiting:
MHNet talked with Honeybaked's coach about Evan Allen. He loves Allen's shot. Called it "an NHL shot".
There was also a tidbit about John Gibson in Unverified Voracity today. The United State of Hockey was quite impressed, saying that he "looks like a pro goalie".
Final Thoughts:
While Michigan stumbled at Joe Louis, they've played pretty good hockey since getting thrashed by the RedHawks in Miami. Omaha has been inconsistent the entire season and have faltered on the way in to the tournament. There's no advantage for either team on special teams. Omaha has more 10+ scorers, but Michigan has more overall depth. In the end, I think Shawn Hunwick is the difference and Michigan squeaks by, despite being outshot in what ends up being a stressful game to watch.
For the four regions, I'll take:
BC over Michigan
NoDak over Denver
Miami over Notre Dame
Minnesota-Duluth over Yale
Hope I'm wrong...I usually am when I fill out brackets.
The game will air on Comcast Local, ESPN3.com, and Altitude live. ESPNU will have the game on tape delay. Both Dish Network and DirecTV carry Altitude as a part of their sports package.
GO BLUE!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thoughts on the Big Ten Hockey Conference
By now, I'm sure everyone has heard that the Big Ten will form a hockey conference for the 2013-14 season. I'm really mixed how I feel about this.
On the one hand, you've got added exposure for the sport, Michigan will play Wisconsin and Minnesota more often (which I love), State is going to get destroyed, I won't have to hear about how great the WCHA is all the time, and it opens the game up to further expansion.
On the other hand, it would be a tragedy if teams like Bowling Green, Lake State, Michigan Tech, etc. struggled to survive in a BTHC world, there's the thought that we'll lose out on some traditional rivalries, etc.
The Big Ten is a name, and a well-recognized one to boot. It adds a little extra credibility that maybe you don't get with the "Central Collegiate Hockey Association". The fact that these teams can now play for a "Big Ten Championship" is kind of cool. But the real exposure is going to come in the form of the Big Ten Network. Brian posted a ton of links, one of which mentioned that they were committing to "at least 40 games" per season. That's huge for the fans, because we'll get to see our team a lot more. It's also huge for recruiting to be able to tell a kid that he'll play on national TV 10-15 times per season minimum. Plus, as my buddy Kevin texted me when it was announced: "HD, yo!"
Additionally, the selfish part of me is really excited to get to play Wisconsin and Minnesota more often. Quite honestly, I hate Minnesota more than I hate any other team in the country. I'd absolutely take a win over Minnesota over a win against FYS any day. Living in Madison, I've grown to hate the Badgers as well. The BTHC won't start until after I'm likely living back in Michigan, but still, four games a year against these teams instead of one? Big fan. Especially if the Gophers keep sucking. (Yes, I know they killed us this year.) And it'll be a good opportunity to get back out to Madison and visit after I move back home eventually. Tie it in to the Michigan road weekend? That's good times.
State will keep getting destroyed. That's fun too. If you didn't hear, they hired the former commish of the CCHA, Tom Anastos as their new head coach. He's never been a head coach outside of U-M Dearborn's club team and hasn't coached period in 20-or-so years. MGoBlog is pointing and laughing. Spartan fans are "absolutely crushed". I kind of wonder how they're going to recruit, having been as bad as they've been for the last few years. Now they're bringing in a guy with no track record of developing players, putting guys into the NHL, or, you know, coaching. At least they'll have the Big Ten Network recruiting bump.
The other thing is that it opens the sport up to further expansion. As it is right now, Atlantic Hockey has 12 teams, the CCHA has 11, the WCHA has 12, Hockey East has 10, and the EZAC has 12. Where are you going to put anyone? The CCHA could take one, and Hockey East could take a couple if they really wanted to.
After B1G hockey comes about, the WCHA will be back down to 10, the CCHA will have 8, and the Big Ten will have 6. That's at least eight spots that are open for non-Big Ten teams (including Hockey East taking two) and that's a good thing.
I agree with Brian that there will probably be some realignment. This is a completely uneducated opinion, but back when we went through this with Omaha, Bemidji, and Huntsville, I thought that the two Alaska schools should end up in the same conference for a lot of reasons and I'm sticking to that now. You lose the Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan draw (I have a hard time believing that OSU or FYS are drawing crowds) but you could add some additional importance to a rivalry series, teams from the conference could just go up for 2 weeks at a time and knock out both of them, and you'd lower the number of teams that have to make the trek up to Alaska in the first place. (I did the math on that awhile back.)
Again, completely uneducated opinion, but I could see Tech in the CCHA or NMU back in the WCHA. There have been rumblings about Notre Dame flirting with Hockey East or Miami going to the WCHA. This is going to get interesting.
I agree with the points that MGoBlog made about the conferences being okay. Denver and NoDak are the teams to beat in the WCHA more often than not. CC and Omaha are both solid. Duluth is usually pretty good. St. Cloud is pretty good. They're still alright. The CCHA is alright as long as Miami and Notre Dame stay in the conference and stay good. The smaller schools lose the Michigan gate, but Michigan'll still end up playing them sometimes, given that a 20-game conference schedule means 16-or-so non-conference games.
My enthusiasm drops significantly if it results in some of the smaller schools dropping their program, but it doesn't seem that that's the plan for any of them--at least not yet. Also, despite what they're currently saying, I bet we see Iowa go D-1 in hockey at some point. There are so many USHL teams there....they could recruit. People in the state clearly are at least aware of hockey. I think it makes a lot of sense.
Right now, though, my immediate reaction was a positive one: More games on TV, more games in HD, more games against Minnesota and Wisconsin, at least some semblance of a recruiting bump, more exposure for this awesome sport. I know my team is one of the "haves" in this scenario, but I see a lot to like.
On the one hand, you've got added exposure for the sport, Michigan will play Wisconsin and Minnesota more often (which I love), State is going to get destroyed, I won't have to hear about how great the WCHA is all the time, and it opens the game up to further expansion.
On the other hand, it would be a tragedy if teams like Bowling Green, Lake State, Michigan Tech, etc. struggled to survive in a BTHC world, there's the thought that we'll lose out on some traditional rivalries, etc.
The Big Ten is a name, and a well-recognized one to boot. It adds a little extra credibility that maybe you don't get with the "Central Collegiate Hockey Association". The fact that these teams can now play for a "Big Ten Championship" is kind of cool. But the real exposure is going to come in the form of the Big Ten Network. Brian posted a ton of links, one of which mentioned that they were committing to "at least 40 games" per season. That's huge for the fans, because we'll get to see our team a lot more. It's also huge for recruiting to be able to tell a kid that he'll play on national TV 10-15 times per season minimum. Plus, as my buddy Kevin texted me when it was announced: "HD, yo!"
Additionally, the selfish part of me is really excited to get to play Wisconsin and Minnesota more often. Quite honestly, I hate Minnesota more than I hate any other team in the country. I'd absolutely take a win over Minnesota over a win against FYS any day. Living in Madison, I've grown to hate the Badgers as well. The BTHC won't start until after I'm likely living back in Michigan, but still, four games a year against these teams instead of one? Big fan. Especially if the Gophers keep sucking. (Yes, I know they killed us this year.) And it'll be a good opportunity to get back out to Madison and visit after I move back home eventually. Tie it in to the Michigan road weekend? That's good times.
State will keep getting destroyed. That's fun too. If you didn't hear, they hired the former commish of the CCHA, Tom Anastos as their new head coach. He's never been a head coach outside of U-M Dearborn's club team and hasn't coached period in 20-or-so years. MGoBlog is pointing and laughing. Spartan fans are "absolutely crushed". I kind of wonder how they're going to recruit, having been as bad as they've been for the last few years. Now they're bringing in a guy with no track record of developing players, putting guys into the NHL, or, you know, coaching. At least they'll have the Big Ten Network recruiting bump.
The other thing is that it opens the sport up to further expansion. As it is right now, Atlantic Hockey has 12 teams, the CCHA has 11, the WCHA has 12, Hockey East has 10, and the EZAC has 12. Where are you going to put anyone? The CCHA could take one, and Hockey East could take a couple if they really wanted to.
After B1G hockey comes about, the WCHA will be back down to 10, the CCHA will have 8, and the Big Ten will have 6. That's at least eight spots that are open for non-Big Ten teams (including Hockey East taking two) and that's a good thing.
I agree with Brian that there will probably be some realignment. This is a completely uneducated opinion, but back when we went through this with Omaha, Bemidji, and Huntsville, I thought that the two Alaska schools should end up in the same conference for a lot of reasons and I'm sticking to that now. You lose the Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan draw (I have a hard time believing that OSU or FYS are drawing crowds) but you could add some additional importance to a rivalry series, teams from the conference could just go up for 2 weeks at a time and knock out both of them, and you'd lower the number of teams that have to make the trek up to Alaska in the first place. (I did the math on that awhile back.)
Again, completely uneducated opinion, but I could see Tech in the CCHA or NMU back in the WCHA. There have been rumblings about Notre Dame flirting with Hockey East or Miami going to the WCHA. This is going to get interesting.
I agree with the points that MGoBlog made about the conferences being okay. Denver and NoDak are the teams to beat in the WCHA more often than not. CC and Omaha are both solid. Duluth is usually pretty good. St. Cloud is pretty good. They're still alright. The CCHA is alright as long as Miami and Notre Dame stay in the conference and stay good. The smaller schools lose the Michigan gate, but Michigan'll still end up playing them sometimes, given that a 20-game conference schedule means 16-or-so non-conference games.
My enthusiasm drops significantly if it results in some of the smaller schools dropping their program, but it doesn't seem that that's the plan for any of them--at least not yet. Also, despite what they're currently saying, I bet we see Iowa go D-1 in hockey at some point. There are so many USHL teams there....they could recruit. People in the state clearly are at least aware of hockey. I think it makes a lot of sense.
Right now, though, my immediate reaction was a positive one: More games on TV, more games in HD, more games against Minnesota and Wisconsin, at least some semblance of a recruiting bump, more exposure for this awesome sport. I know my team is one of the "haves" in this scenario, but I see a lot to like.
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