The Blog That Yost Built

FYS Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:56:00 +0000

It's fitting that Michigan is playing against Little Brother this week, given that Brian Hoyer got to be Tom Brady's water boy in another Super Bowl, Mario Manningham made a game-changing play that gave Greg Jones a chance to propose to his girlfriend, and the eyes of the hockey world were on Ann Arbor as the NHL wants to play their Winter Classic at Marcia, Marcia, Marcia's stadium! It's not fair, dammit!

Anyway, Friday night's game is at Munn Library and Ice Arena while Saturday's contest will be at Joe Louis Arena. The Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Detroit will air the respective games.

The Wolverines will play Friday night without Chris Brown, who was suspended for his altercation with Miami's Will Weber on Saturday night.

The Shartans sit in a tie with LSSU for seventh place in the CCHA, though FYS is just one point behind Ohio and Miami and has two games in hand on both of them.

Sparty returns home after playing their last four on the road. They were swept by Ferris State and then swept the Buckeyes in Columbus, as Ohio continues their free-fall from the top spot in the rankings to possibly landing out of the NCAA Tournament.

They rank 15th in the nation in offense at 3.13 goals per game, but have just one player with 10+ goals, and that's Mike Merrifield with 11. They do, however, have six players with 8+ goals. Sophomore forward Lee Reimer leads the team in points with 8-19--27. Torey Krug has 8-16--24 from back on the blueline, including five goals on the power play.

Merrifield got off to a very fast start, but has only put up 3-1--4 since the start of December. Assist-leader Reimer has been in a slump as well. He has just four assists in 2012 and hasn't scored since a 1-1--2 performance the last time these teams met at Munn. Krug has 10 points in his last 7.

In net, it's been almost a dead-split between DREW PALMISANO IS FROM ANN ARBOR and Willie Yanakeff, who played for the NTDP in Ann Arbor. Yanakeff has outperformed the senior, however. He has a 10-5-1 record to Palmisano's 5-6-3. Yanakeff leads in GAA 2.37 to 2.77 and has a .927 save percentage compared to Palmisano's .914. That said, the Wolverines put four past Yanakeff at Yost, and Palmisano has given up 7 on 87 shots in two games against Michigan (a shootout win when he acted like they won the Stanley Cup and an overtime loss in the GLI).

Palmisano has only played three games since the GLI Championship game, and has given up 11 goals, including 9 in his last two starts. Yanakeff has played in seven games this calendar year and has three 40-save performances to his credit in that span. I'd imagine we'll see both goalies.

The Spartans have a 15.9% power play, which is actually one slot in the rankings behind Michigan's 16.1%. They've scored one fewer power play goal on five fewer chances with the man advantage. They're very good on the PK however. They rank second nationally with an 89.1% (and the team ahead of them is Robert Morris, so for all intents and purposes, the Spartans are the best penalty killing team in the country). They've given up 13 power play goals on 119 chances. Michigan has climbed the ranks up to #15, as they've been phenomenal since these teams last met. Michigan has given up 20 PPGs on 127 short-handed occasions (84.3%).

David Wohlberg has been an absolute Spartan-killer in his career. He is far and away the tops on the team against FYS, with a 9-8--17 line in 18 career games. The next highest on the Wolverines in points is Chris Brown, with 8 in 13 games. He'll only get one crack at them this weekend.

Shawn Hunwick is 6-2-1 with a 1.94/.929 against Michigan State in his career.

Winter Classic Official; GLI Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:30:00 +0000

At long last, the outdoor games over the Christmas season are now official. After the Regents voted yesterday to rent Michigan Stadium to the NHL, the NHL announced today that the Red Wings and Maple Leafs will play at the Big House on January 1, 2013 in the Winter Classic. That is, if the CBA situation is settled. #buzzkill

Additionally, a second rink will be constructed at Comerica Park. Among the games featured on that rink will be the 2012 GLI, which will include Michigan, FYS, Michigan Tech, and Western Michigan. St. Cloud State was previously thought to be the fourth team involved, but were reportedly told that the organizers wanted a fourth Michigan team.

Both days of the GLI will be outdoors at Comerica Park, which means that the outgoing senior class will have played in five outdoor games by the time their careers end.

Also, of particular interest to me, the Red Wings and Maple Leafs will have an alumni game. The goalies for Detroit are rumored to be Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon, and Dominik Hasek. Hasek is my favorite player ever outside of Yzerman, and is probably the funniest player to watch that I've ever seen. It greatly excites me that there might be another opportunity to see him strap on the pads. No word on if CuJo will play and switch teams in the middle of the game.

There has been a lot of talk about outdoor games losing their appeal and I just don't see it. I get that the novelty is wearing off, but I've been to all four that Michigan has played in, and I'm going to do everything in my power to be at Comerica and the Big House this Christmas season. Having two Original Six teams playing in Michigan Stadium is special. Having the GLI outdoors is special. According to College Hockey Inc, it will be the first tournament title decided outdoors since the 1950s. It probably wouldn't be the worst idea for Michigan to give it a break for a couple of years after the GLI. That said, outdoor games in general: If they're shifting the teams around, the novelty isn't wearing off for the individual fanbases. There's something about your team participating in one of these games that really is special. I hope the trend keeps up and more clubs have a chance to host, because it really is an awesome way to engage people that might not otherwise come out, and it's a unique experience for players, coaches, and fans.

As part of the deal for Michigan Stadium, the NHL will pay Michigan $3 million and will also donate a significant amount of money (reported to be at least $250,000) to the University of Michigan for scholarships. Like it or not--and from the sound of it, most people are on board--Dave Brandon found an additional way to pack the Big House, outside of the Michigan football home slate. It's a huge amount of money for the Athletic Department, and will help with the renovations, buildings, and new sports teams. It's also a huge boon to Ann Arbor. Brandon said he expects it to generate $14 million for the local economy. I'd imagine this will be more than the Big Chill, since we'll have a bunch of visitors from across the border spending their loonies and twonies.

Gary Bettman said that they expect to have more demand for tickets than they can satisfy with the 115,000-or-so tickets that will be made available. Bettman also went on:

“Based on what we’re doing for this Winter Classic and Detroit, I’m not sure if anyone’s going to be able to top it. (That’s) both in terms of the number of events and the sheer enormity of how fans can connect to it.”

This is going to be a huge event for the city of Detroit, the city of Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan. Anyone who was at The Big Chill knows how great the stadium can be for hockey. It was a first-class event, and the NHL has some work to do if they're going to live up to that one.

Turning attention to the Great Lakes Invitational at Comerica Park, College Hockey Inc posted a picture of a possible rink configuration. The sight-lines (at least from this spot) look great!

Other News:
Max Pacioretty had a hat trick tonight for Montreal in a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders. It was his first career hat trick and also gave him the first 20-goal season of his career. He has 22-19--41 in 52 games to lead the Habs in both goals and points.

Speaking of Max Pacioretty, this story will make you proud that he is a Wolverine. Pacioretty started a foundation which is trying to raise money for the hospital where he was cared for after the vicious hit he took last year.

Earlier this year, I suggested that it's time the NCAA fought back against the dirty recruiting tactics of the CHL, and it appears that they're doing just that. According to the Grand Forks Herald, College Hockey Inc. is working to enact legislation to prevent players from jumping to the CHL for one year after they've signed their National Letter of Intent. The United States of Hockey has been covering the story and explains how the transfer agreement between the US and Canada could play a role. Chris also covers some of the pros and cons. Bravo to College Hockey Inc. Here's hoping that they can find a way to make it work. I'm okay with kids changing their mind. But once they sign the Letter of Intent, it's officially too late to find anyone else if they bail. Making the LOI binding would at least allow coaches to know how committed a kid was, and recruit as if he wasn't coming if he didn't sign when he was able to. Love it.

Michigan 3, Miami 0

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:35:00 +0000

If it wasn't already there, I'd like to think that Shawn Hunwick thrust his name right into the thick of the Hobey conversation with another sparkling performance--this one a 29-stop gem that led the Wolverines to a sweep of Miami. Lee Moffie scored twice, Chris Brown added as pretty of a goal as you'll see all season, and the CCHA officials peed down their legs once again. All in a day's work.

If you don't like 5-on-5 hockey, you loved the first period of this game. Of the first 14 minutes, ten of them were played with one team up a man. Usually it was Miami. Pateryn, Hyman, Brown, and Wohlberg were all called for infractions in the first 12 minutes of the game (and Miami got whistled for too many men).

The RedHawks weren't able to generate a shot on their first power play of the game. On the second, Hunwick made a sparkling stop on either Vogelhuber or Murphy, sprawling to the ice and somehow managing to keep the puck out of the net. While shorthanded, Kevin Lynch started a Michigan rush with a great breakout pass that led to a 3-on-1 for the Wolverines. Glendening went cross-ice to Moffie who sniped one past Connor Knapp to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

Miami nearly tied it up right away, but Hunwick made a great stop on Murphy. The penalty killers kept up their good work. Brown hit a player from behind and the RedHawks managed two shots and nothing more. Then Wohlberg threw a shot toward the net after the whistle, got violently cross-checked in the back by Weber, a scrum ensued and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Wohlberg ended up being the difference there. Once again, the Wolverine PK was stellar, holding Miami without a shot and managing two of their own.

So after the first 13:50 of the game, the RedHawks had had nearly eight full minutes of power play time. In that 7:57 span with Miami up a man, shots were 5-5 and goals were 1-0 in favor of the Wolverines. That is some penalty killing!

Hyman nearly scored on a wraparound shot that bounced around in between Knapp's legs, but stayed out. The period ended with Michigan leading 1-0.

Early in the second, Vogelhuber was called for hitting Wohlberg from behind. Michigan's best chance on the PP was Guptill backdoor, but neither team was credited with a shot on goal during that power play. Just six seconds after the penalty ended, however, Moffie was at the right point and went down low to Moffatt. Moffatt sent it to Treais in the middle of the ice, who laid a pass perfectly for Moffie who was cruising into the slot. He buried it for his second of the night, and Michigan led 2-0. Really, really pretty play there.

Hyman set up Moffatt for a good look and Knapp made a great save. Then Hyman fed Sparks, who rung one off the post.

Pateryn was called for high-sticking late in the period, but Michigan held the RedHawks to one shot, and took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. The Wolverine penalty killers had to come up big again in the third, this time on a bench minor for too many men. They held Miami without a shot on a power play that was abbreviated when Brian Paulazzo hooked Kevin Clare. Clare went hard into the boards very awkwardly, but luckily he was okay.

That power play led to the turning point in the game. Jon Merrill took a slapshot and broke his stick. While he went to the bench to get a new one, Miami was able to break the puck out and spring Matt Tomassoni on a breakaway. Hunwick made a nice save and Moffie was able to clear the puck away as it inched toward the goal line. After play continued for a couple of minutes, there was finally a stoppage and Brian Hill reviewed the play. The replay showed that it was about as close as it could possibly get. We didn't have access to the overhead look, but it appeared that Moffie cleared the puck out when it sat right on the goal line. It was probably more over the goal line than not, but you couldn't see any white space. Hill waived the goal off and Blasi, who was able to see the replay on the Megatron, went bonkers.

After Blasi's rant, Hill went back into the penalty box for another look. The commentators commended him for taking another look to make sure he got it right. I feel the exact opposite. Going back to take another look completely undermined his credibility. All it said was, "I didn't do a good enough job the first time and I'm not confident in my ruling." If the video was inconclusive, it was inconclusive and it's no goal. If it showed the puck in the net, call it a goal. If it didn't, call it no goal. You already made the decision that there was no angle that showed the puck in the net. Tell Blasi to STFU and let's play.

Shockingly, no new video evidence surfaced from the last time he stepped into the penalty box, and Hill again ruled it no goal. I have a feeling the roof would have blown off of Yost if he had changed his mind after being argued into taking another look. Even if the puck did go in, we're still about 499 missed calls against Miami in our favor away from making up for the hose-job in Fort Wayne. Just saying. But that puck wasn't in the net. I whole-heartedly support a verification line. Or lasers.

Michigan then iced the game on as pretty of a goal as you'll see this season. Brown took a pass from Wohlberg and brought it into the zone one-against-two. He puck the puck through Will Weber's legs, stepped around him, and ripped it past Knapp. Brown Tebowed. Weber broke his stick over the net, much to the delight of the Children of Yost who had serenaded him with "Weber sucks" for much of the game after his fairly dirty play this weekend.

Then all hell broke loose. Spinell planted Bennett with hands to the face and was ejected for contact to the head. Almost immediately afterwards (like, 20 seconds), Pateryn was ejected for contact to the head. The RedHawks pulled their goalie down by 3, and after a defenseman made a save on Travis Lynch, Reilly Smith was called for charging.

The Wolverines got another shot on goal and Alex Guptill took a light poke at the goalie after the save. Three RedHawk players went after him and Guptill slashed at one. A melee ensued that resulted in Chris Brown and Will Weber dropping the gloves. When the penalties were sorted out, both Brown and Weber were given DQs for fighting, Guptill was called for slashing, and four other players were given roughing minors. We were treated to some rare 3-on-3 hockey, and the game ended with a 3-0 Michigan win.

After the game, Red Berenson opened his press conference by instruction reports to not ask him about the officiating. He later criticized Blasi for not controlling his players, and suggested that Miami took some liberties, knowing that they've got a pair of games against the worst team in the country next weekend.

All in all, it was what I've come to expect when Keith Sergott is officiating a series. There will be dangerous plays that go uncalled, wildly inconsistent officiating, a couple periods that are almost entirely power plays, and he'll ultimately completely lose control. Luckily we got out of this one without anyone being assaulted. Add in Hill's complete unprofessionalism by allowing a coach to badger him into re-evaluating a judgment ruling that he had already made, and you've got a duo that really doesn't need to be calling any more important games this year. Or ever. There's a reason that things blow up every time Sergott is around. He can't handle heated rivalries and he shouldn't be calling these type of games.

The wins, combined with OSU's continued struggles, and surprising losses by Notre Dame (to BGSU) and WMU (to Alaska), jumped the Wolverines up into 3rd in the conference. They now sit just 3 points behind CCHA-leading Ferris State and just one point behind Western Michigan. The top 8 in the conference are separated by a mere 6 points, though Miami and Ohio have played two more games than everyone else (they both have 36).

It was also a very good weekend for the Wolverines in the PWR. Minnesota-Duluth plummeted after a loss to Alaska-Anchorage and the Wolverines moved into a tie for second behind BU. They edge out the surprising UMass-Lowell (who now has the best record in college hockey) in the RPI tie-breaker.

Miami is in 18th in the PWR. Good.

Lost in the fisticuffs was the fact that Red Berenson moved into 5th place all by himself on the all-time wins list.

Hunwick moved into 4th place in the history of the program with his ninth-career shutout. He also now ranks second nationally in wins, is fifth in save percentage, and ninth in goals-against. Hobey. Seriously.

Of the eight guys in front of him in GAA, four come from minor conferences (Union, Niagara, RIT, Quinnipiac), and he's played twice as many minutes as Knapp and CJ Motte. Only Douglas Carr from UML and Kent Patterson from Minnesota are from major conferences, have played around as many minutes, and have a better GAA. And Patterson is only .01 ahead.

The four guys ahead of him in save percentage play for Niagara, Union, RIT, and Robert Morris. And none of them are within 225 saves of him.

The PK gave up 6 shots on 6 Miami power plays. Once again, the RedHawks spent more than a half-period's worth of time (11:05) on the power play and came away with -1 goals to show for it. Michigan has now killed 31 of 32 penalties since Jon Merrill has returned, and, with the short-handed goal, is actually net-even when killing off penalties over the last eight games. They're up to 16th now, and are within .7% of cracking the top ten, which is remarkable.

The Wolverines will now head to East Lansing to take on FYS in a road/Joe series. Chris Brown will have to sit Friday night due to his suspension. BTN and Fox Sports Detroit will carry the games.

Michigan 4, Miami 1

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:14:00 +0000

It's a big game when Denard is in the house!
Photo Credit: Bill Rapai

The birthday boys stepped up in a big way for the Wolverines last night. Chris Brown and Jon Merrill both turned a year older on Friday, and today is AJ Treais's birthday. Those three players combined for 3 goals and 2 assists as Michigan drew ever-closer to getting back into the race for a CCHA crown by downing the Miami RedHawks 4-1.

Michigan got on top early, used a strong first period to build a three-goal lead, and never appeared to be in any danger of relinquishing it, outside of a 1 1/2 minute span in the early second period. Shawn Hunwick stopped 24 of 25 shots and the special teams were fantastic in the victory.

Chris Brown got things started 1:40 into the contest. Just moments after Alex Guptill narrowly missed on a goal-mouth pass from Brown, Brown took it himself on a 2-on-1 and beat Cody Reichard 5-hole to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. The Children of Yost raised the Texas flag, the band played "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and Yost was rocking!

Photo Credit: Bill Rapai

Luke Glendening planted a RedHawk player, won the battle for the puck, and got it over to AJ Treais. He had PDG with him, but ripped a shot past Reichard to make it 2-0. That was a snipe right there.

Reilly Smith took a high-sticking penalty and early in the Michigan power play, Will Weber was called for roughing after the whistle. That was an interesting situation. He drilled one of the Wolverines from behind (Wohlberg I think). It could have been five, was certainly two, and it went uncalled. Something happened behind the play, and Weber was given a penalty. From the sound of it, Wohlberg took exception to the hit and there was a scrum? We didn't get a replay of it. Anyway, Blasi was pissed, but if they hadn't missed the original call, we would have had the same result: Long 5-on-3 for Michigan.

And the Wolverines capitalized. Treais had the puck in the corner and centered a pass for Luke Moffatt. It deflected in and Michigan took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Blasi was pissed.

Blasi was less than thrilled with Keith Sergott. Join the crowd.
Photo credit: Bill Rapai

The RedHawks changed goalies after one and came out with Connor Knapp. Early in the second it looked like Miami was going to get back into the game. Their star, Reilly Smith, took a shot that looked like it handcuffed Hunwick a little bit. It found its way into the back of the net and Miami got back within 2 just 30 seconds into the second period.

If that was just what the RedHawks needed, they certainly didn't need the too many men on the ice call a minute later. It took the Wolverines just twenty second to capitalize with the man advantage. Jon Merrill took a shot from the point and Luke Moffatt got a gorgeous tip on it. It went up over Knapp and Michigan had their 3-goal lead back. That would be the only shot the Wolverines would put on net in the second period. Miami outshot Michigan 11-1 in the frame, but the goals ended up 1-1.

The third period was mainly Miami gooning it up and Michigan getting called for it. Hunwick was run over for the third or fourth time in the game and Pateryn was called for cross-checking. This was the Miami MO: With any contact around the net, take it as an opportunity to plow Hunwick and blame it on the defenseman. It worked, largely because Keith Sergott and Brian Hill are nincompoops. Anyway, the puck don't lie, the penalty killing was terrific, and Michigan kept Miami off the board.

With 1.2 seconds left in the contest, Blake Coleman ran over Hunwick yet again. It was at this point that the officials decided to make him pay. Coleman received a five-minute major for charging, which, with 1 second left in the game, they might as well have really sent him a message and given him an eleventy-billion minute penalty. Quite honestly, that was probably the least-severe of all the times Miami ran into Hunwick in the game. You know what would send a message? Call the same thing the first time they do it tonight, and give them a penalty that they actually have to serve.

You'll remember that Sergott was the official a few weeks back at Notre Dame, when he let the Irish run Hunwick at every opportunity and usually just evened things up on the rare occasion that he did call anything. He was also the official when Steve Kampfer was attacked by Andrew Conboy and Corey Tropp. He was also the official of the ND/WMU game when the wrong player got ejected. Even if you set the bar for your officials at "Don't endanger players with your incompetence", Sergott fails in a big way. He shouldn't be reffing BGSU/Alabama-Huntsville, let alone high-profile games.

Let's talk about the Michigan special teams. Much-maligned for most of this year, both units were special (in the good way) last night. The power-play was two for their first three, and ended the game 2-for-5 with five shots on net. The penalty kill killed off 10:12 of Miami power play time. They did surrender 10 shots on goal, but kept the RedHawks off the board. This was especially crucial during the second period when it was "Get Miami back into the game because Rico is mad" time, and Miami spent 40% of the period with the man-advantage.

How big has the return of Merrill been? When Merrill made his return after the GLI, Michigan was 76/95 on the PK (80.0%). They have gone 25/26 (96.1%) since then and are now 23rd in the country at 83.5%.

Before Merrill's return, opponents were averaging 2.6 goals per game (57 goals in 22 games). Michigan has given up just 10 goals in the seven games he's been back (1.43 goals per game) and now ranks 10th in team defense (2.31 goals a night). It would be a mistake to give him all the credit for the turnaround, but when you add your best player back into the lineup, it certainly is a boost, and the numbers have shown that.

The teams return to the ice tonight at 7:35. The game will air on the CBS Sports Network.

The Venue: Not a Mundane Detail, Michael

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:49:00 +0000

So, about the OHL playing a game at Michigan Stadium thing. Not happening, from the sound of it!

After Dave Ablauf told the Michigan Daily that the rumors were "not true" this morning, Matt Slovin was able to further confirm:

[A]n OHL source with one of the teams involved informed the Daily that the league is, in fact, planning an outdoor doubleheader. The source went on to name Detroit’s Comerica Park as the most likely venue.

A couple of others asked around and heard similar things. Spath talked with Red about it and apparently got the glare. Sorry, Mike! (And sorry to Dave Brandon for blowing up his Twitter feed, though I still think that was a good exercise, just in case there were any lingering thoughts!)

As for the original source of the rumor, there's this now:

As soon as I heard last night that Comerica is likely setting up a rink I agree that that will be the site of #OHL DH Dec. 31

So as it turns out, this:

Can confirm NHL has approved the CHL request to play an outdoor DH @ Big House Dec. 31st. Teams not confirmed but LDN/SAG, WSR/PLY likely

...turned out to be not entirely true and wasn't actually based on any knowledge of the venue. The other reporter for CTV, Norman James, is now saying Comerica Park as well:

What we know at this point is that the NHL has approved a CHL request to hold multiple outdoor games December 31st in Detroit. The target venue seems to be Comerica Park, where we could see the Knights and Spitfires in action against the OHL's two Michigan based clubs.

That makes much more sense. It's closer to Windsor, closer to London, roughly the same distance from Plymouth, and no one in Saginaw gives a crap anyway. Plus you aren't making Red Berenson's head explode. Or mine.

Anyway, in hindsight, I wish I had tweeted at the original reporter and asked the "Are you sure it's the Big House and not Comerica?" question before calling in the cavalry, but he posted three different times saying basically, "confirmed request to play" "at the Big House".

For something like that, I didn't want to wait to hear it actually being confirmed before I reacted. Remember the uproar over SBC wanting to purchase the naming rights for the Michigan/Ohio football game, and how Michigan eventually called it off? To me, this story was like that. Except times a billion.

I'm happy to hear that Michigan hasn't sold their souls, from the sound of it. There is still that tiny part of me that remembers they denied the Winter Classic rumors at first as well, but Comerica makes much more sense for a lot of reasons.

If nothing else, I got to remind everyone once again why the OHL is evil, and I like doing that. It was also really rewarding to get to see the passion in our fanbase. Thank you to everyone who immediately took up the cause. That was pretty cool to see.

Just Say No to the OHL

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:11:00 +0000

I don't get riled up all that often, but I saw something on Twitter tonight that needs to be stopped if there's even one hint of truth to it (and you know I'm serious since I'm more than willing to deploy single-sentence paragraphs and single word sentences in this post!):

According to a tweet by Brent Lale, a reporter for CTV in London, Ontario, the NHL has approved a request by the CHL to play an outdoor double-header at Michigan Stadium as part of the Winter Classic festivities. London vs. Saginaw and Windsor vs. Plymouth are the rumored teams. Sportsnet would be televising it.

This needs to be stopped immediately.

The OHL is a competing product. They steal our recruits. They play dirty and continue to recruit players after they've signed with colleges. They steal players during the season when it's too late for the NCAA team to replace them. They do everything they can to convince prospects that the CHL is a superior path to the NHL. Michigan should not be allowing them to use our beautiful stadium to showcase their product.

Trevor Lewis. Jared Knight. AJ Jenks. Jack Campbell. John Gibson. Robbie Czarnik. Lucas Lessio. Tyler Swystun. Danny Richmond. Jason Bailey. All players that have committed to Michigan, signed with Michigan, or played for Michigan, before being poached by teams in the CHL in the not-so-distant past. If you want to go back further, do Mike Comrie and Mike Van Ryn ring a bell? I'm sure there are more.

To this point, I've only talked about kids affiliated with Michigan. Need more evidence? A couple of the rumored teams played roles in the mass exodus of NCAA-bound players to the OHL this summer. Plymouth signed JT Miller, a North Dakota recruit. Saginaw signed Jamie Oleksiak, a defenseman who would have been entering his sophomore year with Northeastern. Additionally, Gibson bailed from Michigan after signing a Letter of Intent. Reid Boucher, a Michigan State recruit, signed with Sarnia. Connor Murphy passed up Miami to sign with Sarnia as well. And that was all in about a week's span. Not to mention BU and BC lost a trio of much younger recruits as well.

Michigan wouldn't let Michigan State and Ohio State play an outdoor game in Michigan Stadium, and rightfully so. They're competitors. Why would you give them an opportunity for the positive publicity that an outdoor game at Michigan Stadium in conjunction with the NHL's Winter Classic would provide? You wouldn't. It would be stupid. Don't do anything to help your rivals, especially if they'd never return the favor.

The same thing applies here. The OHL is not only not a friend to college hockey, they're an enemy. Truth be told, I'd be less offended if it was FYS and Ohio State playing in our stadium than I am about the prospect about OHL teams playing there. There's no way in hell they'd extend the same invitation to a collegiate team if the situation was reversed, unless they thought there was some way that they could steal a player or two while the team was in Canada.

The NCAA, and specifically Michigan, should do NOTHING to accommodate them in any way, shape or form. If the OHL wants an outdoor game, they can host one in Canada or have it at Comerica with the rest of the ancillary events.

There have been some people that think having pro hockey in Michigan Stadium taints the Big House in some way. I don't feel the same way about the NHL, but I certainly do feel that way about the O. They don't belong anywhere near Michigan Stadium. Not as long as the playing field is so unequal with regard to poaching players. The thought of having an OHL game (or two) at the Big House is souring me on the whole thought of the Winter Classic there, and that's too bad since I'm probably one of the people who was most excited about it initially.

And the teams they're throwing around? Windsor STOLE OUR MOTHER FREAKING GOALIE (thank God for Shawn Hunwick) and they have the rights to Evan Allen and Phil Di Giuseppe. Plymouth took Robbie Czarnik mid-season, signed AJ Jenks away, and don't think for a second they didn't immediately call Jon Merrill when his suspension was announced. London signed *anny Richmon* away, landed Michigan-commit Jared Knight and convinced Max Domi to not go the college route (the latter isn't that big of a deal, but I figured I'd mention it since he was a pretty high-profile recruit). They've been one of the most troublesome OHL teams from an NCAA perspective over the years. Saginaw just acquired the rights to Boo Nieves and they have the rights to JT Compher.

None of this even includes future players that are deciding between the NCAA (specifically Michigan) and the OHL. Michigan is constantly in a battle with this league for recruits and they're constantly fighting a (one-sided) battle to keep the recruits that have already signed (or the players that are already on the friggin team). It would be the ultimate kick in the face to see Phil Di Giuseppe and Evan Allen playing at Michigan Stadium for the Windsor Spitfires next year.

This. Cannot. Happen.

I seriously urge everyone to email or tweet at Dave Brandon and make your feelings known. I'd hope that Red has as well. Based on the initial reaction from people on Twitter, I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. Maybe it's too late, or maybe it's no longer in his control. Maybe it's just a silly internet rumor that I'm freaking out about for nothing. But just on the off-chance this happens--or could happen--I don't want to sit quietly.

The OHL has no business playing a game at Michigan Stadium. They're a competitor--and not one that competes in good faith. They're not our friend. If Windsor could find a way to steal Di Giuseppe away, they'd do it in a heartbeat. We should not be helping them to market their product. The answer shouldn't be "Yes" if they ask to use the ice at Michigan Stadium. It actually shouldn't even be "No". It should be something more along the lines of, "Hell no. Go **** yourselves." Slam phone down.

I'm 100% behind the AD making money. I have a very progressive view in this regard. I'm firmly of the belief that if you don't want advertising in Michigan Stadium but you want renovations to Michigan Stadium, Crisler, and Yost, and you want a basketball practice facility, lacrosse teams, etc. that the AD needs to have the ability to host events like the Winter Classic. You're going to get Arby's sponsoring The Big Chill. It's unreasonable to ask them to ignore all these potential sources of revenue. But this is the ultimate in selling out. You'd be letting a dirty competitor come into your house, use it to help market their product, indirectly (or directly) steal players away from you, and make it harder for your own team to compete. And for the minimal amount of revenue that a pair of OHL games would provide.

This. Absolutely. Cannot. Happen.

Edit: Some good news today, as Michigan's Dave Ablauf has called the rumors "not true" and an OHL source has confirmed to the Michigan Daily's Matt Slovin that a doubleheader is in the works, but suggested that Comerica Park is the most likely location, which is how it should be.

That said, Michigan initially denied the Winter Classic rumors when they first came out. It is certainly comforting to hear that one of the OHL teams involved is saying Comerica as well, though.

Michigan Splits at Notre Dame

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Hunwick was sharp both games this weekend, earning himself a #2 and #1 star

The Wolverines and Fighting Irish entered the weekend tied for fifth in the PWR and two points apart in the CCHA standings and that's how they remain. Notre Dame won Friday night's contest 3-1 (with a late empty-netter). On Saturday, the Wolverines got out to a 2-0 first-period lead before hanging on to win 2-1.

On Friday, Notre Dame made it their goal to seemingly hit Shawn Hunwick as much as possible and try to get in his head. They ran into him, slashed him after the whistle, high-sticked him, at least a half-dozen times (many in the first period alone). The first instance led to a power play. Then the incompetent boobs officiating the game, Keith Sergott and Barry Pochmara, decided to basically let ND do whatever they wanted to our goalie. At one point, Hunwick got frustrated enough that he threw his stick to the ice after a scrum. I thought they then called him for unsportsmanlike conduct--that seemed to be the consensus on the telecast as well--but in the box score they've got him down for slashing. I'm guessing the reaction was based on them evening it up after he got slammed into for at least the fifth time.

Outside of Notre Dame hitting anything that moved--or wore goalie pads--the game was characterized by Michigan failing to convert on some gorgeous scoring chances. Steve Summerhays played very well--he was the #1 star (and Hunwick was 2)--but a lot of the problems were self-induced. Chris Brown had Summerhays beat on a breakaway late in the first period and rung it off the bar. Just after Notre Dame made it 2-0, Brown led a 3-on-1, decided to shoot, and missed the net high. In the third, with the game 2-1, Derek DeBlois walked in all alone after a Riley Sheahan turnover and missed the net. It was that kind of night.

After Michigan failed to take advantage of an early power play for Hunwick getting run over, Pateryn was sent to the box for a fairly normal slash. On that power play, Hunwick absolutely robbed Sheahan off a great pass from Tynan, who was spectacular on Friday night.

Wohlberg was called for holding, but the best chance on that power play was Mac Bennett's, who was the recipient of an awful turnover from Robbie Russo. He walked in all alone and Summerhays made a good stop. Moffatt just missed connecting with PDG on a 2-on-1. The pass was a little behind him.

Notre Dame made it 1-0 on a rush by TJ Tynan. He brought the puck in, faked the shot and got Hunwick down, then circled behind the net and fed a cutting Sam Calabrese. Calabrese juuuuust snuck the puck inside the far post.

The Irish then hit Hunwick again. Michigan came to his aid this time and somehow things ended up evened up. Apparently Hunwick slashed someone. Probably the guy that nailed him. Shortly thereafter, he got slashed on the glove after he had the puck covered. Hunwick was clearly getting aggravated and the refs didn't want to hear any of it. I was worried at this point because it seemed like Hunwick's head wasn't in the game, but, outside of throwing his stick down at one point, he handled it well.

Wohlberg was blatantly hauled down driving the net, no call, though they did call both players for roughing as they came back up ice. The first period of this game was just awful officiating.

Brown then intercepted a Sheahan drop pass and that put him off to the races. He beat Summerhays clean, but put it off the bar.

Things calmed down in the second period. Michigan failed to convert on an early power play, earned when Hyman was hauled down.

Notre Dame had a few chances on a scramble, Hunwick got knocked down again, Michigan came up ice and both Treias and Glendening had chances, then ND came back and scored. They rushed the puck up on a 3-on-2. Bennett took his man to the boards, then Pateryn went down to block a centering attempt. Calabrese got deep into the zone and finally threw one at the net. Hunwick blockered it away, but it went right to Lorenz, who was able to score on the rebound.

Bennett was then on the good end and bad end of a couple of scoring chances. He made a slick move through the offensive zone, but Summerhays made a stop, then Sheahan absolutely walked him and shot high.

Kevin Lynch had a good opportunity to get Michigan on the board, but couldn't pull the trigger with an empty net to shoot at. His line (both Lynches and DeBlois) was very good in the second frame. They had a really good shift right before intermission as well.

Early in the third, Mike Voran was called for tripping and the Wolverines were able to capitalize. They had some really nice passing to get the puck down to the goalie's left, reverse it back to the right, and then Pateryn's shot was tipped in by Alex Guptill...

...and immediately after the ensuing faceoff, Luke Glendening was called for boarding. Not a play that you want to see out of your senior captain. It didn't come back to bite Michigan as DeBlois had the best chance of the power play off another horrible Sheahan turnover.

Lynch was then sprung on a breakaway. Sheahan hooked him very early and there was a delayed call. Lynch came in, was slashed worse than what Pateryn got called for, and it prevented him from getting a good scoring chance. The original penalty was the only thing that was called. Later on the NBC telecast, Kerry Fraser, longtime NHL official, questioned why that wasn't a penalty shot. It would have taken some cojones to whistle them for two infractions on the same play, but the slash was worse than the hook that was being called in the first place.

Michigan had two more good chances to tie the game up, but Clare shot wide with Summerhays down and out, and then the ND netminder made a very good save on Wohlberg off a great centering feed from Brown.

Hunwick then kept the Wolverines in the game with a big stop on Voran. Voran caught up to an alley-oop pass and cut to his left to try to get around Hunwick, but Hunwick stayed with him and just got a toe on it. The defense then lost Costello, someone (Tynan maybe?) fed him in the slot, and Hunwick got over to make the save.

Summerhays then made his stop of the night as PDG worked some Datsyukian magic down behind the net, shrugged his defender, and fed Treais in front. Treais got a good shot away going five-hole, but Summerhays made the stop.

The Wolverines got Hunwick to the bench and had one good opportunity off a Moffie feed, but then Jon Merrill bombed a shot right into Billy Maday's shin pads and it put him off to the races with an empty net. He didn't miss. Merrill did have some traffic in front if the shot got through. It was fitting that the game ended on another ND blocked shot. They blocked 16 attempts on the night, and that was Maday's third.

For the game, Notre Dame outshot Michigan 35-31 and outhit them badly, though I don't have the final stats on that.

Treais had a stellar individual effort for the GWG on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Bill Rapai

On Saturday, there were some good chances early on. Anders Lee hit the bar right out of the gate. Sparks, back in the lineup for the first time in a month, had two or three good chances early. Then Larson hit the post, though Hunwick had that side completely covered and didn't really give him much else to shoot at.

The Wolverines went to a power play after Lee was called for tripping and they capitalized. PDG fed Treais and Summerhays stopped him, but later in the power play, Guptill got a tip on a Pateryn shot from the point for his second tip-in from Pateryn in as many nights. Berenson would later compare his goal to something that Holmstrom would do. Guptill called it high-praise.

Merrill went for a hit and it led to an odd-man rush. Sparks got back but ND had a couple of very good scoring chances. Pateryn then went for a hit and got called for kneeing. It was pretty much the same thing that Maday did to Hyman (uncalled) the night before. Sparks then shot the puck into a crowd of players, got a ten-minute misconduct for him, and I'm not sure we saw him back on the ice the rest of the night. He certainly didn't do anything noticeable after that. Probably not the way to endear yourself to the coaches after sitting out for a month and a half. I thought he did some good things in the first period, though. He even had a nice defensive play.

After the kill, Costello was sent to the box for slashing Guptill and the Michigan power play struck again. PDG kept the puck in at the line and Treais picked it up. He cut all the way across the zone, got the defenseman to bite on a fake shot, got Summerhays off his angle, and then snapped it past him to the far side. That was a great, great goal.

Notre Dame pulled within one early in the second as Wuthrich went to the front of the net unmolested and Lee found him.

Moffie saved a goal with a nice defensive play after some fancy passing by the Irish. The Irish started to buzz in the middle part of the second period and PDG prevented a great scoring chance with a backcheck/stick-lift.

Guptill and Brown then broke in on a 2-on-0. They passed it back and forth 3 times and the return feed to Guptill was just out of his reach. Kind of the way breakaways/shootouts have gone for Michigan this year. Maybe I shouldn't complain about the lack of a penalty shot on Friday night.

Shots were 12-6 in Notre Dame's favor in the third period, but they couldn't solve Shawn Hunwick. Outside of a good chance by Stephen Johns and a great save on Gerths, I didn't notice any particularly interesting chances in the final frame. Michigan's best chance was a Treais one-timer from a Glendening feed that Summerhays stopped.

Notre Dame played the puck with a high-stick after Summerhays had gone to the bench and that took them out of any real chance to capitalize with the extra skater. The faceoff came back into their end with 45 seconds left and they never really threatened after that.

A split was probably the right result for the weekend. I thought Notre Dame was very impressive, albeit fairly dirty on Friday night. They're a damn good hockey team. They fore-check like crazy, their defense hits like crazy, and Tynan and Lee are amazing hockey players. I could see them doing some damage in the tournament if they get goaltending like they did this weekend. Summerhays doesn't have good numbers, but I thought he was very good the whole weekend. He was the number one star on Friday night. The Treais goal was the only one that he had a chance on.

The best sign for Wolverine fans was that Michigan got the power play going and the penalty killing was great. Michigan was 3-for-8 with the man advantage on the weekend, and a couple of the failed attempts were abbreviated. Notre Dame was 0-for-8 and managed 6 shots on goal. Coming in, the Irish had only been held without a power play goal on 5 occasions (in 24 games) this season, so to hold them off the board for a weekend is pretty impressive. In Saturday's win, ND had just two shots on goal in 6:54 of power play time. Bravo to the PK.

And bravo to Hunwick, who was great the entire weekend. He stopped 32 of 34 on Friday and came back with 38 saves on 39 shots on Saturday. The Irish actually outshot Michigan 39-24 last night. Hunwick stole that game.

Guptill has now scored in 5 straight games and has 5-5--10 in his past six. For the year, he has 14-12--26, to lead the team in goals and point (tied with Brown). He actually has the national lead for points by a freshman, though he's 8th in points per game.

The Wolverines now have a week off to prepare for the stretch run where they'll face Miami at home, a road-and-Joe against FYS, NMU at home, and BGSU on the road. Coming out of road series with OSU and Notre Dame with a 3-1-0 record is a nice start to this tough slate of games.

Notre Dame Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:54:00 +0000

What the hell is the matter with me? Three posts in one day?

Anyway, the teams that are tied for fifth in the Pairwise rankings square off this weekend as #7 Notre Dame takes on #10 Michigan at the new Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend.

Notre Dame will play Friday night's game without third-leading scorer (and Red Wings prospect) Riley Sheahan, as he was suspended one game for a hit to the head against Western Michigan.

Notre Dame is 13-8-3 on the season and 8-5-3-0 in the CCHA. They've been struggling as of late, going 3-6-0 in their last nine, though two of the wins were against Minnesota and Boston University. They were swept 3-2 and 3-1 by WMU last weekend.

The Irish have played a tough schedule this season. Their non-conference slate has featured two games against Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, Boston University, and Minnesota. They're actually 4-1 in those games, yet somehow got bitch-bombed 9-2 by Northeastern.

Notre Dame has been uncharacteristically weak in between the pipes this year. While they rank a middle-of-the-pack 27th in goals against average (2.75), their goaltenders are 62nd and 67th out of 76 qualifying goalies in save percentage. Steven Summerhays has an .893 and Mike Johnson has an .887. Johnson has 18 GP to Summerhays's 10, but it's been Summerhays more often than not lately. Johnson has lost five straight starts after being unbeaten in 10. In the 9-2 loss to Northeastern, he was pulled after giving up goals on the first three shots of the game. His start in a loss to WMU last Saturday night was his first start since 12/9/11. In his five-game losing streak he has a 4.55 goals against and a .792 save percentage. In two games against Michigan last season, Johnson was 1-1 and gave up 6 goals on 57 shots (he stymied Michigan one game and gave up 5 on 33 the next night).

Summerhays has been better. He's 6-2-0 on the season and made 30+ stops against Minnesota and BU within his last 3 appearances. He, too, got shellacked by Northeastern (4 goals on 12 shots), but he's been much more sound than Johnson overall. Last year he had a 3.04/.863, so this is an improvement. Summerhays gave up 3 on 22 shots in a losing effort at Michigan last March.

The Irish are also middle-of-the-pack in offense. They rank 25th in the nation, scoring exactly 3 goals per game. They've got some talent up front, though. TJ Tynan has a 9-22--31 line in 23 games this season to rank in the top-10 nationally in points per game. He's actually ahead of his point-scoring pace from last season, when he had 54 points as a freshman. Tynan has been held off the score-sheet on just 5 occasions this year and he has 3-3--6 in his last four games. He started the year with 14 points in his first seven games.

Anders Lee has 14 goals and is just a tick off his point-a-game pace from last season. Lee has cooled off significantly after a scorching-hot start. He had 10 goals in the first seven games of the season (and he scored at least once in all of them) and had 12 in his first 11. In the 13 games since then, he's scored just twice, both in one game against BU. He has just 3 assists over that span as well. Lee and Tynan have combined for 11 power play goals.

Sheahan has 21 points on the year, and they've got 5 others with 10+ points, including 3 defensemen.

For a team that hasn't lit up the scoreboard, the Irish are strong on the power play. They've tallied at least one power play goal in 19 of their 24 games this year. They only rank 17th in PP (20.7%) but they've been effective. Only Minnesota, Union, Maine, and Connecticut have more tallies with the man-advantage. Then again, only Minnesota-State, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, and Vermont have had more chances on the power play. The PK is 28th in the country at 82.4%.

The special teams edge goes to Notre Dame. Michigan is -4 on special teams. Notre Dame is +9. They've been short-handed 16 fewer times and have had 21 more power play opportunities.

Michigan has 6 players with 3-career points against Notre Dame. Glendening and Wohlberg are the only players with multiple goals. Shawn Hunwick is 2-2-0 in his career with a 2.64 goals against and a .914 save percentage.

Tomorrow night's game airs at 7:35 on NBC Sports (formerly Versus). Saturday's game is at 7:35 and will be on CBS College Sports. (Edit: I originally went with the USCHO times. NBC Sports lists it as a 7:35 faceoff as does Michigan, so we'll go with that. USCHO had it as 7:05.)

Yost Renovation is a Go

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:05:00 +0000

The Regents authorized bidding out and rewarding construction contracts for a $14 million renovation to Yost Ice Arena following this season. The seating areas on three of the four sides will be replaced, the press box will be converted into luxury seating and a new press box will be built above that (I can't wait to see how they pull this off!).

Additionally, it is possible that the covered up windows on the south side of the arena will again be uncovered. Window technology has improved to the point where sun could shine through and not harm the ice.

Here was an artist's rendering from back in June.

That's pretty darn cool if you ask me. Gotta find somewhere else for the GLI, Frozen Four, and National Champions banners!

The renovations should be complete by next hockey season. I really love the commitment by the athletic department to keeping Yost functional for as long as possible. It's going to be a sad, sad day when the hockey team has to move to a new facility.

Having a Seat Over There: Kyle Connor

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:28:00 +0000

It appears that Michigan has a new commitment for the incoming class of 2015: Kyle Connor, a forward from Belle Tire. BradyThomas posted on The Wolverine hockey board that the rumor at the U16 tournament in Boston was that Connor had committed to Michigan. I did some hunting on the internet and found that HSP Athletes, a division of ASP Athlete, listed Connor as a client, and also as a U of M verbal.

I sent a Tweet to Dylan Larkin, another Michigan commitment and a teammate of Connor's, asking if he had heard anything and he responded, "Yes committed for the 2015 year!".

Connor appears to be a big get! He has 13-37--50 in 36 games for Belle Tire this season, which puts him first on the team in points (by 9), fourth on the team in goals, and first in assists (by 16). He also has 5 game-winners. He's tied for second in the league in points, and leads everyone in assists.

In BradyThomas's post, he said that Connor is 6'0" and cited his speed and acceleration. He also had him as a probable NTDP player.

Connor recently had an eight-game point streak snapped. In that span, he collected 3-16--19 and had six-straight games with multiple assists. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more info about him in the near future!

Sweep of Ohio

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:20:00 +0000

The outfield crowd looks ugly, but the baselines were packed. Photo: Tim Williams

The Wolverines went to Ohio this past weekend for a pair of games against the Buckeyes and came out of the weekend with their unbeaten streak in tact (and now up to 9 games). After a 4-0 win on Friday night in Columbus, Michigan absolutely dominated the Frozen Diamond Faceoff to draw within 5 points of the Buckeyes in the CCHA standings.

On Friday, Michigan got a career-high 46 saves from Shawn Hunwick en route to a 4-goal win that was closer than the final score. Alex Guptill's shot in the middle part of the first period was kicked out to the right by Cal Heeter. The puck went right to Lee Moffie who sent a laser into the open net to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.

Late in the first, AJ Treais sent a shot through traffic one second after a Michigan power play had ended. That was all the offense Michigan needed. Hunwick was perfect on the night, stopping 19 shots in the first, 14 in the second, and 13 in the third.

Michigan would add empty-net goals from Luke Glendening and Alex Guptill for the final margin of victory.

My notes are pretty brief since I got home from my hockey game at 10:30 or so and still had to pack for Cleveland. I made it a goal to watch the game on the DVR in an hour. I did note that I thought both PDG and Wohlberg had quite a few chances. PDG, in particular, was buzzing even though he was held off the scoresheet.

Jon Merrill had two assists and was +3 in the game. He also rang a shot off the post late in the game as a power play was ending. Guptill had 1-1--2, was +2, and drew a pair of penalties in the third period as the Buckeyes were trying to mount a comeback. Treais had a goal and had several really nice passes. One in the first period set up Glendening beautifully in the slot and a Buckeye back-checker probably saved a goal.

I thought the shot totals both ways were somewhat inflated. Maybe not, but OSU was credited with 19 in the first period and that seemed really high. Don't get me wrong, Hunwick was certainly tested in this one--he earned that shutout, particularly with a stop on Angelli in the first period and Dries in the third--but it didn't feel like 46 saves. Then again, I swore his career high in saves was something like 162 in the North Dakota game last year.

On Sunday, Michigan played their 3rd outdoor game in as many years and it wasn't so dissimilar from the most recent outing in The Big Chill. Michigan got out to a lead and pretty much cruised. Hunwick was strong between the pipes, and the top line put on an absolute show. Check out these numbers:
Chris Brown: 1-2--3, +3
David Wohlberg: 1-1--2, +4
Alex Guptill: 1-1--2, +4

On the blueline, Mike Chiasson and Kevin Clare were both +3 and Clare added a pair of assists.

Jon Merrill's only impact on the stat sheet was a single shot on goal. He had no points and was even on the night, but OSU Coach Mark Osiecki saw enough to call him the best defenseman in the country.

Brown kicked off the goal scoring. A shot from Clare hit him. With his back to the goalie, Brown collected the puck, spun around, and shot. Before the puck even left his stick, you could tell that one was going in. Shots like that are hard for a goalie to track, and we were sitting right behind the OSU net and could tell Heeter wasn't going to be able to get his legs closed.

Michigan made it 2-0 six minutes later on as pretty of a pass and shot as you might see all year. Heeter made the initial save on a Mac Bennett shot that probably going wide. He left the rebound out a couple of feet in front of him. Brown picked it up and threw a nifty little no-look drop pass to Guptill who just sniped one into the top corner over Heeter's glove. Guptill did a little "called strike three" motion after the goal.

The puck from that goal is actually going in my puck case. They were selling game-used pucks, including the Michigan goal pucks. I gave them my contact info and got a call today giving me first crack at which goal puck I wanted. As a puck collector, I'm really excited about that one! Not only was it the prettiest goal of the night, it was the game-winner to boot.

OSU drew back within one on a power play goal early in the second period. They nearly tied it a few minutes later, but a great shoulder save by Hunwick and a diving play by Pateryn to break up a 3-on-1 after a turnover kept Michigan ahead. The Wolverines iced the game with goals 28 seconds apart in the middle part of the frame.

The Buckeyes tried wrapping a puck around the boards and out of the zone, but Wohlberg stopped it on the sideboards. He shot it in front where Derek DeBlois was waiting to tip it past Heeter.

If that goal didn't take the wind out of the Buckeye sails, the next one surely did. David Wohlberg drove hard to the net and the puck kind of rolled off his stick, right underneath Heeter. That was it for the Buckeye goalie.

OSU outshot Michigan 11-10 in the third, but never really seemed like they had a prayer of getting back into the game. A couple of very late penalties gave them a 5-on-3, but the Wolverines were able to kill off the remaining time and head home with a 4-1 win.

Guptill and Wohlberg each have 3-5--8 lines in their last four games. Brown has 3-4--7. Between having a true top line, getting the best defenseman in the country back in the lineup, seeing Kevin Clare's confidence continue to rise after the GLI, and having Shawn Hunwick in net, it's easy to see why the Wolverines were able to sweep a highly-ranked opponent on the road. If the pucks start going in for the second line at some point--PDG has been all over the place lately and hasn't been rewarded--they're going to be a really dangerous team. If they aren't already.

The wins take Michigan up to #5 in both the PWR and the RPI. They're now in third place in the CCHA, but things have gotten a little thrown off because of games in hand.

It doesn't get any easier with the road games. Michigan will now head to South Bend to take on the co-#5 Fighting Irish. Friday night's game will air on the NBC Sports Network (fka Versus). Saturday will be on the CBS College Sports Network. Notre Dame is coming off a pair of losses to Western Michigan, but recently beat Minnesota and Boston University. More on them later in the week.

One thing to mention: I know people have made a lot of jokes about the crowd, but I thought the Frozen Diamond Faceoff was a really great event. The announced attendance was probably pretty close to legit, Progressive Field is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and so was the outcome. I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine that they made pretty good money on that one. The rink was already installed for their Snow Days, so to have an even with ~25k (especially at those ticket prices) isn't bad at all. I'd go back again. I'd also like to give a tap of the stick to Angel in the pro shop for helping me out in landing the goal puck.

Winter Classic Closer to Reality; NHL Midterm Rankings Released

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:08:00 +0000

Picture this, but with Wings/Leafs maybe?
Photo: Tim Williams

As the Wolverines prepare to take on Ohio State outdoors this weekend, another outdoor game at the Big House may be drawing closer to reality.

Jeff Arnold, formerly of AnnArbor.com, reported for Yahoo that the NHL is in "advanced discussions" with the University of Michigan to host the Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium in 2013.

One source told Arnold that Dave Brandon was initially against the idea but "something happened to make it go from looking like it could happen to [a point where] it probably will."

It was also reported that the NHL will make an announcement by January 29th and that they said next year's event will "break records". It's hard to think of any non-sarcastic record that a game at Comerica Park would break, so it's sounding like the NHL at the Big House is a very real possibility.

A source also told Arnold that if the game does happen at Michigan Stadium, it will be the only event played. That makes sense, given that the GLI would be just a couple of days earlier, and that's a Detroit event.

In other news, the NHL released their midterm rankings for the 2012 draft. Seven future Wolverines appear on the list, with the highest-ranking player being Jacob Trouba.

Here is the list:
North American Skaters:
9-Jacob Trouba (6'2", 193 defenseman from the NTDP)
28-Phil Di Giuseppe (You know who he is)
31-Cristoval "Boo" Nieves (6'2.75", 184 forward from the Kent School)
82-Alex Kile (5'11", 189 forward from the Green Bay Gamblers)
157-Connor Carrick (5'11", 185 defenseman from the NTDP)
175-Justin Selman (6'0", 190 center from the Sioux Falls Stampede)

North American Goalies:
36-Jared Rutledge (5'10.5", 171 from the NTDP)

LSSU 2, Michigan 2

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:10:00 +0000


Despite 34 saves from Adam Janecyk, the Wolverines fell in another shootout. Photo credit: Bill Rapai

Adam Janecyk made 34 stops in his first career start, but it wasn't enough to get a win. Michigan led 2-1 after 2, but Buddy Robinson scored 2:58 into the third period and neither team was able to break the tie. The Lakers won the six-round shootout by a 2-1 margin to pick up the bonus point in the standings.

David Wohlberg scored his 50th career goal on a shot that deflected in off a Laker defender to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. The Lakers tied it up on a Ben Power goal, but Michigan regained the lead 13 seconds later on a Guptill back-hander.

Shots in the game were 37-36 Michigan. Janecyk made 13 stops in the third period to preserve the point for Michigan. According to some people on Twitter, Michigan had a lot of chances out of the gate in overtime but were unable to capitalize. Luke Moffatt scored the lone goal for Michigan in the shootout. Nick McParland had the shootout winner and was the #1 star one night after being LSSU's best player in a losing effort.

The Wolverine power play continued to struggle, going 0-for-3 on the night and managing just two shots on goal. According to Red, the unit is "a work in progress, but there is not a lot of progress".

Michigan now sits in a 3-way tie for ninth in the PWR and is 10th in RPI. This weekend they'll take on the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes. Friday night's game is in Columbus and will be on the Big Ten Network. Sunday's game is the Frozen Diamond Faceoff at Progressive Field in Cleveland. That game will air on Fox Sports Detroit Plus.

In other news, David Wohlberg and Alex Guptill were awarded CCHA Player of the Week honors. Wohlberg's 2-3--5 was enough to win the offensive player of the week award, while Guptill was the freshman of the week with his 1-3--4 effort against LSSU.

Boo Nieves's rights were traded to Saginaw as part of a deal for Jamie Oleksiak. It's not Windsor or Kitchener, at least!

JMFJ scored a goal last night and Tebowed after he put the puck in. (See the link for the video.)

Red told The Michigan Daily that both Hunwick and Guptill should be ready for this weekend. Guptill took a "vicious slash" (no penalty, of course) during Saturday's game.

With the 4-point weekend, Michigan sits 7th in the CCHA, 1 point out of fifth, two points out of fourth, and just four points out of second (though the two teams in second have two games in hand). Also Ferris State is one point behind the Wolverines and they have two games in hand. That makes for quite a log-jam in the middle of the pack, and quite a race for the final byes in the first round of the CCHA Tournament. (I previously said there were 3, but there are 5. I forgot that 4 plays 5, but it's in the second round.)

Michigan 4, LSSU 2

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:19:00 +0000

Maybe the Wolverines just like being on TV where I can watch? Michigan ran their unbeaten streak to 6 games with a 4-2 win over the Lake Superior State Lakers.

Chris Brown had the final two goals for the Wolverines, David Wohlberg had 1-2--3 and had a noticeably great night, and Alex Guptill added two assists in a great performance out of the top line. Adam Janecyk played the third period after Hunwick was unable to go after making 20 stops in the first 40 minutes. He wasn't feeling well, but we didn't get any additional details. Janecyk made 7 stops, and didn't have a chance on the one goal he allowed. He won't get credit for the victory, but it had to feel good to preserve the win.

The Wolverines were also aided by the return of Jon Merrill, who was reinstated after missing the first 22 games of the season. Merrill was very solid on the blueline, helped the PK immensely, and added a great assist on Wohlberg's ninth of the year. He was +3 on the night. It's hard to overstate how important he is to this team and how much of a difference his return will make. Merrill is the best player on the team, and arguably the best defenseman in the conference. That bodes very well for the Wolverines in the second half of this season.

Michigan opened the scoring 9:50 into the opening frame. Mac Bennett sprung Travis Lynch on a breakaway and the freshman tucked it between the legs of Kevin Kapalka to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, it was another odd man rush to put the Wolverines up by a pair. Merrill absorbed a big hit from Nick McParland and sent a long pass to Guptill. Guptill also shrugged off a check to give the Wolverines a 2-on-1 down low. He slid the puck over to Wohlberg, who had basically an empty net to shoot at and he made no mistake.

The Lakers closed within one on a McParland shot that snuck through Hunwick's legs. He was probably screened by Mike Chiasson on that one, but it was on the ugly side. LSSU nearly tied it short-handed a few minutes later. AJ Treais, I think, made a poor decision at the blueline and it led to a Cassiani chance. He hit the goalpost, however.

The Wolverines regained their 2 goal cushion at 17:10 of the third period. Guptill took a shot that was kicked wide. Wohlberg tried to jam it home and it bounced way up in the air, hit the top of the crossbar, then bounced down. Chris Brown was right in the slot jamming at it--actually, he may have hit Kapalka in the face with one attempt--and apparently got his stick on it on the way in. It looked like it was Wohlberg's, but they've given it to Brown for the time being.

The Wolverines had two great penalty kills in the early-going of the third period, which were huge in the outcome of the game. LSSU has the #2 PP in the CCHA and Michigan gave them absolutely nothing. Wohlberg had the best chance on either of the Lakers PPs. He had a partial breakaway, but just had the puck poked away as he was breaking in.

Just past the halfway point in the frame, the Lakers made it 3-2. McParland was behind the goalline and tried to throw it to the front of the net. It hit the side of the goal and deflected into the slot, right onto the stick of Ben Power. Power roofed one before Janecyk could react. No chance for the Michigan netminder on that one.

The Lakers wouldn't come all that close the rest of the game. Michigan had several chances to ice the game--PDG hit the bar off another great breakout pass from Bennett, Pateryn led a 3-on-1 and rocketed a slapper from about 40 feet, and Brown and Kevin Lynch had cracks at the empty net. Eventually, Merrill flipped one high in the air to spring Brown and he put it into the empty net to seal the deal.

I thought McParland was a pretty impressive player for the Lakers. He was active all night on the forecheck, added a goal and an assist. You heard his name pretty regularly.

One of the unsung heroes for the Wolverines was again Andrew Sinelli. I don't know where he's been hiding, but he sure doesn't look like he wants to come out of the lineup anytime soon. He was fantastic in the defensive end again--one backcheck late in the game prevented what could have been a good scoring chance. I really like that kid.

The scariest moment of the game was almost a repeat of what inadvertently set the Shawn Hunwick to Michigan plan in action. Back in juniors, Hunwick was hit in the mask during a rapid-fire drill and was hit again by the next shot. His concussion caused the Division 1 interest to dry up and he eventually was set to go to Adrian College before getting the call from Michigan. LSSU took a shot through traffic and Hunwick stopped it with his face. His mask flew off and none of the officials noticed. The puck came back to LSSU for another slapper, but luckily it went wide and we finally got a whistle. The Children of Yost, of course, immediately broke into a "Handsome Goalie" chant.

The win moves Michigan into a tie with Ferris State for 5th in the CCHA, though the Bulldogs now have one game in hand. LSSU is one point ahead in 4th. In the Pairwise, the win (and, I'd assume, some other happenings) rocketed Michigan up to eighth. Michigan's RPI also climbed up to 8th from 11th.

MGoBlog had some good stuff today about what the upcoming stretch of games will/could do to the PWR rankings. Ignore the Merrill stuff, since that part of the post was almost immediately outdated by the surprising reinstatement of him today. Earlier in the week, Red had indicated that Merrill wouldn't play this weekend. I sure am happy that someone changed their mind. I still can't believe how quiet they've kept what happened. I guess it's not really our business. I'm just more curious than anything else.

Same two teams tomorrow. The game is on Comcast. I will be pretty light on Twittering. I'm going to watch the sub-.500 Badgers (tear) take on RIT. I sadly don't think I have any orange to wear.

LSSU Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:55:00 +0000

Michigan's run through the gauntlet begins with a pair of games at home against the LSSU Lakers. The Lakers are having a good season by most teams' standard, but a fantastic season by their standard. Jim Roque's team hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since Jeff Jackson left after the 1995-96 season, but right now they sit in a tie for 13th in the PWR.

The Lakers are 12-8-2 on the year and a solid 6-3-2 on the road. They were 8-2-0 in the first ten but have hit a bit of a rough patch since then. Not quite Michigan November rough, but they won just two of their next nine games (not counting a shootout win). They've won two of the past three, not including an exhibition win over Western Ontario their last time out.

They swept Michigan State, they swept Miami at Miami, they split with NMU, and they split with Notre Dame. So they've had some good performances against some good hockey teams. They got swept at Ohio State, but one of the losses was 2-1.

They've been cold more often than not offensively. They average 2.68 goals per game, which is 36th in the country. They've been held to two or fewer goals in 10 of their last 14 games. They're 14th nationally in team defense, though, giving up just 2.45 goals per night.

As usual, they're very rarely penalized. They only take 9 PIMs per night, which is 57th out of 58 teams. They've only been shorthanded on 79 occasions this year, and they're very effective when they are shorthanded. They rank 5th in the country in PK at 88.6%. The power play is middle of the pack at right around 20%. So LSSU has a definite advantage on special teams, at least if the rest of the season is an indication.

They're led offensively by Domenic Manardo, who has an 8-12--20 line. Four of his eight tallies have been game-winners. Only four players in the country have more game-winners. LSSU also has a pair of 10-goal scorers in Nick McParland and Kyle Jean. Defenseman Zach Trotman has 6 goals (4 on the PP) and 14 points.

It's been Kevin Kapalka in net most of the way for the Lakers. He's 11-6-2 with a 2.45/.916. Sophomore Minnesota State transfer Kevin Murdock doesn't have the record (1-2-0) but he has a 2.02 goals against and a .927 save percentage. He was strong in the 2-1 loss to Ohio State and played in the Catamount Cup championship game against RIT in their last game that counted. I would think that we'll see Kapalka, but it wouldn't be a major shocker to see Murdock either.

In the series, the Wolverines have won the past 13 meetings. The Lakers haven't beaten Michigan since February of 2007. Let's hope that continues. Prior to this most recent winning streak, the teams were tied in the all-time series.

David Wohlberg has 3-5--8 in 8 career games against the Lakers. Luke Glendening has seven points over that span. Shawn Hunwick is 3-0-0 with a 1.33/.947 in his appearances against LSSU. Kevin Lynch had 3-1--4 in the two games last season.

Friday night's game will air on FSN Detroit+. Saturday's game will be on Comcast.

GLI Champions! Michigan 3, FYS 2 (ot)

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:10:00 +0000

The 47th edition of the Great Lakes Invitational ended in dramatic fashion. The Wolverines battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits against the Michigan State Spartans, scoring a goal in the final minute of regulation before winning it in overtime.

I only got to see the third period and overtime. The Spartans outshot Michigan 11-7 in the first period, but outside of a few checks it didn't sound like anything was overly noteworthy. The Wolverines had a great chance on a two-on-one with Wohlberg and Brown. Wohlberg got the pass across, but Palmisano made a great stop on Chris Brown.

In the second period, it was the Wolverines outshooting the Spartans by the same 11-7 margin, but the Spartans got on the board first. Tanner Sorenson beat Hunwick over the glove. Based on Hunwick's reaction, it looked like it probably tipped off the defenseman on the way in.

The third period was not too dissimilar (except in reverse) from the second period of the BC game the day before. The Wolverines outshot the Spartans 24-3 in the third period, but Michigan State managed to get a goal out of it.

The game would remain 1-0 until just past the halfway point of the third period when Derek DeBlois broke the shutout. Palmisano left a rebound on a Kevin Lynch shot and DeBlois muscled it into the net. It was one of those plays where the puck is sitting there, the net is open, and it seemingly takes FOREVER for the player to put it in. He did, though, and the game was tied....

....briefly. Just 2 1/2 minutes later, Walrod brought the puck into the Michigan end and dropped a pass toward the net for Brett Perlini. Hunwick looked to be slightly off his angle and Perlini put a shot pass him on the short side.

The Wolverines continued to pepper Drew Palmisano with shots and finally got the break they needed with just over two minutes left in regulation when Brent Darnell was called for tripping. After a lot of possession and several shots on goal--Palmisano made one very nice shoulder save--Luke Moffatt got to a loose puck in the corner and centered it. Kevin Lynch tipped it past Palmisano to tie the game back up with 50 seconds left in regulation.

In overtime, both teams had their chances. Shawn Hunwick made a pair of fantastic saves to keep the Wolverines in the game in the middle section of the period. That was after he stopped Wolfe on a breakaway 20 seconds into the extra session. Just past the halfway point of the first overtime, Moffie got the puck by the left point. A Spartan aggressively charged the point and slid to block what he assumed would be a Moffie shot. Moffie moved to his left and eluded the Spartan. He walked in on goal and the Red Sea kind of parted. He had a lot of traffic in front of the net and would've had a great look had he decided to shoot. Somehow, he spotted a streaking Kevin Clare (just off the bench after Mike Chiasson went for a change). He slid the puck over to Clare and the defenseman had nothing but the back of the net to shoot at. He hit it, and Michigan had their second GLI Championship in a row and the fourth in the past five years!

Treais, Wohlberg and Clare were named to the All Tournament Team. Clare was named the MVP. It was kind of fitting that he'd be the guy to score the game-winner as he was as good defensively this weekend as he has been at any point in his Michigan career.

PDG, Pateryn, Moffatt, and Treais all had 5+ shots on goal in the game, as Michigan outshot FYS by a 48-25 margin. Pateryn also had 4 blocked shots in the game. Moffatt had a pair of assists and was a noticeable threat offensively the entire weekend.

So Michigan comes away with another GLI Championship and they also come away with two huge wins for their PWR ranking. Boston College and FYS were both ranked in the top 6 of the PWR and will more than likely remain TUCs all year. Michigan slid up to 13th in the PWR. They've since slid back to a tie for 15th, but I've got to believe the position is better than it was a week ago. They're 11th in RPI.

The Wolverines are 4-0-1 in their last five games and they're picking a good time to turn things around. The next six series on the docket are against LSSU (at Yost), at OSU (including the Frozen Diamond Faceoff, which I'll be attending!), at Notre Dame, Miami (at Yost), a road-and-Joe series against the Spartans, and at home against NMU. Those are the #13, #1, #4, #21, #10, and #9 teams in the PWR, respectively. And the worst team of the bunch is the one that has given Michigan a ton of trouble in recent years.

It's a tough stretch, but also a huge opportunity for Michigan to solidify their NCAA Tournament chances and home ice in the first round of the CCHA Tournament. They're 8 points out of a bye in round one which would be tough to make up, but they're just one point out of home ice in the first round of CCHAs. With the way they are playing right now and (hopefully) with their best player coming off suspension at some point in the near future, things are definitely looking up.

Michigan 4, Boston College 2

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:33:00 +0000

The Wolverines came into the GLI as underdogs. Michigan was faced with a tough task in the Great Lakes Invitational semifinal: The Boston College Eagles. The #3 team in the country came into the holiday tournament with a 12-6-0 record on the season, but was the #20 Wolverines who advanced to the GLI Championship with a 4-2 victory.

Michigan came out strong. Alex Guptill was robbed early on in the game. Kevin Clare threw a shot wide of the net and it bounced out on the same side of the net. Guptill was all alone, but Billett robbed him with the glove.

A few moments later, though, Wohlberg brought it in with Guptill on a two-on-one. He took it himself and lasered one up under the bar to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.

BC hit the post on the other end to just miss tying the game.

Back-to-back calls on the Eagles gave Michigan a LONG 5-on-3 and they capitalized! Moffie took a shot with Kevin Lynch on the doorstep. The rebound skipped out to Billett's right and Moffatt was right there to bury the rebound.

Boston College went to a power play, but it was the Wolverines with the majority of the chances. Wohlberg had a breakaway, tried to go backhand and missed high. Then the Wolverines had a 2-on-1. Travis Lynch shot and Michigan couldn't put in the rebound. Then Kevin Lynch had a breakaway and was stopped. The first period ended with Michigan up 2-0.

Early in the second, Treais sprung Glendening on another 2-on-1 and Billett made a nice glove save. Guptill was interfered with while trying to chase his own dump in, but Wohlberg was called for a late hit to even things back up. The momentum really changed at this point in the game. It was all BC for a good chunk of the second period after this. Hunwick made a couple of good stops, Moffatt just missed the far post, and then BC got on the scoreboard.

A failed clear by Chiasson led to an opportunity for BC. The player was knocked down by a Wolverine but the puck came back to Tommy Cross at the point. He sent a shot through traffic past Hunwick to make it 2-1.

BC just missed tying it shortly thereafter. Kevin Lynch was sent to the box and the Eagles kept buzzing. A little drop pass through the slot got a guy wide open and he hit the goalpost. While still on the power play, Hunwick made an initial stop, but the rebound came right to Carey in the slot who slipped it to Hunwick's right.

The Eagles kept up the momentum. A player deked through the Michigan defense and got a shot past Hunwick, but Sinelli and Hyman were in behind the Michigan goalie and Hyman was able to keep the puck out of the net. BC just missed again. All the momentum was on their side and then out of nowhere the Wolverines were back on top.

Treais got the puck out of the zone and led a 2-on-1 for Michigan. He shot the puck through Cross's legs and it beat Billett to put Michigan back ahead. That was a big, big goal to put Michigan back ahead in a period where they were thoroughly dominated.

The Eagles had a chance to even the score when Pateryn was sent off for kneeing. He cranked Whitney, who was vulnerable after lunging to knock the puck ahead. Their knees hit, but he certainly didn't stick his leg out. I thought it was a really questionable call, but the puck don't lie. Michigan killed it off without too much trouble.

PDG was robbed late in the period, and Michigan led 3-2 headed to the second intermission. BC carried the play that period.

Hunwick made a really nice stop on Gaudreau early in the third period. Then another early in a Michigan power play, where BC had the two best chances.

PDG set up Treais for a good look in front but Billett was there. Pateryn absolutely killed Mullane, and then Chris Brown leveled an Eagle who thought a spin-o-rama in the middle of the ice was a good idea.

The Eagles pulled the goalie with 1:15 left in regulation. Their best chance was a bullet from the point that was over top of the net. Glendening had a great effort to get the puck out of the zone, carried it until he got just over center ice, and then paid the price to take a shot at the net. He scored and the Wolverines were off to the championship game with a 4-2 win.

That was a huge win for Michigan's tournament chances, in addition to putting them into the GLI Championship Game. Treais was great. In addition to scoring the eventual game-changing goal, he was setting up people all night. He sprung the Wolverines on at least a couple of odd-man rushes. BC gave up a ton of them.

I really liked the play of the 4th liners. Moffatt was buzzing for good portions of the game and Hyman and Sinelli both had excellent plays in their own end. They were both in behind Hunwick to save a goal and Hyman had another gorgeous backcheck to break up what would have been a great scoring chance. I'm surprised that Hyman has the worst +/- on the team. Every time I've seen him, he's done good things on the defensive end.

The top line was really good, especially in the first period.

The second period was rough once Michigan got running around after a couple of penalties, but the first and third were great periods against a really strong opponent. Michigan carried the play for the majority of the game. They had numerous odd-man rushes and breakaways, along with several other chances right in the slot. Billett played really well to keep BC in it, or it could have been much worse. At the other end, Hunwick was good for Michigan and his defense stepped in to help him when he needed it.

Michigan will take on FYS in the GLI Championship Game tomorrow night. The Spartans downed Michigan Tech 3-1, though the Techsters outshot them 46-26. Palmisano was strong in net, and apparently Tom Anastos hinted that he might stick with his hot goaltender. Palmisano was really good against Michigan in FYS's shootout win, but the Wolverines have a history of success against him. Should be a fun one!

Having a Seat Over There: Steven Racine

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Michigan has another goalie for next year! Steven Racine, the keeper for the Georgetown Raiders of the OJHL, has verbally committed to Michigan. USHR.com first reported that the former Taft goalie had committed, and MHNet confirmed it publicly via some conversations over Twitter.

In the three games he's played for Georgetown, he's 3-0-0 with a 1.30 goals against and a .961 save percentage. He pitched a 26-save shutout in his first appearance for the team. He most recently made 48 saves in a 4-3 overtime win. He had previously been with the Westside Warriors in the BCHL, where he was 7-9-0 with a 3.10/.885. After winning seven of his first nine starts this year, the Warriors went into a huge slump. They made a change after he dropped seven straight decisions, though it doesn't sound like he had a lot of help.

Prior to the BCHL, he spent quite a bit of time in the USHL and the EJHL.

Racine--and I will never say his last name without sounding like Kit from A League of Their Own--is listed at 6'3", 190 and hails from New York.

MHNet has a quote from a guy in OHL Central Scouting who called Racine a "good, solid goalie" and "Athletic, but nothing flashy".

He is expected to backup Jared Rutledge. He sounds like a solid enough pickup. He's a little bit older, he's got some experience playing in a variety of leagues, and he's got good size.

Michigan Takes 4 of 6 Points from State

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:02:00 +0000

A wall of Wolverines, courtesy of Bill Rapai

After snapping a seven-game winless streak against Alaska, the Wolverines came into this weekend against Sparty looking to put together a streak of a better kind. They came out with a 3-game unbeaten streak in tact. Michigan won 4-3 on Friday night at Yost before following it up with a 3-3 tie and losing in the shootout. All told, they came out of the weekend with four of six points.

On Friday night, Michigan State came out with a good first shift, but it was the Wolverines who drew first blood. David Wohlberg absolutely sniped one up over Will Yanakeff's glove to make it 1-0 Wolverines. It was a good pass off the boards from Brown. Wohlberg came in, got into a shooting position, waited for Yanakeff to go down and then fired one up over his glove.

Before the students could start their goal count, however, it was 1-1. Crandall took a shot from the point that must have deflected off of something. Hunwick just missed it and that's very unlike him. Some people were saying it got the stick of one of the Michigan players on the way through.

Chris Brown was called for setting a little pick and Michigan killed the penalty off without too much trouble. When Brown came out of the box, he got the puck, got around the outside of the defenseman, cut to the net, and tucked it five-hole as he was going across the crease. Very, very nice goal out of Michigan's power forward.

The period would end 2-1 Michigan thanks to some robbery by Shawn Hunwick. Michigan State took a shot from the point that went wide and out the other side. It went right to Forfar, who had nothing but an empty net to shoot at. He put it on goal, but Hunwick dove to his right and got the paddle down just in time.

Early in the second, Sparks put one off the bar. Yanakeff then had a huge stop on PDG. Di Giuseppe just barely got a touch on a pass over to Treais. He gave it back to PDG and Yanakeff did the splits and just got a piece of the shot.

Guptill then completed the "hat trick" for his line. A Spartan clearing attempt hit him. He then controlled it and cut to the net on his backhand. He lofted it up over Yanakeff's glove and it was 3-1.

Kevin Lynch then made it 4-1. Derek DeBlois had a very nice feed from behind the net. Lynch got the shot off and Yanakeff got 95% of it. It snuck through behind him, but Lynch followed his shot and was able to tap it the rest of the way home before anyone else could react.

A scrap in front of Hunwick resulted in Michigan State starting the third period on the power play. They got a goal and some much-needed momentum. The Wolverines failed to clear the puck a couple of times and Berry was able to get one past Hunwick after his initial shot was blocked.

After Moffatt went for interference, the Spartans had another power play. Some nice efforts by Travis Lynch and Kevin Clare got the puck out, but on the next FYS rush Hunwick wrapped it around the boards but not out. A shot from the point went off the glass, came back over the net, and went off Hunwick and in. It may have had a little help from Darnell. So with 14 minutes left it was 4-3.

PDG nearly connected with Treais for some insurance. He had a crafty little feed from behind the net. Treais's shot looked like it hit the post. The goal light went on, but the puck didn't go in.

Clare had a very nice effort to break up a pass for a streaking Leveille.

With Yanakeff on the bench, the Spartans had several chances to tie it, but Hunwick stood tall and Michigan got the win.

Brown goes 5-hole on Friday night - Bill Rapai

The next night in East Lansing, Michigan got off to another good start, but couldn't quite finish the job.

After an opening five minutes where nothing much happened, Chris Brown made it 1-0 good guys. Guptill stole the puck and fed him. Brown let a shot go, it snuck through Palmisano, and Brown was able to crash the net and knock in his own rebound.

Treais had a chance on a 2-on-1 and might have gotten the post. Hunwick then ROBBED Darnell on a breakaway. Flashed the glove on that one.

The Spartans tied it at 1 on a Krug shot from the point that deflected off Guptill's skate into the top corner. Absolutely no chance for Hunwick on that one.

FYS then made it 2-1. Hunwick tried to dump the puck around the boards but it hit a Spartan player. He centered it for Forfar, and it was actually kind of fortunate that it wasn't a good pass. Hunwick slid to his right, Forfar kicked it back to his stick (to Hunwick's left) and that side of the net was wide open.

Hunwick kept it at 2-1 by stoning Wolfe on a breakaway and then Moffatt tied it up at 2. The puck came out of a scrum and he kicked it up to his stick before backhanding one top-shelf. Nice goal.

Michigan's goalie saved the day again with a couple of quick pad saves off a really ugly turnover in the Michigan end. Hyman darn near put the Wolverines ahead on a wrap-around, but couldn't quite stuff it in. The period ended with the score tied.

In the third, both teams had early power plays without a whole lot of success. A little later Hunwick made a big stop on Perlini. Berry brought the puck to the middle of the ice and brought three guys with him. He dropped it back to an open Perlini and Hunwick stoned him.

Wohlberg then made it 3-2 Michigan. Guptill took a shot, Palmisano made the save, but Wohlberg was there to bury the rebound to put Michigan ahead with 6 1/2 minutes to play.

Then the abomination: Kevin Lynch got called for holding and I don't have the foggiest idea what the ref saw. He checked the Spartan player very awkwardly, but he was falling at the time and kind of hit him with his back. His hands and arms were completely away from the FYS player. Just a completely inexcusable call at that point in the game, especially since they had let almost everything go to that point.

And of course bad calls are amplified when you can't kill a penalty to save your life. Michigan almost pulled it off. DeBlois did a lot of great work to run the penalty clock down inside 30 seconds. Moffie tried to clear the zone on his backhand and partially fanned. The puck went right up the middle to Reimer, who roofed one over Hunwick.

Michigan appeared to be headed to the power play with under a minute to go, but right as the whistle was going, Chris Brown lifted a guy's stick and pushed him. Clearly that warranted evening it up. Le sigh. Michigan had a couple of chances in the overtime and actually outshot the Spartans 8-0 but it went to a shootout. Wohlberg, Brown, and Treais missed for the Wolverines. Berry was able to get a backhander over Hunwick's stick and that was all she wrote. Michigan came out of the weekend with 4 points.

Overall I thought it was a pretty good weekend. Hunwick played well, the defense overall played pretty well, the top line was dominant (Guptill was named Rookie of the Week, and the trio combined for 5 goals on the weekend), they got some pucks past Yanakeff who had previously owned them. I also thought that Zach Hyman looked really good on Saturday night. I know he hasn't done as much offensively as we all probably expected, but in two of the three games I've seen I thought he played really well. Once Travis Lynch went out with an injury, Red moved him up to the second line and I thought he was one of Michigan's best players. He had several pretty good scoring chances, and made a really nice defensive play to break up a pass for Walrod that would've been a beautiful scoring chance.

Like I said, I've only seen three games this year so I didn't see the bad, but I don't get the impression that they're too far off. Michigan State had been playing really good hockey, and the Wolverines darn near swept them, even without their two best skaters on Saturday night. There are some big problems on the penalty kill, which wasn't entirely unexpected given that Michigan turned over pretty much the entire PK from last year. There are also some problems in their own end getting the puck out. Having Jon Merrill come back at some point (hopefully) should be a big help in that regard.

Even as bad as the 7-game winless streak was, Michigan currently sits 17th in the Pairwise, so they're just outside the NCAA Tournament. They've been doing it with their best player missing the entire season thusfar. I wouldn't write this team off just yet. They seem like they're getting it together.

FYS Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:19:00 +0000

The Wolverines and Spartans face-off in a home-and-home this weekend. Tonight's game is at Yost. Tomorrow they'll play at the Munn Memorial Library. The best part is that *gasp* both games are on TV! Tonight's game airs on FSN Detroit and tomorrow is on the Big Ten Network. Also, the premiere of the Blue Ice documentary airs following the game tonight.

The Spartans got off to a bit of a rough start under first-year head coach Tom Anastos, going 2-4 out of the gate. Since then, they've gone 8-1-1, including a win and a tie against Minnesota and a road sweep of Western Michigan.

The offense has come alive for them. In the past ten games, they've been held below three goals on just one occasion and have only scored fewer than four twice. They've also been really strong on defense, giving up more than two goals just twice (both to Minnesota, neither of which they lost).

It's a good start for The Commish, and I'll eat some crow over that one if they keep it up since I made fun of that hiring an awful lot.

They're led offensively by a pair of sophomores, Lee Reimer (7-13--20) and Greg Wolfe (5-11--16). Mike Merrifield, in 12 games, has exceeded his goal and point totals for the rest of his career combined. He had 6-6--12 in 60 games. This year he has 8-5--13 in 12 games. Captain Torey Krug has also chipped in with 11 points from the blueline.

In net, ANN ARBOR NATIVE Drew Palmisano and Will Yanakeff have split the duties. Palmisano is 4-3-1 in his eight starts with a 2.73/.910. Yanakeff is 6-2-0 with a 2.26/.923. The starts haven't been a direct split. Palmisano played both games against Minnesota while Yanakeff played both games against WMU and NMU.

Yanakeff was 2-0 against Michigan last year (making 37 and 31 saves and giving up 4 goals total). Palmisano gave up 9 on 69 shots last year. Gut feeling, I'd expect to see Yanakeff.

The Spartan power play is just 15.9% (38th), but they're 4th-nationally with an 89.2% success rate on the PK. They've also given up 19 fewer power play chances than Michigan.

The Only Colors has a preview from the FYS side.

Split With Alaska

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:47:00 +0000

After the losing skid reached five and the unbeaten streak reached seven with a 4-3 loss to Alaska on Friday night, the Wolverines were finally back in the win column on Saturday. Alex Guptill scored less than a minute into the extra session to give the Wolverines a 1-0 win.

On Friday night, PDG gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead 2:47 into the contest. Alaska would tie the game in the middle of the first period just after a power play ended, and Michael Quinn and Colton Beck scored 7 seconds apart in the middle frame to give Alaska a 3-1 lead. Moffie cut it back to one just over a minute later. Beck scored again 5 minutes into the third. David Wohlberg cut it back to one with about nine minutes left to play, but despite a 17-5 shot advantage in the third, Michigan was unable to capitalize again.

Serville had maybe the best game of his Michigan career statistically, with 2 assists and a +3 rating. PDG had 1-1--2 and was +2. Greg Pateryn blocked 6 shots on the night.

The loss dropped Michigan to 10th place in the CCHA.

The next night, the Wolverines seemed to be in danger of seeing their winless streak extend to 8. After 60 minutes of play, the score remained 0-0. Guptill scored unassisted on a deflected shot just 57 seconds into the extra frame to give Michigan a much-needed win. That was Guptill's team-high sixth shot on goal of the night.

Shawn Hunwick made 25 stops in the victory. The Wolverines were unable to solve Scott Greenham on their first 41 shots of the night, but #42 was the winner.

The power play was scoreless on 8 attempts on the weekend (including a 5-on-3 that lasted an entire two minutes on Saturday), but the PK was perfect on 8 Alaska attempts and killed off a Brennan Serville boarding penalty late in the third of the scoreless contest).

The win pulled Michigan back into a tie with Miami for eighth place in the CCHA. They are only five points out of 4th, however. All the teams in the CCHA have played the same number of games, with the exception of FYS who has two games in hand on the field (and currently sits 3 points ahead of Michigan).

FYS is the next opponent on the slate. The teams will play at Yost on Friday night (on Fox Sports Detroit) before heading to East Lansing is a whore for Saturday's game, which will air on the Big Ten Network, who finally decided to stop being useless from a hockey perspective.

The Wolverines will have to do it on Saturday night without PDG, who will be attending Canada's World Junior Championships tryout camp. Several familiar names were on the 29-man list of Team USA's preliminary roster, which will be later cut to 22: Jon Merrill and Jacob Trouba (who is listed as Jake) made the list. It appears the USA goaltending duo will be former Wolverine commits. Both Jack Campbell and John Gibson are on the roster with Andy Iles listed as the emergency goalie.

In other news, according to the official Twitter account of the Hamilton Red Wings, commit Spencer Hyman was named to the OJHL All-Star Team. Hyman has 2-10--12 in 17 games this year.

Union 6, Michigan 3 - At Least Hagelin is Sweet

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:47:00 +0000

Photo credit: Bill Rapai

Yup, it gets worse. Michigan extended their losing streak to four games--and their winless streak to six--by falling to Union at Yost by a 6-3 margin. Union jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and a 4-0 lead early in the second. Michigan drew back to within two on goals by PDG and Wohlberg, but Union scored the next two. Guptill popped one in late.

From what I understand, it was a pretty impressive performance if you are impressed by the other team getting breakaway after breakaway. It sounded like an all-around poor performance and Union made them pay.

The silver lining--maybe--is that up next is a trip to Alaska. I know in the past, Red has said that he likes that trip because it's a good opportunity for team bonding. Maybe that's what they need. Get away for a little while, go see the pipeline, go curling, have some fun. Then get out on the ice and hopefully get back on the winning track. There's still plenty of time to fix this. It would sure be nice to see #24 back in the lineup at some point. It sounds like they could use him....

On the bright side, Carl Hagelin doesn't look like he wants to go back to the AHL anytime soon. Our super-Swede now has 1-2--3 in three NHL games. (There's still about 6 minutes left in his game tonight.) He added an assist against the Penguins tonight on a pretty drop pass. Ranger fans are impressed. Blueshirt Banter had his first-career goal as the highlight of the week. He had some nice things to say--including that his speed is unbelievable. Larry Brooks had an article about Hagelin as well. John Tortorella said that "he's not only playing fast, he's playing smart". Sounds like the Hagelin we know! Bork bork bork.

Having a Seat Over There: Dylan Larkin

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:26:00 +0000

At least there's some good news for the Michigan hockey program this week. 1996-born forward Dylan Larkin has committed to the Wolverines according to Mike Spath and College Hockey PROSPECTive. Larkin, a forward for Belle Tire's midget minor team, has 13-7--20 in 17 games this year.

His 13 goals this season is tops on the team, which leads the Great Lakes Division of the MWEHL with a 14-0-3 record. The next highest on the team has 9 goals. He's also second in points (Kyle Connor has 21). Surprisingly, only one of his 13 goals has come on special teams, so he's getting it done at even strength. He also leads the team with 4 game-winning goals.

League-wide, he's tied for 17th in points (and points per game) and tied for fourth in goals. The league-leader has 15 tallies.

In the 2011 MAHA State Tournament, Larkin scored 5-11--16 in five games.

A year ago, his 23-24--47 line put him third in goals, fifth in assists, and third in points. They downed the Chicago Mission 6-5 in the U14 National Championship. Larkin had a goal in the championship game.

I'm going to list him as a 2014 until I hear otherwise.

Top 50 BCHL Players, Hagelin

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 21:49:00 +0000

The BCHL ran a poll where fans could vote on the top 50 players in league history. Jeff Tambellini, Brendan Morrison, and Bill Muckalt all made the cut. Eric Nystrom's father Bob also made the cut. There are some other names of note on the list if you're a Wings fan.

Carl Hagelin did in fact make his NHL debut last night. The Rangers defeated Washington 6-3 and Hagelin got on the scoresheet with an assist, a shot on goal, and a +1 rating in 10 1/2 minutes of ice-time. The Rangers were back on the ice today and Hagelin notched his first career goal, 3 shots, and a +1 rating in almost 11 minutes of ice-time. Bork bork bork!

Michigan fell 4-1 to Northeastern last night in a game where--from the sound of it--it was probably a good thing that we didn't have streaming video. After a Travis Lynch goal to open the scoring, Northeastern put four past Shawn Hunwick. I don't really care to watch the highlights, but from following the game on Twitter, it sounded like there wasn't a whole helluva lot of defense to be had. Lots of breakaways. Apparently Northeastern soundly outplayed Michigan, despite the Wolverines holding a 34-22 shot advantage.

Michigan tries to get back in the win column tomorrow afternoon against Union.

Northeastern and Union Previews

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

After a rough start to the CCHA season (3-5-2-1), the Wolverines return to non-conference play for a weekend. With the demise of the College Hockey Showcase thanks to Wisconsin footballifying their non-conference hockey schedule, the Wolverines have scheduled games against Northeastern (Friday) and Union (Sunday afternoon) this weekend.

Northeastern Preview:
Northeastern is 3-7-2 on the season and are just 1-5-1 away from home in Jim Madigan's first season behind the bench. The Huskies dove right into the Hockey East schedule at the start of the season. This is actually their first non-conference game of the year.

Despite the tough start to their season, the Huskies are coming off a pair of wins last weekend. On Friday night, they defeated Providence by a 5-2 score. The next night, they downed Vermont 4-1.

They've also given some good teams a run for their money. They've lost two one-goal games to Boston College (once in overtime) and in early-November they took the only unbeaten team in the country, #1 Merrimack (yes, Merrimack), to overtime on back-to-back nights, tying one and losing one.

They'll be a test for a Wolverine team that has dropped five of its past six (counting the SOL to Miami). Northeastern has struggled to put the puck in the net against good teams, however. They've scored just 8 goals in the 5 games they've played against ranked opponents.

They've been led offensively by freshman Ludwig Karlsson, who has 6-4--10 in 10 games. He had three goals last weekend and was named Hockey East Player of the Week. Justin Daniels has 5 goals and 4 assists in 12 games. Vinny Saponari, formerly of the USA NTDP, has 8 assists on the year to lead the team.

They don't get a ton of offense out of their blueliners. The whole crew has only accounted for 14 points on the year. They're very young on defense. Junior Drew Ellement is the only upper-classman. Beyond him, they've got 3 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the roster. Junior Drew Daniels is listed as a forward but has played the entire season back on D. Last weekend they dressed 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors.

In net, all but one decision has gone to three-year starter Chris Rawlings. The junior is 3-6-2 on the year with a 2.59 goals against and a .927 save percentage. Very solid. He's improved both of those numbers each season. Last year he had a 2.68/.920. One strange note: Last year, he faced either BC or BU eight times in a 10-game stretch. He's a big dude, listed at 6'5", 207. He also just recently tied Brad Thiessen atop Northeastern's career shutouts list (9).

Northeastern has always played Michigan tough. Back in the 06-07 season, they gave up a tying goal to Chad Kolarik with 5 seconds left in regulation before falling in overtime. They rebounded the next night by knocking off Michigan at Yost. They also beat the Wolverines in the Left McFadden tournament to kick off the 2004 season. If I remember right, we were ranked #1 at the time. I definitely remember that I was working at the Michigan Union Bookstore at the time, heard the score as I was leaving for the day, and was pissed. It's amazing that I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can remember where I was when we lost a hockey game seven years ago.

Motivation:
From Northeastern's game notes:

Michigan is led by the junior duo of A.J. Treais and Lindsay Parks with 13 points apiece while nine skaters have registered double digits.

Oops!

Random:
They have seven players who have been drafted. Three of them have been picked by San Jose.

Sophomore Cody Ferriero is the brother of Benn, a former standout at Boston College.

Union Preview:
On Sunday afternoon, the Union Dutchmen come to town. The #13 team in the country is 6-3-3 on the year and have been excellent on the road, boasting a 5-1-1 record away from the Achilles Center. There are two caveats to that: 1) They play in the ECAC, so they automatically get an asterisk. Blame Yale for that. I made that rule after the NCAA Tournament last year. 2) This kind of goes along with #1, but the quality of competition is a question mark. To their credit, they tied WMU twice. Aside from that it's been Army, Niagara, RIT, UNH, American, St Lawrence, Clarkson, Brown, Yale (a 4-0 loss), and RPI.

Their prowess away from home isn't limited to this season. They're 12-1-1 in their last 14 road contests.

They have been rather stingy on defense as of late. Outside of the four goals that Yale scored, they haven't given up more than 2 since Oct. 21. That's 8 goals in 7 games (or 12 in 8 games if you include the contest against Yale).

Between the pipes has typically been sophomore Troy Grosenick. For the year, he has a 5-2-2 record with a 1.62 goals against and a .935 save percentage, good for third and fifth nationally. Last year he only recorded one decision. Against Yale, he was chased after just 22 minutes.

Offensively, senior Kelly Zajac leads the way. He is 5th nationally with 13 assists, and has 16 points on the year. He's also the brother of NHLer Travis Zajac, formerly of North Dakota. Kelly had 42 points last season.

Mat Bodie has 10 helpers from back on the blueline. Putting those pucks in the net are Jeremy Welsh (7, including 5 on the power play) and Wayne Simpson (6). Daniel Carr has 5-5--10 on the year, but three of those goals came in their last outing, a 5-1 win over RPI. Carr-Zajac-Simpson make up a dangerous top line.

Their power play is clicking along. Union ranks 5th nationally, scoring on 26.2% of their power plays. They've notched 16 goals with the man advantage this season, which works out to 1.33 power play goals per game. Staying out of the box would be nice. Their PP accounts for 42% of their offense.

They've also been really strong on faceoffs this year, at 56.2%.

Common Opponents:
We've actually played a surprising number of common opponents so far this season. Based on the results, they would point toward Michigan having an edge in this game.
They tied Niagara 3-3. We beat Niagara 5-0.
They tied WMU 2-2 and 3-3. We lost 3-2 and won 5-2.
They beat SLU 2-0. We beat them 10-3.

History:
This is the first time that Michigan and Union have ever faced off. They are the only ECAC team that Michigan has never played.

Some Love:
Some love to their athletic department for linking to my site in their official blog's preview of the weekend.

Final Thoughts:
Michigan looks to rebound from 3 tough weekends. After being unbeatable at home for nearly a full year, they've now dropped 3 of the last 4 at Yost. Northeastern has played good teams tough, but has struggled to put the puck in the net against them. Union has a better record, but has some question marks as to the quality of the competition. They're not intimidated playing on the road, however. Their road record is proof of that.

I'll take Michigan with two wins this weekend, though I think both of them will be closer games than you might typically expect, or that Red would want.

In Other News:
In other news, the Rangers have called up Carl Hagelin and he may make his NHL debut tomorrow night. Hagelin leads the Connecticut Whale with 7 goals and is second on the team with 13 points. He's also second in the entire AHL with a +12 rating. That's the player we know! Bork bork bork.

USA Hockey had a feature on Al Montoya, who hopes to make the 2014 US Olympic Team.

Michigan officially received Letters of Intent from Jacob Trouba, Boo Nieves, Justin Selman, Daniel Milne, Connor Carrick, and Jared Rutledge. Michigan Hockey Net has updates on a lot of our recruits in his weekly recruiting roundup.

Also, Bob Miller has started College Hockey PROSPECTive, a blog covering college hockey recruiting. It's very much a work in progress for the time being--he's targeting a true launch in January of 2012--but Bob is one of the best at covering the game and I very much look forward to reading his thoughts moving forward. That site will definitely be one to bookmark!

Lastly, don't forget to badger Dave Brandon about bringing back streaming video for hockey games! One again, unless you're at Yost, you won't see the games this weekend. (I'm going to keep on about this.)