The Blog That Yost Built

The Jerseys Aren't Changing

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:18:00 +0000

I've been told by someone who would know that the jerseys being sold at MGoBlueShop are not the jerseys that the team will be wearing in this upcoming season and that the jerseys aren't changing. So as nice as the ones being sold online look, it looks like the white throwbacks are coming back for another season, and that makes me happy.

Here's a camp notebook from the Habs website about Mac Bennett.

Mike Spath addressed NHL rumors surrounding Kevin Lynch. No comment since it's a premium story and they didn't give anything away in the teaser.

Another Jersey Change?

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Yes, that's right. Those gorgeous throwback whites may have only lasted one year. A reader passed along a link to the new MGoBlueShop.com. In the hockey section we have these:

Individually, I like all three of them (the maize jerseys stayed the same). I don't really like having the same layout for all three jerseys, though. And I especially don't like that they got rid of the whites from last year, which were quite possibly the best Michigan jersey ever (neck and neck with the gold dazzle from the championship years).

That said, I guess I've got two more jerseys to buy. And yes, I'm fully aware that people like me are the reason they change jerseys ever year.

There's no confirmation (yet) that these are the jerseys that the team will wear. But with the official Michigan store selling them, I have to believe they are.

They could be worse. Signed, North Dakota.

Three Players Selected; Omaha to the WCHA

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Future Wolverines Chris Brown (Rd 2-Phoenix), Kevin Lynch (Rd 2-Columbus), and Mac Bennett (Rd 3-Montreal) were selected today in the NHL Entry Draft.

Brown becomes the fifth Wolverine in the Coyotes organization, joining Kevin Porter, Chad Kolarik, Al Montoya, and Chris Summers. Bennett joins Max Pacioretty and Mike Komisarek as a member of the Montreal franchise.

The New England Hockey Journal caught up with the newest Hab who was in Montreal for the draft.

WPRI had an interview (pre-draft) with Bennett and his father before they headed to Montreal. There are some good highlights of Mac in there, including a sick little pass at about the 2:40 mark.

INCH has a quick bit about Bennett where he says he'd like to compare himself to a Mike Green type.

MGoBlog chimes in. Definitely a plus that Brown went to an organization that has a history of letting guys from Michigan stay in school. Kolarik and Porter played four years, and they don't seem to be pushing Summers to turn pro. He also makes a point that Montreal is a scary place for Mac Bennett to have gone, given that they took Komo (2 years) and Pacioretty (1 year) early and he still has another year of juniors before arriving at Michigan. Don't listen to them, Mac! Our 2010 team is gonna be nasty! :-)

The bleachers at Yost are going to get replaced. No more playing games of "Is today the day someone falls through?" (HT MGoBlog)

Phoenix's official website has a video interview with Brown. He seems like he's pretty happy to have ended up there--and probably doesn't want to see that team move. About Michigan, "I'm going there, hopefully for a couple of years [before moving to Phoenix]."

The other news is that UNO is officially headed to the WCHA, along with Bemidji State, in 2010-11. While the CCHA wouldn't comment on a 12th team, it seems pretty reasonable to assume that Alabama-Huntsville will be joining the conference. I'm just happy that it looks like the conferences were able to work out the logistics so that two programs (including one that just made the Frozen Four) wouldn't have to fold.

I guess the question now becomes, what happens when the time arrives for another school to start up a D-1 program. Does this kill Moorhead's chances of creating a program (if the CCHA takes UAH)? Will they create a Big Ten Hockey Conference (I know, I know) and open up slots for several teams? It's interesting that in saving two teams, they've effectively sealed off hope of future Western expansion without starting another new conference.

I'll miss UNO. On the bright side for them, after they move to the WCHA they'll beat Michigan about as often as they currently do.

Draft Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:51:00 +0000

There's lots of draft stuff out there with several future Wolverines set to be selected this weekend:

MHNet has links to Bob McKenzie's rankings as well as more from Red Line Report. McKenzie compares Chris Brown (#39 overall) to Jamie Langenbrunner. TSN, ISS, Central Scouting, and McKeen's really like him (ranking him between 34-40). Red Line Report has him as #101. McKenzie has Mac Bennett as #56 overall and he compares Bennett to Petr Svoboda, which is kind of awesome. It wouldn't be remotely shocking to see him go higher than that. Kevin Lynch is listed an as Hono(u)rable Mention.

Here's yet another feature on Bennett and Derek DeBlois, who played together growing up, played together at Hotchkiss Prep, should play together in Cedar Rapids, and will play together at Michigan.

Kevin Allen from USA Today predicts Bennett will go in the second round.

The Maple Leafs Hot Stove profiles Chris Brown as a potential Leafs' selection.

Another Brown profile.

The Hockey Program has Bennett as his sleeper.

The New England Hockey Journal has Bennett as the #3 New England area player and DeBlois as the #9 player from the region. They have profiles of both. DeBlois is describe as a "fiery, playmaking sparkplug".

WCH profiles Kevin Lynch.

Not draft related: The Hockey News has their fantasy look at the St Louis Blues for next year and states that Aaron Palushaj could see 50-60 games. (HT Bret at GoBlueWolverine)

Jeff Rohrkemper to Join 09-10 Wolverines

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:38:00 +0000

MICHO is reporting that Jeff Rohrkemper--a Grosse Pointe native who most recently played forward with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL--will join the Wolverines this upcoming season. (Good find by Alnike at the Yost Post.)

Rohrkemper had a 8-17--25 line with a +6 rating in 60 games this season. He had 7-6--13 in 54 games the previous year. He had 75 PIMs over the two years he played in the USHL. Pointstreak lists him at 5'11", 177.

He wore #10 with the Stampede, so there's probably a good chance he ends up with that at Michigan as well (unless one of our other recruits wore 10 and I just didn't notice).

Quote from the coach:

"I think Jeff is a valuable recruit for Michigan,” said Sioux Falls head coach Kevin Hartzell. “He can play the role of a third-line center – meaning he can play against other top lines, win face-offs and be dependable in all situations.”

Google-Stalking:
For lots and lots of photos, click here.

He was first-team all state in Michigan in 2007 while playing for Grosse Pointe North.

That's about all I got.

Mike Rosenberg hits it Dead On

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:48:00 +0000

While a certain percentage of Wings fans fall over themselves to see who can be first in line to give Marian Hossa a ride to the airport for his lack of scoring in the playoffs at the same time that they make excuses for Pavel Datsyuk's lack of scoring in the same playoffs, Michael Rosenberg pretty much hit things dead on in his latest column:

I want you to choose between two players.
Player 1 will turn 31 this summer. He has played 98 playoff games.
Player 2 will turn 31 next winter. He has also played 98 playoff games, and let me take a moment to thank him for that, because it makes this comparison almost perfect.
Player 1's career postseason numbers: 22 goals, 41 assists, plus-19.
Player 2's career postseason numbers: 31 goals, 45 assists, plus-4.
Which player would you rather have?
I'll give you a moment to think about it. (I'm whistling ... whistling ... OK, time's up.)
Have you made your choice? Good.
Player 1 is Pavel Datsyuk.
Player 2 is Hossa.

That's just beautiful. And before I hear the "But Tim, didn't pretty much everyone think Datsyuk was a playoff choker early in his career" comments, yes, you're right. How could we not think that when after scoring 3-3--6 in 21 games in his first playoff run, he then went 3 seasons and 21 games without a goal in the postseason.

But with 49 points in his last 56 playoff games, you'd think he has shed that label by now. And notice that he's getting the benefit of the doubt for his postseason performance, where he only scored one goal even before he missed games with a broken foot. That wouldn't have happened several years ago.

Now look at Hossa. Datsyuk's 49 points in 56 games has been enough to shed his label as a perennial underachiever (more due to 39 points in 40 games over the 07 and 08 playoffs than what he did this year). Well, Hossa has had 41 points in 43 games over the past two playoff years (including this year where he was an "underachieving choker") and has 46 points in his last 54 playoff games. Pretty darn comparable to the best of Datsyuk's career, no?

Then when you factor in that Hossa, in addition to the numbers above, has an additional season where he scored 16 points in 18 games and another where he scored 10 points in 12 games, it becomes exceedingly difficult to see why he's been labeled as someone who can't perform in the postseason.

Let me be perfectly clear: The 16 points in 18 games (when he led the Sens in scoring by 5 points) and 10 points in 12 games were not factored into his numbers that are almost identical to the best playoff stretch of Pavel Datsyuk's career.

Outside of the past 3 playoffs for Datsyuk, he has 42 games played and a line of 3-12--15. Outside of the past 4 playoffs for Hossa (to get the numbers above equivalent), he has 44 games played and a line of 10-20--30.

Hossa is younger, he's outperformed Datsyuk in the playoffs consistently, he's money in the regular season as well, and yet the same people who couldn't praise Ken Holland enough for locking Datsyuk in for years at a reasonable $6.7 million per year absolutely despite the idea of Hossa coming back, even for what could be as low as a $4 million cap hit.

The idea that the Red Wings could keep a 40-goal scorer who is one of the top defensive forwards in the National Hockey League for just a tick more than they're paying Brad "Buzzkill" Stuart should have anyone turning backflips. Aside from players still on their rookie contracts, there might not be a better bargain in the NHL if those numbers are accurate.

So, thank you Mike Rosenberg for being one of the few people out there who seems to get it.

Hell, I'm not done yet. Alright, so one of the other myths out there is that Hossa has only had one good year in the playoffs (last year for the Penguins when he had 26 points in 20 games). Let's take a look at that one, shall we?
In 2002-03, he led the Senators in scoring by 5 points over 18 games when he had 5-11--16.
In 2001-02, he was second on the Senators in scoring with 10 points in 12 games (Alfredsson had 13 points).
In 2003-04, when they lost in seven games, he had 3-1--4 and was the only player on the entire team to score more than one goal.
In 2000-01 they were swept and scored three goals in the series. Hossa was in on two of them, with a 1-1--2 line. (Note that I'm not calling this a "good" year in the playoffs, but when you're in on 2/3 of your team's goals, there are bigger problems on the roster.)

Then there was last year when he led the Penguins in goals and finished one point behind Crosby for the team lead.

It's just kind of interesting how perception becomes reality when everyone (Versus/NBC analysts, I'm looking at you) is too lazy to look at the stats.

Other Stuff:
WCH has some good Wolverine-related stuff today. USA Hockey released their list of guys who will be competing for spots on the World Junior team. They invited four goalies, 15 defensemen, and 24 forwards--so roughly half will make it. Included in the invitees are Jack Campbell, AJ Treais, David Wohlberg, Robbie Czarnik, and Kevin Lynch. (Also former Michigan commit AJ Jenks is on the list.)

The downside is that Michigan will most definitely be shorthanded in the GLI again this year. You gotta believe that Wohlberg, at the very least, is a lock. The upside is that we won't be missing anyone from the back-end (unless Burlon goes for Canada, which I doubt given that he isn't on the tryout list) and the junior class will be in tact.

Based on the sites I've seen, Campbell seems to be a favorite to nab one of the goaltending positions, and why not with the way he played at U18s and the way he played all year against international competition? Great for him, potentially not great for us assuming he's more Al Montoya than Thomas McCallum when he's there.

WCH also continues his draft profiles with a look at Wolverine forward Chris Brown.

Balls.

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:58:00 +0000

There's probably going to be some poor language in this post. Just a warning.

Hossa: The first thing that I have to say about the Finals--and the main point of the post--is this: If you blame Marian Hossa for Detroit losing to the Penguins, you're a fucking moron just like that ass-clown Mike Milbury. If you blame Marian Hossa for this, you agree with a guy who was arguably the worst-GM in sports history until Matt Millen came along.

The guy had the same number of points in the Finals as Sidney Crosby, who got fellated pretty much non-stop. He had more points per game in the playoffs than Pavel Datsyuk (and 12 of Datsyuk's 15 games were pre-foot injury, so I really don't want to hear it). He had one fewer goal in the playoffs than Henrik Zetterberg if you ignore empty-netters.

With the Wings down 2 games to 1 to Anaheim--in a road game Detroit absolutely had to have to stay alive--Hossa scored twice in the second period to turn a 2-2 game into a 4-2 Wings lead heading to the third. He set up our final two goals in Game 2 of the Finals, which was a 3-1 win. He had the primary assist on the goal that opened the floodgates in Game 5. He had a pair of goals in the elimination game against Columbus, one of the few games when everybody's boy-toy couldn't stop anything.

Here are the players on Detroit who had more goals than Hossa: Zetterberg, Franzen (who by the way had just 1 more point than Hossa in the Finals), and Cleary. That's it.

Here are the players on Detroit who didn't have more goals than Datsyuk: Leino, Lebda, Chelios, Meech, Kopecky, Maltby. Draper had the same number. Maltby and Lebda were the only ones who played more games.

One of those players is a Hart finalist. The other is being labelled an underachiever by seemingly everyone in the city.

The point of the above isn't to point the finger at Datsyuk. It's to point out how absurd it is that people are blaming Hossa for what happened. I think I've heard everything in the last few days: He's a one-way player (Uhhh...). He has only had one good playoff in his career (Never mind that he had 10 points in 12 games, 16 points in 18 games, and 26 points in 20 games before his 15 in 22 this year). He just wanted to ride other players' coattails to the championship.

This isn't rocket science. The guy is injured. Watch him in the regular season, then watch how he was skating in the playoffs. To make it even easier, he got hurt right at the end of the regular season. He took a knee-to-knee hit at the end of the Chicago series. It's not that hard. But why give him the same benefit of the doubt that Datsyuk is getting? Maybe he should've sat out a few games and people would be more forgiving. Whatever. Does he deserve some blame? For sure. He didn't have the kind of playoffs anyone was hoping for. But he was fine. 4th in goals, 4th in points. He didn't disappear. And I'm pretty convinced he was playing injured (not hurt, injured).

The past few days made me long for the regular season, when the only people who would talk about hockey were the people who really cared to watch.

Train Wreck and Stuart: Next up, we've got the defense pairing from Hell. Nik Kronwall's official name with me has been "Train Wreck" since the first round. He was an absolute disaster in the playoffs. A couple good games, but overall it was turnover after turnover, dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Brad Stuart had one of the most bipolar playoffs I can recall. Some games I wanted to take back every bad thing I've ever said about him. He was really strong during the Anaheim series. Then he went back to being the guy that he's been his entire career. He was a complete abortion tonight. The Wings looked really strong out of the gate until he took (yet another) dipshit penalty. They couldn't regain the momentum after that kill where they barely got the puck out of the zone. He turned the puck over deep in his own end on the first goal. He made a horrible, horrible pinch on the second goal. The best thing he did all night was turn the puck over a couple of times when it didn't end up in the back of our net.

I owe Ken Holland an apology about a lot of things I've written in the past (more on that later) but this isn't one of them. How a guy like that, who has played for five different teams since the 05-06 season, managed to finagle a no-trade clause is beyond me. He's not an awful defenseman. He's really not. But we're paying him like a #3. We're playing him like a #3. He's not a #3. And he and Train Wreck together is a penalty or goal waiting to happen. It's not a coincedence that every time they were on the ice together in the first period, it looked like Pittsburgh had a mini-power play.

Osgood: He played well enough to win the Cup again. If the Wings had won tonight he (rightfully) would have won the Conn Smythe. That being said, he's completely become senior-year John Navarre. You can't even hint that maybe, maybe a goal he let up was a soft one without people going bonkers.

The game-winning goals in Game 6 and Game 7 were awful. No, the offense didn't help him. Yes he played very well in Game 6 anyway. But he's not without blame for losing this series and he won't get any of it. It's also worth pointing out that this is the third time (or I guess 2 1/2 time) in his last 5 playoffs as a Wing that he's been a part of blowing a 2 games to 0 lead. Overall though, he was very, very good in the playoffs and probably the biggest reason they made it as far as they did. I could do without the uber-arrogant/defensive answers in the pressers ("I'm not the one to ask [about what happened in Game 6]"....get over yourself) though.

I still firmly believe that I was right about him when he was in his first stint in Detroit, but he's been a completely different goalie since the mid-point of 06-07. He might get in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't belong there, and I'm more than willing to have that debate sometime. But 3 Cups (and counting?), 2 as a starter, and way up the list of wins, playoff wins, and shutouts is still a pretty damn nice career.

Holland: I owe him an apology about quite a few things that I've written over the years. He wasn't a "damn fool" for bringing Osgood back. He wasn't an idiot for picking Daniel Larsson over Joe Palmer (God, Tim....). I still think the drafting was overrated for a while there, but it's been great lately. I didn't give him credit for the Cup in 98 (Bowman's team) or 02 (Hasek fell into his lap). But he has completely rebuilt the team from the one that won the Cup in 02. There's a salary cap now and the Red Wings are still the class of the league. They've gone from an aging team to one where most of the stars (Lidstrom aside) are in their prime. He's been masterful at managing the cap (finding the loophole where you can tack years onto the end of the deal to lower the cap hit, without paying the piper when the guy retires). He deserves a ton of credit for the team that won the Cup last year (though I still think he made a mistake by not finding another forward...Franzen breaking out was completely unexpected and very fortunte), and for building a team that should have won the Cup again. Can't blame the GM for this one. One move that hurt was keeping Chelios over Quincey. I really liked Quincey when he played a huge role in the playoffs a couple years ago and he's flourishing in LA. If nothing else, he's light years better than Derek Meech and always has been.

The Officiating/NHL: I don't think there's a conspiracy, though I do think Pittsburgh had a favorable whistle--though not by enough that it should remotely be an excuse. I could've gone for an icing call on the first goal tonight (remedy: Don't turn the puck over) and blowing the too-many-men call was completely inexcusable (remedy: Kill off the power play Pitt ended up getting a minute later). (And if the reports are true that the ref told the Pittsburgh player to get back to the bench, he should be fired immediately.) On the other side, Pittsburgh should have gotten one, if not two, penalty shots in games they lost. Too many critical blown calls, no matter who you were rooting for.

I don't think the league did Detroit any favors by accelerating the pace of the series, though we lost both games where there was a longer layoff beforehand, so maybe that isn't true. I don't think they would have bumped up the start of the series if Crosby was the one injured instead of Datsyuk, and I don't think I need a tinfoil hat to say that.

I don't really want to hear "A penalty is a penalty is a penalty" ever again though. It's not. Fewer penalties might have actually favored Detroit, given how piss-poor the penalty kill was all season. But they don't call the games the same way in the playoffs. And that's fine if you're letting it go both ways (which by and large, they did--though that big call on Ericsson was crap and they missed a 5-minute major when Hossa got boarded late in that game) but don't insult us and say you're calling it the same way no matter the situation. It's obviously not true.

I bet the league is very happy they changed the rule about instigator penalties in the last five minutes. When the rule first came in, it was an automatic, non-appealable suspension. They changed the rule to allow for review of the circumstances. If that rule doesn't change, the Wings go up 3-0 because Malkin won them that game. Due to the rule change, I don't have a problem with him not getting suspended. I do think it's hysterical that Campbell said that the rule was put in place to prevent teams from trying to "sending a message" since that's exactly what he was trying to do.

How's this for an idea: I'm not sure I love it, but it's better than nothing. If you get an instigator in the last 5 minutes of a game, the league reviews it and if they let you off with no suspension, you serve your 10 minute misconduct the next game. The potential suspension still keeps the goons somewhat at bay. The mandatory misconduct makes everyone decide if it's really worth it or not. What Malkin did probably didn't warrant a suspension, but you also shouldn't be able to do what he and the Penguins did and serve no penalty whatsoever. It was at the point in the game where they could say "Screw it, give them a 5 on 3. Eject me." and not care about it. That's the whole reason the instigator suspension was installed in the first place. If you're not going to enforce it, why even have a rule that says "We can suspend you if you do something bad." Well no crap.

The Future: I think it's pretty clear that some of the kids need to come up. Helm's breakaway goal against Anaheim was one of the few times in my life that I've actually been speechless about something that I just saw. He's going to be a fan favorite for years to come, and already I'm considering a 43 sweater when I retire my signed Holmstrom one. Abdelkader, Leino, Ericsson...these guys need to be on the team. (Abdelkader isn't so bad when he's not taking penalties constantly.) It's time for Maltby to go. Kopecky and Meech are two of the most "dime a dozen" players on our roster, even if they are young. Tomas Holmstrom looked like he got really old really fast in the playoffs and you have to wonder how much is left with the constant beating he takes. I hate saying it, because he's always been a favorite of mine. I bought a 96 jersey before it was even definite that he wasn't going back to 15. He still had a productive regular season, even though he's missed a lot of time the past two years. He was a liability in the playoffs though.

I want Hossa back. Maybe the money would be better spent on a #3 defenseman that doesn't blow. But the guy we saw in the playoffs wasn't the guy he is. He's a legit top 15-20 forward in the league and if he wants to take another run at it, I'd be thrilled to have him back. He'll get his Cup if he stays here. I love players who say it's not about the money and actually mean it. He instantly became my favorite guy on the team and I want to see him holding the Cup in a Red Wings jersey. Maybe it's not the smartest use of the money, but I'm biased. (And if you want to dump him for being "invisible" in the Finals, are you keeping Hudler?)

I'd love to see either Stuart or Kronwall out the door, but I don't think it'll happen. Stuart has one of the most inexplicable no trade clauses in sports and Kronwall has enough potential that moving him could come back to bite the Wings big-time. Holland wouldn't take a risk like that, and truth be told, I'm not sure I would either. That being said, I'd be really curious to see what the haul would be. He's a young defenseman who can put up 45-50 points, block shots, and hit (sometimes legally and sometimes at a good time).

With how much offensive defensemen go for, it might be worth listening. But if he ever learns how to pick his spots and how to not turn the puck over like he's scared of it, he could be a #1 defenseman and trading him could look really stupid. All I know is we're paying almost $8 million for a defense corps that scares the shit out of me when they're on the ice together.

Balls I can't believe they lost that series. But man was that a great playoff. The NHL postseason is the best two months in sports. It's a shame more people don't realize it. Then again, with the nonsense I've read over the past four days, maybe it'd be better if it stayed a niche sport come playoff time as well.

Moffie and Sparks are Official

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:11:00 +0000

...per MGoBlue.com

Billy Powers cited Moffie as a potential power play quarterback, who comes in with credentials similar to Chad Langlais (except younger than Chad was when he came in). He cited Sparks's skating ability as a strength.

A Couple of Interesting Links

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:49:00 +0000

First up is a great article in the New England Hockey Journal about 2010 commits Mac Bennett and Derek Deblois. They're both cited as being great skaters. DeBlois came in with the reputation of being a scorer but it sounds like he really made his mark on the forecheck and on the boards.

Bennett? Well:
Bennett’s skating is his hallmark, with the kind of speed and east-west agility that some players can only dream about. When at the top of his game, Bennett is like an untamed colt, using his powerful mobility and offensive instincts to push defenses back on their heels and lead the attack.

Western College Hockey has a draft profile on Bennett.

Next is a nice find by Goon about the ongoing saga of how the conferences will end up being aligned. Finally something that makes sense! Straight from the horse's mouth (the AD), the University of Alaska is now exploring the possibility of joining the WCHA. It sounds like we should be hearing more about this story fairly soon as the Chancellor was briefed on May 27.

It really does make sense on a lot of levels. As it is, seven CCHA teams make the trip to Alaska every season. This past year, 7 of the other 9 WCHA schools made the trip up there. So out of the conferences affected by the Alaskan teams, 14 out of the 20 schools had to go up there for conference regular season games. If you get them both in the same conference, you'd cut that number in half. It really wouldn't be that bad. You'd have one two-week trip to Alaska two out of every three years. It makes a lot more sense than what we've got going on right now. Alaska gets a natural rival in conference, UAH gets to keep their program.

For the record, I'm not only behind this move because it would put both Alaskan teams in the WCHA. I'd be just fine if the WCHA took Huntsville (or UNO) and we ended up with Anchorage. It makes a ton of sense to get those two schools in the same conference.

Schedule Released; The Rich May Get Richer?

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:22:00 +0000

The 2009-2010 hockey schedule is out (and it's only out a week earlier than last year, folks)! 16 home games out of 37 does seem like a low number, but last year we had 36 regular season games with 17 at home, so it's not that different from usual. The Wolverines open with an intrasquad scrimmage--or at least that's what it will seem like when they play the USA U-18 team. The first regular season game is up in Anchorage against the Nanooks. Another trip to BU is the highlight of the non-conference schedule. Hopefully that'll go better than last year.

The regular season closes with a Thursday-Saturday home-and-home against the Fighting Irish, with the Thursday game being at Yost. Fantastic. While I like the idea of playing ND the last weekend of the season, I don't like the fact that it will more than likely be over the students' Spring Break. I haven't confirmed that, but it seems like Senior Night is almost always sans students. FYS, Notre Dame, and BGSU are in our cluster this year. Advantage: Miami.

MHNet provided some thoughts on the schedule in a couple of posts.

The other news is that we might be adding another high-profile name to the ridiculous Class of 2010. Mike Spath posted that Lucas Lessio, a first-round pick in the OHL Draft, may become a Wolverine. He would then play at St. Mike's (The school that produced Caporusso, Cogliano, and Burlon) next season. His source told him that Lessio would be the best player to come to Michigan out of Ontario in the last decade (which includes the names listed above as well as Mike Cammalleri). Lofty praise. He's been compared to Rick Nash in the past, according to that thread.

He's 16 years old and currently stands 6'1", 178. He was named MVP of the OHL Cup this past season after scoring 11 points in 7 games. He had a 53-60--113 line with 123 PIMs in 72 games for the Toronto Marlboros.

Thoughts from his current coach:

“He’s got great skill, great hands and great speed,” said Marlboros coach Ken Strong. “He really handles the puck well. As a left shot, he’s probably one of the best I’ve seen beating the defenseman wide and cutting in on the left side, which is really hard to do because your body wants to go the other way.”

Here are some quotes from the Niagara GM, who picked him in the OHL Draft:

“He’s a big time sniper,” Brown said. “He reminds me of Luca Caputi in his 19th year, but I think he’s far advanced as to where Luca was when he came into the league. He’s definitely 100 per cent the best player available with that selection.”

Brown sees Lessio as an immediate impact player.

“We’re going to put him in position to succeed. I’m real excited about the future with him joining our young forwards,” Brown said. “He’s got natural savvy. He goes to the net with his stick on the ice and in the lane all the time. He’s deflected more meaningless pucks toward the middle more than anyone I’ve seen in the draft in six or seven years.

“I don’t want to say he’s a highlight guy, but he’s a real high-end offensive player.”

Michigan's interest is mentioned in a number of the articles about him. Pretty clearly he'd be a HUGE get for a class that seems to only be getting better and better.

The Cedar Rapids Roughriders have set their preliminary 30-man roster for the upcoming USHL season. They'll have to trim to 25 later in the summer, but at the moment, both Derek Deblois and Mac Bennett are on the roster. If they both decide to go the OHL route and make the team, when Cedar Rapids plays the NTDP, all currently-committed members of the 2010 recruiting class would be on the ice at the same time. I smell road trip. To Iowa. (No link, accidentally closed the window...take my word for it.)

Ticket sales for the Camp Randall Hockey Classic pretty much suck. Just over 18,000? I wonder how many tickets they have to sell for the game to turn a profit? They're still hoping for 40k.

Future Wolverines Fare Well at Draft Combine

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:40:00 +0000

The NHL's Draft Combine is underway and a couple of future Wolverines did very well. THN cites freshman-to-be Chris Brown and 2010-commit Mac Bennett as "particularly impressive" in the vertical leap challenge, and Bennett killed on the Wingate bike, said to be one of the more difficult tests.

Edit: Bennett was also second in the push-up competition, doing one fewer than Kyle Palmieri. He won the standing long-jump competition.

MGoBlog found some more stuff about Kevin Lynch, who really helped his stock with his performance at World Under 18s.

And, for a lack of anything better to talk about, I have to comment on the schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals. It's been covered by a lot of people already, but the more anti-Bettman stuff out there, the better, so here's my take:

If you want proof that the NHL is a second- or third-rate sport in this country, look no further than to the fact that they bent over and grabbed their ankles for a TV network that doesn't pay them any money. The state of hockey in this country is so piss-poor that they were willing to compromise the integrity of their championship series just to get two of their games on network TV. Sad.

They're playing back-to-back nights (for the first time in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1955--good omen?) because NBC is scared that if a game went to overtime, it would bump Conan's debut on The Tonight Show? Let's say that again. They're playing back to back nights because if the game ran long, Conan would be delayed if it was played during the week.

If Bettman had any balls, he would've told them, "Our game is Monday. You can show it. You can let Versus have it. You can show it and if the game runs over, you can move the game to Versus like you did last year with the Preakness coverage. But we're not forcing our players to play back to back nights in the Stanley Cup Finals." That's what David Stern would have done, considering he basically just did the same thing to one of his owners. "Our game is Monday. I don't care if you've rented out the arena for that night. We're playing."

It says something that the concern with overtime is "What will happen to Conan?" and not "What will happen to our players?" They were so worried about Game 2 bumping back a TV show if the game ran long. What will happen to the players--more specifically the quality of the event--if Game 1 goes triple overtime? You're going to have the players play the equivalent of three games in 27 hours? That's really smart, Gary.

I'm not even coming at this from a "The Red Wings are getting screwed" viewpoint that I've read quite a bit. I don't see it that way. Yes, the extra rest would have helped. Yes, Datsyuk is hurt and Lidstrom is banged up. No, I don't think they would have bumped up the start of the series if it was Pubestache that was nursing an injury. That being said, the teams are getting a pretty equal amount of rest. Both teams have to play three games in four nights, and four in six nights. Both teams will be hurt if the first game goes overtime. And, in fact, I believe the Wings have an advantage in terms of quality depth, so it might hurt Pittsburgh worse (Datsyuk-injury aside--though if he has a broken foot, as have been the rumors, would an extra day really help that much?). This is just a flat-out moronic decision all around.

Does it really help the league to get Game 2 on national TV when it's probably not going to be a showcase of the best the NHL has to offer? Who cares about the quality of play, we're on a TV station that the whole country gets--therefore more people have the ability to make the decision not to watch!

It'd sure be a shame if Joe Louis just happened to have a Yost-like building problem that forced the game to get postponed until Monday.

This is the effing Stanley Cup Finals. The conclusion of the best postseason of any sport. It's not a regular season game that's getting its start time changed. You're lubing up for a TV network that doesn't pay you. They're supposed to get the first two games of the SCF and you let them tell you "But, we don't want to have a game during the week because we have more important things to show."

If you want to be a major sport in this country then act like you're a major sport. Don't beg a TV network to pretty please air your game and we'll accomodate your ever request to get you to put it on. It's pathetic. But not at all unexpected from a league that insists on having as many teams in California, Florida, and Arizona as Canada. And from a league that can't figure out how to get every player in every building once a year. And from a league that continues to employ Dan O'Halloran. And from a league that lets officials change calls based on their intent because they aren't capable of blowing a whistle (I bet Buttman could help out with some pointers). And whose philosophy of "A penalty is a penalty is a penalty" doesn't apply to the Anaheim Ducks. And who can't make up their minds what goalie interference is. (Considering Holmstrom has been called for it when he wasn't in the crease and didn't touch the goalie.) Shall I continue?

They've got the best sport in the world, the best postseason in the world, the best trophy in the world, and yet I've said no less than five times this playoffs "Why do I even watch the NHL?" Even Isiah Thomas couldn't run a league into the ground this badly.

Oh, and lastly, to that d-bag from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo back in 2003 who said the Wings just buy their championships.....enjoy the Wings going for two in a row in the salary cap era. Same playing field, still dominant. Right here, buddy.

Win it for 81!

Timbits

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:23:00 +0000

There's really nothing going on right now. Given the way Michigan's summers normally go, I suppose that's a good thing, but it's definitely slow around these parts. A few timbits (because I miss Tim Horton's):

-2010 verbal Derek Deblois had his USHL rights traded from Tri-City to Cedar Rapids. If he ends up playing for them, that could be a potential road trip destination next year when the U-18s are playing there. Yes, I did just throw out the idea of taking a road trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
-Youth hockey in Texas is taking off. Contains quotes from Chris Brown and a Jacob Fallon mention.
-Here's another article about Brown that I'm pretty sure I linked, but just in case I didn't.....
-Stats weren't easy to come by for the prep school kids. NHL.com's draft page has Bennett's stats as 2-9--11 with 10 PIMs in 15 games and Deblois's stats as 10-21--31 and 16 PIMs in 23 games.
-Need a gag gift for your favorite FYS hockey fan?
-MHNet found a clip about Kevin Lynch.

You stay classy, Anaheim. What I'd like to know is how could anyone actually swing a chair in the Red Wings' press box? The Ducks' GM claims that it was "a complete accident". It was also a complete accident that Cory Perry wouldn't attempt to fight anyone taller than 5'10". And Scott Niedermayer accidentally elbowed Pavel Datsyuk. Pronger's hits from behind? All accidental.

I've never been entirely sure how I feel about teams using Native American mascots. It doesn't bother me, but then, I'm also not Native American so far be it for me to decide if it should be offensive to them or not. I do know that it makes me sad that North Dakota might have to give up their nickname/logo. They've got a lot of tradition with that name, they've quite possibly got the second-best-looking jerseys in college hockey, and it's a classic logo.

They might come up with a new name that doesn't sound stupid (they used to be the Flickertails....probably not going back to that) but nothing will sound right. The suggestions that they become the Soo, Sue, or Sault make me laugh, but realistically they aren't going to do that. I kind of like the idea of not coming up with a new nickname. Just be the University of North Dakota.

-Mike Kemp stepped down as UNO's hockey coach to take a job in their athletic department. He sure didn't put the kabosh on the idea they might end up in the WCHA.

-It sure doesn't sound like the Michigan/FYS Cold War record will be broken by the Camp Randall Hockey Classic. As of last week, only 16,000 tickets had been sold. I bought 1/5 of a percent of those.

Wow

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:52:00 +0000

I didn't realize that Brian Aaron and Scott Hansen made it into the NHL.

Camp Randall Hockey Classic Tickets on sale Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:50:00 +0000

Just a reminder that tickets for the Camp Randall Hockey Classic go on sale Monday at 9:30 am EDT. You can get them at the linked site. I've got 31 people confirmed to be going, so there will at least be one Michigan section!

There were lots of JMFC links in the aftermath of the US victory at U18s and MGoBlog pretty much covered them in this post and this post. The interview from The Wolverine (linked in post 2) was pretty awesome. He referred to Jon Merrill as "the next JMFJ" and jokingly referred to himself as JMFC when thanking Bob Miller for doing the interview, which is awesome on a lot of levels. I also thought his comments about Adam Murray were really classy.

The Port Huron Times Herald had an article about him as well, talking about what a classy kid he is.

Mike Brown is fitting in well with the Ducks. That'll probably be a suspension......

Al Montoya was in net for USA's 6-2 win over France at the World Championships today. They've been going with Robert Esche, but wanted to make sure that Montoya got in for a game. JMFJ is tied for the team lead in goals (4) and points (6) and is playing a team high 19:37 a night.

Calgary, you're welcome. Sincerely, The Michigan Wolverines

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:01:00 +0000

To recap, Calgary has tied up their series with Chicago at two games apiece.

They've scored 13 goals in the four games, not counting the one empty-netter. Of those, six have been scored by Wolverine players. David Moss leads the team with 3 tallies.

Eric Nystrom had the game-winning goal and two assists tonight to lead them to a 6-4 win. Last game--a 4-2 Flames win--Eric Nystrom scored the first goal and David Moss sealed the game with a pair of third-period goals.

So yeah, Calgary, you're welcome.

Other stuff:
USA Hockey had an article about Kevin Clare, who is taking advantage of his increased ice time due to a couple of dmen getting called up to U18s.

Michigan's power play this year was the worst it's been since 1984-85. Ouch.

Matt Hunwick had his spleen removed but hasn't been ruled out of the playoffs just yet. They said on XM that he's out of the hospital.

The Port Huron Times-Herald had an article about JMFC.

USA Takes Gold at World U18s

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:33:00 +0000

Jack Campbell, by the powers vested in me by the Michigan blogosphere, I officially dub thee JMFC.

The Americans flat out dominated the Russians in a 5-0 victory in the championship game of World Under 18s. They scored two in the first, added another early in the second period, and Campbell was perfect in net.

Kevin Lynch made a gorgeous feed to Matt Nieto for USA's second goal (Chris Brown assisted on it as well). Brown also scored on a vicious wrist shot early in the third to give USA a 4-0 lead.

Lynch was named one of USA's three most outstanding players in the tournament. He's an impressive player. Great on draws, kills penalties, put up a ton of points in the tournament. I think he's going to fit in just fine.

Somehow the Russian goalie was awarded Best Goalie over Jack Campbell, despite giving up 10 goals in two games to the Americans (and getting beat 5-0 by our guy tonight). I know he faced a ton of rubber and played most of the games for Russia, but he had a 3.33 goals against. JMFC gave up 1 goal in the semis against Canada and backstopped USA to a shutout victory in the title game. He was named to the All-Tournament Team by the media, however. And he got the gold, which is clearly the most important thing. To me, it's pretty clear who the best goalie in that tournament was.

Check out these numbers for our future goalie: 4-0-0 record, 0.75 goals against average, .967 save percentage, two shutouts, and zero even-strength goals allowed. He's from the U17s playing in the World U18s and he put on a show. In international play he's 11-0-1-0 (that's 11 wins and an overtime loss) with a 1.04 and probably something around a .955 save percentage to go with 5 shutouts. Eww. Eww eww eww.

While he wasn't overly busy tonight in terms of saves, he had several fantastic stops. Russia had a partial breakaway or two, a couple other odd-man rushes, and Campbell stopped them all. Actually Chris Brown's goal came off a USA rush immediately after JMFC made a great save on a short-handed chance for the Russians.

Final numbers for our other guys in the seven games:
Kevin Lynch: 5-5--10 (tied for 2nd in points, 2nd in goals), a +9 which was tied for the team best, and a team-best 31% shooting percentage. And, at least tonight, he was automatic on draws.
Chris Brown: 4-3--7, +6
AJ Treais: 2-0--2, +2
Jon Merrill: 0-2--2, +1

Before, I was of the opinion that Campbell would see a decent amount of ice time as a freshman, but that Hogan would still be our starter. We've still got a long way to go, but now I'm starting to wonder if Hogan won't get Billy Sauered his senior season. This kid looks like he might be too good not to play. If he makes it to campus, of course.

USA Downs Canada, Advances to U18 Championship

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Jack Campbell was the USA Player of the Game, making 32 saves in a 2-1 victory over Canada in the U18 semifinals. The lone goal he gave up was on a 5 on 3 in the second period. The Americans outshot Canada 21-7 in the final frame and netted a pair of goals to steal the win. They'll take on the Russians on Sunday at 7:00 Central for the gold medal.

The Russians are the only team to beat USA in this tournament, winning a 6-5 decision after USA blew a pair of leads. I like our chances. We didn't have any trouble putting in goals in the last meeting and we'll have Campbell in net this time.

Tonight's performance means that Campbell now has a .99 GAA and a .961 save percentage in the tournament.

The U17s tied up their series with Mahoning Valley at 1 with a 6-4 win. Jacob Fallon had 3 points (1-2--3) and Luke Moffatt had an assist in the game.

More Recruit Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:45:00 +0000

It wasn't a great few days for future Wolverines. Lindsay Sparks and the Oakville Blades were defeated in the OJHL Championship series 4 games to 2. Sparks ended up fourth on his team in playoff points with an 8-18--26 line in 27 games. He also had 50 PIMs.

Lee Moffie and the Waterloo Blackhawks were swept out of the USHL Playoffs by the regular-season champion Green Bay Gamblers (4-1, 4-3 (ot), 8-2). Moffie didn't have a point and was -3 in the three playoff games.

The USA U-17 team dropped the first game of their second-round series against bastard-souvenir-puck-snaring-goalie Jordan Tibbett* and the Mahoning Valley Phantoms by a 4-1 margin.

Then the USA U-18 team blew 2-0 and 4-3 leads and dropped a 6-5 decision against Russia. Chris Brown had the second goal for the Americans. They outshot Russia 55-26 in the loss.

Due to the loss, the Americans had to take on the Czechs in the quarterfinals, rather than get a bye straight through to the semis. They won 6-2. None of our guys had points, but Jack Campbell played between the pipes and made 21 saves. USA outshot the Czechs by a 58-23 margin.

They'll play the Canadians in the semifinals tomorrow night. It will be realllllly interesting to see who they go with in goal. Since they went with Campbell in an elimination game tonight I have to believe he's the guy the rest of the way. It's quite a story that the U17 goalie is playing for the Americans in the World Under 18 Championships.

Other stuff: Al Montoya and Jack Johnson were named to Team USA for the World Championships in Switzerland. Those games will take place from April 24-May 10.

The new Central Scouting rankings came out. Treais, Moffie, and Mac Bennett rose in the rankings. Kevin Lynch dropped (though I bet the CSS wishes they had a do-over on that one with the way he's played at World U18s) and Brown dropped a slot.

A reader passed along a great article about Brandon Kaleniecki, who is working his butt off in the ECHL. His coach said he thinks he would have made the AHL by now if not for injuries. He was just named an alternate captain for his team in the playoffs.

A commenter pointed out an article that was on the front page of the Fargo newspaper (the U18s are in Fargo) about the NTDP, mainly the guys who are coming to Michigan. Definitely enjoyable if you're a Wolverine fan.

*Tibbett and the rest of his team (I think it was Honeybaked but I don't feel like looking it up) were sitting in front of me at Yost a few years back. A shot came over the glass and was headed directly for me. I've never caught a puck before, I collect hockey pucks, it's something I've always wanted to do (my dad has caught two, including a Bobby Orr slapshot). Anyway, and I swear this is true, Tibbett reached back after the puck was by him and somehow snagged it. I mean that thing was headed right for me. I was pissed. Amazed, because it was a helluva catch. But I was pissed.

Vote for the Michigan NHL All-Star Team

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:11:00 +0000

MGoBlue just put up a poll where you can vote for the members of the Michigan NHL All-Star Team.

You get to pick 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, a goalie, and for Rookie of the Year.

The Yost Built ballot was:
Michael Cammalleri
David Moss
Andrew Ebbett (edging out Mike Knuble)
Mike Komisarek
Matt Hunwick
Marty Turco

Hunwick edged out Andrew Ebbett for my Rookie of the Year vote.

So, fair readers, who you got?

USA 12, Slovakia 0

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:34:00 +0000

Ehhhhhhhhht!

The Americans hung a dozen on Slovakia tonight en route to a 12-0 victory. I know I sound like a broken record, but again it was the future Wolverines leading the way.

Kevin Lynch, whose stock must be going through the roof, scored the first two goals for the Americans, later added an assist on Chris Brown's goal, and was a team-high +3. Brown had an assist in addition to his goal, which was the 10th of the game. Jon Merrill had a pair of assists, including one where he sprung Kenny Ryan on a breakaway. Treais, Cam Fowler, and William Wrenn were the only skaters who didn't register a point. Treais missed on a penalty shot.

Additionally, Jack Campbell got the start tonight and made 18 saves in the shutout win. That was his fourth shutout in international play this year.

Lynch was USA's player of the game. It was the first time he's received the honor, despite registering 3 points in each of USA's first three games of the tournament. Treais was Player of the Game in their first win.

The Americans will take on Russia tomorrow and would receive a bye into the semifinals with a win.

Meanwhile, the USA Under 17 team defeated Alpena 3 games to 1 in their first round NAHL Playoff series.

Game 6 of the Oakville/Kingston series is also tomorrow night. Kevin Clare is tied for the team lead in points with a 1-3--4 line. He's also +4. Jacob Fallon had a goal and two assists. Luke Moffatt had an assist.

Oakville Stays Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:44:00 +0000

Oakville beat Kingston 5-2 tonight to close within a game of Kingston in the best-of-seven series. It now stands at 3 games to 2. Lindsay Sparks had the game-winning goal and an assist on an insurance goal. Lots of bad blood late in this one. Check out the box score.

Thanks to a commenter for posting a link to the highlights of USA's win over Finland. It includes the goals by Treais (nice shot!), Lynch and Brown, as well as a spectacular save by Adam Murray which was very Hasek-esque.

Lynch is third in scoring for the tournament thusfar, with 6 points in two games. There are a pair of Russians ahead of him (10 and 7 points), but they've each played three games.

USA will take on Slovakia Monday night at 8:30 Eastern.

Another Huge Night at U18s

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:37:00 +0000

First off, congrats to BU and thank you for not being the second Boston school in three years to blow it against a CCHA team that I didn't really want to win the title.

This is going to sound like a "Thank you Ken Daniels" comment, but hear me out. BU won this tournament because they were that talented. They didn't play well in the tournament. They should have lost to UNH. They probably shouldn't have beaten Vermont. I fully expected Miami to win the game tonight because they're better than either of those teams and they were getting good goaltending and were playing well. And Miami was a minute away from pulling it off. But BU was talented enough to win even when they weren't playing well. What a fantastic goal to tie it. BU was the best team all year, it was a well-deserved championship.

Up in Fargo the U-18s beat Finland 4-3 and once again it was the future Wolverines carrying the Americans. AJ Treais scored the first goal, Kevin Lynch assisted on the second goal, Lynch scored the third goal, and Chris Brown scored the game-winner from Lynch.

Lynch has six points in two games so far. How much is his stock going up?

Oakville lost last night and now trails the OJHL Championship 3 games to 1. Not looking real good for Lindsay Sparks's team.

Louie Caporusso and Aaron Palushaj were named West All-Americans. Congrats to them. This is the fourth time in the last five years that Michigan has had multiple guys named All-America.

Al Montoya had another impressive performance in a win over the President's Trophy winners. Kind of makes me think that he could lead us to some wins over JP Lamoureux and the UND all-stars, no? ::evil grin::

Michigan: The NHL's Farm Team (Part Two)

noreply@blogger.com (Packer487) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:16:00 +0000

I could have edited the last post and popped this in there, but I figured enough people saw the original that the update might not get seen.

Here is the link to the entire list (PDF) of ex-college hockey players in the NHL.

USA got off to a good start at the World Under 18s with an 8-0 win over Norway, and again the future Wolverines played a big role. Kevin Lynch had 2-1--3 and was +3, AJ Treais had a goal and was +2, Chris Brown had an assist and was +1. Jack Campbell "split the shutout" with Adam Murray. Actually he played 58 seconds and made one save. The US outshot Norway 65-16 (OWWWWWW).

The Americans will be back in action on Saturday against Finland.

Oakville has battled back to tighten the OJHL Championship Series to 2 games to 1 in favor of Kingston with a 5-4 overtime win in Game 3. Lindsay Sparks got back on the scoresheet with Oakville's third goal. They blew a 4-1 lead but were able to pull it out at 19:33 of the first overtime. They head back to Kingston for Game 4 tomorrow night. They alternate home games in this series.