Michigan Hockey 22-23, new coach, new players, new era

[J.D.]

Mel's "formula" was to just accept an NLI from ANYONE willing to sign one. Whether or not they would ever see the ice in a game under his watch was another story. The over-recruiting mess he left behind for the new staff in Houghton took 4+ years to clean up.

If Michigan's expectation last year with SEVEN 1st round draft picks on the roster wasn't a National Championship, Naurato will have no problem removing the "temp" from his job title next season by simply finishing 0.500 and keeping himself out of any scandals.

Wasn't Shawhan an assistant under Mel? No team can "expect" a national title.

[MichVandal]

Wasn't Shawhan an assistant under Mel? No team can "expect" a national title.

Teams can expect to compete for one. Or fans can expect teams to compete for one. I do.

Then again, given there can only be one winner a season, I also don't call it a failure when they don't meet that expectation.

[J.D.]

Teams can expect to compete for one. Or fans can expect teams to compete for one. I do.

Then again, given there can only be one winner a season, I also don't call it a failure when they don't meet that expectation.

Right, expecting to compete for one and expecting to win it are different. Michigan had a great year. Losing to the national champion in OT at FF doesn't change that.

[model94]

Being big ten champs and losing in OT at the FF means the formula worked IMO.

FF wasn't and isn't the goal. Most national champion teams in the past decade were comprised of *not* first round draft choices that left after two years. They were comprised older, more physical players.

[J.D.]

Again, you can't just expect to win a national title. It's just not that simple in a one and done tournament. So sure it's disappointing to lose in the FF but when you win your league and lose to national champ in OT at FF that's a very good season. The teams with a lot of high picks have struggled to even have the season Michigan had. Michigan had a lot of solid upperclassmen as well. Now if they miss the tournament this year then you can question the model. But just going off last year it was a success. They don't hand you the trophy.

[altazo]

You do realize that fans expect a national championship every single year, right? Just because they didn't get to the championship game last year does not change the expectation. It was even expected when we didn't make the tournament the year prior.

Michigan earned a berth in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

[MichVandal]

Michigan earned a berth in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Uh, our history goes back farther than the pandemic. Just sayin.

[altazo]

Uh, our history goes back farther than the pandemic. Just sayin.

Of course it does.

Maybe re-read your words I quoted. You imply Michigan did not earn a berth in the 2021 tournament. Or maybe I’m just inferring incorrectly? I’m sure you remember them earning that bid as you joined this forum in December of 2020 (after the onset of the pandemic.)

I attended Michigan’s hockey camp as a grom back in the mid-80’s. So my guess is they’ve had a hockey program at least that long (insert winky emoji here.)

[wolverineTrumpet]

Of course it does.

Maybe re-read your words I quoted. You imply Michigan did not earn a berth in the 2021 tournament. Or maybe I’m just inferring incorrectly? I’m sure you remember them earning that bid as you joined this forum in December of 2020 (after the onset of the pandemic.)

I attended Michigan’s hockey camp as a grom back in the mid-80’s. So my guess is they’ve had a hockey program at least that long (insert winky emoji here.)

well, sure, maybe that screenname joined at the end of 2020, but the poster has been around.

I also read his post as implying Michigan didn't make the tourney the prior year, when we know they didn't play in the tourney, but they did make it.

[wolverineTrumpet]

New director of hockey operations- https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/8/18/s...CampaignId=497

Another person from outside of the program.... Interesting.

Looks like a great hire considering the culture issues we must improve and get past, bringing in a guy that has given speeches to college coaches about leadership and building culture.

[MichVandal]

Of course it does.

Maybe re-read your words I quoted. You imply Michigan did not earn a berth in the 2021 tournament. Or maybe I’m just inferring incorrectly? I’m sure you remember them earning that bid as you joined this forum in December of 2020 (after the onset of the pandemic.)

I attended Michigan’s hockey camp as a grom back in the mid-80’s. So my guess is they’ve had a hockey program at least that long (insert winky emoji here.)

I meant some of the previous decade when we had teams that didn't make the tournament. Red put the expectations to the roof, so we all expected them to compete for an NC every season.

[John J. MacInnes]

You do realize that fans expect a national championship every single year, right? Just because they didn't get to the championship game last year does not change the expectation. It was even expected when we didn't make the tournament the year prior.

2013 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 11th in the 2013-14 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2014 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 8th in the 2014-15 preseason poll with no 1st place votes.
2015 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 13th in the 2015-16 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2017 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 27th in the 2017-18 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2019 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 25th in the 2019-2020 preseason poll with no first place votes.

Who was "expecting" it?

[wolverineTrumpet]

2013 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 11th in the 2013-14 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2014 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 8th in the 2014-15 preseason poll with no 1st place votes.
2015 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 13th in the 2015-16 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2017 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 27th in the 2017-18 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2019 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 25th in the 2019-2020 preseason poll with no first place votes.

Who was "expecting" it?

I don't expect a national championship every year (one since becoming a fan would be nice though). I had gotten used to making the tournament every year. I started at UofM in 2000, when I learned about hockey (not a big following in Maryland in the 90s). Michigan made the tournament every year as far as I knew as a college student.

The expectation of being one of the 16 (or previously 12) teams in the game in March, is one I have. The 5 years you listed, the team did not meet my expectation, but missing 5 of the last 32 NCAA tourneys means making 27 of them.

[MichVandal]

2013 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 11th in the 2013-14 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2014 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 8th in the 2014-15 preseason poll with no 1st place votes.
2015 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 13th in the 2015-16 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2017 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 27th in the 2017-18 preseason poll with no first place votes.
2019 didn't make the NCAA tournament, picked 25th in the 2019-2020 preseason poll with no first place votes.

Who was "expecting" it?

I do. Do you have a problem with that? Do you just expect Tech to suck every season, and just over .500 is good enough? How about raise expectations?

I don't remember where we were picked in '98, but that team was far less talented than '97, but won an NC.

Make fun of me all you want, but Red made FF stops so regular that it becomes an expectation, even with "weak" teams to compete for an NC.

Sucks for you that you DON'T expect that of tech. You know what- now that Mel's not here anymore, how about your just worry about your own team? Why you bother to care so much what fans of other teams expect is curious. And that your expectations for your team is so very much lower is telling. Be a positive fan for once, maybe.

[MichVandal]

So in far more important news- the B1G schedule is out. And once again, we have a game outdoors.

While it's cool and all, I personally would like to see more other B1G teams do it than us. In the 39 outdoor games so far, we've been in 8. Somehow, Michigan has been in just over 20% of all outdoor NCAA games. Seriously? Can we spread the appearances out some more?

According to this list- https://collegehockeyinc.com/ncaa-ou...modern-era.php - Penn State has not even had one outdoor game. And given the location of this game, there is a natural rivalry between Cleveland and Pittsburgh- so having PSU V OSU would be an appropriate game there.

I'm quite pleased that we have two former CCHA teams on the schedule with Western and Lake State. And always happy to have a team from Boston on our schedule. Linderwood will be curious- clearly we talked them into just coming to us and not us to them in the future....

Good thing for us- we have some travel schedules (hey, we are retired after all), and with the schedule, we don't miss too many games.