Re: Michigan at Boston University 10/24
As much as I'd love to see a repeat of what happened in last year's matchup, I strongly doubt that'll happen. That game was arguably BU's most complete performance of the season, albeit against a very banged-up Michigan team and Sauer pulling a Sauer-esque performance between the pipes.
For Michigan fans, here's a primer on BU so far this season:
Obviously BU hasn't gotten off to a desirable start. They've looked out of sync offensively and have had some surprisingly bad defensive breakdowns in their 2 losses.
BU lost 5 of its top 6 scorers (Colin Wilson, plus 4 Seniors -Matt Gilroy, Chris Higgins, Brandon Yip and Jason Lawrence). These guys accounted for almost half the goals scored last season. Co-captain John McCarthy, who scored a career-high 29 points last season, also graduated.
50-point scorer Nick Bonino returns, but has been held pointless so far. He's the proverbial straw that stirs the drink on offense, but he's getting a lot more attention from opponents and hasn't had much room to handle the puck. Last year much of the focus was on the Wilson line (1st line), so Bonino and his linemates (Yip and McCarthy) capitalized on mismatches against opponents. From what I've seen so far Bonino is trying to do too much himself, plus his linemates haven't been supporting him nor getting to open spots to take advantage of his playmaking.
This year's BU team doesn't have as much scoring depth and has a surplus of role players that are being asked to play very significant roles offensively. There are also a couple of very talented Freshmen forwards (Alex Chiasson and Wade Megan) that are trying to integrate themselves into the lineup, as there are very high expectations on them to play a major role on offense. With all the turnover amongst the forwards, I think it may take some time for them to gel offensively.
On D, the very talented quartet of returning defensemen (Eric Gryba, Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, David Warsofsky) haven't played as well as expected. At times the 2 Freshmen d-men in the lineup have played much better than their more experienced teammates. I expect BU to play in a lot more tight, low-scoring games this year, so the D needs to tighten up because BU doesn't have the same firepower to blow out opponents the way they often did last season.
In goal, Kieran Millan has already matched his total # of losses from last season. Millan is a superior positional goalie who moves very efficiently between the pipes. However, his positioning has looked a little off at times and he's given up a couple of relatively soft goals. Grant Rollheiser is sidelined with an high ankle sprain and his return date is uncertain. This is disappointing b/c BU was counting on a Millan/Rollheiser rotation to start the season. Rollheiser has lots of potential that he displayed on occasion last season, but between injuries and some confidence issues, he didn't develop to the extent Millan did.
There's also been a change behind the bench that I think has been somewhat downplayed. David Quinn left BU after 5 years as Associate Head Coach, taking a head coaching gig in the AHL. Long-time Assistant Coach Mike Bavis was promoted and former RPI/Bowling Green head coach Buddy Powers joined the BU staff after being out of coaching for numerous years. Quinn played an instrumental part in recruiting as well as developing a solid core of defensemen, so I feel the coaching staff change has had a bigger impact on the team than perhaps some people realize.
As for Saturday's game, I have no idea what to expect. I just hope BU comes out with a much more solid and complete effort than what I've seen so far this season, and let the outcome take care of itself.
