Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread
I think the problem is deeper It looks to me like Mel Pearson is the one responsible for the success the team has had the last few years. Look what he’s done with a 20 year basement dweller, there’re now a top 20 team!
Interesting theory. The good news is, when Red retires, they'll probably hire Pearson, and he'll have some experience as a head coach by then.
Does anyone know where our defense went? Do we need to put in a different goalie to see if the defense will play better like in some previous years?
I have a few thoughts based on the three games I've seen in person (win against WMU Saturday, loss against OSU Saturday, loss against Union):
1. Hunwick seems to be giving up a lot more rebounds, and this is causing problems.
2. We're taking dumb penalties, and the penalty kill isn't very good.
3. We're giving up too many breakaways, which is probably a positioning problem that can be corrected.
4. I wouldn't say that this team lacks heart completely, but they're not as hungry as some other teams. WMU and OSU both seemed better at the forecheck and better at clogging up the passing lanes because their players hustled more. I didn't see us making them quite as uncomfortable.
Although I can't recall it leading to goals, I might add that we play a lot of risky passes in front of our own net, and we're going to get burned one of these days.
I think that the offense is fine, but they'd better sort out the defensive problems in a hurry, or our tournament streak will be over. The CCHA may be the best conference this year and we're not going to steamroll the conference schedule by showing up.
By the way, does anyone know why what would have been Michigan's third goal against Union today was ruled no goal? It looked clean on the replay to me. I couldn't understand the PA announcement.