What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

I guess I should not be bummed that I missed that game. And I will tonight, too.... :(

But should make it tomorrow. Not sure if I should look forward to that or not. Every year we fear some aspect will make us really bad, and somehow they pull it together. Now, I fear that it's more than one part.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

wolverineTrumpet said:
Was UOIT's goalie good, or our shots that bad?

Gonna be tough without Merrill. Hopefully he learns something from the suspension and comes back strong. Not much experience for our D.
Click to expand...

Both. Guy was a brick, but we were just chucking pucks at him, not creating traffic in front of the goalie or deflecting shots. It was perhaps one of the laziest games from the forwards I have seen in a long long time. I am hoping it is a factor of having only one practice with Red and our now veterans not stepping up (I am looking at you Wohlberg).

The D actually was not that bad even with missing Merrill. Sure they weren't great, but they weren't that bad either. I will chuck up the missed assignments to the messed up D pairings and not a larger systematic issue.

I am hoping not to see the lolly gagging tonight against team USA. Although, I remember MSU losing to team USA the year they won the NCAA title. So, I am not reading too much into the last game.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

What are the expected D pairings now that Merill is out for several weeks.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

On Saturday, the D pairings were--Bennett & Pateryn, Moffie & Chiasson, Szuma & Serville. Kevin Clare was scratched. I don't know if these pairings will stay together, though.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

So...how does the U-18 team look, relative to seasons past?
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

alnike said:
Must be serious for him to miss over one month.
Click to expand...

The "RUMOR" I heard last night was that Red did not make the decision on length - it was dictated from the NCAA and Red basically went along.

The "RUMOR" went on that it had something to do with while he was with the NTDP!
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

JoeZ said:
The "RUMOR" I heard last night was that Red did not make the decision on length - it was dictated from the NCAA and Red basically went along.

The "RUMOR" went on that it had something to do with while he was with the NTDP!
Click to expand...

Hmm. So why would Michigan say "violation of team rules"? Saying "violation of team rules" makes it look like Merrill did something he shouldn't have, or didn't do something he should have, while he was at Michigan. Why say that if it's not true? Also, why no word from the NCAA? The NCAA is pretty public about when they have suspended student-athletes (see links below for examples).

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect...+floyd+must+sit+out+two+games,+repay+benefits

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect...iere+byrd+must+miss+four+games+repay+benefits

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect...dent-athletes+reinstated,+must+repay+benefits

Berenson said this in the official press release regarding the suspension: "Jon has an obligation to the team and he did not live up to those responsibilities. He needs to be accountable to his teammates and this program both on the ice, around campus and in the community." That certainly doesn't sound like it is about an NCAA rule violation while at the USNTDP.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

Well, regardless of the reason, Merrill is gone until the series down in Miami. This will impact Michigan's conference efforts at NMU and at home against FSU and WMU. That could be significant. OTOH, Clare, Serville, Chiasson, Moffie, Bennett and Pateryn all played pretty well tonight against Niagara and will have a chance to gain more cohesion and confidence against Bentley and St. Lawrence before hitting the road.

I believe Sinelli and Rohrkemper sat out with Szuma (hurt?) and Merrill suspended.

Nice to see Lindsay Sparks pot a hat trick and freshman Travis Lynch add a shortie. Chris Brown spent too much time in the box, but also added a goal. DiGuiseppe had one waived off on a cheap goaltender interference call on Guptill that had Red talking to the officials after the game about it. Hyman and Guptill didn't look out of place although Alex missed a wide open net on a rebound chance and blew it high and wide.

Hunwick looked sharp although had trouble giving up fat rebounds. Decent in zone coverage and speed wore down Niagara. Michigan took too many penalties for my liking, but it was a good opening effort.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

streaker said:
Nice to see Lindsay Sparks pot a hat trick ...
Click to expand...
I was a little disappointed that not a single hat was thrown on the ice for that. Just how bad is the economy when people won't give up a greasy old hat?
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

Wol4ine said:
I was a little disappointed that not a single hat was thrown on the ice for that. Just how bad is the economy when people won't give up a greasy old hat?
Click to expand...

I took it that people were not paying much attention and by the time they reallized that it was his third of the night, thought it would look stupid to throw a hat on the ice.

Team looked much better last night. I was very worried after the first two games.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

I think the fans were still in exhibition mode, too. Tuesday night twilight game and the big azz scoreboard blinded them.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

bluevox said:
I took it that people were not paying much attention and by the time they reallized that it was his third of the night, thought it would look stupid to throw a hat on the ice.

Team looked much better last night. I was very worried after the first two games.
Click to expand...

The announcement could have been a little better on the hat trick.... ;)
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

Pretty darned good solid start.

As scared as we are about the scoring, at least we know there are players who CAN. It's more a matter of them being able to relax and find the back of the net on a regular basis. I'm pretty impressed with the creativity in the offensive zone- there was some good passing and even some communication for a first game. The big question is if/when players get into a slump, will others step up?

Defense- well, there were too many times where the 5 guys on the ice seemed to be watching what was going on, and they had problems getting the puck out of the zone quite a few times. Thankfully, Niagara was not able to really take advantage of that, and got a handful of good scoring chances.

Power Play- was ok. I was expecting a lot worse, but they moved the puck reasonably well, and even got a goal. If they can have one thing they seem to want to work on is the pass to a one time slap shot- but that's not limited to the PP, since they missed every chance the entire game...:D

PK. Outside of the blue line, the penalty kill was great, as it has been for a LONG time. Pressure deep, really messing up neutral zone passing lanes, and forcing deep dump ins- just like we like it. I see that they are struggling with cycling coverage once the offense gets into the zone, though. And you can see them get really tired, too. A few times, they just could not dump the puck at all. But as bad as I see that, they still scored a great shorty, AND got goals just as penalties ended. Not worried about this what so ever. And I think that the base D and the PK D is related to each other- so fix one, get both.

No need to post about the goalies. ;)

One play really made me nervous- late in the second period, one of our forwards cheated on a face off, which lead to Niagra getting a rather uncontested break in, and subsequent pressure (and face off). Hope they see that during the film watching. Can't cheat like you could in younger leagues.

Great to see wolvereneTrumpet and Streaker. Good lord that scoreboard. Oh, on that, did anyone else notice the ice brightness change as they changed the screen? Or that there's a darker patch right at center ice? Great for the fans, sure, but there are some issues with how it actually can alter play....
 
Last edited:
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

redwings8831 said:
We're "hosting" the 2013 West Regional.

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/100511aaa.html
Click to expand...

That's just weird. So there's a regional in Toledo, and it is guaranteed that Michigan will not be playing in that regional (because they will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, if they make the tournament). I wonder if the Toledo arena and host Bowling Green are a little annoyed that a major draw less than 1 hour from the arena won't be there.

Not to mention the fact that a team is hosting a regional that isn't even the closest regional to their campus. When has that ever happened?
 
Alton said:
That's just weird. So there's a regional in Toledo, and it is guaranteed that Michigan will not be playing in that regional (because they will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, if they make the tournament). I wonder if the Toledo arena and host Bowling Green are a little annoyed that a major draw less than 1 hour from the arena won't be there.

Not to mention the fact that a team is hosting a regional that isn't even the closest regional to their campus. When has that ever happened?
Click to expand...
I had very similar thoughts. There are enough good teams in the area though that depending on how seeds and match-ups shake out Toledo may still have decent attendance (ND, MSU, Miami, tOSU). But Michigan easily would have been the best hope for attendance at a Toledo regional.

Nice to have 2 regionals in the CCHA footprint after last year's foolish idea of hosting in St. Louis. Goodbye CCHA, here have a couple regionals.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

wolverineTrumpet said:
I had very similar thoughts. There are enough good teams in the area though that depending on how seeds and match-ups shake out Toledo may still have decent attendance (ND, MSU, Miami, tOSU). But Michigan easily would have been the best hope for attendance at a Toledo regional.

Nice to have 2 regionals in the CCHA footprint after last year's foolish idea of hosting in St. Louis. Goodbye CCHA, here have a couple regionals.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Not that GR isn't a great place for a regional, but honestly, the west regional should be somewhere west of Chicago somewhere. Having both Toledo and GR for the regionals is just going to hurt attendance for both of them I think.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

alfablue said:
Good lord that scoreboard. Oh, on that, did anyone else notice the ice brightness change as they changed the screen? Or that there's a darker patch right at center ice? Great for the fans, sure, but there are some issues with how it actually can alter play....
Click to expand...

I noticed it during the UOIT game. At first it looked like some of the overhead general lighting went out then came back. Finally during the 2nd period I figured out it was dependant on what was on the scoreboard.

Also it appears there a several banners missing. There used to be four rows. I fond it hard to believe they consolidated them into 2 rows.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines 2011-2012 hockey thread

Alton said:
That's just weird. So there's a regional in Toledo, and it is guaranteed that Michigan will not be playing in that regional (because they will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, if they make the tournament). I wonder if the Toledo arena and host Bowling Green are a little annoyed that a major draw less than 1 hour from the arena won't be there.

Not to mention the fact that a team is hosting a regional that isn't even the closest regional to their campus. When has that ever happened?
Click to expand...

Weird is right.

I don't know about the part where you ask when has a team hosted a regional that sin't even the closest one to their campus. Without going back through history I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss that possibility. However there are SEVERAL other potential hosts closer to the site and conversely several, arguably better, sites closer to U-M.

A strange collection of sites and hosts indeed.

And, yes, the "West" regional should be west of Chicago. Well almost. I say West of the Mississippi River.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top