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Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

streaker said:
Tell me why the team plays better in front of Racine? Confidence? Luck? The kid was unconscious on Friday, when the goals that Miami scored could have been doubled, at least. He made two egregious errors that he got away with, and yet, if it was Rutledge in net, y'all would be all over him. I'll say it again, Rutledge had a poor outing against RIT and should have been vilified. He gave up 1 goal in 40 minutes, then his team went to sleep on him. I hardly think that it was "all his fault", especially since this was the 2nd time it happened to him- without the benefit of letting in a soft one. Sooner or later you're gonna have to look at the whole product here. You're asking both of these kids to come in and step into the shoes of perhaps one of best goaltenders all time in an M uniform and perform at his level because our team decides to relax on a lead and take shifts off. It's not fair to either of them. They need support, not criticism. Racine is going to have his rough spots- what are you going to say then? Red will make them make the choice easy for him, but for now the sample size is too small to make that call yet.

Oh, and wT, whatever it was I am sure it was fabulous.
Click to expand...

The one thing that got to me between Friday and Saturday was the blind passes/dumps. It seemed to be rampant on Saturday, and less so on Friday. Was that the goalie? Dunno. And these are not so much just basic lazy shifts, but ones that they start to panic over. And one switch that seemed to get it going was Miami's second goal- which you point out that nobody moved once the puck was dropped, and I've mentioned that a short side shot should have been covered a little better. Long side- we see that all the time, short side off the face off- not so much. Did that un-nerve the team? maybe.

Or does Trouba's issues in the D zone troubling them? Could be, too- add that with Claires carelessness with the puck? Possible.

Hope the team has figured out that they have to keep going for the whole game now. They have and have not in past years.

They are scoring some fun goals, that's for sure.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

streaker said:
Tell me why the team plays better in front of Racine? Confidence? Luck? The kid was unconscious on Friday, when the goals that Miami scored could have been doubled, at least. He made two egregious errors that he got away with, and yet, if it was Rutledge in net, y'all would be all over him. I'll say it again, Rutledge had a poor outing against RIT and should have been vilified. He gave up 1 goal in 40 minutes, then his team went to sleep on him. I hardly think that it was "all his fault", especially since this was the 2nd time it happened to him- without the benefit of letting in a soft one. Sooner or later you're gonna have to look at the whole product here. You're asking both of these kids to come in and step into the shoes of perhaps one of best goaltenders all time in an M uniform and perform at his level because our team decides to relax on a lead and take shifts off. It's not fair to either of them. They need support, not criticism. Racine is going to have his rough spots- what are you going to say then? Red will make them make the choice easy for him, but for now the sample size is too small to make that call yet.

Oh, and wT, whatever it was I am sure it was fabulous.
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I can't tell you why the team plays better in front of Racine, I can't even say they do play better in front of Racine. I just prefer the end result better for the games Racine has played. It reminds me of Sauer/Hogan. Sauer should have been the better goalie. The stats were the same. For some reason the wins came in front of Hogan. The team seemed to play better with Hogan in net.

Both Racine and Rutledge have given up goals they shouldn't have. And the D has left each high and dry too many times. We all think and hope that both those issues will dwindle as the season progresses. I won't be suprised if the goalies continue to split the weekend. I'm just saying, I'm on the Racine bandwagon for now because the W's correspond to Racine in net.

And my costume was a Yip Yip (one of the martians from Sesame Street). Although most people thought it was Cookie Monster. Either way, it was really fun.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

wolverineTrumpet said:
I can't tell you why the team plays better in front of Racine, I can't even say they do play better in front of Racine. I just prefer the end result better for the games Racine has played. It reminds me of Sauer/Hogan. Sauer should have been the better goalie. The stats were the same. For some reason the wins came in front of Hogan. The team seemed to play better with Hogan in net.

Both Racine and Rutledge have given up goals they shouldn't have. And the D has left each high and dry too many times. We all think and hope that both those issues will dwindle as the season progresses. I won't be suprised if the goalies continue to split the weekend. I'm just saying, I'm on the Racine bandwagon for now because the W's correspond to Racine in net.

And my costume was a Yip Yip (one of the martians from Sesame Street). Although most people thought it was Cookie Monster. Either way, it was really fun.
Click to expand...

I did see it! Yes, very creative. (And no, I don't think you were making a political message to save the muppets!)

As far as our goaltenders- Red has said it, and so has Brian Wiseman in private, that both will play until the staff determines that either one of them is not progressing. We can all use the Merrill is out excuse, but that doesn't fly. Our top d-men for the most part are high flyers (Trouba, Bennett and Moffie) with Chiasson, Clare and Serville more the conservative guys. Clare is the only guy on the negative side, yet all of them were at fault for the 3rd period collapse. Bennett, up until saturday, was the best player on the ice for the previous four games. Our forwards are all producing offensively, but are sacrificing their defensive tasks.

Racine will probably have most people's vote because of his record. Nothing wrong with that, but I caution, it's more about the guys in front of him that better tighten up. He can only do so much, like he did friday. OTOH, Rutledge has yet to make those types of saves, even if the circumstances aren't entirely all his. That's the biggest difference.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

A couple of notes of special interest:

1. Racine will start Friday and depending on his performance will get the start on Saturday.
2. Brennan Serville will not play this weekend due to a "facial concussion" suffered when he stepped up on a Miami forward last week and took a mean shot to the chops.
3. Mike Szuma will step in as the 6th d-man again.
4. The Michigan Daily is hinting that Jon Merrill may be out longer than was first discussed. He may not see action now until January.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

So now we are down another D man.

Surprising to see them come back to get the tie- based on the hole they dug themselves in the 2nd. Good for the offense.

And Racine gets his chance to expose the bad defensive play... still have no clear #1.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

One the one hand, Michigan looked terrible for large parts of the weekend, and playing like this for a season is a great way to lose a streak. Barely scraping out a point ("what shootout?" asks the Pairwise) against a dodgy NMU squad is not a good result.

On the other hand, the Friday comeback was the most improbable I can remember since I've been closely following Michigan Hockey. Not just three goals down with 12 minutes to go, but fighting off a 5x3 and a 5-minute major while our best defenseman gets himself DQ'd with a dumb hit. Highway robbery. A point on an otherwise disastrous weekend is a nice piece of window-dressing, right? And we can't panic too much, because Michigan ALWAYS seems to look like this early in the year before putting it together for the stretch run.

One of these years the luck will run out, and the team will look bad all year and get stuck with a hopeless PWR rating guaranteeing no bid.

And then they'll get some kind of bad draw against an arch-rival and go on the road for the playoffs. And then they'll sweep, go to the Joe with a chance to win the conference, and...

Eh. No panic yet.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I agree that there's no panic. But certainly some concern.

So many issues on our side of the blue line, it's pretty scary- our goals against stat must be pretty bad- 8 goals this past weekend. Serious problems there, as an entire team.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I really believe the defensive problems will sort themselves out as the season goes on. Or at least the coaches and team will sort them out. Trouba is, lest we forget, a young freshman who hasn't entirely adapted his game to the college level, and confident puck-mover Jon Merrill is not on the ice. We have seen Michigan's defense improve as seasons progress in the recent past, and I don't see any reason that it won't improve again this year. I think the effect of big ice can be overstated, but the Friday meltdown <b>did</b> happen entirely in PK situations, and the Saturday meltdown happened with three starting defensemen watching from the concourse.

Not that I've actually seen this myself, since I live in Minnesota. I will say, however, that the descriptions of the D-zone breakdowns suggest problems that can be rectified with confidence puck movement, something our favorite New Jersey Devils draft pick specializes in.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Did we just turn the corner last night? Granted, we did not look good enough for a National Title but I'm thinking conference championship as long as no other injuries (knock-on-wood) happen and Merrill can come back without losing a step. Michigan looked good tonight, the score could have been 15-1 if not for Yanekeef (sp.?) standing on his head. Why is it that sparty gets the awesome goalies?
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Improved? Sure. Turned the corner is a little optimistic, though. We know we have a good offense, but the D played well in spurts, just like every game. The big thing they did was limit their losses.

It's funny that I'm more nervous with the #1 defensive paring- one passes are questionable, the other still has issues with covering a moving target.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

One game isn't going to sway me. Still far too many turnovers in our end, Rutledge played like the goalie we thought he was. The team played better overall defense and only took two penalties. Yanakeff kept State in the game, especially in the first period. Our emotional letdown in the 2nd period was uninspiring. If State scores on their chance early in the third period, it's tied and we may lose. The turning point was the killed penalty, score on the next shift to make it 4-1. The Deblois goal to make it 3-1 was a backbreaker since it was the type of goal we have allowed in games this season. Blind, backhand through the legs pass from State right onto our stick.

Sweep tonight at Munn and maybe we'll have enough momentum next week to take some points from Notre Dame.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

alfablue said:
Improved? Sure. Turned the corner is a little optimistic, though. We know we have a good offense, but the D played well in spurts, just like every game. The big thing they did was limit their losses.

It's funny that I'm more nervous with the #1 defensive paring- one passes are questionable, the other still has issues with covering a moving target.
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Yes, one game is most certainly too little to make that judgement BUT turning the corner has to start with one game. I'm hoping that last night was the start of somethiung special, of course spartys putrid offense helped a lot bt like I said. Their goalie was phenomenol last night, why weren't our guys trying other locations than the 5 hole? You'd think if something isn't working you try something different. Yankeef looks like he has a slower than average glove-hand.

sparty plays well bove their heads against us, but they are still sparty. That being said, playing on the road is always tough...

We'll find out in a little over an hour.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Hello! After watching tonight's game, besides needing a stiff one on the rocks, I also started thinking about my glory years in a2. I would love more than anything to have a look back at some of those mid 90s spankings of sparty and the countless others who fell hard to the big blue machine in the days of brendan morrison, warren luhning, john madden and marty turco! If anyone has, or knows anyone who has, and is willing to sell tapes/video of any games during this era, I would love to buy. Thanks!!
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I didn't know where to post this schadenfreude, so I thought our thread would be ok. As some of you may have read in the series thread when we played Miami, I hate Rico Blasi. I'm starting to like McInchak a lot (mostly for the candy bars at the St Louis regional). McInchak tried to sneak a game DQ on Rico into the box score this weekend.
I also think Miami got called for 3 diving/embellishment penalties on the weekend. I'm not surprised, as I think they were diving all over the place during our series. I honestly worried that Miami players were taking dangerous dives...even if you want to draw a penalty, why dive head first into the boards? Also, the article states "Blasi received a bench minor for arguing on Friday". That seems like a first. Haven't we seen him argue with officials to review video that they've already reviewed?

Ok, I now return you to discussion of how poorly Michigan is playing defense.
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I highly doubt you watched the game yourself. The two diving/embellishment penalties were complete bull. I find it funny that not on one but both of these so called diving/embellishment penalties the Northern guy got called for a penalty as well. Yes, in some rare cases there can be a reason to give both guys a penalty, but in my opinion it is either one or the other, not both. There is a reason McInchak hasn't reffed a game in Oxford in a couple years. Apparently, Rico and McInchak have a history. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

SweeneyHawksHockey said:
I highly doubt you watched the game yourself. The two diving/embellishment penalties were complete bull. I find it funny that not on one but both of these so called diving/embellishment penalties the Northern guy got called for a penalty as well. Yes, in some rare cases there can be a reason to give both guys a penalty, but in my opinion it is either one or the other, not both. There is a reason McInchak hasn't reffed a game in Oxford in a couple years. Apparently, Rico and McInchak have a history. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There are many instances where players can embellish a penalty call. No need to go flying through the air, throw a stick or have your feet fly out if you are being hit in a different area.
 
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