Re: Michigan Wolverines 2013-14 Season Thread: The B1G Time
Here to help. Minnesota's play style has always been about puck control. The team isn't at ease until it has the puck and will give ground to retain control. Its always been a fast forward team. By that I mean that its defense plays a huge part at MN...we actually get more high defensive draft picks as a percent than offensive draft picks. So watch for a 5 player effort all the time.
Last year's superstars of Bjugstad and Haula left some holes...but they really did a good job of acclimating the rest of the team. It left a core that was quite solid. The shorter Rau, Warning and to a lesser extent Condon have all progressed to the point where they are among the best in the BI6. Warning perhaps the top playmaker is injured and is doubtful. But 2 other factors for the forwards have made this team what it is today...the third line and the freshmen. Seth Amboz came in as a big guy with a lot of accolades but starting his final year at the USHL...he underachieved. This year he came into his own...as did Travis Boyd. So its not so much that the first or second line is the best...its that they are great and the third line is on par with them. Also, freshmen include the top two scorers and teammates from last year's USHL...Cammarata and the previous year's Mr Hockey Kloos (both almost reached 100 points in the USHL). Hudson Fasching came from the USNTPD...and as with Ambroz underachieved. This year the guy is on fire...and even though he went in the fourth...could well have been a first rounder based on play so far.
Lastly and possibly most importantly, the defense is also strong. They are not technically any more sound in regards to defensive play. They just integrate into play better via passing than any other team I've seen nationally (MN's D is either #1 or #2 in the country in points). We've had a stellar qback in Ben Marshall (although he can slip up periodically). But possibly outside of Wilcox, the top superstar on this team at any position (if that can be said) is Mike Reilly #5. He emerged this year and blew Marshall out of the water. Reilly can take over a game, which is a rare thing to say for a defensemen...and is not really too far from hobey material. And Wilcox has kept the team in games where the team has gone soft...and yes, he is up for the hobey.
On paper, the individuals on this team are going to be hard to beat even at Yost. But paper is...well...made of paper.
Interesting comments about defense. What I noticed last month, our forwards were not only regularly getting the puck off the boards, they were also able to get it into a good shooting lane pretty darned often. Which then exposes one of our key weaknesses- we have no real shooters. The real pretty shots are rare, but they come every once in a while- most of the goals are more of the "garbage" kind- where you are picking up after someone else. Heck, 3 or 4 of the goals against MSU were tip ins by their players last Friday. Our D (outside of last Friday) are not really contributing to the offense- not sure why- but they just are not.
Which is not a problem Minnesota has- your offense was doing the same thing, and found the back of the net. And your defensemen are doing the same thing. So given a pretty evenly played pair of games, your team won both of them pretty handily. Unless we find some magic in our defensive play, or we can match the scoring, the results should be the same this weekend. shoulda, woulda, coulda- that's why we play the game.
What's been frustrating as fans- we know some of these guys can really snipe the puck. We've seen it happen. So why we can't get good shots is a complete mystery.
The other issue that we've been talking about is the goalies- both are pretty good, both have had their bad games, technically- it seems that the fresman Nagelvoort is a better goalie, but realistically- up until last Saturday, the team has played just a little better in front of sophomore Racine. At this point, it's a total toss up who or what we get in goal, or how the team responds.
