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The shoe is on the other hand now

owslachief

owslachief

occupe toi de tes oignons
Michigan and Michigan State renew acquaintances in let's see it's 11:06pm EST, so ... 5 days. Lots of new faces on both sides. While um's a little banged up and are still looking for the puck in all that nylon, MSU got 12 of 15 points on Saturday from less-than-juniors. 4 points for DeBlouw. It must be Sunday, because Staudt filled in some inches with another "why are we playing hockey before December" rant, even going so far as to wonder why we're scheduling this match-up two weeks before regular feetball season's over. :confused:
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

We've always had a fall match up- then the home-Joe in Jan/Feb (depending on the year). I remember one time, we played on October. Not sure why this early season thing is that shocking....

IF nothing gets fixed behind the blue line play, there's a good chance you Sparty's are going to score a lot. Say, like a good couch bonfire/riot event for the guys who need illustration... ;)

Michigan is more than struggling on defensive play- currently allowing 4 goals per game in CCHA play. That sucks. Getting thin at the blue line, too- Trouba may not play, but it's hard to tell when he's actually doing any coverage- all you feel is the wind when he's trying an open ice check behind the blue line. Claire likes to throw the puck around, unless he's actually passing- then it's a gentle toss. Merrill is projected to be out until 2013 (the year, not the season). Who knows who got really hurt this past weekend. And, as of yet, neither goalie has really stood out that they can cover up the horrible defensive play by the entire team.

Scoring isn't a problem for us- 14 goals in CCHA play so far. If not for the 16 allowed, we'd be great.

We'll see.

(if MGB posts something about "crushing sparty"- it's pretty clear 1) no actual play has been seen, 2) nothing of actual hockey is known)
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

alfablue said:
We've always had a fall match up- then the home-Joe in Jan/Feb (depending on the year). I remember one time, we played on October. Not sure why this early season thing is that shocking....

IF nothing gets fixed behind the blue line play, there's a good chance you Sparty's are going to score a lot. Say, like a good couch bonfire/riot event for the guys who need illustration... ;)

Michigan is more than struggling on defensive play- currently allowing 4 goals per game in CCHA play. That sucks. Getting thin at the blue line, too- Trouba may not play, but it's hard to tell when he's actually doing any coverage- all you feel is the wind when he's trying an open ice check behind the blue line. Claire likes to throw the puck around, unless he's actually passing- then it's a gentle toss. Merrill is projected to be out until 2013 (the year, not the season). Who knows who got really hurt this past weekend. And, as of yet, neither goalie has really stood out that they can cover up the horrible defensive play by the entire team.

Scoring isn't a problem for us- 14 goals in CCHA play so far. If not for the 16 allowed, we'd be great.

We'll see.

(if MGB posts something about "crushing sparty"- it's pretty clear 1) no actual play has been seen, 2) nothing of actual hockey is known)
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It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out, as with the exception of this past saturday, MSU hasn't been a high scoring team. We can go scoreless for pretty significant stretches of time and have on numerous occassions. Particularly in 1st and 2nd periods.

Our inexperienced defense, with the exception of the minnesota series, has played pretty admirably. I do think they are on the slow side, which has me concerned with Michigan's speed and overall offensive abilities.

But it sounds like both teams have their issues. I still think Michigan will turn out to be the better team, but that doesn't mean that they will win the games. These more often than not end up pretty close.
 
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Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

For a couple years in the 90's they played the night before the football game, IIRC. If the football game was in AA, the hockey game was at Munn, and vice versa.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

Our D is as I suspected not taking long to adjust - especially with Grassi back and healthy, Boyd and Gatt coming in as transfers, and Draeger leading a more talented freshman corps of blue-liners on average than we had coming in in '08. There have been setbacks, too. Rhett Holland was looked upon to be a loud, physical presence as a freshman D-man but he's out for the season.

Dean Chelios is out for the season as well, and it's taken a few weeks to solidify our lines as a result, but solid is how I would describe the So - Fr - So line of Darnell, DeBlouw and Berry! DeBlouw leads the team in shots on goal and he will snipe or crash the net anytime, anywhere. And our two best faceoff guys just happen to be freshmen - DeBlouw and Ferrantino (coaches love this guy) - an undersized forward who's got the bulldog in him that Krug had.

DeBlouw said Tuesday he has something to prove this weekend, when asked about not being recruited by __. He just might, too :).

Added: There may have been a handy excuse for MSU looking a tad slow on Friday (how many times did a State skater get beat down the ice to either nullify or not earn an icing?) - a virus that was running through the team during the week. So, from our perspective, it'll be nice to see a quicker Spartan team, and of course considering the competition it shouldn't be hard to get a little extra step.
 
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Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

So little talk about this weekends games. Probably a lot of us are distracted one way or another....

BUT, for those of you coming to Ann Arbor tonight to see games at Yost- be aware that parking will be a very major issue tonight. You all know about some game between two teams from this state on ice. But there's also a womens BB game @ 6pm (Chriser), womens VB game @ 7pm (Cliff Keen), and mens BB game @ 8:30pm (Chriser).

In addition to that, there's the football game at noon tomorrow- all of which will have a big impact on traffic and parking in Ann Arbor tonight.

be paitent. and be early.

(good thing we walk to games!!!)
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

alfablue said:
So little talk about this weekends games. Probably a lot of us are distracted one way or another....
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I think some of it may also be this thread title. I have no idea what the title is in reference to, and only peeked in this thread due to curiosity.

Then again, there does seem to be a lot going on this week...an election or something. I haven't even talked to my favorite Sparty fans to see if they want to go out for pizza after tonight's game. Hey Uncle Gil, if you're reading this...NYPD tonight?

Thanks for the warning about parking alfa.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

The phrase has always stuck in my mind - from a long list of inextricable movie one-liners. In this case it's one of the "Airplanes"s.

No idea what bearing it has on the weekend tilt.

Just remember - it's an entirely different type of flying.
 
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Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

And, don't forget, both games are on Comcast or Xfinity (whatever the h*** they call themselves these days): Channel 900 for those of you who can access that channel.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

So, state... yea. who was that?

I expected a very physical and nasty game- just like it always has been. What I saw was a team just playing a game. What's up with that?

Still trying to digest that game- I can't say that our D played all that well, but State only scored one goal. At times, they really swarmed all over them, others- not so much- especually the goal. Pig slop.

Scored a lot, and could have put up a lot more, had it not been for some great saves.

Power play was non-existant. OTOH, the PK let State move the puck. either way, nothing happened.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

alfablue said:
So, state... yea. who was that?

I expected a very physical and nasty game- just like it always has been. What I saw was a team just playing a game. What's up with that?

Still trying to digest that game- I can't say that our D played all that well, but State only scored one goal. At times, they really swarmed all over them, others- not so much- especually the goal. Pig slop.

Scored a lot, and could have put up a lot more, had it not been for some great saves.

Power play was non-existant. OTOH, the PK let State move the puck. either way, nothing happened.
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Three periods, three different games. In the first, I don't know if the Spartans were still on Daylight Savings Time. I don't know if it was a great period for Michigan or a horrible one for MSU. My feeling is a little of both.

In the second, MSU came out with the jump in their step. Michigan looked like they were trying to coast to a 2-0 win.

I thought the play was much more even in the third, despite the score. I though Yanakeff kept Michigan off the board pretty well in the first and just couldn't do it in the third.

Rutledge played okay. Not great, but came away one missed save from a shutout. The defense for Michigan was questionable. The offense seems to be clicking right along.

I know that if Michigan comes out tonight with the same effort it put up in the 2nd and 3rd, MSU will win.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

So, someone told me I should check out the jerseys Michigan wore last night. They were....different. What do you Michigan fans think?
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

I'd like to say that game was over after 34 seconds, but Michigan still had a chance until State went up 5-2 in the second.

I don't understand why Red didn't do a goalie change after 4 goals in 10 minutes to start the game.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

Spartanforlife4 said:
I'd like to say that game was over after 34 seconds, but Michigan still had a chance until State went up 5-2 in the second.

I don't understand why Red didn't do a goalie change after 4 goals in 10 minutes to start the game.
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I don't know, kid was getting absolutely shelled out there. He did make some big stops as well and it could have been worse. Probably just to make a statement of faith in the kid.

Anyways, I don't think anybody expected that. Michigan's defensive weaknesses that we've all been hearing about came out in full force. MSU was getting in at Rutledge for much of the night, especially in the first period. It was practically one great scoring chance after another.
 
Re: The shoe is on the other hand now

Pirateasaurus said:
I don't know, kid was getting absolutely shelled out there. He did make some big stops as well and it could have been worse. Probably just to make a statement of faith in the kid.

Anyways, I don't think anybody expected that. Michigan's defensive weaknesses that we've all been hearing about came out in full force. MSU was getting in at Rutledge for much of the night, especially in the first period. It was practically one great scoring chance after another.
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I sometimes think he's trying to prove a point. I don't think Racine would have made a difference, the few times I could stand to watch the game- the D just didn't show up.

That, and the Sparty I expected Friday was out in full force last night, and the cowering scared team was in blue....

We still have not actually won an away game.
 
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