THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

[alfablue]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

It still can be, depending on how this weekend goes. Our guys have won four straight against the Sparties and take some GLI mo up to the Morgue. We get 15 of our last 17 games in the state of Michigan, (which included the GLI) with eight home games and the MSU/JLA game which is technically their home game. Our road games are @ MSU, @ FSU, @Miami (2) @ NMU (2). I'm pretty optimistic about the schedule, if they can make hay at Yost and split on the road. We're 10-5-1 since 07-08 against State and 4-0 at JLA.

I'd say a nice run of 14-3 would be acceptable.

Anything would be nice, assuming 1)we increase out streak by one more year, AND 2)we finish the season on a 4 game winning streak.

As long as that happens, anything that happens between now and April will be forgiven.

this team still has thier moments of brilliance, followed by some confusing play. If we can change the ratio of that some more, we will be in great shape.

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Picked up a new commitment today: Phil Di Giuseppe from the OJHL. He's 35th in league scoring, but he's the highest scoring 93 birthday, and he's a late-93 to boot. 6'1", 200.

The team's assistant GM said his speed and stick skills are "second to none". Probably pumping up his own player somewhat, but he sounds like a REALLY nice pickup, especially this late in the game.

Good stuff, T. We need more scoring punch coming in, considering that we will be left with a group of waterbugs and a couple of plodders.

Are you figuring Merrill and Brown will play this weekend?

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Anything would be nice, assuming 1)we increase out streak by one more year, AND 2)we finish the season on a 4 game winning streak.

As long as that happens, anything that happens between now and April will be forgiven.

this team still has thier moments of brilliance, followed by some confusing play. If we can change the ratio of that some more, we will be in great shape.

Even if they falter a little they should make it. I can't see them missing the NCAA show without a total collapse. Their PWR/RPI looks pretty decent right now and the Alaska/Miami/Ferris/NMU games should help if they win their share of them. They are all TUCs- and I think OSU and WMU will be also. That just leaves MSU, which needs a run like the Wolverines made last season just to make the NCAA's let alone become a TUC.

One of my concerns is Hogan's health. I don't know if Hunwick can carry this team the whole stretch and the playoffs. The novelty of rallying around him may not be as strong come the mid part of February when Hogan should be practicing. The other concern is the poor special teams play. Not Berenson like.

I'll worry about March and April when that comes.

 

[owslachief]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Insert cheerless, troll-based response here (Jan 7/8 edition).

 

[M-HockeyNet]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Are you figuring Merrill and Brown will play this weekend?

I think they'll both play. Don't see any reason why they wouldn't. I think in years past the concern was kids returning like a day before the game when the WJC tourney was held in like Europe or Russia or somewhere overseas and any fatigue/jet lag. They didn't even leave the time zone for this year's tourney.

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

I think they'll both play. Don't see any reason why they wouldn't. I think in years past the concern was kids returning like a day before the game when the WJC tourney was held in like Europe or Russia or somewhere overseas and any fatigue/jet lag. They didn't even leave the time zone for this year's tourney.

That's true, J- but I didn't hear anything until I read an article in the Daily. Brown sounds tired but ready to go. Both he and Merrill played a ton of hockey the last three weeks. Can't count on an auto win at Munn, good to have all hands on deck, especially on the blue line. Now the question is, who sits?

 

[M-HockeyNet]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

That's true, J- but I didn't hear anything until I read an article in the Daily. Brown sounds tired but ready to go. Both he and Merrill played a ton of hockey the last three weeks. Can't count on an auto win at Munn, good to have all hands on deck, especially on the blue line. Now the question is, who sits?

Especially on a Friday night...

I'm hoping that Brown can bring some of his WJC play back to Michigan. Sounded like he had a good tournament and found the back of the net. I think he's too talented to be playing 3rd/4th line minutes. He needs to be playing with the more skilled forwards.

 

[Hammer]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Final count on the outdoor game: 104,073.

 

[owslachief]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Final count on the outdoor game: 104,073.

You must be exhausted!

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Deflating. Same old story on Friday: don't capitalize on chances (TWO shorthanded breakaways) take bad penalties (no matter how much Red complained about them), give up PPG's. Make monumental comeback only to get pinned in your end, get gassed and let a point shot get deflected in during OT. Hats off to MSU's goaltender Yanakeff. Also to Matt Rust and Chad Langlais who showed some life out there. Merrill and Brown looked tired. Hunwick was admirable, but that was a real stupid penalty he took. Giving up 3-4 goals a night isn't going to win games and cuffing an opponent isn't going to help.

 

[kjaskolski]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Much better showing tonight, especially in the 3rd period. A little shaky for the first 30 minutes, again having a hard time getting the puck out of their zone at times. Did do a much better job staying out of the box tonight, which allowed the game to flow well, and played into Michigan's speed and talent advantage.

Hunwick was excellent tonight when he had to be, and it looks like he got under their skin a bit. Back to back penalties on him, to set up the game clinching 5 on 3 goal. I sit right by the visitor penalty box and Krug was incensed when he came to the box for tripping Hunwick.

All in all, a good win, now if they can figure out a way to get the job done on Friday's.

 

[alfablue]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Nice to see them play so well, and very much liked that both teams stayed out of the box for the most part- got home pretty early all things considered.

Kinda hard to see MSU get so many good chances- but between hunwick and the D, they minimized each opportunity.

And it was good to see how the 3rd ended up, since the players could have gotten really frustrated by putting so much pressure on the Spartans without scoring.

If we can just get that kind of a game on both nights...

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Nice to see them play so well, and very much liked that both teams stayed out of the box for the most part- got home pretty early all things considered.

Kinda hard to see MSU get so many good chances- but between hunwick and the D, they minimized each opportunity.

And it was good to see how the 3rd ended up, since the players could have gotten really frustrated by putting so much pressure on the Spartans without scoring.

If we can just get that kind of a game on both nights...

Yeah, well according to the Sparties, Hunwick is a diver and he "didn't make any difficult saves". I guess they should all go into clock making, too. Kinda hard to outscore your in state rival 9-0 in two games on home ice without making some sort of difficult save. He was the difference in the first period. Looks like LB is upset about his theatrics, whether it is (dumbly) protecting his crease, or getting buzzed a couple times by frustrated POS like Krug and co.
Serves them right. One more game at JLA to prove it wasn't a fluke. Just hope the rest of the team shows up like in the third period.

 

[alfablue]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Yeah, well according to the Sparties, Hunwick is a diver and he "didn't make any difficult saves". I guess they should all go into clock making, too. Kinda hard to outscore your in state rival 9-0 in two games on home ice without making some sort of difficult save. He was the difference in the first period. Looks like LB is upset about his theatrics, whether it is (dumbly) protecting his crease, or getting buzzed a couple times by frustrated POS like Krug and co.
Serves them right. One more game at JLA to prove it wasn't a fluke. Just hope the rest of the team shows up like in the third period.

Honestly, I thought the first goalie interference should have been 5 min, and the second 3 would have been an award to Shawn for some great acting. He did get hit, sure. But the embeleshent I thought I saw was darned impressive. Very deserving of 3 extra min to the MSU player. That was funny.

Not sure what Krug's beef it, I watched the replay last night- and he did shove Hunwick. Shawn may have fell quickly, BUT they are a LONG way away from the play, the ref is standing right next to you, and you did shove the goalie. Why that's a problem is beyond me.

I didn't stick around for the 3 stars, but I sure hope that they remembered who earned the shutout on Saturday vs. the Big Chill. He did play really well all night-and I didn't notice him overplaying the movement of the puck. Just a great night for him.

Not that I care, but why did MSU change goalies? I thought the other guy won Friday. Both are sieves, but at least one won a game.

The #1 lesson of Saturday vs. Friday- penalties. Stay out of the box, and good things happen vs. Take a lot of penalties- and the good players get tired. The overall cleanliness of the game Saturday is still kind of surprising.

(Oh, and for Goal 2- did it remind you, even slightly, of Jason Muzzati? )

 

[streaker]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Honestly, I thought the first goalie interference should have been 5 min, and the second 3 would have been an award to Shawn for some great acting. He did get hit, sure. But the embeleshent I thought I saw was darned impressive. Very deserving of 3 extra min to the MSU player. That was funny.

Not sure what Krug's beef it, I watched the replay last night- and he did shove Hunwick. Shawn may have fell quickly, BUT they are a LONG way away from the play, the ref is standing right next to you, and you did shove the goalie. Why that's a problem is beyond me.

I didn't stick around for the 3 stars, but I sure hope that they remembered who earned the shutout on Saturday vs. the Big Chill. He did play really well all night-and I didn't notice him overplaying the movement of the puck. Just a great night for him.

Not that I care, but why did MSU change goalies? I thought the other guy won Friday. Both are sieves, but at least one won a game.

The #1 lesson of Saturday vs. Friday- penalties. Stay out of the box, and good things happen vs. Take a lot of penalties- and the good players get tired. The overall cleanliness of the game Saturday is still kind of surprising.

(Oh, and for Goal 2- did it remind you, even slightly, of Jason Muzzati? )

Their freshman goaltender tweaked his groin in the saturday morning skate, apparently. I thought it was a move by Comley not to break his confidence by having a go at Yost. I wouldn't exactly say we came out like a house afire, like I hoped.

Good discipline, like you mentioned- coupled with a solid backchecking effort helped. McInchak had his ears burned by Red after Friday- didn't see any cheap calls either way- although I can't question the calls on Wohlberg, Langlais, Hunwick and Scooter in East Lansing.

Hunwick got called out by Red a little in his post game comments after Friday. Looks like the Spartans obliged him anyway.

Three stars: 1. Hagelin- 2G 2. Hunwick-28 saves/SO 3. Treais-1G (I question why Mac Bennett 1G 1A +1, didn't get one.)

 

[alfablue]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

McInchak had his ears burned by Red after Friday- didn't see any cheap calls either way- although I can't question the calls on Wohlberg, Langlais, Hunwick and Scooter in East Lansing.

I may not have been paying super close attention, but I thought both teams played a very good game, WRT penalties. Very, very little post whistle action, and very few hits that could be considered cheap shots. And that really, really quickened up the game- the first period ended as a few fans were arriving for a 7:35 start.

I'd love to see more games played like that. very fun.

 

[Wol4ine]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

One of the calls that got me irked friday was one of the 5-3 pp calls. (don't remember if it was the first, probably the second though) A State player was carrying the puck into the M zone along the boards. A Mich player (Scooter?) reached across the players body to play the puck. The Sparty clamped down his arm so Scooters arm was now under the spartys arm. The sparty then took a dive dragging scooter down too. The ref calls a penalty, MSU goes on the 5 on 3 and scores.

 

[alfablue]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Thankfully, Friday and Saturday were completely different games for playing and reffing. Saturday was how it was meant to be played. Well, mostly.

 

[alnike]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Hunwick - Very solid game on Saturday night, Friday night his size/limitation was exposed with good shots. 5x3 powerplays make that pretty easy. I was less than thrilled with the punch he put on Gayisley from Friday night. Not sure what was said to him, but it put him over the edge in a critical situation of the game. And as mentioned on that powerplay, Leveille takes a dive while Scooter is angling him into the boards. Maybe Hunwick saw that and took the Saturday night dive on Forfar. The TV replay clearly showed Forfar/Hunwick may have brushed jerseys at most, but no skate or arm contact for that embellishment. The next penalty on Krug was legit, going out of his way to hit Hunwick.

I thought Pateryn played a solid and effective game on Saturday night.

I know Langlais went out of his way to hit Krug on Friday night to pick up the penalty. I couldn't tell if Krug tipped the puck on the pass or not. If he did tip it and make contact, that hit should have been ok, but was unnecessary.

Krug wastes too much energy being a punk. He has talent, focus it on the play. He is too much WWE at Munn (January 2010 and 2011). He thinks he's immune from most penalties because he wears a "C". It was nice to see Rust nail him at center ice on Saturday. Krug likes the center ice hit where he crunches over and hip checks unsuspecting players at the knees.

MSU likes to chirp on their home ice. That is effective against a frustrated Michigan team who does not historically play well at Munn.

The weekend was a slight disappointment. Mostly because of the 3rd period on Friday night. Two consecutive 5x3 penalty kills is unacceptable in this game, especially when all four penalties could have easily been avoided. Time to start a streak of weekend sweeps. Don't let Ferris' Redmond beat them from the point on the power play.

 

[owslachief]

Re: THE University of Michigan 2010-2011 Season Thread

Not knocking Hunwick's ability in net, Streaker. We made it easy on him. Did you see MSU's odd-man rushes on Saturday?

Everything we got past him on Friday was lined up from 20+ feet out, and 3 of the 4 through goodly traffic.