Apologies for the lack of coverage the past few weeks. I've been out of town for work, and it's really hard to get inspired to write something of any substance when I've gotten to watch about two periods worth of hockey so far this year. There's only so much you can gather from box scores, Gametracker, and radio calls.
Michigan was swept at home for the first time since 2001, when Craig Kowalski was taking out his frustrations on us all Brett Favre-style. This time they fell to Miami 3-1 and 5-1.
I listened to the first two periods Friday night before I had to head out to my own game and I actually came away feeling pretty good. We were down 2-1 when I left, but it sounded like Michigan absolutely dominated the game in the second period and were well on their way to a come-from-behind win. Didn't happen. But it sounded like they had a strong effort and played a good game--the puck just didn't bounce their way. I heard at least 3 goal posts, we had a waived off goal, missed a penalty shot....one of those nights.
Saturday night was apparently a different story. After a David Wohlberg goal on the first shot of the game, Michigan was held off the scoreboard the rest of the night and gave up 5 unanswered to the RedHawks.
After the game Coach Berenson called out his team, saying he was disappointed in the effort and calling the performance unacceptable. Does anyone else feel like this type of performance in a big game is alarmingly common? It seems like at least one time a season we come out with absolutely no heart in a game that shouldn't require any motivation to get up for. Maybe that happens throughout the course of a season, but you can't give up 6 points at home to one of the teams you'll (theoretically) be battling with for the CCHA title.
This sets up a big weekend against a surprising FYS team that has gotten out to a 4-1-1-0 start in conference play. Once again, no extra motivation should be necessary, with Corey Tropp making his return to Yost for the first time since his attack on Steve Kampfer last year. And the game will be on Fox Sports Detroit, so I can actually watch! Woot!
What good are ESPNU, CBS College Sports, and the Big Ten Network when a #1 vs. #4 series gets relegated to Comcast 900?
Way, way too early to panic--North Dakota shows pretty much every year that you can sleepwalk through the first couple months of the year and still be comfortably in the tournament--but it would be nice to get the offense going (and the goaltending solidified) sooner rather than later.
Other Stuff:
The USA Under 18s won the Four Nations Cup in Finland. Jack Campbell stopped 18 of 19 shots in a 4-1 win over host, Finland. Jon Merrill had a 1-2--3 line in the three USA victories.
The US was also victorious in the World Junior A Challenge. Mac Bennett was named to the All Tournament Team. Derek DeBlois was on the USA roster as well. Lucas Lessio played for Canada East.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Friday reminded me of Air Force last year. Played ok, outshot them, but what difference does that make if 95% of your shots are at his chest.
Saturday was different. They came out playing better fundamental hockey but absolutely lost their minds when Miami pulled away. It was to the point where they should be embarassed for more than just the score. Llewellyn and Langlais...I don't even know what to say.
Miami deserves some credit though. Their defense was rock solid. Maybe that #1 ranking was more justified than we thought. Michigan will be fine.
Red didn't condemn the players for their lack of effort so much as them resorting to Cromagnon style play, reminiscent of the Tropp incident last season. The Wolvs were out there trying to end someones season. Miami on the otherhand looked like the class of the nation. 13 shots on Friday is very misleading, since they were pretty much all high quality attempts, then they switched to a defensive style game in the second and blocked countless shots and held Michigan to very few grade a chances. Hats off to the 'Skins, they deserved all 6 points this weekend. It wasn't so much that we (Michigan) played awful, but Miami made us look awful.
I was expecting Michigan to at least split this series. I have to admit that I was shocked by the end result.
Michigan lacks a true "go-to" finisher type player. Several of the returning players have disappeared in high profile games. The goaltending at times is terrific, but Hogan has yet to play a game where he has not yielded one soft goal. The defense, which was suppose to be the strength of the team, is a turnover machine.The PK has been good, but the PP is abysmal. Talent is there, but this early difficult schedule has not allowed this team to gel. Hope they find their puck luck this weekend.
i think we'll be fine ultimately. very surprised we got owned by miami at yost since it is yost and the crowd was into it. two thoughts though:
1) caporusso needs to step up. he's the big-name scorer on the team. i don't want to say it's all on him, but he needs to put in some points on a weekend like that
2)llwellyn still takes ridiculous penalties. he should stop doing that
One of the better ways of learning, you have to bookmark needs guide official blog. It's awesome naa.
Post a Comment