cutler martin

38750957124_9e15fcefa8_z

[Coller]

Tuesday, January 2, 2017

Michigan 6, Michigan State 4

Great Lakes Invitational consolation game

1st period

Hirose goal

UM 0 MSU 1 EV 00:26 Assists: Lewandowski

Luce tries to handle a pass to him at the blue line and bobbles it, trips, and ends up staring at a nearly stationary puck between himself and a charging MSU skater. He flails around in an effort to bat the puck anywhere but where it is. This fails, and Lewandowski flips the puck over Luce’s stick. He plays it to himself off the boards.

gli msu 1-1 edit

Lewandowski cuts inside and glides back outside to retrieve the puck off the wall. Luce gets up and tries to chase him down, but Lewandowski ends up with an uncontested zone entry. Luce starts to close the gap as Lewandowski carries down the wing. Cecconi is at the point where he’s realized he’s no longer needed to come across and cover, so he starts to turn. He’s still looking at the puck carrier, though.

gli msu 1-2

Or, more accurately, the guy who used to be the puck carrier. Lewandowski somehow sees Hirose trailing and flings the puck his way. You can see from the shadowy image of a guy with one skate on the ice that Hirose has to body the puck to contain it.

gli msu 1-3

I mean, come on. That is not even remotely on Lavigne. You’d like to see Cecconi pick up on the fact that there’s a trailer earlier so that he isn’t caught flat-footed and can gap up, but the shot itself is an immediate and perfect backhander off a puck that rolled down a guy’s body. Weird.

gli msu 1-4

[After THE JUMP: hat trick and a butt goal]

33194112506_c8e2d10e5e_z

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Michigan walloped a bad CIS team on Saturday, beating Western Ontario 10-1. The Mustangs were not a good team last year and seemingly came to Yost with less than a full complement of skaters; things did not improve with one injury and three ejections. But Michigan hockey has played a CIS punching bag annually and they haven't always looked like that. Since 2009-10, with tourney teams bolded:

  • Michigan 6, Windsor 2, shots 33-16 M
  • Michigan 4, Western Ontario 2, shots 39-29 M
  • Ontario Tech 3, Michigan 2, shots 56-28 M
  • Michigan 7, Windsor 3, shots 43-30 M
  • Waterloo 2, Michigan 1, shots 35-22 M
  • Michigan 5, Wilfred Laurier 2, shots 52-24 M
  • Michigan 8, Toronto 1, shots 52-12 M
  • Michigan 2, Windsor 0, shots 36-32 M

Beating up on Western Ontario doesn't mean Michigan Is Back, but the trend there is clear. All but one tourney team doubled up the opposition in shots; all but one team that missed was in a relatively competitive game, give or take the goaltending. Not clobbering Western Ontario would have been a real bad sign. Michigan avoided that.

GENERAL FEELINGSBALL

Feelingspuck? Doesn't sound right. Anyway: Michigan felt like a much-improved hockey team. Odd-man rushes, which happened seemingly three times a period during the last few years, were restricted to one early two-on-one and a breakaway when Quinn Hughes's stick broke. Meanwhile Michigan's breakout impressed with the diversity of approaches they took and their success at breaking the WO forecheck.

The forward corps is still short on talent, with two or three guys who would ideally be third-liners on the top two lines and a questionable bottom six. On the other hand, the return of Cutler Martin to defense—where I've always liked him—gives Michigan seven defensemen ranging from competent to excellent. Michigan has almost never had the kind of defensive depth they have this year, and with a more organized team supporting them and two good goalies backing them up Michigan could find success as a grind-it-out outfit that wins games 3-2 and 2-1.

Nobody wants Michigan hockey to look like that long term but beggars can't be choosers this year. If they get to the tournament, that's how.

[After THE JUMP: player-specific takes and a feel for the season.]

31431175932_21fb7f0ee8_z

[Bill Rapai]

Friday, December 9, 2016

Michigan 4, Wisconsin 7

1st period

PIAZZA GOAL

UM 1 UW 0 PPG 09:49 Assists: Lockwood & Allen

Michigan goes away from the 1-3-1 they’ve been using most of the season and aligns in the umbrella with Kile working the point. Kile happens to have the puck, swinging it to Lockwood in the right faceoff circle.

m wis fri 1-1

Lockwood takes his sweet time with the puck, as well he should. He’s looking for something to develop, and that something ends up being the defender taking a knee when he thinks Lockwood’s about to shoot. This opens up a pass at the red line for Allen, and the pass can be made with confidence because 1.) the nearest defender is on his knee and 2.) the rest of the defense is occupied with other Michigan skaters and won’t be able to challenge the pass aggressively.

Allen sees the seam between defenders, and with said defenders collapsing on net Piazza is left unchecked to the goaltender’s left. Allen threads a nice pass through the lane.

m wis fri 1-2

Piazza one-times it, leaving Berry with no chance of stopping a shot for which he has to get all the way across the crease. Michigan does a nice job here of moving the puck; once it’s on Lockwood’s stick and then moved behind the net, the goaltender has to lock the post and the defense shifts away from Piazza.

m wis fri 1-3

[Hit THE JUMP for some weird bounces]