Michigan Cornell OT open thread
March 24th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
This one is going to sting for a while....I feel so bad for Shawn
March 24th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
At some point you have to ask why this happens more years than not. Why Red can't motivate this team to make it past the first round. Yes, two Frozen Fours in the last 5 years, that's great, but those are heavily outweighed by a mountain of complete chokejob performances in this tournament. It's maddening.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:11 AM ^
There's no denying Red is a legendary coach. 22 straight years in the tournament is unreal and it shows unbelievable consistency
But I'd have to agree, we're soft in the tournament. Since I've followed Michigan, we lost as the #1 overall in the semi's to ND when Sauer melted down, lost to AFA as a 1 seed in the 1st round, rode Hunwick to a frozen four appearance*, rode Hunwick to a title game appearance, and then totally sleepwalked through a game against a 4 SEED, ECAC TEAM. as a 1 seed. Pull it together and play like the best program in college hockey
March 24th, 2012 at 12:27 AM ^
We don't even play focused for an entire season anymore. I love Red and hope he coaches here until he doesn't want to because he could still have us as an elite program if he coaches while sleep-walking, but something is wrong with his preparation or practices. We are constantly underachieving IMO
March 24th, 2012 at 12:32 AM ^
Last year we beat the top team in the country in the Frozen Four and lost in OT in the title game. The year before we took a higher ranked team to 2OT and arguably "won" the game.
This sucked, but it doesn't look like a pattern.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:46 AM ^
Guy below said it. 22 straight appearances in the tournament. Only 3 title game appearances. And we underachieve during the regular season all the time. When was the last year we played consistently at a high level throughout an entire season? I'm not talking about winning every game we're supposed to and never looking bad. I'm saying we always seem to have some pretty bad stretches and it takes a really good stretch to counter it. I know hockey is about as streaky as a sport there is, and the tournament can be especially fluky, but we never seem to be able to put it together when it counts. Last year is an exception to what seems to have been the rule that last 6-8 years.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:59 AM ^
Only BC has won more national titles over the last 20 years (3, and they hadn't won since '49 before that). Minnesota, BU, Denver, North Dakota, and Maine have 2 like us. Wisconsin just has one in that time span.
Those teams all have pretty high expectations too, and they've actually missed the tournament a time or two. We've had some disappointments (last year and 2008 in particular), but without those you are talking about a pretty unbeleivable run.
The tournament isn't the only measurement for play. I will be the first to admit that shit happens in the tournament. That's the nature of single-elimination hockey. But our regular seasons as of late have been all over the board recently.
seriously, you folks are bitching about the coaching? UM has 22 straight post-season appearances. what is the next schools streak???
sure, we should have had another title or two with those odds, but we don't. we've had like 5 goals disallowed in the past eight years and we lost all those games by one goal; twice in the title game, iirc.
it's frickin' bad luck. we are like the atlanta braves. red = bobby cox. and i would take bobby cox as my mgr any day!!!
I said I want Red coaching until he doesn't want to. But I don't think it would hurt to take a look at how he prepares his team and how we practice and make some adjustments if necessary. Red is one of the greatest of all time, nowhere did I say he was bad or that I wanted him out. Calm down.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:31 AM ^
On the other hand, they've only reached the final game three times during that span.
I hate to say it, but I think Red's underachieved a bit on the national level with all the NHL talent he's had at his disposal over the years.
His career reminds me a bit of Dean Smith's in college basketball. Both are undisputed legends of their respective sports, but both had trouble winning the big one. It took Smith seven trips to the Final Four before he won his first national title, and then it was nine years before he returned, and then another two before he finally won his second national championship.
Hockey is a fickle game and Red has assembled and coached some of his, and the, best teams in the past 5 years. Period.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
March 24th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
All our mojo are belong to football? Please!
March 24th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^
We lost this game because we took too many damn penalties and people were making lazy passes.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^
Actually, it's the other way around. We lost this game because we had multiple golden PP opportunities, and failed to execute on any of them. If you can't score on multiple 5-on-3's, you're doing it wrong. They were giving us every opportunity to score, and we just stood around staring at the net and watching the puck hit the tape.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:26 AM ^
We gave up a goal, a penalty shot, and took multiple penalties while on the power play. Then didn't even show up for the OT, which didn't help.
Pretty damn wretched performance across the board. Just makes the heartbreakers the last two years when the team played above its head hurt even more. Ugh.
I just can't stand everyone being "fed up" with this team and acting like we should win a NC every other year, and if the team doesn't, we as fans, were somehow slighted.
This team played hard and smart hockey, and they got far, but just bc they didn't win it all doesn't mean they aren't great.
Heck, most of them played in the NC game last year and were an OT goal away from winning it all.
I love this team just like every other M hockey team.
Also don't think we deserve a national title every year. And these guys don't owe me jack shit.
That said, acting like this wasn't a really poor performance is just dishonest. Giving up penalties while you are on the power play is not "smart hockey". Giving up a 5 on 2/3 in OT is not the result of playing hard. We gave up a goal and a penalty shot while we were on the power play. I don't think the team was "taught" to do any of these things either.
Disappointing, but like I said, I think if anything we played over our heads in the last two tournaments before this, so we were probably due to lay an egg. Just frustrating because the bracket this year looks like the easiest of the three.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^
March 24th, 2012 at 12:14 AM ^
for calling too many penalties on the other team? (I can't blame them for the waived off goal because there is obviously a rule that requires to them to do it once a game)
March 24th, 2012 at 12:27 AM ^
That's really the last thing we have to complain about. We were on the powerplay forever and never converted. Our incredibly flaccid powerplay is why we lost. We shouldve gotten at least 2 powerplay goals tonight and instead we barely scored at all after the first 10 seconds of the game
March 24th, 2012 at 12:17 AM ^
No they do not have to call off a goal. If it's a goal it's a goal.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:21 AM ^
No. I thought it was borderline for goalie interference, but there's a valid argument either way they call it. Yes, the puck went in the net. But there's no denying there was contact with the goaltender in the crease.
If you're going to get authoritative about college hockey, you should probably know what you're talking about.
In the NHL, you are allowed to go into the crease if the puck is there. The Michigan guy was driving the net and put the puck right on the goalie, and then just barely brushed him as the puck was bouncing out.
I have no idea if the college rules are different, but if that call had been made in the NHL it would have been one of the weakest interference calls, maybe ever.
Having the officals take away 33% of your points on what looked to me to be a terriibly weak call is devastating.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:27 AM ^
March 24th, 2012 at 12:29 AM ^
The gap between 1 and 16 is about as slim as it has ever been. Michigan deserved the #2 spot with what everyone else did, but in a normal year the same performance would have seen us ranked a lot lower.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:38 AM ^
We started off really crappy looking like the tourney wasn't even in sight then when the Ohio State series away went 2-0 in our favor it's like something inside us sparked and drove us! Then along came the tournament and everything just fell apart. Makes me wonder if we would of won the CCHA title would it of affected this team differently belief wise?
March 24th, 2012 at 12:29 AM ^
MSU lost to a 1 seed so thats hardly shocking. Miami lost in OT in a 2/3 game so that's not terrible either. We're the only embarassing loss for the conference right now
I think we played classic Michigan hockey. Talented enough to win it all, but also inconsistent enough to lose to anyone
we had like 32 shots to their 22. we had 50% more hits then them (didn't know they kept that stat). we out "statted" them but lost. unfortuneately, that seems to happen a lot in hockey (and to us).
March 24th, 2012 at 12:31 AM ^
March 24th, 2012 at 12:32 AM ^
Seriously considering just going dark on Michigan hockey coverage as soon as the CCHA tournament is over from here on out. I just can't keep doing this every year. The farther and farther we get from those incredible rides from '95-98, the more and more I think it's just an exercise in futility. This year is the tipping point.
March 24th, 2012 at 12:35 AM ^
Came to UM in 2000, so this is 12 straight nut-punches for me. Feel like dogshit right now, but know I'll be right back for another go next March (and you know you will too).
March 24th, 2012 at 12:58 AM ^
I will be pulling for Ferris and Western .
It would be good to see one of them win the championship, like Minnesota-Duluth did.
Let's be honest. When Cornell wanted to play offense (the first period save the first 2 minutes, and then overtime) they could. I could agree with all the complaining about the second goal being disallowed if the refs had waved it off immediately, but they took the time to review it and must have seen something on the replay. Besides, when you're on the power-play for 10 minutes in a period (3 of those a 5x3) you've got nobody to blame for a loss but yourself. And as much as we'd like to complain about the officiating, several of those Cornell penalties were not good calls. In the end, this game wasn't about the refs...it was about Michigan's failure on the PP and Cornell having its way when they wanted to score.
There is no question that Michigan had more than ample chances to recover from losing the goal. No question.
There's also no question that they were flying and looking to turn the game into an early route when the overturned goal completely too the wind out of their sails. I'd say the overturned goal was the 2nd biggest play of the entire game, with the shorthanded goal being the obious biggest play.
4 of the past 5 seasons we've lost in OT. Air Force was the only team to mercifully end our season in regulation. It's awful to see that puck hit the back of the net and know the seasons over