Fade Route
"My only hope is that the big Lebowski kills me before the Germans can cut my dick off."
-The Dude
2/6/2010 – Michigan 2, Wisconsin 3 – 16-13-1
When I first started following Michigan hockey, Michigan had this unbelievable streak of not giving up third period leads. It stretched back and back and back and was some ridiculous number that may have been in the triple digits and the last team to actually overcome a Michigan lead in the third period was Illinois-Chicago, a team that didn't even exist anymore.
That record fell by the wayside some time ago and now seems as distant of a memory as UIC hockey itself.
It's not like it's a surprise at this point but I'd really prefer a straight-up stomping to taking the lead in the third, thinking about a manageable stretch run if the team takes care of Bowling Green on Tuesday, dreaming about extending Michigan's record run of tourney appearances to 20, and then giving up two power play goals to the same guy in the same spot within a few minutes of each other.
If they'd just get run out of the building you can get over it and move on. The basketball team has had the decency to do so of late, releasing me from the obligations to care about Wisconsin's unconscious three-point shooting aside from instant reactions like "Jesus," "oh come on," "you cannot possibly be serious," and "did someone slip me LSD?" (Have you ever seen a guy launch a half-court shot and thought to yourself "oh God, that's going in too"? At one point in the second half I complained that Wisconsin was shooting 70 percent from three and thought I was wildly exaggerating to make a point; they were actually 11/15 at that point: 73 percent.)
I digress. The hockey team has made a specialty of this sort of thing. A late penalty doomed them against Ferris State. They managed to blow a one-goal lead against a dire Bowling Green team by conceding bang-bang third period goals. Bryan Hogan wandered out of his net to blow a tie with BU with 2:30 left. Hogan got pulled and his backup conceded what I hear was an unbelievably soft goal at the GLI. You've got an Alaska tie and the 5-4 win over State on the other hand, but the State win almost doesn't count since they blew a 3-0 lead to get themselves in the predicament they overcome. Michigan has lost ground late in games.
It's not really a surprise given the way the team has played. They're wildly variable, sloppy, penalty-prone, etc. But when the names get called on Hockey's selection show and Michigan is, in all likelihood, absent, it will be the last ten minutes of the third that did them in.
PAIRWISE UPDATE
Michigan's dropped to 19th in RPI and 20th in the Pairwise. They have to win six of seven down the stretch to give themselves a chance, I think. They might be able to win five and then lose in the CCHA final, but that will be touch and go. Probably. The PWR has so much jitter that any prognostication more than a week or two from the end of the season is vague. It comes down to the TUCs.
BULLETS
- Apparently the Michigan coaching staff was very unhappy with the late penalties on Summers. MVictors tweeted Mel Pearson's response: "You won't see that call 9 out of 10 times." I don't know about that. Like Greg, I assumed Pearson was talking about the second call, when Summers was penalized for a routine defensive play when he was in good position. I thought the tripping call was legit.
- My main ref bitch is that Wisconsin should have had at least one guy gone for dangerous plays along the boards: the hit on Hagelin that was called a cross check should definitely been five and a game and the elbowing call Scooter took was borderline at best.
- No Lee Moffie? If you're going to put in Llewellyn, I guess that's fine, but Moffie's been playing really well and I'd think an error-prone Greg Pateryn would be the guy to get the gate. Maybe he got injured against BG.
- At this point how Louie Caporusso ever scored 24 goals is the mystery, not his season-long slump. His dangles don't work and he tries them all the time. He did have some nice forechecking moments against Wisconsin, but that's kind of the point, isn't it? Even if TJ Hensick had some crazy forechecks in a game no one would remember them because he would have done a bunch of other crazy stuff.
- Good for Scooter to get that goal; he's deserved it the way he's played this year. Might be playing himself into an A for his senior year.
- Torrent is here if you're a masochist or Wisconsin fan.
STANLEY CUP BABY PEERS INTO YOUR SOUL
STANELY CUP BABY: Hey.
TOM HAMMOND: Hey.
i agree completely on the fact that the hit on Hagelin should have been 5 and a game. i thought that immediately, whereas the drunk Badger fans around me were convinced that it wasn't even a penalty. then i turned my camera around and showed them the picture i'd just taken:
all but the drunkest conceded that yes, that probably wasn't legal. also, you can see from the photo that Davies had one hand over and one hand under on his stick, making a crosscheck very unlikely.
The atmosphere at Camp Randlall was lacking, maybe it was the 20,000 empty seats, the cold, but the excitment was missing - nothing like it was in 2001 for the Cold War. I hope the Big Chill (will any of the actors from this movie be at the game??!!?) is much more exicting, and I am sure it will.
When I get back home, I had to watch the reply of the 3rd period penalities. Certainly the two on Summers did not look like calls from the stands, and were confirmed on the TV reply. But what strikes me as interesting is apparetnly Red asked for the 3rd period to be played in 2 10 minute halfs - which is allowed, and either the Refs or Wiscy said, no. Then Lynch score a beauty of a top shelf goal and the penalities start coming. We had committed I think just two for the first 55 minutes, but then 3 in the last 5....
Let's hope Yost is rocking Tuesday - a top 4 CCHA finish and a trip to the CCHA title came are musts to make it back to the NCAAs.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Dong Punch.
I've had the time of my life.
sort of surreal staring at the distinct possibility of a bowl-less gridiron season and tourney-less hoops and hockey season. (has that ever happened in the storied history of our school?)
the pain is miserable. the waiting is the hardest part.
The last two penalties were horseshit. After the game, the Wisco fans around me were saying things like, "Golly. Probably shouldn't have won that one. Cheese. Bratwurst."
The ice problems were annoying. WTF was that? It was too cold to sit through watching ice freeze.
--
antidaily.com
Really? The Wisky fans around me were whooping it up and celebrating a win at home as a top-five team against a struggling, traveling Michigan team (with the program's worst goalie in years) on terrible ice. I'm not making excuses for losing, but I didn't quite get the air of superiority. A win over Michigan looks good, of course, but let's be honest--it took a couple gift calls/goals, among other breaks.
Brian Hogan>Billy Sauer. At least he won't lead us to a frozen four and then CHOKE against a ND team that can't score, and have 3 other lame seasons.
Stuck on North Campus
Maybe the fans around us were scared of me after I started screaming things like "this is a fucking abomination!" and "nice call, you blind failed abortion" and "die in a fire, ref!".
--
antidaily.com
BTN editing down the overall length of the broadcast.
Good concept, IMO; however, stating that "Due to time constraints, we will skip forward in the action" only to show them fixing the ice for 5 mintues while the players huddle around the bench was a little puzzling. Um, jump past 6 minutes of actual hockey to watch them fill, patch, and spray the ice hole in front of Hogan? Good editing.
All-City '66, scored 4 TDs in one game!
What bugged me (not that I was surprised) was the Wisky fans acting like UM called for the crease to be fixed a million times. I'm guessing Hogan or Red mentioned it at least once to them, but I'm pretty sure almost all of those were called for by the refs. The fans in front of me also ignored the fact that that crease was fixed when their own goalie was in it, but then again, they thought their most clever chant was "Goalie, sieve, Michigan's turning tricks", so it's not like they exist in our reality. Either way, it was definitely a pain in the ass, and a bad idea to have a free skate and uninteresting women's game BEFORE the important game.
All in all I had a pretty good time. I did note that due to the large size of the stadium the Wisky fans had a hard time getting any chants going other than those after goals and the occasional "LET'S GO RED!". Also, I was less than enthused about RAWK MUSIC at a hockey game--especially one where their band was present. I hope UM fans are more organized at December's outdoor game against MSU.
How does Brian continue to find the perfect way to express how I feel on a given topic? It's downright eerie I tell you.
Unpossible... velociraptor tastes like chicken, not pork.
What upset me was, by the letter of the law, Wohlberg should have been called for goalie interference. Provided that Wohlberg could have stopped himself, he should have been called.
I am willing to put forth the argument that the ice was so poor by that point in the game that that was the best Wohlberg could pull up.
Also, when the Wisconsin alum is saying that the slashing call on Summers is "ticky-tack", you know it was a weak call. Blerg.
Craig Barker || The Hoover Street Rag || Twitter
"The Michigan fanbase: a cynical, Eeyorish bunch even in the best of times."--Doug Gillett
is forever emblazoned with the name of a spectacularly defunct, bankrupt, Chapter-11 flameout.
+ 1
Hagelin should have had two assists. That game was painful to watch, especially with the game delays for the ice problems. I keep telling myself to stop watching all sports and come back in the fall. Every team I support sucks right now.
Painful to watch? Try actually being there and having to deal with the delays sitting on an ice cold metal bench. The second period was absolutly brutal to watch. And to top it off I had a FIRE RICHROD Michigan fan next to me. After the first half of the third period with more fairly bad hockey (though it was decidedly better than the awful second) my friend and I left at the under-10 TV timeout (two guys in our group had already left at the second intermission). It was probably for the better that I didn't see the BS penalty call that led to the game-loser.
At least bar-hopping in Madison was fun.
Wohlberg must have had like 2 or 3 one-on-one chances with Wiscys goalie. Each time he shot the puck straight into the goalies chest. It made me want to tear my hair out.
You play to win the game
It may just be me, but I kept getting really annoyed when the guy who was calling the game (who, BTW sounded exactly like the guy who hosted GUTS!) kept mentioning that this was only Scooters 2nd career goal in 80-something games. Yes, this is true, but it is also true that he was a defenseman for the majority of his career before becoming a forward on one of the bottom lines. He isn't really in a position to score very often. That being said, I thought Scooter played a really good game Saturday. He worked really hard for that goal and it paid off. He also had another pretty good scoring chance later in the game.
You play to win the game
I'm disturbed by the latter part of this post, starting at "STANLEY CUP BABY PEERS INTO YOUR SOUL."
"I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas."
- Jack Handey
Hey.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
The Circuit City Trophy, wow, how the might fell quickly-ish...
Craig Barker || The Hoover Street Rag || Twitter
"The Michigan fanbase: a cynical, Eeyorish bunch even in the best of times."--Doug Gillett
...let 2009-2010 be over. i promise i'll change my ways, okay?
Hey.
not just "douchey" MGoBlog user, but now TRUSTED MGoBlog user