Failure
3/23/2013 – Michigan 6, Miami 2 – 18-18-3, reach CCHA final
3/24/2013 – Michigan 1, Notre Dame 3 – 18-19-3, season over, tourney streak over
In the end they were nowhere near good enough.
If you've followed Michigan hockey for a long period of time, you can point to a tourney game here or there Sunday's CCHA final against the Irish reminded you of. Smash together:
- that Maine game where a moment of brilliance from Mike Comrie couldn't cover up his short-handed defense's failing legs with…
- that Boston College game Michigan inexplicably led for most of that was over the moment the Eagles tied it after a nine-minute stretch without stoppages and…
- that North Dakota game when Michigan couldn't get out of its own zone but scratched out a shorthanded goal and made it stand up and…
…you get that Notre Dame game.
You know the general outline even if you have no idea what I'm talking about above. If it was soccer the announcers would instantly announce your goal as "against the run of play." Overwhelmed in the corners, fortunate to be in the game, goalie's arm hanging out over the abyss as he screams "DON'T. LET. GO." Fingers sweating, grip slipping, eyes widening, waiting for the buzzer or death.
I don't know about you but as soon as Notre Dame tied it, I was waiting for the end. Michigan had hardly put together a scoring chance. Notre Dame did them a favor by scoring early in the third and dialing back the throttle. At that point shots were 31-10, scoring chances at least that lopsided. By sitting back Notre Dame allowed Michigan to get a better handle on the game, but with 19:30 left I thought "Michigan will have two chances to tie it" and that was all they got.
Notre Dame ate Michigan's lunch. They took one penalty and gave up no odd-man rushes save the shorthanded goal. They won battles in the corner at a 3 to 1 rate. Michigan couldn't put together a rush for ten-minute blocks of time. Over the previous month they'd put something together and run roughshod over all comers, but finally they met a horse they couldn't catch up to. All that stuff Michigan did over their last ten games Notre Dame had been doing all year.
That's how a 21-year tourney streak ends: with Notre Dame showing men of will what will really is.
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In the aftermath the word of the day is "redeem."
By the bitter end, Michigan hockey redeemed itself
Or "proud"
NCAA streak ends, but Wolverines made Michigan proud
No.
Michigan put themselves in this position with 2/3rds of a season of miserable, unwatchable hockey, and did not dig themselves out. Without the vagaries of single-game playoff hockey they would not have even come close in the end. They were 0-5 against the Irish this year, bombed in every game. Michigan was about as far away from winning that Notre Dame game as they were from getting an at large bid. They had a chance, and found out that running to catch up with someone who had been trying hard from day one isn't easy.
They got what they deserved. A team with as many NHL draft picks as anyone in the country was reduced to a "Cinderella run" in the CCHA playoffs. Divided, they lost game after game to sheer apathy. It got so bad Red tried the put-in-the-third-string-walk-on trick again. Hunwick's first team responded by flying through the slot to clear pucks like demons. This edition lost 4-0 to Michigan Tech and 5-1 to Bowling Green, the nadir. That listless debacle against Bowling Green is this season. What they did at the end was a preview of next year.
It's great that Andrew Copp emerged to take the team by the scruff of its neck and jam it towards an NCAA bid whether it wanted one or not, great that Steve Racine emerged into a viable starter once his defense ceased selling him out a dozen times a game, great that Guptill went from a wake-up scratch to pounding, skating power forward. The fact that this could happen is a ringing condemnation of the upperclassmen. By midseason the guys flanking Treais on the top line were Copp and Sinelli; by the end of the season Copp, a freshman no one had heard of before the year, was the undisputed leader of the forward corps. Because he tried real hard, full stop. This made him unique.
His leadership and the rest of the locker room pulling together is reason for hope. Lessons have clearly been learned, and if this year doesn't show the players the route to success goes through Jeff Jackson's relentless discipline, I'll be surprised.
But it doesn't redeem a damn thing. The preseason #2 team in the country finished under .500 and missed the tournament for the first time in 22 years. There is only one word for that: failure. The scarlet F is branded in this team. The only way up is to own that. Some of them have time to redeem themselves yet; that process starts now.
Next Year
Michigan loses Moffie, Treais, Sparks, Rohrkemper, and Lynch the Elder to graduation. The early word on departures from Mike Spath at the Wolverine is as such:
- OUT: Kevin Clare, revealed to be indefinitely suspended as much as he was injured and implicated as a Problem, and—sigh—star-crossed Jon Merrill.
- FENCE: Trouba is declared 60-40 to return—an opinion more or less shared by Dave Starman. At least we will know quickly—he's expected to make a decision in a couple days.
- BACK (EXCEPT ONE OF THESE GUYS WILL NOT BE BACK BECAUSE THIS IS MICHIGAN HOCKEY): The three forwards likely to have NHL options are Guptill, Di Giuseppe, and Nieves. Spath projects all to be back, though Guptill "clashed" with the coaches earlier in the year—he was left at home for one series, IIRC. Mac Bennett is projected to return and wear the C.
Just looking at playing time, a couple other guys may also head for greener pastures. There's Rutledge, of course, who turned in an .856 and watched Racine establish a death grip on the job over the last ten games of the season. If he wants to play, a return to the USHL and transfer to a smaller school is probably the only way. Then there's Mike Chiasson, who was an apparently-healthy scratch for the ten-game run. Mike Szuma played in his stead; against Notre Dame Michigan refused to ice a sixth defenseman entirely. I don't think any of the recruits are threats to not show but never say never, mmm, Connor Carrick?
If Michigan does get Trouba back and somehow evades the inevitable unexpected departure, here's a hypothetical line chart:
FORWARDS
- Guptill-Copp-Compher
- Di Giuseppe-Nieves-DeBlois
- Motte-Lynch-Moffatt
- Selman-Hyman-Allen
(Also: Kile, Sinelli, Cianfrone, Random New Walk-on who might be Max Shuart.)
DEFENSE
- Trouba-Downing
- Bennett-De Jong
- Serville-Chiasson
(Also: Szuma and probably Kevin Lohan, possibly Spencer Hyman.)
Michigan can sustain a forward departure without much dropoff. The guys I've projected as scratches are all capable of emerging into quality players. Sinelli gave Michigan good minutes late this year. Kile is a year older than the NTDP guys and has better than PPG with one of the USHL's best teams. While Cianfrone has struggled in the USHL, before that he was a midget minor demon and projected first-round OHL draft pick who still went in the third round despite telling teams he was headed to Michigan. Drawing one of those guys into the lineup will be fine. Only Shuart (who left his USHL club for the NAHL) looks particularly unlikely to be a contributor next year.
On defense, they need Trouba back badly. That third pairing is pretty sketch as it is, featuring one of two guys Michigan simply refused to ice against ND plus Serville, who still gives me hives quite a bit. The top two pairings feature two freshmen. There's not nearly as much confidence that any of the backup plans will come through. Lohan is a 6'5" late bloomer; Hyman is a guy who's piled up a lot of time in junior and seems like a third pairing type. If Trouba's gone Michigan is down to one solid pair and hope.
Copp will get an A, for sure, and then DeBlois seems like the most likely other captain. That lineup has no seniors save projected C Bennett and Luke Moffatt, who has never seemed like captain material. Juniors include Lynch, Hyman, Chiasson, and Serville. I could see Hyman getting a call, but DeBlois was on the top line while he toiled on the fourth.
spoken like a true fan of political pundits. Yeah, lets selectively use portions of quotes and sentences as long as it supports a point when the entire quote says the exact opposite.
man, mass media and pundits have ruined the true art of argumentation. I go through this crap all the time with my students who use selective portions of quotes they hear in the news, when the exact opposite meaning is stated in the full quote.
You should probably spend more time patching the holes in your glass house and less time posting here.
just stop reading mgoblog all together. I agree with Brian 100% and wish more people had the guts to say so.
For as long as those kids have been alive there have been two constants. Michigan playoff hockey and red wings playoff hockey, and now one of those have gone away.
Every year Hoke says winning the B10 title is the expectation and not doing so is a failure. Well the same holds true for Hockey and this season has been nothing short of a failure. I (like I am sure everyone on here will) continue to root and support them, but lets call a spade a spade.
If you're going to rail on a team that you gave up on back in January, at least get your facts right. It was a 22 year streak, not 21. Also, where were you on Sunday when the rest of us were at least cheering on a team we can support even throught the worst of times?
Um, at the Joe, like I was on Saturday?
Fair enough. I misread your piece then and incorrectly assumed that you were not there. Sorry.
Ah nevermind X2
Ah nevermind.
Finding the silver lining is optimism. Ignoring the cloud is delusion.
That the "UNACCEPTABLE" crowd was routinely mocked and villified circa 2008 football as being fair-weather fans and worse, and now it is acceptable to be unacceptable for hockey.
Demanding excellence in the face of difficult circumstances is not the same thing as demanding excellence in the face of significantly easier ones. Comparing the football team in '08 to this years hockey team is gross oversimplification. If, at some point, Hoke takes a top-10 preseason team to a losing record accompanied with some clear in-team problems I would hope Brian would write another version of this post.
In other words, 2008 football was unacceptable but explainable - brand new very different coach with questionable talent. 2012-13 hockey was just awful - legendary coach coming off of very good previous season with a team loaded with draft picks. I dunno man, this hurts.
I do have very different feelings for this hockey team than I did for the 2008 football team. Maybe not logical, but true.
That one was a good one. I don't mind anger. I do like consistency. But then we're all human, and I wondered not only how many who have gotten on Brian have trashed the basketball team lately, or any football coach or regime. And lost in this, how many people defending Brian for criticizing the team have gotten on people for saying the basketball team needs to be better at this or that. Human nature.
I think there are differences in the situation. Coaching vs. Players (though I'm thinking Brian would blame the latter for both). How painful not being good vs. not being OK. Nothing is exactly the same.
But while Brian gives this advise: "Go do something else. This makes you mad.... Just get off the goddamn internet." HE can't, because it's kinda his job.
But we could all follow this a little bit more: "They would have sucked it up. So suck it up, you pansies. It hurts. Act like a man about it."
Because while throwing stuff at people is never a good answer, I can't say I haven't been close before...
Edited: for some atrocious spelling. There is an "s" in "basketball" and no "i" in "football." Yikes.
"You don't get that right"
Freedom of speech much?
....wooosh.....
There is a large difference between freedom of speech and talking out both sides of your mouth
Enlighten me. I was operating under the understanding freedom of speech means you can say whatever the hell you want to say. Apparently there are rules.
I was there for every game except the opening playoff series because I had made plans under the assumption Michigan would not finish between 6th and 8th in the league. I just didn't write about it, because what was I going to say?
ALASKA: guh." MICHIGAN STATE: "somehow less good than us!" NOTRE DAME: "Jeff Jackson owns us." STREAK: "This is nice I guess but also sort of infuriating since if they had cared all year they would not be do or die for a bid."
I opted out because the only thing I would have been doing is being mad. I'm getting too old to dwell on that shit.
You don't say anything at all.
I saw you at every game supporting the team like a good fan.
You didn't do anything wrong. I think people are having a tough time getting past the title of the post.
Yes. The real fans support those who are locker room diseases, 'leaders' who really only lead when it comes to their frat and getting laid, and contagious apathetic play until ones back is against the wall. Cheer on.
It's fascinating how we often attribute positive character traits to athletes that win and negative ones to those that lose. I wonder why we do that, when there really isn't such a connection?
Owl, I like your posts and you seem like a pretty smart guy (or gal). In my defense, however, I'm not some random poster sitting out in Chicago or wherever -- I'm a student. I'm not naming names or going into further specifics, but I needed to use some vague references to support my disapproval of Wolverine Devotee's unwavering devotion to those who may not have the same devotion to the program.
That's fair, I suppose. I'm also a student, and I live on a street that has a lot of athletes on it. I think I can understand and appreciate your perspective.
Nice. Next time I see you out at the bar, I'll buy you a drink. You won't be difficult to recognize with your avatar and all.
I think this meeting should happen. But he has to be dressed as an owl. And you have to hand him a lollipop.
Care to share some specifics? I thought I was following the team fairly closely and never heard any incidents like the ones you accused them of. Granted I'm not in A2 so I easily could have missed these but your comment is a bit inflamatory.
I don't have any specific examples, but earlier in the year, there was a lot of stuff on Twitter about some of the guys hitting up Ricks/Brown Jug/etc all the time. And then there was that whole thing with Guptill being scratched for a series (NMU or LSSU?).
There were a few rumblings about some stuff going on in practice, some players getting into it with each other and then Guptill was left home during the trip to Big Rapids.
There were also rumors of players not having the top priorities as a Michigan student-athlete well. I will leave it at that. Guptill's healthy scratch lies within this rumor as well.
Whoa whoa whoa. To the best of my knowledge, none of the hockey players are in a fraternity (at least none were when I was in college). And if they were? It's not like you have to be in a frat to get laid, and it's certainly not like every guy in a frat is getting laid (I'm not saying this to bash fraternities as I was in one, but if "being in a frat" got you laid, then I would have, well, gotten laid more probably).
And since when is trying to get laid a bad thing? And as a hockey player, do you really need to try that hard? Don't you just point and shoot? I'm sure no one on the hockey team was choosing between getting laid and being good at hockey.
If so, talk about a tough choice...
I'll use that as my excuse from now on as to why I suck at hockey.
There are two ways to view how this season turned out.
1. These guys finally got it together and didn't show any quit until the bitter end.
2. Last 10 games were nice, but where the fuck was this effort 2 months ago?
Whether you fall into Group 1 or Group 2, you can still consider yourself a fan.
...MOs. When a team disappoints him, he goes all in with the negative tack and thinks he's being objective. Which he is, to some extent. But he's also being somewhat petulant because the team let HIM down, yo. So take this for what it's worth.
I will spare you the in-depth analysis of the aspects of your character that I find annoying, but rest assured your dime-store psychology analysis of mine is one of them.
...fucking hoo.
Hey, look on the bright side, Brian. There's another NCAA streak at hand that can salve your sore feelings about the hockey team.
Our #5 ranked @umichwgym team qualified for the #NCAA regional for the 22nd consecutive season! ow.ly/jpiau Good luck! #GoBlue
— Dave Brandon (@DaveBrandonAD) March 25, 2013
I hope you feel better now (and I mean that in purely non-judgmental fashion).
And #GoBlue!
Here is my impression of like I lot of people:
"Brian, you suck. You have character flaws, your writing style is too smart or not smart enough for me and you aren't exactly the same kind of fan as I am so I will callyou names. Don't get me wrong, I'm addicted to the blog you've made so successful and post on it like a mother fucker (in addition to following you on twitter and friending you on facebook), but you can seriously go to hell."
I bet those same people would tell Steve Jobs to suck it via FaceTime.
I would tell Steve Jobs to suck it for supporting the hipster fad with his stupid turtlenecks and his shitty phone. But it wouldn't be over FaceTime. I'll go straight to the gates of hell to tell him. All while sipping on an ice-cold mint julip and listening to music on a far superior phone than anything he was responsible for.
That's all fine, but I think you missed my point. I'm not saying Steve Jobs was good or bad, I was using him as an example, saying that ripping Brian on his own blog is like ripping Steve Jobs while using an iPhone.
If you ripped Steve Jobs using a non-Apple device, then you would not be part of my analogy.
To be fair. I missed your point on purpose. The thread needed some levity, and I'll take any opportunity to bash that guy.
Fair enough.
I was told in a thread a few months ago that I have an iPad because I'm not smart enough to appreciate whatever tablet someone was advocating. Which is probably true, so I guess I like Steve Jobs?
That is correct. You are probably also a terrible person who beats baby seals to death with your stick made of the spinal columns of still-living children. You should probably go root for NW because it is ironic.
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