Goal-by-Goal Analysis: Big Ten Tournament Semifinal Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

Friday, March 18, 2016

#7 Michigan 7, #19 Penn State 2

1st period

SHUART GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 1 PSU 0 EV 10:35 Assists: Downing & Dancs

Dancs knocks the puck away from a Penn State player trying to clear and then bobbles it as he heads toward the corner; he’s only facing the blue line because he whiffed on the puck a second before. He sees Downing at the point, though, and passes before getting hit.

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Downing steps up and snaps a shot on net that Glen tries to pick off, but the puck goes hits his stick and then hits McAdam, who pushes the rebound aside.

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Shuart tries to push the puck under McAdam, but he makes the save. The rebound stays right in front of the net, and Shuart has a second-chance opportunity with a defenseman and the goaltender falling down.

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Shuart gets flips the puck over two fallen PSU players unimpeded. I’m a little surprised that Glen didn’t make any effort to get across and try to engage Shuart. A tenuous argument can be made that he was trying to cut off the path from the backside and make sure no one could cut directly to the front of the net in case there was a rebound, but I’d think he would slide across when it was clear that both his help was falling over and the puck was loose in front.

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[After THE JUMP: Kyle Connor gif after Kyle Connor gif after Kyle Connor gif. That’s not an exaggeration, he had a natural hat trick.]

KILE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 2 PSU 0 PPG 16:55 Assists: Motte & Compher

This all starts with Connor passing to Motte, who passes through the crease to Compher. He immediately passes to Werenski at the point, pulling a defender away from the slot. Werenski sees the defender charging and passes back to Compher, who slides the puck to Motte to the side of and behind the net.

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Motte’s got Juha in front of him, and thankfully Juha’s a left-handed shot; Motte takes advantage of the open passing lane to the slot and gets the puck to Kile.

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Kerr reads the play well and gets his stick out to stop the pass, but he doesn’t extend far enough to alter it in any way. Kile one-times the puck past McAdam before he can move; you can see in the frame below that he’s really deep in his net and has a wide, open stance that gives Kile plenty of options.

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2nd period

CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 3 PSU 0 EV 00:48 Assists: Compher

Berger fans on a shot from the point and Compher picks up the loose puck. He cuts hard to the outside and loses an edge, but he senses Connor cutting behind him and does his best to pass across the defender to Connor.

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The pass is a little ahead of Connor, and though he does his best to extend for it he inadvertently tips it off his blade toward the boards.

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The puck hits the boards past center ice and before the blue line, careening into Michigan’s offensive zone ahead of Connor. He picks up the loose puck, and it looks like he’s going to try to skate through contact from the defenseman and go to the front of the net.

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Then Connor puts on the breaks so suddenly that it would shear the sinew of a mere mortal. All things considered, Brooks does a nice job stopping and trying to poke the puck away.

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Connor counters in a way that’s almost unfathomable; he uses Brooks as a screen and shoots through his legs. That he can do this with Brooks waving his stick around and shoot as accurately as he does is why Connor’s your likely Hobey winner.

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About that accuracy…

/faints

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CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 4 PSU 0 PPG 05:29 Assists: Compher & Werenski

The puck goes into Michigan’s defensive zone off the faceoff and Werenski heads back to corral it. He’s under close forechecking pressure but he has support from Compher up the boards.

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With the one forechecker behind him and the rest of the defense retreating, Compher swings it to Connor, knowing he has plenty of space to get the puck into the offensive zone.

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This is the setup as Connor enters the offensive zone. There’s nothing special about this offensively, and the defenders are well positioned. Connor’s options seem to be a drop pass to his left or to carry into the teeth of the defense himself.

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He carries ahead, and he’s able to thread a shot under the defender’s stick. Still, the shot’s more or less equivalent to a long two in basketball.

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Uh- I mean yeah that’s a great shot why wouldn’t you take that?

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That’s the look of someone who just realized what Ma and Pa Kent meant when they told young Kyle he wasn’t from ‘round these parts.

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CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 5 PSU 0 EV 09:09 Assists: Compher

Compher wins possession in the neutral zone off a Penn State zone-clearing attempt in which they flipped the puck out only to have it land and bounce back. Compher sees that he’s got some room under the defender’s stick and outside his body to pass through and Connor charging the net.

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That little kick stop attempt from Olcyzk is a little too late, and the puck gets across to Connor. You can see below that he’s about to get thumped, but he’s able to retain possession without any indication it bothered him. Skoff (who once again replaced McAdam) reads the pass and starts to square with Connor.

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Connor waits until he’s near the top of the crease to pull the puck from his forehand to backhand and shoot.

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His shot goes over Skoff’s leg pad and under his arm and makes contact with his body. The puck starts to wobble, but at that point it’s already across the line.

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Kerr goal, Penn State

UM 5 PSU 1 PPG 11:45 Assists: Goodwin & Glen

Goodwin has the puck on the wing on the power play and three of four defenders lock on to him. No one notices Kerr cutting low on the backside of the play. Goodwin doesn’t pass until the next frame; I think his passing lane was even better here, at least in terms of how open it is.

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Goodwin’s pass catches Kerr in better position relative to the goaltender, but he’s fortunate to thread it through three converging defenders.

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Kerr one-times the shot and Racine’s barely moved before it’s in the net. He was heavily screened (as you can see above) and was searching for the puck. Three guys watching one with the puck is a recipe for disaster, as you’re going to have that backside cutter open. It’s just a matter of passing and one-timing it in, and Kerr did a nice job anticipating and shooting immediately.

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3rd period

NIEVES GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 6 PSU 1 EV 00:46 Assists: Boka & Werenski

Nieves wins the faceoff and taps the puck back to Werenski, who swings it to Boka immediately. This gets two defenders moving both vertically and horizontally. Nieves, who realizes he’s behind his defender, takes a hard cut and heads toward the net with his defender now trailing.

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Boka sees Nieves makes his move just before a defender skates into the passing lane. Boka has to essentially shoot the puck at Nieves and hope that Nieves can get get his blade on it and redirect the puck.

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The pass is right on Nieves’ tape, and he just has to lift his stick to redirect the puck to the top corner. Skoff has no chance at stopping a puck that changes direction that quickly.

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Juha goal, Penn State

UM 6 PSU 2 PPG 01:28 Assists: Goodwin & Kerr

Goodwin has the puck on the wing and takes a second to search for his best option. He decides to pass through his teammates legs to Juha on the opposite side of the ice.

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Compher wrestled a guy down in front of the net and is still checking him there. Martin came up to the lane between Goodwin and Glen, while Cecconi steps up and swipes at Glen’s stick before he realizes the puck’s not a pass intended for him but is instead heading through him to Juha. Cecconi then desperately tries to get a stick in the way of Juha’s shot.

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The puck’s rising, and Racine barely misses it. He read the pass well, got to the post, and got his shoulder up, but not high enough.

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CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 7 PSU 2 PPG 10:52 Assists: Compher & Motte

Werenski passes down low to Motte, and though his shot is stopped the rebound pops out to Compher in the slot.

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Compher’s shot is stopped, but the rebound falls in front of Skoff. Kerr blindly tries to clear the puck from his backhand, which is as good as a turnover. He also just happens to blindly clear it directly to the Hobey Baker favorite.

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There’s no way Kyle Connor has that high a follow through and doesn’t put the puck neatly on the top shelf and out of the goaltender’s reach.

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Comments

Steves_Wolverines

March 21st, 2016 at 6:16 PM ^

I wonder if Winnipeg needs Conner up next year. They seem to be doing OK without him...(checks standings....sees Winnipeg is battling Toronto for best odds at the #1 pick (aka the annual Edmonton 1st overall pick)). Yeah, they're doing OK without him. 

Mgodiscgolfer

March 21st, 2016 at 8:23 PM ^

The higher the follow-through the higher the puck will travel. Defenseman work on keeping the puck low and fast thats why Red Green always says goodbye to his viewers by saying "And remember, keep your stick on the ice". I think that is written on the canadien dollar bill instead of "In God we Trust". When a defenseman winds up get that stick on the ice you never know you can tip it. If you ask any goalie the hardest shot to defend from the point would be a tipped slapshot especially when being screened. The opposing team will try to pick your stick up off the ice to try and help prevent a tip in..Thats where an old timer named Phil Esposito made his living with a guy named Bobby Orr tipping pucks in and he made a damn good living I might add...And as always Go Blue!