Friday, January 9, 2015

1st period

UM 0 Minn 1 EV 07:03 C. Reilly from Collins and M. Reilly

Minnesota passes back and forth along the boards, and Tyler Motte overskates in pursuit. Once the puck is back on the stick of the defender he’s responsible for there’s little he can do. Collins easily gets a shot off, though it’s an easy save for Racine; he’s not screened and is square to the shooter.

The problem is that he gives up a huge rebound. To his credit, the rebound is directed to the corner as much as possible. That’s little consolation in relation to the final result, however. Serville has floated back toward the right side, but he has no idea that there’s a Minnesota player behind him. He needs to turn his head to check sooner than he does, because by the time he sees there’s someone there the puck is on Reilly’s stick.

He’s too far away to recover, and Racine is in the same situation. There’s no way he’s going to get across the crease in time to stop an undefended shot like that, and it’s an incredibly easy goal for Minnesota.

 [After THE JUMP: Hyman hyperbole, lots of goals]

2nd period

UM 1 Minn 1 EV 01:44 Hyman (10) from Martin (6) and Motte (10)

To me, this will always be the Cutler Martin game. The legend begins in this very frame. Michigan’s had trouble getting the puck out of their defensive zone all season, which adds to the jaw-dropping awesomeness of this play. Martin has time and space, true, but the precision of this pass is incredible. If this outlet pass was a painting it’d be framed and hung in a museum, and not one of those small museums in moderately metropolitan cities but the Louvre. Or maybe whatever Canada’s most prestigious gallery is.

The pass gets behind the defense, leaving Zach Hyman to do what he will while everyone else tries to backcheck like mad. That outlet pass is the equivalent of running against Cover 0 all day and finally breaking the big one over the top. HOLD ON, before you scroll down and start typing something in the comments know that I’m done with the hyperbole. Probably.

Hyman skates in and puts a backhander over the goaltender’s outstretched leg pad. I’ve typed that sentence quite a few times this season. Hyman’s backhander is the backhander you’d get if you took Wayne Gretzky and cut off his hands and stitched on Pavel Datsyuk’s. I’M SORRY I’M DONE JUST CALL ME FRED JACKSON I CAN’T HELP IT.

3rd period

UM 2 Minn 1 PPG 07:48 Larkin (4) from Motte (11) and Hyman (12)

Michigan carries into the offensive zone and quickly finds themselves in a 4-on-2. Motte gives it to Hyman, who takes a couple of strides; it’s enough to make the defender fall to a knee to block a shot.

Hyman continues to skate, and as the defender glides with him he passes back to Motte. The goaltender has sealed the nearside post, so Motte threads a pass through the crease to Dylan Larkin.

The only thing separating Larkin from a wide open half of the net is Minnesota defenseman Ben Marshall. He puts his stick out to try and lock up Larkin, but Larkin gets past this and just taps the puck in.

We interrupt this goal-by-goal analysis for a poorly-timed penalty

Andrew Copp boards Kyle Rau, resulting in a five minute Minnesota power play and Copp’s ejection from the game. I have no problem with the call; it’s a dangerous play and you can see from the screencap that it wasn’t really a close call.

UM 2 Minn 2 PPG 09:54 Kloos from Brodzinski and Cammarata

Michigan’s box has collapsed down low, which leaves Michael Brodzinski with plenty of time and space to shoot from the point. He does, and Racine stops it. Altogether this isn’t a very unusual play, and there aren’t any immediately noticeable red flags.

Racine gives up a rebound, and it’s again directed to the corner. There also is, again, a Minnesota player who is precisely where the rebound goes. Kevin Lohan has his back to the play; this was not a good sequence for him. JT Compher was shoving him just a moment before trying to realign him in front of the net. Here he doesn’t pick up the backdoor skater, and it’s his responsibility to do so. Another all-too-easy goal for Minnesota.

UM 2 Minn 3 PPG 10:35 Boyd from M. Reilly and Rau

Hyman comes up to make a play on the puck and doesn’t get there in time, which allows the pass to be made to Boyd.

The shot Boyd puts on net looks NHL-caliber to me. That’s a rocket of a one-timer, and it beats Racine cleanly.

UM 3 Minn 3 EV 13:29 Selman (1) from Hyman (13) and Werenski (10)

Hyman gets the puck near the blue line and skates his now-familiar arc from the middle through the faceoff circle before cutting towards the front of the net. He puts a backhanded pass in the slot, an area that just so happens to be occupied by Justin Selman.

Selman roofs a shot over Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox, who was sealing the ice against any shot attempt Hyman might make. That’s not a surprise, because what else are you gonna do when a guy skates like Gretzky and has the hands of Datsyuk I’M SORRY I THOUGHT I WAS DONE TOO.

Overtime

UM 4 Minn 3 EV 02:26 Martin (2) from Larkin (14) and Hyman (14)

Hyman tries a wraparound shot, but Wilcox stops it. The rebound goes to the left, and Larkin one-times a shot that Wilcox again stops. The rebound goes to the left corner, where Larkin secures it by slipping in on the defender and turning his back to secure inside positioning.

Larkin throws a violent pass into the mass of Minnesota defenders in front of the net; there wasn’t a Michigan player in front, so I’m guessing he was looking for a deflection off a skate or stick. He gets a deflection, but it goes to Martin at the point.

Martin shoots and Wilcox can’t track the puck through the screen in front of him. Game over.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

1st period

UM 0 Minn 1 EV 07:19 Boyd from Bristedt and Marshall

Minnesota enters their offensive zone and it appears that Michigan already has a problem, as the off side winger has a couple of steps on the Michigan defender.

A cross-ice pass seems like the logical next step in the play’s progression, until the Michigan defender who’s covering the center (Cutler Martin) tries to tie him up and misses. He’s blown backwards in a way that looks like it’s a glitch in a video game; seriously, this is some Breaking Maddenesque stuff.

Boyd has a one-on-one opportunity against Racine. He makes one move from forehand to backhand and back to freeze Racine before putting into the top corner, just over Racine’s glove.

UM 1 Minn 1 EV 12:38 Lynch (5) from Dancs (3) and Lohan (6)

Travis Lynch comes up to forecheck and gets his stick out, knocking the puck off of the Minnesota player’s stick along the boards. He uses a swim move to get over the now-defender and picks up the loose puck.

Lynch does a good job looking across while skating in, which causes the defender to read pass. He does a good job of taking away the pass, but this also keeps the defender in the middle of the ice and gives Lynch space to shoot. He does so, beating Wilcox high. It’s impossible to tell what Wilcox was thinking, but Sinelli was charging hard enough that he may have hesitated for a split second, thinking he was going to get run over.

UM 2 Minn 1 PPG 14:27 Copp (9) from Downing (7) and Motte (12)

The play starts with Motte passing to Downing at the point, with Minneosta’s box understandably shifted to that side of the ice. That being said, look at how much space Copp has. That’s a shot waiting to happen, because there’s no one to take away Downing’s pass to Copp either.

Downing sees this as well and passes to Copp, who takes just enough time to load up a hard snapshot. The play was made, however, because of Max Shuart’s perfect screen. That’s a perfect example of what the netfront man should be doing on the power play. Copp’s shot hits the nearside top corner, a side that was available to him because Wilcox couldn’t see where the shot was coming from; if he had he would have been positioned closer to the post.

UM 3 Minn 1 EV 19:17 Hyman (11) from Lohan (7)

A nice outlet pass from Lohan finds Hyman in the neutral zone. He skates it in, choosing to cross toward the center of the ice (likely in an attempt to buy time for a teammate to get into the offensive zone). The Minnesota defenseman does a good job of getting his stick out, and he ends up knocking the puck away from Hyman just after the below screencap.

It’s more of a swat than a clean takeaway, however, and Hyman quickly recovers the puck. This is likely because he was created in a lab with the DNA of the Jaromir Jagr, Gordie Howe, and collegiate Kevin Porter spliced together. Don’t Google that, just trust me.

Note: I drew that arrow a bit high; the shot went in on Wilcox’s blocker side.

UM 4 Minn 1 EV 19:47 Compher (4) from Shuart (7) and Nieves (9)

Boo Nieves tries to gain the offensive zone and is tied up. In the process, he is able to flick a pass behind himself for Shuart to carry in.

Shuart wastes no time firing the puck into the body of the defender in front of him, and the puck drops down into his skates. Shuart is able to pick it back up…

…and fire again. Shuart plays this sequence like it’s a video game and he’s that guy who presses the same buttons over and over again and hopes that the right thing happens; I play fighting games like that so I’m not criticizing.

The rebound comes off of Wilcox and goes starts going toward the corner, where JT Compher lies in wait. You can see that he’s already in position to backhand it, and Wilcox is in his butterfly. Compher roofs one just under the bar to put Michigan up three. I’d like to congratulate Max Shuart for assisting on this play on behalf of other people the world over who are bad at video games.

2nd period

UM 4 Minn 2 EV 00:47 Boyd from Ambroz

A long sequence where Michigan barely clears the zone only for Minnesota to regain possession and re-enter the zone gets even worse when Downing flubs the puck up the boards, allowing Ambroz to pick it up.

Racine is again staring down a one-on-one opportunity, and it doesn’t end well. Boyd sees Racine go into his butterfly and lifts a shot over his pad to the farside, making the shot look easy in the process. This goal is a direct result of Minnesota’s forechecking; Serville got pressure by a Minnesota forechecker and passed behind the net to Downing, and that’s where the aforementioned change of possession that led to the goal occurred.

 

UM 5 Minn 2 EV 04:55 Downing (4) from Motte (12) and Copp (8)

Copp has the puck in the neutral zone and passes up to Motte at the blue line. Motte passes, and it’s hard to tell who the intended target was. He has two teammates rushing the line, but Copp’s the only one remotely close enough for the pass to be to him. Whether or not the original intent was to get it to Downing, that’s who ends up with it.

The original, totally intentional target of the pass makes his read; no teammate in position to advance the puck quickly, tons of open ice in front. He skates it in himself.

Downing’s all like SHORYUKEN and lets a shot rip. Wilcox just plain misses, and this is the goal that causes him to get pulled from the game. Play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson, who had no idea before the game that he’d be able to use one of his baseball calls, unleashes a “Swing…and a miss!”

Fine, Dickerson didn’t actually do that but look at how easily applicable that call was. What a missed opportunity.

UM 5 Minn 3 EV 05:09 Ambroz unassisted

Downing gets the puck behind the net and before he can move it a Minnesota forechecker strips it from him. Compher steals the puck back from Minnesota, snapping a pass behind the net that Serville has to change directions on a chase to the opposite corner.

Serville taps it up the boards to Shuart, whose clearing attempt is held in at the blue line.

Ambroz’s slapshot hits Downing in front of the net and is deflected past Racine. Michigan had a horrible time trying to clear the zone, but the resulting goal came off of one of those bizarre bounces unique to hockey.

UM 6 Minn 3 PPG 11:29 Larkin (5) from Nieves (10)

Nieves wins the draw cleanly, and the puck goes back to Larkin.

Larkin threads his shot through the mass of bodies still left from the faceoff, and Michigan scores on yet another long shot. It’s worth noting that Hyman was the winger cutting to the front of the net in position for a tip-in; that was by design off of the faceoff.

UM 6 Minn 4 EV 19:06 C. Reilly from Fasching

Nagelvoort* stops the initial shot and directs the rebound to the corner.

Martin follows the puck carrier behind the net, and though he tries to drag him down Fasching is still able to get a pass across the slot to Reilly. Kile is checking Reilly, but he’s behind him and not able to make a play on the puck.

Nagelvoort’s unable to move laterally in time to seal the post and take away the gaping open portion of the net. A tap in from Reilly brings Minnesota back within two.

*Racine was pulled from the game and was unable to put weight on his foot; he’s practicing as of Monday per Jeremy Summitt.

3rd period

UM 7 Minn 4 EV 02:12 Larkin (6) from Hyman (15) and Downing (8)

Michigan has a staggered 3-on-2 as they enter the offensive zone. Minnesota’s defenseman tries to poke-check the puck off of Hyman’s stick, but he slides a pass to Larkin underneath.

Larkin shovels the put on net as soon as it touches his stick, and he beats Lehr before he can butterfly and take away the five-hole. This play started with Michigan breaking out after a turnover they recovered in their defensive zone; this is the type of goal that Michigan has been lacking all season.

UM 7 Minn 5 EV 17:52 Michaelson from Ambroz

Vinni Lettieri (circled) skates in and strips the puck on the forecheck. Michigan is able to recover for a moment…

…until Downing loses an edge and goes down behind the net.

Ambroz is somehow able to thread this through Larkin and Downing to Michaelson.

 

Michaelson wastes no time in shooting, and he beats Nagelvoort as he’s dropping to the ice.

So that was pretty cool, eh?

It was. Michigan’s a very talented team with some flaws; chief among them is their difficulty clearing the defensive zone and their trouble with effective outlet passes. To be fair, the outlet passes were better this weekend.

Now that Michigan’s ranked again (No. 19), do you think they keep this going? Is this a Tournament team?

I think it’s too early to tell. Sweeping Minnesota was definitely impressive, but Michigan’s been bad on the road, doesn’t play at home against for 40-some days, and doesn’t have many matchups in front of them that will help in the PairWise until they play Minnesota on the road in the middle of February.

Why are you doing the bolded subconscious thing? Isn’t that Brian’s/Seth’s/everyone else’s thing? Do you enjoy plagiarizing?

I prefer to think of it as working within the editorial spirit of the blog, not plagiarism.

Sure thing, Plagy McPlagiarist. Shouldn’t there be some tables here or something?

Next time. After a weekend with 19 total goals I thought maybe a discussion would be more interesting.

So you didn’t feel like making tables. I’m changing your name to Lazy McPlagiarist.

I should have just posted a picture of a baby animal.