NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Final

Saturday, March 26, 2016

North Dakota 5, Michigan 2

1st period

Caggiula goal, North Dakota

UND 1 UM 0 EV 18:54 Assists: Stecher

Nieves notices Kile skating toward the slot but not the defender nearest him and has the puck knocked away. Stecher recovers the puck he knocked away and taps a pass ahead to Caggiula. From there, it's off to the races through the neutral zone.

Here's how Michigan's defensive zone looks as Caggiula crosses the blue line: one defenseman—Martin—back, and so only one man to beat.

Caggiula takes a fairly harmless shot from the high slot, one which Racine stops easily. The shot itself isn't that dangerous, and the only reason I can see taking it is Caggiula either assumes he can't get around Martin because he's gapped up well or he's assuming he's going to get a rebound; he's right about the rebound.

Martin tries to get a stick out and almost deflects the puck, but it does (barely) clear it. Racine's leaning back but ultimately unable to push up and back before the puck's in the net.

[After THE JUMP: the last six goals of the season]

2nd period

COMPHER GOAL, MICHIGAN

UND 1 UM 1 EV 05:33 Assists: Selman & Motte

Motte sneaks a pass through defenders in the corner to Compher in the faceoff circle. Compher grabs the puck and starts moving backward and then laterally, and the defense just freezes.

There are three guys in a line in the middle of the ice and they're just watching what's unfolding. The defender in the high slot realizes that Compher's stopping, and he steps in to him (though he does so too late). Selman does a nice job boxing out a defender to the goalie's right while Motte slinks to the front of the net to screen. Compher shoots from the same spot Werenski likes and hits the top corner.

Johnson goal, North Dakota

UND 2 UM 1 EV 19:14 Assists: unassisted

Boka is moving backward in the defensive zone when the puck rolls away from him; he then gets crushed into the boards, and there's a loose puck up for grabs in the faceoff circle.

Compher's in the right place at the right time, grabbing the loose puck and promptly throwing it to not even a semblance of a Wolverine above the faceoff circle. As you can see from the screen shot below, there's a NoDak player in great position to pick it off.

Johnson picks up the turnover, takes a stride or two to the high slot, and rifles a shot through Racine's five hole as he's butterflying.

3rd period

COMPHER GOAL, MICHIGAN

UND 2 UM 2 PPG 08:39 Assists: Connor & Motte

Motte passes to Werenski and heads for the slot. Werenski takes a step forward, pulling the defender near the faceoff circle in the screen shot below toward him, and then passing to Connor on the wing. Werenski's steps are crucial, as they both create space for the pass to Connor and open up room for Connor to pass from wing to wing.

There's a huge seam for Connor to pass through, and he's got Compher  wide open on the opposite side.

Compher gets the pass near the dot and drags it behind his body. Cam Johnson hits the ice, and Compher continues to hold the puck. He eventually snipes a shot far side, past a diving/kicking defender who's late to jump in the play because Motte cut across in front of him, drawing his attention momentarily.

Gardner goal, North Dakota

UND 3 UM 2 EV 12:03 Assists: LaDue & Poganski

Michigan's forwards are playing low in the zone; this gives up shots from the blue line, but you can see in the screen shot below that everything else is well defended. Motte goes to the corner to help strip a puck, but LaDue still manages to get the pass off up the boards.

Gardner shoot without anyone remotely close, and all things considered that's not a shot you worry much about allowing. The most dangerous aspect of it is the number of guys near the net and the possibility that the puck hits one and changes direction.

This particular shot doesn't hit anyone until it reaches Racine, at which point it appears to hit him on the wrist/forearm. The puck then arcs into the net, leaving Michigan fans cursing gravity and North Dakota fans refusing to acknowledge their new team nickname. Oh, they were probably excited about the goal, too.

Sanderson goal, North Dakota

UND 4 UM 2 EV 13:17 Assists: Poolman & Janatuinen

North Dakota gets the puck deep in Michigan's zone and Werenski goes around the boards and up to the point to defend. The forwards don't seem to notice that the defensemen aren't in front of the net but are instead in front of them; Motte bumps the guy who's going to set up in front of the net and then skates out to the wing. Technically his assignment is the wing, but when there's a guy in front of the net and no one else to defend him, I think an exception can be made.

Poolman sees Sanderson alone in front of the crease and has to shoot as the defensive pressure closes in. Sanderson gets his stick on it, and the puck goes in the far-side top corner. Racine's got no chance at stopping a redirected puck from that close.

LaDue goal, North Dakota

UND 5 UM 2 EN 18:19 Assists: unassisted

I can't find video of this that isn't in a player that my tools don't work on or watermarked, but here's what I can tell you: it was an empty-net goal, the puck trickled in, and the puck was shot from far away.

**********

One of the many career aspirations I had on my long and winding path to being where I am today was to be a dentist. To do so, you had to take a lot of damn hard science classes in undergrad; I had this dentistry "revelation" before my sophomore year, which gave me plenty of time to start down that path in the fall.

I can't remember walking in and feeling prepared for any chem or bio exam I took. I had known blindspots in the material we were supposed to have covered, and though I did my best to cover everything there was always at least one concept I just didn't get. I didn't feel awful before exams, but I didn't feel great; every exam felt like a gamble, and I hoped against hope that the thing I didn't know wasn't a big part of the test.

Michigan had an exam Saturday and the thing was littered with that one concept they just couldn't hack. This team had trouble with high-pressure forechecking attacks, and to put them up against a team whose overall talent level was similar to Michigan's but whose style of play practically launched forecheckers out of a Jugs machine was an insurmountable mismatch.

Changes are coming, and that's not such a bad thing. The degree to which things change is impossible to tell at this point; whether systems are tweaked or an all or mostly new coaching staff is in place likely won't be something we know for a while. We do know that Werenski and Downing are gone, and Connor, Compher, and Motte still have to make decisions.

This is the first season I broke down (almost; see the EN above) every goal over an entire season. I saw the same thins over and over, for better and for worse. While the 7-5 contests were plenty and the video game-like scoring of the CCM line won't be forgotten (or matched) any time soon, I fear what happens when Michigan doesn't have a top line composed of a likely Hobey winner and two finalists. Without transcendent talent this team's wide open approach makes for some fun hockey, but there remains a lot to work on defensively for both the forwards and defensemen.

If Red stays one more year I'll be looking at the changes they made to the power play this season as the precedent for what can be done in the offseason with input from assistant coaches. Here's hoping that Saturday's game was for Michigan what the first Orgo II exam was for me: a couple hours of torture that changed everything for the better.