Thursday, January 28, 2016

#15 Penn State 4, #6 Michigan 7

1st period

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 0 UM 1 EV 08:55 Assists: Connor & Compher

Penn State tries to clear the zone and can’t; Compher picks the puck off, carries laterally along the blue line, and fires a long shot into the mess of people in front of the net. Connor and two PSU skaters get their blades on the puck at the same time, sending it airborne.

Skoff doesn’t see this and has no idea where the puck is. His defensemen do, as they wave at it in an attempt to bat it aside as it falls into the crease. Compher charges the net and draws the attention of one defender, while Connor draws the attention of another. These two draw one defensemen away from the net; in the screen cap below the other (#11) is turning to pursue. All of the defenders appear to be more concerned with where Michigan’s skaters are located instead of where the puck is located. Motte, who’s in front of two defenders, see that the puck has rolled toward the far-side post and is close to Skoff’s leg pad.

He launches himself in that direction, pushing the puck over the line in the process.

Berger goal, Penn State

PSU 1 UM 1 EV 13:49 Assists: Varley & Marsh

At the end of GBGA last week, I wrote about how dangerous Penn State was when you let them cycle. They’re a puck possession team, and the clearest path to success for them would come from Michigan being unable to clear the puck out of their defensive zone.

That’s exactly what happened here, with Penn State maintaining possession for an extended period of time and working the puck up and down the boards. We start with Varley carrying the puck along the boards. He’s matched by Kile. The problematic piece of cycling is the confusion it can cause defensively; with guys skating in circles and weaving between opposing defenders, assignments can get lost.

That happens here, as Piazza shoves Berger and sticks with him for a second before drifting toward the top of the faceoff circle.

Obviously I don’t know what was communicated on-ice, but my best guess is that Piazza thought he had switched with Nieves and Nieves didn’t know that. Varley shoots, Racine stops it, and the rebound ends up to his left, where an unchecked Berger awaits. Selman attempts to lock him up with his stick, but Berger’s able to backhand it past Racine.

[After THE JUMP: Motte your average weekend (please don’t fire me)]

PORIKOS GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 1 UM 2 EV 14:26 Assists: Allen

Allen wins a faceoff to Porikos’ side. Porikos sweeps the puck to his left and takes a couple of strides.

Porkios has multiple players converging on him, so he snaps a shot on net. You can see that Skoff is kind of peeking around, trying to find the puck. He finds it, but not before it’s in the back of the net. That Porikos was able to get his shot away with a stick that close to taking away his shooting lane is pretty incredible.

Pedrie goal, Penn State

PSU 2 UM 2 EV 18:56 Assists: Autio

Pedrie throws a shot on net from center ice.

Racine tries to glove it, but it hits him and bounces up. Or, more accurately, up and over Racine. That puck is in. Chris Osgood and Dan Cloutier cringe; there’s been a disturbance in the force.

If it’s any consolation PSU had just hit the post and had exerted extended pressure on Michigan, so maybe in a way this was bound to…oh wow nope they gone done killed a man.

2nd period

CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 2 UM 3 EV 03:46 Assists: Motte

I try and save this for the time where there’s no way cutting something up into pictures will do it justice, and this is one of the those times. It’s worth noting that Motte banked the puck off of the boards before his diving pass. Outstanding stuff all around.

COMPHER GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 2 UM 4 EV 10:48 Assists: Connor & Motte

Motte flips a puck out of the defensive zone and into the neutral zone. Connor and Compher take off after it; look at the way Compher walls off the trailing defender, allowing Connor to gain possession and creating a 2-on-1.

Uh, whoa.

Compher lifts a backhander that Skoff gets a piece of, but you can see from where he’s positioned that he’s not going to be able to stop if because of the area he has to try and cover laterally.

Yeah, I’d also be biting my lip and rubbing my temples if I had to coach against that line.

CONNOR GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 2 UM 5 EV 13:50 Assists: Motte

Motte digs the puck out along the boards and carries through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone, eventually throwing a long shot on net. It’s blocked, falls to the ice, and looks like it’s going to be cleared.

It’s not. Sturtz gets a second chance as he notices that it rolled through his skates and compensates by flipping his stick over. The only thing that could possibly go wrong here is if Motte, circled, happens to come screaming around the net, hack at it, and actually get a piece of the puck.

He does. His shot goes behind Skoff but not in; that task falls to Connor, who the low defender has conveniently fallen asleep on and left unimpeded.

Olczyk goal, Penn State

PSU 3 UM 5 EV 15:48 Assists: Mendelson & Varley

A really nice stretch pass from Varley creates an instant 3-on-2 for Penn State. Mendelson doesn’t waste much time dropping a pass back from the uncovered Olczyk.

Racine sees the pass clearly and knows where the puck is, but he has two guys barreling toward him and throwing snow. The Penn State skater doesn’t touch Racine, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his ability to track the puck was thrown off for a fraction of a second because of the snow.

Olcyzk puts this in the perfect place, just under the crossbar and over Racine’s right shoulder.

3rd period

KILE GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 3 UM 6 PPG 07:33 Assists: Connor & Werenski

Werenski passes to Connor, who carries down the wing to the back of the net. This draws two of PSU’s three defenders; one has to cover him before he goes behind the net, while the other has to pick him up on the other side. That’s going to leave some guys really, really open.

To his credit, the PSU defender hovering around the slot does manage to close the gap on Kile, just not before Kile sort of shovels a shot on net.

The puck bounces in and out of the net so quickly that I can’t find a frame where it’s in focus enough to circle it. Just trust that it went in or I wouldn’t be taking screen caps and writing about it here.

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

PSU 3 UM 7 EV 09:15 Assists: unassisted

Motte picks the puck up in the neutral zone and carries it along the boards with Connor trailing. He sees that he has one defenseman to beat and some room between said defenseman and the goaltender and decides to take it in himself.

He feigns backhand, instead pulling the stick up and letting the puck glide under the defenseman’s stick.

He gets his blade on the puck right in front of Skoff and goes five-hole. I just…wow.

Juha goal, Penn State

PSU 4 UM 7 EV 11:22 Assists: Kerr & Scheid

Michigan turns the puck over in the defensive zone, Penn State shoots, Selman blocks it, and the puck ends up getting passed around near the blue line. Kerr passes to Juha at the opposite point, and he’s very open and loaded up for a one-timer.

I don’t know what happened here. Either it was deflected (I’ve watched every angle and don’t see it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen), the three skaters bunched up in front of the crease were screening Racine, or it’s just a bad goal. I’m leaning toward option three, but I’m not certain.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

#6 Michigan 6, #15 Penn State 3

1st period

KILE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 1 PSU 0 EV 14:55 Assists: Nieves & Dancs

Cecconi puts a pass on Dancs’ stick, who then drops a pass for Nieves as he’s being hauled down. Nieves and his defender both get to the puck at the same time and it hops, taking a bounce to their left.

Kile gathers it and throws a shot on net from way outside his body. The puck flutters and rises over McAdam’s glove just as he gets into his butterfly.

Goodwin goal, Penn State

UM 1 PSU 1 EV 19:19 Assists: Pedrie & Autio

A wide shot hits the boards behind the net and rims around. Warren swings at it and misses, which leaves Pedrie with the puck while Warren stands up ice. Downing holds up the universal sign for “stop” and the guy keeps skating smh.

De Jong drifts higher in the slot as the guy he was checking takes off toward the blue line, and since he doesn’t turn around and check the slot Goodwin gets to set up shop right in front of Racine. Pedrie’s at an angle where he could still try to squeeze a shot in, so Racine has to keep the post locked down. He’s prone to a redirected puck to his right, and that’s exactly that Goodwin does.

2nd period

COMPHER GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 2 PSU 1 SH 00:15 Assists: Shuart

The circled Penn State player fell over and out of the offensive zone. He tries to throw the puck across but it’s intercepted by Shuart, who then throws it ahead to Compher.

Compher gains possession right before the blue line and skates in, slowing as he gets closer to the net. As Compher goes to his backhand McAdam decides it’s time to make his move, and he sticks his paddle out to poke-check the puck away.

Poke-checking means your stick is out, which means your shoulder has dropped, which is an invitation to backhand a shot over that very shoulder. Compher reads that and flips it in.

Sturtz goal, Penn State

UM 2 PSU 2 PPG 02:01 Assists: Pedrie & McAdam

A bad line change by M leads to a 3-on-1 for Penn State. There’s a pretty obvious pass available here that Pedrie takes.

The pass, however, is far enough away from the net that Racine has time to track it and push across the crease. The image below is the moment the puck hits Sturtz’s blade, and I included this just to show what situation Racine’s in.

Racine stands for a moment and then puts his right leg pad back down. It looks like he’s going to attempt to blocker this one away, but he misses. The puck goes over Racine’s leg pad and under his arm.

DeRosa goal, Penn State

UM 2 PSU 3 EV 04:57 Assists: Olcyzk & Saar

Racine stops a shot and does a nice job of directing the rebound to the corner. A Penn State player digs it out and passes to Olczyk, who shoots. His shot is deflected up into the air. No problem, though, as Cecconi goes to glove it…

…only to have it bounce off of his palm and fall down. DeRosa sees that it’s in perfect position for him to swipe at, and swipe he does.

That’s about a toe’s length away from being a toe save.

3rd period

NIEVES GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 3 PSU 3 EV 02:19 Assists: Piazza & Kile

Nieves wins the faceoff and Kile gets the puck on the wing. He takes a stride and passes back to Piazza at the point. Piazza sees his defender charging toward him and steps around, pulling the puck across the defender’s face and skating it in.

Piazza fakes a shot, which gets McAdam into his butterfly; he’s about to hit the ice in the screen cap below. Piazza knows he has Nieves to his right, and as his defender drifts off of him Piazza no-look passes.

McAdam’s so far out of position that Nieves has a wide open net. He reads the pass, snapping a shot in from one knee that McAdam has absolutely no chance at stopping.

SELMAN GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 4 PSU 3 EV 10:50 Assists: Calderone & Warren

The puck goes behind the net off the faceoff and Calderone charges in to try and split two Penn State skaters and retrieve the puck. He can’t, but Warren (circled) gets to the corner while Selman heads for the front of the net.

Warren passes to the back of the net for Calderone, who reverses course and heads back to the goaltender’s right.

Warren occupied one defender’s attention, then Calderone grabbed the attention of two others. At this point, Selman’s left alone because of the defenders moving to the goalie’s right in pursuit of Calderone. Calderone threads a pass through them to Selman.

One Penn State defender comes up to try and check Selman while the other skates down to do the same, and they end up overskating him and hitting each other. Selman gets a free and clear shot away that hits McAdam’s side and is deflected in.

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 5 PSU 3 EV 14:45 Assists: Compher & Connor

Motte shoots and the shot is blockered away; it starts to roll up the boards and Motte swings his stick, gets there before the PSU player’s stick does, and sends it to the corner. Connor just happens to be there, and he drops a pass for Compher.

Compher dangles the defender, pulling the puck across his face and freeing himself momentarily. He realizes that he has the attention of all three nearby defenders and a passing lane between two of them.

Motte one-times a shot from his knee and McAdams is so ready for a shot from Compher and so not ready for one from Motte.

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 6 PSU 3 EN 18:05 Assists: unassisted

Penn State manages to clear the zone, getting the puck out to center ice. Goodwin sees pressure coming from Motte and decides to pass across. The only problem is that the guy he’s passing to has his back turned, and Motte proverbially jumps the route, picking off the pass.

There’s one guy for Motte to beat, and that guy can do nothing more than dive in a vain attempt to block the shot. Motte lifts it over and scores on the empty net.

Notes:

I have the same process every time I sit down to do one of these, and I have for years. I open the laptop, pull up a pdf of the score sheet, and open Windows Live Writer. I didn’t notice until recently, but I let out this grumble-sigh when WLW opens. It’s the kind of noise you’d make if you turned on the coffee maker, sat down, and remembered you forgot to put in water. It’s the kind of noise you make when you have a result in mind that you know isn’t going to be the product of what’s in front of you.

I finally started to notice the grumble-sigh over the last few weeks, as Michigan’s transitioned from a team that makes too many defensive mistakes for me to maintain sanity to one that still makes some mistakes but with the reassurance that their offense can and will outscore said miscues. I picked up on the transition slowly, but now I’m writing these up and looking forward to getting to describe the latest goal that came from digging the puck out of the corners or screening the goaltender. It’s a little more fun than trying to explain inexplicable defensive lapses or soft goals.

The Connor-Compher-Motte lines is one of the best lines I’ve ever seen; the goal scoring is fun, but I’m more impressed with their consistently excellent forechecking. An increased level of physical play and intelligent, aggressive forechecking is something I’ve noticed from all four lines, and that’s in stark contrast to what we saw in the three previous seasons.

It may not always be perfect—this is a roster full of young players learning the nuances of defense against big, (sometimes) fast players—but all I ask for are signs of development, and they’re present. Thanks to classical conditioning I’ll probably still be doing the grumble-sigh for a bit, but there are few faster working remedies than the best offense college hockey has seen in years.

• Michigan’s third period on Saturday was a thorough domination. The official score sheet says Michigan outshot Penn State 22-11; our own David Nasternak has started making shot charts that include missed shots and blocked shots, and while we’re not ready to publish those yet looking at the Penn State chart and the Michigan chart is like looking at the difference between winter freckles and summer freckles. At least, that’s the case for me, but I have to wear SPF infinity.
• Michigan is up to fourth in PairWise/RPI. Brian said we can start talking about seed instead of whether they make the tournament after sweeping PSU, and I agree. Some of Michigan’s early season wins/ties look even better now in light of the success of Rensselaer and Darthmouth. If you’re wondering when Michigan gets another chance at a quality win bonus* it’s at the end of February in a road series against Minnesota, then again the last weekend of the regular season at home against Penn State. *(assuming those teams keep winning and stay in the RPI top 20)