If last weekend was your first time ever watching Michigan Hockey, it was a good weekend to begin. Michigan took on a rebuilding OSU team that looks to be Steve Rohlik's first in five years not to make the NCAA tourney and absolutely blasted them back to Columbus, posting the dominant weekend sweep we'd been waiting awhile for. The Wolverines outscored the Buckeyes 9-2 in the two games combined and finally put together a wire-to-wire weekend of consistent excellence for the first time since mid-November. What does it all mean, especially with Notre Dame coming up? Let's dive right in. 

Michigan was just faster, man 

The number one thing that popped out from this weekend was the massive gap in athleticism between Michigan and Ohio State, which, unlike football, is a good thing to say in the context of hockey. When it comes to the ice, OSU simply doesn't hold a candle to Michigan in terms of skating-talent and that was quickly evident in the Friday night game. Sure, Michigan's got a ton of NHL-level skaters in all the top end talent they have, but Mel has stocked the non-NHL prospect part of the roster with guys who can move, too. Nick Blankenburg is an undrafted guy, yet he can fly up and down the ice. Luke Morgan is a transfer from Lake State whose career will almost certainly not include a major pro stint, but he too can really burn by guys. Michigan has elite professional talent that few other teams have, but they also recruit top skaters in their non blue chip guys too. 

Some teams, like Michigan State and Notre Dame, play a certain style designed to mitigate those athletic issues (although ND often has a good bit of skating talent). OSU is generally a defensive team but they don't sit back into their shell to the same extent. Rather, they try to engage you on the boards and coax you into taking bad penalties so that they can then murder you on special teams. Each of the last two seasons when the Buckeyes traveled to Yost, the series included at least one violence-related game misconduct penalty. They play mean, but as Ohio State learned this weekend, it's harder to be mean when you can't get your hands on the opponent. Time and time again Michigan wingers would come screaming down the boards and burn right by Buckeye defenders. The Maize & Blue skated circles around the Scarlet & Gray and their ability to win races into the offensive zone let the forechecking pressure be relentless. OSU seemed overmatched all weekend long. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Ohio State probably sucks, Notre Dame doesn't]

Ohio State was also bad 

This was a common sight this weekend... well except for the empty net part [JD Scott]

It was startling the extent to which Ohio State also just looked bad. I've been used to seeing a crisp, very good Buckeye squad on the ice the last few seasons and this was far from that. OSU defenders were coughing up the puck ad nauseam in their own end, allowing Michigan possessions to continue longer than they should have. It's one thing when you're facing a talent gap. It's another thing when you're a bad team that's struggling to execute AND you're facing a talent gap. It looked more like the latter last weekend. Credit Michigan's forwards for their forechecking pressure and generally smart pinches from the defensemen to allow offensive possessions to continue, but it was also just a rough series all around from the Buckeyes. The Beecher goal is a classic example of this: 

"Here's Johnny!" pic.twitter.com/GvA1zwLbvw

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 17, 2021

This play happens in two parts: first there's the wild and sloppy OZone turnover from Quinn Preston that careens outside the zone, and then second, there's the talent gap that allows Beecher to dust James Marooney in a race to the loose puck that creates a breakaway. The play above was actually Beecher's second breakaway in the first 2.5 minutes of the game on Saturday. That stuff just didn't happen the last few years, and it's a sign of how this is a work in progress season for Rohlik's crew. Ohio State lacks a high-end play driver up front, with the vaunted freshman Travis Treolar being almost invisible this weekend and they also lack finishers, in addition to the young and disorganized defense. Michigan faced a team they matched up well against and didn't waste the opportunity to snag 6/6 points. 

HockeyBullets, a collection of assorted thoughts

I have a few miscellaneous thoughts from the weekend that don't deserve their own section individually, so I packed them altogether here: 

• Erik Portillo passed the test: For weeks we've been wondering when the mammoth Swedish goaltender would see his first NCAA start, and it happened Friday. I'm not sure why he started, though it may have been Mel sending his guys a wakeup call after the MSU meltdown last week. Portillo wasn't asked to do a ton, making one big breakaway stop and otherwise holding steady. He ceded two PP goals but both were on screened redirections, so I'm not faulting him for either. Portillo gives Michigan a different element as a goalie in both his size and the willingness to play the puck... it will be interesting to see when Mel gives him another start. 
• Michael Pastujov's senior peak: At the start of the year there was some question about who would emerge as a consistent contributor among the mostly indistinguishable veteran forwards. Mike Pastujov seems to be the one who has most routinely. He scored his team-leading sixth goal over the weekend and he's found a knack for getting to high danger areas and finishing enough of his chances to be a real contributor. Great to see in his senior campaign. 
• Michigan's defense has a calm weekend: Michigan's defenders didn't have much to do because possession was so lopsided and the forwards were so consistently dictating play, but it was still a weekend where there were very few defensive problems, which is big. This coming after a mostly calm preceding weekend, too. It'll be a couple weeks until Michigan gets a real high-powered offense to test their defense against, but each week of encouraging signs is something your author will happily take. 
• About that replay review: Because Michigan won on Friday, the asinine replay review was mostly forgotten, which is probably good. It was revealed after the game by Mel that the B1G has an obscure rule where if a play comes into the zone offsides (but is not called at the time), and then the defending team plays the puck at any point during the ensuing possession before the goal is scored, the offsides is no longer reverseable. Can't say I'm a big fan of the rule, but my biggest takeaway was more about how the B1G needs to be more transparent with these things. There would've been a lot less fan outrage if the referees had just told us at the time why the call on the ice stood, instead of making us be infuriated that they "missed" one of the most clear cut offside plays I've seen in recent memory. 

B1G Reset 

​Are the Gophers starting to show some weaknesses? [James Coller]

To borrow Ace's segment in his basketball columns, here are the current B1G hockey standings: 

1. Minnesota 11-3, 2.25 PPG, +22

2. Wisconsin 8-6, 1.90 PPG, +6 

3. Notre Dame 7-6-1, 1.80 PPG, -2

4. Michigan 8-6, 1.42 PPG, +19 

5. Penn State 7-7, 1.17 PPG, -7 

6. Ohio State 4-9-1, 1.08 PPG, -14 

7. Michigan State 5-7-2, 1.00 PPG, -10 

(Honorary 8). Arizona State 5-11-2, ----, -17 

Michigan is nestled in the middle of the conference, which, by points-per-game, seems to be a neat top three, middle one, and bottom three (plus ASU below). However, by goal differential, you get a different story. There, Michigan and Minnesota are the two elite teams, Wisconsin and Notre Dame are two solid teams, and then you have the bottom three (plus ASU). Having seen the whole conference (plus ASU) once, I am definitely of the opinion that the ranking 1-7 sans Michigan makes sense. Where Michigan sits within it, is the biggest mystery. 

Michigan is 6-2 against the bottom four teams, and their two losses were their own doing due to two defensive meltdowns on the road against PSU and MSU. The Wolverines should be heavy favorites in each of their final eight games against those teams. As for the top four, it's sticky. Minnesota is still the best team but is on an 0-3 skid and showing some cracks in the armor. Wisconsin is solid and Notre Dame (as is explained in the preview below) makes every game a coin flip. I'm still wrestling where Michigan should slot in. At their best they may well be even better than Minnesota. At their worst, they are capable of dropping games they shouldn't to the bottom tier teams. It's all about which inconsistent young team shows up. Though they probably can't catch Minnesota for the regular season title, a sweep in South Bend this week and a sweep at Yost over Wisconsin in February could very much set the Wolverines up for a 2 seed in the conference tourney. It's within the realm of possibility. 

A Notre Dame Preview 

Cale Morris is still gone, but Notre Dame doesn't play any differently [James Coller]

The Wolverines are about to get their second hack at Notre Dame, who swept them back in late November at Yost. Notre Dame plays the same style as always, the defensive turtle shell style. They roll the neutral zone trap, they don't score a ton of goals, they wait for you to make a mistake and then they strike. And if you let the Irish score first, good luck coming from behind. Michigan did just that in the two games back in November, as they fell behind and then struggled to get back in it. Notre Dame is one of the B1G's most confusing teams, a lot like Michigan. They have a -2 goal differential on the season, which indicates a mediocre team, but the breakdown of their schedule is perplexing. They're 2-2 on the year against an overmatched-in-the-B1G Arizona State team, 0-1-1 against MSU, and 0-2 against Wisconsin, yet they are 4-0 against Minnesota and Michigan (!?). They turn every game into a stuck in the muck type game, capable of trapping great teams but also losing to bad ones. 

Michigan couldn't figure out Notre Dame's defense at all in the first meeting, taking plenty of shots but none were from high-danger areas and few posed any real threat to Notre Dame. They were forced onto the perimeter, slowed down on zone entries, and thoroughly beaten in battles along the boards. I'm fascinated to see what adjustments Mel Pearson will have made to what Notre Dame is trying to do. Notre Dame plays a style designed to negate teams with speed and skill, which is exactly what Michigan is. This is definitely a big test of coaching, but also of how much a young team has grown up.

Since we last saw the Irish, they have continued to rotate goalies. Dylan St. Cyr had been swept by Wisconsin and Ryan Bischel promptly swept Michigan, leading most observers to believe they had settled on a goalie. Not so fast. Bischel is 1-3-1 since then and St. Cyr is 4-1 in the same span. A pair of juniors, Alex Steeves and Graham Slaggert, lead the way for Notre Dame offensively. It'll probably be yucky to watch but Michigan is actually 4-2 in South Bend under Mel, so there's reason for optimism. A sweep would be massive, a split is acceptable, getting swept again would be deflating, to say the least.