In 1972 the sport of hockey was changed forever by the Summit Series, a best of eight competition between the Soviet Union and Canada. After an extended period of divergence between the European game and the North American game, the Summit Series matched the Soviet Red Army team against the Canadian national team, which was basically just a Who's Who of NHL All-Stars. Team Canada expected to run the USSR out of the building but were stunned when they showed up and the Soviet team was weaving across the ice, criss-crossing with precision passing and carving the offensive zone like a thanksgiving turkey. At the time, no hockey team in the world had ever played like that, as the old style of "stay in your lane" forward play reined. Soviet hockey was a totally new paradigm to the game and was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.

Canada still won the tournament (very narrowly), but the story resurfaced in my mind this weekend watching Michigan hockey because the shock that Team Canada felt in '72 is a lot like the shock ASU's players must've felt facing the Wolverines on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, hockey has long changed in the last 48 years. Lots of teams now play the way the Soviets did then, but rarely at the collegiate level are teams able to replicate that style. Michigan did, playing with pro precision and Soviet-like movement through the offensive zone, passing, cycling, and rotating chances. I would not label you a dunce if you thought you saw the Russian Five out there this weekend for Michigan. The Maize and Blue out-shot the Ice Devils 84-33 in the two games and outscored them 11-1. It easily could've been 15-1 or worse. Yeah.

 

Total and Complete Dominance

I don't like to plug my own tweets often, but I thought this is the best way I could sum it up on Saturday:

This does not look like two NCAA teams playing each other. And I don’t think that’s an indictment of ASU

— Alex Drain (@Alex_Drain) November 14, 2020

Arizona State is probably not a great team. They also probably aren't bad. I don't want to be burned like Michigan football was against Minnesota with a fool's gold win but this is an ASU team that was 4-3-1 against top 20 Pairwise teams a year ago, including a win and a draw against Denver and a sweep against Quinnipiac, and were 12-1-1 against the bottom 20 Pairwise last year. The Ice Devils rolled two of their top four scorers over from last season as well as their goalie and added an excellent recruiting class. I would guess they're somewhere between mediocre and good, yet they met a buzzsaw.

[AFTER THE JUMP: Hockey dominance]

Michigan didn't just beat Arizona State, they annihilated them. There were about 1-2 minutes per period that ASU would control play and then it was 18 minutes of Michigan with the pedal to the metal. ASU struggled to exit their own zone, with offensive possessions often lasting more than 90 seconds for the Wolverines. Of the 33 shots Strauss Mann faced this weekend maybe 7-8 were what you could honestly deem "scoring chances". ASU tallied one on a PP late in game 1 and had a few other OMR chances in that game, and then they hit the iron on the PP in game 2. That was really it. Meanwhile Michigan hung an 11 spot combined and frankly got bad luck on Sunday. They got bad luck in a game they won 3-0. 'Nuff said about how this weekend went for the Wolverines.

Arizona State joined the NCAA in 2015-16, meaning they've played five full seasons in D1 and Greg Powers has coached them every year. They played Minnesota State last season, who went 31-5-2 with a +97 goal differential. And yet this is what Powers said about the team ASU played this weekend:

Arizona State head coach Greg Powers sums it up postgame: "That's (Michigan) the best team I've seen since we've been Division I."

— Greg Cameron (@gregdcam) November 16, 2020

Yeah.

 

Offensive Firepower Pouring Out Of Your Ears

Brendan Brisson is one of many talented offensive weapons [James Coller]

So how did Michigan reduce a solid D1 team to a puddle of jell-o with a satanic pitchfork? It starts with talent. If you read my previews, I called this recruiting class the best in college hockey history. They looked the part this weekend. Michigan rolled four lines seamlessly and it was the non-stop firepower of the young guys that stood out. Kent Johnson ended with 5 points in the two games, and I didn't think he was the most electric player Michigan had. Thomas Bordeleau didn't stand out much on Sunday, but he finished with 3 points in the two games. Michigan hits you in waves like an ocean, relentless and never letting up even for a second and they let the talent do the talking.

What's most startling about the way Michigan played can be broken into two components. First is the passing. College players aren't supposed to pass like professionals, and yet Michigan was making tape-to-tape passes constantly and executing high degree of difficulty passing plays. I mean look at this:

Another first. Owen Power (2021) finishes off the tic-tac-toe passing play. Assists to Kent Johnson (2021) and Nick Blankenburg.

Right as the stream bugs out; it's been that sort of day on BTN+'s tech side. pic.twitter.com/6NIUgsw21S

— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) November 14, 2020

That Johnson no-look backhand pass is disgusting, and then Blankenburg has the smarts to know to make the extra pass right into Power's wheelhouse for the easy goal. College teams aren't supposed to be able to do that. Take this goal as an example:

York makes it 5-0 with an assist from Power #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/vqTHzcNEMg

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 14, 2020

Owen Power in his first collegiate game (more on that later) slides a silky puck to hit York in stride for a point-blank chance. Again, an NHL-level passing play coming from one DEFENSEMAN to another. And one more:

?CLIP: Lambert off a solid pass from Brisson ? pic.twitter.com/IVenXsmbBn

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 16, 2020

An impeccable feed from Brisson, as he hits an open Lambert in stride to spring him for a grade-A scoring chance, which Lambert pots on a sweet wrister. Arizona State was a little guilty of standing around in the defensive zone and Michigan systematically picked them apart. It was reminiscent of a veteran QB throwing into the windows that a zone defense gives you, except again, college players aren't supposed to make those passes with such consistency. Turns out that recruiting only top tier talent who can make passes no other college players can might be a good strategy to win NCAA hockey games.

The other component was the movement. Michigan got as many chances on ASU PP's as the Ice Devils did on Saturday, including three breakaways. A stat, I should note, that is the total result of speed. Michigan just has better athletes than the other teams, and that was especially true with Arizona State. If you've been haunted by watching OSU's athletes burn Michigan in football, this is your revenge because no other team in college hockey has the skaters Michigan has. None. They place pressure on defenses and can race up and down the ice at a breakneck pace to create chance after chance.

But movement isn't just about speed, and this is where the comparison to Soviet hockey comes in. Look at this goal by Eric Ciccolini from Sunday:

?CLIP: Ciccolini through the legs with 5 seconds to go in the first! #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/9z075nVNUo

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 16, 2020

A nice pass from Matty Beniers yes, but look at how Michigan keeps moving. Ciccolini sees a sliver of open ice, moves to it, Beniers sees him, hits him, and boom it's in the back of the net. Guys were constantly moving around the zone, waiting for passes, and trying to get open all weekend long. Stationary hockey isn't winning hockey, and Michigan proved to be adept at finding open ice and knowing where to be to get the benefit of those pinpoint passes. Furthermore, the Wolverines were playing borderline positionless hockey when they had their top defenders on the ice this weekend (more on that in a bit too). The skaters were constantly rotating and moving the puck with lightning quickness irregardless of where their position mandated they should be. For much of this weekend, ASU just looked like they were trying to keep up mentally, let alone physically.

 

The Defense, Not So Defensive

One of the many newly-unchained defensemen [James Coller]

Cam York played much like a standard ole defenseman last year, sitting at the blue line and only shooting from the point. This weekend he looked like he was from the Hughes/Werenski school of Michigan defensemen. York joined into the movement of bodies, flowing around the offensive zone freely, jumping up, taking chances and he was rewarded, finishing with a 1-2-3 line for the weekend. Nick Blankenburg was a similar story, buzzing around the offensive end, slithering down to the corners on occasion, being actively involved in the offense. His wicked wrist shot is still there and it produced a PPG on Saturday, but he too just seemed more energized and more natural in this system.

Owen Power merits his own section. The gargantuan defenseman showed why he's in discussion to go #1 overall in the NHL Draft next year with a truly breathtaking first weekend. He looked fundamentally sound in his own end, smooth skating through the neutral zone and then free in the offensive zone, thriving in Michigan's system. His pass to York referenced earlier was exquisite and Power created a number of chances for himself by cutting into the slot and getting feeds to shoot. The 6'5" defender also posted a 1-2-3 line and the many scouts in attendance this weekend were almost certainly salivating at the unicorn they watched. Big defenders normally take more time to develop. That may not be the case with Power.

The other defensemen were fine. Jack Summers had a fine game Saturday but was held out from the lineup Sunday due to flu-like symptoms. Keaton Pehrson looks improved playing next to Cam York, making a few really nice defensive plays and settling into a shutdown role. Jacob Truscott's booming shot stood out but otherwise didn't show much to me, which is fine for the 6th blueliner. Jay Keranen got the start in Summers' place on Sunday and was adequate. Michigan played defense so rarely that he was almost never tested.

 

A note on Mann and Michigan's new style

Posting shutouts is just another day at the office for our goalie captain [James Coller]

During the first Hockeycast of the season, David asked me the question about whether Michigan would open it up offensively with the recruits now on the roster and I said yes. Not here to brag, but I was right. Michigan's tight, neutral zone trapping style of last season has vanished and now they are playing a lot looser. As a result, there are some A+ chances that are going to be ceded to the opponent when you're playing that freely. But with Strauss Mann in net, not many of those chances are going in. And if the price is giving up 5-6 A+ chances in return for creating 25 for yourself, that's a trade you take every time. Especially since Michigan has the most high-end finishers in NCAA hockey. Mann had to make some big saves on Saturday and he did what was required nearly every time.

There were even fewer chances allowed on Sunday and Mann was perfect there. Dating back to last season, Mann has allowed 1 goal in his last four starts combined. If Michigan's offense plays up to its talent level and Mann continues to play like this, Michigan will not lose many (if any) games this season. Lots of the games probably won't be close, either. David's Corsi numbers for this weekend were also wicked and support the eye test: Michigan had 72% possession on Sunday. 72% (!!!!). Against a team that was going to make the tourney last year and who returns a lot of pieces. It bears repeating one more time: this was not a weekend sweep, this was a steamroller crushing a small rodent.

Finally, I should shout out Mel Pearson. I wrote in my final preview article that teams with elite talent at the NCAA level often play sloppy, disjointed games where the hot shots are just having fun and lose the fundamentals. That was not the case here. Mel's team was ready to play from puck drop and they did not lose fundamentals in the slightest. If anything, I was stunned at how well some of Michigan's forwards were backchecking and playing in their own end. The scouting reports we read on Matty Beniers said he was not much of a defensive player. I thought he was excellent on the PK and in his own end. The discipline could be cleaned up a bit, with Michigan taking 4 penalties in the third period on Saturday, but this is nitpicking. For a team with so many new players, they looked like a veteran team that made minimal errors. It was simply all anyone could've reasonably asked for and we got it.

 

A Brief B1G Recap

Only two other B1G teams played this weekend, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. The Badgers showed that this year could be different with a sweep in South Bend. I thought their new goalie Robbie Beydoun played well on Friday (didn't get to see the Saturday night game because of reasons) and Wisconsin's talent showed out, with Dylan Holloway scoring two goals. Unfortunately for them, the Oilers' first round pick will be departing for the remainder of the fall slate to join Canada's WJC camp in Red Deer, Alberta, the very camp that Michigan stopped Owen Power from attending (if you're keeping score at home, Mel Pearson 1, Tony Granato 0). So Michigan will not see the dynamic Holloway this coming weekend when they head to Madison. On the other side Notre Dame seemed okay in my viewing, about in line with my projection of a semi-rebuild year for the Irish.

Much of the rest of the B1G gets underway this week, with Minnesota & Penn State doing battle, MSU facing ASU, while OSU and Notre Dame are off until next week.

 

Wisconsin Preview

This was a common sight against Wisconsin last year. Will it be this year? [JD Scott]

The Badgers struggled mightily in their own end last season, as a bottom five team in the country defensively. An offensively-mediocre Michigan team hung 18 in four games on them last season, which was pretty par for the course. As noted above, the new goalie looked respectable last weekend and overall I thought that Wisconsin's defensive fundamentals were better than last season in my viewing. They weren't hemorrhaging opposing scoring chances, though of course Notre Dame doesn't play the most offensive style either. Michigan does, and this series will be as much of a test for Michigan as it is for Wisconsin. For Michigan the question is obviously "can they do that again?". There are a lot of reasons to believe what Michigan did to ASU was not necessarily a fluke given the team's talent level. If they can sweep the Badgers and do so in dominant fashion it might be time to buckle up on the juggernaut train.

Now we shouldn't discount Wisconsin, though. They are an especially interesting opponent for the Wolverines because they do have a fair bit of talent, moreso than ASU. Losing Holloway hurts though, as he was a lottery pick in this past draft who had a strong opening weekend. I would've loved to see him face Michigan, but obviously it's a boon to us as Michigan fans that he won't be suiting up. Cole Caufield is a menace and he's still in the lineup. Caufield gets knocked for a one dimensional playing style but the one thing the dude does is he just score goals. Like a ton. His 72 goals with the USNTDP in 2018-19 shattered records and he followed it up with 19 as a freshman last season in the NCAA, a top 20 finish in the country. When Wisconsin goes on a power play Michigan has to work to neutralize the diminutive sniper's chances. Outside of Caufield, Linus Weissbach is a solid wily veteran, as is Ty Pelton-Byce, and Ryder Donovan is another player with pro potential who scored a pair of goals over the weekend. The Badgers have talent, which will be an intriguing test. That said, if they lapse back into last year Wisconsin, this Michigan team may score so much that FS-Wisconsin will have to censor the video for the safety of the children.