They Have Technically Dropped The Puck

Does anyone know if their are any plans to host NCAA regional or any other tournament games at the new Toledo arena? This place is awsome. Talk about home ice advantage for M.

Wooooooooooooooo college hockey content.

And the dancing really needs to be fixed in the 2nd intermission. It was BAD during the games I made it back to last year. Your suggestions are good although 1-3 are clearly on another level than the rest of the list.

So are you saying you weren't a fan of "Charles in Charge"?

I REFUSE TO BE HANDCUFFED BY YOUR COMMAND.

I'm hoping that the dancing mania is symptomatic of the students that made it to Yost for a Sunday evening exhibition game with Windsor. Maybe the exuberance for the dancing will be tempered when there's a more representative sample of the student body at the games?

Seriously, though, it was an exhibition game. Can we save the encore dancing for big games & CCHA playoffs? That song is being killed. Killed.

Chris Brown is gonna beat up on CCHA teams like he beat up on Rihanna.

Somebody had to say it.

Yeah fuck Kid A.

Love the post Brian. I agree with all of your points and would like to elaborate on Lynch:

He is a big, strong, hard working player that has a knack for the net and will score most of his goals on rebounds or right in front of the net. He does not have that great of foot speed and that could handicap him at this level. I'd expect him to turn out like a bigger and slightly more skilled Tim Miller (not sure if that makes much sense). Where he works hard every night, gets his nose dirty, and his a ceiling of about 30 points on a good year (most likely as a junior or senior).

After watching the games this weekend, I think this Michigan team definitely lacks the offensive scoring power of teams from the past. They have 3, maybe 4, solid offensive lines, 3 good sets of defensive pairs, and a solid goalie in Hogan. Michigan will be a tough team to beat night in and night out (like always), but I think our scoring will handicap this team in the long run. They are going to have to win games and score as a unit, rather than blowing teams out with our NHL bound stars like we have in the past.

I envision the lines being this:

1. Wohlberg, Caporusso, Czarnik
2. Brown, Hagelin, Winnett
3. Lebler, Rust, Treais
4. Sparks, Lynch, Glendenning

Something like that. I really do not like Lebler as a player, I think he is slow, not very skilled, and takes reckless penalties. He is a big body and can wear the other team down, so I suppose he does have a purpose and positive impact.

I'm excited for this season and cannot wait to see us kick MSU's ass again this season.

You guys are fortunate to have the Wolverines and Redwings.

The Anaheim Ducks are near my abode, but I hate those guys.

You. Complete. Me.

*tear*

i don't see the scoring being a huge issue. we're the opposite of the M teams from the past where we had one KILLER line that would be +3 every night. but if we make up for that with 3 lines that are +1 every night, what's the diff?

i need to find some tickets.

in case you have dreams that the dancing will stop, you should brace yourself now for a long season. it isn't going to stop. too many of the guys who are always there starting all of the other chants are also the ones who chant for it every game

Agree with Brian. As a 6-yr student ticket holder (96-02), I feel our legacy is being abused. I had to fill in for Superfan one game in '99 with the Blues Brothers dance and I practiced, wore appropriate costume (hockey jersey with solid blue tie, sunglasses, maize and blue puffy beret hat, and ate a whole Cottage Inn pizza by myself before hand to feel and look properly bloated), and mentally prepared myself for the task at hand. At the time the music started, I made my way to the aisle and began to dance Blues Bros style... the fake jogging Elwood, and the psuedo-jumping jack Jake. Even threw in some Hulk Hogan hand circles during the interlude part to encourage clapping. Overall, I felt a valiant effort.

Now, the so-called "group" dance looks like a bunch of mindless idiots milking a cow-- something that should be reserved for Indiana fans. If you're going to do a group dance to the song, then damn it kids, learn how to do the motions correct. It's not a milking the cow up and down motion with your arms, its a sway down and peak at a side (kind of the like the Thriller dance but instead of zombie claws go for trumpet hold), then right before the solos start, you tuck your head and arms down low in front middle, then slowly bring them up in a staccato fashion until you hit the top of the motion mathcing with the last blare of the trumpet.

Jeebus, I really need to get the PhD finished up so I can get a job as a prof at Mich, return to Yost as "Crazy Prof who Dances at Hockey Games", and teach these young ones about proper use of Sieve and Blues Bros. dances.

Who is conducting Hockey Band anymore? Does Boerma know a little more about hockey than football (hopefully)?

If I could give Brian a +1 for resequencing a Big Lebowski quote to describe student actions at Yost in a catagory tag, I would.

For those not in the know-

Big Lebowski
Walter Sobchak: Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

MGOBLOG
Brian: yost is not nam there are rules

Now if we can only work Nihlists into a post....

I guess I missed that. And what'd he do to sell out? Curiosity, nom nom nom.

Also, is Rust hurt?

I guess nobody is perfect.

But hockey content- very very good.

No mention of Jack Campbell and how great he looked? I think our lack of scoring on Saturday wasn't our fault, it was his for being awesome. He made some hard saves look easy. I feel like he's going to be the real deal.

Also, is it just me or could the team pack Hunwick in a suitcase if they need an extra seat on the team plane? I never realized just how tiny he is until he took up about 1/8 of the front of the goal. But he's fast. One of the goals he let in was not preventable by a guy his size, though... definitely wish he was an inch or two taller.

1. Jack Johnson Sr
1.1. Band Director
2. Superfan

On a related note, it does seem that the student section has replaced some if its creativity with an overreliance on profanity.

For example, wife and kids went to the game on Saturday (I was out of town). Due to the numerous empty seats in the student section, they decided to sit in the student section. (At our normal seats, sometimes it is hard to make out what the students are chanting).

Apparently, several of the students (one drunkard in particular) were chanting F USA. A more reasonable student was trying to calm his friend down using a combination of: dude half these guys are going to be playing for us next year and come one there are kids around. The drunk's response was to hurl profanities the wife and kids because they weren't sitting where the were supposed to.

This, despite the fact that wife never said anything to the drunk. She knew what the kids were going to hear in the student section and didn't really care. They hear far worse from dad when he is watching sports. In other words, she wasn't shocked or bothered by the profanity, other than it appeared to replace creativity. She said there was no apparent attempt made to distinguish between the USA players who were coming to Michigan and those who were going to a rival.

This isn't to say the students should not use profanity. There are times where it is perfect. For example, we were at the FYS game, and it was appropriate, called for, and we joined in. I am afraid, however, that FYS will be the constant cheer at all UM/MSU games going forward.

Michigan was resting 3 of the top forwards in the Windsor game. The lines in the USNTDP game are probably the ones they will be using for now:

1: Wohlberg-Caporusso-Czarnik
2: Hagelin-Rust-Brown
3: Lebler-Treais-Winnett
4: Sparks-Lynch-Glendenning

The defense looks pretty good so far as well; the pairings in the USNTDP game were Summers-Burlon, Langlais-Kampfer and Moffie-Pateryn.

maybe the band should play idioteque for the dancing song. er. wait. maybe i missed the point here.

Please more of this! Much <3

As a student section ticket holder from '00 through the current season and longtime cowbell guy of section 17, I'd like to disagree with you point about the dancing.

It was fun to watch the evolution of dancers as you have described it into the whole section dancing. When there no longer was a single person able to capably dance, the group of people I sit with started to dance instead. It was then picked up by the whole section as well.

I agree the dance itself may look a little ridiculous, but isn't that kinda the point? Also, it's a great way to entertain the crowd and get everyone into the game and psyched up for the third period (without any profanity I might include).

Speaking of profanity, yeah the rare drunk student gets out of control occasional and it's on the rest of the section to keep him under control. I've shamed people into keeping quiet before, and have seen others do it as well. Nobody likes to hear it, trust me.

So back to the dancing. We're all just trying to have a good time. It's part of what makes the atmosphere at Yost incredible and unique. Don't hate just because it looks a little uncoordinated or the moves aren't as 'cool' as you'd like. We're just having fun :)