Michigan Hockey: Notre Dame Preview

Michigan Hockey: ND preview

#10 Michigan (14-8-4) at #7 Notre Dame (13-8-3)

1/20/12 7:35pm NBC Sports Network

1/21/12 7:35pm CBS Sports Network

There is one thing that makes Notre Dame different then every team we have played so far. They have a lot of highlight videos and they weren't shot with a camera someone borrowed from their mom.

Forward Overview:

Notre Dame comes into the series with the nations 27^th best scoring attack, but nothing really stands out out from the offense of the Fighting Irish on paper except the center domination. On film is a different story, the set offense is really bad but the breakout is outstanding.

The other thing they are really good at is taking advantage of opponents mistakes, cutting down neutral ice turnovers is a must for the game. This is how they win games, the offense is average, the defense is terrible but they still win because of the ability to turn a mistake into a goal.

Key matchup for this game is getting simple, get back fast and pay attention. It sounds simple but it's something we struggled with most of the season, so we might see Red scale back the forecheck if Notre Dame is cracking it early.

Defensive Overview:

Led by robbie Russo and Sam Calabrese, Notre Dame enters this weekend showdown with the nations 27^th ranked defense. To put it into perspective as to how bad that is, Michigan's defense at the worst point in the season never got lower then 15^th. Stephen Johns is the only ND blueliner who has a positive +/- but he spends too much time in the box to really do anything, the rest of the guys just look lost.

Key matchup for this game: Just shoot the puck, with major alignment issues and a goalie who gives up rebounds the scoring chances will be there. The Northeastern team who took us down 4-1 at Yost went to Compton and smoked the Irish 9-2 the next game.

Goalies:

Why not hug the post?

After posting great numbers his sophomore season Mike Johnson was supposed to be among the nations elite goaltenders, what happened? You could blame the defense but this isn't all on them, its not their fault when the goalie aligns improperly. Neither netminder is playing great hockey, but there is a good chance we could see both Johnson and Summerhays this weekend.

The key matchup is the same as for defense, just shoot the puck. Good things will happen if the puck is getting to the net, but this is a streaky team so getting on them early is important.

Michigan Overview:

Red has worked his magic again, he has managed to get quality defense out of a group who couldn't play a lick of it for half a season. The re-emergence of Kevin Lynch helped and Andrew Sinelli

has been a nice addition, but was the answer benching Lindsay Sparks? Maybe not but it definitely helped, and with him getting less time others have made their presence on the ice felt.

It also looks like the lines are settled which is a major plus. Coming into the year this team had so many freshman that they didn't know who would be best on which line, but it seems like it has been figured out.

Defensive Overview:

Four games later we are still talking about how important the addition of Jon Merrill is and its still amazing how much one player changes things.

The forechecking has been ridiculous and the biggest key to our success, and when the Buckeyes did gain the zone most of the shots they took came from the side boards or other low percentage areas.

One thing that has been overshadowed by the recent events is how great Lee Moffie has been playing. He has been a solid performer all season, but when the team needed someone to elevate their game he stepped up in a major way.

Goalie

It's been so long since we saw what Hunwick could do with a functional defense, yeah it's awesome. When he's on his game like that we aren't going to lose very many times. Stop hitting forwards after the whistle, other than that there isn't much else to say.

Prediction

Although Michigan is red hot right now, at some point we have to cool down, and Notre Dame is a team whos playing style gives them an edge over us. It's weird how a team with such average stats wins so many games, but I feel like the Irish will take game one before Michigan bounces back saturday at Compton for the split.