Explanations for Hockey Suck Please?
Haven't been able to catch much Michigan Hockey this season, Regrettably (or not?). Can I get some explanations? short and sweet, or detailed is fine. From my casual vantage point some of the first things that pop into my head are that Palushaj was of critical importance to the offense, losing him was a huge blow. Also perhaps that the recruiting has taken a hit in the last year or two. I don't seem to hear raves about any freshmen or sophomores. Don't remember any of them being at the top of the scoring sheet. Any ideas?
February 16th, 2010 at 10:03 PM ^
Suspect goal tending
Lack of depth (shouldn't be the case, but seems to be)
Stupid penalties + bad PK
February 16th, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
but for a large portion of the season it was one of the best in the country. I think our problems are more offensive than defensive, given that we are 3rd in the CCHA in GA. Not to mention plain bad luck given that we are 2nd in the conference in goal differential.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^
I'm hoping the upcoming class pans out for offensive help. Certainly a lot of hype. Was sorry to see we didn't get Matt Rust's little brother. He's near the top in scoring for the NTDP, could've used him.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:07 PM ^
seems like
-a lot of dumb plays & dumb penalties are taken
-no serious offensive threats like we usually have
-brian's usually good for a soft goal
February 16th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^
We score less than the other team. That adds up in the L column, and leads to suck.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
is a freshmen and is, I think the 2nd or 3rd leading scorer. Our PK was really impressive early in the season and now lets in everything. It seems like the bigger the kill, the faster and more likely we are to give up a goal...
agreed Hogan tends to let in softies.
I would say fragile confidence, it just doesn't seem like they know they can score or stop the other team from scoring. Not that they've given up really, just frustration, which leads to trying to hard which leads to not scoring and also stupid penalties. They're accepting that nothing is going right instead of forcing things to go right, if that makes sense.
Also, inconsistency. Either Hogan doesn't show up, or the O doesn't show up or the D doesn't show up. You can't really tell from the box score, because if the D won't hold anything in it's hard for the O to score and if the O isn't backchecking there's only so much the D can do. The D, at least, has the potential to be lights out and have been at times, just not enough of the time.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:26 PM ^
Lack of success for hockey, as well as football/basketball lately, falls squarely on the shoulders of Michigan hating God(s)
February 16th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^
from a liveblog during the MSU weekend, when some dumbass wanted Red to retire / get fired:
- Hogan took Sauer's job, and is playing poorly.
- None of the Juniors / Seniors have stepped up to become a prime scoring threat. Palushaj was expected to be that guy, and Caparusso is lost without another top line offenseman to play with
- Defense corps, which was supposed to be a strength, has ended up being a liability with poor penalties taken, poor checking, and most importantly, they haven't been able to make the quick transition plays that have been hallmarks of Michigan hockey the last 20 years. While Summers has played good, he hasn't played great, and there hasn't been much help for him (Tristan I'm looking at you)
- While a lot of people want to blame the freshman, they really weren't supposed to contribute much. The 2010-1 class is where the big star power is. this year was more of a depth filler class (contributors, but no superstars)
Overall, expectations were way too high in retrospect going into this season, and much of that was from the expectation Hogan would turn into Jimmy Howard or Ryan Miller. That hasn't happened, and none of the other parts you would need to offset sub-par goaltending have shown up. Campbell decomitting from us to play Juniors was a HUGE hit, and now I see we're re-targeting some starting USHL goaltenders who are having good seasons.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:33 PM ^
people haven't stepped up this year. cliche but true. Louie until the last 2 games has been very disappointing. whether it be puck luck or not he hasn't been the same since palushaj left. somehow a defense that is easily one of the most experienced in years has been falling apart constantly. tristan has been especially frustrating this year with the penalties and bad plays in the defensive zone causing turnovers. Kampfer has been just sort of meh. not much improvement from last year. Summers has been solid but in my opinion no Mark Mitera (his junior year). He often gets pressured into being more of a forward sometimes to try and kick start the offense.
which leads to the other main problem, general anemic offense. (I would make a chart but i'm supposed to be studying for an exam) we have 5 players with 10 or more goals (haeglin 13, brown 12, louie 11 and rust and lebler with 10) which is normalish but after those 5 it drops off a cliff. wholberg who had 15 goals last year is down to 5. louie, hagelin, and rust have been overall a little lackluster. they each had around 11 goals in 2007 as freshmen, rust had 11, hagelin had 13 and louie blew up with 22 last season. you would expect them to get more goals each year but have pretty much stayed the same. the team overall from the 07 season (which was fucking awesome) has trended from an astounding 3.95 goals per game, to a more average 3.54, to a not great 3.03.
On defense we've been supremely sub-par. i'm putting almost all of the blame on the defense and not goaltending. i don't bash goalies as a rule. hoagie gave up a few softies i know but the defense is what puts him in bad positions. turnovers in our own zone and the neutral zone have killed us all year. Overall the physicality on the team is down from last year. Last years team had Tim fucking Miller who for those that don't remember was a stellar defensive forward and easily the most passionate player on the team. people played alot more physical last year in general ie. wholberg, turnbull, and miller(both departed). no one on this years team really plays at the same level except chris brown and hagelin.
despite the relatively low goal count, Haeglin has been lights out most of the time prompting several standing ovations on PK and jaw dropping. his line is 13g 22 a. One thing that really jumps out at you when you look at his stats are his 124 shots on goal. for perspective thats 34 more than the next highest on the team chris brown. the only other players that have shown marked improved from last year are lebler and glendening. everyone else has essentially stayed the same or regressed.
Summary: defense sucks because we lost tim miller and mark mitera and no one else decided to fill their shoes. offense sucks because we lost palusaj (and louie) and all of the senior leadership on offense and no one stepped up to take over. goaltending: our backup went from billy sauer to shawn hunwick. sorry this was long and kinda rambling. my posting skills are less concise and elegant as most others on here. hope this sheds some light.
February 17th, 2010 at 7:55 AM ^
I truly believe the lack of competition for the starting goaltending position has made Hogie very lazy. He is no longer being pushed in practiced from a true number one goaltender such as Billy Sauer. For a goaltender that leads the nation in minutes Brian has played for the most mediocre.
and do not get me started on Tristan. Perhaps Tristan needs to spend more time with the team than staring at the ice during pregame. If you do not know what I am talking about, then look towards the Michigan entrance to the ice about 20 minutes before puck drop. Tristan will be there for a solid ten minutes just staring at the ice.