Hockey season opener
So the 2011 season is underway and it went by fairly smoothly with a 5-0 win over niagra. Hat trick for lindsay sparks, who has been on fire throughout the first 3 games so far. Scoring as followed:
1st 01:02 MICH EV Lindsay Sparks. Assists: Zach Hyman, lee moffie
1st 09:06: MICH SH Travis Lynch. Assist: Shawn Hunwick
2nd 14:07: MICH EV Lindsay Sparks.
2nd 15:12: MICH PP Lindsay Sparks. Assist: Kevin clare, Alex Guptil
2nd 18:53: MICH EV Chris Brown. Assists: Zach Hyman, Lindsay sparks
Hunkwick with 30 saves
http://www.mgoblue.com/allaccess/?media=268320 (No embed code)
October 5th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^
Go Blue!!!
October 5th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^
this year is lack of offense. Nice to see Sparks banging it home - let's hope we can light the lamp consistently against better competition.
October 5th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^
Good win. Next up is our historical library this weekend.
I just took a peek at the USCHO.com rankings. It's kind of amusing that we're the 6th-ranked team in the country and MSU is the 6th-ranked team in the state.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
less scared for offense now. One game, not such great competition, but they created quite a bit of offense, even beyond what they converted on and I'm slightly less terrified for that. But the game raised for me a new question: defense. I know we return just about all our D-men from last year (once Merrill gets back) and they should all be solid, but Niagara was buzzing all night, not too many good chances, but a lot more shots than I'm used to seeing Michigan give up, especially considering the competition. I'm not familiar enough with hockey to say for sure, but I think the forwards/lines Red is rolling right now are most of the problem. Whenever Niagara got close to the net, or Hunwick gave up a juicy rebound, the D was there to clear to away and preserve the shut-out, so I'll give them the clear, but considering that beyond their offensive prowess, Hagelin, Rust and Vaughan were some of the best defensive forwards in the conference if not the country, I'm thinking that defense might be a problem at times for Michgan, not because of the D-men, but because the forwards that get back aren't as strong defensively as we're used to. That should be more fix-able than a lack of offense, but could also be a problem early. Does anybody smarter than me want to chime in or am I just searching for things wrong with this team?
October 5th, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
They might have had a lot of shots allowed, but you could count on one hand how many were legitmate scoring chances. That is the mark of a solid defense.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:11 PM ^
Check out the highlights of that game -- I think that Brown really scored the first goal, even though it's credited to Sparks.
Also, it's spelled "Niagara".
October 6th, 2011 at 9:35 AM ^
Viagra's waterfall equivalent (does the waterfall try to go up?)
Nice to see a good start for the hockey squad, even if it's against mediocre competition. Establishing an offensive identity is all good.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^
Lotta respect to Hunny for getting an assist on the night.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^
I was at the exhibition on Monday against the U-18 US NTDP and tried to keep an eye on Trouba and Carrick (2012 class commits) and Trouba was everything as advertised. Alot of offensive skill and seemed to position himself well when he was out on the ice. Carrick, while not quite as skilled and large, held his own. Even got into a little scuffle with Chris Brown. Seemed solid as well, but I'm no scout.
It appears that alot of freshmen are going to get quite a bit of playing time. I heard DiGuiseppe's (sp?) name alot on the radio broadcast last night and he had a goal in each of the exhibition games, so he might be the surprise of the freshmen class. Didn't seem to be among the top 3-4 kids mentioned from that class, but he will be getting some PT
October 5th, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^
didn't get a lot of hype, but mostly because he's so young. If we could have wanted/afforded to leave him in juniors for another year, you'd be hearing his name a lot more this coming year, as he's not even draft eligible until next year. I do believe that he was the top scoring '93 in the OJHL this year and that he was invited to the NHL R&D camp, which is generally reserved for pretty elite prospects. I think I saw a quick draft report or two for this next year that mentioned him relatively higher, though Boo Nieves is still the Michigan headliner in terms of that draft (offensively, obviously with the addition of Trouba, he slides down a notch). DiGiuseppe also had a goal on Tuesday that was waved off because of a goalie interference call on Guptill. I wasn't close enough to see the call, I heard it was pretty weak, but there's definitely the chance of some Michigan bias in that declaration. Either way he's definitely off to a great start. We knew he had the talent, coming in, just not how long it would take him to acclimate, the fact that he's already picking up points and creating havoc is a great sign.
October 6th, 2011 at 12:40 AM ^
Didn't realize he was so young. I just remember always hearing Hyman, Guptill, Lynch, Serville, and Sinelli being the ones that would most likely get the ice time as freshmen. They all are, but Phil is more than holding his own out there so far.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^
I watched the highlights this morning and it looked to me like Niagara's goalie let in some soft goals, but it was pretty tough to tell on my work computer. Could someone who made it to the game comment on that? As another person who was concerned about the offense coming into the season, I'd like to know whether MIchigan has a little more firepower than I thought or whether they just had some puck luck and a sieve to shoot at. Thanks.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:52 PM ^
The shorthanded goal was legitimately lucky. Five-hole from outside the face-off circle. The others were either defensive breakdowns where the goalie had two dudes in his face or superb finishing ability from Sparks.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^
have set a game record for penalty minutes. Niagara was a dirty team and the refs were addicted to sending multiple players to the box for the same incident.
October 6th, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
October 6th, 2011 at 1:47 AM ^
What this update doesn't include is a spectacular glove save that had the student section literally bowing in Hunwick's direction.
October 6th, 2011 at 4:27 PM ^
Michigan played great. I'm still saying Michigan wins the league or the conference tournament.