Michigan Hockey
A new season of Michigan Hockey is quickly approaching, and I know i am very excited after last season's disappointing end. I figured I should share my excitement by sparking some discussion on mgoboard because mgoboard is really the best place to discuss anything. So one thing that I have been wondering is who everyone thinks will be the new guys on the team who come in and contribute right away? Also, i was wondering how everyone thinks we will do this season.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:31 AM ^
I hear Tate is gonna start at center.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 AM ^
It'll be tough for me to follow the team considering my time as a student is done, but I know I'm going to try and do what I can.
I don't know much about the schedule yet and our opponents, but it seems clear that this team's strengths will be on the blue line. I really feel like we'll be one of the better teams in the nation as far as the back end is concerned. Hogan will blossom into the #1 guy he showed signs of being last season.
Simultaneously, we'll have more than a few questions to answer offensively. Palushaj is gone, and who will step up for Caporusso? Brown, Lynch, and Treais are speculative at this point; Brown and Moffie seem like early contributors, in the vein of Wohlberg and Burlon. As far as scoring goes, this needs to be Wohlberg's and Hagelin's team, though I don't know if they're ready to shoulder that load yet. I think a lot also depends on if Czarnik is poised to have a breakout year.
It'll be a dogfight with Miami (NTM), and the Domers all year, but I say we finish out on top. People will point at our lack of offensive weapons, as opposed to the defense, but Red's always had high-scoring teams; the point of emphasis this year needs to be on the power play. We'll get to the Frozen Four, but if we win it all is anyone's guess.
Also helpful:
http://www.yostbuilt.com/2009/09/five-burning-questions-heading-into.ht…
FWIW, CHN tabbed us with a #5 preseason ranking.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 AM ^
does somebody need to step up for Caporusso? Can't he just do the same thing he did last year (or more)? Not that I would mind having 2/3/4/5+ of him/his numbers...
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:08 AM ^
He think he meant someone needs to step up for Louie to play with since Palushaj is gone.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:21 AM ^
Didn't Palushaj assist on a pretty big number of Caporusso's goals?
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 AM ^
Palushaj and Caporusso were definately our best one-two scoring punch. Having him leave was a blow, no doubt about it. Still, this team is very deep in talent. Look for guys like Carl Hagelin, Matt Rust, Luke Glendening, and David Wohlberg to fill the void. Michigan will be good but it will be tough ride through the CCHA, which looks to be pretty strong.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 AM ^
If you like following college hockey, this site provides very good coverage.
www.uscho.com
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:51 AM ^
Notre Dame's winning days against us in the Joe are done! But seriously Michigan needs to get better on the pp. I saw several times where the Wolverines had 5-3s and could not convert on them. INEXCUSIBLE! If you want to win big games and put up big points you have to be able to score on the man advantage and especially if it's against a strong opponent like Notre Dame, Miami or MSU. Except when the Wolverines made it to the CCHA Championship I was dissapointed seeing them lose 2-0 to Air Force in the NCAA Division 1 tournament. Michigan should deffinetly improve this year but the team in the CCHA and possibly NCAA to look out for will be Miami of Ohio. This team was SCARY good in 2008.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:33 AM ^
I agree 100% that Miami will be very good this year; they have a great crop of returning players, but scary good in 2008? Why because they got on a hot streak during the tourny? Don't forget they almost didn't make it in the tournament.
"A strong opponent like Notre Dame, Miami or MSU" How is 10-23-5 strong? I love beating MSU but I'm not too worried about them this year.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:20 AM ^
From what I have heard about MSU, they are even worse than they were last year, mainly due to the loss of the Midget sieve. I fully expect sparty to be a bottom-feeder in the CCHA this year again. The domers lose one of their biggest (literally) component from last year, Pearce, who is now within the Detroit farm system. And Miami wasn't scary good last year. When we played them in the Worst State ever, both games were close defensively, but our offense didn't score for us (I think we had one goal the entire weekend). But second semester we handled them easily at Yost.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 AM ^
Notre Dame will miss Pearce more than UM will miss Sauer, ha ha ha.
Michigan is ranked preseason #5 by numerous college hockey polls, good enough for second best in the CCHA. The schedule is tough, with an early season trip to defending champion BU.
I think the team will be strong defensively but may struggle to score at the same clip it has in recent years. When all is said and done it will make it to the NCAA tournament for, what is it now, like the 20th straight year?
Go Blue!!
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:58 AM ^
Since Hogan was the #1 goalie last year, Sauer isn't going to be missed very much.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 AM ^
That was the joke.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 PM ^
Can anyone explain to me why we play BU @ BU in two consecutive years? This baffles me.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 AM ^
For those of you no longer at Michigan and want to see some Michigan hockey, I'd recommend ordering your the sports package that your cable company offers if it includes the 4 FSN channels and CBS college sports. I was almost able to watch every game last year on these channels and some others BTN and MGoBlue.com.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:23 AM ^
We should be a solid team. How good we can be depends entirely on how our offense plays and who steps up. If you remember last year against Air Force, we lost because we could not score. Our offense was not terrible last year, but it was definitely not as good as it was in 2007-2008.
The other obvious factor in how good we will be lies on the health of Hogan. After Hogan, we have a significant drop off in goaltending. Hunwick is not terrible, and he has gotten a lot better since he arrived on campus, but he is really not a top tier D-1 goalie.
I'm excited to watch and see how we do this season. Should be fun.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:44 AM ^
When I was in school my parents would make a couple trips each year to AA for a hockey game. They would get to Yost about 3 hours prior to game time and everytime they were able to pick up tickets by purchasing the ones the visiting team sent back. They loved it, got to sit right in front of us students. Is this still an option?
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:01 PM ^
Because of the enthusiasm of the student section, the visiting section is located on the opposite side of Yost from the students. They sit right next to their team's penalty box, so I assume that the tickets right in front of the students are not available to anyone outside of the home parents.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 AM ^
While I'm incredibly excited about the upcoming hockey season, I think everyone might be putting Michigan at the top of the CCHA and into the frozen four a bit too quickly. Our defense should be very, very strong, but I am afraid our scoring will be very inconsistent.
Carl Hagelin is probably my favorite current Michigan player (despite being a Rangers draft pick), but I am not sure we can expect him to score much more than he did last year. His game centers on hustle, back-checking, and speed. I don't think he'll turn into a prolific goal scorer. I think it is more likely that Wohlberg or Czarnik step up to add some scoring punch. Chris Brown could help out, but, like Max Pacioretty two years ago, it will probably take him until the second half of the season to really hit his stride.
Miami is going to be very good this season and our games with them will be a battle. It will be another fun season at Yost.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 AM ^
And the major sites (INCH, CHN, and USCHO) all seem to agree, is that Michigan has a wealth of options at defense, and though the lost Mark Mitera, they played most of the season without him last year without a noticeable dropoff in quality. I think that if we can keep getting hustle from the forwards and play well in our own zone, Michigan will be just fine. I hope the possibility of playing at Ford Field for the Frozen Four would be a little more fuel to the fire.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 PM ^
We are gonna be great this year, and even better next.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 PM ^
We should definitely be considered one of the favorites to win the CCHA this year. We have great depth at defense, and a solid goalie. If some of the new guys step up and provide some goals, we should be set to make a run in the tourney, which will be in DETROIT (!) this year.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:35 PM ^
I'm definitely excited to watch the boys skate at Ford Field in the Frozen Four. Great teams start with defense, and if Hogan stays healthy the goaltending/defense will be amongst the best in college hockey. I'm not overly concerned we won't be able to score consistently... I have a lot of faith in Hagelin, Rust, Louie, and Wohlberg. I think we'll see a lot of point men scoring this year too.
My wonder is how physical the team will be this year. Turnbull was a huge spark plug for physical play, and he'll be missed.