So where does Hockey go from here?

Submitted by gwkrlghl on

Well then.

I think tonight is the resounding confirmation of what we have all feared for the last few years. With a loss to Penn State at home and our 2nd loss to them this year, it's apparent that this program is stagnating. WIth the exception of the coming of Tiny Jesus, we've been gradually floundering more and more each year since the awesome Porter-Kolarik-Patch season. Waves of NHL draft picks fail to develop here in such high quantites that you can't just point to 'busts' anymore.

So here we are, very similar to where the football program found itself in 2007: A storied coach at one of the nation's most decorated programs has finally gotten to the point where everythings going downhill. So do you gut everything and go Richrod and hope it goes better? Keep yelling MICHIGAN MAN and just hire back Mel and hope he's magically better than the guy who tutored him for 20 years? Do the new thing and throw a lot of zeros at a big name coach? (Note: I am still very much assuming Red will never be fired. He will retire or 'retire')

GRBluefan

February 21st, 2014 at 10:00 PM ^

There we're some good years in the mid 2000s, and of course tiny Jesus, but to me if hasn't been the same michigan team since the camileri, hilbert, then comrie eras. Not as electric a team, not at all dominant. Capable of runs, but they always seemed more like a 'team got hot' run as opposed to just being a really good team.

Bando Calrissian

February 21st, 2014 at 10:41 PM ^

It's not just teams that got hot, it's great teams that showed up and absolutely laid an egg, usually on the first game of an NCAA tournament weekend. For instance, it's absolutely painful to think about the fact that neither the '07 or '08 teams won a championship with the guys they had on the roster. Both teams pretty much shat the bed in the same freaking rink.

Or the infamous "let's sleepwalk until January" routine.

gwkrlghl

February 21st, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^

Also, the '09 and '12 teams soiled themselves by lifelessly losing in the first round as a #1 and #2 seed respectively.The '13 team didn't make the tournament, the '14 team is on track not to either.

Even in the Hunwick years, the '10 team was well on its way to missing the tournament before Hunwick did his thing.

Really the only season where we've outperformed in the tournament was the '11 run to the title game. Before that was....?

Bando Calrissian

February 21st, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^

So I guess it's officially acceptable now to ask the hard questions a lot of folks have been quietly asking about Red's command of this program without getting shouted down. I'm with GMHW on this one.

I love Red with every fiber of my being, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Watching him behind the bench for the last three or four seasons is like watching a shadow of The Unit. Player development, discipline, and motivation has been consistently low. Teams that look great on paper underperforming in the most frustrating ways. I know, I know, Hunwick and the near-championship in 2011, but... we're seeing what happens when a great coach hangs on too long.

Look through the breakdown of every season since the 1998 title and tell me it isn't the most depressing thing you've ever seen. Too many great teams to have exactly one championship game appearance.

gwkrlghl

February 21st, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^

I think Josh Blackburn has saved Red for this long. The seemingly endless procession of good-to-excellent goalies has saved out butts in recent years. The only year we've had bad goaltending was last year, otherwise it's been an endless procession of great goalies. Sauer, Hogan, Hunwick, Racine, Nagelvoort.

If they aren't there, we probably miss the tournament in 2010 (Hunwick's magical CCHA run) and we would've reached this point already

ThadMattasagoblin

February 21st, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^

I want to see Mel Pearson make progress at MTU before we offer. Too much is riding on our team's future to take a chance. Bring in Daniels, Babcock, or Danton Cole and pay them up to a million a year to come here.

Wolverine Devotee

February 21st, 2014 at 11:30 PM ^

Another potential candidate: Rick Bennett of Union.

Look at what he's done there. And being that Union is primarily a D3 school, I don't think they give out athletic scholarships. I could be completely wrong on that, though.

gwkrlghl

February 21st, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^

As they've both done well lately. I think the guy at Quinnipiac has been there almost 20 years and he just broke through so that doesn't scream HIRE ME. I don't know about the guy at Union. He's only been there a short time so maybe he's building on someone elses work, but he has had Union consistently great the last few years with few or no scholarships.

Adam Schnepp

February 21st, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^

Where does Hockey go from here? They recruit puck-moving defensemen and hope they don't decommit or leave early.



That's an over-simplification of the issue but I wouldn't discount the effect that attrition has had because it's hit the defense hard. We're talking Michigan's-secondary-circa-Seth's-Decimated-Defense-series hard. There are guys in the lineup who wouldn't be if attrition wasn't an issue; they're getting a lot of ice time and are making the same mistakes night after night. Whether that (i.e. attrition or defensemen's errors) falls on the coaching staff or not is something I can't speak to.



Over the past few years Red's maintained that he will step down if he thinks he's no longer effective as the head coach. I trust that he's still competent enough to know when that time is, regardless of whether or not he still has the ear of the team.

Sac Fly

February 21st, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^

It just happend to be that half of our big recruits on the blueline left early and the other half busted.

Our three for next year blew up on us. Cutler Martin will make an impact next year, but Walsh decommitted for the CHL and Christian Meike didn't have the weight to play in the USHL this year.

Nick Boka is a #1 defensemen in 2015. Luke Martin and Griffin Luce are #1 D for 2016.

ThadMattasagoblin

February 22nd, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^

I don't care if we hire a Michigan man or not if he's right for the job. Hiring Mel Pearson at this point is foolish. He's been a head coach at one school where he's had a losing record every season he's been there. Bring in someone who's proven and pay them well.

G0B1U3

February 22nd, 2014 at 1:27 AM ^

Don't act like you have some inside info, because if you do you're clearly talking to the wrong people. You aren't an insider Bando so don't come on here and spout false info as if it were on behalf of Mich hockey

chatster

February 22nd, 2014 at 2:54 AM ^

John Hynes: Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins AHL affiliate for three seasons; experience coaching the USNTDP U-18s and U-17s in Ann Arbor and Team USA at World U-18 and World Junior tournaments; assistant at Wisconsin for a couple of seasons; played at Boston University from 1994-97 when BU had some NCAA tournament teams (won the NCAAs in 1995); had been considered for BU head coach job when Jack Parker retired after last season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hynes_(ice_hockey)

Michigan Arrogance

February 22nd, 2014 at 8:22 AM ^

The problem, IMO is recruiting. We're not talented enough and haven't been since JMFJ left. We've had bad attrition, after 2, 1, or 0(!) years, We used be be very deep on the blue line and now we have 3 D1 level defensemen. We don't have the depth at forward and don't have the talent at center like hilbert, comrie, hensick. Watching the USA team, M was repped by Pach but there were tons of Minn, NoDak, BC guys out there that we missed on- and they were right in our back yard with the NDT. (and BORK with the sweeds of course). We are recruiting second level talent out of canada who don't end up on campus half the time and if they do are gone in a year or 2. If we're going to do that, we need to be better at evaluating talent, and evaluating if they even want to play college hockey. Those guys seem to come out of the NDT program instead of 2nd level canadians, who all think they are NHL level, or at least can be convinced that they are by the CDN Major junior leagues. Those leagues saw hom much talent the NCAA pulled out of Canada in the 90s-2003 or so, declared war on US College Hockey and are winning. Michigan needed to adjust 5-10 years ago and didn't.

Sac Fly

February 22nd, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^

We didn't miss on any of those guys. Just because a player is playing for the NTDP program doesn't mean we have any chance in their recruiting.

Hockey recruiting is regional. Those players that may be in our backyard came from other places in the country. We may get the occasional player from British Columbia or the east coast, but the elite players stay in their region. Boston guys play for Boston schools. Minnesota guys play for Minnesota schools. An elite player in Michigan stays in Michigan.

Our recruiting focus is Michigan and Ontario. It would be a compete failure to focus on someone elses region.

Sac Fly

February 22nd, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^

Like I mentioned in my first post, we get the occasional prospect from the east coast and British Columbia, but strong programs keep players in-state.

Mac Bennett came from Rhode Island, which was an open state for recruiting until Providence started winning again. Boo Nieves is our only elite player to come out of New York and his coach was Matt Herr.

Wolvie3758

February 22nd, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^

Complete Disaster...I stopped watching ...This loss will probably knock them out..I dont get it...What happened to Michigan Hockey...We used to dominate now we barely hang on