In addition to running for Regents (and good on you, as too few are aware of the how the Regents can steer a university, for good or for ill), perhaps some sort of campaign or reaching out to the new UMich president? He is a medical doctor; he should be appalled by what he saw on Saturday.
(Does the Athletic Department report to the President or straight to the Regents? Good god, I hope it's not the latter.)
Every time I think the power play can't get worse, it does. I remember YEARS ago telling my mother to watch the Frozen Four, because I really, really cared. She watched the third period of the Michigan-Minnesota game in 2003, and called me before OT to say, "Why can't you guys score on the power play?" That was her first impression of Michigan hockey, after watching a single period of play.
Nearly a DECADE later, and we're still asking the same goddamn question.
I'm not even sure this is the worst the power play has ever been. There was a year around 2003 or 2004 when it seemed like Michigan was scoring more short-handed goals than power play goals. And there was also a year where Cogliano was stationed at the point in the power play, and like EVERY SINGLE TIME the puck went to him he let it out of the zone. (I was secretly delighted when I looked up his stats and saw that he had a lot of goals scored but a really low +/- rating. It wasn't just my imagination that he was a huge honking defensive liability!) Then Langlais wasn't much better on the point for the power plays. AAARRRGGGHHH.
Yeah. If Michigan couldn't do anything with that five-minute-major power play (except commit their own penalty nine seconds in, AND commit a penalty giving Cornell a penalty shot, WTF), and couldn't do anything with two separate stretches of 5-on-3, I don't think they really deserved to win that game. I really, really wanted them to win it all for Hunwick, but alas.
Let's see, I graduated (-ish, it was grad school) in Fall 2007, at which point it was, "chump, dick, wuss, douuuchebag, asshole, prick, cheater, bitch, WHOOOOORE, slut, cocksucker". Although maybe by then 'cocksucker' only showed up during really egregious penalties.
Again, I really dislike 'cocksucker' as an insult (as well as whore and slut), but I can't argue with how well it resonated.
My favorite detail about this will always be that O'Malley was the CCHA Humanitarian Award winner. I don't know why, but when I tell the story (not that I was there, but whatever), that's the part where I have to stop because I'm crying with laughter.
Oh, I agree -- there were a couple seasons where the ushers were overly vigilant. And they kept moving around the student section, and the sightlines were such that if the students stood they were blocking some non-students who were seated, and they would yell at us to sit down. Argh.
At the same time, I do not at all regret that 'cocksucker' is not really part of the c-ya chant anymore.
YES. A friend and I (who had season tickets, but were broke) watched that game on TV. And it was AMAZING. By the end of the game we talked ourselves into buying tickets for the CC game, and it was totally worth it.
What about Montoya? His leaving meant that we got Sauer before he was ready, I think. (Also, him and Tambellini left at the same time, right? That didn't help.)
I think the team genuinely missed Pacioretty more than they missed Johnson. I remember after Johnson left some players implied that there was a much better atmosphere at practice and in the locker room.
Then again, Nystrom *stayed*, and that didn't help.
But they stayed for their senior years, and led a freshmen-heavy team on quite an amazing run. (Also, they are my favorite Michigan hockey bromance ever.)
I feel the need to mention that a lot of credit goes to the 2009-2010 team for their amazing streak at the right time in the CCHA tournament to keep both the CCHA semifinal appearance streak and NCAA tournament appearance streak alive.
I'm sure there were other years when the streak was in danger of being broken, but that's the biggest one recent memory.
Oh my god, I love Yost. The Heckler From Hell guy has a friend, who wears jersey number 668 (I think) and it says Hecker From Hell's Friend on the back. I am not making this up.
My seats were in the student section (for many years -- grad school is awesome when it comes to hockey tickets), but once we sat behind the goal for a game not in the season ticket package. There are people there with plastic sand shovels and pails, and they stand up and wave them EVERY TIME someone needs to come out to do a patch job. They've been doing that for YEARS.
God, the hey guy. What happened to him? He was only around for a couple of years.
All the Cockburn chants remain the best chants ever to me. (And were there more fights back then? I feel like Ferris State and Northern were always good for some fights, but not as much anymore.)
I loved the blowout on Halloween against BU, when one of the students had a shark costume on. After every Michigan goal, he would go over to the BU parents while our section chanted, "Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark!" I think that was the year that sparked the costumes fever, because the next home game was against Alaska, so the penguin wore his costume again (because there are no penguins in Alaska, of course), and after THAT game the penguin and Frankenberry wore costumes to every game.
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In addition to running for Regents (and good on you, as too few are aware of the how the Regents can steer a university, for good or for ill), perhaps some sort of campaign or reaching out to the new UMich president? He is a medical doctor; he should be appalled by what he saw on Saturday.
(Does the Athletic Department report to the President or straight to the Regents? Good god, I hope it's not the latter.)
Every time I think the power play can't get worse, it does. I remember YEARS ago telling my mother to watch the Frozen Four, because I really, really cared. She watched the third period of the Michigan-Minnesota game in 2003, and called me before OT to say, "Why can't you guys score on the power play?" That was her first impression of Michigan hockey, after watching a single period of play.
Nearly a DECADE later, and we're still asking the same goddamn question.
I'm not even sure this is the worst the power play has ever been. There was a year around 2003 or 2004 when it seemed like Michigan was scoring more short-handed goals than power play goals. And there was also a year where Cogliano was stationed at the point in the power play, and like EVERY SINGLE TIME the puck went to him he let it out of the zone. (I was secretly delighted when I looked up his stats and saw that he had a lot of goals scored but a really low +/- rating. It wasn't just my imagination that he was a huge honking defensive liability!) Then Langlais wasn't much better on the point for the power plays. AAARRRGGGHHH.
Yeah. If Michigan couldn't do anything with that five-minute-major power play (except commit their own penalty nine seconds in, AND commit a penalty giving Cornell a penalty shot, WTF), and couldn't do anything with two separate stretches of 5-on-3, I don't think they really deserved to win that game. I really, really wanted them to win it all for Hunwick, but alas.
Let's see, I graduated (-ish, it was grad school) in Fall 2007, at which point it was, "chump, dick, wuss, douuuchebag, asshole, prick, cheater, bitch, WHOOOOORE, slut, cocksucker". Although maybe by then 'cocksucker' only showed up during really egregious penalties.
Again, I really dislike 'cocksucker' as an insult (as well as whore and slut), but I can't argue with how well it resonated.
My favorite detail about this will always be that O'Malley was the CCHA Humanitarian Award winner. I don't know why, but when I tell the story (not that I was there, but whatever), that's the part where I have to stop because I'm crying with laughter.
Oh, I agree -- there were a couple seasons where the ushers were overly vigilant. And they kept moving around the student section, and the sightlines were such that if the students stood they were blocking some non-students who were seated, and they would yell at us to sit down. Argh.
At the same time, I do not at all regret that 'cocksucker' is not really part of the c-ya chant anymore.
YES. A friend and I (who had season tickets, but were broke) watched that game on TV. And it was AMAZING. By the end of the game we talked ourselves into buying tickets for the CC game, and it was totally worth it.
What about Montoya? His leaving meant that we got Sauer before he was ready, I think. (Also, him and Tambellini left at the same time, right? That didn't help.)
I think the team genuinely missed Pacioretty more than they missed Johnson. I remember after Johnson left some players implied that there was a much better atmosphere at practice and in the locker room.
Then again, Nystrom *stayed*, and that didn't help.
But they stayed for their senior years, and led a freshmen-heavy team on quite an amazing run. (Also, they are my favorite Michigan hockey bromance ever.)
I feel the need to mention that a lot of credit goes to the 2009-2010 team for their amazing streak at the right time in the CCHA tournament to keep both the CCHA semifinal appearance streak and NCAA tournament appearance streak alive.
I'm sure there were other years when the streak was in danger of being broken, but that's the biggest one recent memory.
Oh my god, I love Yost. The Heckler From Hell guy has a friend, who wears jersey number 668 (I think) and it says Hecker From Hell's Friend on the back. I am not making this up.
My seats were in the student section (for many years -- grad school is awesome when it comes to hockey tickets), but once we sat behind the goal for a game not in the season ticket package. There are people there with plastic sand shovels and pails, and they stand up and wave them EVERY TIME someone needs to come out to do a patch job. They've been doing that for YEARS.
God, the hey guy. What happened to him? He was only around for a couple of years.
All the Cockburn chants remain the best chants ever to me. (And were there more fights back then? I feel like Ferris State and Northern were always good for some fights, but not as much anymore.)
I loved the blowout on Halloween against BU, when one of the students had a shark costume on. After every Michigan goal, he would go over to the BU parents while our section chanted, "Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark!" I think that was the year that sparked the costumes fever, because the next home game was against Alaska, so the penguin wore his costume again (because there are no penguins in Alaska, of course), and after THAT game the penguin and Frankenberry wore costumes to every game.
EEEEE GO BLUE!!!!!!!