M Hockey Opener vs Waterloo (on FSN) Thread

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

This is probably the most excited I've been for hockey season in quite some time. Just to get the bad taste of last year out of our mouths. Plus the new era of B1G hockey begins. 

Exhibition vs Waterloo (Ontario). Puck drop at 4:35 on FS Detroit in HD. 

Oddly enough, both exhibition games this season will be on FSN in HD while the season opener against ranked BC and the B1G/HEA challenge games will be on Xfinity TV in SD.

 NO INJURIES PLEASE

 

Bando Calrissian

October 6th, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^

Exactly. Proper protocol is goal, light goes on, hockey band has about three seconds to furiously high five and get their instruments up, and then The Victors. Period. No goal horn drowning out the proceedings.

But from what I hear, Yost is pretty much taking on the trappings of an OHL arena now, so... Go figure.

Wolverine Devotee

October 6th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^

Last time Yost was horn-less, Michigan won the conference and went to the NCAA Championship game.

Since the horn was introduced, they have-

  • Played awful for 1.5 seasons
  • Hearts ripped out in the CCHA Playoff title game, twice
  • No conference championship
  • 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 only to lose to Cornell
  • Missed the tournament for the first time in my lifetime

Not only is the horn obnoxious but it drowns out the first verse of The Victors.

The only logical conclusion is that the goal horn is the reason for the struggles the past two years. 

clarkiefromcanada

October 6th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^

Depends on the school, also. Waterloo is a highly regarded as a tech and engineering school but not usually for athletics. Several of the Quebec Schools (Quebec Trois Rivieres), Western Ontario, Windsor, Alberta are all consistently good. Waterloo his not historically great at hockey but, like all schools, has a number of former OHL players because of the OHL education policy.

FWIW, Trois Rivieres or last year's Alberta team would give Michigan all they wanted, for sure.

ghost

October 7th, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^

The best conference in Canada is the AUS (Atlantic University Sport, which includes schools from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI) both in terms of the top teams and depth.  The University of New Brunswick has won 4 of the last 7 championships.  Canada West would be the second best conference, with Alberta being far and away the best team in that conference.    

The Ontario/Quebec conference is definitely the weakest, although McGill won the national championship 2 years ago.  Ontario schools as a rule tend to have a lot fewer CHL players than the AUS and Canada West schools.  Most of the Atlantic and Western teams rosters consist of basically all former CHL players and in some cases former pro players.  These players are not just are not just run of the mill CHL players either, a lot of them were top players on their CHL teams.  It is not out of the ordinary to see former 30-40 goal scorers from the CHL playing for an Alberta, a McGill or any of the top AUS teams.

A significant portion of these players also end up playing pro somewhere after university and some even leave early to do so.  For instance Joel Ward played for UPEI and Daine Todd, who played for UNB last year, made the opening night roster of the Portland Pirates.

Skiptoomylou22

October 6th, 2013 at 4:47 PM ^

Deblois/copp/ motte

PDG/moffat/compher

Kile/Nieves/hyman

Allen/selman/ shuart



Bennett/DeJong

Chaisson/Clare

Downing/lohan



Racine



Like how they've come out so far. Certainly setting the tone.

gwkrlghl

October 6th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^

Having some breakdowns right in front. Either Racine can't collect those shots or the D just isn't doing a good job of clearing. May be some of both

Wolverine Devotee

October 6th, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^

Michigan won: no injuries.

The result doesn't mean much to me. Wanted to see the young guys get out there. I like Nagelvoort. Kevin Lohan will destroy someone Trouba-style before October is over.

Guptill needs to get his act together and get back on the ice.

Good news: His suspension is only a couple of games.

Bad news: Michigan opens with a top-10 ranked BC team.

I think it was Pletsch that said Michigan and BC are the two youngest teams in the country. Should be interesting. Hopefully Yost is packed because it has been awhile since they've played BC here.

enlightenedbum

October 6th, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^

That was just one of those hockey things, it felt like.  Last year when we lost it seemed like we sucked.  Particularly in net.  That game we outplayed them and just couldn't finish.  Assuming chances start getting buried, we should be fine.

Owl

October 6th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^

Apparently our power plays are now "powered by Toyota." Prius jokes aside, that's unforgivable. Like we're a minor league baseball team. 

Wolverine Devotee

October 6th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^

I take it you were at the game.

Wow, this is getting out of hand. 

  • Dave Brandon is the "Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics"
  • The athletic campus is the "Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus"
  • The spring game is the "Mott Spring Game presented by PNC Bank"

And instead of the repeating ads around the covered concourse on the East side, there are different ones on the pillars. I saw StubHub, Meijer, Papa John's, BCBS.

At least Coke Zero is there since I'm on a diet. 

Doc Brown

October 6th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^

I don't mind the named athletic director chair. Technically the AD at Michigan is named professorship. My PI when I was at grad school at Michigan also had a named professorship in the department of chemistry. His was funded by Dow Chemicals. 

The AD's have been in Yost for a long time. 

Bando Calrissian

October 6th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^

Donald Shepherd endowed the AD chair when he was on that big string of endowments about 10-15 years ago. IIRC. The guy pretty much has his name on something everywhere on South Campus that isn't named after Al Glick, Bo, or Canham.

Shepherd is a really neat guy. Quiet, unassuming, lives by himself out in California, and LOVES giving to the university. Just an absurdly nice and generous person. He was giving large amounts of money to everything on campus before anyone really was. I mean, he has about a dozen endowed scholarships in the Music School alone.

Adam Schnepp

October 6th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^

Had to record it because I wasn't home at the start, but I was happy with the little bit I caught in the 2nd period. What I liked most is that the d-pairs seemed to be more coordinated in the defensive zone. They were doing a better job of switching assignments in front of the net while maintaining coverage and not just chasing the puck carrier.

Unicycle Firefly

October 6th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^

Not that Racine had a bad game or anything, but does anyone else feel like Nagelvoort is going to nail down the starting position sometime this season?  Watching him move out there, he looked smooth and calm, especially on that semi-breakaway in the 3rd.  In a situation where Racine maybe gets pulled in a tough game, I could see Nagelvoort coming in, saving the game, and just holding it down permanently.

Of course, I'm basing this on almost nothing but gut feeling after watching a freshman move in the crease for a little while.  But if it happens, remember that I called it.

JustGoBlue

October 6th, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^

Waterloo blocked 23!!!! of our shots.  Which actually feels about right, from watching the game.  Michigan needs to work on shooting at the net, not the defenders.  That'll fix a lot of things, I think. 

 

Doc Brown

October 6th, 2013 at 10:04 PM ^

Agreed. We also need to work on getting our shots off. We have issues with opponents lifting our sticks in the time between a forward gets the puck and he gets the shot off. It has been an ongoing issue the past couple seasons. I have definitely noticed a lack of two-timers and redirections when in front of the net. It seems like all of players want to make one or two datsyukian dekes when they get the puck.