UM vs UD For Spot in Frozen Four Open Thread
A lot of people watching tonight who haven't seen the team much. They played well (including Racine) given how they've looked this year. Racine was pretty solid. You leave any goalie out to try that many times and they're going to crack.
I expected us to lose to Notre Dame. It was a plesant surprise to beat them and then play North Dakota even through 2.5 periods
Fun team, but not a great team. Hire Mel.
Congratulations to the team on the winning the Big Ten tourney and a Hobey Baker (I assume). I love Michigan hockey and I'm glad to see us back in the playoffs, even if the ride wasn't as long as we'd like. CCM had amazing years and provided a lot of great entertainment. Go Blue!
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Wonder if having less rest hurt UM? The seemed to have less energy than UND for a majority of the game.
We all wanted better but this season was entertaining to be sure.
Michigan couldn't keep up in the third. Dead legs.
OT game against physical Domers seemed to take a toll.
Add that to a team that has a ferocious forecheck, which we tend to struggle against (see: Ohio State) that is just as offensively skilled as we are...
this was not the best matchup we could have gotten.
Though it's inevitable you're gonna have some tough match-ups in the tournament, I felt this was a particularly difficult team for us to face.
It sure was nice being back in the NCAA's. We can no longer just assume we're gonna be there.
Everyone is disappointed with BIG hockey so far - I know I am - but if we take a longer view it might work out ok.
Michigan (of course), Wisconsin and Minny are all college hockey blue bloods. IMO it's only a matter of time until Wisconsin returns to relevancy. PSU and OSU seem to be pretty committed to hockey, so hopefully they will improve over time. The addition of ND helps. MSU - who knows?
For much of the 2nd and some of the 3rd it actually looked like we had more jump in our step than North Dakota. I'm undecided if the slow 1st period was tired legs or us just having no clue how to play against a team as good as North Dakota.
Seeing how bad BU got bombed tonight, North Dakota was really the first elite team we saw all year.
This fan base is the worst in the history of the world. I don't have the DATA ANALYSIS or the CHARTS to impress everyone, but my gourd, I'd say at least 32% of the posts were BITCH complaints about the refereeeing.
For fuck's sake--people who whine about the refereeing should just stop watching sports.
And those complaining about Racine should get off this blog, and go back to Scout with the rest of the shits who pretend to be colege graduates.
This game was lost because North Dakota was absolutely better, and far more dominant in every phase. If not for Racine playing a great game, it would have, and should have, been about 10-2.
Differences? Dancs missing a wode open net after some real slick skating and puck handling. North Dakota didn't miss those kinds of shots. Michigan had CHANCES but could not capitalize--North Dakota did. Michigan's defense is weak sauce. Has been for a decade now; maybe more.
Racine played well enough for this team to win--but this team was not good enough to win.
March 26th, 2016 at 10:01 PM ^
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March 26th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
On the one hand, M got about as far as they reasonably could have expected. The CCM line was incredible this year. But the rest of the team was not deep enough. M was a top 8 (or so team), but not a top 3 team. Pretty good season, fun to watch, but not truely elite. Sort of comparable to Stanford or Iowa in football last season. Damn good teams. But not truly national title contenders. Overall we should be mostly happy with the season as a whole.
On the other hand, UND really domianted that game and showed that to get to the elite level M is going to need a significant upgrade in terms of the total roster quality and depth. The gap to the top two teams (which probably includes UND) is actually pretty significant.
If Red steps down, M should go get the coach that can get M to the very top level. Red has had an incredible run over a very long period of time. What he has done is a monumental achievement. But given that Red is at or near the end of his coaching days, it is fair to wonder if there is a different coach out there that can get M to a bit higher level.
But it I think it will take more than just hiring a new elite coach. Maybe M needs to invest in facilities more to compete in recruiting. Gotta find a way to recruit on the level of UND and the very top East Coast schools. Not sure just getting the right coach will be enough.