John U. Bacon - A true prophet

Submitted by The Bugle on

In Blue Ice, Bacon talks about how Michigan Hockey always wins its championships as the underdog, but fails to perform when they are the favorite. Taking the limited view of the past two seasons -- the man is a prophet.

Bando Calrissian

March 21st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^

I don't think there's been a Michigan team I've ever followed in the 17-ish seasons I've followed Michigan hockey that's been as big of an underdog as this one. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there's still a LOT of work to be done.

Bando Calrissian

March 21st, 2010 at 1:07 AM ^

Not really. 1998 was the year out of those three teams where there really was an underdog situation. 1996 was a strong team expected to compete after coming VERY close in the 1995 Frozen Four. 1997 was probably the best team Red ever had, IMO. 1998, expectations were low in comparison, yet it was still a very, very talented squad.

I know there's going to be comparisons to 1998, and I was making them earlier when I was thinking about it, but really... This is an entirely different universe.

Mi Sooner

March 21st, 2010 at 1:02 AM ^

I'm not sure. we were pretty high up that year also. the championship game was nearly a tossup. CC might have been the higher ranked team, but not by much.

Bird of War

March 21st, 2010 at 1:07 AM ^

Highly recommend Bacon's book to even any casual fan of Michigan hockey. Hopefully the Terrier Curse has legs and we can pull off another upset, this one being the most unlikely. Hail yes, GO BLUE!

MVictors

March 21st, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^

...at Yost or elsewhere that hasn't found some time to read Blue Ice should march down to WTKA or campus or wherever they can find Bacs and a) turn in their sweater, b) apologize, and c) get a copy and read it.

Bando Calrissian

March 22nd, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^

Unfortunately, in an NCAA regional, you usually don't have much of a neutral crowd to bank on. In this regional, Miami and Michigan are going to be the only substantial fanbases. Miami fans are not going to cheer for Michigan. I'd also be very, very surprised if this one sells out, so it's going to be a sparse arena on top of things.

That being said, you're right, you can have a neutral-site crowd turn a game around if the conditions are right. Holy Cross' upset of #1 Minnesota in 2006 was in large part propelled by an arena full of North Dakota fans loudly cheering against the Gophers. This, though, isn't one of those situations.