12/2/2020 – Michigan 3, Penn State 1 – 5-2, 3-2 Big Ten
12/3/2020 – Michigan 5, Penn State 9 – 5-3, 3-3 Big Ten

Back in the old CCHA days, poor Alaska-Fairbanks (now just Alaska) would fly down to the lower 48 the day before a game and get their jet-lagged legs absolutely hammered by vintage Red Berenson teams. And then, occasionally, they'd show up on Saturday and win. There's a meme for this:

There's also Had Us In The First Half guy. Lots of memes are relevant to aughts-era UAF-Michigan hockey games, it turns out.

The recently completed Penn State series was not exactly that, but it had a similar feeling: how are these the same two teams playing on consecutive nights? Wednesday's game saw a PSU shot advantage that made it clear how they lost a game against Wisconsin 6-3 while outshooting the Badgers 52(!)-20. PSU had one or two major opportunities and then spent the rest of the game hoping some garbage from the perimeter would hit something and corkscrew into the net. Michigan dominated large sections of the game and was unfortunate to not have one of several goal-mouth scrambles go the right way.

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Old Man With Gun Meme Thursday started bizarrely with three goals and a five minute major in the first three minutes of play. Michigan fought back in the game, led 3-2, and then the wheels came off. This largely happened on the penalty kill. Penn State was 4/6 on their power play, with most of their goals slam dunks into empty nets. But the way those power plays came about was dispiriting: checking guys without the puck, hooking guys after bad defensive zone turnovers, a too-many-men penalty.

More alarming was the situation at both blue lines. Michigan provided little resistance on theirs, allowing PSU rush after rush. Michigan's attempts to gain the zone in a controlled manner were far too often turned into dangerous turnovers. Michigan's touted freshman class is running up against the reality of the Big Ten.

The average age of a Penn State hockey player is just short of 22, and while Michigan's team age is only eight months younger that's because there's a cohort of upperclass guys like Raabe, Morgan and Van Whye who are relatively ancient. The cavalry is like 18, tops, and has just gotten a shock to the system the past two weekends as they get trapped by a bunch of guys who know what they're doing, and then cut to ribbons by a team that has settled into a successful archetype and knows what it's doing.

The Eeyore wing of the fanbase feared the Wisconsin Last Year scenario in which a bunch of talented youngers gets blasted because they can't win on the boards and can't figure out things in their own zone. I don't think this is it, exactly. The Notre Dame series was dead even, decided by a fluke deflection and the fact that Notre Dame scored a couple of goals from the perimeter while getting significantly outshot in the opener. This series—this most recent game—is the first time that Michigan's youth has felt like a problem that put them decidedly behind an opponent.

Michigan is still figuring it out. That Arizona State blasting is not the new reality. This Penn State blasting isn't it, either. It's going to take a while to figure out what is what. After ASU started off 0-3-1 with a total of two goals in four games their last three:

• An 8-5 win @ Wisconsin
• A 3-1 win @ Wisconsin
• A 6-3 win @ Notre Dame

In a word: what? As per usual during a COVID season, things are beyond weird. Strauss Mann just got chased.

It is a concern that the whiz-bang guys have tailed off after racking up points in bunches early, but I go back to young whiz-bang guys past. Many of them started off relatively slow and grew into things in the second half of their freshman years. Max Pacioretty, Aaron Palushaj, even Kyle Connor. Connor had 15 points in his first 13 games and 55 in his final 25. (Connor did not win the Hobey because college hockey makes good decisions.) There's always an adjustment period.

Since most of the whiz-bang will be off to the WJC camp before the Minnesota series, we'll have to wait for the second half to see which guys grow into the game. Up next: a crucial series with Minnesota (3) and Michigan (5) down a total of eight highly-touted stars because USA hockey changed their report date because of COVID. As previously stated: it's weird out there.