Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Michigan 4, Western Michigan 3 - Friday, March 15, 2013
Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 and 3-2, with Western rallying each time. WMU scored two goals in 62 seconds, early in the second period, to tie it 2-2. But each time Michigan pulled away, and ultimately held off WMU in the third. Michigan continues to plays its best hockey here, and after a dismal regular season, but its standards, things are starting to get very interesting. Remember, Michigan has a 22-season NCAA Tournament streak on the line, and must win the CCHAs to get in this time. ... Michigan's star defenseman was better than WMU's bevy of top-notch D-men. Jacob Trouba was extra-stellar, scoring twice, including the game winner in the third.
Meanwhile, WMU goes to the brink, hanging by a thread for the NCAAs, which turns Saturday into a must-win game. Coach Andy Murray wasn't thrilled with goalie Frank Slubowski's night, or the night of the officials. "I think we've seen Frank better. I think he is an honest player and would say the exact same thing," WMU coach Andy Murray said. "We didn't like the two goals we gave up. We gave up a couple of great transition opportunities. I really liked the effort in the game tonight. ... We need to be better. I think there were a couple things with the referees that were not as good as they need to be, just like how I need to be a better coach."
"We gave them a few too many scoring chances," WMU defenseman Danny DeKeyser said. "It's tough to win games when you let the other team score four goals. They were putting a lot of pucks on net. We just have to drive to the net hard and clear rebounds tomorrow."
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Ferris State 1, Michigan 1 - Saturday, March 2, 2013
Michigan finished with a win and shootout win, another strong weekend for the Wolverines, and the defense/goaltending seems to be peaking at the right time. It hosts Northern Michigan in a first-round playoff series, so we'll see if that continues. Michigan's 22-year NCAA streak is on the line now -- it must win two series and two games in Detroit to get that done -- no at-large bids this year. Michigan certainly has the offensive prowess -- it finished second in the league in scoring -- but its defense and goaltending has been poor.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Michigan 6, Ohio State 3 - Saturday, February 23, 2013
The defense and goaltending hasn't really improved as this long season has dragged on for Michigan, but at least now they seem to have found the scoring touch. That's 27 goals now in the last six games, four of which are wins. This was the first road sweep of the season for the Wolverines. And in so doing, it prevented Ohio State from moving ahead of idle Ferris State, so those two teams remain tied for the final home-ice spot. Actually, they have locked the 4-5 slot, so will play each in the other CCHA quarterfinals, it just depends on where. Ferris State hosts Michigan, while OSU is at Miami, which would seem to favor the Bulldogs, but we'll see.
Brady Hjelle was getting some Hobey chatter coming into the weekend, but that may now be gone. Michigan, meanwhile, goes into next week's finale one point behind Lake Superior for the final home ice spot for the first round of the playoffs.
“We haven’t seen two games like this all year, this is not Ohio State hockey and it is not how we have played this year at all," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "But that is probably the best hockey Michigan has played this season. ... Our blue line is thin right now, but going forward we know we have a bye week, which is great. Those six goals we let go were not goals we let through normally which is disappointing. ... We need to turn the page as soon as possible but it has to stay around long enough to sting. We need to remember how this feels on Monday, but we also need to move on and look forward to our next game.”
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Notre Dame 6, Michigan 4 - Saturday, February 9, 2013
As Notre Dame tries to right its ship, it needed to take advantage of a mightily-struggling Michigan this weekend -- and it did, getting the home sweep to keep within striking distance of first place. Anders Lee and Jeff Costello each had a goal and two assists in Saturday's finale. Notre Dame wins all four games in one season against Michigan for just the second time ever, with the other coming in 1972-73. “This was a big weekend for us. We need to get every point we can, especially at home,” Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson said. “Our next four games are going to be extremely tough. We play two exceptional teams (Miami and Western Michigan) so we really needed to take care of business this weekend if we want to finish in the top four of the conference.”
The one down side to the weekend was the penalty kill. “We gave up some power-play goals this weekend but we showed the ability to bounce back from adversity,” said Jackson. “We’ll get our penalty kill back in order. We won’t go very far if we don’t improve that. I was happy with the way we responded this weekend any time we gave up a momentum type of goal.”
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Michigan 5, Michigan State 2 - Saturday, February 2, 2013
Michigan wins for the fourth time in five meetings against Michigan State this season, getting its first weekend sweep.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Western Michigan 5, Michigan 1 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
Western Michigan earned a sweep of reeling Michigan for the first time since 1986. That's almost as long as it's been since Michigan missed the NCAAs, and that seems all but certain now, barring a miracle turnaround. The wins kept WMU one point ahead of Miami for first place in the CCHA, and up to No. 8 in the Pairwise. The Broncos finished 5-1-2 in January, with Colton Hargrove scoring twice in the weekend finale. His second, early in the third period, chased Michigan goalie Adam Janecyk from the game. The Michigan goaltending has been a big problem this season, but the problems are all over.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Lake Superior 3, Michigan 2 - Saturday, January 19, 2013
Domenic Monardo scored twice as Lake Superior overcame a 2-1 deficit to win and earn the split of the week. It's more than a little strange to hear Wolverines coach Red Berenson talk about how his team played very well despite losing, and had a really good weekend. But given the team's struggles, and injuries, and lack of production, and issues between the pipes, he's probably right. Adam Janecyk started both games in net, and wasn't stellar, but his team put up 6 goals Friday, and then he played better Saturday but got the loss. Michigan stands at 8-14-2 and 10th place in the CCHA.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Alaska-Fairbanks 4, Michigan 1 - Saturday, January 12, 2013
Is this rock bottom for Michigan? Not even the return of Jon Merrill and Jacob Trouba to the backline has snapped the Wolverines out of their woes. They've struggled all year, but now it's four straight, including an exhibition loss to the Under-18 team, one to Bowling Green, and two this weekend to the Nanooks. And the team is dealing with injuries all over the place, to go along with sloppiness and an inability to finish whatever good plays it makes. At 6-13, Michigan would need a small miracle now to extend its streak of 22 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Michigan 5, Michigan State 2 - Sunday, December 30, 2012
Great Lakes Invitational. After getting shut out by Michigan Tech in the semifinal, Michigan bounced back with a strong effort -- particularly in the third period -- to take the consolation game. This was the first time since 1981 that Michigan and Michigan State met in the consolation game of this illustrious tournament. Some guys who sorely needed goals got ones here, such as Phil Di Giuseppe, who got his third of the season. Interestingly, Red Berenson stuck with Adam Janecyk in goal despite the first-round loss, and he did the job. Janecyk came out of nowhere to get a win in the team's last game, and Berenson is hoping to ride this story as far as it will go. Michigan has a long way to go still, though, to recover from a bad first half.
For Michigan State, it also used Jake Hildebrand in both games, and he played well until late in this one. Only one was a bad goal though. The Spartans rode the momentum of the first-round late goal from Matt Berry that tied the game. Michigan State lost in a shootout to see who advanced, but it played well. And was up 2-1 here until the third, when it all fell apart.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Michigan State 7, Michigan 2 - Saturday, November 10, 2012
A record crowd of 7,225 at a raucous Munn Arena watched the Spartans dismantle rival Michigan, bouncing back strongly from Friday's loss. It was a reversal from Friday, when Michigan dominated in a 5-1 win, getting Boo Nieves' first career goal, and goaltender Jared Rutledge's first career win. But the Spartans jumped out in the first period with four goals, with Matt Berry leading the way. He had two in the first period and completed a hat trick later on. Jake Hildebrand stopped 40 shots to get the win for Michigan State.
"There was an emotional level to our team tonight that we haven't seen this season. I think the rivalry brings that out, but the atmosphere had a lot to do with it," MSU coach Tom Anastos told MSUSpartans.com. "We didn't do anything different. We had a similar strategy. We just had more jump and high emotion level. When you get a goal on your first shift, it boosts your confidence. Now, guys are attacking the net, doing the things you talk about every day, and the pucks goes in." ... Anastos has been instrumental, in many ways, in boosting the atmosphere at Munn once again -- something it was known for back in his playing days. It doesn't hurt that this was the fourth straight win by the Spartans over Michigan at home. And it was MSU's largest margin of victory over Michigan since Dec. 10, 1989.
Meanwhile, for Michigan, Rutledge, who had a rough first two starts to his career, and saw fellow freshman Steve Racine get most of the time early, had a strong game Friday for his first win, but was not good on Saturday. Racine eventually replaced him late.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Northern Michigan 4, Michigan 3 - Saturday, November 3, 2012
One night after A.J. Treais capped a three-goal, third-period rally by scoring with one second left in regulation to give Michigan a tie (Michigan won the shootout), the Wildcats held on to a similar 4-1 third-period lead on Saturday. But barely. Michigan scored two goals less than a minute apart in the third period to cut the deficit to one, with Treais again leading the way. But this time, the Wildcats were able to hang on. ... Michigan played without standout freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba, who got a Game DQ on Friday for a hit to the head.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Miami 4, Michigan 3 - Saturday, October 27, 2012
Three goals in a 2:41 span of the third period rallied Miami back from down 2-1, and it held on for the win and weekend split in Ann Arbor. The win left Miami feeling quite satisfied, off to a 4-1-1 start that's been a bit more smooth than many might have expected. On the other hand, it left a bad taste in the mouths of Michigan. “We’re in the CCHA right now. We’re playing for first place,” Wolverines coach Red Berenson told the Michigan Daily. “We’re trying to be as high as we can, and Miami is too. These games are huge. We split these games at home. You can’t do that. You’ve got to win your home games. ... It’s not acceptable.”
Miami freshmen Ryan McKay and Jay Williams split the first four games in net, and that was the plan again this weekend for coach Enrico Blasi. But McKay got hurt early in Friday's game and Williams was solid the rest of the weekend.
Of course, Michigan is also doing the freshman goaltender tango, between Steve Racine and Jared Rutledge. Racine played well in Friday's win, but Berenson is sticking with a rotation for the time being, giving both a chance, even though Rutledge has struggled, including a rough loss to RIT a couple of weeks ago.
Michigan 5, Western Michigan 1 - Saturday, March 16, 2013
And so here is Michigan, playing its best hockey of the season. Is Western Michigan also playing some of its worst at the absolute wrong time? Yes. But Michigan, after its worst regular season in over 20 years, is suddenly on fire. It has to win the CCHA Tournament in order to keep alive its impressive 22-year streak of making the NCAAs, and it's playing like a team that suddenly realized it could do that. Friday, Michigan scored some soft ones early on Frank Slubowski en route to the win. Saturday, with Slubowski better and WMU more determined to clamp down on defense, the Wolverines were able to find holes anyway. They had a four-goal outburst in the second period, including two goals from Alex Guptill, to run Slubowski from the game and take control.
"We talked about mental toughness before the game, being strong mentally and being physically loose," WMU coach Andy Murray said. "You have to credit your opponent with putting pressure on us, when they came to our building and out-shoot us the way that they did for 40 minutes of the hockey game; that's a credit to them. By the same token we take responsibility. I told the players after the game that as a coach I wish I had done more to get them to The Joe next weekend. That's my responsiblity as the coach. When we win, I believe it's the players, and when we aren't as successful I think it's the coaches responsibilty."
Western Michigan now has to sit and await its fate. Last year, it won this tournament for the first time. This year's path to a possible third straight NCAAs will be different, but still very possible, if not likely. The Broncos sit at No. 14 in the Pairwise, and the good news is, they can't lose anymore. "We had a discussion in the room, and until our players leave this campus they are Broncos," Murray said. "They are Bronco hockey players, and Bronco athletes so they have a code of conduct they need to follow and take care of themselves. We will take tomorrow and Monday off, and we'll meet with them on Tuesday. Our idea is to continue to prepare. I told our players that there has been a lot of great work here this year, and if the work that we have done earlier this season is enough then we deserve that spot in the NCAA tournament."
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