Michigan Hockey: Roughed Up In Oxford; Face Bucks In Critical Home Series
Posted at 8:00am — 2/11/2011
Michigan Hockey: Roughed Up In Oxford; Face Bucks In Critical Home Series
#13 MICHIGAN (17-9-4, 14-7-1-0) 3rd CCHA vs. Ohio State (14-13-2, 9-11-2-2) T-7th CCHA
2/11/11 7:40 p.m. & 2/12 7:40 p.m. Yost Ice Arena
TV: Friday & Saturday: Big Ten Network both nights.
Rewinding Michigan’s Last Game Action:
The Maize and Blue dropped both ends of their series showdown with Miami, 4-2 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday. Michigan caught the Redhawks flatfooted for most of the game on Friday, taking an AJ Treais goal to the locker room to end the first period. Miami tied the game on a PPG at 6:47 of the 2nd period, but Treais struck again, snapping a long shot from the blue-line past Cody Reichard to make it 2-1 Wolverines after forty minutes. The weekend turned around, though, in the third period as Miami benefited from a questionable hooking call and scored on the PP again, to tie the game at 2-2 with a little over eight minutes to play. Minutes earlier, Louie Caporusso failed to convert a breakaway chance that might have changed the game. Miami took the momentum and bombarded the Michigan zone and finally scored the decisive goal on a defensive breakdown. They added an ENG to seal it with: 13 left.
Saturday’s game was charged with emotion on the side of the Redhawks as they honored their former student manager, Brendan Burke, who was tragically killed in a car wreck exactly one year to the date. Michigan, on the other hand, was listless and lacked any competitive emotion, succumbing two Miami goals in the first period. The first was a wraparound effort that went undefended, and the second, a follow-up to a breakaway chance-with four Wolverines failing to cover the trailing goal scorer on the play. They meekly played the remaining forty minutes, giving up a backbreaking PPG in the second frame and consistently took lazy and careless penalties.
Michigan finished 0 for 12 on the weekend on its PP and yielded 3 goals in 13 chances on its PK. Miami jumped to first place with the sweep, and Michigan dropped to third place behind idle Notre Dame.
Yostmeister’s Weekend Three Stars:
1. Andy Miele, Miami – 1G, 4A-5 pts on the weekend
2. Pat Cannone, Miami -2G, 2A-4pts, including a jaw dropping, GW assist on Friday
3. Reilly Smith, Miami – 2G-2 pts, including the game winner on Saturday
Kudos to the Miami defensive squad for their effort in blocking so many shots. Kudos also to Miami’s goaltending and forwards for flopping around in order to draw so many ticky tack penalties.
The only bright spots for Michigan was the continued solid play of goaltender Shawn Hunwick (he stopped 49 of 55 shots, not including an empty net tally.) Also, hats off to the only forward who dented the net- Sophomore AJ Treais who celebrated his 20th birthday by potting two goals in a losing effort.
Michigan now moves on for a four game homestand in hopes of rebounding. It begins this weekend against Ohio State.
Buckeyes Look To Break Yost String:
Ohio State comes into Yost looking to snap a three game losing streak in Ann Arbor to the Wolverines. Michigan and the Buckeyes met earlier this season and split in Columbus- the third consecutive series between the teams held on enemy ice that ended in that manner. Michigan’s last home series was 10/31 & 11/1 of 2008, with Michigan taking home 4-3 and 6-1 victories. Michigan holds an overall series edge of 66-31-11 against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is trying to break out of a mediocre trend that sees them playing outstanding hockey for a few games and then average to poor hockey for the next couple of games. They have a 4-5-1 record in their last ten games, with a signature sweep at home against Miami followed by a road loss and tie at WMU. The Irish then visited Columbus and split. The Bucks then took the long trip to Alaska for a two game set with the Nanooks and got bounced. They returned home last weekend and split with MSU.
Overall, OSU is 6-8-1 on the road this season and will play their last conference road series this weekend before finishing their final four games at home. Conversely, Michigan is 10-2-1 at Yost this season and will look to finish their home campaign in style.
The Buckeyes are led by a senior laden squad. John Albert (11-20-31, +9) leads OSU in points. Sergio Somma (15-11-26, +2) is their top goal scorer. Peter Boyd has chipped in 8-15-23 with a +8. CJ Severyn (7-4-11, +1) also adds chippiness to his game with 47 penalty minutes. Defensemen Chris Reed (1-6-7, +3), Shane Sims (2-15-17, +10) and Corey Toy (0-1-1, +1) are big, physical space eaters that block a ton of shots.
Junior Danny Dries (13-11-24, +3) is third in scoring and leads the team with 56 penalty minutes. Big freshman Alex Szczechura has added 7-6-13, -4) to the lineup.
Tale Of The Tape:
Last weekend, the Wolverines’ special teams were exposed, as was their sudden offensive shortage. The Buckeyes will try to feed off of that lack of confidence as they play a sticky, boring defensive game.
Michigan’s national goal scoring average took a hit as it now rests at 20th in the country with a 3.27 goals per game average. The Buckeyes average 2.79 GPG which is 32nd nationally. The Wolverines give up a total of 2.37 gpg (13th) nationally. Ohio State is slightly worse, averaging 2.48 gpg allowed, (T-16th in the nation) which is what they rely on to stay in most games.
Both teams struggle with their “not so special” teams. Michigan’s PP is not effective at 17.7% (32nd) nationally. OSU is converting at 16.9% (37th) nationally in the battle of futility.
Michigan’s PK dropped to 80.7% (39th) where OSU has a slight edge at penalty killing (81.5%) 35th nationally. Both teams may ask to decline their power plays, even though both teams are not killing penalties effectively, either.
Michigan’s penalties per game average remains at 13.7 minutes, good for 27th best in the country. The Bucks average 13.0 mpg, 21st best overall, so there is a nominal advantage for them there.
Shawn Hunwick (10-7-4, 2.39 GAA, .920 save %) will take to the nets again. Bryan Hogan (7-2-0, 2.11GAA, .923 save %) waits in the wings for his chance to get back between the pipes. He appears to be healthy and ready to go if needed. Coach Berenson will not hesitate to pull Hunwick now if the team is not playing better in front of him. Opposing Hunwick and the Wolverines is Cal Heeter (14-13-2, 2.35 GAA, .920 save %.) Heeter has seen most of the action this season and will start both games barring injury.
Keys To Victory:
-Michigan has to regain its offensive confidence by starting fast and executing early. Berenson has drastically shaken the lines to find the right chemistry and to kick start the slumping playmakers like Caporusso, Rust, Brown and Wohlberg.
-Similarly, the defense took quite a hit last weekend, as experienced blueliners like Langlais, Pateryn and Burlon were simply embarrassed at times. Berenson expects a much tighter and crisper defensive effort.
-The special teams are just looking to control any further damage. Look for mixed lines and a better effort to break the goal scoring slump on the powerplay.
– Stay away from the bad penalties. Notice I said “bad”, since in the CCHA, questionable calls are going to occur. Don’t make obvious and unnecessary attempts to help the officiating- and with any rival series, it may be difficult considering how tight the collar is getting around the necks of the Michigan players.
Prediction:
Hard to say what effort we are going to get- because most of Michigan’s lapses have occurred in short spurts, save a game or two this season. But those lapses have cost them games they should have won and teams like OSU hang around and capitalize on that. Still, I think the message was sent: you can’t take any time off and expect to win. Message received- Michigan wins 5-3 and 4-2.
Yost Bits:
– Michigan has won eight straight home games dating back to 11/13, including the Big Chill.
– AJ Treais’ two goal effort was the first in his Michigan career, and he now has added 8-7-15 on the season.
– Michigan has lost three straight games for the first time since February, 2010. It also marked the first sweep to a conference opponent since last February at UNO.
– Last Friday’s game marked the first time this season that Michigan has scored first AND held the lead after two periods only to go on and lose.
– Carl Hagelin was held scoreless for three straight games, but still leads the Wolverines with a 13-22-35, +15 line.
-Louie Caporusso has tallied 4-8-12 against the Buckeyes in eight games. Chad Langlias is next at 2-7-9 in ten games.
– The Wolverines will close out the 2011 regular season with another home series next weekend (Senior Night) against WMU followed by a road series at NMU.
– Michigan’s record against ranked opponents fell to 8-6-2 this season.
– Michigan is poised to add another member to the class of 2013. Details to follow.
Stay tuned for the latest Michigan news… Go Blue!
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!