GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- St. Lawrence at Michigan -- Wolverine Icers Take A Midweek Skate Against the Saints -- Preview

Posted at 4:00pm — 10/13/2011

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — St. Lawrence at Michigan — Wolverine Icers Take A Midweek Skate Against the Saints — Preview

#4 Michigan (3-0-0) vs. St. Lawrence Saints (0-2-0)
7:35 p.m.Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor. TV: none.

This is Michigan and St. Lawrence’s 15th meeting with the Wolverines holding an 11-2-1 all time record. The teams last met in October, 2008 (4-3, 5-3 wins.) The last Saints win against Michigan was in 1959.

Rewinding Michigan’s Previous Action:

The Wolverines continued a four game season opening home stand with a pair of victories (5-1, 4-1) over Bentley last weekend. Freshmen Phil DiGiuseppe (2 goals) and Alex Guptill (2 goals) led the offensive charge with both netting their first career goals. Shawn Hunwick held the Falcons to just one tally both nights, making key saves until the Wolverines could pull away very late in each game.

Scouting the Skating Saints:

St. Lawrence calls the ECACHL home and pays yet another visit to Yost ice arena. This will be the 6th meeting in the past eleven seasons that the school from upstate New York has been included in Michigan’s non conference schedule. Last season, St. Lawrence finished 11th in the 12 team conference finishing 13-22-5 on the year. The Saints were a sticky team to skate against, playing a tight checking and low scoring style. They opened this season with a pair of home defeats to Ferris State, 4-2 and 5-1. Gone from last season are two key elements of their offense that contributed 25 goals and 20 assists, representing the third and six best offensive players on the squad. The offensive mantle has fallen onto two other returning forwards- junior Kyle Flanagan (12-23-35 last season) who tallied 1-2-3 this past weekend against Ferris State- and Sophomore Greg Carey (23-17-40 last season.) Carey is a slick playmaker with a nose for the net and was named to the ECAC’s preseason all-conference 1st team. He gathered 3 assists against the Bulldogs. The offense is pretty much by committee beyond Flanagan and Carey, although senior forward Jacob Drewiske pieced together a 6-11-17 season last year. He is joined by senior forwards Rick Carden, Max Mobley and Mark Armstrong. On defense, the Saints are led by senior Pete Child (5-3-8 last season) and by a pair of juniors: Jordan Dewey (2-6-8 last season), 1-0-1 this season, and George Hughes (4-17-21 last season) 0-1-1 this season so far. The goaltending tandem of senior Robby Moss (5-6-2, 3.23 GAA, .902 sv% last season; 0-1, 5.00 GAA & .857 sv% this season) and sophomore Matt Weninger (7-15-3, 2.65 GAA, .913 sv% last season; 0-1, 3.07 GAA, .850 sv% this season) will split the duties.

Overall, St. Lawrence is facing the same dilemma as last year: inconsistent goaltending and imbalanced scoring to overcome average special teams and defensive play. The Saints were outscored 124-101 last year and are have serious question marks beyond the talent already profiled. For instance, last season the Saints rolled out a decent power play at 20% conversion and an 85% penalty kill, yet could not overcome a 3-2 average goals allowed to goals scored per game. They play a rather physical style, yet seem to be much more disciplined, only averaging 6 penalties per game for an average of 14 minutes per contest. They stayed close in games, but could not produce the offense needed to secure wins.

In contrast, they have started the season (albeit only a sample size of two games) 1-10 on the PP and allowed 4-12 on the PK against Ferris. On top of being swept by a combined 9-3 score, the Saints also dropped a home exhibition game against Carleton University (Ottawa, Ont.) 5-2 with their top three offensive players sitting out. Needless to say they come to Ann Arbor desperate to play a better sixty minutes hoping to position themselves for their first win of the season.

Don’t be fooled, though- the Saints knocked off Princeton in last season’s conference tournament and nearly shocked conference heavyweight Yale. Weninger is the better of the two netminders and will most likely get the call against the Wolverines.

Charting The Wolverines:

The Wolverines are also trying to find their way through some transitional issues early this season. First, the quantity of games that piled up out of the gate definitely has taken a toll on the team’s stamina. Second, key personnel such as Kevin Lynch, (back injury) and Jon Merrill, (suspension) missed last weekend reducing the depth substantially. But, Michigan was able to out-talent and outlast Bentley in games that were much closer than the scores indicated. St. Lawrence will probably not provide stronger competition, but will test the Wolverine’s patience and give more opportunity for the freshmen in the lineup to clean up some of the mental mistakes and gain valuable experience.

Michigan’s crop of freshmen are raw, talented and have the potential to grow into a terrific group- but with that comes growing pains. In the meantime, upperclassmen leadership from Pateryn (1-0-1), Sparks (2-2-4), Treais (2-2-4), Brown (2-0-2), Wohlberg (1-1-2) and Glendening (1-0-1)mustered enough production to squeeze out two wins. That is not to say that the breakdowns that allow scoring chances will not continue to hamper the team’s growth. I expect a bumpy road ahead once Michigan leaves the safe confines of Yost arena and moves towards tougher competition.

The one consistent bright spot in the three regular season games has been the goaltending of Shawn Hunwick who is sporting a 3-0-0, 0.704 GAA, & .972 sv%. Hunwick was named CCHA Goaltender of The Week and was outstanding so far. Michigan will go as far as the fifth year senior will take them this season.

Expectation:

St. Lawrence will bring in a tough, physical and fast skating squad to Ann Arbor. The Saints have battled Michigan close in the recent past, but were not successful in beating more powerful Wolverine teams. Michigan will need to be prepared for the prospect of being in another tight game and be patient enough and comfortable enough to stay fundamentally sound. The Wolverines should be able to neutralize Flanagan and Carey enough to put the scoring burden on the rest of the Saint’s roster. Conversely, the freshmen have to continue to contribute. Kevin Lynch should also be back into the lineup, hopefully healthy, boosting depth up front. The Saints so far are in the bottom third of the key statistical categories while Michigan is near the top in PP, PK, goals scored and goals allowed- their lowest total after three games since 1925-26.

Michigan 3-2.

Yost Bits:

-Michigan moved up two spots in the USCHO top 25 poll to #4. Boston College assumed the #1 position after bombing #6 North Dakota on their home ice. Notre Dame dropped to #2 following their split at UM-D, Denver is #3, Miami is #5. USA Today has Michigan ranked 5th.

-Michigan is seeking their best start since the 2005-06 campaign when they started 4-0.

– Six of Michigan’s eight freshmen have notched points. Defense-man Michael Szuma and forward Andrew Sinelli have yet to be inserted into the lineup. Szuma is still recovering from an ankle injury.

– The word with regards to suspended sophomore defense-man Jon Merrill is apparently not good. Coach Berenson tersely reported that Merrill is still not eligible to practice with the team after a mandatory two weeks away from the team and is not taking the steps required to become re-activated onto the squad. There has been no official explanation for the suspension other than the release the Athletic Department published at the time of the announcement. I harken not to speculate as to the cause, but needless to say, the violation(s) are serious enough to warrant the need for the NCAA, coaches, administrators and faculty reps to be involved in the decision to continue Merrill’s isolation from the team. Berenson is also not backing down with the possibility that Merrill will forego his eligibility and move on to the OHL or the NHL system. We can only hope that whatever the issue is, Merrill will be mature enough to take the necessary steps to resolve it while staying at Michigan instead of opting out.

-Michigan will be off this coming weekend and will take to the road for the first time this season to face CCHA foe Northern Michigan for a pair of games on 10/21-22 in Marquette.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

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