GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- Review GLI -- LSSU at Michigan -- Preview -- Part I

Posted at 6:00am — 1/6/2012

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — Review GLI — LSSU at Michigan — Preview — Part I

#16 Michigan (10-8-3, 5-6-3-1 8th CCHA) vs. #18 Lake Superior State (12-8-2, 7-6-1-1 4th CCHA)
7:35 p.m. Friday 1/6 & 7:35 pm Saturday 1/7 Yost Ice Arena
TV: Friday-FSD; Saturday-Comcast Local 900

The Wolverines took a huge step in creating some much needed confidence heading into the second half of the season by beating highly ranked Boston College 4-2 in the GLI semi-final and then winning the GLI tournament over arch-rival MSU 3-2 in OT. Michigan secured their 14th GLI championship, most among participants, and carries a five game unbeaten streak into this weekend’s series. LSSU has been one of the upstart surprises in the CCHA but split their holiday tournament games (beating) Vermont and losing to RIT. The Lakers are four points ahead of the Wolverines in the conference standings after a solid first half. Michigan enjoys a 61-46-6 all time record against Lake State including a 28-18-3 mark at Yost arena. Michigan won the only two meetings at Yost last season, 7-2 and 3-2. Michigan has enjoyed entertaining LSSU, hosting eight of the past ten meetings.

Rewinding Michigan’s Previous Action:
The Wolverines played in the 47th GLI tournament and upset #3 BC 4-2 behind a potent, up tempo offense and stout defensive play in the final period. David Wohlberg got Michigan on the board just minutes into the game, sniping a wrist shot from inside the right circle while on a 2×1 break. The Wolverines added to the lead while on a 5×3 PP advantage, when Luke Moffatt swatted home a rebound. The tables turned in the second period as BC rallied behind a PPG of their own and then midway through the period gained the equalizer. It appeared as if BC woke up and began to take control of the game from that point, pinning Michigan deep in their zone for long stretches. But, late in the period AJ Treais accepted a Luke Glendening clearing pass at the Michigan blue line and broke down ice on another odd man rush. The junior forward snapped a shot between the legs of the defense-man and past the BC net-minder for a 3-2 lead after two periods. Michigan clamped down in the final stanza and Glendening iced the game with an empty net goal.

In the GLI championship game, both teams had early chances that neither team could capitalize on and settled into a defensive struggle. The first period ended scoreless. The second period saw MSU break the ice on what appeared to be a harmless shot from about 25 feet out. Shawn Hunwick appeared to be fooled by the shot (replays show it was apparently deflected by the defenseman) and it sailed over his shoulder giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead after two periods. Michigan tied the game midway through the third period as Derek DeBlois stroked home a rebound after a scramble in front of MSU goaltender Drew Palmisano. The Spartans came right back and regained the lead about two minutes later. This led to a frantic finish as Michigan pressured MSU. The Wolverines eventually pulled Hunwick for an extra attacker and drew a MSU penalty for tripping a Michigan defenseman breaking out of his zone. The 6×4 advantage produced multiple chances that finally paid off. Kevin Lynch deflected a Moffatt centering pass from the right corner past Palmisano with: 50 left to tie the game. Both teams headed to overtime with Hunwick and Palmisano coming up with sparkling saves to preserve the game. Michigan finally cashed in on what seemed like an eternity of pressure in the MSU end as defenseman Lee Moffie accepted a pass at the point from Moffatt, moved around a sliding defender, patiently waited and then threaded a pass across the slot to a streaking Kevin Clare who had a wide open net to shoot at. The Michigan defenseman had snuck in from the bench on a change and broke down low from the point to score his second career goal and first game winner of his career. Michigan finished the game with a 48-25 shot advantage and sealed the victory at 11:44 of the overtime period.

Clare was named tournament MVP for his heroics and probably played his best hockey since the NCAA playoffs last season. David Wolhlberg and AJ Treais joined Clare on the all-tournament team. Palmisano was named all-tournament net-minder, stopping 90 shots in the two games against Michigan Tech and Michigan.

Scouting the Lakers:
To say that the Lake Superior State hockey program has struggled in the past fifteen or so years is an understatement. As a matter of fact, the last time the Lakers were even seriously mentioned as a CCHA conference playoff team was back in the 2006-07 season when LSSU finished 21-19-3. It was the only bright spot in what has been nothing but turmoil and angst up at the Soo. The Lakers have survived several coaching changes, the lingering threat of the school shutting down the program due to funding and the ongoing recruiting battle of being one of the smallest schools to compete in division I hockey. Somehow, though, Coach Jim Roque’s program continued to mine for talent and have seemed to have found, at least this season, a reprieve. The Lakers are a proud organization and want to return to the power they once were in the late 1980’s and early to mid 1990’s. LSSU won three NCAA championships during a run of nine straight NCAA appearances that ended in the 1995-96 season where they went 30-8-2. The bottom came quickly, though, and LSSU became anchored near the bottom half of the CCHA standings for much of the past decade.

This season’s renaissance was unexpected to many of the college hockey media pundits. The Lakers were again picked to be a mid-pack CCHA team although they have arguably one of the better goaltenders in the league and a lineup sprinkled with next level talent. LSSU jumped out of the gate (even with a lukewarm non-conference schedule that finished 5-2-1 featuring Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State and Canisius and the recently completed holiday tournament games against Vermont and RIT) and gained some early confidence. The CCHA took notice when the Lakers swept MSU at home and then barged into Oxford and abused a struggling Miami team. Splits with Notre Dame and NMU followed. Suddenly they were at the top end of the standings and have held firm ever since- with the only blemish being a weekend sweep to the CCHA’s other surprise team, Ohio State. The secret isn’t fancy- solid defensive play, extreme discipline, timely scoring and good goal-tending. The Lakers have had this type of philosophy for years, but have not had the offense to compliment it. Roque believes that the offense is too inconsistent (“one game we score five the next we score once”) and the goaltending could be better (Sophomore Kevin Kapalka had an unbelievable freshman season) but the first half results are an indication that the Lakers will not come into Yost arena intimidated as they bring a 6-3-1 away record into the weekend.

LSSU is graduating four seniors this season with two of them prominently figuring in their success. Defenseman Kyle Haines (3-11-14) and forward Fred Cassiani (3-9-12) are steady leaders. Junior sniper Domenic Monardo leads the team in points (8-12-20) and compliments fellow junior Nick McParland’s 10-6-16, +7. Sophomore Kyle Jean is tied with McParland with ten goals (10-5-15). Junior defenseman Zach Trotman (6-8-14) is potent on the power-play and sophomore Colin Campbell (4-9-13) rounds out the offense supplied by the top two lines. The Lakers appear to have more depth than in previous seasons, although they will not get much offense beyond the top five forwards mentioned above.

Kapalka entered the year as a consensus all-conference preseason selection. He has good numbers (11-6-2, 2.45 GAA, .916 save %) but not as spectacular as his freshman campaign when he was superb. Still, the team will go as he does, much like Michigan with Shawn Hunwick.

The Lakers are not overwhelming on offense, as they check in 36th in the nation with a 2.68 GPG average. They are defensively minded, though, only allowing 2.46 GPG (14th) which includes a 5th ranked PK at 88.6%. Their PP is decent, converting on 19.8% of their chances (25th). Conversely, they do not take many penalties, only averaging nine minutes a game (46th). They have outscored opponents 59-54 this season, so they are not a real good come from behind team, or a team that will stretch a big lead on teams. They usually grab the lead, smother their opponents into mistakes with their system and speed (be it turnovers or penalties) and then pounce on the few offensive chances they create. Patience is the best anti-dote against LSSU and Michigan must stay disciplined. The Lakers are a difficult team to score on once they acquire a lead- and similar teams (Michigan State, Miami, and Notre Dame) have already found out that the risk/reward up tempo style is stymied by the lane clogging, fore-checking system the Lakers utilize. LSSU has only given up one PPG in their last five games, too. The Lakers may not sustain their first half success (their second half schedule is as brutal as Michigan’s) but they are in a position to fight for an at large NCAA spot and a top five CCHA conference spot- so another road split may satisfy them. These games are more important to Michigan to sweep with limited home games left, so I expect both teams to come out and play well.

Part II we will discuss Charting the Wolverines, Expectations, and of course Yost Bits.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

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