GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- Michigan at Notre Dame -- Irish Ranked 6th -- Part II

Posted at 4:00pm — 1/13/2012

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — Michigan at Notre Dame — Irish Ranked 6th — Part II

#10 Michigan (13-8-4, 8-6-4-1 3rd CCHA) vs. #6 Notre Dame (13-8-3, 8-5-3-0 T5th CCHA)
7:35 p.m. Friday 1/20 & Sat. 1/21 (South Bend, Ind., Compton Family Center)
TV: Friday-NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) — DirecTV Channel 603
Saturday-CBS College Sports Network — DirectTV Channel 613

From Notre Dame website: WHITE OUT NIGHT — Notre Dame hockey fans are encouraged to wear white for Friday night’s game against Michigan as the game is the annual “White Out Night,” the first at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Five-thousand long-sleeved t-shirts and pom pons will be given away prior to the game.

Charting The Wolverines:

The Wolverines are leaning heavily on their top line to carry them offensively. The Guptill-Wohlberg-Brown line accumulated 4-7-11 last weekend (+17) and has accounted for nearly 60% of the scoring since Michigan broke their winless string in Alaska nine games ago. This line is an amazing 17-21-38 +30 over that stretch. The good news is, no one seems to be able to cool them and they truly appear to be in sync. The bad news is, if they don’t score, Michigan is in serious trouble. The second line has perked up, though with Luke Glendening being formed with AJ Treais and Phil DiGiuseppe. Over a six game span this unit is 4-2-6. Both Treais and Glendening added goals last Friday.

Brown leads the offense (9-16-25, +13) followed by Guptill (12-12-24, +16 and Wohlberg (11-13-24, +16). Defenseman Lee Moffie leads all CCHA defensemen in scoring (3-17-20, +20) adding Michigan’s first goal last Friday night. He also leads the team in the +/- category. Treais (8-7-15, +16), PDG (8-7-15, +12) defenseman Mac Bennett (3-12-15, +8), Travis Lynch (6-7-13, +7) and Luke Moffatt (4-6-10, +5) highlight the lineup in double digit scoring. Super smooth sophomore defenseman Jon Merrill (0-4-4, +6) has impacted the lineup dramatically, smoothing out the transition out of the defensive zone and keeping forechecking forwards honest with his laser like passing. You can sense the confidence from the defense now.

Glendening, Wohlberg, Treais, Moffie, Brown and Moffatt have all tallied three points against Notre Dame in their careers. Goaltender Shawn Hunwick is 2-2 versus the Irish with a 2.64 GAA. The fifth year senior is back on his game sporting a 14-7-3 record to go with a 2.23 GAA and a .925 save %.

Michigan is averaging 3.54 GPG (6th) and improved to 2.34 GA (11th). The PK has inched up to 81.3% (36th), even with the only goal yielded last weekend against the PK unit. The PP was fruitless again, although Treais powered home a blast last Friday right after a penalty to the Bucks expired. It has looked sharper, but still only comes in at 14% (T45th). In a tight series like this, it could be the difference- not scoring on the PP and yielding PPG’s to the top ranked unit in the country.

The Wolverines are taking an average of 12 penalty minutes per game (41st/58) which is limiting the PK opportunities for opponents. That is a plus. They will have to be particularly cool against the Irish who love to mix it up after the whistle and draw penalties.

Expectation:

The Irish are smarting after being swept last weekend and will throw everything they can at the Wolverines. Having Sheahan out of the lineup further hampers Notre Dame at least for one game, since they rely his big frame in establishing a lead and grinding down opponents. Michigan’s sudden dependence on their top line will eventually catch up to them, providing other lines don’t kick in. I see Berenson and Jackson matching up their top lines and neutralizing each other. Michigan’s depth is deeper and can be the difference if the teams play 5×5 hockey both nights. If this turns into a special team’s game, Notre Dame will have the advantage. Both defenses like to be physical and jump into the offense, so there is no advantage either way. Michigan appears to have the edge in net and is riding a wave of confidence. IF Michigan can contain Tynan and Lee, and stay out of the box, they will take points. The team’s mirror each other (speed, size, transition etc.) so closely that one play, one mistake could cost that team.

Friday: 2-1 Notre Dame. Saturday: 4-2 Michigan.

Yost Bits:

-Yost fans NOTE: Anyone that uses Crisler arena parking is advised to take Main Street to Stadium Blvd. to access parking lots due to construction. Stadium Blvd. will be closed east of Crisler Arena until November, 2012.

-Alex Guptill (CCHA Offensive Player of the week, 2-2-4) and Shawn Hunwick (CCHA Goaltender of the week) received honors this week for their outstanding contributions last weekend. That is three weeks in a row that Michigan has captured CCHA honors.

-Michigan enters play 5th in the Pairwise rankings (meaning they would be the top 2nd seed in the NCAA tourney) and 11th in win %. They are also 9-7-4 against Teams Under Consideration (TUC) this season- an element in how the PWR is composed. Six CCHA teams are in position for the NCAA tourney with several others on the bubble.

-Michigan will return home next weekend and enjoy a bye weekend. In two weeks Miami visits for the rematch of the series in Oxford that began the Wolverines’ slide in November. This series is circled in red.

-Michigan’s Board of Regents approved a $14 Million dollar renovation proposal for Yost arena (as well as a $9MM renovation approval for Schembechler Hall.) A rendering of the Yost renovations is available for viewing. No timeline has been announced.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

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