GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- Miami (OH) at Michigan -- Wolverines start Last Month of Season -- Preview

Posted at 6:00am — 2/2/2012

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — Miami (OH) at Michigan — Wolverines start Last Month of Season — Preview

7 Michigan Starts Last Month Of The Season Hosting #18 Red Hawks
#7 Michigan (15-9-4, 9-7-4-1 7th CCHA) vs. #18 Miami (15-11-2, 11-9-2-1 t2nd CCHA)
7:35 p.m. Friday 2/3 & Sat. 2/4 Yost Ice Arena
TV: Friday-FSD+; Saturday-CBS College Sports Network

The Wolverines traveled to South Bend two weekends ago and split a very chippy and physical two game set against the Irish. Michigan’s unbeaten streak was stopped Friday after a hard fought 3-1 defeat. The Maize and Blue rebounded to post an ever tougher 2-1 victory on Saturday to move their record to 8-1-2 since December 3rd and kept them within five points of the CCHA leader. Meanwhile, Miami swept WMU two weeks ago and split with NMU last weekend with both series played at home.

The Red Hawks climbed into a 2nd place tie with WMU and OSU, all one point behind CCHA leader, Ferris State. The Wolverines are five points behind the Bulldogs, four points in back of the three second place teams, three points behind LSSU and one point behind Notre Dame. Michigan holds a 69-26-4 overall record against Miami. This series is a rematch of their first series held in Oxford this past November which saw the Red Hawks take five of six points from the Wolverines. Michigan dropped the first game 2-1 and then blew an early 2-0 lead before a late fluky goal by Zach Hyman earned them a 3-3 tie. They lost the shootout, 1-0. The Wolverines are a remarkable 43-5-1 at Yost against Miami, but are only 2-2 in their last four meetings there, including a decisive Miami sweep in 2009. Michigan has dropped 3 of the past 4 games to the Red Hawks (0-3-1), are 1-5-1 in their past 7, 4-7-1 in their past 12 and 6-10-2 in the past 18 meetings dating back to 2005. Michigan is 9-5-1 this season at Yost where Miami is 8-6 on the road.

Rewinding Michigan’s Previous Action:
Michigan fell behind Notre Dame 2-0 two weeks ago before Alex Guptill scored his 13th goal of the season on the PP in the third period to cut the margin to 2-1. Michigan came close a couple of times late but couldn’t gain the equalizer. The Irish scored an empty net goal with: 20 to go to seal the game.

On Saturday, the Wolverines turned the tables and scored two first period PPG’s (Guptill’s 14th and AJ Treais’ 9th) and held on from there. The Irish scored in the 2nd period to narrow the lead, but was stymied the rest of the game by Shawn Hunwick. Michigan bottled the Irish up in the third period and Hunwick made several enormous saves to preserve the victory.

Scouting the Red Hawks:

Miami has rebounded nicely from a terrible start this season and can partially thank the Wolverines for launching that surge. Enrico Blasi’s team literally jumped Michigan physically in Oxford and demonstrated the potential that the CCHA writers and coaches suggested in naming them either the pre-season #1 or #2 team with Notre Dame. Miami is 11-5-2 since that mugging in November and has climbed right back into the thick of the CCHA race. What isn’t unique is the method- utilizing their big, strong and physical team, punishing opposing players and smothering any open ice in the process.

The Red Hawks stack a core group of defenders across their blue line led by seniors Will Weber (6’4” 226 lbs), Cameron Schilling (6’2” 197 lbs) and Chris Wideman (5’10” 180 lbs). Juniors Joe Hartman (5’11” 208 lbs) and Steve Spinell (6’2” 208 lbs) are no slouches, either. The forwards are also imposing -consider junior Curtis McKenzie (4-9-13) at 6’2” 207 lbs- to go with his team leading 52 PIMs this season. Trent Vogelhuber (2-8-10) checks in at 6’4”, 195lbs and is third with 43 PIMs.

Overall, ten seniors and six juniors dot the lineup, giving Miami experience to go along with that size. The forward group is speedy and tenacious, offering a deadly combination to play against- constant pressure- either physically or with fore-checking allow Miami to create offense from opponent mistakes. When opposing forwards can attack, they face a large, mobile and bruising defense. The offense is led by junior Reilly Smith (19-8-27, +10) who is 32nd in the nation in scoring and is third in the country in goals. He feasts on the PP-scoring seven extra man goals this season, tied for 12th in the country. Fortunately for opponents, he seems to be the only true threat Miami offers when on the power play.

Four freshmen have really impacted the Red Hawks. Blake Coleman (8-7-15, +12, 36 PIMs) was just named CCHA Rookie Of The Week for his play last weekend against NMU. Austin Czarnik (7-16-23, +12) is an assist artist. Tyler Biggs (6-5-11, 49 PIMs) plays like his name. Jimmy Mullin (8-7-15, +9) is steady and feisty. Mullin (1G), Biggs (1G), Smith (2G-1PPG and 1A), and Czarnik (1G, 2A) were the main culprits against Michigan last fall. They use their size and big play ability to create chances. Senior Alden Hirschfeld (8-10-18, +11) is famous for his GWG in OT two seasons ago in the Midwest Regional Final against Michigan. The offense is not the same as last year with two Hobey Baker candidates, but it is steady enough to squeeze out wins. It is the defensive play and goaltending that has carried the Red Hawks.

The heart of the team is the two headed goal-tending monster led by seniors Connor Knapp (8-5-0, 1.79 GAA, .928 save %) and Cody Reichard (7-6-2, 2.46 GAA, .901 save %). Reichard recently tied the Miami all-time career record for shutouts with twelve. Both have two this season. Michigan could see both net-minders or just Knapp- who is the hotter of the two right now and leads all CCHA goaltenders statistically-depending on how Blasi feels going into the weekend. Reichard played in both games last November stopping 45 shots in the two games.

Miami brings a nominal 2.86 per game scoring average (80 goals) into the weekend (29th.) In contrast, the Wolverines have scored 95 goals this season and are ranked 9th in the nation at 3.39 GPG. Both have the ability to score in bunches one night and settle into a low scoring, one goal game the next. The Red Hawks strength is in their team defense, ranked t7th in the country, 2nd in the CCHA, at a paltry 2.25 GA per game on 63 goals. Michigan is 12th in the nation at 2.36 GPG (66 goals) and is ranked 3rd in the CCHA. Miami gets a slight edge here but Yost may neutralize that. Michigan has a definite edge in scoring at home versus on the road- a place that Miami has not been as imposing.

Michigan actually has a special team’s edge on the power-play converting at 15.9% (43rd) compared to Miami’s thin 14.4% margin (46th). Basically, if you stop Smith and Czarnik, you stop Miami’s PP. The margin reverses on the PK where Miami holds an 85.3% success rate, good for 12th in the country. Michigan is improving and has boosted their kill rate to 82.6% (26th). I’d wager that Miami would still be more dangerous than the Wolverines if given enough PP chances- although Michigan’s entire offense in South Bend was created off of the PP.

Michigan’s biggest advantage lies in the overaggressive play of the Red Hawks. They have the 11th worst average in penalty minutes (16.2) versus Michigan’s more disciplined 12.39 minutes per game (37th). A clear Yost advantage will be goading Miami into calls- providing the officials are willing to make them. It could prove to be one of the telling points of this critical weekend. One extreme caution though- the Red Hawks also lead the CCHA (6th in the country) with six shorthanded goals. They are aggressive in every phase of their game and take advantage of any lapses on special teams.

Tomorrow we will talk about Charting the Wolverines, Expectations, and Yost Bits.

Video Highlights:

Michigan at Notre Dame — Friday Night

Michigan at Notre Dame — Saturday Night

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

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