Michigan Wolverine Hockey: American International — Preview
Posted at 5:00am — 11/15/2014
Michigan Wolverine Hockey: American International — Preview
U-M Icers Try To Regroup After Rough Start; 1st Meeting With Yellow Jackets
What: Michigan (2-5-0) vs. American International (2-5-1) Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor Fri/Sat November 14-15th 7:35 p.m.
TV/Radio: None / WTKA 1050 a.m. with Al Randall & Bill Trainor. www.mgoblue.com
Rewinding Last Week’s Action:
The Wolverines were humbled two weekends ago by the undefeated Michigan Tech Huskies, 4-1 and 6-2. There isn’t much good to talk about, as the Wolverines were outclassed in all aspects on both nights. The biggest takeaways from the weekend: penalties have become a serious issue and in turn, special teams have failed to produce. Michigan was outhustled, outhit and lost their poise in both games, earning consecutive game misconduct penalties for Michael Downing and one for JT Compher. Mel Pearson’s squad dominated large segments of both games exposing poor line changes, a porous defense and goaltending.
Offensively the Maize and Blue continue to struggle as Coach Red Berenson juggled lines and sat out regulars in an effort to shake up the bench. It is the worst start for a Michigan program in almost 30 years. The Wolverines took a break last weekend and will have their first “breather” of the season, a home weekend series with the Atlantic Hockey League’s American International Yellow Jackets.
Profiling The Yellow Jackets:
Michigan continues to bring new opponents to Yost arena- with this year’s introduction is American International. The Yellow Jackets are another fledgling program that hasn’t made a big splash at the Division I level yet. This is the program’s first meeting with Michigan and offers a glimpse of what Atlantic Hockey has now become: a solid conference with good players that make opponents earn their victories. American International is not going to threaten to emerge the same way as Union has in the last decade- but is building a program that emphasizes fundamentals and disciplined hockey, much like Penn State has grown to become.
Five seniors lead the Jackets, with forward Alexander MacMillan (5-0-5) pacing the way. Actually, pair of sophomores- Austin Orszulak (4-2-6) and David Norris (0-6-6) are the points leaders after eight games. Freshman Johno May has chipped in with five points and junior David Ganders (2-2-4) leads his class in offense. Senior Steven Hoshaw anchors the blueline, which features three sophomores, two juniors and freshman Andrew Debrincat (1-3-4.) Goaltending chores are split between Freshman Alex Murray (2-2-1, 2.66 GAA, .934 save %) and sophomore Hunter Leisner (0-3-0, 4.73 GAA, .880 save %.)
The Yellow Jackets appear to be offensively challenged averaging 2.25 goals a game, while yielding 3.62 goals a game. They have dropped games @Union and @ U-Mass (where they gave up 7 goals both games), while also being defeated and tied @ Holy Cross and swept at home by Canisius. Their lone victories were on the road in conference at Niagara. They have been outscored 27-18, with most of the damage happening in the third period. The Jacket special teams are weak on the PP, but have been average on the PK.
Overall, the expectation is they will come into Yost and play a faster, more talented team tight for two periods. The third period will determine this series, especially with Michigan trying to right the ship and stop their leaky defensive play.
-Goaltending horrors: Zach Nagelvoort is feeling the pressure after a terrific freshman season. He is 0-4-0 with a 3.68 GAA and a subpar .889 save %. Steve Racine has not fared much better, with a 2-1-0 record, a 3.88 GAA and a .877 save %.
-Scoring droughts: Captain Andrew Copp finally broke through with his first tally of the season at MTU. Sophomore Tyler Motte has only one goal this season and JT Compher along with Boo Nieves have only three assists apiece.
-Senior Zach Hyman is leading the pack with 3-5-8 and has been the Wolverines best overall player so far. Sophomore Alex Kile was on fire early on, but has a balanced 3-4-7. Freshman Dylan Larkin has also contributed 2-5-7. Seventeen year old Zach Werenski is 2-4-6 with a PPG.
-Michigan will now enjoy a stretch of seven straight home games leading into a December road match-up with Boston College. The Wolverines will welcome in Penn State (2) OSU (1) and RPI (2) after this weekend.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Yostmeister
Go Blue — Wear Maize!