Michigan Wolverine Hockey: RPI -- Preview

Posted at 7:00am — 11/28/2014

Michigan Wolverine Hockey: RPI — Preview

Michigan Icers Split With PSU, Entertain Rensselaer Polytechnic Engineers Next

Michigan (5-6-0) vs. RPI (6-7-1)
Time: 7:35 p.m. Friday & Saturday Yost Ice Arena
TV: None Friday/Comcast Local Saturday also on the Michigan Radio Network 1050 a.m. WTKA (Al Randall, Bill Trainor)

Rewinding Last Week’s Action:

The Wolverines continue to fall short of not only putting solid back to back games together, but are also failing to play consistent hockey for 60 minutes. Last Friday Michigan dominated the statistics but fell to Penn State 3-2. They started out like a house a fire scoring inside the first minute for a 1-0 lead, had another glorious chance to stretch it minutes later, then fell back into a lull that cost them the game. U-M surrender three straight goals in a two minute stretch and skated off down by two goals after one period.

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The Wolverines controlled the remainder of the game and narrowed the score early in the third period. They pressed but could not solve Penn State’s solid goaltending. On Saturday, Michigan marched to a 3-1 lead through the first two periods and scored five straight times in the third period to break open a tight game for an 8-1 win. Andrew Copp scored a shorthanded goal and JT Compher notched his first two goals on the season to pace Michigan. Zach Nagelvoort played in both games and stopped 41 shots in the victory. They are now 3-4 against the Lions all-time.

Pesky Engineers Invade Yost:

RPI (Troy, NY) has a knack for playing their best hockey against Michigan. In fact, the Engineers have not lost to Michigan since 1986 and most recently defeated a young Shawn Hunwick and the Wolverines 4-3 in the 2009 GLI semi-finals. They are only one of six programs that own a winning record against the Maize & Blue (7-3-1) and come into this match-up with the same Jekyll & Hyde consistency as their opponents.

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The Engineers are fresh off a 2-1 win at UNH- and actually appear much better on the road than at home. So far this season RPI has knocked off Notre Dame (3-2) and swept Union in a home and home series, then dumped Dartmouth and Princeton in close conference match-ups. Conversely, they lost to Minnesota 3-0 and were spanked on the road at Denver 3-0 and 4-1. The Engineers also suffer a humiliating home sweep to Bentley and dropped a 4-0 whitewashing to Harvard as well as a 3-1 loss to Quinnipiac. RPI also tied U- Conn 1-1.

The main inconsistency has been the offense- only averaging a paltry 1.64 GPG. They have been shut out four times already and have been held to one goal twice. They have scored four times in their seven losses. On the other hand, their defense is what is winning them games, yielding only 2.4 GPG including eight goals in their six wins and tie. What team shows up at Yost this weekend depends on how generous Michigan is and how defensive minded the Engineers will remain against the up tempo flow the Wolverines like to push.

Freshmen Lou Nanne (yes, same bloodline) and Drew Melanson lead the Engineers with seven points each. Junior Mark Miller has also chipped in with seven points. Senior defenseman Curtis Leonard is tied with sophomore forward Riley Bourbonais with five points. Seven seniors dot the lineup, including netminder Scott Diebold (0-1-1, 1.48GAA, .943 Save %). Junior Jason Kasdorf has gotten most of the starts, posting a 6-6-0 record with a 2.34 GAA and a .922 Save %.

My hunch is that RPI will try to play physical against the youthful Wolverines and keep Michigan on the perimeter frustrating our skilled skaters. In turn, RPI’s forecheck will force mistakes on Michigan’s fragile defense in order to generate offense. Look for two close affairs where goaltending will make the difference.

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Wolverine Notes:

The eight goal outburst last Saturday was the most goals scored at Yost by the Wolverines since a ten goal output versus St Lawrence in 2011.

Sophomore Max Shuart was named B1G Ten First Star for his play last weekend. Defender Michael Downing was named Third Star POTW for his balanced effort against PSU.

Zach Hyman (5-7-12), Alex Kile (5-6-11), Andrew Copp (5-5-10) and freshmen Zach Werenski and Dylan Larkin lead the Wolverines in double digit scoring.

Sophomore netminder Zach Nagelvoort (3-5-0, 3.00 GAA and .900 Save %) is finally rounding into the form we saw last season. A good dose of Yost ice seems to be helping.

Michigan stays at home for a single game match-up against Ohio State next Friday December 5th which will be the final home game of the first half of the season and will serve as the Teddy Bear toss event. The Wolverines will travel to Boston College for a single game on Saturday December 13th to close out the schedule prior to the Christmas holiday.

A hearty THANK YOU to all of the GBMW readers and posters as well as twitter followers. I wish you a happy Thanksgiving weekend and GO BLUE!

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Yostmeister

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

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