Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

[streaker]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I have my own thoughts on this team.. some match what my friends here have said and some don't.

Toss out the GLI. If this team, even without Trouba, doesn't beat Tech, then it won't matter. Tech is statistically WORSE than Michigan in GA and is inept offensively. Somehow, they'll find a way to score, though. Right now, you cannot discount any team against Michigan.

Tournament team? My only response is... they haven't won a single game out of six on the road, with three of those games against teams that are below them in the standings.
If that doesn't turn around quickly, especially with the unbalanced 2nd half schedule, then they don't deserve to even be considered a bubble team. They have four games in ND's and WMU's barn. Two at Yost against Ferris. Those are the last "ranked" teams they will play. BUT, they still need to go to OSU and LSSU, too and play MSU at JLA. None will be easy. They can't lose any more home games, period. 6-5 sucks. BG, Alaska, MSU and Ferris are the only teams left to come in.

They will not be an at large team. Too deep a hole. They need to either make some miracle run to get close to being a PWR bubble team OR win the CCHA tourney.

wT is right about our goaltending. None of them got any support earlier this season, but certainly Rutledge and Racine have sharted the bed on their own, too. Rutledge looks completely lost and Racine is an adequate back-up: he is consistently inconsistent, looking sharp for two periods then suddenly forgeting how to cover angles, loses sight of the puck, giving up fat rebounds or soft goals. I guess it doesn't help when your defensemen act like screens for the opponent. I hope Janny can put more than one game together, especially away from Yost.

I have not witnessed the complete collapses in so many parts of the game by a Michigan team in thirty years. Like Alfa mentioned, the cohesion between offense and defense strategy is sketchy. I don't know if it is coaching or personnel, but is poor. So is the demonstration of basic skills like passing. The mental side of the game has been horrendous, both in decision making and discipline. is it our leadership? yes and no. They can only do so much. It is disappointing because, as vox mentioned, this team has skill. The stats don't lie, though: this team is dysfunctional in all three parts of the game: offense, defense and special teams. It is mindnumbing.

[aygwm2]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Some of you probably already know this, but Luke Glendening was called up to the GR Griffins for tonights (and further on?) game against the Rochester Americans. Since he's a local boy and I went to the same high school (years apart of course), I thought I'd go check out his debut in the AHL. Haven't been to a Griffins game in some time, so it should be fun!

[aygwm2]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Some of you probably already know this, but Luke Glendening was called up to the GR Griffins for tonights (and further on?) game against the Rochester Americans. Since he's a local boy and I went to the same high school (years apart of course), I thought I'd go check out his debut in the AHL. Haven't been to a Griffins game in some time, so it should be fun!

Just to let you M fans know, Glendening scored the first goal of the game during his first shift tonight. He won his first couple of face-offs (I lost track after awhile; and they had him listed as Right Wing, but he played Center) and had a couple other chances on goal. Overall, he had a pretty good game at +1. He was the 1st Star of the night at games end. It was nice to see him and the Griffins win the game 4 - 2, with the loss going to Connor Knapp (formerly of Miami) who was in goal for the Americans. Nice start in the AHL for Luke!

[streaker]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Just to let you M fans know, Glendening scored the first goal of the game during his first shift tonight. He won his first couple of face-offs (I lost track after awhile; and they had him listed as Right Wing, but he played Center) and had a couple other chances on goal. Overall, he had a pretty good game at +1. He was the 1st Star of the night at games end. It was nice to see him and the Griffins win the game 4 - 2, with the loss going to Connor Knapp (formerly of Miami) who was in goal for the Americans. Nice start in the AHL for Luke!

Luke actually played for the Griffins briefly at the beginning of the exhibition season but then got sent to the ECHL (Toledo). He played in the game held at Yost for the Griffins. He was at last friday's Mich-WMU game and I had a chance to say hello. He was standing with the scratches near sec 27 in the north end.

I actually saw M guys giving him grief on twitter: Danny Fardig, AJ Treais, Guptill etc.

Thanks for posting this, aygwm.

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

You
still
suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

It's going to take time, but we are learning to live with that.

Better than being a sparty, none the less.

Seriously, not sure I posted this in my right mind. May have been the "holy water" talking.

[umichjim]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Anyone know if Kevin Clare will be playing this weekend?

[streaker]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Anyone know if Kevin Clare will be playing this weekend?

My guess is that he is probable. Last I heard he was still recovering from a shoulder issue.

[Huskiefan906]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Nice article in Daily Mining Gazette with Mel's thoughts on playing UM.

[UMICH]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I've been MIA because, well you've seen Michigan play this year. Frustrated is an understatement. This is 2010 all over again, only worse. Any word on when Merril will come back? I suppoes I've gotta remember, they're kids....

Wow, and I thought that the Rich Clod years were rough. Well, it's situations like this that I'm actually glad the Hockey doesn't get much press.

[UMICH]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

This is painful. I want to say "%&^@ it, I don't care anymore." but I can't. I love my school way too much to do that. We better beat sparty in the awesome 3rd place game this afternoon or else I don't know what I'm gonna do. Is it too late to reverse the renovations to Yost?

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Maybe it is just Michigan's time. They've been dominating for 2 decades. I don't know. I really can't think of anything to explain this.

No leadership. IMO, nobody should be wearing the C. AJ is a great player but he doesn't strike me as a vocal leader. When you have guys ********** up like Guptill, there are more problems going on inside the lockerroom.

But now is where we find out who the real fans are. 22 straight years of success has made us a spoiled fanbase. I was a kid the last time Michigan didn't make the NCAA Tournament so I've never truly experienced not making it. There still is a lot of hockey left to be played though.

[streaker]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

Maybe it is just Michigan's time. They've been dominating for 2 decades. I don't know. I really can't think of anything to explain this.

No leadership. IMO, nobody should be wearing the C. AJ is a great player but he doesn't strike me as a vocal leader. When you have guys ********** up like Guptill, there are more problems going on inside the lockerroom.

But now is where we find out who the real fans are. 22 straight years of success has made us a spoiled fanbase. I was a kid the last time Michigan didn't make the NCAA Tournament so I've never truly experienced not making it. There still is a lot of hockey left to be played though.

Leadership is not taking cheapshots at opponents (even if it is MSU). Leadership is not questioning the coaching decisions. Leadership is not running down your teammates. Leadership IS doing the things you are suppose to do, whether that is making saves, scoring goals or preventing them.

Our team is a good group of guys that can't seem to find the right mix. They have talent, but lack fundamentals. They are not built to run teams over, they are built to outskill them, save guys like Kevin Lynch who would rather be physical- and more of that is needed.

The defense has been a trainwreck this season- both from the blueline and from the forwards. The goaltending has been erratic and now blog writers are calling for a new emphasis on a #1 recruit- including one writer suggesting that Rutledge should just "leave". The offense has shown it can score goals against subpar teams, but struggle against the better teams. The special teams are an abomination.

Maybe this team needs a heart transplant, because when one thing puts them down, they have a hard time getting back up. Former Michigan star Eric Nystrom said so much on twitter.

Leaders? I could name a couple on the team, but I'd rather see them execute and hold their teammates accountable.

Oh- and I was one of the lonely few that suffered through Red's early years as a student. I get it. But at least those teams tried to correct their mental mistakes and could only be faulted for their lack of talent. This team can't say that at all.

[bluevox]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I keep thinking we need a new thread to turn around the year, but I don't think this team will dig out of this hole.

At this point, we will need to win TWO series to make the Joe and then everything just to make the tourney.

I realize this seems like a major turn around from my last post. Especially since we did not play for league points. It had seemed like we turned the corner on Western in the Saturday game.

The game against Tech showed that we had not.

[wolverineTrumpet]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I was fortunately out of town for the game against Tech, which I hear had no heart and no hustle from the Wolverines. The game against State looked ok, and earned the W. The way I see it, Michigan came in second at the GLI (Western tied State which I don't count as a win). Another bright spot is that for the first time in 10 games we scored in more than one period! I don't know why I was so happy about that, but I was.

So, we've got the U-18s tomorrow with Trouba still at World Juniors (USA! USA!). I read that Treais is suspended a game for a contact to the head hit against Sparty. So, no AJ Tuesday night against BG.

It's going to be a tough road (lots of road) the second half, but I can't give up hope yet. We've shown we can beat Western, we can beat Miami, we can tie at Ferris.

BGSU and the home Alaska games next week should be winnable. Can we put together the win streak before hitting the road to Lake State? Can we then get our first road win of the season?

[streaker]

Re: Michigan Wolverines: 2012-2013 Season thread!!!!!!!

I was fortunately out of town for the game against Tech, which I hear had no heart and no hustle from the Wolverines. The game against State looked ok, and earned the W. The way I see it, Michigan came in second at the GLI (Western tied State which I don't count as a win). Another bright spot is that for the first time in 10 games we scored in more than one period! I don't know why I was so happy about that, but I was.

So, we've got the U-18s tomorrow with Trouba still at World Juniors (USA! USA!). I read that Treais is suspended a game for a contact to the head hit against Sparty. So, no AJ Tuesday night against BG.

It's going to be a tough road (lots of road) the second half, but I can't give up hope yet. We've shown we can beat Western, we can beat Miami, we can tie at Ferris.

BGSU and the home Alaska games next week should be winnable. Can we put together the win streak before hitting the road to Lake State? Can we then get our first road win of the season?

I don't want to disparage Tech's effort against Michigan or WMU. They earned their wins, especially with their goaltending. BUT, Michigan played like they have all season (especially away from Yost.) Turnovers, poor coverage, no offensive execution. They had chances but didn't finish- not only because of Tech's goaltender, but because of the lack of desire to get their noses dirty. Janny played okay, can't say he gave up anything Tech didn't earn. Clare and Moffatt were on for at least two goals. Without Trouba, the PP was nonexistent.

On Sunday, MSU carried the play for the first two periods, even though we scored first. Hildebrand is a good goalie, but had a poor third period. Copp beat him on the tying goal in the 3rd, then MSU's defense abandoned him. KLynch buried a PP rebound for the game winner. Moffatt made a blind behind the back pass in the crease to find PDG who buried a goal.The only fly in the ointment was the dumb penalty AJ took late in the game. Not a good penalty to take as a Captain, which was much different than the reaction Lee Moffie gave the Tech player who hot dogged it in front of the bench and tossed up snow at the boys on the bench. AJ gave State a chance to come back, but luckily they are as offensively inept as we seem to be. Hyman made a good play to get credit for an empty net goal when the defender wrapped his stick around him and dropped it, preventing the goal.

Don't be fooled. We are not a good team any more than State is right now. MSU seems to have shot their wad against WMU (another offensively struggling team) and didn't have much left for us. I can't see where we will be any better than a 5th place team right now, even if they put together a few wins. The schedule is too steep. It will be lights out if they don't learn to win on the road. A first round road series will end the season, IMO if they do not take 5th. Only six points out now, so there is always a chance.