100% awful stupid butt

CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): Michigan and Minnesota play a even, sloppy first period to a 2-2 tied. Then, the Gophers tallied three straight times on the power play to take a commanding lead in the second. The third period was nugatory (thanks, Craig). Jake Barczewski was pulled. Michigan’s offense created bupkis all evening. Minnesota came ready to play Michigan and straight up zamboni’d the Wolverines.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-After a first period that was mostly even across the board (sans maybe goaltending), Minnesota pretty much shut down Michigan and then outworked, outskated, and outplayed the Wolverines. They shut down their own House (and really defensive zone) for the remaining two periods. While the penalties helped in the second, I’m not sure there was really an argument about any of them. The Gophers were clearly the better team, and they finished their chances, taking advantage of a poor goaltending performance in Michigan’s net.

-Garrett Schifsky scored on a rocket of a shot, as he flew down the slot after a Gopher DZTO. That was a legit snipe, beating Justen Close on the glove side. He also created a couple more chances in the third period, including a breakaway. Schifsky has continued to look like a player as the season has progressed. It probably didn’t hurt that it was his first game back in his home state since coming to Michigan.

-I don’t really have anything to say about any other forward on the ice. I honestly didn’t really notice anyone else being particularly dangerous…especially when the game was in doubt. That’s a real bummer to say coming off of Michigan’s only conference sweep at Yost with third place in the Big Ten still on the line…let alone an NCAA Tournament birth. The team better come ready to play on Saturday or else it will be quite an embarrassing weekend.

Defense Notes.

-Ethan Edwards didn’t play, and the Wolverines really missed his skating and puck movement. They struggled in their own zone way too often. No one looked very fleet of skate at all. One of the speedier teams in all of college hockey looked very slow and plodding for most of the night. Minnesota eventually took advantage, and Michigan never really responded.

-Last week (and even going back a few games prior), Michigan’s defense had improved noticeably. Friday night…it was a reversion to a previous iteration. Obviously not having Edwards made an impact, but Steve Holtz again looked out of place. Luca Fantilli was up and down. I honestly didn’t notice Tyler Duke at all. Not great.

-Where is Seamus Casey? All season, he’s been Michigan’s most consistent skater and scorer. He now has one point (a secondary assist) in his last eight games. Tonight, he took two obvious penalties, leading to Minnesota goals. He’s not really looked like himself in the offensive end: skating, probing, making dudes look slow. Michigan needs their puck maestro to return…and fast!

CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): After playing an interesting first ten or so minutes, Michigan mostly got shut down and stuffed in a locker by Notre Dame. They registered 12 total shots in the final two periods…all while leaking scoring chances and goals. By far, this was the worst game of the year, regardless of lineup/injury situations.

Why does this keep happening, says the only school where this regularly happens:

It is possible there is some explanation other than the one that keeps doing this to Michigan's transfers. I really hope so, but I'm not going to bet on it.

A year after Michigan's policies sank the transfer Terrance Shannon, the school with the only admissions department that acts this way appears to have done it again. The #16 overall recruit of 2020, Caleb Love must have thought his North Carolina credits would transfer to Michigan, a fellow AAU member, when he committed here on April 7. He also must have believed Michigan couldn't possibly be obtuse enough to let this happen again when Love shot down (with a now deleted tweet) rumors that his plans had hit a snag.

If there was a belief that Santa Ono could fix this, that's now dead as well, if he ever could do something about it.

The loss of Love is another severe blow to a program that missed the Tournament last year for want of a high-usage defensive wing like Shannon, and was already looking shaky this year thanks to Hunter Dickinson signing a top-market free agent deal with Kansas.

Michigan's Byzantine transfer policies have been a long-term issue for the school's athletic programs. Going back at least 30 years, transferring undergraduate credits have been under a severe chill effect, with the burden placed on the student to convert their previous coursework to Michigan equivalents, plus a high minimum of credits that must be taken in Ann Arbor.

One or two semesters usually aren't an issue—see football transfers Ernest Hausmann and Josiah Stewart--but mid-career athletes tend to have a particularly hard time. Their problem here isn't "Admissions" per se but the individual schools, e.g. LSA, which make the students submit their transcripts, wait a few weeks, then find out they're a year or more away from graduating than they should be. There's an appeals process, which might explain why rumors of Love's transfer being up in the air were quickly shot down by Love, with today's news triggered by a denial of appeal. Other schools may have similar processes, but Michigan's schools are particularly obtuse and opaque about it, with credits exchanged at rates well below reasonable, and little to no interest in expediting the process for recruited candidates.

Grad students are also not a problem (e.g. Olu), but completing a hurried degree after entering the portal is its own challenge, as a player's old school isn't particularly motivated to help the process. That was the Shannon situation, and also might have been what tripped up Love, who entered UNC in Fall of 2020 and presumably, like most athletes, took summer courses along the way. Most schools have a good enough working relationship with their athletic programs that they can work with transferring athletes, or at least work quickly enough to set expectations before the program recruits a guy.

With the transfer portal now a major part of major college athletics, Michigan's transfer office needs to call Illinois and ask how they managed to make Terrance Shannon work, and find out exactly what it cost them in academic integrity. Who knows, maybe it's worth missing the dance.

There is swearing in the comments after the jump.