big ten tournament

Stick! Stick! Hooray!! [JD Scott]

Last Weekend. Michigan swept Michigan State right out of Yost. In fact, they shut Michigan State right out of Yost. Strauss Mann and the Michigan defense had another great weekend not only keeping pucks out of the net, but mostly keeping the Spartans out of high-danger areas. The Wolverines also controlled both aspect of special teams. Michigan tallied three power-play goals on eight man advantages. They also locked down Michigan State, forcing them to go oh-for-the-weekend (0/8) on their power plays.  Johnny Beecher tallied a couple of even-strength goals to lead the offensive production. For all of their efforts, Michigan Hockey has now won a semi-final trip to…Columbus. The Buckeyes massacred the Badgers on Friday, 9-1, and finished the sweep on Saturday with a 2-1 OT win. Sounds like it is time for a…Chart Table!

[After THE JUMP: a photo, actually (and then a table)]

It’s not the 90’s or 00’s, but we’ve got M-MSU playoff hockey at Yost! [James Coller]

What Is This? The Rooting Guide is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! A couple of year ago, I wrote about the depths of college hockey and how they will impact Michigan in the stretch run to the NCAA Tournament. Since March 2018, they have mostly been irrelevant, as Michigan basically needed to win anything and everything to have a chance…UNTIL NOW! Well, kinda. They still might need to win the B10 Tournament in order to get into the NCAAs, BUT they are technically 16th in the Pairwise Ranking and if the NCAA decides to not give the AHA an auto bid (this won’t happen), then they’re technically in right now! Since the AHA will get an auto bid and Michigan is .0079 out of 12th and .001 ahead of 19th, maybe we should look at these minute details. First things first: the Big Ten Tournament.

Michigan/Michigan State Corsi Table

 

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Michigan

62 (17)

60

44

35

Michigan State

55 (18)

56

40

69

So, what do we make of all of this? There are three 50/50 games and one MSU even-strength domination. Michigan controlled Game 1 at Yost back in November and then collapsed in the last 20-30 minutes, and the Spartans came roaring back for an improbable win. Games 2-4 were mostly multiple-score games that were never particularly close. State won at Munn in Game 2, and Michigan shredded the Spartans with great finishing in Games 3 and 4 (at Munn and LCA, respectively). Michigan has been a more consistent team in 2020, so they should be favored at home next weekend. Still, let’s check out the Eight Factors.

[After THE JUMP: Eight Factors!]

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[JD Scott]

Saturday, March 10, 2018

#6 Ohio State 3, #11 Michigan 2 (OT)

1st period

Myer goal

OSU 1 UM 0 PPG 16:02 Assists: Miller & Joshua

One theoretical advantage to Michigan’s propensity for crowding below the top of the faceoff circle on the penalty kill is an increased likelihood of blocked shots, and that’s what happens here. Miller gets his shot stopped but the puck pops up and back to him. He gloves it, drops it, and retreats to the blue line. He has Myer open in the opposite corner and swings it to him.

m osu btt 1-1

Myer starts skating toward the faceoff dot and Winborg, who’s stationed between the two faceoff circles, responds by getting his stick out and taking away the passing lane to the skater cutting through the slot to the front of the net. That leaves Luke Martin to step up on Myer—mostly, at least. He doesn’t want to come all the way to wall and get walked or have Myer fire a pass behind him to an open skater down low, so he tries to split the difference and take away the pass while being in position to block the shot. Problem is he’s a hair too far to Myer’s right. Martin tries to block it by dropping to a knee and pushing to his right once he sees that Myer is really going to take the shot, but the puck gets through.

m osu btt 1-2

Lavigne can see the shot the whole way, so it’s bad in the sense that he probably should have been able to track this better. On the other hand, it’s a puck that’s on Lavigne in an instant and Joshua is right next to him; as David pointed out when I asked him about this one, Lavigne was probably expecting it to be deflected off of Joshua, who somehow turned and leapt out of the way.

m osu btt 1-3

[After THE JUMP: Cooper Mar-whoa-dy (I’m sorry I’ll see myself out)]