2020 arizona state series #1

cover art by Seth
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The Michigan Hockeycast 3.2: Four Kyle Connors
Alex.Drain • November 17, 2020 • 7:49am

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

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The Cavalry
Brian • November 16, 2020 • 4:28pm

11/14/2020 – Michigan 8, Arizona State 1 – 1-0
11/15/2020 – Michigan 3, Arizona State 0 – 2-0

Kent Johnson acquired the puck from a chaotic scramble behind the net and flicked a backhand pass onto Nick Blankenburg's tape. Blankenburg slid it over to Owen Power with one touch. Michigan's 6'5" freshman hulk of a defenseman feathered into the right slot and blasted the puck into the top corner of an open net.

Then, nothing.

It took a minute to determine whether my brain had shorted out or BTN+ had. It was BTN+, of course, because it is the magic Pictionary horse of streaming services. Or maybe it was both.

I approached this weekend with trepidation, as any experienced Michigan fan must approach something that seems like it might be good or enjoyable. This particular Michigan fan has been posting on the internet about the various white knights flying in to rescue Michigan hockey for literal years, thus amplifying the nervous feeling. It is rare for something to live up to the hype immediately. When it does not there will be recriminations, and I'm currently eating into the Strategic Recriminations Reserve for football. I do not have spare recriminations. 

Michigan's 2020 class immediately lived up to the massive expectations. The breakouts were crisp, the zone entries controlled, the risks astute. (Uh, except for the 3-on-0 breakaway.) The Power goal put Michigan up 8-0 in a game that felt exactly that lopsided. The Sunday game was even more lopsided, statistically, and featured an Eric Ciccolini goal that came after more than a minute of sustained offensive zone time. This replay does not do this shift justice.

It was a five-on-five power play. Much of the weekend was.

It was as if the Compher/Connor/Motte line had been resurrected and then cloned. Even Michigan's checking line—listed second on the lineup sheet but also the only line that won't be pillaged by the NHL at some point in the near future—got in on the action when Nolan Moyle was possessed by the spirit of TJ Hensick, executing a full lap around the offensive zone before firing a puck across the crease that deflected in.

In the aftermath, of course, everyone is excited but also still nervous. The nervousness has a different tenor as the immediate relief now gives way to the second hurdle: the threat that this was a false dawn. For more, see the "is Arizona State any good?" bullet below.

I don't think it is, because I've seen enough hockey to know that you are usually your own worst enemy when the goal of the game is to corral a skittering puck with a stick while you zip around a sheet of ice at 20 MPH, and that the kind of people who immediately pop out as ninjas almost always continue being ninjas. Michigan just imported a busload of them. Also they still have their .939 goalie.

Let's see where it goes.

[After THE JUMP: evaluating Arizona State's quality]

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