2022 olympics

Six more points in the bag, four more needed [James Coller]
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15

Hockey Weekly Needs Four Points For A Ring
Alex.Drain • February 21, 2022 • 4:40pm

Michigan Hockey finished off a weekend sweep on Friday and Saturday over Ohio State, the first game by a margin of 5-3 and the second 3-0. Despite not having the four Olympians in either contest, the Wolverines were clearly better than the rival Buckeyes, who are a likely tournament team, and managed to pick up a big six points. Michigan remains two ahead of Minnesota and now we enter the final weekend of the regular season. The stakes are clear: the Gophers are heavily favored at home against lowly Wisconsin. Michigan heads into South Bend. The Wolverines need four points to earn a share of the regular season title, assuming no help from Wisconsin. The easiest formula for that is a regulation win and then at worst an OTL in game two. It is a bit murky as to who holds the tiebreaker between Minnesota and Michigan, but four points gets you a share of the title at least. Here we go. 

 

No Olympians, No problem 

Michigan finished 4-0 without Beniers, Brisson, Johnson, and Power in the lineup over this stretch, with this defeat of Ohio State being the most impressive. Mel Pearson was asked after Friday's game whether the Olympians would be back in the lineup on Saturday and though he gave a simple "no" response, the truthful answer really should've been "we don't need those guys to beat their ass". Because it's true, these games weren't particularly close. Only Friday's goofy second period with the puck hopping up and down more than I've ever seen it at Yost gave OSU a window. Possession at even strength each of the two nights was ~58% in favor of Michigan, which is a pretty solid edge. Not an MSU-style landslide, but one where it's pretty clear who the better team is. 

Onto the highlights, we have to start by simply saying "Luke Hughes, take a bow": 

One of the most electrifying goals in recent memory at Yost, and that was the one that really sealed the Saturday game in Michigan's favor. Friday night saw a great individual effort from Thomas Bordeleau, who I talked about as a guy needing to step up during the Olympics: 

There was also a nice mini 2v1 that Dylan Duke converted on (with some help from a very poor effort to take away the pass by OSU defenseman Grant Gabriele) following a bouncing puck: 

The tension we got in the Friday game was largely relieved when Nick Blankenburg scored a PPG in the third period: 

I thought that Jakub Dobeš helps him out a little bit there, making a very nice stop on the initial shot but then one of two things happens: either Dobeš lost track of the rebound for a split second, which made him look back across his body and be late to react to the second shot. Or, he lost his balance and had to look back to steady himself, which caused him to be late to react. Either way, Blankenburg got a window and made it count. Also, it was a great pass from Mark Estapa on the goal line to set up that chance. He's come on strong recently and seems like someone who is going to stick in the lineup even after the Olympians return. 

While the series played out similar to what I expected, I felt the most interesting development from the weekend came in the third period of Saturday's game. With Michigan ahead 2-0, they finally did what I've been waiting for them to do all season: put together a dominant defensive third period to salt a big game away. Ohio State got just seven shots in the third period and not a single one was a Grade A look. I'm going to put together a video-based deep dive on the strategy/schematic side of it later in the week because I'm being a #HockeyGeek over the nuts and bolts, but it was masterclass defense.

Hard work on the forecheck salted the game away on Saturday [James Coller]

Michigan had excellent defensive positioning from everyone on the ice, using their sticks very well to disrupt passing lanes, winning puck battles, and making quick outlet passes to facilitate zone exits. If you go back and watch some of the 1997 Red Wings and Flyers Stanley Cup Final, you'll see that the Detroit systems and discipline choked the life out of the Flyers at 5v5, footage that looks quite a bit like what we saw on Saturday night. It's what a championship-level team should be able to do when they're protecting a lead late, using the forecheck and smart/simple breakout concepts to get the puck out of the zone and alleviate pressure. Michigan is going to need to be able to replicate it over the next six weeks if they want to win a national title, but it was extremely encouraging for a team that has relied a little too much on talent and too little on systems/discipline to win games this season. 

The pathetic last two weekends for Ohio State against the big two in the conference have made them look much more like I was expecting this year. To be clear, they are still well above where I had them in my preseason power rankings, but the more I watch them, the more I feel like I was correct about their roster except for goaltending, where they got a 5th rounder to come in and post a .930. Going from .890 to .930 goaltending does wonders, and it can make a meh roster go from abject to a tournament team, which is basically what's happened. The remainder of the team is still pretty unremarkable and having watched them play against true title contenders the last two weekends has made it clear that OSU is not that caliber of team this year. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: lineup changes, 2022 success, and Notre Dame]

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Take that, Badger-man! [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
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Hockey Weekly Is Swept Up In Off-Ice Controversy
Alex.Drain • February 2, 2022 • 12:25pm

I had not initially planned to do a Hockey Weekly this week because we had one last week and there isn't much new news to report on-ice. The team bulldozed the Wisconsin Badgers this past weekend, as expected, and now coast into their bye week in first place in the B1G standings, sending their four Olympians off to China. Unfortunately, the reason I decided to write this piece is two elements related to the program that have come out in the past week, one being a FOIA request made public pertaining to the murky WMU GLI cancelation, and the other being an MLive article detailing an ongoing investigation into the program. This will be a shorter piece than normal, as I'll quickly share a few takes on the Wisconsin weekend before then talking (briefly) about both of those off-ice matters: 

 

Badger Revenge 

On-ice, the Michigan Wolverines swiftly took care of business this weekend against a bad Wisconsin team. It was sweet revenge for the worst loss Michigan has suffered this season, when they lost to the Badgers at home back on October 29. Neither game was particularly close, 5-1 and 6-2 victories, though the second game had a wild flurry in the second period that temporarily made it interesting. Here's a few HockeyBullets from the weekend: 

- Ethan Edwards, continued. Last week I discussed the terrific play of Ethan Edwards, who has been coming on strong. This weekend he had the highlight reel moment of his season thus far: 

Edwards continues to grow as the season rolls around and now it's showtime for him. With Owen Power out of the lineup attending a Team Canada Olympic camp in Switzerland, Edwards was bumped up to the top defensive pairing with captain Nick Blankenburg. That's a lot of responsibility for a freshman, because that pair will draw top assignments over the two weekends of games during the Olympics. Edwards seems up to the task, though, and I'm excited to watch him in this final month of the regular season. 

- Speaking of Edwards, the defense scores a lot of goals. The Saturday game saw the team's defensemen score 3/6 goals that Michigan scored and the team now has two defensemen with double digit goals in under thirty games played (Luke Hughes has 10 and Nick Blankenburg has 11). Add in Owen Power with 3 and Ethan Edwards now with 2 and, and that's a lot of goal scoring to come from your blue line. But scoring goals is not the only way that the back end contributes to the offense for Michigan. They are a central component of driving offensive play whether or not they're the ones who actually put the puck in the net, either by facilitating breakouts or controlled entries, joining the rush, or pinching down in the offensive zone to aid the cycle. That large role they play is why they get the goals, which often come on plays looking like this: 

Mobility is key for Michigan's blue line. An old-time(y) defenseman with skating issues isn't making the play that Luke Hughes makes. The goals Michigan's defensemen score look like that because skating are their big assets. The team has a stable of smooth skating defensemen who are comfortable moving up and joining the play, which is why they play a big role in the offense, and then sometimes they get rewarded with having the goals attributed to themselves alone. The Michigan Colorado Wolverines Avalanche, basically. 

- A nice weekend for the non-Olympic guys. It was decently reassuring that, in the last weekend of games before the Olympics, Michigan got some solid offensive contributions from players who will not be heading to China. After all, they are the players who will be leaned upon to deliver Michigan victories against MSU and OSU in a couple weeks. The first goal I really liked from that crew is this one: 

Keaton Pehrson brings the puck down the wall and below the goal line before losing possession. 5th year senior Michael Pastujov gets involved in the ensuing puck battle, winning it and shielding possession of the puck to move it to the forehand, then delivering a good pass to a high danger area. There, Philippe LaPointe sees the open ice, moves to it, and receives the feed to wire it by the goalie. Beautiful play all around from three guys who will be in the lineup next time we see the team at Yost. 

Another goal I liked was this one by Mackie Samoskevich: 

Edwards leads the entry, puck bounces around to Beecher on the far side, who slides down the wall and makes a nice pass to Samoskevich in the slot, who rips it by the netminder. Beecher, Samoskevich, and Edwards are all drafted players, but none are going to the Olympics, making them exactly the kinds of folks that will need to step up. This goal showcases how much skill will still be on the roster even when you subtract Beniers, Brisson, Power and Johnson. 

- Erik Portillo, still good. Thanks to this weekend's performance (three goals against in two games), he's now up to a .953 SV% and a 1.54 GAA in nine games since Christmas. Michigan is 7-0-2 in those games and he's allowed two or fewer goals in eight of the nine games. Pretty good! 

[AFTER THE JUMP: one more take, and some off-ice deliberation]

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All hail the Gargantuan From Gothenburg [James Coller]
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10

Hockey Weekly Is First In PairWise
Alex.Drain • January 27, 2022 • 12:20pm

It's been a couple weeks since our last Michigan Hockey column, so it's time to check in on the squad. The good news? The team went 3-0-1 since last time. The bad news? We're now rapidly approaching the Olympics, when Michigan will officially lose three of its top four forwards and one of its top defensemen for at least four games. In this piece we'll do a quick recap, look at February and the Olympic implications, and then feel out the national picture. 

 

Taking care of business

The last two weekends have not included the prettiest games of all time, but the Wolverines have mostly done their job. They swept an inferior Penn State team and then took 4/6 points from the good Gophers last weekend. Sure, you would've preferred a regulation sweep of Minnesota, but you won the weekend and made up two points on a top team in the league, which is important. Hard to have many complaints about the end results. 

That said, the games weren't necessarily the dominant showings we had seen when Michigan walloped UMass in early January. Against Penn State, Michigan jumped out to a 3-0 lead and let it turn into a close shave one-goal victory, followed by the Saturday game where they trailed 3-1 before rallying to win. Both were worse efforts than either of the two games in Happy Valley in November. Against Minnesota, Michigan led 1-0 and played well before another undisciplined mistake did them in in an OT loss, followed by a game that saw the Wolverines get massively outshot but Erik Portillo won the goalie battle and gave Michigan the win. 

When Brian asked me about why this is happening on the podcast, I didn't have much of a coherent answer, because I don't really know what to make of it, frankly. Even as someone who analyzes hockey schematically and strategically, there's nothing I can really point to specifically that is the problem. Sure, individual goals against have their specific issues, but outside of the team taking at least one five minute major per weekend, I don't have a broad problem to directly diagnose. Rather, it just seems like the team's effort level rises and then falls often during the course of a game, or over a weekend. They have stretches where it's gangbusters and Michigan is buzzing and out-chancing the opponent, and then they fall into a slump where they're on their heels. Still, the talent comes through often and even when they're not dominant on the ice, they normally have a real chance to win because of the firepower on the team. We saw that Saturday in Minneapolis. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: takes and broader picture stuff]

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Beniers, Brisson Picked For The 2022 Olympics; Johnson and Power To Follow
Alex.Drain • January 14, 2022 • 4:40pm

Michigan sends four active hockey players to the Beijing games (and two alumni!)

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