jacob hayhurst

2/14/2020 – Michigan 5, Michigan State 1 – 9-8-2 Big Ten, 14-12-3 overall
2/17/2020 – Michigan 4, Michigan State 1 – 10-8-2 Big Ten, 15-12-3 overall

Will Lockwood burst out of the zone with the puck by himself, chased by three defenders. None could catch up but the best-positioned had enough of an angle to push Lockwood a little wide and force a shot. John Lethemon, amongst the national leaders in save percentage with a .942 before this series, was able to come out and cut the angle down.

It was a decent chance; it was Michigan's second shot. It squeezed through Lethemon somehow. Goal.

Michigan hockey's twitter account is pretty good about posting videos of all goals no matter how obscured they are by student camerawork—looking at you, unnamed Penn State sophomore—and this one didn't make it to the internet, because… eh… I mean, MSU scored immediately afterwards and it wasn't the kind of goal that absolutely had to get up. Michigan's third was in a similar vein and did get up:

Nick Blankenburg with his 4th of the season from Cam York and Jake Slaker!

U-M 3, State 1 #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/bPNJxqAFWk

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 18, 2020

Clever play by Blankenburg to see Lethemon looking to the wrong side of the very small person trying to screen him. Also not a .940 goalie play.

On the other end of the ice, Strauss man flung a desperate stick at a shot headed for an otherwise empty net. The deflected puck spun wildly, plunking first one post and then the other before Nolan Moyle swept it off the goal line on an incredibly improbable return trip along the goal line. If Moyle wasn't there the puck might be pirouetting from one post to the other still. It was one of the damndest things you'll see in a hockey game, but it was not a goal.

It's worth exploring how in the hell Michigan has gone from dead in the water to an 8-1-1 surge that is two-thirds of the way towards one of the more unlikely postseason bids in Michigan history. What changed? A fair chunk of the answer is that stupid crap stopped happening to Michigan and started happening to the other team.

This series transpires twice a year. The first edition was another weird schedule event—a Thursday-Saturday home and home—but otherwise completely different. In the first outing Michigan was up 3-1 in the last minute of the second period, then gave up three straight goals to lose. On Saturday Michigan had a 5-1 edge in power plays and outshot MSU 35-26; they did not score in a 3-0 loss. Since I noted that Michigan's even strength shooting percentage was an absurdly low 5.8 they've started flinging in one or two long-rangers per game; they're up to 7.1.

Pucks bounce.

[After THE JUMP: the other half of the equation is scoring rad goals]

The draft happened. Michigan results:

• Devin Bush went 10th overall to Pittsburgh, after Detroit took a tight end. Later, the Lions would take another tight end. Keep on Detroiting, Detroit, the Bush family thanks you.
• Rashan Gary went 12th overall to Green Bay, which immediately called him an outside linebacker. This was overshadowed by the general Giants-ing going on. For the record, drafting Rashan Gary as a specialist pass rusher is a Bad Idea.
• Chase Winovich went in the third round to the Patriots, because of course he did. He said he was "awaiting further instruction" before talking to the media, demonstrating that he was already advanced in the ways of Belichick-fu. The Patriots then threatened to cut his hair, because of course they did. 
• David Long went a couple picks later to the Rams. That seems like the Michigan steal of the draft to me. Long was hurt because no one dared throw at him. Criticisms of his game are about his height and how that hurts him on 50/50 balls, which I get but he put up a sub-4 shuttle at the combine and should be an elite nickel.
• Zach Gentry overcame the ugly combine numbers to get drafted in the fifth round, also by the Steelers. That second TE the Lions took was Isaac Nauta, former five star everyone was desperate to get after. He went in the seventh. Recruiting is important—this year's five-star first round hit rate was off the charts—but it is funny how things work out sometimes. Behind The Steel curtain's scouting round-up on him has one of the sentences I feel deep in my core: "Warning, some of the tracks that accompany these videos contains profanity and most of the music is fairly bad."

Karan Higdon didn't get drafted, which says something about running backs in the modern NFL. If you aren't a major piece of the passing game it's a tough world out there.

[After: they Giants'd so hard they're now the Jets]