hockey weekly
thomas bordeleau
matt beniers
eric ciccolini
brendan brisson
kent johnson
strauss mann
sex mullet
Bordeleau scored the game winner- and now leads the team in points [James Coller]

Hockey Weekly Passes Its First Test Comment Count

Alex.Drain November 23rd, 2020 at 9:06 AM

Michigan Hockey did not win with the breathtaking grace of opening weekend but they passed their first test and picked up two wins nonetheless, beating Wisconsin 5-2 and 2-1 for a weekend sweep to begin the B1G campaign on the road. Here to break it all down is this week's edition of Hockey Weekly, where we'll recap the series, look across the conference and the country, and look ahead to this weekend's Thanksgiving duel with Notre Dame.

Wisconsin posed a true challenge for Michigan

Before we get too into the weeds, I should note that I am a big fan of this year's Wisconsin team. The Badgers represent a total 180 from the previous season's team, which was sloppy and extremely offensive. This squad is disciplined, defensive, and restrained. After holding Notre Dame to 3 goals in two games last weekend, they were able to keep Michigan's offense about as contained as any team may be able to this year, ceding 7 goals in two games (one was an empty netter). At first glance it doesn't look like much, but it was an impressive performance against a team with as much offensive talent as Michigan has.

The Badgers also may well be the worst match-up for Michigan in the conference, because they contain a few attributes that can fluster the Wolverines' attack. First, they have legit skaters, something that Arizona State does not have (more on that later). There were still moments where the Maize and Blue blew by Bucky, but as a whole, Wisconsin could keep a reasonable pace with Michigan. Second, they have the offensive skill players to convert on the occasional high quality chances Michigan will cede, even without Dylan Holloway. Of Wisconsin's three goals this weekend, two were on the PP and were the result of high-end passing plays that a number of teams in this conference don't have the personnel to make. Third, Wisconsin has legitimate defenders who are adept at using the stick to nullify rushes and the team plays with an edge (more on that later too), which kept Michigan out of sync for wide stretches of both games. Finally, goaltender Robbie Beydoun looks to be a really good backstop, and a massive improvement over what they were trotting out last year. He's the kind of player who can stand on his head and foil great Michigan chances.

[AFTER THE JUMP: Highlight reel goals and other thoughts]

The Wolverines won the weekend with skill

[James Coller]

Despite all of the ways that Wisconsin tested Michigan, the talent of the Wolverines was simply too much. Nearly every goal this weekend included at least one highlight reel aspect. First, naturally, is the Bordeleau game winner in OT of game 2:

There are so many things I love about this goal. The toe-drag combined with the patience to get Beydoun down and out of position, and then the little backhand flick for the winner. Simply filthy. But it wasn't just the ulttra-talented Bordeleau flashing skill, as Jimmy Lambert's no-look pass on the PP in game 1 to Johnny Beecher out front is yet another example of a less talented player doing high skill things. Mel must have the whole goddang team practicing with blindfolds on:

Meanwhile, Matty Beniers and Eric Ciccolini almost identically-recreated their goal from last weekend in the Thursday game with this great feed & finish:

Finally, Thomas Bordeleau's cross-zone pass to Brendan Brisson in game 1 was simply beautiful and Brisson's got a great shot from the right circle on the PP. He makes no mistake burying this one in the back of the net:

Michigan got pushed around, walled off, and robbed by Bedoun at different points throughout the series, but at the end of the day the Wolverines just had too much talent. No goalie in college hockey is stopping any of those four goals I just highlighted. Sometimes when a goalie is on their game you have to be perfect to beat them. Michigan may just have the talent to make at least a couple perfect plays per night.

The consequences of playing a team full of freshmen

The price Michigan had to pay for assembling the most talented roster in college hockey is that a lot of these players are 18 years old (Owen Power just turned 18 this weekend!) and fresh out of HS, playing in a sport that often sees 22-24 year olds suit up on opposing teams. That's going to lead to some games where the opponent won't have the edge in speed or skill, but will in physicality. That seemed to be the case this weekend, where skaters in blue were often being dropped to the ice. If a Michigan and Wisconsin player collided going roughly the same velocity, the Michigan player often was the one to hit the deck. Guys like Bordeleau, Beniers, and Johnson are phenomenal prospects and players, but they aren't going to outmuscle anyone at this point in their careers. Mel will need to have them hit the weight room over the season and offseason (assuming they return next year), but for this campaign they're going to have to find ways to work around physical defense.

The other downside to a young roster is the propensity to take bad penalties and make mistakes. We noted last weekend that Michigan took a few too many penalties in the first game against Arizona State and that popped up again this weekend, especially in the Friday game. Brendan Brisson took a bad penalty in the offensive zone (in addition to a malicious hit in the Thursday game on Ty Pelton-Byce) and Owen Power tripped over himself in the neutral zone and was forced to hook the Badger trying to take the puck from him, not to mention Kent Johnson getting his stick caught in a Wisconsin skate at center ice late in the game that put Bucky back on the PP. Michigan spent far too much time in the box in the Friday game and it almost cost them. The consequences of fielding a young, hyper-talented team. If there's an upshot from this reality, it's that they have a lot of room to grow during the season and Mel's teams have consistently grown during the season over his time at Michigan: the 2018 and 2020 teams both improved dramatically over the course of the year. This team is 4-0 and top 10 in the country now. If they grow as much from the present until March that the '18 and '20 teams did, it will take a pro squad to beat them come tournament time.

A Quick Note on FS-Wisconsin

I, for one, was very happy that these road games were put on standard cable TV in the southeast Michigan area thanks to the FS-Wisconsin stream. However, we do have to acknowledge that this crew was an experience. First there's the play-by-play guy's silver mullet, looking like he walked through a portal from the 90s into La Bahn Arena for the weekend series. Then there's the color guy, who I can only assume was Wisconsin's most affordable Jim Brandstattter impersonator due to his startlingly similar voice. And then there was the content of the broadcast, which included large stretches of Kent Johnson being called "Erik Johnson". At one point during the Friday game, the PxP announcer said the phrase "I would like to apologize for a comment I made earlier, I did not intend to make light of COVID-19". I still have no idea what earlier comment he was referring to but I couldn't help but laugh at the real life Dril moment:

None of this is to disparage the crew: they did an adequate job and we should all be happy when Michigan Hockey makes it to cable television (*cough* Warde *cough*), but it was also quite a ride through the two games.

Assorted thoughts on the weekend

Your weekly reminder that Strauss Mann is still good at hockey [James Coller]

The remainder of the observations to mention from this series don't fit neatly into one coherent idea, so I'll bullet them below:

  • Strauss Mann was really good. That's no surprise, but he's becoming a truly phenomenal netminder for Michigan. He was called upon more often this weekend and did everything that was needed. The three goals allowed included one deflected knucklepuck he didn't have a chance on and two PPG's that he also had little chance on. Everything he had a reasonable shot to stop, he stopped. Hard to get better than that. He's now allowed just four goals in four games to begin the season, for a 0.98 GAA and a .952 SV%.
  • Erik Portillo was listed as the starter initially for the Friday game but Mel went with Mann instead (smart decision). With the much lower-octane Notre Dame Fighting Irish coming to town this weekend, I'd expect to see Portillo at least once.
  • The Refs did not have the greatest showing in game 2. The game went through long stretches of swallowed whistles only to get interrupted by ticky tack calls or a mind-bogglingly bad call on Thomas Bordeleau for allegedly playing the puck with his hand on a faceoff. But that's just another day in the life for #B1GRefs.
  • The line of Johnson-Beniers-Becker has been sensational for Michigan. It's still listed as the #4 line on the line charts that Mel & Co. produce, but it's very clearly the Wolverines' best offensive line at this juncture. And with Beniers' play in his own zone being as good as it is, it's not a bad 200 foot unit, either.
  • Owen Power had a much more quiet weekend, but that doesn't mean he was bad. Other than the goofus penalty taken on Friday, he remains very steady in his own end, and leads the team with a +7 rating.
  • It just felt like Michigan was a tiny bit off on Friday. Pucks hopped over sticks at inopportune times, players were a tiny bit ahead on rushes and whistled for offsides, forwards whiffed on scoring chances, and the bounces just didn't go Michigan's way .... yet they won the game on the road, against a team I think is pretty good. Yeah, this Michigan team is a national contender.

Around the B1G

Michigan is now 4-0 and has proved themselves as the class of the league so far. I think there's a top three that has begun to form, with Michigan, Wisconsin (even with the two losses), and Minnesota, who swept Penn State. Likewise, I think there's a clear bottom of PSU, MSU, and Notre Dame. Ohio State still has yet to play somehow, so TBD where they will slot in. Wisconsin looks like a contender for the league for the reasons noted in this article, and Minnesota has a very talented defensive corps, a good group of forwards led by Sammy Walker and Brandon McManus, and capable Old Friend Jack LaFontaine in net, capping what's a very veteran roster.

I got to see quite a bit of both PSU-Minnesota games and the Nittany Lions look like PSU of last year, except without the high-end finishers. They take a gazillion shots, but few are high danger chances and they still give up gobs of A+ chances to the opponent. Minnesota was a mediocre offensive team last year and basically has the same forwards back, and they scored 7 goals in two games on the Lions. Michigan might post 14 goals in two games when they head to Hockey Valley in 10 days. Elsewhere, ASU and MSU played this weekend and the two teams looked pretty equivalent, maybe with MSU being a nose better. The Spartans slowed the game down and ASU's offense sputtered with star forward Johnny Walker injured. MSU was bottom end of the B1G last year and I would expect that again this year, and four games in, it seems the Ice Devils will slot in a similar spot. What stood out the most from watching ASU-MSU is the fact that ASU cannot skate. Like, at all. They struggled to hang with MSU athletically, which makes Michigan's beatdown of them a lot more sensical. If Wisco is a bad match-up for Michigan, ASU is probably the best match-up, among regular season opponents. If you cannot skate, Michigan will rip you apart.

Previewing this weekend versus Notre Dame

Not around to give us nightmares anymore! [James Coller]

The Irish have played two games this season, getting swept at home against Wisconsin last weekend. They were shutout in the first game and dropped the second 5-3. An interesting factoid is that just one player has scored for Notre Dame this season, Colin Theisen, who tallied a hat trick and then got tossed from the game after a nasty hit on Cole Caufield. Jeff Jackson's Notre Dame teams play a very Dead Puck Era style of hockey and love to play with the lead. This group is in a bit of a rebuilding year though, losing some of its top scorers and quite importantly its goalie, Cale Morris, who terrorized the B1G the past three seasons. The last time these two teams met it was at Yost in February, where Morris allowed one goal in the two games combined and pushed Michigan's season to the brink. Thankfully, Cale (Named After A Vegetable) Morris has now graduated and won't get to stab us in the heart one more time.

Their new goalie is Dylan St. Cyr, a bite-sized goaltender (5'9") who is quite small for the modern position and is notable for being the son of Manon Rhéaume, the first woman to play in the NHL (also a goalie). St. Cyr ceded 7 goals in the two games against the Badgers, which should bode well for the Wolverines now that he has to face the high-powered Michigan offense. I wouldn't be so sure of a blowout, however, if only because Jackson's system can suck a lot of life out of the contest and is conducive to stealing games. What I'm more confident in is Michigan's ability to shut down the ND attack, as the Irish under Jackson are not particularly high scoring even with a great team and this year's squad looks far from great. Again, I'd expect this to be a weekend where Mel Pearson can put Erik Portillo in for at least a game and feel comfortable, just because the Irish are not a huge offensive threat. Theisen, Alex Steeves, and defenseman Matt Hellickson are skaters to watch for Notre Dame.

Overall, this should be a sweep for the Maize and Blue. ND got swept at home by a team Michigan just swept, and the games are being played in Yost. If Michigan plays like they have been the first four games, they should collect two more wins this weekend. End of story.

Comments

93Grad

November 23rd, 2020 at 9:37 AM ^

I actually kinda like the Wiscy announcing crew.  They were entertaining in an old school way and fairly knowledgeable about Michigan's team (Eric Johnson, aside).   Not bad for a regional college hockey crew.  

Joined: 07/26/2011

MGoPoints: 13695

Hab

November 23rd, 2020 at 9:44 AM ^

They were very complimentary of our team, not because it made them feel better about being beaten, but because they had a firm grasp on the game and both teams.  It actually felt like the occasional conversation you might have with a bored scout at a local ice arena.  You could tell that hockey was a part of life, which comes with wins and losses alike.  And the wins and losses are less important than the product you see on the ice, which on both days, was very high level.

Joined: 01/02/2015

MGoPoints: 39674

Packer487

November 23rd, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^

The covid thing: One of their crew was missing from the game because her husband had tested positive. They made a joke about how if the husband was there and the students were in attendance, they might chant "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" at him.

Michigan does weird things with goalies on the line charts. Last year they listed them in numerical order every game. This year, up until the second game of this series, they had listed Mann as the starter. I assumed we'd see Portillo as well when that chart came out, but I assume they just went back to numerical. Don't trust the chart on goalies, haha. 

Joined: 10/17/2017

MGoPoints: 581

AlbanyBlue

November 23rd, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^

This is a nice writeup, and it essentially echoes what I saw in the two games. It's easy to see that Michigan has some of the highest-skill players at this level, since they were making plays that are reasonably rare in college hockey. Pinpoint passing out of the defensive zone was common, and they showed lots of high-level play in the offensive zone as well. As the season progresses, we'll see that Wisconsin is one of the better teams in the country as well. They played solid defensively for 90% of the series, and they have an excellent goalie. Your point about their D being very stick-savvy is right-on. They were able to frustrate the Michigan attack for long stretches.

That said, I didn't get the impression that Michigan would lose either game. It was clear that they were better, including in goal.

The announcers were fun, and even complimentary to the Wolverines. The one guy did make a horrid joke about COVID which he later apologized for. I liked the measures that have been taken to shorten the overall game -- less media timeouts and shorter intermissions -- and was happy that the games were on FSD. With the Wings not starting until 2021, maybe we can see more games on there. 

Joined: 09/11/2010

MGoPoints: 22052

lhglrkwg

November 23rd, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^

Why does the name Dylan St Cyr sound so familiar? Did we recruit him? Edit: ok not crazy. We did recruit him.

Agreed on a lot of your takes for the weekend. Number one- I think it's pretty clear this Wisconsin team is very good. No part of their game looked poor and there were stretches in both games where they outplayed us for a while. And related to that- I agree Friday was an off night of poorer passing, pucks bouncing, etc. so it's especially encouraging that this young team was able to gut out an OT win against a good looking Badgers team on an off night. Bodes well for later in the season

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 87963

Blue In NC

November 23rd, 2020 at 1:17 PM ^

I thought the most impressive part of the games was our young team appearing to be perfectly comfortable playing in a tight 1-1 game and continuing to play their game.  That bodes well for late season/tourney games.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8574