Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Midseason Hockey Thoughts

Well, well, well…with the non-conference schedule over and Michigan a few series into the CCHA, we have learned a few things. Michigan is still the Michigan of last year. A talented team with the ability to score goals, run a deadly powerplay, and makes key saves, but they cannot do it for 60 minutes or over 48 hours. Ties against Mercyhurst, New Hampshire, and Ferris State clearly show they cannot close out games on a consistent basis. Michigan has had a curse of sorts the past two seasons with having an awful Friday night record and a strong Saturday night record. Michigan is 2-3-1 on Friday night games this season and 6-0-2 on Saturday. The most disappointing moment has to be the Friday night game against Notre Dame two weekend ago, when Michigan had to strong two periods before tanking in the third. This past weekend Michigan took care of an inferior Lake Superior State team. After Thanksgiving is the College Hockey Showcase. Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are in the middle of the pack of their conference, will be a good barometer to determine if the wolverines are improving or staying stagnant.

Although, there is hope with this Jekyll and Hyde team because they clearly have talent. Defensemen Jon Merrill has played very comfortable as a freshman on the top pairing, Hagelin and Caporusso are scoring at a point per game pace, and Bryan Hogan has put up good stats. Even Scooter Vaughan has emerged as a scoring threat. Michigan fans might have to wait until the end of the season before the hockey team can get their act together as they did last year. The pressure is on the seniors to get back to the frozen four like they did when they were freshmen.

-JZ

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