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Michigan running up scores, but gunning for trouble; Kazmaier Award info |
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It’s been one year minus 11 days since Zach Saar sent a shockwave through college hockey with his double-overtime goal for Penn State against Michigan’s Zach Nagelvoort, eliminating the Wolverines from the Big Ten playoffs in the quarterfinal round and ending their dreams for an at-large NCAA tournament bid.
The Pairwise Rankings are a harsh mistress, and when you come in 16th out of 16 and don’t even beat the sixth seed out of six in your conference, it spells trouble for a program whose fan base could have been legion wherever the selection committee placed the Maize and Blue.
Red Berenson’s squad this year has been playing like their hair’s on fire, embracing an offensive mindset that brings to mind the pace of college hockey from 20 years ago and the great Edmonton Oilers teams from the mid-1980s.
Michigan has spent the majority of the season atop the national lists in total offense and average offense, striking at a pace well over four goals per contest until this past weekend where twin losses on the road against those pesky Nittany Lions dropped them to 3.94. Heading into this weekend’s regular-season finale, a home-and-home set with Michigan State, the Wolverines are comfortably ahead of both Boston University (3.76) and the surprising Michigan Tech (3.64).
Flush with new talent like dynamic freshman Dylan Larkin (Detroit, 2014) and senior Zach Hyman, along with Andrew Copp and JT Compher, Michigan has made its bones this season by simply overwhelming the opposition.
Twelve different times, they’ve scored five goals or more, with a season high of 10 dropped on Ohio State in Columbus on Jan. 16. Early in the season, they went East and bombed the usually defensive juggernaut UMass-Lowell for eight goals. In one stretch from late November through late January, the Wolverines finished with 11 wins in 12 games (11-1-0) and outscored their opposition by a 64-30 count. The end of that string of success saw winning scores of 4,7,10,7 and 6.
Larkin, who lit up the World Juniors for the United States over the holidays, ranks 15th in the nation with 41 points (13G, 28A) in 30 contests. Hyman, pressing for his final shot at glory as a senior, tops the club’s scoring list with 48 points (19G, 29A), which is also good enough for fourth in the country, behind such luminaries as Jack Eichel, Jimmy Vesey and Evan Rodridgues -- making that all the more special since he’s the highest-scoring player in the country NOT located within Greater Boston.
That wave of red light swept Berenson’s team to the top of the Big 10 standings for most of the season, but things aren’t looking rosy now. After dropping decisions of 6-4 and 4-3 at Pegula Ice Arena this past weekend, Michigan’s recent stretch of futility reached 4-6-0 in its last 10 games. They’re in a struggle not just for the top seed, but for a first-round bye alongside resurgent Michigan State and Minnesota, thanks to a 4-10 road record.
Offense which came as light as the breeze through midseason has dissipated. Since January 30, the Wolverines only managed to score more than three goals just once in their six defeats -- on Friday night at Penn State. They were blanked by Minnesota and held to just two scores by the Gophers and Spartans. When teams are clamping down in anticipation of squeezing every point they can from every matchup, the Wolverines seem to be thumbing their noses at the idea.
It’s easy to give up six when your offense can score 10, as it is with many successful clubs across the entire Canadian Hockey League. However, not every game can be played against the likes of Wisconsin, which was so willing to cough up a late 4-3 lead into a 7-4 loss back in late January, or roll over like RPI and Penn State earlier in the year.
Heading into the regular season’s final weekend, Michigan clocks in at 41st in the country in goals allowed, at exactly three scores per contest. For context, the following programs (who will likely not make the final field of 16) rank higher: Cornell, Holy Cross, University of Alaska, St. Cloud State and New Hampshire.
"When I came to Michigan, I wanted us to have a program that could become a college hockey dynasty, and I just like the way the Montreal (Canadiens) used to play in the '70s, and it was the Oilers in the '80s … and that is the kind of program we have tried to have at Michigan. I can't say we're there yet, but that's what we are trying to do,” Berenson said upon his 800th career win back on Jan. 10.
Believing that scoring will cure all woes once derailed the young Oilers. Their first season of success in the NHL came in 1981-82, just three years after their absorption from the defunct WHA. Under Glen Sather, and paced by Wayne Gretzky’s record 92 goals and 212 points, Edmonton cruised to 48 wins, 111 points, a first Smythe Division title and a league-record 417 total goals.
Expecting to simply scare off the fourth-place Kings (who won just 24 games and dealt with one-third of the Triple Crown Line, in Charlie Simmer, out for most of the season with a knee injury) in a best-of-five first-round series, the Oilers were instead handed a big ol’ plate of crow. Los Angeles scored 10, 6 and 7 goals in its three wins, including six straight during the “Miracle on Manchester” in Game 3 at the Forum in Inglewood. Game 5’s victory at Northlands Coliseum saw the Kings race out to a 7-2 lead before winning 7-4.
Once the Oilers learned that they had to play defense, and keep focused for 60 minutes, greater success in the way of six Cup Finals berths and five Cup wins followed. Berenson would be wise to impart that lesson before another shocking playoff exit unfolds. Michigan sits 19th in the latest USCHO poll and tied with Vermont on the outside looking in at 19th in the Pairwise.
Kazmaier Award finalists boast Beantown flair
When the three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award were announced on Thursday, college hockey once again bent its ears and eyes toward Eastern New England, and the city of Boston to be more precise.
Along with Minnesota junior forward Hannah Brandt, BC’s Alex Carpenter and BU’s Marie-Philip Poulin topped the list in the race for the top Division I women’s player.
Carpenter has been nothing less than a juggernaut for the No. 1 Eagles this season, totaling national bests of 35 goals 43 assists and 78 points over only 35 games. She also ranks best in the nation in points per game (2.23) and tied for the most game-winning goals (8) alongside Quinnipiac’s Taylar Cianfarano. The daughter of local legend and first American to score 50 goals in one season, Bobby Carpenter, Alex’s offensive contributions have led BC to a 33-2-2 record which includes a perfect 18-0-0 mark at Conte Forum.
Poulin, playing her final games in a distinguished career, may have been more visible as a member of Team Canada’s Gold medal winners last Winter in Sochi. The native of Quebec tops the Terriers with 27 goals and 54 points and that total places her fifth in the nation, with Brandt ranking third currently at 67 points. In addition, her 1.74 points per game ranks fifth in the country -- aided by a two-goal, one-assist performance in Saturday’s Hockey East Final, a 4-1 victory in which Carpenter accounted for the opposition’s lone score.
BC takes on Clarkson, while BU squares off with Wisconsin on Saturday as the NCAA tournament gets underway.
Brandt has been working in the shadow of Minnesota’s record-setting club during her freshman year, one whose dominance permitted her to explode onto the scene with 82 points (33G, 49A) in 41 games. Following a “subpar” sophomore campaign of 65 points, she’s back again this season with 67 points in 37 contests. After a shutout loss to Bemidji State in the WCHA Final, Brandt and the Gophers begin their NCAA slate against RIT on Saturday.
The 2015 edition of the Kaz will be presented in Minneapolis on Saturday, March 21, as part of the NCAA women’s Frozen Four weekend. Clarkson’s Jamie Lee Rattray won last season. A veritable who’s who of American Olympic talent was previously honored, such as A.J. Mleczko (Harvard, 1999), Jennifer Botterill -- the only two-time recipient (Harvard, 2001 and 2003), and Amanda Kessel (Minnesota, 2013).
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