Michigan Wolverines Hockey

[Rob F]

But 2nd place would still get us home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs, right?

Yes it would, and, providing we win, also give us home ice advantage in round 2, and then the rest of this year's CCHA Tourney would be close to home, at The Joe

[Mike]

A second place finish would earn a first round bye, then host the second round to get to the Joe.

[Rob F]

Go Blue! Hockey night in Michigan, U of M leading NMU 2-1 with 6:42 left in the game...

also, Red Wings tied 1-1 with Nashville midway thru 3rd

[Rob F]

Now 3-1 MEEEEECHIGAN, 4 min to go....M goes on a power play with 3:31 to go

[Rob F]

POWER PLAY GOAL FOR MEEEEEEEECHIGAN!!!

NOW 4-1 !!...One minute left in game

[Rob F]

Victory!!! The crowd (including Denard, again at Yost in the student section) goes home happy!

[lineygoblue]

Time to get greedy with the points. We need all we can get.

[Rob F]

Tonight's game---just as important to win as ever (seeing that 1st-place Ferris, 2nd-place WMU, and 4th-place spartie all won last night)---starts at 5:05, televised on FSDet.

Like I posted days ago, Ferris has the CCHA all but clinched, leading WMU by 5 points and Michigan by 6, with all three teams having just 3 games to go. Nobody else has any chance of overtaking Ferris, as spartie is 3 points behind us and 9 behind Ferris right now. As long as our Wolverines take care of business this evening, I still like our chances to overtake WMU, as we close out the regular season next weekend on the ice of hapless, hopeless, pathetic Bowling Green. Ferris whipped BG last night 5-1 and plays them again tonight.

WMU, OTOH, has a tough one tonight at LSSU and then ends the season with a home-and-home series next week vs. Ferris. The only advantage the Broncos have over us right now is that they still control their own destiny, albeit against a much tougher schedule than what we have remaining.

[lineygoblue]

Its a six-point weekend, as Michigan defeats Northern Michigan at Yost 3-2 in overtime. Northern put up quite a scrap, but Michigan got the winner a little over a minute in OT to take the sweep over the Wildcats.

Up next for the Wolverines, Bowling Green.

[Mike]

Don't look now but as of this posting Michigan as overtaken the #1 overall position in the Pairwise rankings. For those that don't know, that means if the season ended right now Michigan would be the overall #1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

[Rob F]

Its a six-point weekend, as Michigan defeats Northern Michigan at Yost 3-2 in overtime. Northern put up quite a scrap, but Michigan got the winner a little over a minute in OT to take the sweep over the Wildcats.

Up next for the Wolverines, Bowling Green.

13-2-2 now for Michigan since early December. This is a team to be reckoned with come tournament time, something that I hoped for but didn't really expect just 2 1/2 months ago the way they stunk (whether home or on the road) all November. Red just had to have a little more time to figure things out this season; it didn't hurt, though, to have the best goalie in College Hockey manning the nets for him and his team.

[Mike]

And get Merrill back. That's the single biggest factor in their current success.

[Rob F]

Yes, getting Merrill back was HUGE---he's their best defenseman. But the hot streak started well before that, as Hunswick kept them in many a game and the rest of the team started clicking as the talented class of true freshmen started to fit in. Everything started to mesh in early December; Merrill's defensive presence just makes them that much more a complete team. Right now, this team is playing better than at any point last season, that was a very good NMU team we just swept, a team that was something like 11-2-3 since late November prior to being swept this weekend.

(edit: NMU was 11-4-3 since mid November, not 11-2-3 as I initially posted----but still pretty damn good

[Rob F]

Some final scores: Ferris, as expected, toyed with BG, winning easily 4-1. LSSU beat WMU up there in Sault St. Marie, 3-2, as I hoped.

This leaves us in 2nd place by ourselves, still 6 points back of Ferris, with WMU 2 points behind us and no chance of them catching Ferris in their home-and-home series next weekend. We still have 2 left to play at last-place BG next weekend; I just don't see WMU as being capable of winning both games against a damn good (#1-ranked) Ferris team next week.

Nothing wrong with finishing 2nd as far as seeding is concerned for the CCHA tourney, 2nd place isn't all so bad when you consider how many teams were ahead of us when December started.

[Mike]

Not bad at all. Only the Pairwise matters anyway. If Michigan sweeps this weekend and makes it to the Joe for the CCHA semis (or better) they should be a #1 seed in the tourney.