One of the things that makes college sports so special is that you know every year will bring change as the seniors graduate in spring and freshman join the team in the fall. Four years may seem like forever, but every year former freshmen, now senior leaders, graduate and move on.
College teams typically celebrate their senior players on "Senior Night", the last home game of the regular season. And Michigan's hockey team celebrated four of its best this year, that Saturday night in late February - all captains or alternate captains, all outstanding contributors to its team. But in my mind, due to the success of the Michigan program over the years, you can count on a couple more home games every year because the CCHA playoff games are played at the higher seeded teams' home ice. And Michigan typically hosts one round of the CCHA playoffs at Yost.
So while Senior Night was officially in February, tonight was Senior Night in my mind. The night when, for the last time, the four seniors took the ice as the team defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to move on to the semi-finals of the CCHA playoffs. Captain Luke Glendenning, and Alternates Greg Pateryn, David Wohlberg, and Shawn Hunwick played their last game at Yost tonight. The crowd was electric, the band spot-on, and Brady Hoke was in the house. You couldn't ask for a better atmosphere, and the Wolverines came to play, apparently recovered from the marathon double overtime game the night before, to sweep the series against Notre Dame.
But how bittersweet it was to watch Shawn Hunwick, perhaps the best goalie Michigan has ever had, perhaps the best goalie it ever will have, lead his team onto the ice for the last time. The last game was a victory in which he, as he has so many times this season, made spectacular save after spectacular save to give his team the chance to win. And then to be the last player to walk off the ice after the game was won, turning around to look backward at the ice one last time.
Thank you, seniors. But especially, thank you Shawn Hunwick. And with the grit and the talent of this team, we hope to see you playing in April. But never again at Yost. And you will be missed.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Winning in overtime is so much sweeter, or the what I wish my fellow hockey fans knew edition
Michigan had an outstanding overtime victory tonight over Notre Dame in their first game of the CCHA playoffs. I could have watched all night, And for awhile there, I almost thought I would until the tie was snapped a few minutes into the second over time to give Michigan a 2-1 victory.
That was a heck of a hockey game. And a heck of a long hockey game at that. CCHA playoff overtimes are sudden death (of course), but they go 20 minutes at a time with 15 minute intermissions. Which gave me a little extra time to listen and to ponder the comments about the game made from the folks sitting behind me. And made me want to offer a few suggestions. I wish I could claim they were my own ideas, but most of them came from listening and learning from other, more experienced hockey fans and players.
To my fellow hockey fans:
The next time you yell at a defender to shoot from the blue line, take a close look at the path between that player and the goal. If there is no clear path, it could be a disastrous play for that defender to shoot the puck (indeed, the worst play in hockey). If the puck bounces off the opposing team back toward our goal, the other team may very well have a breakaway.
Likewise, the next time you yell at a defender who failed to pinch in at the blue line while we are in the opponent's zone, consider what would happen if that defender pinched, and the puck popped out behind him, giving our opponent a breakaway. To pinch or not to pinch is always a judgement call, but I will rarely fault the defender who makes the safe play (which is not to pinch) to prevent a defensive disaster.
In CCHA college hockey, icing is when the puck is cleared from the zone before the red line and the team clearing the puck is not on the penalty kill and does not reach the red dot prior to an opposing team member.
If most of the players are one side of the ice battling for the puck, it is because nothing else matters until we gain possession of the puck. It may be good strategy to have one more player in the scrum for the puck than the other team. As long as one player remains more center to clear, we should be in good shape.
If a player fails to stay on his skates, that doesn't necessarily mean a penalty has occurred.
And probably most importantly, in the fifth period of hockey (after four intense 20 minutes periods), please do not yell at the players if they don't make a perfect move in front of the goalie before shooting.
Now get back out there and cheer again on Saturday! And let's get the job down in three stanzas this time. Go Blue!
That was a heck of a hockey game. And a heck of a long hockey game at that. CCHA playoff overtimes are sudden death (of course), but they go 20 minutes at a time with 15 minute intermissions. Which gave me a little extra time to listen and to ponder the comments about the game made from the folks sitting behind me. And made me want to offer a few suggestions. I wish I could claim they were my own ideas, but most of them came from listening and learning from other, more experienced hockey fans and players.
To my fellow hockey fans:
The next time you yell at a defender to shoot from the blue line, take a close look at the path between that player and the goal. If there is no clear path, it could be a disastrous play for that defender to shoot the puck (indeed, the worst play in hockey). If the puck bounces off the opposing team back toward our goal, the other team may very well have a breakaway.
Likewise, the next time you yell at a defender who failed to pinch in at the blue line while we are in the opponent's zone, consider what would happen if that defender pinched, and the puck popped out behind him, giving our opponent a breakaway. To pinch or not to pinch is always a judgement call, but I will rarely fault the defender who makes the safe play (which is not to pinch) to prevent a defensive disaster.
In CCHA college hockey, icing is when the puck is cleared from the zone before the red line and the team clearing the puck is not on the penalty kill and does not reach the red dot prior to an opposing team member.
If most of the players are one side of the ice battling for the puck, it is because nothing else matters until we gain possession of the puck. It may be good strategy to have one more player in the scrum for the puck than the other team. As long as one player remains more center to clear, we should be in good shape.
If a player fails to stay on his skates, that doesn't necessarily mean a penalty has occurred.
And probably most importantly, in the fifth period of hockey (after four intense 20 minutes periods), please do not yell at the players if they don't make a perfect move in front of the goalie before shooting.
Now get back out there and cheer again on Saturday! And let's get the job down in three stanzas this time. Go Blue!
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