Gooooooood Eveninnnggggg Michigan! 

I have been asked by "Rememember Bo" to make some occasional posts on the Michigan Ice Hockey team.  Considering that the football season is over, I thought this would be as good as any time to start.  First off, Rich Rodriguez...

Just kidding, here's The Good, The Bad, and the Downright Ugly from Michigan's Great Lakes Invitational championship win: 

The Good

1.  Leadership 

Michigan's captains really stepped up this weekend.  Captain Luke Glendening only had two goals coming into the tournament.  He added 3 more in against the Huskies and Tigers and was won the John MacInnes trophy as tournament MVP.  Michigan's other captain and leader in points, Carl Hagelin added a goal and 3 assists adn was named to the all tournament team.

2. Goals from who?

Jeff Rohrkemper, Lee Moffie and Lindsay Sparks all scored their first goals of the season helped make up for the loss of Chris Brown, who was participating in the World Junior Championship.  Michigan routinely beat Michigan Tech to loose pucks and won battles along the boards.  Time on attack favored the Wolverines in both games.  

3. Hunwick Steps Up

Shawn Hunwick has had a bit of an up and down year.  He also had an up and down tournament.  Hunswick shut down the Huskies for the first two periods.  Combined with the shut out in the Big Chill, Hunswick set a personal best for longest time passed without letting in a goal.  Hunswick's second game was less than stellar, as he gave up five goals.  However, it was a bad tournament for goalies and Hunswick did enough to get the win and was a named to the GLI all-tournament team.

The Bad

1. The Powerplay

The Powerplay really struggled to set up the entire tournament.  The wolverines only scored one powerplay goal.  Moffie's game-winner against Colorado College was actually the first shot of the power play.  While Michigan has great speed, Colorado College was able was able to identify Michigan's tendency to go one-on-one when entering the zone.  Defenseman Jon Merrill, who leads the team in powerplay goals, and is often responsible for bring the puck through the defensive zone was sorely missed, as he was also participating in the World Junior Championships.

2. Defensive Lapses

Michigan gave up 5 goals in the game against Colorado College and it's hard to blame Hunwick for 3 of them as Michigan found themselves on the wrong side of Colorado College's 2 on 1 and 3 on 1 counterattacks.  Some of these rushes led to penalties against Michigan.  This is hard to accept against Colorado, who is top 10 in the country in powerplay goals.

The Down Right UGLY

1. Fox Sports

I get it, not many people watch college hockey.  But if you’re going to cover it, then your reporter should probably know the names of the players and what team they play for.  Shannon Hogan did neither of those things, mispronouncing Glendening’s name and mistaking Colorado College’s Steve Schultz as a Michigan player.  But whatever, as she explained it "it was a last ditch effort here, with that crazy third period."  It’s too bad that she’s a Northville High alumn… like me.

(See Ms. Hogan struggle on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPYoqkw-Q6Q&feature=related)