"Canada Day?" you ask. Time for me to educate.

On July 1, 1867, the then three portions of the North American continent still under British control were united into what we now know as Canada. While the enactment of the British North America Act was just the first step toward complete independence from the British government, it was the first time that Canada became Canada and the first time that our neighbors to the north were recognized as an autonomous, self-governing country. The process of independence continued to roll in various stages until 1982, when the Canadian Constitution was patriated and the Canadian government was officially severed from the the British. Known as the Canada Act, Canada became an completely independent country when Queen Elizabeth signed the Act on Parliament Hill in '82.

Why is this relevant to Michigan? Oh for so many reasons my fine friends.

You might know the young man below. A holder of an undergraduate business and graduate business degree from the University of Michigan. Arguably Michigan's greatest hockey forward, he played in the NHL for 17 seasons, won a Stanley Cup, coached in the NHL for four years, has coached at Michigan for the last 27 years, and has two national championships at Michigan as its Head Coach. Michigan owes their thanks to Regina, Saskatchewan for sending their finest son to Ann Arbor.

via michiganhockey.net

Speaking of winners, there's another Canadian Wolverine that'll take you down memory lane. He's the NCAA's all time leader in wins. Holder of two national championship rings and a Stanley Cup ring. Arguably the greatest stick handling goalie in the history of the game and an all-around nice guy. Michigan owes a big round of thanks to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. 

via tenderslounge.files.wordpress.com

A few more of our favorite Maize n Blue Canadians after the jump....

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When the buzzer sounded, he didn't do anything. Turning towards his net Shawn Hunwick raised his mask to the top of his forehead, like he'd done for every stoppage in play since the game began two and half hours earlier, and reached for his water bottle. There was nothing anxious or descript about his movements, or even the slightest expression on his face as he squirted water into his mouth and then placed the water bottle back on the top of the net where he found it. Then he turned to face the mob of teammates that were ecstatically skating toward him.

Then, and only then, did a smile finally crease his face.

It's always the guy you least expect that does it. Someone you never thought of. The guy who wasn't highly recruited and wasn't drafted. That's the guy that steals the game.

During last season's improbable run from the bottom to the 2010 NCAA Tournament, we got to know Shawn Hunwick. He was short. Really short. His cherub-like face and diminutive stature seemed so out of place at a position now dominated by men six feet and over. The only person without any doubts it seemed was Hunwick. Stepping into the role of "Starting Goalie for the University of Michigan" the former walk-on showed no sense of emotion or fear, and promptly led the Wolverines on a winning streak that brought them to within a disallowed overtime goal of the Frozen Four.

Even then, we weren't sure what we had. He was still too small. Too squirrelly. Too... something. He didn't fit the mold that we'd become so used to. So, naturally, we assumed his bigger, highly recruited, drafted cohort Bryan Hogan would retake the crease the following season. It made sense. It wasn't that we doubted the guile and skill Hunwick possessed, it was that something told us we shouldn't believe what we saw. The run Michigan made was wonderful, but it couldn't last. We got lucky, to an extent, so let's not press our luck. As Michigan stole game after game we couldn't believe it was the cherub-faced kid that was doing it. It's always the guy you least expect.

Thursday night was larceny on a grand scale. Hunwick faced 40 shots last night, with 15 of them coming in the final period, while Michigan managed only 18 for the game. Unlike previous games, Hunwick faced as many quality shots as he did harmless point shots. The Sioux swarmed the net, taking a page from Western Michigan, and created as many screens and traffic as the could to try to get to the Wolverines' netminder. While Michigan did its best to keep the North Dakota offense to the outside, eventually, inevitably they broke through leaving Hunwick as the last line of defense. Shooting high and hard, the North Dakota forwards sought to take advantage of Hunwick's size. He's short. He plays low to the ice. They'll be room upstairs. He won't be able to get there, he's not big enough or quick enough.

Only he was.

At the outset of the game, Michigan and North Dakota seemed fairly well matched. While North Dakota seemed to possess a slight skill advantage, it was clear that the Wolverines could negate their skill with disciplined defensive play and speed. And midway through the first period it paid off. Finding a loose puck just inside the blueline, John Merrill let a wristshot go that clanged off the post. With the second line on the ice, crashing the net, North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell never saw the shot until it bounced back in front of him as Luke Glendenning and Ben Winnett were creating havoc for North Dakota's top line. The puck found the crashing Winnett as Glendenning tied up his man, and a quick shot from Winnett bounced off the screening players. The bouncing puck again found Winnett, and skating left to right, the senior calmly out waited the sprawling Dell, and fired the puck into the net over Dell's prone body. Michigan was suddenly winning a game few predicted they'd be in. Michigan and North Dakota exchanged chances as the period came to a close, but the game felt even and competitive. But once the second period began, that illusion was shattered.

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via www.kidsolo.com

More insightful analysis to come, I'm sure.  HUNWICK FTW!

Scooter Vaughn's game opening game against Colorado College was something to behold. When I started writing this piece, I thought it would be a small part of my wrap up of Michigan's advancement to the Frozen Four over the weekend. As I kept writing it grew into something else entirely. Part homage, part hockey rant, part old coach, part memory. The more that I fed into my mind and keyboard the more it appeared that I might be missing something bigger. That bigger something was Scooter Vaughn's development into one of Michigan's best players and just how bright his future may be at the professional level. It seems to me that since the turning point in the season (the Miami losses) Vaughn has become one of Michigan's most consistent forwards and its biggest sparks.

His goal against Colorado College stuck with me, and may be indicative of things to come. There is, of course, the obvious beauty of Vaughn's roofing a backhand to forehand shot from a tough angle. But, to me, there was so much more. Over the course of the season Vaughn has become one of my, if not the, favorite player on this team. He reminds in many ways of Bob Probert, Chris Simon, and Dustin Byfuglien . Not in the tough guy sense, but in the size, speed and skill sense. Masked behind that giant wall of muscle and equipment lies a truly skilled hockey player.

Vaughn has surprised me in a lot ways this season. The physiciality of his game is obvious given his size, strength, and love for hammering people. But for a man his size, he is amazingly fast. During the Colorado College game Vaughn would routinely catch CC's swartz brothers from behind and drive them into the wall. Whether straight line speed or acceleration is your preference, Vaughn has both and he uses them well. What makes him the total package and a player that will have a long career in the NHL is his skill. The man has got hands that I would kill for.

You probably remember Scooter's toe drag rocket from late in the season as he danced around a sprawling defenseman to laser in a goal. As pretty as that was, his goal against CC was so much more telling of his ability. Hockey players love the forehand to backhand drag move while going at a defensman. Go to any practice, pick up game, or pro game and you'll see it tried over and over again. Hockey players love it because not only does it look sweet and it's hard to do, it gives you a huge advantage over the D-man if you can pull it off. If it's done right, you have the defenseman's hips facing the wrong way, killing his momentum and forcing him to use his upper body to flail at you as you pass him.

But defensemen know this. That's why, especially at the college and pro levels, they're adept at stopping this move. Correct stick placement and quick feet will defeat this move 9 times out of 10, whether with a well placed poke check or stopping the crossing puck with your outside skate. Honestly, you're drilled enough in practice to be able to prevent this in your sleep; match his speed, arm and stick out, keep your feet light, keep body position between yourself and the forward, and BANG, you've stopped it and you're going the other way.

What defensemen have trouble with is when they've matched your speed entering the zone and all of a sudden you've got an extra burst of speed. It destroys your timing. All of a sudden the puck is moving a lot faster than you thought and you've missed your poke check. The real issue comes next. While you've missed the puck, you still should have body position to force the forward to toward the boards. Not with Scooter. His surprising burst not only allowed him to slip the puck to the outside past the defensman's stick and feet, it also allowed him to blow past the D-man to the point where he had overtaken his position.

But Scooter wasn't out of the woods yet. He was at the faceoff dot with a defenseman turning to hack him and the puck on his backhand going towards the net. Critically, Scooter shielded the puck with his body from the last desperate lunge of the defenseman and was now free of him and out of his reach. Then the hard part. Scooter had to bring the puck from his back hand to a more advantageous shooting position.

One thing you'll often see from young players is something of a panic as they near the net from the outside. "Get it on net" has been drilled into them so often that they know if they miss the opportunity to shoot there's a lot of bench waiting for them. So, put a young guy in a pressure packed situation in Scooter's position at that moment and you've got a backhander harmlessly bouncing off the goalies blocker or pads. Scooter is no longer a "young player". Part of this is because, despite his size, he is amazing on his skates. Vaughn, free of the defenseman, opens his right hip toward the net, pulling the puck from his backhand to his forehand in one motion. All of a sudden he's created a positive angle to shoot from a horrible one. Also, as a result, he's completely destroyed the goalie's angle on the puck and opened up the forehand side of the net. Still, the goalie's got a giant trapper waiting for the puck and is waiting for the chance.

Vaughn never let him have it. The move from forehand to backhand takes less than a second (and less than five feet at 10 mph) to execute, and Vaughn wastes no time after that. The moment the puck transfers into the cradle of the blade Vaughn is already in a shooting position and lets it fly. The goalie had no prayer. Is this a surprise? No. Why? Because Scooter Vaughn is that good a hockey player.

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It's official. The Big Ten Conference will drop the puck when the 2013-2014 NCAA Men's hockey season kicks off. Here's the relevant info from the Big Ten's press release:

The directors of athletics of Big Ten institutions which sponsor men's ice hockey unanimously announce their intention to recommend to the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors in June the establishment of men's ice hockey as an official conference sport for the 2013-14 academic year with participation by Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

The recommendation includes both the establishment of the inaugural Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in March of 2014, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship, and a 20-game conference schedule with each team playing the other five schools four times (two home games and two away games). In addition, the Big Ten's men's ice hockey programs will continue to proactively work to maintain a strong schedule of non-conference competition with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

As you might have suspected, the ice hockey aspect of the conference will only include men's hockey (as there aren't enough participating women's programs in the conference). The effect of the (inevitable) formation of the Big Ten Hockey Death Star will be felt all over college hockey. As the press release indicates, two charter members of the WCHA and three charter members of the CCHA are departing their respective conferences.

During the 2010 football season, our buddy Windy City Wolverine put together a massive missive explaining Why the Big Ten Hockey Conference was a big deal, What could happen when Penn State actually drops the puck, and gave you his best guess as to what would happen over the next few years to College Hockey. If you go back and re-read these predictions, he's off by a hair. It's frankly scary how close to the mark he was. The only thing that's surprising is that the Conference announced the formation of the league so quickly. I know this wasn't rocket science, but this is what he wrote last September:

With the creation of the BTHC, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Wisconsin leave their current conferences, and all hell breaks looks.  A common assumption is that each Big Ten school would play the others four times, meaning that there would be a twenty game conference schedule, along with a conference tournament at a to-be-determined location or locations. 

Jackpot.

For Michigan, this is huge news for a number of reasons. First and foremost it looks like it signs the death certificate of the CCHA. Losing three schools, especially Michigan and Michigan State, will be a huge blow to programs like Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green, and Lake State which depend (to some degree) on having the big name universities put butts in seats during the season. The conference is left with Miami and Notre Dame as it's anchors, but still short on viability with just those two.

Second, Michigan is looking at a BRUTAL conference schedule in 2013-2014. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan State will account for 12 games of their schedule. Nothing like playing a third of your schedule against teams that are usually in the top 10 in college hockey year in year out. Ohio State and Penn State look to be at the bottom of the conference, but the Buckeyes are improving and given the talent base in the North East, you have to think some talented players are going to want to stay at home and build a winner.

Third, moving to a six team league means that there has to be something else afoot. The CCHA and WCHA commissioners can't be thrilled about this, but it sounds like they'll play ball for the time being. Still, at just six teams, you have to think the conference is expecting at least two other schools to elevate their club programs to varsity status. I have no inside info on this, but it makes sense, right?

For the next two seasons, nothing changes. Michigan will continue playing in the CCHA and (hopefully) continue its winning ways. But once the Big Ten Hockey Death Star comes on line, there's no telling what it's affect on college hockey will truly be.

If you play or follow hockey with any regularity you know one thing for certain: the team that emerges victorious at the end of a season or a single elimination playoff isn't always the team that should've won. Michigan's own history is replete with examples of this. Red Berenson's 1957 Michigan team was heavily favored to beat Colorado College, yet dropped the championship game 13-6. The 1997 Michigan hockey team was reputed to be Michigan's most talented team ever, yet they didn't make it out of the Frozen Four. There's the 1998 team, filled with youngsters and no where near the talent level of the '97 team, that walked away with the ultimate prize. And, of course, last year's team that came within a hair of missing the NCAA tournament all together, yet also came within a blown call of reaching the Frozen Four.

You would think that these sorts of outcomes make college hockey a game plagued by uncertainty and a random element of chance. In some ways that's true. The random chunk of ice that wobbles a perfect pass just enough to throw off it's final destination. A defenseman lowing a skate blade or a stick at the most inopportune time. An innocuous hit along the boards that knocks your best player out for the season. A point shot that deflects off the defensive forward and somehow spirals up and over the goalie for the game winning goal. Sometimes things just don't go your way.

But this is true of any sport, and the element of randomness in no bigger in a college hockey game than it is in college basketball, baseball or football. As we've seen in just about every Michigan basketball game to date, the team that takes it's foot off the gas pedal first is usually the one that suffers the ignominy of defeat. The 2009 Hockey National Championship Game was a perfect example. Sitting in the 200 level of the Verizon Center, I watched BU live up to it's billing as the No. 1 seed as it completely dismantled an extremely capable Vermont squad. Prior to the game I felt that the only way Miami could win it's Championship match up was if BU took the night off and slept walked through the contest. Well. That's what happened. BU was complacent and lazy for 55 minutes of play. Then, they woke up and played as they were capable. The result was the Terriers forcing overtime on one of the prettiest feeds you'll every see in college hockey (at 3:03). The overtime winner was simply inevitable. BU was too good not win that game.

The Michigan blueprint for the prior 10 CCHA Regular season championships was not dissimilar to BU's 2009 blueprint. Skill players that could easily be plying their trade in the professional ranks, solid defensemen, and a goalie capable of making their leads holdup (Though Marty Turco was easily the best college goalie the game's ever seen. Yes, I'm including Ken Dryden.). Michigan's overwhelming skill in years past lead to win after win and a brand of Play Station-like hockey that was both hugely entertaining and appealing to new fans. Watchign Michigan play during it's heyday from 1994-1998 was like watching a college version of the 80's Edmonton Oilers. They simply overwhelmed their opponents with speed and skill.

Even so, Michigan struggled to get past the Frozen Four prior to 1996. Speed and skill will score goals, but it won't guarantee wins. Teams willing to play united, team defense found chinks in Michigan's armor and bounced the heavily favored Wolverines from the tourney in methodical, and sometimes heartbreaking fashion.

Michigan has since throttled back. Not intentionally so. Sadly, the whole college game was forced to take a step back as the NHL revamped its collective bargaining agreement and more impetus was placed on bringing young talent into the AHL ranks (the NHL's minor league system). The days of sustained dominance in recruiting and player retention seem to be an element of a bygone era. We've seen first and second round picks commit to Michigan only to leave before setting foot inside Yost or to pack their bags when the NHL pushed hard enough. Pure bred superstars on the college ice will likely be fewer, and further in between.

In this respect, the game has changed. And yet there is Michigan, again. Winning it's 11th league title since picking up it's first in 1991-1992. As the game has changed, so has Michigan. Even though the Maize n Blue continue to heavily pursue to the best recruits in Midget/Junior hockey, Michigan has strengthened its commitment to recruiting players who will excel in the college game. The two propositions are not exclusive. In years past where Michigan would have two or three players legitimately in the Hobey Baker conversation, this season Michigan possesses only one surefire NHL first liner and host of sturdy second line players. Michigan doesn't possess a 20 goal scorer. It's starting goalie ranks in the 20's for save percentage and goals against. It's an entirely different beast. But it's still a beast, just for different reasons.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Michigan Faithful!  A lack of internet and motivation has delayed the content you love and the snarkiness you crave.  Don't worry, though, all will be well in a few days. 

Until then, kick back and enjoy the table-setting Bowl Week games.  For those of you fortunate enough to enter the Maize n Brew Bowls You Care About Pick 'Em, an update is coming in the next few days.  Thanks to all who entered.  Shame on those of you who didn't, and I hope you all got coal in your stocking (cough, Dave, cough cough).

I can't make a GameThread per se until the bowl game, but until then, how about we fight on this one?  Any takers?

If not, check out BSU Alum's FanPost because Michigan got a kicker!

Cheers.  Thanks for a great year, Michigan faithful.

All photos Courtesy of Your's Truly. Copyright DFN 2010, all rights reserved.

One of the hardest things about a BIG GAME is that the game so rarely lives up to the hype. The advertisements. The build-up. The anticipation. Then, usually, the bottom falls out of the match up or something happens that ruins the experience.

Not this time. Saturday was perfect.

Maybe it's some strange form of karma at work, but for everything that's gone wrong in the Big House this year everything went right on Saturday. The weather was cold, but not frigid. The skies were clear until game time and then clouded up just enough to preserve the ice and block the sun. The crowd was raucous but friendly. And the game was like it was scripted by the most partisan of Michigan screenwriters.

Michigan's first two goals were scored by John Merril, a freshman defenseman who committed to play hockey at Michigan as a 14 year old kid. Michigan's walk-on turned starting goalie Shawn Hunwick posted a shutout. Michigan controlled the flow and the puck for all but limited portions of the game. And senior captain Carl Hagelin netted two goals as Michigan crushed its in-state rival before the largest crowd ever to watch anything in the Big House. Not just a hockey game. Anything. For once, the fireworks that followed were appropriate.

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