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The Where and When
Date: April 26
Time: 12:00 Eastern
Place: Michigan Stadium
Coverage: MGoBlueTV
The Opponent
Robert Morris Colonials (5-8, 2-4 Northeast Conference)
After playing in the NEC Championship in 2013, the Colonials are now the losers of four of their last five games. Three of those games were against ranked opponents (Maryland, Notre Dame, and Bryant).
Attack: this group is led by sophomore Luke Laszkiewicz and freshman JonPatrik Kealey. Of the two, Laszkiewicz is the points leader with 34 on 22 goals and 12 assists. Kealey comes in with 18 goals and 7 assists, putting him in second place for the attackers and in fourth on the points list.
Midfield/FOGO: RMU is getting a lot of good output from the midfield, with Eric Rankel taking charge of the group. Rankel's 28 goals and 12 assists led the team in 2013, and he's leading again in 2014, with 21 and 14. Sophomore Canadian James Rahe also has 21 goals. The Colonials midfield also excels at picking up the GBs; Rankel, Rahe, and Taylor Graves have grabbed a total of 63 balls off the ground. Much like Michigan, Robert Morris is struggling at the face-off X, winning only 39%. Chris Barney will probably be the guy across from Brad Lott; in twelve games, Barney is 76 of 175 for a win % of .434, while Lott is winning .534 of his chances.
Defense/Goalie: Sean Meagher is the reigning Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, with 51 ground balls and 39 caused turnovers; his 2013 numbers were 45 and 38, so it looks like he's again in the running for Defensive POY. Brian Bohn is the Colonials' goaltender, starting all thirteen games this year, and will be walking into the Big House with a .490 save %.
The Outlook
| Michigan (4-10) |
Robert Morris (5-8) |
|
| Goals-shots attempts | 133-156 | 118-476 |
| Goals scored per game | 9.5 | 9.08 |
| Shot % | .248 | .248 |
| Shots on goal-attempts | 296-536 | 290-476 |
| SOG % | .552 | .609 |
| Total goals | 133 | 118 |
| Man-up opps | 18-49 (.367) | 16-40 (.400) |
| Ground balls | 412 | 376 |
| Turnovers | 201 | 189 |
| Caused turnovers | 107 | 128 |
| Face-offs | 175-358 (.489) | 120-309 (.388) |
| Clears | 240-271 (.886) | 233-279 (.835) |
| Saves | 140 | 137 |
These two teams should match up pretty well against each other. Although both teams are averaging just over nine points per game, I think the defensive issues for the two programs will pop up and allow for some decent scoring action. Just don't expect the game to be pretty. It'll be a lot like this preview, really--some bumbling, maybe one good point, and in the end you'll probably walk away disappointed.