There are dozens of us. DOZENS!
[Patrick Barron/MGoBlog]
1st period
UM 1 MSU 0 EV 01:43 Downing (5) from Calderone (6) and Nieves (14)
Tony Calderone gets the puck via a stretch pass Boo Nieves makes from along the boards in Michigan’s defensive zone. The pass comes from the same spot Nieves wasn’t able to gain control of the puck last Friday (which subsequently led to a Spartans goal), so it’s nice to see him seal the puck and get it out of the zone this weekend. Calderone skates to the red line before walking it back up the boards in an effort to avoid the MSU defender.
Michigan State’s defenders have collapsed around the net, which is typical of their style. That’s not really a criticism; if you’re going to give up shots from the point and your goaltender is Jake Hildebrand you’re probably going to do alright. Calderone passes to the blur at the top of the screen cap. That blur is Downing, and it’s easy to see how much he’s able to put on the shot from the camera’s inability to focus on him.
It looks to me like the puck goes under the defenseman’s stick and beats Hildebrand on his blocker side in the little green square I’ve drawn on the screen cap. This isn’t a good goal for him to give up; despite having a defenseman in front of him in the screen cap he was able to track the puck and squared himself to the shot. That d-man in his view came in after the pass had been made to Downing and Hildebrand was starting to butterfly.
[After THE JUMP: Darth Vader makes an appearance, and it’s not in discussing MSU or Dave Brandon]
2nd period
UM 2 MSU 0 EV 13:16 Martin (4) from Selman (7) and Nieves (15)
Michigan wins a puck battle in the neutral zone, with Justin Selman carrying into the zone and passing ahead to Calderone, who looks like he’s going to try and jam the puck in on Hildebrand. He instead passes to Nieves in the opposite faceoff circle.
Nieves tries to backhand the puck, but credit Ryan Keller with tying up his stick and not allowing him to get anything on the shot. The puck trickles forward before being dug out by Selman. Hildebrand is lucky to have a defenseman next to him, because this would have been a goal had John Draeger not stopped it with his skate.
The puck loses all momentum when it hits Draeger’s skate; it just dies, ready to be gathered and cleared. Draeger has more time than he uses to clear the puck. He moves it as soon as he has control of it, which isn’t a bad decision considering the lane he sees. Or the lane he thinks he sees, rather…
Switching to the camera behind Draeger, you can see that he thought he had a clear passing lane up the middle of the ice. The problem is there’s a little thing that I drew a blue arrow on, and that’s Cutler Martin’s hand. He gloves the puck out of the air and drops it. There’s no one around to defend him, which gives him time to settle the puck before shooting.
Martin’s shot goes over Draeger’s outstretched leg, over Ron Boyd’s stick, and over Hildebrand’s leg pad while staying outside his blocker. Draeger goes from preventing a goal to causing one in less than 10 seconds, while Martin unleashes the most perfectly placed lucky shot I’ve seen this year. What a fickle sport you are, hockey.
UM 3 MSU 0 EV 17:47 Copp (13) from Downing (13) and Motte (17)
Boyd gets the puck near his own blue line and, ever the team player, shows his buy-in to MSU’s theme of the night, which is insta-passing instead of skating the puck out. Like Pac-Man, you want to avoid the blue circle-thingys if you’re MSU. That’s not what Boyd’s pass does. Not great, Bob.
Boyd jumps to cover Motte along the boards, and Downing glides ahead of the D. With Copp having a backchecker gaining on him the next move is pretty easy to diagnose, and that’s a pass from Motte to Downing in the slot.
Motte’s pass is short and Downing does a spin-o-rama to try and adjust to no avail. The puck goes under his stick, but Copp’s cutting to the slot and in good position to recover.
Copp puts a backhander on net that Hildebrand stops. The puck is in front of him, and Draeger fans on it on his clearing attempt. Copp flips the puck up and I think it lands on the top of Hildebrand’s leg pad. Copp whacks his leg pad immediately after and the puck shoots into the net.
3rd period
UM 3 MSU 1 EV 05:51 DeBlouw from MacEachern and Berry
Michigan State dumps the puck to chase, and Mackenzie MacEachern splits two Michigan defenders at the blue line. Werenski goes for a hip check that doesn’t work while Copp tries to bump MacEachern with his shoulder. Did you guys ever have one of those Hot Wheels tracks where there are the two wheels that launch the car forward? That’s the resulting action here.
Nagelvoort plays the puck before MacEachern can get to it, but his clearing attempt is held in at the blue line and shot back behind the net. Matt Berry tries to pass to MacEachern, but the puck is deflected up and into the glass.
The puck loops up and over the net. Nagelvoort dives on it, but he doesn’t smother it. The puck rolls down his body, and he inadvertently kicks it.
You can see in the screen cap above that DeBlouw is right in front of the puck and undefended. He taps it in. Hockey!
(via pixshark)
UM 4 MSU 1 EN 18:48 Selman (6) from Hyman (21)
Larkin wins the faceoff and pushes it to the near-side boards. A State skaters tries to throw it down the boards but Selman cuts him off and hits him. Hyman has a chance at the puck but misses, but so does the MSU skater next to him. This MSU player is either Villiam Haag, Thomas Ebbing, or Berry but they wear sequential numbers and the back of their jerseys all say “Spartans” so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Hyman’s momentum is carrying him in the right direction, however, and he taps the puck ahead to Selman.
It’s a footrace to the puck between Selman and Spartans, and Selman wins.
Notes:
- PairWatch 2015: Michigan’s sitting at #12 and will remain there until Friday thanks to the Beanpot tournament getting postponed…again. We’ve had one winter storm here and I ended up pushing eight friend’s cars down my street after the Super Bowl, so if you live in Boston I am so, so sorry.
- Not very easy to glean substantive information from a game that was almost canceled due to poor ice conditions. Play was sloppy and back-and-forth, which I thought would favor MSU. As you can see from above there weren’t any pretty goals in this game; Michigan capitalized on some ill-advised passes from State while their own defensemen made (mostly) good reads. Nagelvoort was solid with the exception of the belly flop that turned into a goal. The forwards did a good job on the forecheck, which was key due to both MSU’s style and the ice conditions.
- If you didn’t make it to the end of the game you missed the beginning of what could be the sequel to Ace’s incredible Sports gif. I made a Vine, though, so you’re covered.
- Michigan’s next series is against Minnesota on the road. The road multiplier and quality win bonus are both in play here (Minnesota is #13 in the PairWise). Minnesota struggled in January but did sweep Ohio State last weekend, so I’m not entirety sure what to expect from them. Michigan swept them when they met at Yost in early January, 4-3 (in OT) and 7-5.
- I don’t feel the need to address the stupidity behind replacing a home game with an outdoor game in Chicago because I think Patrick’s picture at the top says it all. Speaking of Patrick, he shot the game for us and got some incredible stuff. Check out the album here.
- Next game: at Minnesota, Friday, Feb. 13 at 9 PM ET on BTN
NOBODY SHOW THIS TO HARBAUGH. FIVE IS ENOUGH.