[Sherman/MGoBlog]
Yesterday I was thumbing through a notebook I use for interview prep and found a projected line chart I wrote last summer for the 2015-16 hockey season. It had Tyler Motte, JT Compher, and Alex Kile on the first line; I had Kyle Connor on the second. I chortled under my breath and moved on. It was only in doing research for this piece that I rediscovered how long- two months(!)- the lines were arranged as such. It's easy to forget that Michigan started their season without Connor, Compher, and Motte together, with the trio we'll affectionately remember as the CCM line not seeing game action until the beginning of December.
Connor, Compher, and Motte launched a four-month-long assault on the Big Ten and the Michigan record books that produced numbers that will be tough to come across in the near future. They also produced the kind of moments that become seared into your sports consciousness; sports memories tend to be grounded in moments, not the chronology of events. I still remember walking up State Street after some game during the 2007-08 season and marveling at Kolarik and Porter the whole way back. I don't remember which game, but I remember exactly what it felt like to be a witness to something special. I liked Michigan hockey before 2007-08, but the credit for why I care enough to want to break down every goal scored over the course of every season falls squarely on Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik's shoulders.
That feeling was back this year. For the first time in at least eight season we weren't just watching great players play, we were watching players play perfectly off of each other and accomplish things that caused that voice in the back of your mind to pick up decibels until it's practically screaming at you, reminding you that this is something to hold on to, something that doesn't happen every season.
The numbers give context to the memories: Connor led the nation in scoring and goals, Compher finished second in scoring nationally and led the country in assists, and Motte finished fourth in scoring nationally. Motte scored a goal in 12 straight games, a Berenson-era record; Connor ended the season with a 27-game point streak, another Berenson-era record. Connor scored more goals than any other freshman in Michigan history while finishing second in all-time freshman points. Compher had the second most assists of any junior in Michigan history. Compher, Connor, and Motte were three of the top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker, which is just the third time in the award's history that one school has placed three players in the top 10. (Michigan also did it in 1994, when Steve Shields, Brian Wiseman, and David Oliver were finalists.)
Michigan's roster next year will look different, and it's not just because it's missing two guys (and possibly a third) who scored in droves. The way they played together is what set the CCM line apart. It's something that you don't see in hockey very often these days; creativity and communication can create beautiful plays, but the system a player is a part of has to allow the player to take some liberties for that to transpire. Michigan's system is well suited for that, and the results speak volumes not just about the system but about the way the abilities of three players blended to create a scoring threat that was nearly unstoppable.
Igor Larionov wrote a piece for The Players' Tribune that I've seen passed around NHL circles again recently, and the crux of his argument is that players are told to over-simplify their game at too early an age in order to eliminate risk. In his mind, this stifles creativity and leaves only a handful of players in the NHL who think the game three or four moves ahead and then act on those suppositions. In his words:
Our philosophy was about puck control, improvisation, and constant movement. Now, the game is all about “north-south,” chip-and-chase. We moved side-to-side and swooped around the ice looking for open spaces. A backward pass was just as good as a forward pass. You didn’t have to see your linemate. You could smell him. Honestly, we probably could have played blind.
Michigan had three boundlessly creative players on the same line. Connor's accuracy and quick release made him the perfect finisher, always open thanks to his linemates' ability to maintain possession and positioning near the net. Compher had some of the finest olfaction of any Michigan skater I've seen, seemingly throwing the puck around blindly only to put it precisely on the tape of his teammate's stick. Motte could turn and lift a puck from a sharp angle in such a way that the puck seemed to explode off his blade; he was the perfect netfront presence.
With a few exceptions, these three showed that you can be responsible defensively while also being creative offensively, and in the process they crafted moments that transcended box scores. To borrow from Red Berenson by way of Dickie Moore, you can't buy that kind of fun.
[After THE JUMP: I empty out my "CCM line" gif folder]
Connor gets the puck low to Compher, who drags a defender behind the net and gets another moving to the near-side before executing one of his aforementioned no-look, smelled-where-his-linemate's-gonna-be passes. Motte manages to surprise Hildebrand with a quick-rising shot over the shoulder.
Here's a nice example of what happens to the defense when every player on a line is a scoring threat and they all can skate well. Compher pulls off a perfect drop pass for Motte. The defender in front is in huge trouble, as Motte and Compher are both on his side of the ice with no help from his forwards. He has to take Motte, but that allows Compher to loop around him and head for the front of the net; if he took Compher he'd be letting Motte walk to the front of the net unless he can communicate to his defense partner that they should switch assignments. Think about how long it took to read that. There isn't time to communicate the switch. Motte passes to Compher and Compher's cut across the crease prevents Hildebrand from squaring up.
It looks like Compher's taking a shot that's wildly inaccurate until the camera pans up and we see that he knew exactly where Motte would be in a half second. The goaltender is square to Compher and probably not thinking about Motte until the puck's behind him.
Compher threads a pass through traffic on what's a great example of Motte's mind bogglingly fast-rising shot; he's even able to pick his corner from his backhand while gliding past the edge of the crease.
The defender diving before Compher passes shows how scared guys are of the puck being punched in from the front of the net; it also demonstrates how rarely a player can pass through the mass of bodies in front of the net without a deflection. Compher's passing skills are sublime, and Connor's able to accurately finish from a sharp angle.
Connor was never Pavel Datsyuk and that worked out just fine. By the end of the year he didn't really have to deke a goalie, but could instead rely on his accuracy.
Oh, and Connor could pass, too. Lord could he pass. This is one of the prettier saucer passes I've ever seen. S/O to Eric Schierhorn for not just skating off and quitting hockey altogether after that one.
Compher plays the Connor role here, which is only right after Connor did the Compher thing and bumped a guy and stripped the puck. Motte does a nice job freezing the goaltender and netfront defender and buying some time with a little stickhandling.
The 1-3-1 power play is designed to get guys moving and open up the center of the box penalty kill formation; Michigan exploited this over and over again, so I had to include an example of what that formation can do with the right personnel.
I mean, I know I said Connor wasn't Datsyuk, but there was that one time that he was.
Compher can out-pass a drop kick, and Connor just flips it in.
Motte's turn-and-explode shot from the front of the net in as clear a gif as I have. This was his specialty, and the Connor gif above provides circumstantial evidence for how rare it is.
When I first mentioned I was going to write this post on Slack, Ace told me that I needed to include the gif. I knew exactly what he meant, and I think it took me less than a minute to have it posted in our group chat.
The pass isn't from one of the CCMers, but Connor's somehow able to finish after a dude tried to sheer his forearm off. "Finish" is putting it mildly: he takes the puck from his backhand to his forehand and lifts it, then immediately drops the stick from his injured arm after scoring.
O-L-FACTION *clap* *clap* *clap clap clap*
Compher's shot was good enough to stick him on the wing on the 1-3-1, and he waits for the goaltender to hit the ice before picking his spot far-side. This would be the CCM line's last points together, coincidentally coming against the future national champions.
These are some of my favorite moments from Connor, Compher, and Motte. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but are the things that stood out to me when I went back and looked and some of the goals they scored this season. If there's an egregious omission feel free to talk about it in the comments.