Jack was nimble and was quick, just could not jump over the final…candlestick? (James Coller)
OFFENSE
Corsi | House | Possession % | |
First Period | 22 | 7 | 48% |
Second Period | 16 | 6 | 43% |
Third Period | 25 | 11 | 45% |
Overtime | 0 | 0 | 0% (unlikely) |
TOTAL | 63 | 24 | 45% |
Analysis: So, watching this…it felt a lot worse. This is results-based charting, however, and this is a very big improvement. I tweeted than Michigan had games of 49 and 39 in Happy Valley last year. Getting 63 attempts with almost 40% of those coming from the House is good, especially against a puck-dominant team. I think Michigan can do fine with numbers like this (the possession isn’t great, though). Penn State has a leaky defense and an inconsistent goalie. Michigan definitely took advantage of both of those things and scored enough to give them a good enough chance to win this game. Marody had a nice snipe, Dancs took his chance well, and others had great opportunities to score. Peyton Jones played well in net for Penn State at times, and at others he was awful. All in all, if you gave me these numbers before the game, I would have taken them happily.
[After THE JUMP: defense, special teams, and odd-man rushes]
DEFENSE
Corsi | House | Possession % | |
First Period | 24 | 9 | 52% |
Second Period | 21 | 9 | 57% |
Third Period | 30 | 14 | 55% |
Overtime | 2 | 2 | 100% (lol) |
TOTAL |
Analysis: Woof. Penn State takes more shots than Allen Iverson. This is a lot, though. Thirty attempts? That’s just so many. And they got close to half of their night’s looks from in the House. On the third period chart, there are 9(!!) marks on or right in front of the crease. That’s just nuts. I thought Michigan’s defense tired as the third period dragged on and they had trouble clearing their zone (no wonder, shots were coming from everywhere), so that lead to some really bad DZTOs. It’s a bit of a wonder that Michigan didn’t give up more goals.
SPECIAL TEAMS
PP For | PP Against | PP Corsi For | PP Corsi Against | PP Shots/Min For | PP Shots/Min Against | |
First Period | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Second Period | 1/1 | 0/2 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 3 |
Third Period | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Overtime | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
TOTAL | 1/2 | 0/3 | 4 | 10 | .67 | 2.33 |
Analysis: Weirdly, special teams went well for Michigan. They had a mini-power play in the first and didn’t record an attempt, but they set up a nice power play in the second and scored on it. Dancs redirected a shot from distance through Jones to give Michigan their second lead. Michigan also managed to kill three power plays from Penn State’s third-ranked 34% power play. Penn State did average over two shots per minute, which is very good. Advice for tomorrow: don’t take any penalties.
GOALTENDING
Shots Faced | Shots from House Faced | |
First Period | 18 | 6 |
Second Period | 15 | 6 |
Third Period | 19 | 10 |
Overtime | 2 | 2 |
TOTAL | 54 | 24 |
Analysis: LOL. Jack LaFontaine was unbelievable. Penn State should/could have scored 7-8 goals easily. He made a handful of point-blank bonkers saves. His positioning was generally very good. The last three goals there was simply nothing he could do at all. He was super unlucky on the first goal. He made the save, it flipped straight up an over him and dropped into the net. I don’t think he saw the second goal. It was from a distance, but he reacted so late –especially given the sheer volume of reactionary saves the rest of the night. Even if the second one was soft, he stole a handful of should-have-been goals. Lavigne is a very good college goalie and he is clearly second-best on this team.
ODD-MAN RUSHES
Rushes | Advantages | Escape % | |
First Period | 0 | n/a | n/a |
Second Period | 1 | 2v1 | 100% |
Third Period | 0 | n/a | n/a |
Overtime | 0 | n/a | n/a |
TOTAL | 1 | one 2v1 | 100% |
Analysis: I guess when the puck is generally in your zone you can’t really give up odd-man rushes? haha Anyway, this remains consistent through the games I’ve seen Michigan play. They have been disciplined at the back. The one in the second was Hughes trying to make a play on offense and his shot was blocked and deflected out toward the blue line. He just couldn’t catch up after being caught so deep. JLF made a nice save (surprise!) to bail him out. There were a couple of almost-OMRs, but they never fully developed, so I did not chart them.
FINAL CORSI NUMBERS
I had: Penn State 77, Michigan 63
www.collegehockeynews.com had: Penn State 82, Michigan 63