B1G Quarters: Michigan Routs State (again)
The Wolverines hammered their in-state rivals by an aggregate score of 12-1, advancing to the B1G semis and sealing a 6-0 season sweep
For about seven minutes, it looked as though Michigan State would give the University of Michigan men’s hockey team a fight in the in-state rivals’ B1G Quarterfinals match-up.
The Wolverines were off to a sleepy start. Lackadaisical with the puck and leaden with their feet. Spartan forward Dennis Cesana scored before the five-minute mark, announcing an intention that would never be realized.
How did Michigan snap into life? It began with an Adam Goodsir hooking minor six minutes and thirty-two seconds into the first. Forty-two seconds later Jagger Joshua joined him in the box. Michigan would have a five-on-three.
From that moment forward, Michigan would outscore Michigan State 12-0 over the remaining one-hundred-thirteen minutes and forty-six seconds, sweeping the Spartans for the third time this season and advancing to the semifinal of the Big Ten playoffs.
It took a bit less than a minute for Michigan to convert on the five-on-three. During that time, the Spartans never gained possession, much less cleared the zone. The Wolverines were patient with the puck but did not lack urgency, moving the puck around the perimeter of the rink looking for a seam.
The lane emerged off a rotation from Thomas Bordeleau, who moved the puck to Matty Beniers for a one-timer that leveled the score.
The Spartans would be able to ward off the rest of the period before conceding again, but, early in the second, Luke Hughes showed off his edges in twirling around Spartan forward Kyle Haskins before firing off the post and in.
If the tide began to shift as Michigan headed to its five-on-three in the first, Hughes’ goal was the moment at which the Spartans’ chances of competing submerged entirely.
For Hughes, the glorious goal continued a season-long haunting of State and marked his record-setting 33rd point, more than any other freshman defenseman in program history.
Luke Morgan would double Michigan’s lead before the end of the period.
Then a gorgeous Mackie Samoskevich finish made it 4-1 early in the third.
Michigan would need no more and hardly needed the insurance Morgan and Samoskevich did provide.
On Saturday night, Bordeleau ensured the Wolverines would be on their game from the jump, opening the scoring in the period’s opening minute.
By game’s end, Michigan would find the back of the net eight times through seven different goal scorers.
The goals ranged from spectacular solo efforts
to impressive sequences of transition passing.
Johnny Beecher snapped a non-empty-net goal drought that dated back to Veterans’ Day by sniping a shot through Pierce Charleson’s five hole.
To commemorate the occasion, Beecher snapped his stick as he collected fist bumps from his teammates along the bench.
The Big Ten does not allow for the third period of blowouts to be played with a running clock, but Michigan did its best to get out of the third with haste against a Spartan team whose only recourse for expression remaining was taking penalties.
To its credit, Michigan State did not concede in the third.
So, Michigan completed a perfect 6-0 season sweep of its little brother in style and, as of this writing, does not know its B1G semifinal opponent.
Michigan was the only team able to sweep its first round series, meaning that a pair of Game 3’s tonight (Ohio State-Penn State and Notre Dame-Wisconsin) will settle the second round match-ups.
Of the four teams vying for the final two spots in the Big Ten semis, only Penn State could NOT play Michigan next Saturday. As the lowest remaining seed in the tournament, the Nittany Lions could only meet Minnesota (who earned a first-round bye), if they beat Ohio State.
Entering the weekend, Michigan seemed to need an inspired effort to shake off any hangover from last weekend’s disappointment in South Bend. It’s hard to imagine asking for anything better than 4-1 and 8-0 results in a sweep, but it would be hyperbolic to suggest that Michigan played a pair of flawless games.
At times, Michigan showed hints of the same sloppiness or disengagement that has cost them at different points throughout this season. However, it would feel a bit excessive to pick nits for a team taking its foot off the gas in a series that felt competitive for at most a period and change.
With that said, what then is the path forward for Michigan? Does this result against a Spartan team that struggled with everybody throughout the season have any bearing on the more difficult match-ups to follow, all of which will be single elimination?
The answer to the second question may well prove to be “no.” However, if Michigan wants to close out the season by lifting the trophies it seeks, it should be a “yes.”
Sure, Michigan cannot expect victory to come this easily as the postseason progresses. And yes, even a momentary lapse in engagement can prove fatal amidst the thin margins of single-elimination games.
Nonetheless, the best version of this year’s Michigan Wolverines—a team we at Gulo Gulo feel privileged to have seen play in person—plays fast, expansive, and attacking hockey.
The conventional wisdom is that postseason hockey rewards teams that tend toward dump-and-chase attacks and stout defense, as opposed to free-flowing offense, particularly given the reluctance of officials to whistle penalties in the playoffs.
But if any hockey team ought to dare emphasize offense in the postseason, it must be this one, with its unprecedented assembly of talent.
That is not to suggest that the Wolverines ought to come out reckless or careless as the playoffs continue. We have seen the team attempt a frenetic and individualistic approach to ill-effect on a few occasions.
Instead, Michigan is at its best when empowering its talented cast of puck carriers to attack. This does not mean sending home-run stretch passes down the ice. Instead, it looks like a series of horizontal passes as the team looks to spring any of its myriad attackers.
To sit back in a defensive shell in deference to dated attitudes regarding the aesthetics of playoff hockey would guarantee Michigan’s team. This is not a team built to defend and win 1-0.
Instead, if there is to be a path forward for Michigan, it will come from playing the same attacking hockey that has earned them a 35-10 margin in its six wins over State this year, albeit against more resistant opposition.
Odds & Ends
Apples for Portillo
In addition to making a number of difficult saves while his team awakened Friday, Erik Portillo registered a pair of assists Saturday, which is to say he had more points than did any Spartan in the series.
It was nice to see Portillo resume making a positive impact as a puck handler, given that a blunder behind his net cost Michigan last weekend at Notre Dame.
Despite that gaffe, Portillo’s aptitude in that regard is a boon for Michigan, so Wolverine fans should be pleased that he hasn’t shied away from playing the puck in response.
Morgan’s goal & the double review
On the Morgan goal shown above, fans had to endure a loathsome double review. First, the officials reviewed the play themselves, determining that there was insufficient evidence to overturn the call on the ice.
Inexplicably, Spartan coach Danton Cole challenged that review. To the surprise of no one, the second review did nothing to change the result of the first.
Normally, I find Michigan fans’ barbs about the academic quality of their in-state rival to be boring, if not classist. In this case though, it defies understanding how anyone would believe replay officials would change the results of their own review.
KJ’s Wizardry check-in
Devout readers of this newsletter know that we will take any possible opportunity to gush about Kent Johnson and may have been surprised not to see his goal mentioned in the body of this column.
Well, here it is:
The play encapsulates Johnson’s unique ability to force opponents into one-on-one situations, where his ridiculous skill gives him an advantage. The British Columbian finds a way to apply pressure in areas of the rink where opponents expect to find safety.
Here, most forecheckers would allow a free hand-off from goaltender to defenseman behind the net. Not Kent Johnson, who instead sneaks in, wins the puck (as he always seems to do), and deposits an easy goal.
The Krygier Brothers’ Existential Journey
The defenseman Johnson was Cole Krygier, who like his brother Christian, was on quite the emotional journey Saturday night. It was not the only time Johnson humbled Cole on the weekend, with the former sending the latter spinning on a head fake near the midpoint of the third period, which led the suffering Krygier to feed (unpenalized) cross checks to Johnson’s back in the corner.
Meanwhile, Christian Krygier received a game misconduct for slew-footing midway through the second.
The Krygier brothers were powerless to slow down Michigan offensively, and the only way to work their way onto the scoresheet was by lashing out. It was that sort of weekend for the Spartans.