Since the first half is over and Michigan is done playing until January I thought I would do a quick look at how this years team compares to last years. Not doing any deep dive, just skimming across the top.
Basically we are watching pretty much the same team we watched last year. They are better in some respects, maybe worse in others (or certainly no better), and the same in others.
Overall at the this point last year Michigan's record was sub .500 at 8-9-1. This year they are right at .500 with a 7-7-2 record. They have two more games in last years record and those would be the two GLI games which this team won't get to until January. I guess you could say this years record is slightly better, but not to a degree that would have you saying, wow this teams getting better.
As for goals, they have scored five more goals this year than last year at this time, but they have given up two more goals this year than last year at this time. As far as scoring goes I you would have to say that there is some slight improvement here, especially given that they have played two fewer games through December. However, if they get credit for scoring more goals they also have to take a hit for giving up more goals, again in two fewer games.
Special teams are once again a conundrum. Some nights they hit on all cylinders, other nights they can't get out of their own way. They can still be very lazy with the puck in their own zone, leading to turn overs, which often turn into points for the opposition. I was hoping a lot of that would be coached out of them by this point in time, but maybe there are just too many guys with too many bad habits to fix. The offense, what to say about the offense? They can obviously score, at least some nights, and then you have nights like Friday where they have chances and can do nothing with them.
Well there are three solid weeks before the next game. Hopefully they spend a lot of time working on their game. The second half starts tough, those two GLI games to start the new year, then just a couple of days off before they have to play Notre Dame, once at home and then once on the road. They will be short key players at GLI and depending on how team USA does and when players gret back to A2, they could be short those same players against Notre Dame.
For anyone who doesn't know, Notre Dame currently leads the Big Ten conference. With everyone having played 10 conference games, except Minnesota who has played 12, the conference this year is looking like Notre Dame and everyone else. They have built a solid 14 point lead over the next closest team (Ohio State) and each team after that is still farther back. Those wins have all pretty much come against the other teams at the top of the conference (Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). They have played two against MSU and then get two against Michigan to start 2018, that will give them two games against each conference opponent. If they sweep Michigan, heck even if they didn't, they could split pretty much every series for the rest of the second half and still win the conference running away.
Basically we are watching pretty much the same team we watched last year. They are better in some respects, maybe worse in others (or certainly no better), and the same in others.
Overall at the this point last year Michigan's record was sub .500 at 8-9-1. This year they are right at .500 with a 7-7-2 record. They have two more games in last years record and those would be the two GLI games which this team won't get to until January. I guess you could say this years record is slightly better, but not to a degree that would have you saying, wow this teams getting better.
As for goals, they have scored five more goals this year than last year at this time, but they have given up two more goals this year than last year at this time. As far as scoring goes I you would have to say that there is some slight improvement here, especially given that they have played two fewer games through December. However, if they get credit for scoring more goals they also have to take a hit for giving up more goals, again in two fewer games.
Special teams are once again a conundrum. Some nights they hit on all cylinders, other nights they can't get out of their own way. They can still be very lazy with the puck in their own zone, leading to turn overs, which often turn into points for the opposition. I was hoping a lot of that would be coached out of them by this point in time, but maybe there are just too many guys with too many bad habits to fix. The offense, what to say about the offense? They can obviously score, at least some nights, and then you have nights like Friday where they have chances and can do nothing with them.
Well there are three solid weeks before the next game. Hopefully they spend a lot of time working on their game. The second half starts tough, those two GLI games to start the new year, then just a couple of days off before they have to play Notre Dame, once at home and then once on the road. They will be short key players at GLI and depending on how team USA does and when players gret back to A2, they could be short those same players against Notre Dame.
For anyone who doesn't know, Notre Dame currently leads the Big Ten conference. With everyone having played 10 conference games, except Minnesota who has played 12, the conference this year is looking like Notre Dame and everyone else. They have built a solid 14 point lead over the next closest team (Ohio State) and each team after that is still farther back. Those wins have all pretty much come against the other teams at the top of the conference (Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). They have played two against MSU and then get two against Michigan to start 2018, that will give them two games against each conference opponent. If they sweep Michigan, heck even if they didn't, they could split pretty much every series for the rest of the second half and still win the conference running away.
