Showing posts with label NHL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHL. Show all posts

Thursday, July 17, 2008

AAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH


Today is a sad day for Michigan hockey fans across the world as we say goodbye to the last member of one of the greatest lines in the storied history of Michigan hockey under Red Berenson, Max Pacioretty. He has signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens for a three year entry level contract, and i would not doubt it if he ended up getting brought up to the big leagues at some point during next season.

In foresight it's obvious why the Habs signed him, they're trying to get duplicate the success that the Red Wings have had with Thomas Holmstrom by signing a guy who specializes in screening the goalie, something he did to perfection here in Ann Arbor. However it is Michigan who is on the very short end of a deal, i highly doubt Coach Berenson was prepared for this and now he has to re-analyze his team for next year's depth chart at forward, and although this team is incredibly deep it hurts to see a dependable star player like Patch leave so early.

Prior to him leaving the first line would have probably been Patch, Carl Hagelin, and either Travis Turnbull or Aaron Palushaj, now you will probably see Turnbull definitely starting as the grinder forward that normally would have been taken up by Patch. The problem however is that although Turnbull has been known to play the grinder well, can he protect Carl Hagelin from getting pummeled every time he gets into the corners, because it seemed that in every game in the NCAA tournament the opposing defensemen would just let the Swede have it. So now either the Swede has to really tough it up and start hitting back against some much bigger defensemen in some cases, or Turnbull or someone else is gonna have to step their corner game up. In any case we will need the swede to show the flashes of greatness that he showed in the postseason everyday this upcoming season.

If Chris Summers is moved up to forward, which i doubt will happen, but is entirely possible, that might help but it would leave an incredibly large gap on the defensive end of the ice. Hopefully Scooter Vaughn can step up into a role if he needs too this year, to truly prove his worth to the NHL scouts, which he apparently was unable to last year.

All in all we are going to need ten of the fabulous twelve freshmen to become super sophomores.

aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

c-ya

Monday, May 5, 2008

AND NOW FOR THE RETURN OF ANGRY CHARLES

Anger trigger number one: Ekpe Udoh is transferring.

To Ekpe i have nothing but questions:

Ekpe, Why did you decide to leave? Doesn't Michigan count as part of your family, weren't you concerned for your teammates? Don't you value a world class education while being able to attract NBA scouts? Was the weather in Michigan really that bad? Was it Beiline's fault?????

To Beiline i have very little other than rage:

Dang you Beiline, why couldn't you convince Ekpe to stay???? Are you still oblivious to the way big ten basketball is played??? Do you realize what position this puts the basketball team in, we have no defense or inside presence without him!!! Do you realize that or are you so obsessed with getting a good outside shooter that you would sacrifice our only great defender???

Do you plan on recruiting guys who can play defense to play with Manny and Wright, because if you do you'd better get them now!!!!


Anger Trigger Number Two: Big Ten softball championships.

I understand that Michigan and Northwestern ended both of their regular season's tied for the big ten championship. What i really don't understand is how they ended up deciding the host of the big ten tournament by flipping a coin. I'll admit i wouldn't be ranting about this if the coin had landed in favor of Michigan, but shouldn't the host spot go to the team that had the better regular season record. If that were the case then the Wolverines would have hosted because they have only lost five games all season compared to the Wildcats eleven. Michigan is also the sixth ranked team in the country they went 5-1 against ranked non-conference opponents before splitting with the 12th ranked Wildcats. I highly doubt Northwestern's record is nearly as impressive.

Anger Trigger Number Three: No Original Six Stanly Cup!!!!

With both Montreal and the New York Rangers falling in five games in their second round playoff matches the only original six team left standing is my own home town Detroit Red Wings. While i love the Detroit Red Wings a lot, i feel that i am an old time hockey fan more. I hate the fact that all these teams started migrating south under Gary Bettman's leadership of the NHL, it just made no sense to me.

THERE IS NO ICE DOWN SOUTH, WHY WOULD YOU PUT A HOCKEY TEAM THERE!?!?!?!?!

This year i thought that things would be different, i thought that if two northern teams were to play for the Cup hockey would at least have a return to some of the former dignity it used to have. And i thought what better way than to have two original six squads duke it out. As of yesterday, it is no longer meant to be and i am sad for it. While i remain happy that the Red Wings are still in the hunt for the Cup and i also am glad to see two northern teams in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia fighting for the Eastern crown, i cannot help but despise the presence of the Dallas Stars in NHL's final four.

How is it possible to play hockey in Texas?

Gary Bettman