A season lof AUUUUUUUUHGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH on the ice too.

Football has been having a terribly excruciating season this year and it has put every person who bleeds Maize and Blue this year through a lot of pain.

But what happened today with hockey was just ridiculous. I don't understand how you can out play a team like Western like that and still lose. They had twice as many shots, applied almost constant pressure to Riley Gill throughout the first two periods and yet they only got one goal. On top of that, you really have to convince me that Gill had that good of a game and is that good of a goalie, a lot of time their opportunities were good it's just that either the passes out in front ended up untouched or they shot the puck into traffic and it ran into a guy in the wrong jersey. Granted he came up big when he could, but you can't tell me Michigan's ineptness was not the cause of several fans in the student section angrily screaming obscenities after the game.

I thought hockey was supposed to be a diversion from the crap that has been going on the gridiron this year. But the winged helmets on ice are disappointing too at this point as well, Michigan just had their first home loss to a team that prior to tonight hadn't won a game in conference play. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. You can't go to Michigan and lose a home game to WESTERN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the subject of Billy Sauer i am truly torn, i have to ask, WHAT HAPPENED???????

Last year he was standing on his head to get the Wolverines to the frozen four. Now? He let's in a slap shot in that he apparently doesn't see. I don't get it what is it with him this year. Last year he didn't have many problems and aside from the Notre Dame game in the Frozen Four last year he had an excellent year, and in my opinion was the comeback player of the year, but this is just bizarre and i am swallowing my words as far as Billy Sauer is concerned.

And for those of you naysayers who say that the defense is depleted without Mitera and Kampfer, yes those losses are crucial, but that's no excuse for losing to WESTERN AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!


ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

c-ya

Back to reality (football)

Denial's a bitch and i've been sleeping with her for the last couple of weeks. I honestly thought Michigan was going to beat the Spartans. They didn't seem to have much of a passing game before then, i guess i was wrong. I thought the wolverines might beat Purdue because they were desperate to keep their bowl hopes alive, but i was wrong there too, because i didn't account on the defense not showing up.

To say that this football season has been a disappointment would be a gross understatement, it is an unprecedented (i'll explain later) catastrophe that could (fingers crossed that it won't) have very bad long term consequences for the program i loved as a boy and taught me what it felt like to win in a world where i always felt like i was going to lose.

I grew up with two truly great loves as far as sports were concerned, Detroit Tigers baseball and Michigan football, i loved the Red Wings but there was a lull in that love due to the strike. I never stopped loving Michigan or the Tigers. With all of the turmoil the Tigers went through under Randy Smith as general manager i got used to the feeling of the Tigers being a perennial losing team. The Wolverines however create something different for me, one of the first memories for me as far as football is concerned was the Remy Hamilton game, which i watched at my grandma's house just over a month after my grandfather had died.



For some reason the winged helmets that Michigan had just spoke to me in a way that Notre Dame's plain golden domes didn't. Secondly i liked the sound of a name like Biakabatuka. But they kept winning after that game and Frank Beckman was consistently the voice of both the Tigers on TV and the Wolverines on the radio, so as a kid with aspirations to be an announcer i felt very close to both. And the way i felt about both was understandable, the Wolverines were the rock pillars of winning and consistency and all that was good in the world, the Tigers were the lovable losers whom i knew.

But now that has all changed and it may not get better. What is happening at Michigan, an outsider taking over at head coach and having a losing season right out of the get go, after a good coach steps down, is unprecedented in the 129 years of Michigan football. However i can think of a relevant comparison that makes me shudder to think it might be true, but unfortunately it may be. John Cooper.



Cooper was hired one year after both the death of Woody Hayes and the firing of Earle Bruce. Michigan fans are all familiar with his record of futility against them. On top of that he also was part although he did not start or finish the downfall of academics in the college football program, something Michigan has prided themselves on in the past.

On the latter part i don't think there is too much to be worried about, but on the former, i am deeply troubled. If he doesn't beat Ohio State in a season this bad it would be the greatest failure of a season in the living memory since before Bo came to town.

It's not the problem of the spread not working anymore, the wolverines have the skill players what they don't have is the tools to defend it. Not enough emphasis is put on defense in the current system right now, if HRG had put an emphasis on the defensive backs and getting them to do better in defending against the pass Michigan would not be in this position. If anybody is on the chopping block right now it's either him or defensive backs coach Tony Gibson.


stay tuned for happy days when i write about Michigan hockey.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

c-ya

Two Agonizing Saturdays, and one trashed apartment

As a lifelong Michigan football fan it is hard to imagine a Wolverine team that has no idea to either defend against the pass in the secondary, nor block for the run on the line.

When one grows up watching Charles Woodson, Marlin Jackson, Cato June, Leon Hall, and Earnest Shazor break up passes, make interceptions and punish recievers trying to get yards after the catch. It is hard to watch this year's team play these last two weeks.

When one grows up watching Steve Hutchinson, Jeff Backus, Jake Long, and Ron Payne create huge holes for Anthony Thomas, Mike Hart and Tshimanga Biakabatuka (i refuse to call him Tim) to pick up yards through. It is hard for one to see running backs as talented as Brandon Minor and Sam McGuffie struggle to get past the line of scrimmage due to missed assignments.

A few weeks ago, no one would talk about these problems because the problem of holding onto the football was too glaring. Turnovers still hurt, and by the lord the amount of turnovers committed early in this first half of the season are appalling enough to cause Bo Schembecler to turn in his grave. However even a back who knows how to hold onto the football as well as McGuffie can't do anything without some room to run with.

I understand the amount of youth at receiver and with the depth the winged helmets have at running back i see no reason to change the run-first strategy Rich Rod has in place, however he has got to work on run blocking. These players didn't do too much run blocking under Carr because he depended more on bigger stronger players to hold off the pass rush. Now the emphasis is more on the faster stronger players who can get out of the blocks like a sprinter and drive defensive linemen into the ground like air under the feet of Usain Bolt. Nobody on the line seems to be capable of doing this and since teamwork is essential on the offensive line more than any other area of the field it is essential that somebody start doing it and doing it now.

Brendan Harrison will be sorely missed after his graduation after this season. Donavan Warren has shown amazing amounts of moxie in his two years here so far and has shown calm under pressure, his absence last Saturday undoubtedly caused the regrettable fall of a record last Saturday. Morgan Trent is fast, he can jump and break up passes, and he still is not a great tackler, i'm not asking for him to be Charles Woodson but at least get a hold of the guy. If Charles Stewart misses another potential interception on a play that results in a touchdown he will be run out of town on a rail.

My rage not only led me to write this cliche ridden piece of crap article it also led me to throw stuff all over my already fairly dirty off campus apartment in the face of exams this week. A loss to Toledo is just plain unacceptable on any level for any era at Michigan, even a transitional one.

In spite of that i am not one of those who believe that Rich Rod should be fired immediately. I think that he should seriously re-evaluate where he recruits for in the future and try to keep his players more disciplined in the future.

Is this season a lost cause, technically no because if Michigan beats Penn State they have a winning record in conference play. However with an abomination of a secondary the wolverines looked like they might be having the wings from their helmets clipped by Joe Pa before he dies, i'm just curious if i'll have the stomach to watch it without snapping.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

c-ya

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