by skatingtripods » Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:04 pm
Ohio State has a hard time recruiting. You could see that in yesterday's game. They had solid, responsible, good two-way players, but lacked top end skill. They're in a tough spot to recruit and they're only real hotbed for recruiting is the Pittsburgh area. With the USHL and the National Development Program (located in Ann Arbor) becoming more popular, kids in this area are exposed to more of the Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota schools and so recruiting is just stronger for those teams.
In Ohio State's defense, two of the goals resulted from a missed hand pass call and a terrible bounce along the boards. But, it's not like they mounted any offense of their own.
On TV, the ice looked awful. Plenty of bad bounces, slow passes. If you notice, Michigan was throwing all their cross-ice passes in the air. They made good adjustments to the conditions while Ohio State just continued to play their dump & chase game.
Jonathan Merrill makes a huge difference for UM. He was suspended for the first part of the season, played for the US in the World Juniors, and was reinstated to the Michigan team right after. He may have been the best player on the ice overall.
Can't speak for the event itself, though I did watch a high school game down there last month.
Being reported again that the Indians took a financial hit with Snow Days for the second year in a row and are re-evaluating everything, including the hockey aspect.
A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe
