Friday, December 16, 2005

Back on the Map?

We're about 17 hours away from tipping off Michigan/UCLA in a game that could put Michigan basketball back on the map. I don't want to overstate it too much, but with a win tomorrow, Michigan will be ranked for the first time in God only knows how long. Lose, and there's still a long way to go in the season, but we'll have to hear the nay-sayers (read: Spartan fans) talking about the cake schedule and whatnot until at least the middle of January. It's been a long time coming, and I'd love to see all the hard work Tommy Amaker (and this team) have put in finally pay off. I like our chances tomorrow, and even though my seats suck, I'm looking forward to being there.

The Red Wings dropped one last night, thanks to yet another broken stick of Andreas Lilja and the Chris Osgood we all remember showing up once again. Stand on your head, stand on your head, HORRIBLY WEAK GOAL, stand on your head, stand on your head, HORRIBLY WEAK GOAL, stand on your head, stand on your head, OT goal you were screened on but only made a half-hearted effort to stop, throw the arms out to the side, look up at the defenseman like "What, I was supposed to stop that?"

I didn't see the GWG against Atlanta, but I've been told it was just awful. That was a weird hockey game, and thus is life in the new NHL. Previously, there would have been no shot at coming back from down 4 goals. Now, it seems like it happens fairly frequently. Babcock's decision to take Howard out in that game was an odd one. It was only 3-2 and it wasn't like they were still in the first period. It was around the middle of the second period and it's not like he was majorly at fault on any of the goals. Not that Jimmy probably makes a difference on those PPGs. It was an odd time to make a goalie switch though, especially considering he later said that it wasn't to spark the team.

As expected, Andrew Cogliano made the Canadian World Junior team further decimating the Michigan team for the GLI. That TSN article says that Cogliano was the most impressive forward at the selection camp. Hopefully the WJC can spring him to a stellar second half. And hopefully none of our guys come down with mono.

Sticking with Michigan hockey, Mike Spath had an outstanding post on the Yost Post today that was Inside the Fort-esque in its content. One comment that I thought was particularly interesting:
A few surprises/positives. Everyone is very happy with the Mark Mitera/David Rohlfs pairing. Rohlfs might be the biggest surprise of the first half because he has more than held his own, while Mitera has quietly gone about his bizness and gotten the job done. Coaches very pleased with those two.
The next time I get the blockquote tool to work on the first try without having to go in and edit extra lines will be the first...The quote is further evidence to me that Johnson and Hunwick should be split up and each paired with one of the above duo. I'd prefer to see Johnson/Mitera because they've played together in the past, but either way is good. Have one offensive guy and one stay-at-home guy on each pairing. It maximizes Johnson and Hunwick's offensive effectiveness and probably means less goals against in the process. I have a longer post about my thoughts here. He also mentioned that the word around Yost is that it seems increasingly likely that Johnson will be back next year. I'm sure Carolina is thrilled. Anaheim still screwed up not drafting him, even if it takes 4 years to get him in a pro uniform.

And courtesy of MGoBlog, through Russian5 a link to a great article about Cogliano. This one was really well done, with the exception being that it says we got swept by Minnesota. Don't need any extra losses to them thank you very much. Bonus points for Brian for remembering that coked-out Canadian called him "Drew Cogs"...forgot about that and it was hilarious.

Larry Harrison, who used to play defensive tackle for Michigan when he wasn't busy pounding the pud on girls' porches, was convicted of being a sexually delinquent person yesterday. He faces 1 day to life in jail for the offense(s). Still one of the strangest stories I can remember.

Darrell Russell, ex-DT for USC and the Oakland Raiders was killed in a car wreck yesterday. He and an ex-Trojan teammate were both killed in the crash. I don't mean to make light of the situation, but check out the AP's account of the crash:
[The car] went out of control about 6 a.m. and hit a curb, tree, newsstand, fire hydrant, light pole, another tree and an unoccupied transit bus.
That has to be some kind of record. I can't even fathom how fast that car must have been travelling.

And the IRL is basically a spec-series now. No that isn't a comment about the nationalities of their drivers, you freaking racist. It just means that with Toyota's early exit from the series Honda is the only engine out there, Firestone is the only tire out there now. The only difference between the teams is the chassis. And the engines will be leased now, meaning that theoretically it should all be random. No more huge AGR advantage unfortunately.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

IIRC, the GWG by Atlanta was also a broken stick. Can't remember which defenseman, but his stick broke when he tried a slapshot from the left point and the puck went right to an Atlanta player, who fed a pass up the middle. Almost could be considered a breakaway goal because the only Detroit player next to him trying to catch up was the defenseman without a stick and it's not like he could poke the puck away or be effective.