Michigan is clearly the superior team in the CCHA at this point in the season
(71% completed).
G.M. Finniss writes:
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....Steve Klein wrote in yesterday's Lansing State Journal that, essentially,
Spartan fans should face the fact that UM is just better than MSU. I beg to
differ. UM was better than MSU on Saturday, February 4, 1995, the chief
reason
being that the Spartans were sloppy with the puck in their own end. At this
moment, MSU has the type of team that if it is on its game, can beat ANY team
in the country, no matter where the game is played....
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This may be true, but if we objectively look at the statistics (CCHA stats)
thus far in the season (70%) we see a definite trend.
Team A: Team B:
Goals scored/GP 5.79 5.05
Goals allowed/GP 2.68 3.11
Points/GP 1.74 1.42
Head to Head Team A is 2-0 against Team B during league play.
Team A is 3-0 overall against Team B
including tournament play.
Team A is superior in each category including head to head.
Team A is Univ. of Michigan, Team B is Michigan State, IMHO the Lansing State
Journal is correct in their assessment of the two teams.
Now this is not to say the Univ. of Michigan is going to beat MSU later this
month or in the CCHA/NCAA playoffs next month, infact I believe the spartans
are do for some wins against the Maize and Blue. It's just setting the
record straight as to which team is currently statistically superior.
As for poor refereeing in the CCHA, it is unfortunate that a referee could
make a bad call or two and affect the outcome of a game, however, the better
team should be able to over come those bad calls, and penalties in general
and still pull out the win. Coincidentally, the Wolverines have had 35%
(that's a lot!) more penalty minutes than the Spartans and still sit atop the
CCHA.
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Gerald E. Williams
Michigan '93 Michigan GLI Champions '89,'90,'91,'92,'93,'94
CCHA Champions '92, '94, '95?
In the end, there were no heroes or villains, only silence.
Go Blue!
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