I am a season ticket holder for Michigan for the last 6 years. I see about
25 or so games each year, most with Michigan playing, but a couple each year
of other schools. I am no expert, but here's my musings on Michigan so far
this year.
As everyone well knows, the fabled 9 seniors from last year are gone, and now
there are 10 new freshman replacing them. Everyone in Ann Arbor says how
much the freshman are contributing. However, they HAVE TO - they comprise
almost half of the dressed players each game. Michigan also had another
class of players several years before the seniors from last year and that was
the class that included Wiseman, Oliver, and Shields who were all hobey-baker
finalists in their senior year. I do not think this freshman class is going
to rank up there with these 2 classes. That being said, I also think they
are going to be a great bunch of players - IF they stay for 4 years. A
couple of them are already 21 years old, and a couple may want to go pro (or
actually go minor). Van Ryn (D) seems to be on the ice whenever Michigan
scores and has accumulated a bunch of points. Langfeld (F)can score but it
sure would be nice to see more speed from him. Kosick (C) has molded in with
his line very quickly, Matzka(F) is a great puck handler. Kahler, Koch,
Trainor are all in the maybe stage right now and fight for ice time. I don't
mean to pick on any player because they are all doing their best but
Huntzicker (D) leaves a lot to be desired.
Muckalt is having a hobey-baker year so far and deserves it. As Billy goes,
so goes the team at this stage. Michigan really misses Herr who may be out
for many more weeks. Turco can be superb in the net and then let in some
pretty weak shots. It will be very interesting to see how he picks it up at
the GLI tournament after Xmas.
The junior class is the class that really needs to pick it up for Michigan to
a forceful team. Crozier, Ritchlin, and Clark are not playing up to their
potential and it' s frustrating for me because they could be so good.
Berenzweig has his moments of offensive ability but his defense is still not
where it should be. Berenzweig looks like the biggest player on the ice and
you rarely see him hitting anyone hard. Rominski is the hardest working
player on the team and is a crowd favorite but he probably won't score more
than 10-15 goals. Hayes is a sparkplug and also is a crowd favorite.
It's tough to compare this team with the past teams because in the past few
years, the teams have been winning 30-35 games each year. Does that mean
this team "sucks" because it will only win 25 games?? This year's team has a
lot of trouble handling the puck. Their passes are not as crisp, their stick
handling not as precise. In the last few years, we have always been the
faster team and now I see other teams beating us to the puck.
The games this year are actually more exciting because there is no
"guarantee" that Michigan is going to win. You never know what is going to
happen. Last year we beat Ferris 11-2 and this year we had to go to OT both
games so far. Who would have ever thought we'd be celebrating that we beat
Ferris like we'd celebrate beating MSU??
As an end to this muse, the team is a good team, the fans are still crazy at
Yost, and it will be very interesting this year to see how the team develops.
Steve Bartley
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