Michigan 23, Central Michigan 1

Michigan rushed out to a 7-0 lead, and sat most starters for the remainder of the game (although the first-team offense re-entered on 3 man-up opportunities). They physically overmatched CMU in every way, and the Chips didn’t score until they were down 0-16.

Tempo Free

From the official recap, your tempo-free breakdown:

Michigan dominated the faceoffs. Michigan dominated on the ride. They actually didn’t clear all that well, but… some things can be forgiven (especially since a lot of guys were getting a lot of playing time that they wouldn’t get in a closer game). Central didn’t even touch the ball until Michigan had scored 5 or 6 goals.

The pace of this game was super-fast, with more than 100 possessions between the teams. When Michigan was easily winning faceoffs and quickly turning that possession into goals, it’s no shock that there were so many possessions.

The efficiency number is decent on offense (especially given that the clearing game was subpar-ish), and excellent defensively. When the efficiency margin is well above .300, I don’t think there’s much to complain about.

Notes

As mentioned above, backups got plenty of action in this game. Matt Joseph scored his first goal of the season, Gordie Gold tallied his first career assist, and Jeff Chu and Andrew Hayden registered career-highs in assists and goals, respectively.

As for other scorers, starting defenseman Harry Freid finally notched his first of the season (after coming close several times), and Thomas Paras was the leading Wolverine with a 2-5-7 line – and I believe all aside from 1 goal was tallied in the first quarter.

As expected, domination.

Up Next

The Wolverines next took on rival Michigan State for the CCLA crown, and the conference’s automatic bid to the MCLA Tournament. It was a thrilling contest; look for the recap in this space tomorrow.