Michigan 14, Detroit 13 (OT)

This was one of the most thrilling games I’ve seen either team perform in. The only thing that really comes to mind is each of Detroit’s final three games last year, and I only got to see Notre Dame in person. Unfortunately, one team had to lose this contest.

Brad Lott (Michigan) and Damien Hicks (Detroit) take the opening faceoff.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

This was a relatively fast game, per my expectations in the preview stories yesterday, and featured a lot of up-and-down excitement.

Michigan’s efficiency wasn’t nearly to the level of Detroit’s in the contest, but dominance on faceoffs (and on the ride) helped the Wolverines not only keep it close but come away with a win.

Notes

We’ll start right there, on faceoffs. Michigan’s Brad Lott missed the first two U-M games, and while the Mercer contest was just fine without him (U-M lost the faceoff battle but drew even in possessions and dominated in possession), the Penn State game could have looked significantly more respectable with an even performance on draws – more like a 19-8 gam – and moreso if Lott had been able to win the battle outright in Happy Valley.

“Brad’s progressing very very quickly,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “It really shows: last year he didn’t have a fall to prepare. This year’s he’s prepared all year. He had an awesome summer, he came back in shape, and kind of changed everything about his life and his diet. It’s showing, and if he wants to be a great faceoff guy, it’s showing.”

Part of what I’m trying to say here is that I’m not worried about UDM’s Damien Hicks (1/5 before getting pulled) or Tyler Corcoran (0/4). I think Lott is going to be one of the country’s best faceoff guys in time. Jordan Yono performed better than either specialist, and I do think that the FOGOs would have been able to see similar success, since much of Yono’s success came with great help from his wings. Detroit should be fine against lesser faceoff specialists.

“I’ve got to give a ton of credit to Jordan Yono, who stepped in,” said UDM coach Matt Holtz. “He was the difference-maker to kind of swing it back. I think we were down by five at one point. The difference was when he went out there and started taking faceoffs – he took the rest of them the rest of the way – that kind of really swung everything back in our direction.”

Offensively, there was a lot of talent on the field, as expected. Both offenses were good-not-great, though some of that was due to Michigan’s ride (six lost UDM possessions without getting into the box). There were several big plays. First among the highlight-reel opportunities was Mike Birney’s shot from 25 yards out with just a couple second left in the third quarter, giving Detroit a two-goal lead.

“When push comes to shove and you get to the end of quarters and you get the end of halves and you’ve got to make a play, you think ‘players’ not ‘plays,'” said Holtz. “When it’s on, the goalies aren’t saving it. He’s either missing the cage, hitting the goalie, or it’s in. That’s tough to defend against, and he got one in there. If I had to pick anybody in the country to shoot with two seconds left in the quarter, I’d take Mike.”

That highlight was ultimately overshadowed by Michigan’s Kyle Jackson nothing the overtime game-winner. Game-winning goals are pretty much always going to be the biggest moment in a game, particularly in OT. Jackson had a somewhat rough day otherwise (a turnover and only hitting three of his 11 shots), so that ended it with a good taste in his mouth.

“It felt great, considering it was probably one of the worst games I ever played,” he said. “I had a lot of turnovers, and it was just nice that one dropped for me, because it was a struggling day.

“I just kept fighting through it. I do it all the time in practice. It was more of just a mental thing for me, trying to strive through it. I was just lucky that shot at the end went through. It was a nice pass from Mike Hernandez, and I just got lucky I was wide open.”

Paul was quietly begging for Jackson to do what he was coached to do: avoid the goalie’s stick side.

“I like seeing KJ ten yards out right in front of the goal, no question,” he said with a laugh. “We were shooting a lot after the first period to the goalie’s stick side, and he was saving them. I was saying ‘please shoot the scout, please shoot the scout.’ I don’t even know if he did or not, but that’s what I was saying.”

Michigan’s Ian King tied a program record with four goals (a feat that has been achieved twice by sophomore Mike Hernandez, once by fifth-year senior Thomas Paras, and was achieved in the squad’s first varsity year by Trevor Yealy).

“He was just very, very consistent,” Paul said. He had some open looks he would love to have buried, too. He hit some pipes in the first half, and missed a couple shots that were wide open in the second half – a couple EMO shots that were open for him that he missed. We’ve got to dial that in for him, we’ve got to shoot better. King is going to get his shots. He finds a way to get his shots.”

“I was pretty confident,” King added. “The team, we prepare well for these games, and honestly they set me up for those shots. It wasn’t anything I did, it was ball movement and the team set me up to succeed like that.

“It’s pretty awesome. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do something like this.”

Detroit’s Alex Maini had a strong performance in a losing effort, with three goals and two assists. Scott Drummond (2G, 2A) and Mike Birney (3G) joined him atop the Titans’ scoresheet, but it was a lot of the intangible output that really made Maini’s game special, even in a loss.

“That’s why he got picked by this team as a captain: he’s a leader, he’s a little bit unconvetional,” Holtz said. “He plays bigger than himself, he plays stronger than himself. It’s one of these strange things when usually you ask players to play within themselves, but sometimes he steps outside of himself and does a little bit more than you’d ever expect.”

The defenses made some plays themselves, too. Detroit’s Connor Flynn handily won the goalie battle. Michigan launched almost half-again as many shots as the Titans, and five more on goal. Flynn let in a soft one early, but was strong during the rest of the contest.

Michigan’s Robbie Zonino started the game strong, but faltered (particularly during the 5-1 third quarter for Detroit) over the course of it. His effort was good enough to win this one, but at this point in his career he’s not going to go out and win games.

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Box score. Matt Holtz postgame interview. Detroit photo gallery. Michigan recap. Michigan photo gallery. U-M postgame celebration. My photos.

Up Next

Michigan immediately hits the road to take on perennial power Johns Hopkins tomorrow.

“We have two days – quick turnaround – to prepare for Hopkins, which in some ways maybe for us right now is better,” Paul said. “We don’t have a lot of preparation, just go out there and play them. We need to keep looking for areas every single day, how we handle this when we get home, how our practice goes tomorrow, every single area of our program has to get better, and that’s really all we’re looking for. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to come back and have a great practice tomorrow, because nothing’s easy.”

Meanwhile, Detroit takes on Robert Morris in Pittsburgh Sunday.

“We’ve got a rivalry game, another one coming right up,” Holtz said. “Robert Morris is a close team that we play a lot. I think we’ve got to go back, we’re going to take a day off tomorrow – we haven’t had a day off yet this week – we’ll take tomorrow off, take a breather, take a break, get our legs under us, get some ice on our bruises, and start on Friday getting ready to go on Sunday.”

Trying to crank out preview materials for both of those games ASAP.