This (and the Dartmouth game that preceded it) is where the season briefly went off the rails. Take wins in both of those games – along with the canceled Detroit contest – and 6-8 looks a whole lot better than 3-10. Alas, it was not to be.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Marist 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marist | Michigan | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 7 | Faceoff Wins | 10 |
| Clearing | 14-19 | Clearing | 19-27 |
| Possessions | 34 | Possessions | 42 |
| Goals | 7 | Goals | 6 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .206 | Offensive Efficiency | .143 |
Both teams cleared horribly (it was a windy, cold, at times drizzly day, but still), leading to a pair of really bad offensive efficiency numbers. Despite a big possession deficit, Marist was able to make more of its opportunities, and hold onto the only possession of overtime and make it count.
Notes
Through significant portions of this season, the third quarter had been a trouble area for the Maize and Blue (as much as the coaches didn’t want to admit it), with the fourth quarter featuring a nice comeback to get things close. In all wins, they’d had comfortable third quarters, which should have boded well for this game after a 2-0 mark gave them a 5-2 lead entering the final frame. However, strong fourth quarter play escaped the Maize and Blue, with Marist making a 4-1 comeback to send things into overtime (where the Red Foxes had the only possession). That’s bad, IMO.
The clearing game was bad both ways, but after Michigan had spent much of the year (against far better opposition) rounding into one of the better clearing teams nationally, this really sunk them. Weather excuses, etc., but when building a three-goal lead almost halfway through the fourth quarter, you need to buckle down and just play a mistake-free game to win. Michigan couldn’t do that.
With that said, it’s tough to put direct blame on individuals, especially with the weather conditions, but longpoles and Gerald Logan didn’t cover themselves in glory. That said, 13 different Wolverines had turnovers, so whether or not a TO was on the clear, it was a sloppy game all around.
Six goals isn’t going to constitute an offensive day to write home about, but there are a few nice performances to note. Rocco Sutherland had a goal and two assists, Mike Hernandez had two goals, and Evan Glaser had a goal and an assist. A nice day for the Michigan midfield (perhaps no surprise, since this was one of the game with neither Kyle Jackson nor Ian King at attack), with the attack’s only contribution being a goal by Brent Noseworthy.
The defense was good – in part because the offense was bad, sure – led by goalie Gerald Logan. He saved 14 shots and allowed seven goals, for a very solid .667. This isn’t a poor-shooting Marist team, so that’s impressive.
Brad Lott struggled as a junior after the faceoff rules changed, but he really had a nice season as a senior. Sure, Marist’s Nick Nye was literally the single worst faceoff specialist in the country (.320) with enough attempts to qualify for the national leaderboard, but Lott went out and did his job. He only picked up one ground ball (as was his trend after the rules changes), so wing play certainly helped him out regularly – but in instances like this, where he won the clamp nearly every time against Nye, it may have brought things back down toward 50/50, too.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Michigan recap. Marist recap.
Up Next
U-M played another close one… this time against much better competition. The result was ultimately the same against Maryland, though.