Michigan 19, Robert Morris 10

It feels good to be on the other side of one of these, yeah? Michigan dominated pretty much wire-to-wire, and the Wolverines end the regular season on a strong note.

Tempo Free

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

Michigan dominated possession with a strong effort on faceoffs and many more clearing attempts than Robert Morris (since U-M possessions ended in Wolverine goals rather than Bobby Mo clearing attempts). They also rode better.

Despite that, they still managed to win this game primarily by dominating in efficiency. As we’ll see in a moment, things could have been even uglier if they didn’t call off the dogs…

Notes

You set a single-game program record, you lead the notes section. Kyle Jackson scored five goals for the Wolverines, including four in the first half. Thomas Paras and Ian King each scored a hat trick (marking the first time that three Wolverines have done so in the first game), and Paras added a pair of assists. It was a good offensive day. David McCormack (1G, 3A) and Mikie Schlosser (2G) closed out the multi-point scorers.

For a game with 29 combined goals, it’s interesting to see seven total assists – all of them from Michigan. The Wolverines’ defense has generally been regarded as a good on-ball one with poor off-ball coverage (which would theoretically lead to a lot of assisted goals), but that wasn’t the case in this one. Neither defense was spectacular in forcing much of anything, and Michigan ate Robert Morris’s unit for lunch.

Defensively, it’s important to continue noting the season-long improvement of Robbie Zonino. The goals allowed number looks good-not-great for the pace of the game, but three RMU tallies came after the starter was taken out. The walk-on goalies combined for three saves and three goals allowed, all in the final ten minutes of the game. Zonino saw seven shots and saved seven. Given that few were assisted, you’d like to see a bit higher save percentage, but I’m not assigning blame since I missed the game.

In front of Zonino, Chris Walker (2 caused turnovers, five ground balls) and freshman Will Weichert (two caused turnovers) put up the good statlines. Mack Gembis added a caused turnover of his own, and both he and short-stick d-middie Thomas Orr picked up three ground balls.

U-M did very well on faceoffs, but the one thing that I really liked was micing up the specialists early in the game. Brad Lott started and rode out the first quarter, then after he lost the first one in the following frame, Will Biagi got a chance to perform (and after losing his first three, he won five in a row). Mixing him in before Lott starts to struggle gives both guys the confidence that they can step up in a big spot, and takes a lot of the pressure off Lott to be perfect every time out. Easing some of that pressure should help him perform in big spots. Walk-on Kevin Wylie also got some action, winning 2/3.

Michigan’s big run came in the second quarter, with a 7-1 scoring margin in that frame. U-M lost the first four faceoffs in that period, but recovered to win five straight. What helped even more was forcing two failed clears out of the Colonials on the rare occasion that Michigan didn’t score on a given possession once that run started. Though the 15/18 clearing mark for Robert Morris wasn’t bad, the timing of those fails – when Michigan was starting to dominate a stretch of faceoffs, as well – helped put this one away early.

Michigan really emptied the bench, playing 41 different guys in the game. I suspect that’s everyone who was healthy to play. That included the first career action for Andrew Simor and Charlie McPeters according to the postgame notes (why you don’t preserve the redshirt for a freshman who hasn’t made it onto the field yet is beyond me), and several depth guys seeing the field.

Elsewhere

Michigan recap. Postgame notes. Boxcscore. Photo gallery. Maize n Brew recap. Michigan Daily gamer. Robert Morris recap.

Up Next

Michigan finally knows who the opponent will be in Columbus Thursday – and it’s probably not the one they were expecting going into the weekend. Thanks to Fairfield’s two-goal win over Ohio State Saturday and a tiebreaker process between the Stags, Buckeyes, and Air Force Falcons, Michigan will face the ECAC squad it came closest to beating in a defeat.

This is the 1/4 game (and for a reason, Fairfield earned that top seed), but color me relieved to not see Ohio State – on its home field – in the first round. I do think Fairfield will come out looking to prove that the one-goal win in Michigan Stadium April 5 was an anomaly, but U-M knows these guys are beatable. If certain things (such as faceoffs) had tilted Michigan’s way, it could have been a win.

Look for a full preview later this week.