Used with permission from Lisa Gansky, flickr

John-Michael Liles may have been a Hobey Baker Award Finalist for the Michigan State Spartans, but we at The Yost Post were lucky enough to interview him last fall—therefore, by association with the Yost Post, he’s a good guy who we have no problem talking about!

Well, why are we mentioning him?

Easy, Liles has been nominated for the 2012 NHL Foundation Player Award. This Award is given annually to an NHL player who “applies the core values of hockey—commitment, perseverance and teamwork—to enrich the lives of people in his community.”

Other nominees this year include Mike Fisher from the Nashville Predators and Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders.

So what has Liles done?

He created the Liles’ Buds program. From the Toronto Maple Leafs,

“an initiative he developed early in the season in partnership with The Canadian Safe School Network (CSSN) that recognizes children who perform acts of kindness and give back to their community through anti-bullying efforts. Liles donated 10 suite nights to this program, valued at $33,000, to Maple Leafs games during the 2011-12 season to children from the CSSN, Autism Speaks Canada and Cardiac Kids. Liles further demonstrated his dedication to education through a $25,000 donation to the First Book Canada program, money that purchased 5,000 books, supporting First Book Canada’s mission to address the challenge of literacy in Canada at its root by providing new, age and language appropriate books to children who otherwise would not be able to access them.”

Think that’s a lot…there’s more!

He lead the Maple Leafs—the first year he’s been on the team mind you—for most community appearances this season.

Here’s a list of what he did: visiting and signing autographs for children at numerous team events in support of the charitable arm of the Maple Leafs, the MLSE Team Up Foundation, and was an active participant in all of the Leafs’ full team events, including the Leafs and Legends Charity Golf Classic, Have a Heart Dinner, Outdoor Practice, SickKids Hospital visit, Easter Seals Skate and One4One.

He also participated in the following…

Liles also participated in the Canadian Military’s Operation HOHOHO, served breakfast to the homeless at University Settlement in Toronto for three hours on Christmas morning, visited numerous terminally ill patients at local hospitals, and was an ambassador of the Leafs School program Shape Up, which is a program available to schools in the Greater Toronto Area that focuses on creating healthy, active living opportunities for children and youth in Grades 1-8.

And no, we are still not done. This one is close to my heart because my sister is a graduate of Culver. He donated $90,000 to the renovation of the locker room facilities at Culver Academy.  This include the purchase of new training equipment both inside and outside the rink as well as tournament entry fees for their teams and other equipment purchases and expenses that occur during the hockey season.

He’s pretty much Mr. Everything.

Good luck to John-Michael—you’ve earned this nomination and as far as I’m concerened, the award! Keep doing great things and making a difference!

I should start off this post apologizing! I’ve been sick on and off for the last 9 days. I spent two days at home from work last week then Friday night when Michigan was playing at Michigan State, I was in the D watching the Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout.

Saturday night when I was finally going to be able to watch a Michigan hockey game, I ended up not feeling well once again. I was finally able to turn on the game with about 3 minutes left because my headache had finally subsided! Saw the Wolverines put some pressure on the Spartans and win in overtime!

Today I spent the afternoon at the newly redesigned Crisler Center (it will always be Crisler Arena to me, sorry I’m not sorry!).

The photo at the right were my seats…yeah, it was a fun game watching the Wolverines beat the Illini. Michigan played well and did a good job of forcing Illinois to shoot form the perimeter on several occasions. Also, the Illinois basketball team is tall! Leonard is huge at 7’1”!

I’m hoping I stay healthy for the foreseeable future…

Back to Michigan hockey!

The boys in blue skated to a win and a loss this weekend versus instate rivals Michigan State.

Friday night at Munn Ice Arena the Wolverines lost 3-2 after leading 2-1 going into the third period. Torey Krug scored the first two goals and Matt Berry tallied the game winner for the Spartans. Those two goals in the third period were both scored in the first 4:07 of the game!

 Goals were scored by A.J. Treais and Kevin Lynch. Assists came from Phil DiGiuseppe, Luke Glendening, Travis Lynch, and Lee Moffie.

Each team had 30 shots on goal.

Saturday night’s game was at Joe Louis Arena and started off the same way as Friday night’s game—with a Michigan goal from A.J. Treais with assists from Luke Glendening and Phil DiGiuseppe.

That goal was followed up by 2 goals in the second period from Michigan State. One at even strength and one on the power play (Greg Wolfe and Brett Perlini).

A.J. Treais came back to score again for the Wolverines 2 minutes after Perlini’s goal gave Michigan State the lead. His goal was assisted by Glendening and Lee Moffie.

There were no goals in the third period and from what I saw in the last three minutes, Michigan was moving the puck well and getting chances on net. It seemed like they were sparked to life after killing off a penalty (hooking to Lee Moffie at 13:59).

Less than 2 minutes into the overtime period, the puck bounced underneath the stick of a Spartan defender and right to Kevin Lynch who had almost scored 10 seconds before. It was just Lynch and Michigan State goalie Will Yanakeff with Lynch scoring the goal and winning the game for the maize and blue.

There were only 3 penalties called in the game; two on Michigan and 1 on Michigan State. It was the first penalty of the game in the second period that State scored on.

This game saw 35 shots on net for both goaltenders.

So what does this weekend mean in the grand scheme of things?

Well, Michigan now sits in third place in the CCHA all alone with 41 points. Ferris State is in first place with 47 and Western Michigan is in second with 42. Ohio State is alone in fourth place, 2 points back from Michigan and Michigan State and Lake Superior State are three points behind sitting in a tie for fifth place.

There’s still another two weekends of hockey to be played with 12 points up for grabs. Ferris State does have a good lead, but anything can happen in the CCHA.

Michigan will face Northern Michigan at home this weekend on Friday and Saturday.

Michigsn will play at Michigan State tonight at Munn Ice Arena.

That’s all I have for you tonight–I am on my way to the red wings game!

Go Blue! Go Wings!

With five weeks to go in the CCHA season, the race to the CCHA Tournament has really heated up over the weekend.

The top five teams receive a bye in the first round of the tournament while the remaining six will play at on-campus locations in a best two of three series. The second round sees the participants reseeded based on their conference standings—meaning two teams that both had byes in the first round may end up being paired together in the second. They also play a best two of three series.

The remaining four teams will be reseeded again and play in the semifinals at Joe Louis Arena. The following day the Championship game and Consolation game are played.

There are now 8 teams within 6 points on of another.

What matchups remain on the schedule? » Continue reading “CCHA Standings: Michigan in 4th, Tight Race”

Michigan vs. Michigan State Great Lakes Invitational Final

Michigan and Michigan State met again for the third time this month, this time on a different stage. The teams were playing in the finals of the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena. Michigan had beaten Boston College the day before while Michigan State beat Michigan Tech.

Michigan beat Michigan State in overtime 3-2 to win their 15th Great Lakes Invitational title!

After last December’s Big Chill with over 100,000 fans watching the game, the 17,242 fans at JLA seem small. Apparently there were more Spartans in attendance than Wolverines.

The first period ended tied 0-0 with the Spartans outshooting the Wolverines 11-7. There were 2 penalties called in the period, one for each team.

The beginning of the second period had Michigan maintaining control, with the help of a power play. Michigan State went on the power play and then took control of the game. Tanner Sorenson scored his first ever goal as a Spartan from the top of the circle on wrist shot glove side to Hunwick—it didn’t look like Hunwick was expecting it! Perhaps Lee Moffie deflected it—couldn’t tell on the replay on my laptop, but that would make sense with the reaction Hunwick had.

Even after the goal was scored with 6 minutes remaining in the second, the Spartans kept the puck in the Michigan zone forcing U-M to ice the puck just to get it out.

The last two minutes of the period were different for the Wolverines. All of a sudden there was a jump to their step and some shots on goal in addition to keeping the puck in the Spartan end.

The momentum seemed to carry over to the third period. Only seven minutes in and Michigan had an 9-1 shot advantage, then a chance on the power play. They were unsuccessful on the power play, but a few seconds after it ended Kevin and Travis Lynch record assists on a Derek DeBlois goal to tie the game with over 9 minutes to play in the game.

After the goal, Michigan had an extra jump to their step, but Michigan State capitalized on a chance with Brett Perlini beating Hunwick on the short side to re-take the lead with 7 and a half minutes to go in the game; such a shame, because it really stalled the Michigan attack that they were generating.

Eventually the Wolverines shook it off and again took control of the game, creating lots of chances and lots of shots on goal.

Michigan State went to the penalty box with just over two minutes left in the game after a tripping call, which gave Michigan the man advantage. Hunwick eventually headed for the bench and a few seconds later (50 seconds left in regulation), Kevin Lynch redirected a shot in front of the crease to tie the game which sent it into overtime!

Shots were 40-21 in regulation in favor of Michigan with 24 shots taken just in the third period!

The overtime winner is determined by 20 minute, sudden death periods.

There were chances for both teams in overtime. It was pretty evenly matched up except for the first 20 seconds of the OT when MSU had a breakaway and Hunwick came up huge!

Kevin Clare scored in overtime to give Michigan the win and the Championship! Clare received a pass from Lee Moffie and put away the puck. The Michigan team jumped over the boards and rushed to the corner to celebrate! It was so nice to see!

David Wohlberg, A.J. Treais, and Kevin Clare were all named to the All-Tournament Team!

The tournament’s most valuable player was Kevin Clare!

Michigan Tech vs. Boston College Consolation Game Recap

Boston College squeaked by, literally, winning 2-1 over Michigan Tech. Tech thought they had scored with 29 seconds left on a deflection from Blake Pietila, but it was later ruled a high stick sent the puck to

Pietila so no goal.

Had BC not pulled off the victory, they would have gone back to Boston losing to the 20^th ranked team (Michigan) and an unranked team (Michigan Tech) while currently being ranked 3^rd by the USCHO.com poll. Long flight home…

HUGE THANK YOU to Fox Sports Detroit for live streaming the championship game!!

This was not my favorite game to write about. The audio feed for the Michigan game was difficult to access—the website didn’t want to cooperate, and then when I finally was able to listen, there was a dreadful echo…I was too afraid to hit refresh because I thought I would lose the feed again!! Oh Fox Sports Detroit, how I miss you!

Michigan vs. Boston College Recap

I made the prediction Wednesday that Michigan would lose this game 2-4. I’m very happy I was wrong! They won the game 4-2!!!

Michigan jumped off to a 1-0 lead after assistant captain David Wohlberg scored under two minutes into the first period. That goal was followed up with a goal from Luke Moffat on the power play.

Boston College came out strong in the second period getting many scoring opportunities. They finall scored nearly halfway through the second period on a wrister from Tommy Cross. A couple minutes later, Michigan was on the PK and allowed a Paul Carey rebound goal.

With the game stuck at 2-2, Michigan had a couple of chances to score (not many because they were DOMINATED by BC in the 2^nd) and finally did on a 2 on 1 breakaway by A.J. Treais to make the score 3-2.

The beginning of the third period really set the tone. Michigan took control of the puck and went straight to the net with a shot from Greg Pateryn. They had 13 shots on goal in the third. Luke Glendening finished off the game with an empty net goal.

A good start with a yucky 2^nd period and then a solid third period I think is the best way to describe this game. Then again, I was listening on the radio and was unable to “watch” the game.

So very thankful to be done with the echo audio….

Michigan State vs. Michigan Tech Recap

Michigan State beat Michigan Tech 3-1 after scoring an empty net goal at the end of the third period. Michigan Tech recorded 46 shots on goal to Michigan State’s 26, with Ryan Furne scoring their only goal. Greg Wolfe, Chris Forfar and Brett Perlini scored for State.

Drew Palmisano recorded the win for Michigan State while Josh Robinson was in goal for Tech.

Michigan Tech will play Boston College Friday at 4:30 PM while Michigan State will play Michigan in the Championship game following the consolation game. Michigan is 1-1 against Michigan State this year.

The Great Lakes Invitational was established in 1965 with the help of Lincoln Cavaleri, John MacInnes, Jack Tomkins, and Jack Paterson. They were looking to create a college tournament that encouraged interest in hockey.

The first tournament was held at Olympia Stadium in Detroit with the host being Michigan Tech. The tournament featured Toronto, Michigan Tech, Boston University and Colorado College.

Michigan did not play in the tournament until 1966, a year which they won.

 In 1976, Michigan was added to co-host duties and the tournament was moved to Joe Louis Arena.

Michigan, Michigan Tech, and Michigan State are the three teams who play in the tournament every year. The fourth team is selected as a new team each year. This year it will be Boston College. Next year St. Cloud State will play.

Michigan has won the tournament 14 times, finished as runner up 13 times, in third place 9 times and in fourth place 5 times. They’ve competed in the tournament for 41 years.

Michigan State has won the tournament 12 times, finished as runner up 13 times, in third place 10 times, and in fourth place 3 times. They’ve competed in the tournament 37 times.

Michigan Tech has won the tournament 9 times, finished as runner up 12 times, third place 10 times and fourth place 14 times. They’ve competed in the tournament 45 times.

Last year Michigan won the tournament with Colorado College coming in second place, Michigan State in third place and Michigan Tech in fourth place. Michigan’s captain, Luke Glendening won the MVP Award named the John MacInnes Trophy.

This year’s tournament will take place on December 29^th and 30^th.

Michigan Tech vs. Michigan State on Thursday December 29^th at 4:06 PM

Michigan vs. Boston College at 7:35 PM

Third Place and Championship Game: Michigan Tech/Michigan State vs. Michigan/Boston College on December 30^th at 4:06 PM/7:36 PM

Let’s take a look at the teams…

 Matchup I’m mosting looking forward to: Michigan vs. Michigan Tech

**There’s no guarantee these two teams will meet in the tournament, but if it does happen it should be quite the doozy! Michigan Tech is now coached by former Michigan Assistant Coach Mel Pearson, former Michigan player Bill Muckalt, and their volunteer assistant goalie coach is none other than former Michigan goalie Steve Shields! To see Red coaching against his former assistant and players should be quite entertaining.

Get your tickets and get out to the Joe!

The day is finally here…Michigan vs. Michigan State in East Lansing. The Battle for Paul Bunyan Trophy!

Michigan enters the game 6-0 (2-0 in the Big Ten) and Michigan State 4-1 (1-0 in the Big Ten). They are the only two teams left in the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference who are undefeated.

This is the first year of the Legends Division and Leader Division in the Big Ten Conference. Other members of the Legends Division include the Nebraska 5-1 (1-1 in the Big Ten), Iowa 3-2 (0-1 in the Big Ten), Northwestern 2-3 (0-2 in the Big Ten), and Minnesota 1-5 (0-2 in the Big Ten).

The game will be played at noon on Saturday at Spartan Stadium. Last year Michigan State beat Michigan at the Big House 34 to 17.

This will be the 104^th meeting between the two teams. The Wolverines have won 67 times to Michigan State’s 31. There have been 5 ties. The last three games have been won by MSU. The past two years they beat Michigan teams who were undefeated going into the game.

The Spartans do not like the “little brother” title given to them by former Michigan running back and current Eastern Michigan assistant coach, Mike Hart. They are looking forward to ruining another undefeated season for the Wolverines.

Michigan has struggled this year putting four quarters of football together. More than once they have found themselves down after 2 quarters and playing a near mistake free third and fourth quarter to lead them to victory.

Their leader and quarterback (basically their entire offense) has been Denard Robinson. He’s struggled at times and others played flawless football.

So far this year he’s 67-117 in completions, has 1,130 passing yards and has thrown 10 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. He’s run for 720 yards and scored 8 touchdowns on the ground. Last year he only threw 11 interceptions the entire year.

Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins has also been so so this season. Fans either love him or hate him, but he’s in his third year as starter.

The real story has been the Michigan State defense, currently ranked number 1 in the country only allowing on average 173.9 yards per game and have held four teams to 7 points or less this year.

What might happen on Saturday, no one really knows. Hopefully the famous clock incident of 2001 doesn’t happen again. One second was left on the clock after Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker spiked the ball giving him enough time to toss a pass to T.J. Duckett and win the game for State 26-24. Officials were unable to prove that the second did expire although broadcasters and Michigan fans everywhere said it had.

What we do know is that there’s going to be another great rivalry game played between Michigan and Michigan State.

Let’s Go Blue!

The Michigan football team is 6-0 and bowl eligible.

I repeat, the Michigan football team is 6-0 and bowl eligible.

This really isn’t processing in my brain. Probably because I was so frustrated with the game last night, how it played out, even though it was in our favor in the second half and we eventually blew Northwestern away scoring 28 unanswered points for a 42-24 win. But it still doesn’t feel right.

I love this team. I love their never give up attitude, but I DON’T love the mistakes we’ve been making. These mistakes can be easily corrected. Throwing three interceptions on stupid throws in the first half is unacceptable. Heisman trophy candidates do not throw off their back foot. They just don’t!

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but we keep getting lucky. Eventually these mistakes are really going to cost us. We can’t rely on other teams to fall apart in the second half of a game and expect to come out with a win. We also can’t rely on our adjustments at halftime, which so far have been amazing, to work every time. We need to put 4 quarters of football together. After this is done, we will be worthy of a top 15 ranking. Until then, that number 12 in front of Michigan means nothing.

Michigan is in first place in the Legends Division with a 6-0 overall record and 2-0 conference record. This is the first time since 2006 they’ve been 6-0.

So what actually happened in the game?

Michigan held Northwestern 3 and out on their opening drive. Michigan scored on their first drive of the game on a Denard Robinson pass to Steve Watson. What set up that touchdown was a 48 yard pass from Robinson to Junior Hemingway on third and 7 from the Michigan 42 yard line. All of a sudden it was first and goal.

Northwestern scored a touchdown on their second possession of the game going 80 yards in six plays.

Robinson and Hemingway connect on the next possession for 27 yards. Two plays later Robinson threw his first interception of the game on a floater on second and seven. This lead led to Northwestern’s second touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 3:13 to play in the first quarter.

Robinson threw another interception on the following possession, also the first play of the second quarter. He threw a floater up once again that was picked off. Vincent Smith, the intended receiver, ran all the way back to make the tackle. Thankfully our defense came up big and after six plays was able to hold Northwestern forcing them to punt.

Our offense was unable to get anything going on the next possession and had to punt after three downs left us with a net loss of 5 yards. The Michigan defense came up huge again holding Northwestern and forcing them to give up the ball on downs.

The next Michigan and Northwestern possessions resulted in touchdowns. Jeremy Gallon caught a pass from Robinson and ran it into the end zone. Northwestern scored going 82 yards in seven plays for their touchdown. Score: Northwestern 21—Michigan 14.

Denard threw his final interception of the game with just over a minute remaining in the half, which led to Northwestern scoring a field goal as time run out. Score: Northwestern 24—Michigan 14.

Then the second half starts and a new team emerges from the Michigan locker room…

Michigan had the ball at the start of the second half. Robinson threw accurate passes and then ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Score: Northwestern 24—Michigan 21.

Michigan’s defense held Northwestern to another three and out after Mike Martin recorded a sack on second down.

Michigan follows that great defensive effort up with a 12 play, 80 yard drive that saw Devin Gardner in at quarterback for a few snaps. Gardner scored on the option and all of a sudden Michigan is up 28-24.

The Michigan defense came up big again, this time intercepting a pass. Brandon Hawthorne caught at tipped pass. The referees did review the play and ruled it an interception.

Gardner and Robinson both were in at quarterback for the next possession. We were able to see Gardner throw the ball on a roll out to Jeremy Jackson (Huron alum and son of running backs coach Fred Jackson) for a 19 yard gain. All of a sudden, it’s first and goal and the start of the 4^th quarter. Mike Shaw gets the call and runs it into the end zone on first and goal. Score: Michigan 35—Northwestern 24.

Northwestern looked like they still had some magic left in them getting a six play drive going before Wolverine Thomas Gordon stripped the ball from their receiver and picked it up for the fumble recovery. This led to probably the only so/so possession of the second half for the Michigan offense when they had their 47 yard field goal attempt blocked.

On Northwestern’s next possession, specifically a fourth and five down, Wolverine Jordan Kovacs blitzes and is untouched going after the Northwestern quarterback. He tries to tackle him, only taking his helmet off in the process. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald literally has smoke coming out of his ears that the play wasn’t blown dead quickly enough and a facemask penalty was not called. The refs did blow the play dead and the ball was turned over to Michigan on downs. One of the linesman had to physically block Coach Fitzgerald after he stated coming out onto the field to “discuss” the call with the referee.

Nine plays later Denard scores another rushing touchdown to finish the game. Score: Michigan 42—Northwestern 24.

If we can put four quarters together like we played in the second half, I will have no problem with this team being ranked in the top 10. Both the defense and offense came up huge over and over again those last 30 minutes. But we need more than 30 minutes of play to win a football game.

Coach Brady Hoke knows this and so does the rest of the coaching staff and team. Let’s see how we play next Saturday when we take on Michigan State up in East Lansing.