Highlight.

Also, “sideline” reporter Charles Clinton’s now-famous work at the game.

Charlie’s work prompted this reaction from a UNO message board:

I don’t think Patrick Roy or Dominik Hasek in their prime could have saved UNO tonight. In fact, I think the Weasels could have pulled Sauer at the start, gone 6-on-5 the whole night and won 18-5. UNO’s only hope was that Sauer would have switched places with Charles, the WOLV-TV “sideline” reporter. Sauer probably would have been more informative on the webcast, and UNO might have scored enough goals against the reporter to make the game a little more competitive.

The Blog that Yost Built offered the following reaction:

Poor Charles. He did kind of have “Boom goes the dynamite” potential though. At one point, I believe his report was, “Eric Elmblad is playing in his first game tonight. He had a nice hip check, though a penalty was called on the play. He really hasn’t done anything else. Back to you.”

Poor Charles, indeed. If you want to see better examples of his work, check out his blog.

Posted under Hockey, Video

The Michigan softball team has raged out to a 17-2 start to begin the 2008 campaign. A Kickoff Classic loss to Maryland and an upset by Drake in the UCF tournament, both by scores of 0-2, account for the lone Wolverine losses so far this season. 10th-ranked Michigan is once again expected to achieve success in the Big Ten as well, projected to finish in the top two, along with the Wildcats of Northwestern.

So what has been the key to Michigan’s success this early in the season? “We have very strong pitching,” said head coach Carol Hutchins, “We have 2 great pitchers that are a true 1-2 punch.” Those two pitchers, Sophomore Nikki Nemitz and Freshman Jordan Taylor, have indeed excelled this early in the season. Combined, they sport a .57 Earned Run Average, and each only losing one game in which she has appeared.

The offense is not lacking, either. Samantha Findlay, known best for her 3-run game winning homer in the 2004 college World Series as a Freshman, has developed into one of Michigan’s most prolific hitters, and looks forward to her final season being the best. Findlay’s 6 home runs on the season has been enough to give her sole possession of #1 on Michigan’s all-time
chart, with a career total of 47.

Despite all of Michigan’s early-season successes, home fans have been unable to see the team in action this season. That will all change on April 5-7, as Michigan will host conference foes Iowa and Illinois. The Friday contest, one of two against Iowa, will also mark the unveiling of the $5.5 million renovation to Alumni Field. “We went from the 5th or 6th best facilities in the conference, to one of the best in the nation,” boasted Hutchins. Students are encouraged to support their classmates, as it will be student weekend at the Wilpon complex.

In the meantime, the Wolverines will travel to tournaments in Louisville, Kentucky and Fullerton, California for a pair of tournaments, prior to kicking of the Big Ten schedule in Bloomington, Indiana.

Posted under Baseball

The Michigan Wolverines battled reigning NL East choke artists New York Mets to a 4-4 tie yesterday at the Mets’ spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, FL. The exhibition game may seem like no big deal, considering it was pre-season game, likely against the Mets’ scrubs. However, Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado took to the plate for New York’s squad.

Perhaps more damaging for a particular Met was the reputation of pitcher Aaron Heilman. Heilman, a Notre Dame grad, made a bet that he could hold Michigan scoreless for an inning. He failed, and now has to sing “The Victors” in the team’s clubhouse.

Posted under Baseball, Spring Coverage

Excuse me if this is shitty; it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these.
9:06PM The tipoff is won by Michigan. Coleman actually does something worthwhile, drawing a foul in the post. He then ruins it by going 1-2 at the line.
19:10 1H Michigan comes out in man defense, Iowa gets an offensive rebound and nails a three. Ron Coleman travels on the way back up the court.
17:33 1H Manny Harris makes a strong drive to the hoop, and bricks an ugly pullup jumper. Udoh goes over the back on the rebound.
17:00 1H Michigan forces Iowa to throw up a shitty three at the end of the shot clock, and Udoh finishes at the other end with a dunk. Then, the other way back down, he fumbles a rebound, ball to Iowa.
15:55 1H Manny Harris plays weak defense on an Iowa drive to the hoop. If he just stands his ground, it’s a charge.
14:57 1H Michigan’s defensive rebounding has been awful. Fortunately, “dribble” was not near the top of Iowa’s agenda, whereas “walk” was. Commercial break.
9:14PM Back to the game.
14:33 1H Kelvin Grady banks one in. As bad as Michigan’s shooting has been at times this year, it is refreshing to see players who look like they have a fucking clue on the offensive end of the court. Michigan compensates with giving an easy dunk to Iowa.
13:27 1H DeShawn Sims airballs a wide open 3-ball on the fast break.
12:52 1H Michigan scrambles because Manny Harris tries to go for a steal. Ekpe Udoh has to go out for a block attempt in the corner, leaving nobody in position to get a rebound if the shot is missed. It isn’t.
11:36 1H Really bad call by the officials giving the ball to Iowa on an out-of-bounds call. Michigan deserves to lose it, I guess, based on the shitty idea by Manny Harris to get in the air under the basket. Commercial Break.
9:21PM Back to the action.
11:25 1H Michigan goes for the trap, and gets good pressure on the ballhandlers despite not forcing the turnover.
11:00 1H Shot clock low, Freeman hucks one and gets lucky. Anthony Wright tosses it out of bounds. It seems Michigan can’t just make one mistake, but rather must compound said mistake to put selves in a hole.
9:30 1H Gibson gets whacked on the offensive glass. No call. They can’t get a defensive rebound to save their lives.
8:32 1H I think this is a makeup call. Manny Harris is nominally fouled going for the rebound on a shot that would have ended Michigan’s chances.
8:12 1H Todd Lickliter takes the ball away from Jevohn Shepherd, who is trying to save it out of bounds. CJ Lee looks the gift horse in the mouth by immediately traveling. They can’t even utilize Iowa’s mistakes to their advantage.
6:57 1H Seemingly a bad call on an Iowa travel. Oh well, Michigan needs all the help they can get. TV Timeout.
9:30PM The action starts again.
6:42 1H Michigan turns it over immediately again. They haven’t scored in 7+ minutes.
5:43 1H Many Harris is stripped going up for a 3, Tony Freeman returns the favor by turning it over on the fast break.
5:27 1H After a quick TV timeout, DeShawn Sims finally gets Michigan back on the board. Kelly answers with a 3 for Iowa.
3:45 1H Terrible call giving Michigan the ball on a play out of bounds. TV Timeout.
9:38PM Back in the house. Holy god is Iowa’s stadium empty. It’s like 10 times worse than Crisler.
3:36 1H Michigan finally hits a 3 (after 7(?) attempts). DeShawn Sims gets Michigan back within 9.
2:54 1H Deshawn Sims gets the rebound after Iowa forces a 3 at the end of the shot clock. He is fouled on the play. Michigan has some signs of life. Michigan returns the favor, with Ekpe Udoh fouling on the rebound of DeShawn Sims’s hookshot.
2:06 1H Iowa gets an easy dunk with 1 second left on the shot clock. At least Michigan is defending well enough to force them to use all the clock. Sims brick a three on the other end.
1:25 1H Johnson airballs a trey for Iowa. Manny Harris Harris is whacked on a left handed runner, and Zack Gibson pulls it down while abosorbing a foul. He’ll shoot two.
0:53 1H An Iowa player performs the funciontal equivalent of airballing a layup, hitting glass and not coming close to anything else. Harris fouls on the rebound. Michigan eventually gets the ball back for the last shot of the half.
0:09 1H DeShawn Sims with a… curious… shot with 7 seconds left on the shot clock. Iowa boards, and runs back to brick one last three pointer of the half.

Michigan trails 27-16 at halftime.

This is painful to watch; second half not being blogged.

Posted under Basketball

The Blog that Yost Built (consistently excellent. If you care about hockey at all, I’d suggest visiting it regularly) has uncovered newspaper reports detailing Kevin Quick’s alleged reason for getting dismissed from the Michigan hockey team.

In happier hockey news, the team took 3 points from Miami over the weekend, returning them to the top of the CCHA (now with a guaranteed CCHA playoff bye), and the country. They face off against Lake State for 2 games in The Old Barn this weekend.

Sadly, no more WOLV games until the CCHA playoffs. I’ll keep you updated.

Posted under Blog News, Hockey

Highlight.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkQihjmvExI&rel=1]
Big games against Miami this weekend. Tonight’s is on CSTV, and tomorrow’s contest will be covered by FSN Detroit.

Posted under Hockey, Video

For those of you who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to make it out to Yost tonight, WOLV will be covering the Michigan v. NMU game, available for free online at MGoBlue (the link is in the schedule sidebar). The link will go live ~half hour before the game starts.

Highlights will be up tomorrow or Monday.

Posted under Blog News, Hockey

With signing day fast approaching, most of the content in this space over the next week will be related to the class of ’08 (and then, of course, obsession with the class of ’09 begins). With the commitment of J.T. Floyd, Michigan has only a few prospects remaining.

QBs (Chengelis overview)
Terrelle Pryor will decide on Signing Day between Michigan and OSU, or sometime thereafter with Oregon thrown into the mix.
B.J. Daniels and Justin Feagin are both in town on official visits this weekend. They are considered less highly-touted prospects than Pryor. The two are considered backup plans, though it is likely that Rodriguez would like to take two QBs in the class if he can, regardless of how uber any of the prospects may be.

WRs
Terrance Robinson, to whom I shall henceforth refer as “Skinny Black Sam McGuffie,” is a high school QB that Michigan hopes (at this point expects?) to land as a slot WR.
Michael Shaw, a currently-decommitted Nittany Lion, is expected to pick between Michigan and Penn State, who wants him as a running back.
T.J. Lawrence out of Florida is a possibility here as well, but it is not expected that he turns Blue.
Martavious Odoms is another slot possibility.

OL
Patrick Omameh has a pending decision between Michigan, Michigan State, and Cincinnati. He is a sleeper OT prospect.

DE
Detroit’s own Nick Perry will pick on signing day between Michigan, Michigan State, Southern Cal, and Miami of Florida. At King’s banquet last night, Rich Rodriguez was in attendance, along with the head coaches of Michigan State and Miami of Florida.

Non-recruiting etc.: You may remember the story of Elliott Mealer being injured in an auto accident. Mealer’s brother, Brock, has been rehabbing at UM Hospital. He was originally listed in critical condition, and never expected to walk again. He has made great progress, and we wish all the best to him in the future.

Posted under Recruiting

My roommate brought this story to my attention:

Leave it to a minor league hockey team to come up with “Shred Rich Rodriguez Night.”

The Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League are hosting just such a night on Saturday for their game against the Charlotte Checkers, the Intelligencer of Wheeling, W.Va., reported.

Fans are invited to bring newspaper articles or pictures of the ex-West Virginia / new Michigan coach and feed them into an industrial sized shredder that will be stationed in the concourse at WesBanco Arena.

Though I intend to stop worrying about West Virginia’s obsession with the Michigan coach, this one was too funny to pass up.

Posted under Coaching, Misc.

WOLV’s broadcast of Michigan Hockey will be available for free on MGoBlue tonight. The link is on the front page. The Wolverines hit the ice at 7:35 for exhibition action against the USNTDP. The NTDP boasts future Wolverines F Chris Brown, F Robbie Czarnik, F Kevin Lynch, F A.J. Treais, and F David Wohlberg.

Friday’s CCHA game against Western Michigan will also be carried on MGoBlue by WOLV.

Posted under Blog News, Hockey