I have seen some bad hockey teams but this team is one of the worst that I have seen in a long time. I realize that Red maybe entitled to leave when wants to but maybe he may need a nudge after this season. I dont know what is going on but maybe the message is not getting through and maybe there may be need for a new messenger. Just my thoughts I have always liked Red and what he has done but maybe  its time for a change.

we saw tonight.  For that matter, that anyone on the team is making these kinds of mistakes 25 games into the season.

2 worst teams in the league going at it

hey at least Penn State isn't on our schedule this year

the NCAA Tourney streak, but they will likely post the record of being Red's worst team topping the teams that only won 12, 13, and 14 games circa 1983-86 with far fewer NHL draft picks and (obviously) USNTDP players.

It's quite the ordeal for this team to score 3 goals in a game, and another ordeal to allow less than 3 goals per game.  CCHA teams seem to average 2.5 goals/game, but with our defensive play and goaltending, teams score 3.5-4 goals against Michigan.  Can't really tell who the first line is, and it seems there are two fourth lines as the third line only scored in October.

A tasty January with a record of 1-6 along with the exhibition loss.  Team leaders are very quiet in terms of on-ice performance.  This team has fallen off a cliff considering the successes of each of the past three teams that most of these players contributed to.  How long will the recovery take?  I'd say another year without the NCAA's and a return in the 2014-15 season.  The 13-14 recruits will be relied upon heavily, but the team will need to improve in every area.   I'd have a hard time identifying leaders for next years team as well.

Two years he led the team to the national championship game. Last year they underachieved in the NCAA Tournament but were a pretty darn good team. They've had one miserable year and it's 'Hang em Red, you've lost your touch.' Give me a break. Hoke just had a so-so second season, maybe Brandon should oust him before it goes downhill even more. 

I've gone through detail over and over again what's gone wrong this year. Could the coaching be better? Yes. And Red has even admitted that, but it's not at the root of this team's problems, and going to that well is incredibly ignorant, short-sighted and impatient. 

Michael,

Maybe it's one of those years that no matter what Red does, nothing will work.  But, you can bet he's going to continue to pull every string to prevent this team from being his worst ever and figure out a way to make a CCHA tournament run.

So, if you were Red, what changes would you make before the final stretch run?  

Do you stick with Janecyk or roll the dice with Rutledge?  

Would you break-up Trouba and Merrill to try to bolster the defense by spreading the wealth across two defensive pairings?

What line changes would you make to generate more offense?

I put Sparks back in the lineup for the MSU weekend, as there are a few forwards who each have one goal over the last three months comfined for November/December/January

PDG-Nieves-Moffatt
Sparks-Treais-K Lynch
Guptill-Hyman-Copp
DeBlois-Selman-Sinelli
T Lynch-Rohrkemper

Moffie-Trouba
Merrill-Clare
Szuma-Chiasson

I stick with Janecyk one more weekend against MSU, then start playing the others regardless of the results vs MSU.

Not sure if Treais plays better at center or RW, but it seems like his intensity and on-ice presence is like a dial-tone now.
Separate Clare and Moffie, that is not effective as the defense is too soft outside of Trouba.

you know i realize those two points but if you also recall this team also has had better players and leaders in those two teams and from what  i am seeing there are no leaders on this team. There is no defense, goal tending is marginal at best, the lack of discipline in the taking of penalties especially when you know that you are not that good and cant afford to put your team in a hole. Also I dont see a power play that is very good either. Now do i think that red should leave maybe i mean i understand that he wants to fix the problem  but maybe he should figure out if he is saying the coaching could be better then thats on him and he better do something about it. Maybe get better assistants or maybe he needs to look at how he is coaching. What ever is the problem is they need to fix it so they can go into next season with some momentum.

Now as far as fixing it they need better defense men , better goal tending, and maybe more of a blue collar mentality, that is my thoughts for now. I also understand that he has lost some good players to the ahl  and the NHL  that hurts too. But it needs to be fixed some how.

Seems before Red came we were pretty poor.  This lose takes us back to "86  It must have been a bad team. "74

hockey.  It was a long slow climb back, but once Red came in the mid '80's that climb started.  By the time they got to the end of the 80's and were going into the '90's Red had his players and juggernaut was starting to roll.

If any coach anywhere, anytime, were due a "mulligan" or two, or three, it would be Red Berenson for the job he's done at Michigan.

nm

I can't believe we're going to see a MSU-UM series that basically will amount to a battle for last place.

Well, I have very little confidence that we'll get any points this weekend.....

I can't remember the last tiime these two programs were fighting to stay out of the basement in the conference.........

It's interesting to read that the players don't like to be "called out" on message boards or publicly.

So fans play for tickets, and we see what you present us- how should we react, given the past 2 decades of play? 

We see players who don't appear to be fixing any of the issues that were presented way back in game 1.  Some even have gotten worse.  Should I stop showing up?

Crowds show up to support you, and really want you to do well.  Yet when faced with a goalie situation that's far from ideal, instead of tightening up the D to prevent shots, you play more lose, and turn over the puck more, and expose the most obvious problem for any hockey team?  

This isn't a goalie problem, this is a team problem, all of them.  They can all do a better job running Red's defense.  They can pass when looking vs. assuming.  They can defend the other players on the team when someone does something bad.

It will be interesting to see what changes in the off season or if someone finds out the core problem.

Anyway, at this point, we will get to see them only 3 more times at Yost.  Getting to the NCAA will require 6 wins in a row.  Having not yet done 2, well, I'm curious how they "turn it on".

UM has dropped in it's intangables. The players always had skills , but recently the character, committment and desire is lacking.  Did the staff and Red m,ake a mistake with the recruits or did the great ones make the staff better looking?   Thanks for any insight on your part.  GBGBB"74

trainor here in Southern NJ was invited to PSU to analize the hockeye team's athletic ability.  This is PSU's 1st season playing outside of a club's schedule.I heard they will be in the NEW BT conference next yr (?) that will include MSU and UM.

 Thanks   GBGBB  "74

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Originally posted by wolverines74:

trainor here in Southern NJ was invited to PSU to analize the hockeye team's athletic ability.  This is PSU's 1st season playing outside of a club's schedule.I heard they will be in the NEW BT conference next yr (?) that will include MSU and UM.

 Thanks   GBGBB  "74

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They were the worst team I've seen come into Munn all year - honestly. MSU should be ashamed that they lost on Saturday AND gave up 50 shots in the process.

They do work hard, but man, if MSU had any scoring talent up front, we would have been up at least 3-0 at the end of the 1st period on Friday night (instead it was 1-0). And in no way should MSU blow a 2-0 lead on Saturday. But - we just aren't that good right now.

They have a couple good players, and they work hard, but I just don't think they should have beaten us - even with our struggles.

They have certainly proved to be way over rated this year that's for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily make that a general statement.  They were a #1 seed in last years NCAA tournament and they only lost a handful of players so they should have certainly been better this year than they have played.  

I thought they were rated higher at the start of the year than they should have been; to many questions about scoring, to many questions about goal tending, etc...  I did think the defense would be this teams strength and would have to carry the team, especially in the early going, but then they get hit by non-stop injuries and frankly they haven't been nearly as good as a whole unit as I expected them to be (for whatever that's worth).

One of the big disappointments to me has been this Senior class, I don't think any of them have had the type of season you look to get out of your Seniors.  In a year like this one where there have been so many issues, this team would have benefited greatly from strong Senior leadership and it just doesn't seem to be there.  To be fair, I only see them in games so that's my only way to gauge things, maybe they are doing everything in the locker room and in practice that you want Seniors to do and they are just struggling in the games like everyone else, but it really needs to be there in the games as well and I just don't see it.

I am encouraged by some of the younger guys, especially some of the freshmen.  Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but over the last couple of weeks it looks to me like those guys are kind of taking the reins a little bit and at least leading with the hustle, and hard work that we need from everyone, every night.  That may not help the overall outcome of this year, but going forward if they come to the rink with the mindset that the team just has to work harder that's a good thing.

This year has been a super disappointment that's for sure, I think they have the talent to be a much better team than they have been.  For one reason or another nothing seems to have worked this year; there have just been so many issues in different areas that you can't just point at one thing and say that's the problem.  I'm hoping it's just a one year thing and the staff and team will get things turned back around next year as I'm sure everyone is, but I think we just have to ride this out and hope it turns out to be a bump in the road and not a trend.

GBGBB"74