Recognition

Even though I reside in Southern California, where hockey hasn't mattered since the 48-hour period in 1988 when Wayne Gretzky moved from Edmonton to Los Angeles, there's no way I'm missing an opportunity to sing the praises of the nation's #1 college hockey team when said team happens to be the Michigan Wolverines.

[It's a celebration, bitches]

According to the latest set of INCH Power Rankings (1/20/08) and the most recent USCHO.com/CSTV (1/21/08) and USAToday/USHockeyMagazine (1/21/08) polls, the Wolverine Icers sit atop the college hockey world for the third straight week. And for good reason. On Friday, the top-ranked Wolverines defeated No. 8 Notre Dame in a dramatic 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor:

Michigan's Louie Caporusso converted when it counted the most after missing several golden opportunities earlier in the game in the Wolverines' come-from-behind 3-2 win over Notre Dame Friday night at a raucous Yost Ice Arena.

The freshman forward's third game-winning goal of the year, his fifth overall, with just 20.3 seconds remaining capped a see-saw battle between two of the top four teams in the CCHA.

The matchup between the top-ranked Wolverines and the No. 8 Fighting Irish lived up to its pre-game billing, as each team dominated a period and then played tight, up and down hockey in the deciding stanza.

I have spoken to a few people who were in attendance on Friday night, and each of them felt--without prompting--that it was the best game played at Yost in a long time. Which is really saying something. Then, on Saturday night, UofM completed the sweep by crushing the Domers 5-1 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Bob Miller, writing for USCHO, had this reaction to the dominant victory and the Wolverines' season to date:

At the start of the season, a multitude of questions surrounded the prospects for Michigan's 2007-2008 hockey season, from goaltending concerns to the ability of a large group of 12 freshmen to handle the rigors of a full college hockey campaign.

Few of the Wolverines' faithful would have expected the squad to be carrying the vaunted program's best ever record through 24 games into the final weeks of January.

That's exactly what the top-ranked Wolverines' 5-1 victory over No. 8 Notre Dame at The Palace of Auburn Hills accomplished Saturday night.

The win, in front of a crowd of 10,831, enabled the Wolverines to maintain their share of the CCHA conference lead.

Five different goal scorers hit paydirt for Michigan and Billy Sauer continued his stellar play, turning aside 32 fighting Irish shots.

Michigan is now 22-2-0 overall, and 15-1-0 in the CCHA--surprising stuff, given the departure of Jack Johnson and Andrew Cogliano to the NHL, and the graduation of seniors T.J. Hensick, David Rohlfs, Matt Hunwick and Jason Dest. The team lost nearly every one of its all-world studs after last season, yet managed to reload with a crop of young talent [ed. note: 12 freshmen, wow], steady play from defender Mark Mitera, lights-out goalkeeping by Billy Sauer, and the return of forwards Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik for their final season in Ann Arbor. Legendary Coach Red Berenson, now in his 24th year at the helm for his alma mater, had this to say about his squad prior to the season:

This will be a big year for Michigan in terms of a challenge.

Last year, we sat here and we knew we'd be a good team because of Hensick and Hunwick and Johnson and Cogliano and our big senior class, but all those guys are gone. We have 12 incoming freshmen that will have to contribute to this year's team.

Certainly the depth of our team should be good but the experience will be a question mark, so this will be the most interesting season in the recent past for the coaching staff at Michigan and certainly for the players.

Most interesting indeed. Berenson is probably urinating in the bushes with joy now that his youngins are stepping up and meeting the challenge in a big way. In fact, that joy has moved me to issue the following challenge (to myself): if the Wolverines take care of business and make the 2008 Frozen Four--taking place in Denver, CO from April 10-12--yours truly will be in attendance come hell or high water.

Or frozen water.



Highlights! From Friday night at Yost:


[ed. note: I'm having lots of trouble with the MGoBlue embeds, so just click here to launch the highlights]


And Saturday at The Palace:


[ed. note: same as above; click here to launch the highlights]



Bonus Coverage! The Blog That Yost Built recaps and reacts to Friday's drama:

What a fricken hockey game! That was as good of an all-around game as I've seen in a long time.

...

Overall a really impressive performance against a good hockey team in a tournament-like atmosphere. They sacked up and found a way to come from two goals down against a team that hadn't lost a game all year when they scored first (or led after one).

Colin at Yet Another Michigan Blog notes the crowd at Yost:

The crowd deserves mention because we showed why the hockey crowd is the best around. Michigan's best, but probably anybody's best. It doesn't matter how much we're down, the crowd always has life, rarely boos its own team (if ever) and in general is funny and positive. By the end, everyone was utterly ecstatic and I don't think anyone has their voice. It was as much fun as I've had in a long time. It's why I go.

And if Michigan holds serve, I'll be going ROCO in April with the crowd in Denver.