A few random notes from last night’s game, still groggy after getting home at around 3am: Game: I haven’t seen the replay of the overtime no-goal and it was almost instantly clear Michigan got jobbed. We sat near a bunch of Miami fans, the most rabid of which were these three guys on the glass behind the RedHawk bench. When the ref initially waved it off (and you could clearly hear the whistle and it looked like everything happened afterward) those guys looked over and just shook their heads, practically apologizing. I don’t know what happened in the third period but Miami just dominated and I thought it was just a matter of time. But in the overtime Michigan found another gear and were bouncing shots off that beast goalie Knapp who couldn’t seem to cleanly cover anything. There was a great moment midway through the game when Wohlberg chase a puck near Miami’s bench. Several RedHawks were leaning over the boards and Wohlberg swung and caught three of them up high, sending their coaching staff into a rage. Speaking of the Miami bench, one of their assistant coaches caught a deflected puck in the jaw and it came through pretty hot. The tough SOB just shook his head a bunch of times, seemingly pissed that he didn’t get out…
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Crock Reclaimed
Just a follow-up on my post from this weekend concerning the discovery that the Michigan and Minnesota tennis teams play for a Little Brown Jug. Good news, Ann Arbor is now the home to all known traveling Little Brown Jug’s: Above are Michigan standouts Chris Madden (junior) and George Navas (senior) holding the precious pot, shortly after their 5-2 win over the Gophers. Unconfirmed whether they spent the night taking long pulls off of it. Thanks again to Brad Rudner of U-M Media Relations for the info and the photo.
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11:01 PM EDT
I just sat down to look at the photos I took from last night. That’s the unedited image on my Lumix camera right now, snapped at 11:01PM EDT.
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Sunday Night Hockey
I’ll be heading to Fort Wayne tonight to see the big rematch, you should too. We’ll need all the help we can get, especially if they roll out this guy again. Follow MVictors on Twitter and be cool.
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Michigan battles Minnesota for the Little Brown Jug. Today?
Yes. I have various Google Alerts set and as you can guess my home security alarm goes off if there are any breaking news stories about Michigan and The Little Brown Jug. This came over the wire yesterday, excerpt: Michigan returns to the court this weekend with a pair of matches at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines host Minnesota in the two teams’ second meeting of the season this Saturday (March 27) and then Iowa on Sunday (March 28). The match against Minnesota will be for the Little Brown Jug, which the Golden Gophers currently own. Both matches will start at noon. What? I contacted Brad Rudner from U-M Media Relations to get the skinny: The Jug has been contested since the 2006 season. Each team has two wins. Today’s match will be the fifth meeting for the Jug. The complete series is below: 2006: 5-2, Minnesota 2007: 5-2, Michigan 2008: 5-2, Michigan 2009: 4-3, Minnesota Rudner also noted that while Michigan defeated the Gophers earlier this season, they kept the crock, “because the match did not count towards the Big Ten records for each team.” So is there an actual jug? Of course. Photo courtesy of Rudner via his iPhone: You can watch the hardcourt battle for the jug Live here! Related: The Little Brown Jug lore series:…
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Hanging a Piece of Yost West (1989)
It’s Friday and the NCAA Hockey playoffs commence today. Michigan of course gets into it against Bemidji State tomorrow night in Fort Fun. By now we all know the story of the Wolverines’ heroic run into the postseason and readers of the Wall Street Journal even got clued in today. While the improbable run got started at home against Lake State, the first sign that something special might be afoot occurred up in East Lansing when mobs of Wolverine fans took over Munn and watched the Blue sweep the Spartans out of the tournament and ended MSU’s season. Here’s a chance to take something else out of Munn, check out this 1989 CCHA play-off Champion banner up for auction for a mere $4,000: The auction ends April 1st. I’m not sure what you’d do with the banner, but for $4,000 I’m guessing you can do much better. It’s certainly a cool item for a Spartan fan’s man cave but paying anything over $300 seems like a stretch. (Heck, for 4 large you could probably hire Ryan Miller come to your house…and fire tape-ball wristers at him in your basement for a few hours).
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The Willard ‘Ike’ Ikola Experience (1953)
With the brilliance of the CCHA title run lingering, had to post this. In a nod to Michigan’s hot junior goalie Shawn Hunwick, check out this wire photo taken in March 1953 featuring Wolverine goaltender Willard “Ike” Ikloa. Like Hunwick, Ikola wasn’t exactly a towering presence in the crease as according to the back of the wire pic he checked in at 5’8”, 152 pounds. I believe this shot was taken just a few days before the 1953 version of the Frozen Four which in its early years was held at the supersized Broadmoor Hotel complex in Colorado Springs. (Sidenote: Grab a copy of Blue Ice if you want some awesome history on the NCAA tournament, the Broadmoor, and of course Michigan.) The Blue made the best of the trip, shelling Boston College 14-2 in the semis and smoking Minnesota 7-3 to claim one of coach Vic Heyliger’s six NCAA titles. Check out this photo of the 1953 team with the trophy, a beauty queen (I think this explains why these teams kept coming back each year), and Ikola flashing his killer smile: #4 is damn smooth! Photo: U-M Bentley Library Ikola’s story doesn’t end there—not even close. A few years later Ikola minded the nets for the US Olympic hockey team in the 1956 Games, leading the Americans to…
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New Chapters of Michigan Lore?
Left to right, WTKA’s Ira Weintraub, John U. Bacon and coach Red Berenson. Sidenote: If Red retires it won’t be for health reasons, the Baron is fit as a fiddle. (photo: Ansel Adams) Dave Brandon has only been at the helm for a few weeks but he’s already presided over some new chapters of Michigan history – perhaps literally. I recently reached out to a pair of noted Wolverine historians, namely John U. Bacon and John Kryk, to comment on a couple of major goings on down on State Street. Blue Ice 2? As unlikely as this seemed just a few weeks ago, the run of the hockey team through the CCHA playoffs and into the dance will unquestionably go down in U-M hockey lore. Beyond the turnaround, consider the preservation of the unbelievable consecutive NCAA tournament appearances streak (now 20) and the emergence of walk-on goalie Shawn Hunwick. If it’s not a movie script, it’s certainly a chapter in a book. But where does this all fit in M hockey lore? The definitive book on Wolverine hockey is of course John U. Bacon’s marvelous Blue Ice: The Story of Michigan Hockey. While Bacs hasn’t produced an updated volume, the story of the 2009-10 squad would certainly have its place if Blue Ice were penned today. I caught up…
