It begins tonight. Michigan Hockey has one more shot at lengthening its streak of 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances -- the longest in the sport. We are still one week away from raising the curtains on the 2010 CCHA Tournament, which represents Michigan's lone opportunity to qualify for a tournament that will surely not afford an at-large bid to this year's group of Wolverines. But it begins tonight. Michigan welcomes Notre Dame to Yost Ice Arena in the first of a two-game, three-day home-and-home to finish the regular season. In order to receive a bye in the first round of the CCHA Tournament and a home series in the Quarterfinals, Michigan will need to win twice and get some help...
According to Sports Illustrated.com, FL S Rashad Knight will sign a letter of intent to play with Rutgers, after narrowing his field to Greg Schiano's Scarlet Knights and Rich Rodriguez's Michigan Wolverines. Rashad Knight, a four-star defensive back, is the highest-ranked recruit from the state of Florida to commit to Rutgers. Knight is ranked as the 19th best safety in the country and the 46th best prospect in the state of Florida.One of the top remaining uncommitted prospects from Florida, Rashad Knight, will sign a letter of intent for Rutgers, SI.com has learned. A 5-foot-10 and 181-pound safety for Trinity Christian in Jacksonville, Knight is rated as a four-star player by Rivals.com. Knight will choose Rutgers over Michigan, where he took official visits. He also made an official visit to Auburn in December.
"I sat down with my family and talked about it -- I called the coach at Michigan to let him know," Knight said. "I just felt too comfortable at Rutgers to not go there."
Knight played safety in high school but says that Rutgers envisions him as a cornerback. Among his many offers were Auburn, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Purdue and West Virginia. He said that the recent trend of Rutgers producing NFL players helped sell him on the program. It didn't start very well, however, for the Scarlet Knights in trying to land Knight.
"A lot of coaches from a bunch of schools called here and there, but he [Rutgers' secondary coach Ed Pinkham] kept calling me so much, it started to get annoying," Knight said. "Then, after awhile, I began to feel real comfortable with him and what he was saying and our talks."
January was supposed to be a month to cleanse our souls from the evils of the 2009 Michigan football season--one that began with a quartet of promise and ended in conference contempt. College football has given way to hoops and hockey, although many Michiganders are busy commiserating over the Pistons, Red Wings, and Wolverines. But as the weather turns, I'm left reflecting on a football season gone awry and the prospects for improvement in 2010. 
9 and 9!? 10th in the CCHA?? Toto, were not in Kansas anymore. The Michigan hockey team has struggled this season which has put their NCAA appearance in jeopardy. An appearance streak running for 19 straight years. First, they need to win the Great Lakes Invitational for a 3rd consecutive season. Taking place December 29th and 30th, the Great Lakes Invitational will feature Michigan versus Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Michigan State versus Michigan Tech in the opening games.
Michigan’s first opponent R.P.I. is 9-9-1 and has lost 4 of the last 5 games coming into the tournament. The engineers score 2.89 per game, but give up about the same amount at 2.79 GAA. They are led by junior Chase Polacek their top scorer in goals (12) and points (26) along with Freshmen Brandon Pirri and Jerry D’Amigo chipping in 18 and 14 points respectively. Sophomore Goaltender Allen York has played majority of the games and will have to play magnificent to win the tournament. Rensselaer has played in the G.L.I. once before in 1985 finishing 2nd to Michigan State, so they have some hope but they’ll have to do it without D’Amigo because he’ll be at the World Juniors.
Surprisingly and luckily in some sense, Chris Brown was the last cut from U.S.A.’s World Junior team. Red Berenson will not have to make too many adjustments with the top line intact. The second line will have to play more consistent and get David Wohlberg, also cut from team U.S.A., to break his 4 game pointless streak. Brain Lebler, Ben Winnett and Luke Glendening will be counted on to make hits, forecheck hard and pop in that timely goal. Freshmen forwards A.J. Treais and Kevin Lynch will play their first games at the Joe Louis Arena where they could gain some magic like Tim Miller did in his career. Michigan’s defense with captain Chris Summers and improving Lee Moffie need to keep the puck out of the net and lead the offensive charge. They need to make the smart play and crisp pass to create a smooth transition game. Bryan Hogan will have to play like he did in the College Hockey Showcase. He has improved his game in the past couple weeks but rebound control is still a must. Michigan’s objective is to score at least 3 goals. They have only lost one game when scoring at least that amount this season. They can take advantage of R.P.I.’s weak penalty kill at 79% with their power play unit that has much improved since the start of the season. Look for Michigan to play comfortably at Joe Louis Arena and defeat Rensselaer to play MSU/MTU in the championship game (most likely State). Michigan can get their revenge for two tough losses to the Spartans earlier this season.
