The Ann Arbor News notes that Michigan is tied for the national lead in shorthanded goals... and the national lead in shorthanded goals against. Ever-chipper David Rohlfs says it's a feature, not a bug:
"It makes every single power play or penalty kill exciting,'' said senior David Rohlfs, who has two short-handed goals. "You never know what's going to happen. You just have to work your hardest or you know what's going to happen.''David, if the NHL doesn't work out there's always Microsoft PR.
Meanwhile, Chris Summers and Tim Cook are trading places this weekend. Cook will slide back to D while Summers takes a shift on the Cogliano-Kolarik line. Summers spent the second half of Michigan's Saturday game against Western Michigan on the third line in a move that was supposedly spurred by an injury to Brian Lebler. While I don't doubt the authenticity of Lebler's injury, I've gone "AAAARRGGGHH SUMMERS" too much this year to not suspect something was up. Summers had two heinous decisions that led to WMU scoring opportunities early in the game and IMO Red decided that he had seen enough for now.
I'm a fan of the move. Cook was dead weight as a forward and was better than Summers on D as a junior (and when he played it this year). With three guys graduating and Jack a major flight risk, it made sense to get Kampfer and Summers as much experience as possible on the blue line this year even if they weren't doing a very good job of it. As the season comes down to crunch time, however, it's time to try something else in an effort to cut down on Michigan's copious goals against. Also, Summers will be a better forward than Cook simply because of his skating. If he meshes with the second line, Michigan will regain the depth they lost when Jason Bailey bailed at midseason.
Side note: Kampfer's been getting about every other shift at the point on the second power play, something I dearly wish to continue. He's a major upgrade over Mitera, IMO.
Etc.: AA News on freshmen; Daily on BG (televised on Comcast local tonight); Hensick diary on CCHA.com
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