5/5/2020 other sports Edit

Goaltender Strauss Mann Is The Wolverine's Male Athlete Of The Year

Chris Balas • Maize&BlueReview

Senior Editor

“Inconsistent” might be the best word to describe the Michigan hockey team in the first half of its season, a squad that seemed to have trouble burying scoring chances or putting wins together. The Wolverines started the season 3-7-2, including a pair of home losses to in-state rival Michigan State, dropped as low as five games under .500 at 4-9-2 and seemed to be the longest of long shots to make the NCAA Tournament as of mid-November.

Even then, however, they had one constant working in their favor — sophomore goaltender Strauss Mann. Though he’d never take credit for it, Mann was one of the primary reasons the Wolverines still had hope to turn their season around. He pitched a pair of shutouts in October, continued to improve and helped lead Michigan to a tie for second in the Big Ten, three points behind first place Penn State.

Michigan Wolverines hockey goaltender Strauss Mann was the Big Ten's top goaltender. (Lon Horwedel)

The Wolverines were at No. 14 in the Pairwise Rankings used to determine the 16-team NCAA Tournament field after Mann and his teammates shut Michigan State out twice at home, 3-0 both times, to sweep a first round Big Ten Tournament series before Covid-19 concerns abruptly ended their season.

Mann allowed only a goal or less in eight out of his last 16 games. The Wolverines went 11-3-2 in that stretch.

“I don’t think I elevated my game, or our team — we were pretty consistent, and I felt I was pretty consistent all year,” he said. “We weren’t really scoring at the beginning of the year, and that can kind of lead to lack of confidence. You start to lose a couple and then you start to think you’re going to lose the next close game.”They started with a clean slate in the second half of the year, beginning with pair of wins at Notre Dame, 3-0 and 3-1, in which Mann stopped 56 of 57 shots.

“We went in and sneaked away with a couple of close, low scoring games, and that just gave us a good feeling in the locker room,” Mann said. “Once we had that feeling … we had the same game plan and played the same way and stuck together, but when you get a good feeling, confidence rises. They were able to score a little more, get some chemistry out there.

“We were improving our defensive game even more, even though it was pretty strong in the first half, and I think we were a hard team to beat.”

Mann put in the time during the offseason and believed in himself, the way he did when he tried out for the USHL’s Fargo Force as a long shot and led the team to a title. He shrugged off an inconsistent freshman season to blossom into one of the nation’s top goaltenders, finishing this season with a .939 save percentage (third nationally) and a 1.85 goals against average (sixth). He became a Mike Richter Award semifinalist (nation’s best goalie) in addition to a Big Ten Player and Goaltender of the Year nominee (winners had not been announced as of April 24).

His hard work in the offseason was the key, teammate and forward Jack Becker said.

“He’s the definition of just ‘all in,’” Becker said. “He’s an extremist in everything he does with hockey. He’s just so dialed in. Every day is hockey, and he’s thinking about how he can get better.

“His diet … he’s so disciplined in everything he does, and he’s so focused. I think that really translates to his performance on the ice.”

He leaned on assistants like former U-M goalie Steve Shields and others to up his game, and he did. He recorded six shutouts (second most in NCAA) to tie the Michigan single-season record and set the Michigan single-season records in GAA and save percentage as a result.

“It was about making reads in games, learning to basically figure out what makes me good, what doesn’t,” he said of his improvement. “Making that the foundation of my game, learning to add other things to increase my chances to make every save, putting myself in position to make next save … little things like depth control, squareness, momentum, all areas.”

Added up, it led to an elite performance.

Mann didn’t get the chance to help lead U-M to a deep run in the postseason, but he just might have. He’ll be back next year to give it another shot.

Watch for a more in-depth article with Mann later this week.

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