Michigan Wolverines Hockey 2019-20 Season Preview
The Michigan Wolverines hockey season gets underway later today, with an exhibition at 4 p.m. against Windsor. The campaign officially starts Friday at 7:30 p.m., when Clarkson comes to town for a two-game series.
Our hockey insider, Bob Miller, gives his in-depth season preview below and will be back later this week with a series preview of the matchup with the Golden Knights.
In a tight, competitive hockey conference like the Big Ten, experience is often the deciding factor in the outcome of games.
As Michigan head coach Mel Pearson enters his third season in 2019-20, he’s seen both sides of the experience equation. In his first season of 2017-18, Michigan put on a second-half charge that led to a Frozen Four appearance.
In his follow-up campaign last season, a less-experienced lineup played in 18 games that were decided by one goal. Eleven of those games went to overtime, 10 in Big Ten conference play. The result was a below Michigan standards record of 13-16-7.
“It’s a fine line [between winning and losing] every night,” Pearson pointed out. “I think that was really evident in our last six games. All close games, so many overtime games. The bounce goes one way and you lose. It goes another way and you win. If we would have won one more game last year, we would have finished in second place [in the Big Ten], and we didn’t, so we end up fifth. That’s how close it was.
“The Big Ten is a tough conference and it’s going to continue to get stronger. We’re seeing that on the recruiting trail. Wisconsin has taken a huge step forward. Minnesota high school hockey is on a real upswing now and all the young players Minnesota has lined up are terrific. Penn State is starting to turn the corner with their program and become a powerhouse.
“Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Michigan State just spent another $20 million on their building — huge upgrades there and they’re serious about it. Ohio State is resurgent, so the Big Ten is a very good league. We have seven of our teams in the top 11 in attendance in college hockey.”
Pearson’s second season was played with a roster sporting 10 true freshmen. While several of those freshmen contributed, the coach is counting on that greater level of experience found on this year’s roster to matter in the inevitable tight conference games.
“I think one of the things you can look back at is that, sure, we took some bumps and bruises, but it was good for growing the program and the team,” Person explained. “Those young guys played a lot of key minutes for us. I remember against Ohio State, late in the year, we had two freshmen in [Garrett] Van Wyhe and [Nolan] Moyle playing with a sophomore [Dakota] Raabe as our top line. Those three young men outplayed Ohio State’s top line in a big game. They got tremendous experience. They all made good strides in the second half.
“I think the biggest growth year in college is from that first year to the second year. There are no surprises when you get to that second year. The players get stronger, too. I’m excited to see the progress from all those young guys.”
Newly elected senior captain forward Will Lockwood concurred with his head coach and added on last year’s results.
“It was mostly a mentality,” he said. “That’s something that separated us from winning those one-goal games and made a difference. So far this season, whether it’s in the locker room, in practice or around the rink, hopefully that mentality will be all about winning.
“Throughout the past 10 years or so, Michigan hockey has had guys who have come in and left early. With my class, we’ve got a bunch of guys with experience and a bunch of guys who have been here for three years already. Our team’s a little bit older this year than last year.
“That experience is especially important in the Big Ten. Each game is going to be close, and every team is going to give you a good game no matter what. Having that experience will definitely be a benefit.”
Lockwood will play a vital role in the offense. Opting not to turn pro with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, who drafted him in the third round (64th overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. During his junior season, he led the team in goals (16), power-play goals (six) and shots on goal (143).
That fine line between winning and losing last season became even more important when the Wolverines lost two of their top players, forward Josh Norris and defenseman Luke Martin, to season-ending injuries in the second half of the slate.
“You can’t put a number on that [the cost of those two injuries],” Pearson admitted. “When you have so many games that are decided by one goal and you lose a player like Josh Norris, it’s tough. Norris was having a tremendous offensive season before he got hurt. With him, I think we could have challenged for first place [in the Big Ten].
“Then, you throw in Martin, who was playing his best hockey on defense. Everybody experiences [injuries], but I don’t think anybody did to the extent we did last year. At the same time, some of our players got some valuable experience having a bigger role in the lineup.”
Pearson tweaked his 2019-20 lineup by adding only five true freshmen, but bolstered the experience level with two graduate transfers, forward Jacob Hayhurst from RPI and defenseman Shane Switzer from Boston University, and one true transfer, forward Emil Ohrwall from RPI through the USHL’s Waterloo franchise.
“The grad transfers will both help,” Pearson offered. “They’re both good players. They come from good programs. They both had some pretty good experience.”
Pearson and Lockwood agreed that the strength of the 2019-20 roster lies in the 17 forwards who will compete for playing time. Senior forwards Jake Slaker and Nick Pastujov will be counted on to supplement Lockwood’s offensive contributions.
“We are very deep up front,” the coach said. “We have 17 forwards on the roster. It’s a very talented group. We’ve got speed, size, quickness, leadership, some scoring and experience. We’re really excited about them.
“We think it’s the strength of our team. We’re going to have to possess the puck to take some pressure off our team defensively. I think our scorers have the capability of doing that.”
“I feel extremely confident with our lineup of forwards,” Lockwood added. “We’re really deep this year. We’ve got 17 forwards on the team and each guy has a chance to play in the lineup. I think that will bring out a little more competition in practice.
“It will help this team toward the mentality I talked about. We want to compete every day in practice, not just Friday and Saturday in games.”
Pearson admitted some concern over the experience level of his defense, citing the loss of two key seniors and one pro defection.
“We’ll be a little inexperienced since we lost [Joe] Cecconi, [Nick] Boka and [Quinn] Hughes, three really good hockey players,” Pearson confessed. “We’re a little inexperienced on the back end, but when you bring a guy in like [freshman] Cam York, that’s a positive. He’s going to be able to slide in and play right away.
“… We think it’s going to be a really solid group with some high-end players back there.”
In hockey, the final result often comes down to the last line of defense, the goaltending. Pearson was cautiously optimistic about the Wolverine netminders.
“In goal, [senior] Hayden Lavigne took us to the Frozen Four a couple of years ago,” Pearson said. “[Sophomore] Strauss Mann has won a USHL championship. [Sophomore] Jack Leavy really made good progress, so he’s going to push, too.
“I really like them as a group. That’s going to be a key to our team. There’s a lot potential, I’m cautiously optimistic, but in the Big Ten everybody is going to be good, so everyone has to play up to their capability.
“Strauss Mann is a very talented goaltender. The sky’s the limit for him. He’s won everywhere he’s played. At times last year, he showed us he’s very capable, but inconsistency plagued him as it did our team overall. We went as our goalies went last year, and, not to lay it all on them but that’s where it all starts.”
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