When Michigan Hockey head coach Mel Pearson sent his troops home for the 2019-20 Christmas holiday, they occupied last place in the Big Ten standings with a mere seven points.

Pearson’s Wolverines had played to a 6-10-2 overall record and a dismal 2-7-1 Big Ten conference mark. Eight of those 10 losses were by two goals or less. The major culprit in the disappointing first half of the season was a stagnant offense which scored two goals or less in 11 of the 18 games played before the holiday break.

The holiday break clearly revitalized Michigan’s skaters to the tune of a 10-4-2 second-half record punctuated by series sweeps of Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan State along the path to earning the third seed in the 2020 Big Ten Hockey Tournament.

Michigan opens tournament play this weekend, March 6-8, at Yost Arena, with a best two-of-three series against in-state rival and No. 6 seed Michigan State. The Wolverines and Spartans each earned a series sweep in the regular season against each other with Michigan State taking two wins in a mid-November two-game set and Michigan securing two victories in a February re-match.

The Wolverines' post-holiday re-awakening has been led offensively by their senior class. Senior forwards Jake Slaker, Will Lockwood and Nick Pastujov occupy the top three spots in the team’s overall point standings. Slaker’s 12 goals and 16 assists lead the Wolverines in both of those categories.

Sophomore goaltender Strauss Mann has been a force in net for Michigan all season with a sparkling 1.97 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. Those totals earn Mann a ranking of sixth in the nation for save percentage and seventh in goals-against average. Mann’s clutch performance in the season-ending series at Minnesota also earned him recognition as the conference's first star of the week.

With Penn State earning a first-round bye as the regular-season Big Ten conference winner, the other two first-round tournament matchups in addition to the Michigan-Michigan State tussle will feature No. 7 seed Wisconsin visiting No. 2 seed Ohio State, and No. 5 seed Notre Dame traveling to Minnesota to face the No. 4 seed Golden Gophers.

Michigan’s first-round tourney weekend series against Michigan State will be televised only on Big Ten Plus. Game times are: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 6 p.m. Sunday if necessary.

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