U-M hockey hopes to emulate football team in 3rd straight semifinal berth
It's odd how similar Michigan hockey's run to the Frozen Four is to Michigan football's recent College Football Playoff run.
In 2021, Michigan football appeared in its first College Football Playoff since the CFP's inception in 2014. Later that academic year, Michigan hockey earned its first trip to the Frozen Four since 2018.
Both teams lost in the semifinals to the eventual national champion.
In 2022, the football team entered the CFP yet again, this time with an unblemished 13-0 record, but they were ousted in the first round by TCU. Again, later that academic year, the hockey team earned a second straight trip to the Frozen Four but lost to Quinnipiac in the national semifinal.
Now in 2023, as all Michigan fans are aware, Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore and the football team went a perfect 15-0 and won the 2023 national championship.
But the hockey team's story is still being written. And it begins on Thursday night with a game against the No. 1 overall seed — the Boston College Eagles.
No, Michigan hockey isn't undefeated like the football team was, but Brandon Naurato and the Wolverines find themselves in an identical position to Harbaugh, Moore and the football team.
The million-dollar question is: Can the hockey team cap off the three-year trilogy with a national championship like the football team did in January?
Naurato said in his pregame media availability on Wednesday, the hockey team watched moments of Michigan's 27-20 overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl to help prepare.
"Just with the momentum swings, even in that Alabama game, we're watching the football team, it's just making the big play at the right time, but you don't know when that time's going to come," Naurato said. "You don't know if it's a big or small play, but just stacking all those together and making sure we're on the right side of it."
Naurato said he even had Moore speak with the team before their flight to Minnesota for Thursday's semifinal matchup.
"Yeah, we spent time with him as a staff and we had a really good talk. And then he asked if he could come talk to the players, too. It was quick, simple stuff, but stuff that matters."
"If you haven't been here before you wouldn't appreciate his messaging, but it was really good. It's just a business approach. We're here like any other road trip all year. We're not walking around the town, like, just happy to be here. We've got a job to do, and we're ready to do it."
Boston College has four first-round picks on its roster: Cutter Gauthier, Will Smith, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault, with Smith, Leonard and Perreault making up arguably the best line in college hockey.
It will be no easy task for Michigan to get past the No. 1 overall seed, but if the Wolverines pull off the upset, they'll advance to their first national championship game since 2011.
The first puck drop is slated for 8:30 p.m. from the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
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