Tuesday, October 25, 2016 
 
 FACEOFF 2016
4B
De Jong becomes comfortable in new role

For those who grow up in 

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 
hockey is nearly a birthright. So 
almost since he was born, Nolan 
De Jong has been itching to start 
playing the sport.

His father, Kevin De Jong, played 

in a men’s league, and Nolan would 
go to his games with his mother and 
brother to watch.

“His deal with me was that if I 

was potty-trained, if I could use a 
toilet, then he would teach me how 
to skate,” De Jong said. “That was 
his deal with me, because I wanted 
to play hockey so bad, because I saw 
him playing and watched it on TV 
and everything.”

From there, De Jong never looked 

back. He played in a minor league in 
his hometown and began improving 
his craft. And it didn’t take long for 
De Jong to realize that he might 
have a future in hockey.

Years later, De Jong is living that 

future in Ann Arbor.

Before every game, the Michigan 

hockey 
team 
crowds 
around 

the goal. Players drape over the 
back of the net, and the starting 
goalie crouches in the crease. The 
Children of Yost give another round 
of the “Let’s Go Blue” chant to the 
tune of the pep band, and the rest of 
the fans get louder in anticipation 
for puck drop. But among all the 
commotion, the players are silent. 
All the players, that is, except one: 
De Jong.

De Jong gives the final pep talk 

before the puck drops, visibly 
bobbing 
his 
head, 
giving 
his 

teammates 
encouraging 
words 

before they take the ice against 
their opponents.

In some ways, this position seems 

an obvious endpoint for the boy 
who started skating at that Victoria 
rink at age 2. In reality, it’s not that 
simple.

***

De Jong has always felt the 

passion that he now exhibits as 
a captain of the Wolverines. And 
when he was a child, that passion 
paired with physical ability to start 
him on the right track.

“I always knew I was one of the 

better, more competitive guys from 
pretty much when I was 6 or 7,” De 
Jong said. “Me and my best friend 
(American International College 
forward Shawn McBride), we would 
just kind of get the puck and we 
could skate through everyone at a 
pretty young age.

McBride further attested to De 

Jong’s hard work: “He was tons of 
fun to hang out with and be around, 
but then when it came time to work 
hard, he was the hardest-working 
guy. That’s a lot like he is today, and 

that’s how he was back then.”

De Jong’s hard work translated 

to early notice from colleges. Before 
he had even played his first game 
in junior hockey, De Jong received 
his first offer from Cornell. And 
from a school with such academic 
and hockey prestige, that offer was 
enough for De Jong. He committed 
to play for the Big Red, and 
Michigan moved its focus to other 
recruits.

Michigan knew about De Jong 

in those days. In fact, Wolverines 

assistant coach Brian Wiseman 
went to his British Columbia to take 
a look at him. But when Wiseman 
arrived, he soon found out about De 
Jong’s commitment to Cornell, and 
Michigan went home packing.

The pursuit wasn’t over, though. 

Once De Jong and his family took 
a deeper look into the financial 
prospects at an Ivy League school, 
they reconsidered their options.

“Cornell doesn’t do scholarships 

because they’re Ivy League,” Kevin 
De Jong said. “And when it came 
down to that, we were looking at 
either paying a bunch of money for 
him to go there, or he said, ‘There’s 
probably other opportunities,’ and 
Michigan was at the top of the list.”

When the Wolverines caught 

wind of De Jong’s decommitment, 
they pounced.

“It was about a year later that 

we had heard he decommitted with 
Cornell,” Berenson said. “So then 
he was available. And we knew 
enough about him to go ahead and 
recruit him.”

***

For 
De 
Jong, 
the 
move 
to 

Michigan wasn’t easy. He had spent 
his entire life in Victoria, even 
playing juniors for the hometown 
Victoria Grizzlies of the British 
Columbia Hockey League. So when 
he came to Ann Arbor, it was the 

first time De Jong had to spend an 
extended period of time away from 
home.

“In 
hindsight, 
it’s 
a 
funny 

situation,” De Jong said. “(My 
parents) basically packed me up and 
put my life in a few suitcases and a 
hockey bag and said, ‘There you 
go.’ You kind of get thrown into it a 
little bit, but I’m glad it worked out 
that way.”

But De Jong wasn’t necessarily 

alone. He came to Ann Arbor as 
a part of a vaunted recruiting 
class that included 11 players. The 
shining stars in the class were 

JT Compher and Tyler Motte. 
They were fresh off a stint with 
the United States National Team 
Development Program, a team that 
is made up every year of the most 
talented players in the country. 
Even 
Michael 
Downing 
was 

considered a superior defenseman 
to De Jong entering college. So it 
wasn’t expected that De Jong would 

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

Once committed to Cornell, defenseman has become a leader and a captain as one of the last seniors left at Michigan

“When it came 

time to work hard, 
he was the hardest-

working guy.”

“If I could use 
a toilet, then he 
would teach me 
how to skate.”

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

Senior defender Nolan De Jong earned a spot as one of Michigan’s co-captains along with Alex Kile going into the 2016-17 season.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily