8A — Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Notebook: Goaltenders set to lead Wolverines 

Last 
season’s 
three-man 

goaltender rotation for the 
Michigan hockey team is now 
down to two. Zach Nagelvoort 
graduated 
last 
spring, 
and 

sophomores Jack LaFontaine 
and Hayden Lavigne remain as 
the two Wolverine netminders 
with substantial experience. 

And in his first season at 

the helm, Michigan coach Mel 
Pearson seems confident that 
the goaltenders 
can 
handle 

the 
increased 

workload. 
He called the 
rotation 
of 

LaFontaine 
and 
Lavigne 

the 
team’s 

“strongest 
position 
right 

now.”

In 
addition 

to 
the 

increased 
playing 
time, 
though, 

LaFontaine and Lavigne find 
themselves in somewhat new 
leadership positions with the 
team. 

“I feel like as a goalie, you 

kind 
of 
always 
lead 
from 

behind,” Lavigne said. “You’re 
the quiet guy that’s just kind 
of there doing your job every 
single day, you know, in and 
out. There’s definitely going to 
be leadership, not just from me, 
but also from (LaFontaine) and 
(junior goaltender Chad) Catt 
as well. And I think it’s just 
going to be by being confident 
every day in net, just coming 
to work, and being quiet — 
not necessarily an outspoken 
leadership position.”

Added LaFontaine: “Me and 

Hayden both definitely feel a 
responsibility where we need 
to step up now, and this is both 
of our years to kind of take 
this team and kind of build off 

both of our strong seasons last 
year.”

NEWCOMERS 

PREPARING TO EXCEL

 One of the main reasons for 

optimism with this season’s 
Wolverines is their incoming 
freshmen.

Forward Josh Norris was 

a first round pick in the 2017 
NHL Draft, and defenseman 
Quinn Hughes is projected to 
be an early pick in the 2018 

NHL 
Draft. 

Pearson 
pegged 

them as players 
he 
expects 
to 

produce 
at 
a 

high 
level 
for 

Michigan.

“Those 
are 

the two guys you 
expect to have the 
most immediate 
impact,” Pearson 
said. “Obviously 
Josh was a first-
round draft pick, 

so there’s a lot of pressure on 
him to perform, and Quinn 
Hughes is ranked really high. 
They’ve both looked really 
good.”

In addition to Norris and 

Hughes, 
the 
Wolverines 

welcome 
fellow 
first-years 

in 
forward 
Jack 
Becker, 

forward Michael Pastujov — 
brother of sophomore forward 
Nick Pastujov — and Dakota 
Raabe, who Pearson said has 
impressed him with his skating 
and skill.

Michigan 
also 
added 

graduate transfer forward Alex 
Roos, who spent the last four 
seasons at Colorado College.

LOCKWOOD 

RETURNING AT FULL 

HEALTH

When sophomore forward 

Will Lockwood was on the 
ice last season, it was easy 

to imagine what he could 
accomplish 
in 
the 
future. 

Lockwood was one of, if not 
the, fastest skater on the team, 
and he was second on the team 
in points (20), assists (12) and 
goals (8).

The one thing that did stop 

Lockwood 
was 
a 
nagging 

shoulder injury that held him 
out of five games last year.

This year, Lockwood hopes 

to have remedied that issue. 
He had surgery on his shoulder 
last spring, and he claims he’s 
feeling as healthy as ever.

“I feel great,” Lockwood 

said. “The surgery was timed 
well, so I’m ready to go at the 
beginning of the season. So, 
yeah, I’m feeling really good 
about it. … We’ve done a really 

good job rehabbing it and 
everything, so I feel confident. 
We’re starting the season up, 
and I’m really excited for that.”

With that newfound health, 

the Wolverines will rely on 
Lockwood, as Pearson said 
at the team’s Media Day on 
Tuesday.

“I’m looking for a big year 

out of Will,” Pearson said. “I 
like the way he plays. Being on 
the opposite bench last year 
watching him, he’s the kind of 
guy you want on your team. You 
didn’t want to play against him, 
so it’s going to be a lot more 
enjoyable and relaxing for me 
to have him on our team instead 
of playing against him.”

DANCS, WARREN 

“X-FACTORS” OF THE 

TEAM

 In his time at Michigan 

Tech, 
Mel 
Pearson 
turned 

the Huskies from a perennial 
underdog into one of the best 
teams in the country in Corsi-
percentage. As a result of that, 
many players on his teams put 
up impressive stat lines.

With scoring being one of 

Michigan’s biggest problems 
last season, Pearson is looking 
to have a similar effect on the 
Wolverines.

Tuesday, Pearson pointed 

out senior forward Dexter 
Dancs 
and 
junior 
forward 

Brendan Warren as “x-factors” 
for the team. Dancs showed 
some promise in his sophomore 

season, accruing 17 points on 
seven goals, and Warren had a 
17-point campaign of his own 
two seasons ago.

But both Dancs and Warren 

regressed last season. Dancs 
scored only one goal, and 
Warren had just 10 points.

For Pearson, the challenge 

lies 
in 
giving 
Dancs 
and 

Warren the confidence to be at 
the top of their game.

“I think you have to give 

them that confidence as far as 
their roles and playing them,” 
Pearson said. “If they have 
a bad shift or a bad game, 
continue to play them. Give 
them an opportunity to work 
through that.

“… They’re key guys to us 

having success.”

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Sophomore goaltender Jack LaFontaine is prepared to step up and become a leader for the Wolverines after posting an impressive freshman campain.

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor

I feel like as a 
goalie, you kind 
of always lead 
from behind.

Pearson brings confidence, Michigan must back it up
I

t’s an unenviable task to 
take over a coaching job 
from the greatest coach in 

the history of a program.

That’s 

exactly what 
Mel Pearson 
is doing 
with the 
Michigan 
hockey team. 

For 

Pearson, 
though, 
taking over 
for Red 
Berenson 
— the Wolverines’ coach for 
the last 34 seasons — isn’t as 
enormous an undertaking as 
it may seem. He served under 
Berenson in different capacities 
for 22 seasons before taking his 
first head coaching job with 
Michigan Tech in 2011. Pearson 
knows Ann Arbor, and he 
knows Michigan hockey.

He’s surrounded himself 

with people he’s familiar with, 
too. Associate head coach 
Bill Muckalt won two NCAA 
Championships as a player with 
the Wolverines while Pearson 
was behind the bench, and he 
was an assistant coach under 
Pearson with the Huskies. 
Assistant coaches Brian 
Wiseman and Steve Shields 
were each recruited by Pearson 
to play at Michigan, and they 
coached with Pearson once their 
playing careers were finished.

For one, Pearson and Muckalt 

have a tenure of turning around 
struggling hockey programs. 
They did it together with 
Michigan Tech, bringing them 
from a cellar-dwelling team 
to two NCAA Tournament 
appearances in just five years, 
and Muckalt won a Davis Cup 
with the USHL’s Tri-City 
Storm for the first time in the 
franchise’s history.

But whether or not they can 

turn around a Wolverines team 
that was the third-worst in the 
country in Corsi-percentage 
remains to be seen.

Additionally, there are 

the highly-touted freshmen, 
who look like they’ll make 
immediate, positive impacts. 
Namely, forward Josh Norris — 
a first-round NHL draft pick in 
2017 — and defenseman Quinn 
Hughes — a projected first-
round pick for the upcoming 
2018 draft — were picked by 
Pearson as first-year players 
who have impressed him.

Even their contributions 

aren’t a sure thing yet, though.

Still, at Michigan’s Media 

Day on Tuesday, players and 
coaches alike repeated that 
there’s a greater sense of 
optimism this season.

“I think it’s just an 

excitement of everybody having 
a fresh start,” said senior 

forward Dexter Dancs. “I don’t 
think Red and Mel’s coaching 
styles are too different but it’s 
just the excitement of having 
a new guy and having a clean 
slate.”

Added sophomore forward 

Will Lockwood: “Mel’s bringing 
a lot of energy, and we have a 
lot of new guys, and everyone 
fits well. I think a lot of the 
chemistry between guys is great 
which has brought the mood in 
the locker room up too.”

This talk of positive feelings 

came the day after the Big 
Ten Preseason Coaches’ poll 
predicted the Wolverines would 
finish second to last in the 
conference.

Many of the Michigan players 

shook it off as something they 
try not to pay attention to, but 
all of them knew about the poll, 
and some of them let on that it 
will be used as motivation.

“We don’t try and look too 

much into that,” Dancs said. 
“But it’s obviously a little bit of 
an F you, I guess you could say, 
to us. We’re excited to prove 
everyone wrong.

“It was a little bit of a topic 

of conversation, but, you 
know what, we’re not looking 
too much into it. But it will 
definitely be in the back of our 
mind when we play every team 
this year.”

That type of language ran up 

and down the team. Whether 
it was sophomore goaltender 
Hayden Lavigne saying the 
Wolverines will “come out as 
the underdog and finish on top,” 
or Muckalt saying the beauty 
of the game is that it isn’t on 
paper, everybody relayed a 
feeling of confidence that this 
will be a successful team.

And if you want to know 

where the confidence comes 
from, look no further than the 
new head coach.

“I’m not a forecaster, but 

if I had to pick, I’d pick us 
to win the league,” Pearson 
said. “We’ve got all the things 
we need to be successful, 
but you’ve got to go out and 
execute. You’ve got to go out 
and prove it.”

And therein lies the 

challenge. Despite all the 
talented young players, the 
grizzled veterans who have 
been through the ups and 
downs of the last few seasons 
and the new head coach with 
a seemingly magic touch, 
Michigan still has to perform 
on the ice.

The Wolverines have talked 

the talk. Now, when the regular 
season begins on October 6, 
they need to walk the walk. 

Persak can be reached 

at mdpers@umich.edu, on 

Twitter @MikeDPersak or on 

Venmo @Mike-Persak.

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan coach Mel Pearson coached the Wolverines for 22 years, and now he has returned to Ann Arbor once again.

MIKE 
PERSAK

