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