The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, September 29, 2017 — 7

Amid much anticipation, Michigan set to open new season

The 
offseason 
for 
the 

Michigan hockey team has been 
rife with high expectations. 
The summer has seen countless 
headlines surrounding a new 
head coach, a six-senior class 
determined to rebound from 
last year’s disappointment and 
promising freshmen looking to 
become breakout stars.

This excitement will be on 

full 
display 

Saturday when 
the 
doors 
of 

Yost Ice Arena 
open to mark 
the beginning of 
hockey 
season 

in Ann Arbor 
once again. The 
Wolverines 
will hit the ice 
this 
weekend 

and 
kick 
off 

their 
2017-18 

campaign with 
an 
exhibition 

matchup 
against Western Ontario.

Michigan’s first game since 

last spring will also be the first 
time the team plays under a new 
head coach in 33 years after the 
legendary tenure of former coach 
Red Berenson.

Though just an exhibition 

before regular season play begins 
next weekend at St. Lawrence 
and Clarkson in upstate New 
York, new coach Mel Pearson 
doesn’t 
approach 
this 
game 

differently than other contests.

“This has to be a dress rehearsal 

for next weekend,” Pearson said. 
“That’s one of the things we’ll try 
and line up even this whole week, 
as if it’s another Big Ten week 
playing a Big Ten opponent, so 
everything we’re going to try to 
do is to prepare them.

“With a new coaching staff, 

there’s a lot of things that are 

going to be different in just what 
we do on game day, pre-game 
skate, all those things. So it’s 
for them to learn what we want, 
too.”

The veteran Wolverines share 

their coach’s mentality and are 
intent on instilling the idea of an 
unwavering, winning work ethic 
into the freshmen leading up to 
Saturday.

“It’s like any other game,” 

said senior defenseman Cutler 
Martin. “You’ve got to go in with 
the mindset that you’re going to 
win, you’re going to win every 
battle, every shift. You’ve got to 
go in and take care of business. 
So it’s not really like an, ‘All right, 
I’m going to go in and play a 50% 
job.’ It’s giving it your best effort 
and you’re coming away trying to 

score as many goals as possible 
and limit them to nothing.”

While the team goes through 

the same practice regimen it 
would do for a midseason game, 
there will also 
be a test-drive 
feel against the 
Mustangs. 
The 

coaching 
staff 

will experiment 
with 
different 

systems at game 
speed and assess 
the strengths of 
newcomers 
in 

that setting.

Preseason 

rules restrict coaches from being 
on the ice during practice for 
more than a half hour per day 
— amounting to a total of just 

two hours a week. This makes 
it difficult to implement new 
strategies and find time to fully 
teach and evaluate players.

But Pearson hopes Saturday’s 

game will show 
Michigan’s 
progress 
and 

areas 
for 

improvement 
since 
preseason 

practices 
began 

two weeks ago.

“First 
and 

foremost, it’ll be 
good just to see 
what our guys 
are capable of 

doing, where they’re at as far 
as their execution of different 
systems we’re trying to put 
in,” Pearson said. “Obviously, 

I’m new this year so it’s sort 
of a different look, so it’ll be 
important to see how far they’ve 
come in some of the things we’re 
trying to teach.

“We just want to see some 

excitement, some energy and 
some hustle out there more than 
anything, and then the execution 
of the things we’re trying to do.”

Added Martin: “I think that 

we’ll also learn a little bit about 
our team. We have some new 
guys and we’ll see what they can 
do. It’s their first opportunity 
to show us — to show the 
returners and show the coaches 
— what they’re made of and 
what they’re like in real, game-
like competition. It’ll be a good 
learning experience to see how 
it’ll go.”

And the freshmen are primed 

to show everyone their talents 
from the moment the puck drops.

The highly-touted incoming 

class is led by forward Josh 
Norris, a 2017 first-round NHL 
draft 
pick, 
and 
defenseman 

Quinn Hughes, a likely 2018 
first-round pick. Forward Dakota 
Raabe has also impressed the 
coaches the past few weeks.

In some ways, Pearson believes 

the freshmen will have it easier 
than the upperclassmen because 
they haven’t played under the 
previous system at Michigan. 
This advantage, combined with 
the potential they have displayed 
in practice, gives him the belief 
his new skaters will have an 
immediate impact come game 
time.

“We 
like 
the 
freshmen,” 

Pearson said. “They’ve shown 
that they’re going to compete 
and push guys for jobs and ice 
time.”

On a personal level, Pearson 

is both eager and honored to be 
the man in charge, returning to 
Michigan after 23 years under 
Berenson as both an assistant 
and associate head coach — and 
most recently six years as the 
head coach at Michigan Tech. 
Despite the excitement, it’s first 
things first for the Flin Flon, 
Manitoba native as the team 
makes its way from the dressing 
room to the rink.

“I just hope I go to the right 

bench,” Pearson laughed. “The 
first few times I came in here 
when I was at Michigan Tech as 
the visiting coach, it was really 
strange coming on the visitor’s 
bench and now I guess it’s come 
full circle. I get to go to the bench 
as the head coach.”

As fans file into Yost, freshmen 

and returners alike lace up their 
skates, and Pearson heads to the 
home bench, Saturday will be 
the first look at the new team in 
a new era.

New coach Mel Pearson steps it up a notch for Wolverines

On a Tuesday afternoon, 

with over a week to go before 
the first puck drop of the year, 
Yost Ice Arena feels alive. 

Not 
in 
a 
conventional 

sense, though. The bleachers 
stand vacant, devoid of the 
student-section 
buzz 
that 

will inevitably return to the 
rink 
in 
upcoming 
weeks. 

But off the ice, Mel Pearson 
and his players radiate an 
unmistakable energy.

Just days away from its 

first exhibition match against 
Western Ontario, the Michigan 
hockey team is anxious for its 
season to launch. 

“Overall, 
the 
energy 

(has 
been) 
a 
lot 
higher,” 

said 
sophomore 
forward 

Jake Slaker. “Having a new 
coaching 
staff, 
everybody’s 

starting off at 0-0, so we’re all 
pretty excited to be on the ice 
and to try to make a name for 
ourselves.”

At their official team media 

day last week, the Wolverines 
spoke 
optimistically 
about 

their upcoming season after 
their 2016-17 season fell flat. 
They finished bearing a losing 
record for the first time since 
the 2012-13 year. Michigan 
struggled 
tremendously 
on 

the offensive front, lacking 
firepower 
and 
holding 
the 

third-worst Corsi-percentage 
in the country. As a result, 
the Wolverines failed to make 
the top 20 in the preseason 
rankings. 

Moving forward from that 

point, Michigan has had to 
start putting in the work to 
convert its confidence into 
performance.

Luckily for the Wolverines, 

the past season and a fresh 
coaching staff are assets that 
can be used as motivation to 
defy expectations this year. 
Not to mention, Michigan has 
an 
abundance 
of 
potential 

leaders up and down its roster. 

In addition to the Wolverines 

having a chip on their shoulder, 
Pearson has taken it upon 

himself to combat last season’s 
most pervasive problems. His 
objectives include revamping 
Michigan’s style of play. The 
Wolverines want to possess the 
puck, they want to be fast and 
they want to be aggressive.

Though confined to two 

hours per week on the ice 
leading up to the exhibition 
game, Pearson utilizes these 
short 
practice 
increments 

efficiently. 

“We’re trying to play with 

more pace in practice so when 
we get in the game it will seem 
easier — not that it will be 
but mainly just the pace and 
attention to detail,” Pearson 
said. 
“They’ve 
been 
good. 

We’ve seen great improvement 
from week one when I thought 
they were — I don’t want to 
say lazy, but I’ll use the word 
relaxed a little bit. We’re just 
trying to jack up the intensity.”

With Pearson at the helm 

following 
Red 
Berenson’s 

34-year tenure as head coach, a 
novel dynamic — where players 
are vying to make a positive 

impression on the new coach — 
is becoming the defining factor 
of the preseason.

The 
dynamic 
fosters 
a 

competitive 
atmosphere 
at 

practices, as every player gives 
his all in order to stake his claim 
for playing time. In turn, the 
players reap the benefits when 
their performance sharpens.

“Guys that had solidified 

their spots in the lineup last 
year are now back to fighting 
for their spots again,” said 
sophomore goaltender Hayden 
Lavigne. “There’s big question 
marks as to who’s going to play 
with who, who’s going to be on 
special teams’ time, stuff like 
that. It really forces guys to 
come to practice every day and 
fight for their position.”

Slaker — who saw action 

in all 35 games as a freshman 
last season and led Michigan’s 
offensive campaign with a 
team-high 21 points — echoes 
this mantra.

“I think I just need to 

elevate my game more,” Slaker 
said. “I think there’s higher 
expectations of me this year, 
being an upperclassman, so 
I’m excited about that. Overall, 
expectations for myself are 
just to do whatever I can to 
help the team whether that’s 
getting points, blocking shots, 
playing first line or fourth line 
or even just being positive in 
the locker room.”

Not only have returning 

players contested each other 
for positions, but they have 
been competing with freshman 
forward 
Josh 
Norris 
and 

freshman defenseman Quinn 
Hughes as well. The former 
was a first-round NHL draft 
pick, and the latter is a likely 
first-round draft pick in 2018.

“Quinn Hughes and Josh 

Norris 
are 
two 
high-end 

freshmen,” 
Pearson 
said. 

“They’re worth the price of 
admission, I’m telling you right 
now.”

The 
strength 
of 
the 

freshman class illustrates the 
depth of the Michigan roster 
this season. From a robust six-
senior class, to four dominant 
sophomore 
forwards, 
to 

Hughes 
and 
Norris, 
the 

Wolverines 
have 
some 
big 

boxes checked even before 
their season commences.

The competitive atmosphere 

and 
intense 
energy 
that 

Pearson 
and 
his 
players 

alike have brought to Yost 
so far makes one thing clear: 
Michigan is keen to avenge its 
lackluster season. The ability 
to harness this energy during 
games will be key to whether it 
can succeed.

“Coach 
Mel 
is 
very 

enthusiastic and very upbeat,” 
said 
sophomore 
goaltender 

Jack LaFontaine. “And I think 
the guys are responding well to 
it, and I think we’re seeing that 
a lot on the ice right now. He’s 
very positive and good vibes 
are going around the dressing 
room.” 

After an offseason full of change, particularly at head coach, the Wolverines will kick off a new year Saturday 

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Senior defenseman Cutler Martin thinks the game experience of the season opener will help ‘M’ better understand what it has and where it is at this point.

BENJAMIN KATZ

Daily Sports Writer

“There’s a lot 
of things that 
are going to be 

different.”

Western 
Ontario at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Western 
Ontario 0-0; 
Michigan 0-0 

When: 
Saturday 
7 P.M.

Where: Yost 
Ice Arena

ANNA MARCUS
Daily Sports Writer

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne believes the competitive atmosphere has been beneficial for the whole team.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Sophomore forward Jake Slaker will have to fight for playing time just like everyone else despite his strong 2016-17 year.

