One step at a time

T

hree weeks ago this Saturday, 
the Michigan hockey team 
left the ice at Yost Ice Arena 

having posted a 60-shot, double-digit 
scoring spectacle in its preseason 
faceoff with 
Western 
Ontario. Elation 
was palpable 
as the players 
and coaches 
filed into the 
locker room, but 
hints of relief 
and surprise 
permeated the 
air as well. 

Michigan 

coach Mel Pearson was quick to 
address the elephant in the room.

“The goal scoring,” Pearson said, 

“we were 42nd in offense last year, 
so we weren’t sure where the goals 
were going to come from.”

And yet, nine of the Wolverines’ 

10 goals came from players who were 
on the roster last season. Plainly, 
such a large margin of victory could 
not have been anticipated.

Fast forward one week.
Michigan began its regular season 

on a New York road trip, where 
its emerging offense outshot St. 
Lawrence in the Friday nightcap and 
Clarkson on Saturday. Yet while the 
Wolverines tallied a win against the 
Saints, their Saturday battle went 
down on paper as an inerasable 
shutout loss.

Therein lies the point of reflection. 

Should losses like the one to Clarkson 
be taken at face value, or should they 
actually be interpreted as triumphs 
within themselves? There may not be 
one clear answer yet.

Inarguably though, the 

Wolverines demonstrated growth 
in both of their opening outings. 
Michigan, both nights, created viable 
opportunities for itself. Michigan, 
both nights, had its offense outshine 
that of the opposition. The same 
could not be said for most of last 
season.

When the weekend wrapped up, 

Pearson echoed this viewpoint.

“In some regards, we played 

better (against Clarkson) than we 
played (against St. Lawrence),” he 
said. “And some nights the puck just 
doesn’t go in the net for you.”

The elaborate, tiny details of 

each game will never be captured 
completely on a stats sheet. But that 

doesn’t make them trivial.

And this year, winning games 

shouldn’t be the sole emphasis 
for Michigan. Let me be clear: It’s 
not that winning isn’t important, 
or that the Wolverines won’t be 
capable of beating a multitude of 
their opponents. But chiefly, the 
transformation of this program 
won’t happen overnight.

Still, every small improvement 

displays the charisma Pearson 
has brought back to Michigan 
hockey. Every development 
prognosticates the program’s 
future success.

No one wanted to focus on the 

preseason poll that predicted the 
Wolverines would finish second to 
last in the Big Ten. On Media Day, 
players collectively expressed that 
they aren’t letting it get to them, and 
that they are determined to prove the 
poll wrong.

“It was a little bit of a topic of 

conversation,” said senior forward 
Dexter Dancs. “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.”

Despite how disheartening the 

forecast of finishing sixth out of 
seven seems, it was anything but 
arbitrary.

Michigan’s 6-12-2 conference 

mark over the 2016-17 season says 
as much. The Wolverines had the 
third-worst Corsi-percentage — a 
measure of puck possesion and shot 
differentials — in the country. The 
offense completely broke down, 
and was never able to regenerate. 
Michigan commenced the year with 
a No. 11 ranking, but it quickly faded, 
slipping to 37th in the nation by the 
end of the season.

In contrast, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 

8 Minnesota and No. 11 Penn State 
all earned NCAA Tournament bids 
last spring. These three conference 
competitors, in addition to No. 6 
Wisconsin, are all ranked above 
Michigan, and rightfully so.

With an elite hockey tradition, 

a new coach and a revamped 
mentality, the Wolverines are eager 
to write off last season as a glitch and 
move forward. But commanding a 
high-caliber conference like the Big 
Ten is an ambitious feat for anyone, 
and Michigan sits only a week away 
from its conference opener against 
the Nittany Lions.

This team is going to have to be 

patient. All of the adjustments the 
Wolverines hope to make will not 
happen in a month, in a season or 
even in two. The bulk of the roster 
returns from last year, and the 
learning curve will be steep. But 
in the case of Michigan — a team 
aiming for complete reinvention — 
time is its friend.

“It’s a process,” Pearson said after 

the Wolverines’ opening weekend. 
“And it’s going to be a process with 
this team.”

And who better than Pearson — a 

coach extremely familiar to working 
with struggling programs — to guide 
Michigan through this process?

Pearson embarked on his 

journey as head coach at his alma 
mater, Michigan Tech, in 2011. He 
joined a program that hadn’t seen 
a NCAA tournament appearance 
since 1981.

Just a season before he arrived, 

the Huskies held a 4-30-4 overall 
record. Rebuilding the team to bring 
it national relevance once again was 
a daunting task. And yet, with time, 
Pearson proved it feasible. 

Development started out on 

a smaller scale, with gradual 

improvements year to year. 
Michigan Tech didn’t see a 
winning record until the 2014-15 
season. But that same season, the 
Huskies notched their first-ever 
No. 1 ranking and netted an NCAA 
Tournament bid.

Obviously, the two circumstances 

are not the same. Michigan Tech 
hadn’t been hot for decades. 
Michigan had one bad year. But 
the Huskies are an unmistakable 
case of how a new set of skilled eyes 
and a little bit of time can revamp a 
program.

Thirty games — almost a full 

season — remain ahead of the 
Wolverines. Michigan should focus 
now on what it can control.

The offense is alive. Team 

chemistry is high. Newcomers 
are finding a groove and making 
contributions. The coach at the helm 
has experience working with teams 
and building their programs from 
the ground floor.

The rest, with time, will fall into 

place. 

Marcus can be reached at 

annahm@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @Anna_H_Marcus.

ANNA 
MARCUS

Friday, October 20, 2017 // FACEOFF 2017
3B 

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

First-year head coach Mel Pearson is no stranger to rebuilding a program, but in the case of the Michigan hockey team, it won’t be a process that happens overnight.

The arrival of Mel Pearson has injected new life into the program, but his renaissance will require patience.

