The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, September 20, 2018 — 7

Back to normal
I

t’s a sweltering September 
Tuesday 
in Ann 
Arbor, the kind 
of day where 
the heat just 
seems to slow 
down the pace 
of life itself.
Students 
stroll down 
State Street in 
t-shirts, shorts 
and sandals 
on their way to class, trying to soak 
in as much summer as they can. 
Hockey sticks, heavy sweaters and 
ice rinks are surely the last thing on 
their minds.
But even inside Yost Ice Arena, 
where the Michigan hockey team 
runs through an afternoon practice 
18 days before the start of its season, 
you can sense that same mood. 
There’s an air of calm and ease, if 
not necessarily tranquility — this is 
hockey, after all.
An air of normalcy, if you will.
Mel Pearson projects this same 
air. The Wolverines’ second-year 
coach displayed an even demeanor 
throughout his first year at the 
helm, through blowouts, nail-biters, 
joy and heartbreak alike.
On this afternoon, it doesn’t 
appear as if anything’s changed. 
Pearson walks into the Yost media 
room, greets a group of reporters, 
takes a seat and says the same two 
words he used to start so many 
press conferences and interviews 
last year.
“Fire away.”
***
Of course, nothing about 
Michigan’s 2017-18 season was 
normal.
The Wolverines won 13 games in 
Red Berenson’s final season. They 
ended up doubling that total only 
one year later. The Big Ten’s coaches 
picked them to finish ahead of only 
Michigan State. They placed third 
in the conference. They hadn’t made 
a Frozen Four since 2011. In what 
was supposed to be a rebuilding 
year, with the third-youngest team 
in the nation, Michigan came 
within six seconds of playing for a 

national title.
But Pearson and his team 
had almost no time to savor this 
unexpected success. Dexter 
Dancs, Cooper Marody and Tony 
Calderone — the high-scoring 
“DMC” line — broke up just days 
after the semifinal loss to Notre 
Dame. Calderone and Dancs 
graduated, and Marody signed 
with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, 
foregoing his last year of college 
eligibility.
And so began a tumultuous 
offseason, even for Michigan 
hockey standards.
Junior defenseman Joseph 
Cecconi had a career season, with 
five goals and 22 assists as part 
of the Wolverines’ top defensive 
pairing. The Dallas Stars, who 
drafted him three years ago, wanted 
in on this success and pushed hard 
to sign him.
But Cecconi had unfinished 
business. He wanted to finish 
his degree. He didn’t want to, in 
his words, “let down” his class. 
And he wanted to win a national 
championship.
In April, shortly after he decided 
to stay for his senior year, his 
teammates named him captain for 
2018-19.
“Once we found out that he was 
going to stay, it was pretty obvious,” 
Pearson said. “ … We thought if we 
had a leadership group, we can do 
that early, especially when we had 
our spring workouts in May and 
June. We thought it’d be good to 
have that in place if we could.”
Cecconi’s decision brought 
some stability. But uncertainty still 
loomed, and important pieces were 
still moving.
In May, top recruit Oliver 
Wahlstrom committed to Boston 
College over Michigan. In June, 
prized prospect Bode Wilde 
decommitted from the Wolverines. 
Later in the summer, the possibility 
of Jack Hughes — the projected 
No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft — 
leaving the United States National 
Team Development Program early 
to play at Michigan fizzled out.
And on June 22, Quinn Hughes 
was drafted seventh overall in 

the NHL Draft by the Vancouver 
Canucks. For the Wolverines, a 
nervous month ensued, all eyes 
fixated on whether the electrifying 
defenseman, who scored 29 points 
as a freshman, would return for his 
sophomore season.
A month later, Hughes gave the 
answer Michigan fans wanted to 
hear: He was staying in Ann Arbor.
“My heart’s obviously still at 
Michigan,” Hughes told MGoBlue.
com on July 28. “… When I look back 
at my season last year, I had a great 
year. But I didn’t win a national 
championship. So, that’s my goal 
next year, and anything less than 
that would be disappointing.”
A roller-coaster season had 
been followed by a roller-coaster 
offseason. But with Hughes’ choice, 
the makeup of the current roster 
was finally settled. Pearson’s second 
season could proceed.
***
Pearson is seemingly always 
even-keeled, but he states he is 
more “at ease” than he was at this 
time last season. He speaks in a 
measured, conversational tone, 
never showing any signs that he’s 
not as relaxed as he says he is.
He knows his team didn’t 
escape the offseason unscathed. 
The “DMC” line accounted for 34 
percent of the Wolverines’ scoring a 
season ago. But the attrition doesn’t 
worry him.
He anticipates a breakout year 
from sophomore Josh Norris. He’s 
excited about junior Jake Slaker 
taking another step forward, 
thrilled at the prospect of having 
junior Will Lockwood for a full 
season, ready to see how brothers 
Nick and Michael Pastujov can build 
off their strong finish last year. He 
can’t wait to see what Luke Morgan, 
a transfer from Lake Superior State 
who sat out last season, can do in a 
real game. He has high hopes for the 
10-man freshmen class joining the 
team. And he has Hughes — perhaps 
the best returning player in college 
hockey.
“I don’t think scoring’s going to 
be a big issue on this team,” Pearson 
said. “We’re going to score goals, 
we’ll just see where they come 

from.”
It’s understandable why Pearson 
is more comfortable now. Last 
year was one of transition, but this 
year, Pearson is familiar with his 
team, and his team is familiar with 
him. His plan, his system and his 
expectations are all in place.
“We know (players’) weaknesses 
and the areas we had to push 
them and prod them to get better,” 
Pearson said Tuesday. “And 
they’ve done that, they’ve made 
a commitment to get better 
this summer, almost to a man. I 
think we’re in the best shape I 
can remember a team being in 
physically.”
When Pearson took the job 
at Michigan, he heavily invoked 
history. He compared the program 
to a prized family car that he had 
inherited. He called his role that of a 
“gatekeeper,” protecting the legacy 
that past great coaches Vic Heyliger, 
Al Renfrew and Red Berenson had 
created.
He took the reins after the 
Wolverines’ worst season in 30 
years and led them back to national 
relevance in only one season. He 
and his team emphatically declared 
that Michigan hockey was back.
And the expectations that come 
with that are back, too.

Recently, Pearson had a 
conversation with Michigan 
basketball coach John Beilein. 
Among the things they discussed 
was the similar situation their 
respective programs are in. As 
Pearson noted, both teams went 
on unexpected, underdog runs last 
year, and both teams lost key talent 
afterwards — Moritz Wagner’s early 
departure mirroring Marody’s jump 
to the pros.
“We talked about it — what’s 
the message? How do you handle 
that?” Pearson said. “Going from 
maybe being underdogs or no one’s 
talking about you, to now you’re one 
of those teams that people might 
pick to finish near the top of the 
conference.”
Pearson and Beilein will talk 
again soon to share their thoughts. 
Figuring out how to handle the 
increased pressure is an ongoing 
process.
But the expectations themselves, 
and what they imply, are just what 
Pearson wants.
“Those are the expectations that 
you want at Michigan,” Pearson 
said. “That’s why you come here as 
a player — to win championships. 
… But having said that, again, it’s 
the process. You have to go through 
the things, make sure you’re taking 

care of all the little things and the 
championships will take care of 
themselves.”
Expectations are a funny thing. 
Fans, media and other observers 
have one set of expectations, but a 
team often has another.
“Last year, the expectations were 
to win a national championship,” 
Cecconi said. “And they’re going to 
be the same this year.”
For a player, it’s an 
understandable sentiment — why 
play if you don’t believe you can win 
the ultimate prize? But for anyone 
else, it’s a bold expectation, one 
that not even the most optimistic 
supporter would have believed in 
last season.
This year, however, things have 
changed.
Maybe the Wolverines won’t 
return to the Frozen Four this year. 
But there is a foundation on top of 
which Pearson can go about adding 
to the program’s legacy.
That air of calm emanating 
throughout Yost Ice Arena? It’s not 
an illusion.
For Michigan, things are back to 
normal.

Shames can be reached at 

jacosham@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

‘M’ welcomes 10 freshmen for 2018-19 season

Less than a year ago, Nick 
Blankenburg was sitting 
on 
42 points through 57 games 
— 16 goals and 26 assists as a 
defenseman 
of 
the 
Okotoks 
Oilers from the Alberta Junior 
Hockey League. The 19-year old 
went on to rack up six goals and 
six assists in 15 playoff games, 
which named him to the AJHL 
South All-Rookie Team. 
As impressive as that is, the 
blue-liner 
has 
seen 
crazier 
offensive outputs before. In high 
school, Blankenburg racked up 
147 points through 83 games in 
a three-year span, one of which 
featured a state championship 
title in 2016. For Michigan, this 
bodes well — Blankenburg is 
just one of 10 freshmen, all of 
which come with a wide variety 
of accolades and talents between 
them. 
Those 10 newcomers are in 
an adjustment mode, trying 
to figure out the transition 
between where they’ve been 
and where they are now. For 
some, the process started last 
year — in the following months 
after Blankenburg committed 
to the Wolverines in the midst 
of his AJHL season, he started 
to scope out the team’s playing 

style and watched them battle 
their way to a Frozen Four berth 
that was one goal away from a 
championship run. 
“Coming in as a defenseman, 
I really looked more at the plays 
that Michigan’s (defensemen) 
were making and even other 
teams too,” Blankenburg said. 
“Kind of compare myself and 
see where I would fit in with the 
team at that next level.
“…Those guys are all fast 
players and they like moving 
the puck up the ice quick, and I 
know (sophomore defenseman 
Quinn Hughes) likes playing 
that offensive style. I kind of 
try to play that offensive style 
as well, but I have to be reliable 
on defense as well. So, it’s kind 
of nice to see these older guys 
and what they’re doing and learn 
from them too.”
This season, Blankenburg is 
one of three additions to the blue 
line, including Jake Gingell — a 
two-season defensemen for the 
Youngstown Phantoms of the 
USHL with a plus-30 regular-
season 
rating 
— 
and 
Jack 
Summers, who split the past two 
seasons between the USHL’s 
Tri-City Storm and the NAHL’s 
Springfield Jr. Blues.
Aside 
from 
the 
three 
defensemen, 
the 
Wolverines 
have gained five forwards and 

two 
goaltenders, 
including 
Strauss Mann from the USHL’s 
Fargo Force, the Clark Cup 
winners. And although most 
have 
extensive 
previous 
playing experience, the ten new 
additions have spent the last few 
weeks adjusting to the intensity 
of collegiate hockey.
“They were a little nervous 
the first week,” Pearson said on 
Tuesday afternoon. “You could 
sense that, you could see that, 
a little jumpy with the puck, 
not quite sure on some things, 
being kind — I call it being kind 
to the other players — but we 
want them to compete. We want 
them to come in here and force 
guys to play hard, force people 
to earn their position. There’s 
no entitlement here, we’ve told 
them that that we need them to 
come in and play and play a vital 
role on our team. 
“I think every week you can 
see the confidence grow in them, 
and that nervousness has sort 
of subsided now and they’re 
just being themselves. They’re 
playing. They’re hockey players, 
and they’re good hockey players, 
and they have to understand that 
and just come out and do what 
they’re good at and try to get 
better every day.”
One of the biggest factors in 
getting the freshmen acclimated 

has been the returners. Now 
a three-person class after the 
departure of forward Cooper 
Marody 
to 
the 
Edmonton 
Oilers of the NHL last season, 
the senior trio of defensemen 
Joseph Cecconi, Nicholas Boka 
and forward Brendan Warren 
are heavily outnumbered by the 
newcomers. Along with them, 
the juniors and sophomores 
have had to step up to help the 
freshmen adjust.
Whether 
it’s 
pointing 
a 
freshman in the right direction 
to find a class building or 
working on systems in practice, 
the entire team has been a part 
of the adjustment period. One of 
those team members, sophomore 
forward Josh Norris, has tried to 
embody that as best possible.
“It’s my second year here and 
I’ve taken on more of a leadership 
role here,” Norris said. “I think, 
just for the freshmen, relating 
to them personally, there’s a lot 
of ups and downs your first year 
and you can get frustrated with 
things easily and take it the 
wrong way, and maybe be led 
down the wrong path. I know 
they’re gonna struggle at points, 
that’s just the nature of it, so just 
trying to help them with that 
and if they need anything I’m 
here for them.”
Added 
Blankenburg: 
“Off 
the ice, any question that I’ve 
had — whether it’s where the 
Chemistry building is or where 
anything is, they’ve been nice 
so far. Boka let me and another 
freshman this summer borrow 
his moped so that was a huge 
help for us. All the guys have 
been great, I sit next to Boka, 
he helps me out a lot with any 
questions I have. It’s just all the 
guys, not even just the seniors, 
everyone’s been helping us on 
and off the ice that they’ve been 
so helpful.”
Despite all of the stats and 
a 
quick 
acclimation 
period, 
Michigan is once again looking 
at a lopsided roster with a lot 
of fresh faces and few senior 
leaders. But, as they showed 
last season, the Wolverines like 
to blow expectations out of the 
water — and with all of the young 
talent, they just might be able to 
do that again.

Safeties still learning 
to play smart and fast

It’s hard to look at the 
Michigan 
football 
team’s 
defense and find a weak spot.
If you had to choose one, 
though, 
it 
might 
be 
the 
Wolverines’ 
safeties. 
That 
isn’t necessarily an insult, 
but a statement on just how 
strong Michigan’s defense is. 
Still, safeties have committed 
the most easily identifiable 
mistakes through three games 
this season.
First, against Notre Dame, 
there was junior Josh Metellus’ 
targeting call that got him 
kicked out just minutes into 
the game. Some didn’t view it 
as a penalty, but the call was 
made nonetheless, and it forced 
sophomore Brad Hawkins into 
the game.
Moments 
later, 
Hawkins 
was beaten on a jump ball in 
the endzone, as the Fighting 
Irish went up 14-0 en route to 
a 24-17 win.
Then, last week against 
SMU, the Mustangs scored 
their 
first 
touchdown 
when Hawkins and junior 
cornerback David Long had 
some miscommunication and 
left a wide receiver running all 
alone down the sideline for a 
50-yard score.
“Inconsistent,” said safeties 
and special teams coach Chris 
Partridge of his unit’s play. 
“… There’s always room for 
improvement. But I thought 
when we were good, we were 
really, really good. You know, 
we had some mistakes in the 
first game. We cleaned them 
up and played really good in 
the second game and then, you 
know, played pretty good in the 
third game overall. If you took 
four or five plays out of each of 
those starters, just alignment 
and stuff, they would have 
graded really high — over a 
90. But those four or five plays 
were in there, and we’ve gotta 
clean that stuff up.”

As Partridge implied, it isn’t 
all doom and gloom.
Metellus was called for a 
pass interference penalty late 
in the second half against 
SMU. Then he made up for it in 
a big way, securing a pick-six 
as time expired in the first half 
to shift the momentum of the 
game entirely.
Senior Tyree Kinnel, one 
of 
the 
defensive 
captains, 
has 
been 
solid 
too, 
and 
Hawkins has been a pleasant 
surprise. All three have played 
aggressively, flying downhill 
to make plays in run support 
when needed.
That aggressiveness is a 
catch-22, though. It has led 
to the targeting and pass 
interference 
penalties 
that 
have plagued the group. It’s 
something Partridge says they 
are going to have to learn to play 
with, because he’s not going to 
tell them to play timidly.
“We’re gonna be aggressive, 
and we’re always gonna be 
aggressive,” 
Partridge 
said. 
“But we need to understand 
when we need to be aggressive 
… when do we lay off, when do 
we be aggressive because it’s 
on the field of play and when 
do we don’t.”
Ultimately, the safeties are 
a talented group of players. 
Their ability is clear in spurts 
throughout each game.
And they’re an experienced 
group, too. Both Kinnel and 
Metellus were starters last 
season. So maybe it’s just 
early-season jitters, but for the 
defense to reach its potential, 
it will need the safeties to 
tighten things up.
“It’s 
just, 
these 
guys 
are 
going 
100 
miles 
per 
hour,” Partridge said, “And 
sometimes it’s the 30th or 
40th play and they’re going 
hard, they’re a little tired, and 
they’re so locked in, you’ve just 
gotta teach them that in a split 
second, you’ve gotta be able to 
react and know the situation 
that’s coming.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore forward Josh Norris has helped to acclimate the 10 new freshmen on Michigan’s roster this offseason.

LANEY BYLER
Managing Sports Editor

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

FOOTBALL

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson feels more comfortable heading into his second season at the helm of the Wolverines.

JACOB 
SHAMES