8A — Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
C O M M E M O R AT I N G
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
University of Michigan Law School, 1225 Jeffries Hall
4:10–5:30 p.m.
Sponsored by U-M Office of the Provost
A CONVERSATION WITH
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
JUSTIN AMASH
The cavernous arena in
Minneapolis was nearly empty. Few
were there to witness Michigan, a
team that began the season with so
many expectations, limp off the ice
one last time.
It was early March, just the first
round of the Big Ten Tournament,
and the season was over. When it
ended, it felt sudden, though the
writing had been on the wall long
before.
A year after coming within six
seconds of playing for a national
title, the Wolverines were going
home prematurely.
Six months to the day later,
Michigan coach Mel Pearson strode
into the media room at Yost Ice
Arena on Monday, fresh from the
team’s first practice and ready to get
going on a new season.
“Fire away,” Pearson said. “I’ve
got all sorts of (answers).”
Within moments, Pearson was
asked about how he’s approaching
this season given what happened
last year. A record of 13-16-7 —
the same number of wins as Red
Berenson’s final year, when it
became clear it was time for a
change — is not what Pearson was
hired to produce. He knows that.
Everyone in the program knows
that.
But Pearson has been in hockey
for his entire life. He’s been
coaching hockey since 1982 —
before some members of his staff
were even born.
“I think one of the worst things
you can do is to overreact one way
or the other,” Pearson said. “When
you look at the year, I think we were
disappointed in the end result, but
when you realize (if) you win one
more game you finish second place
in the Big Ten, you’re not that far
off of a really good league. You don’t
overreact.”
Over the course of the
conversation, it became clear
that the coaching staff would
be all but the same this fall if
former Michigan assistant Brian
Wiseman hadn’t taken a job with
the Edmonton Oilers. Part of
not overreacting is not making
sweeping changes based off of one
year, and that was the group that
took the Wolverines to the Frozen
Four in 2018.
But the staff isn’t the same.
Wiseman did leave for the NHL,
and Pearson suddenly had an
opportunity to reevaluate some
things. He didn’t go looking for
things to change after last year, but
all of a sudden, he was forced to.
“It just gave myself and our staff
a chance to reevaluate our program
and what we needed to help make
us better,” Pearson said. “That’s
what you’re trying to do. You’re
trying to make the program better.”
Pearson knows this program
better than just about anyone not
named Red Berenson. He spent
23 years at Berenson’s side as
an assistant, building Michigan
into the program that made an
unprecedented 22 straight NCAA
tournaments.
But since 2013, when the streak
was broken and Pearson was
two years into his tenure as head
coach at Michigan Tech, things
have been different in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines have fallen into
a pattern of a couple of bad years,
followed by a good year, and then
another down year after that.
Michigan hasn’t made the NCAA
Tournament in back-to-back years
since the streak ended.
A down year in 2017 was
followed by a Frozen Four run in
2018. If the pattern holds, a down
year in the 2018-19 season could
well be followed by another strong
season.
And now, Pearson has new
perspectives inside the program.
Mayotte was brought in to run the
penalty kill and is the first full-time
goaltenders’ coach at Michigan in
Pearson’s memory.
“As much as you hate to see a
guy like Brian leave — he was great
for our staff, great in the transition,
you really hate to see him go,”
Pearson said. “But it’s a great
opportunity for him and it gave us
an opportunity to do some things
we maybe couldn’t if he was here.”
While Pearson isn’t overreacting
to last year, he took the chance
presented by Wiseman’s departure
to mix some things up. With
Mayotte’s hiring, associate head
coach Bill Muckalt moves from
running the penalty kill to running
the power play. Volunteer assistant
Steve Shields, previously the
Wolverines’ only goaltender coach,
is now part of coaching team with
Mayotte.
Fresh voices and fresh
perspectives can always be useful
to a coach. Overreacting to last
season would be a mistake, but
not changing anything would be
equally incorrect. Pearson was
forced into making changes with
Wiseman’s departure, and it may
well be the best thing that could’ve
happened to Michigan this season.
In the last weekend of the
regular season this year, the
Wolverines return to that
cavernous arena in Minneapolis.
Maybe there will be a few more
fans, and maybe, if Pearson’s
changes work, the team slowly
skating off the ice will be different
this time.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
Mel Pearson plans to leave
last season in the past
File photo / Daily Design by Jack Silberman