The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
January 27, 2020 — 3B

A different perspective for volunteer assistant coach Matt Hunwick

When the second intermission 
at the Great Lakes Invitational 
ended, 
the 
coaches 
walked 
across the ice and to their places 
behind the bench.
But 
there 
was 
something 
different about the sight of them, 
gripping along the glass as they 
trotted. There was a new face, 
or at least a new face in that role 
and that place.
Matt 
Hunwick, 
a 
former 
Michigan hockey captain who 
was hired as a volunteer assistant 
specializing in defensemen this 
year, came out alongside the 
regular coaching lineup.
It was the first time all year 
he had coached from behind 
the bench. Normally, Wolverine 
coaches 
Kris 
Mayotte, 
Bill 
Muckalt 
and 
Mel 
Pearson 
occupied that space, while he 
would watch from the press box 
level — floors above. But at Little 
Caesars Arena, for one period, he 
stood behind the players.
And he didn’t like it. 
Or at least, that’s what he 
initially thought after his first 
experience there.
“I thought I preferred being up 
top versus that first experience,” 
Hunwick said Saturday, after a 
4-1 exhibition loss for Michigan. 
“But tonight, I really did enjoy 
being on the bench. I think it 
was good. I liked, you know, that 
I can talk to players and kind of 
read the game from a different 
perspective being close.”
Up top, it was easier for him 
to see systematic things — like 
forechecks, opposing game plans, 
different faceoffs. Sitting behind 
the bench offers an angle where 
those aspects are hard to see. 
Players standing up — impeding 
a coach’s vision. Bending over 
necks to watch a play. Up top he 
could see it all.
Down on the bench, however, 
his perspective changes — in 
more ways than just vision. 
He now had a direct line of 
communication, a read for a 

game similar to a player’s — a 
view he was used to. It was a 
better feel for him.
***
With Muckalt and Mayotte 
traveling for recruiting, Pearson 
turned to Hunwick to fill their 
spots on the bench against the 
U.S. National Team Development 
Program (NTDP).
It wasn’t the first time Pearson 
turned to Hunwick with a role 
in mind. At the end of summer, 
after it became clear that a neck 
injury would keep Hunwick 
from playing in the NHL this 
season, Pearson brought up the 
idea of coming back to Michigan. 
Hunwick had done it many times 
before, in the summertime, just 
looking to work out or skate 
around. He loved his time in Ann 
Arbor and liked to stay around 
the program.
But 
this 
time, 
Pearson 
proposed, he should come back 

as a coach.
“I never really envisioned 
anything in a formal capacity,” 
Hunwick said.
But Pearson offered, and he 
considered.
When Mayotte was hired as 
the penalty kill and goaltender 
specialist 
mid-August, 
Steve 
Shield’s volunteer role as a 
goaltending 
coach 
become 
repetitive. So the team phased 
him into a player development 
role, leaving the volunteer role 
vacant.
Pearson wanted someone who 
could coach defensemen. Had 
Hunwick’s neck injury allowed 
him to play the 2019-2020 season 
in the NHL, Pearson would have 
had to find another defensemen 
to fill that role.
“It was kind of hinged on 
my ability to play this season 
and if I was going to go back to 
Buffalo.” Hunwick said. “And 

unfortunately (or) fortunately, 
however we want to look at it, 
my neck didn’t get better. So I’m 
here.
“This is a great kind of 
transition, out of playing but 
still, you know, still involved in 
the game daily and on the ice, 
just not quite as intense as it was 
maybe a year ago. 
Hunwick was only a few 
months removed from being 
a professional player with the 
possibility of returning to the 
ice — the Buffalo Sabers had 
placed him on injured reserve. 
He was 12 years removed from 
being a Michigan player — a 
four-year skater who captained 
the team his senior year. And he 
was 16 years removed from being 
a USNTDP player — a drafted 
prospect excited to face the 
Wolverines.
While he had never coached 
formally, former Michigan coach 

Red Berenson asked him to be an 
instructor at his summer camps 
multiple times — in addition to 
having helped out at USA and 
USNTDP hockey schools.
Through his experiences on 
all levels, and his recency of 
playing, he had a perspective of 
the game the other players or 
coaches might not have — the 
players especially.
“I 
certainly 
(am 
able 
to 
relate to them),” Hunwick said. 
“There’s a million things going 
on with kids that move away 
from home for the first time. So 
knowing that experience and 
having lived it, I think it helps 
me kind of relate and understand 
what they’re going through.
“Some stuff, you know, I’ve 
had a good idea of and maybe 
even the coaches haven’t had 
exposure to it just because the 
NHL game the pro game has 
changed. So just being able to 

bring those here to these guys.”
His players will ask him all 
sorts of questions. Sometimes 
about the speed and style of 
the game at the next level. 
Sometimes about specifics in a 
game. And it’s easier to answer 
when he’s right behind them, 
standing by their side during a 
match.
“They’ll ask specific questions, 
different plays, how you want to 
do stuff,” Hunwick said. “And if 
I see stuff, I try and point it out 
right away.”
Coaching has been an aspect 
of hockey that Hunwick found to 
be a joy. 
“I was excited just to be able 
to come back and give back,” he 
said.
And he’s given plenty back. 
Sharing 
his 
knowledge 
and 
experience with the players and 
watching them grow has been 
the biggest thing for him. The 
steady improvement in whatever 
area he could help in has been 
fun for him to watch.
***
He’s pondered if he wants to 
continue the experience or not. 
Regardless, he thought learning 
the ins-and-outs of the job were 
necessary to do so — therefore 
experiencing every aspect. He 
wants to make an informed 
decision, and coaching would 
require 
getting 
behind 
the 
bench at some point, so he used 
Saturday’s USNTDP game as an 
opportunity to do so.
From up top, things seem 
easier.
“You guys probably think 
you can go out there and do it,” 
Hunwick said. “It looks simple. 
But speed picks up as you get 
close to the game and being 
on the bench and being able to 
handle the bench, the pairs, and 
making sure your guys do all the 
things, that’s what it’s all about.”
So he took his place next to 
Pearson, with a different but 
familiar perspective.
“That’s what I did for all the 
years growing up, just a couple 
feet behind where I used to sit.”

Wolverines fall, 4-1, to USNTDP in exhibition

Staying focused in a competition 
that has no stakes is often 
difficult. It’s hard to hold yourself 
accountable from start to finish 
when you know there will be no 
repercussions.
And Saturday night at Yost 
Ice Arena, that seemed to be a 
key factor as a previously red-
hot Michigan hockey team fell, 
4-1, in an exhibition against the 
U.S. National Team Development 
Program (NTDP) U18 team.
“I think from start to finish 
we didn’t play how we need to,” 
freshman forward Johnny Beecher 
said. “We came out pretty slow, I 
don’t think the guys were into the 
game as much as we needed to be. 
To be honest, it looked like we did 
two months ago. It’s unacceptable, 
we need a good week of practice 
this week to get ready for Ohio 
State.”
It was a game in which both 
sides played effortlessly. Only that 
one side made things look easy 
while the other didn’t fully commit. 
The contest counted for points in 
the USHL — the league the NTDP 
plays in — while it meant nothing 
to the Wolverines. For Michigan, 
that turned out to be a recipe for 
disaster.
That disparity in motivation 
is something volunteer assistant 
coach Matt Hunwick can relate to. 
Hunwick played for the NTDP and 
before a four-year playing career 
at Michigan, so he has been on 
both sides of an affair like tonight. 
Such a track record forms a unique 
perspective.
“As a player at USA, you are so 
excited to play in that game against 
Michigan, against any college team 
really,” Hunwick said. “And then 
you get to Michigan, that’s a little 
bit different because you’ve already 
done it. You’re on the other side. 
Maybe the juice isn’t quite as much 
as it would be for the USA kids, but 
you can see how much scale and 
speed, and how hard they played.”
The NTDP got called for 
interference 
less 
than 
three 
minutes into the game, giving 
the Wolverines’ power play an 
opportunity to display the growth 
it has made throughout this season. 

But instead, quite the opposite 
happened for Michigan (10-11-3 
overall).
Soon after the ensuing faceoff, 
freshman defenseman Cam York 
lost possession in the offensive 
zone, and that turnover proved 
to be deadly. Forward Thomas 
Bordeleau 
immediately 
skated 
diagonally across the ice, while 
forward Landon Slaggert joined 
the rush. 
Sophomore defenseman Nick 
Blankenburg tried to stop the two-
on-one, but came up short. At the 
last second, Bordeleau sent the 
puck to Slaggert who then sent it 
through sophomore goaltender 
Strauss Mann from the right 
side for the first goal of the night. 
Such a play was uncharacteristic 
of the defense, which has yet to 
give up a shorthanded goal in a 
normal game. The remainder 
of that opening power play was 
unsuccessful for the Wolverines.
“They were ready to play and 
we weren’t,” senior forward Nick 
Pastujov said. “I think that was 
apparent from the start. Giving up 
a shorthanded goal and then just 
the flow of the game, we obviously 
weren’t as invested and they were. 
Showed up in the score.”
Michigan’s defense struggled 
to steal the puck early on. The 
NTDP maintained possession well 
in the opening period and moved 
it around quickly. The effort did 
damage to the Wolverines.
“Their team’s good,” Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson said. “Credit 
to them, they worked hard, they 
played hard. I saw them Monday, 
they were really good. So much so 
that my wife said, ‘They pass the 
puck a lot better than your team,’ 
and they did tonight for the most 
part. Good team. 
“Good lesson for our team. Real 
good lesson on preparation and 
how you can never underestimate 
or take a night off unless you want 
to get beat. Doesn’t matter who you 
play.”
Midway 
through 
the 
first 
period, forward Ty Smilanic dove 
near the boards to pass the puck 
to defenseman Tyler Kleven who 
then took a shot from the blue line. 
Forward Hunter Strand got into 
the crease to help channel the puck 
into the net, and thus Michigan 

found itself down two goals early.
For the second frame, senior 
goaltender 
Hayden 
Lavigne 
entered the game in place of Mann. 
Just like in the first period, the 
Wolverines got another power 
play in the opening minutes of the 
second. This time, Michigan made 
better use of the man advantage 
than the first attempt and actually 
created 
scoring 
opportunities. 
Regardless, the offense came up 
empty handed once again.
For Pearson, the lackluster 
performance was emblematic of a 
poor week of preparation.
“We didn’t lose this game,” 
Pearson said. “We lost starting 
Monday. We were not very good 
in practice all week, so bad to the 
point I told them to stay away 
from the rink on Friday, so we 
didn’t practice yesterday. We were 
just mentally, physically — not 
everybody, but a majority of the 
guys, you could tell — you have 
a feel in practice of the intensity, 
the attention to detail, the focus, 
the work ethic, the compete, the 
execution, we were sloppy.”
One of the Wolverines’ key 
scoring chances of the game 
came while the second period 
was still fresh. The puck had been 
jammed up near the NTDP’s goal 
post but Michigan ultimately got 

the better angle, and soon after, 
redshirt sophomore forward Emil 
Öhrwall found the puck at the 
crease with nobody between him 
and goaltender Drew Commesso. 
Öhrwall immediately took the 
shot, but Commesso moved just in 
time to prevent the buzzer from 
sounding.
With just over nine minutes to 
go in the game, the NTDP regained 
possession of the puck in their 
defensive zone and went rushing 
down the ice. Soon, forward Luke 
Tuch rifled the puck past Lavigne. 
And in the final few minutes of 
the game, the Wolverines deficit 
widened when forward Smilanic 
found the back of the net one final 
time for his side.

In the last sixty seconds, 
Beecher fired a shot from the slot 
to finally get his team on the board. 
But it was too little, too late, and 
nobody needs to explain that to the 
freshman.
“I think this was a wake up 
call,” Beecher said of the loss. “Like 
coach said in the locker room, we 
almost needed this. It was a little 
slap in the face to us, nobody wants 
to go out and get beat by high 
school kids. We know that what we 
just did was wrong, and I’m sure 
the guys will be battling all week 
and trying to get better.”

Close wins propel ‘M’ 
to national tourney bid

It 
was 
getting 
late 
in 
Champaign 
as 
Michigan’s 
last match against Ole Miss 
went to a third-set tiebreaker. 
With the teams tied at three, 
the Wolverines’ bid to the 
ITA 
National 
Team 
Indoor 
Championship 
hung 
in 
the 
balance. 
A lightning-fast serve and 
mistakes 
from 
the 
Rebels’ 
Finn Reynolds helped propel 
freshman Ondrej Styler, and 
with him the Michigan men’s 
tennis team (4-1), to a 4-3 victory 
Saturday night. Michigan’s 2-0 
weekend at the ITA Kickoff — 
also featuring a similarly close 
4-3 victory over Texas Tech on 
Friday — earned 
them a bid to 
next 
month’s 
tournament 
in 
Madison.
“For 
a 
freshman 
to 
play 
under 
that 
pressure, 
knowing 
going 
to the national 
tournament was 
on the line, was 
incredible,” 
Michigan 
coach 
Adam Steinberg said. “In 30 
years I don’t think I’ve ever seen 
that, with it tied up three-all 
like we had.”
Friday’s 
match 
against 
the Red Raiders also ended 
dramatically, 
with 
senior 
Nick Beaty and Texas Tech’s 
Francisco Vittar set to break 
the 3-3 tie going into the final 
singles 
match. 
Beaty, 
who 
remains undefeated in singles 
play so far, prevailed on the 
match point in the third set after 
initially trailing.
Beaty’s 
performance 
in 
singles 
play, 
alongside 
undefeated 
junior 
Mattias 
Siimar, 
was 
an 
important 
factor 
in 
the 
Wolverines’ 
weekend success. On Saturday, 
the pair’s respective matches 
gave Michigan an early 3-0 
lead before Ole Miss beat 

sophomores Andrew Fenty and 
Ryan Fu to narrow the margin. 
“(Beaty and Siimar) are our 
two lefties and they’ve been 
playing great tennis,” Steinberg 
said. “For them to get us on the 
board like that, get us three 
quickly was very important and 
it took a lot of pressure off the 
other guys.”
Michigan, as it did last 
weekend against Washington 
and 
Oregon, 
showcased 
its 
ability to fight for the doubles 
point in both of the weekend’s 
matches. The duo of juniors 
Harrison Brown and Kristofer 
Siimar alongside senior Connor 
Johnston 
and 
Styler 
were 
dominant over the Red Raiders 
and the Rebels to secure the 
point.
“We 
all 
play for each 
other 
and 
it 
really shows in 
the 
doubles,” 
Steinberg said. 
“You know, it’s 
just one set and 
it’s tense but 
that’s when we 
shine. 
“We’re 
not 
going 
to 
achieve our goals without that 
doubles point; some think it’s 
just one point but when you 
play these really good teams, it 
comes down to that one point 
like it did this weekend.”
Despite 
their 
successes 
under Steinberg’s coaching, the 
Wolverines before now failed to 
reach his objective of qualifying 
for the ITA tournament. After 
consistent success in the spring 
season, he views it as the natural 
next step.
“It’s a huge moment for our 
program,” Steinberg said. “It’s 
something we’d really set as a 
goal, to check that box. To play 
in that tournament is special 
and how they did it was pretty 
incredible, so it was a lot of fun 
to see their faces afterwards in 
the locker room. They deserve it 
and have competed incredibly in 
the past few weeks.”

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Volunteer assistant coach Matt Hunwick sat behind Michigan’s bench on Saturday, a familiar perspective to when he played for the Wolverines from 2003-07.

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

KELSEY PEASE/Daily
Forward Johnny Beecher called Saturday’s loss to the NTDP a wake-up call.

AIDAN WOUTAS
Daily Sports Writer

It’s something 
we’d really set 
as a goal, to 
check that box.

MEN’S TENNIS