Noah West wasn’t supposed to
play at Michigan.
In the tumultuous past few
seasons
of
college
hockey,
program growth and collapse
remains a constant headline. But
when those programs expand and
contract, the pool of players does
too. The Wolverines’ sophomore
goaltender
understands
that
reality well.
In the middle of an offseason
workout last summer — after
backstopping the Robert Morris
University men’s hockey team to
an Atlantic Hockey Western Pod
title — West joined a mandatory
Zoom call with his team. He
couldn’t have predicted what he
was about to hear.
“(Robert
Morris
President)
Chris Howard hopped on the call,
and he goes ‘We decided to cut
men’s and women’s hockey,’ ” West
told The Daily. “And so I kind of
figured my time with that meeting
was over and left it in the middle
of my workout. I had to make a
few phone calls to get everything
situated and (do) what I needed to
do to get in the transfer portal.”
After
committing
to
the
Colonials for four years, West
was out of a home after only one.
Thankfully, a school to the west
expressed interest in his services.
The last thing a coach wants
to think about is shipping their
players off to another school, but
it became a grim reality for Robert
Morris men’s hockey coach Derek
Schooley and his coaching staff
when both RMU hockey programs
were cut. Forced to find homes for
his players, the school’s hockey
coaches reached out to their
networks to find places for their
players.
Thankfully for the players,
there were plenty of suitors.
Three members of the women’s
team transferred to Ohio State
— who won the 2022 National
Championship
—
and
four
members of the men’s team played
for schools that made the men’s
NCAA Tournament.
“There were a lot of players that
found good homes,” Schooley said.
“The biggest objective that we
had when this all happened was
to find a really good home for our
players.”
But some homes were easier
to find than others, and finding
new programs for goaltenders like
West proved difficult.
With
COVID-19
eligibility
policies allowing some athletes
another
year
to
play,
many
programs opted to give fifth-year
seniors and graduate students
—
who
had
already
proven
themselves season after season
against stiff competition — the
opportunity
to
play
another
season.
For West, an Atlantic Hockey
All-Freshman
goaltender
and
second team All-Atlantic selection,
the abundance of older goalies at
other schools stood as a roadblock.
It didn’t matter that he had proven
himself the season prior — he still
had to stack up against the field.
But West caught the eye of one
coach: Michigan associate head
coach Bill Muckalt.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
8 — Wednesday, June 15, 2022
‘This team is like Rocky Balboa’:
A Michigan baseball season full of
underdogs and shortcomings
This year’s Michigan baseball
team can be summed up in one word:
resilient.
The Wolverines have endured
a rollercoaster of a season. For
most of the year, they fell short of
expectations.
Michigan
showed
flashes early in the year. With close
losses to No. 14 Texas Tech and No.
4 Vanderbilt as well as a win over No.
21 Maryland, it seemed like the team
had a shot to compete amongst the
elite programs.
But then it got a reality check.
In their first Big Ten series, the
Wolverines’ once-potent bats ground
to a halt against Iowa, scoring just
2.3 runs per game in the series loss.
From March 15 to May 10, they lost
six straight midweek games due to a
lack of pitching depth, an issue that
plagued Michigan all year. The 7.00
ERA of 2022 was the program’s worst
for a full season in over 20 years and
ranked second to last in the Big Ten.
After
dominating
Michigan
State and Ohio State on consecutive
weekends
in
mid-April,
the
Wolverines’ morale was at its peak.
Rivalry wins are nice, but at the end of
the day, both of the series wins were
against losing teams in the Buckeyes
and the Spartans. Michigan still had
to prove it could compete with the
best.
And in the regular season, it
couldn’t.
After two more series losses, rock
bottom came in College Park where
the Wolverines were throttled by
Maryland, looking all but dead in the
series sweep.
“
It’s never too late to continue
to improve,” Michigan coach Erik
Bakich said after the third loss to the
Terrapins. “And we’re going to have
the right mindset whatever happens
we’re going to make sure we have the
right mindset we’re gonna compete. …
We’re not going to go down without a
fight. We will do everything we have
to do to extend our season.”
But after getting dominated, a
switch
flipped.
The
Wolverines
reached a point where they had little
left to lose. They got back up and kept
fighting.
From May 19 on, Michigan was the
underdog in all 12 games that it played.
And in those games, the Wolverines
emerged victorious in eight.
Going into the final weekend of
the season, Michigan had one thing
on its mind: making the Big Ten
Tournament. This was far from a
guarantee for the Wolverines, who
were slated against a tough opponent
for their final series of the regular
season in Rutgers. After winning
the first two games of the series,
something seemed to change for
Michigan.
“You got to understand what this
team is like Rocky Balboa, who’s been
beaten and bloodied and battered and
knocked to the mat many times, 24
times, and we get back up every single
time,” Bakich said after clinching the
series win and a Big Ten Tournament
berth. “I don’t know if I’ve been
more proud of the group. … The guys
respond every single time and it feels
special.”
At the time it was easy to dismiss
the Rocky comparison. Although
Michigan earned a spot in the Big
Ten Tournament, it fell short of the
expectations all year. The Wolverines
regressed
from
their
projected
second-place finish in the Big Ten,
barely getting the fifth seed going
into the conference tournament. And
to extend its postseason and make the
NCAA Tournament, Michigan had to
make history.
It did.
With
wins
against
Illinois,
Maryland, Iowa and Rutgers, the
Wolverines became the first team in
Big Ten history to beat all top four
seeds. Despite being the underdog in
each of the games it played, Michigan
won the conference championship.
And the Wolverines rode that into
the Louisville Regional.
The road west: how
Noah West navigated
his transfer journey
SARAH BOEKE/Daily
Read more at michigandaily.com
JENNA HICKEY/Daily
JOSEPH ZAIN RODGER
Daily Sports Writer
CONNOR EAREGOOD
Daily Sports Writer
Read more at michigandaily.com