Friday Notebook 10.11.24

On a gritty Saturday win over Mankato, why Truscott and Rhéaume-Mullen will room together and the early benefits of a fluid D corps, and a goaltending update

The University of Michigan men’s hockey team skated to a season opening split last weekend at Yost Ice Arena, dropping a 5-2 Friday night decision before bouncing back for a 4-1 win on Saturday.  

The Friday performance showed a sloppiness—particularly in puck management—that is perhaps to be expected from a season opener, while a heavy, direct effort from the visiting Mankato State Mavericks posed problems of its own and capitalized on the gifts their hosts offered.  Saturday’s victory was a one-goal game for the bulk of the third period, only for empty netters in the final minute from Josh Eernisse and Tyler Duke to provide some late insurance.  Freshman Michael Hage wasted no time making his impact felt at the collegiate level.  He contributed to all four goals against a goaltender over the weekend, with three assists and a goal of his own.  

However, the brightest spots from the Wolverines’ opening weekend were, contrary to expectation, defensive.  The two staples of Brandon Naurato’s Michigan (creating in the offensive zone and the power play) did not show up in mid-season form.  Instead, the Wolverines scored four times off the rush and twice into empty nets.  The power play was 0/5 in Saturday’s win.  Michigan had to grind out the exact sort of result that alluded it for almost all of last season, showing steady game management to protect a lead against aggressive opposition.

The Wolverines entered Saturday’s third period up 2-0 and conceded after just over three minutes to halve that lead.  Where early last season, goals in similar spots often seemed to trigger a downward spiral, Michigan instead saw out Saturday’s game in relative comfort, despite the best efforts of a physical Mavericks team.

To Naurato, earning that sort of victory in October ought to bring an infusion of confidence.  “Keeping the lead in the third period and closing it out, that’s what we’ve talked about,” he said Tuesday.  “It’s kind of a confidence thing, so to get that done early is a big deal.  I think [Mankato is] a well coached team.  They clogged up the middle big time.  You had to earn every inch of ice.  They’re probably better than people give them credit for, and they got a good coach.”

Unlike previous seasons, Michigan jumped straight into the regular season without a pre-season tune-up game.  Per Naurato, while an exhibition would be nice, it would have come at a cost: “If we did that, we’d have to just play one game this weekend, and then instead of a bye weekend, you’re just going all the way through.”  Perhaps that contributed to some of the lapses in puck play Friday night, but with a split result, the Minnesota State series provided both a sense of this year’s Wolverines’ identity and their path forward.

“Looking back now, it’d have been nice to have an exhibition game, just to get the cobwebs out,” assessed Naurato, when asked about what he expects of weekend one to two improvement.  “I think we see some things with our team and what we could be.  Last year, we’ve got all these offensive players, and we could go to a whole nother level teaching things.  There’s a lot of offense to teach.  I think this group’s actually better in defensive spots and defensive mentality earlier, because we know we have to be.”

That last line feels the most salient one.  Often the first half of the season sees free flowing hockey with some easy offense to stumble into.  This year’s Michigan team is ahead of that curve out of necessity.  First, because of all the talent that once again departed over the off-season, and second, because lowering goals against was always going to be a point of emphasis on the battle to clear the national semi-final hump.  So, while opening weekend might not have brought the offensive heights we associate with the present era of Michigan hockey, that might well prove a good thing in the long run.

Saturday’s win also marked Naurato’s 50th behind the Wolverine bench as head man.  He was none too keen to celebrate the occasion, instead saying Tuesday that he didn’t know about the milestone until the team presented him with a puck after the game, before quipping, “500’s cool. 50’s…”

This weekend, the Wolverines will travel southwest for a two-game set with Arizona State at Mullett Arena in Tempe.  To Naurato, the trip offers a chance at some warmth before the arrival of winter and an opportunity to spread the gospel of college hockey to its westernmost program in the continental U.S.  

“I like it for the weather,” said Naurato.  “I think it’s good for them to play good teams.  They’re obviously in a really good league now.  I think it’d be awesome if Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA got teams.  The more you can grow the brand of college hockey, the better it is.  What’s the difference between basketball and hockey?  Attendance wise and facilities it’s the same thing.  It’s just the TV revenue, so everything’s hyped up even more in March Madness.  I think just getting more teams would be awesome.”

Truscott & Rhéaume-Mullen: The Old Man and the Young D

This weekend in Arizona, Michigan’s fifth year captain Jacob Truscott will room with the youngest of this year’s Wolverines, freshman Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen, who will not turn eighteen until the eighteenth of December.

Per Truscott, the rooming decision is an intentional effort from Michigan’s veterans to integrate the team’s younger players as quickly as possible.  “As a leadership group, we try to pair older guys with younger guys, kinda similar styles and stuff like that,” the captain explained.  “That way we can teach them more things and get them more familiar with our systems and how we do things on the road.”

Truscott thought he would be perfect to provide young Rhéaume-Mullen with that sort of mentorship, saying of the freshman, “He’s a great player.  He’s someone that I want next to me in the locker room…I think I can help him out.  Similar paths growing up, he’s a Michigan kid, so I think I can teach him a lot, and he’s been very impressive the first weekend.”

Rhéaume-Mullen was nothing short of imperious Saturday night, showing a poise well beyond his years, using his remarkably fluid skating to achieve what seemed utter command of the ice and earning extra ice time for his troubles. He did a bit of everything: zipping passes for clean breakouts, clearing the crease, killing plays in the defensive zone, carrying the puck through neutral ice, creating offense from the point.

On Tuesday, he acknowledged that there might have been more butterflies inside than there appeared to his first weekend of college hockey, “That was my first experience at Yost.  The first game was insane, never experienced something like it, so I think I was a little nervous going into that game, just tried to keep it simple and just play D.  I think I took that same mindset into the next game, and I think I just felt way more comfortable out there and took an extra second to make the better plays.  But I think it all started in my D zone, and that’s why I got that extra ice time.”  That awareness (that by defending first he will build trust and earn more ice) squares with the steady presence he cut Saturday night.

“He’s almost an ‘07 with the December birthday,” reminded Naurato after the game.  “It’s good for him…To do what he did at seventeen, he’s an elite skater, he’s got a great brain, and he’s just gonna keep getting better and better.  Just really proud of him.  Hopefully he’s got a big smile on tonight.”

Per Rhéaume-Mullen himself, playing with that sort of poise is something the jump from junior to the NCAA demanded.  “I wouldn’t say the skill level is crazy different, but I think guys just play more mature,” he said, when asked about the adjustment.  “I think winning too is more important, so you’re playing a way more structured game.  Guys are a little bigger and faster, a little older.”  

It’s a stylistic difference that comports with Rhéaume-Mullen’s game neatly.  When asked how he plays at his best, the freshman replied, “I’d say I’m not over-thinking things, just seeing the play, making it, just making easy reads.  My skating feels good too, so just making simple plays, making the right plays, that gets me going, and then I can show my skill a little more too.”

In both games over the weekend, Michigan used twelve forwards and seven defensemen (as opposed to thirteen and six).  As we discussed in our roster preview, a logistical challenge for this year’s D corps is the fact that the group has just two right shots (one of whom, sophomore Josh Orrico, did not play this weekend).  Naurato said before the season that everyone would have to get comfortable playing their off-hand, and assistant coach Matt Deschamps’ usage over the weekend was consistent with that declaration.

“I think Matty did [rotate every defenseman with every other],” Naurato said Tuesday.  “Really with this roster this year in general, it’s just who’s going, and then you earn your ice time, but guys are playing left one shift and right the next shift.  I think it’s good for them to understand everything.”  The effect was one of total fluidity on the back line and an invitation to Rhéaume-Mullen and his peers to assert their right to more shifts.  The effect on Saturday night was one of unquestioned game control, even on a night when the Wolverines struggled to sustain offensive pressure.

Meanwhile, for Truscott, this year represents an opportunity for one last ride with a program he holds dear but also a chance at a healthy season after his junior year ended early due to injury and he battled through pain throughout his senior season.  Naurato said it is “Big time for him just in his confidence and mental health.  I still think it’ll take some time for him to be back back, but he’s on the path towards that.  He’s feeling good.”  Truscott himself added, “I dealt with things in the past that was kinda nagging on me last year, and this year, I feel great, and body feels good, mind feels good, and I’m happy with everything and excited.”

As for what he wants out of his last season in Ann Arbor, Truscott said, “This program has done a lot for me, and I’m just trying to enjoy every single day…The time does fly by, and it’s such a special place here.”

“One of my goals this year is just trying to leave an impact on this program and these young guys,” he continued.  “Did a lot of reflecting over the summer and that’s kinda what I came up with: with my last year here I want to make an impact on as many people as I can, just teach these guys all I know.  I’ve had a lot of experience over my four years here, and I’ve played with a lot of great players that I’ve taken little things from, so I just want to share all my knowledge with them and all my experiences.”

That’s where rooming with Rhéaume-Mullen comes in.  Meanwhile, Rhéaume-Mullen arrives in Ann Arbor with a familiar name.  His mother, Manon Rhéaume, was the goaltender for the Canadian national team, winning two World Championship gold medals and an Olympic silver at Nagano in 1998.  She also, of course, played in pre-season games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 and 1993, becoming the first woman to appear in an NHL game.

All that was before Dakoda was born, but he recalls coming to understand his mother was a big deal during childhood trips back to her home province.  “I think going to Quebec when I was younger, she’d get noticed in public, because they’re crazy hockey fans up there,” he explained.  “So when we’d go there, people would come up and take pictures with her and stuff like that.  She used to coach Little Caesars 12U.  She used to go for the rinks for girls' games, and a bunch of girls would come up to her and talk to her after.”

Dakoda’s older brother, Dylan St. Cyr, tended goal collegiately at Notre Dame, Quinnipiac, and Michigan State.  Dakoda himself began on that trajectory, but decided skater was what he enjoyed.  “I actually played goalie and forward up until I was around 10,” Rhéaume-Mullen explained.  ”I played up a year player and my own year goalie, and then, I just made a switch to player, because even in practice, I didn’t enjoy playing goalie in practice, just getting ripped with pucks.  I stuck with player and eventually moved from forward to defense when I was like 12.”

Fortunately, his mother’s experience with the position made it easier not harder to set the goalie pads aside.  “She loved it actually,” Rhéaume-Mullen explained of his choice to be a full-time skater.  ”As much as she loves my brother, when she’s watching him play, she gets super nervous and over-thinks and stuff because the game can be in his hands, so she was happy when I chose player, so she’s not all riled up at my games.”

It certainly seems to Gulo Gulo Hockey as though Rhéaume-Mullen’s game on the blue line would be a far more relaxing parental experience than watching your child try to tend goal at any level.  Moving forward, if Michigan’s blue line shows the same soundness and fluidity it did last Saturday, the Wolverines will be in great position to cause problems come the spring and post-season.

Goaltending Update

Over the weekend, Michigan started Logan Stein in net Friday then Cameron Korpi on Saturday.  Stein made eighteen saves on twenty-three shots, while Korpi went twenty-four of twenty-five Saturday to secure victory in his collegiate debut.

On Tuesday, Naurato said he expects his full complement of skaters to be healthy and available this weekend in Tempe.  He also said that he intends to split his goaltenders again this weekend.

“I don’t think Stein is what he showed on Friday, so I think it’s good for him to prove what he can do,” Naurato assessed.  “I thought Korpi was really good, really calm in net, and just keep going with him, but it’s not like one game and somebody’s out and somebody’s in.  I think you need a little bit of a scope of work and then you can really look at what they’ve done.”  Per Naurato, expect that Michigan continues to rotate its goaltenders for “at least ten games.”

WoHo Picks Up First Win

The University of Michigan women’s hockey team will be out of action this weekend, before a home-and-home with Grand Valley State on the 19th and 20th.  However, on Sunday afternoon, Jenna Trubiano’s team picked up its first win of the season over McKendree via a 3-2 result.

Michigan trailed 2-0 entering the third period, but a pair of goals from junior Julia Lindahl (both primarily assisted by Lucy Hansen, the first with a secondary assist from Ava Gargiulio, the second from Katie German).  Then, in overtime, Hansen scored the game-winner on the power play with assists from Lindahl and Madison Farris.  Sandrine Ponnath made 32 saves on 34 shots to backstop the victory.

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