"Hockey's a Pretty Simple Game"

On the importance of the basics to another second half surge from Michigan and an examination of the state of the Wolverines' forward rhythms

There is a phrase University of Michigan men’s hockey coach Brandon Naurato has used more than occasionally to describe his team throughout the first half of the 2024-25 season. Sometimes, he has used it to explain what the Wolverines have done well, others to explain where they erred. “That’s just hockey,” Naurato will say.

The phrase does not scan as trite, as a hollow panacea, because it refers to something specific or perhaps a few specific things. The basic idea is that, in determining the outcome on any given night, matchups or tactics pale in importance to more rudimentary qualities in Michigan’s game. Most acutely, “that’s just hockey” refers to winning races and battles, puck management, and shift management. Those three pillars go on to condition field position and ultimately jeopardy (whether their own or the opponent’s), regardless of the team opposite the Wolverines.

In its second to last game before the holiday break, Michigan fell 4–0 to the visiting Wisconsin Badgers, scoreless for the third consecutive game. In his post-game remarks, Naurato returned to a familiar idea: “I always say after we lose that we didn’t win enough races and battles, but hockey’s a pretty simple game: There’s one puck and two guys going for it, and they just won way more battles than we did.”

The following evening, the Wolverines finally found their way back to the scoresheet en route to a 3–2 overtime win thanks to a Michael Hage game-winning goal. Michigan led that game 2–0 entering the third, before Wisconsin pulled even with a pair of greasy goals. Of the Badger comeback and offense born of net-front traffic, Naurato told The Michigan Daily’s Anna Miller, “That’s hockey, but I thought the guys responded well.”

The ‘24-25 Wolverines have a different texture to their recent predecessors, unable to match the three Frozen Four teams before them in projectable NHL talent. As Naurato put it before the break, “With this team, we’re not perfect or lights out in any area. We’ve found ways to win from managing hockey games—out-changing people, discipline, hot PK, hot power play for one weekend, goaltending—we’ve found ways to step up and make those plays.”

Fundamentally, that formula represents a fragile balance. Without the same firepower as previous Michigan outfits, these Wolverines tend to find themselves in close games. Momentary lapses in any of those areas can spring leaks too big for a team winning on thin margins to overcome. That’s hockey.

Winning races and battles secures puck possession. Puck management retains that possession. Shift management creates vulnerabilities to exploit in the search for offense, which has eluded this team more than any other during Naurato’s tenure. When Michigan dials in those details, it is good enough to sweep Boston University at Agganis Arena. When those details slip, the Wolverines suffer outcomes like the 6–0 rout to Minnesota on December 6th.

In reference to that game, Naurato spoke to the way slips in any of the three “that’s hockey” pillars—especially puck and shift management—compound one another. “If you don’t lay puck in on [an effective rush team like the Gophers] and you turn ‘em over early in your shift, because you want to carry pucks in, well now they’re going the other way. So then you play in your D zone for twenty seconds, now you’re twenty-five, thirty-five seconds into your shift, and then you do it again. We just showed clips of guys out there for a minute-and-a-half and not cause they wanna be, but because forty seconds into a rush chance of either laying it in or trying to make another play, leads to a minute-and-a-half shift in the D zone where you’re scrambling [As a general reference point on shift length, recall assistant coach Rob Rassey’s axiom that “nothing good happens after forty seconds”]. So…that’s learning how to win…It’s okay to chip pucks out when you’re tired, when they have possession. It’s okay to dump pucks in and change. It’s okay to change in the offensive zone.”

As Naurato pointed out, responsibility with the puck invites sound line changes, which in turn open up the opportunity to attack a fatigued and disorganized opponent. “Our line changes dictate a lot of things,” he said last week. “It’s hockey, but when you out-change the opponent—if I go against you and we’re the same comparison in every category physically and mentally and you’re fresh and I’m forty-five seconds into a shift, it’s two different players. So how do you do that? It’s managing the game.”

Throughout the first half, the easiest way to define the Wolverines is in contrast to recent history. However, in any given game, their challenge is no different. In college hockey, the habits of winning don’t change on a year-to-year basis the way rosters do. It’s hockey: battles and races, puck management, shift management. In Naurato’s words, “It’s just fundamental hockey. How you do it is your skillset and how you want to do it.”

Now, Michigan’s challenge is a familiar one: Finding the best of its game for the most consequential time of year. It’s what got the last four Wolverine sides to the Frozen Four, and if there is to be a fourth successive run, it won’t be any different.

As fifth-year forward Philippe Lapointe said before the Wisconsin series that closed the first half, “Throughout the years, you always want to be playing your best hockey at the end of the year. Right now, obviously, the season has its ups and downs, and that’s as expected. Just trying to find consistency in our game, individually and as a team, just trying to get better every day. You’re gonna have good days, you’re gonna have bad days, but I’ve been really happy with how our group has responded in the past.”

This afternoon, Michigan will open its second half against a unique backdrop: the open air Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. That distinctive venue (and resulting imperfections in the playing surface) will only accentuate the importance of the game’s fundamental precepts. The path to beating Ohio State outside doesn’t depend on X’s and O’s. On a sloppy but picturesque sheet of ice at Wrigley, beating the Buckeyes and setting the right tone for another second half surge will swing on the basics: races, battles, puck management, and shift management. It’s just hockey.

The Search for Rhythm: Dissecting the Composition of U-M’s Forward Corps

As discussed above, this year’s iteration of the University of Michigan men’s hockey team has a different flavor from its recent predecessors. That reality was clear entering the season after the departures of Frank Nazar, Gavin Brindley, Seamus Casey, Dylan Duke, and finally Rutger McGroarty, leaving the Wolverines with just one first round NHL Draft pick at their disposal in Michael Hage. Through the first half of the season, that dynamic has manifested in the lowest goals-per-game figure of the Naurato era (3.00, compared to 4.17 and 4.12 in the two years previous). The good news is that this has also been the stingiest defensive team of Naurato’s tenure as head coach, conceding just 2.89 goals-per-game (compared to 3.12 and 3.05 in ‘22-23 and ‘23-24).

As the second half begins this afternoon, I wanted to take a moment to examine the composition of Michigan’s forward group to get a sense of what’s working and what can be improved upon. To get started, here is the lineup with which U-M closed the first half (Notably, it’s a lineup that does not include Nick Moldenhauer, who missed that game due to injury but should be healthy for this weekend’s series against Ohio State):

As a frame of reference for unpacking the state of affairs, let’s also return to a core tenet of Naurato’s philosophy: the idea of contrasting styles across the top and bottom six. As Naurato explained in a Gulo Gulo classic, ”Guardiola on Ice,” “Van Wyhe, Moyle, Lambert, they can release pucks, they can hunt down retrievals, they can get to the net. And then the Johnsons, the Beniers, the Brissons can play the beautiful possession game, but, if you can do both, you almost have rhythms in the game where Van Wyhe and them would be like heavy metal, where Brisson and them would be a beautiful symphony. You can change the rhythms.”

If you look only at raw production, there is cause for concern about the state of Michigan’s attack. It is not a coincidence that this team was held scoreless in three consecutive games just before the close of the first half. However, if we apply that idea of changing rhythms and a contrast between a symphonic top six with a heavy metal bottom six, the Wolverines aren’t as far from a potent winning formula as the goals-per-game figure suggests.

On the line chart above, the top six is sandwiched around the bottom six (i.e. The Hage and Hughes lines are in fact the top two, though they are written first and fourth on the sheet). If we include Moldenhauer (who is perhaps emblematic of his team’s first half, having grown away from the puck but still wants for consistent scoring), that top six symphony is more or less established: Hage, Moldenhauer, T.J. Hughes, Garrett Schifsky, Jackson Hallum, and Evan Werner.

That’s not to suggest that a player like William Whitelaw or newcomer Will Horcoff (more on his arrival in a moment) can’t play their way onto one of those top two lines, but the first half of the season has established a reasonably clear hierarchy up front.

There is no uncertainty regarding the tip of Michigan’s spear. That is, unequivocally, Hage, who—with ten goals and eight assists—is five points clear of the next closest Wolverine despite having missed three games. He is probably a more dynamic attacking threat than even Adam Fantilli was during his lone season in Ann Arbor, showing remarkable vision, skating, and puck-handling. However, he hasn’t been as night in, night out dominant as Fantilli was, which is of course a lofty standard. During his Hobey Baker-winning season, Fantilli scored 1.81 points-per-game (compared to 1.20 for Hage, through fifteen games) and played with a physically overwhelming quality that probably won’t ever be Hage’s game.

However, part of the reason for the discrepancy in scoring lies in linemates. Fantilli found instant chemistry with Mackie Samoskevich and Dylan Duke, before discovering an even more formidable offensive gear in the second half of his imperious freshman season with McGroarty and Brindley.

As Naurato said of Hage back in October, “I don’t think he’s on a hot streak. I think it’s what he is…but he hasn’t taken off yet at all. And taking off is having that predictable line mate or chemistry, I don’t think he has that.” By the end of the first half, Hage still doesn’t have that kind of nailed on chemistry. We’ve seen some promise in the winger tandem of Hallum and Moldenhauer, but it certainly hasn’t “taken off yet” to use Naurato’s phrase.

Heading into the second half, I would submit that the leading path for Michigan to sharpen its attack runs through making its best offensive player, Hage, even better by building a more effective structure around him. This year’s roster won’t ever reach the symphonic heights of the Kent Johnson, Matty Beniers, and Brendan Brisson trio Naurato referred to. Instead, there will have to be a bit more of that “heavy metal” game at the top and bottom of the lineup, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Ultimately, that Johnson-Beniers-Brisson trio ran into a wall against Denver in the National Semifinal, finding itself flummoxed by the Pioneers’ discipline in defending their own blue line and the middle of the ice. The greatest upside of this year’s Wolverines comes from necessity: They’ve had to play playoff-style tight defensive hockey—more reliant on field position and forechecking than dazzling passing sequences—from the jump to find any modicum of success. If they can find a way to add just a bit more offense to that formula, they may well find themselves better suited to postseason success than their more offensively gifted predecessors.

On the subject of field position and forechecking, the bottom six features perhaps the three most consistent Wolverines all season: Mark Estapa, Kienan Draper, and Josh Eernisse. That class of grinding veteran forwards has embodied the “heavy metal” hockey Naurato wants from a bottom six all season. Draper in particular has been a tremendous success story, showing remarkable growth from his freshman season in Ann Arbor and emerging as a reliable forechecker, face-off man, and penalty killer.

With that said, Estapa and Eernisse have just five points each this season, while Draper has only two. Those players’ value does not derive from their goalscoring, but, not unlike the top six, Michigan could certainly use a bit more production from those players, from their finding a way to turn time in the offensive zone into goals.

On the subject of adding a bit of offensive spark to the bottom six, Horcoff’s arrival represents an interesting wrinkle. It’s a unique circumstance, with the Birmingham, MI native foregoing the second half of his second season with the U.S. National Team Development Program to join Michigan at the semester break.

Horcoff won’t turn 18 until January 23rd, which is to say it would be unwise to count on him as a quick fix to Michigan’s offensive struggles. With 11 points in 26 games for the NTDP, it’s clearly not reasonable to expect Horcoff to set the scoresheet on fire. However, there is a clear path to him providing value in a supporting role in either the top or bottom six. Despite his youth, he plays a heavy game that ought to be translate well to the collegiate level and the style U-M has embraced this season. As the second half gets underway from Wrigley Field this afternoon, there will be no more intriguing storyline than Horcoff’s role, assuming he finds himself in the lineup.

As for the collective, the task is simple: Win battles and races, manage the puck, and manage your shift. That’s hockey. And if that’s working, the offense will follow.

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