Week 1: Taming the Lions
Michigan earns a sweep over visiting DI newbies Lindenwood with a pair of come-from-behind victories at Yost. The Wolverines earned key contributions from breakout freshmen and established veterans
Adam Fantilli arrived in Ann Arbor to lofty expectations. There have been comparisons to Jack Eichel’s dominant draft year at Boston University, and there have been comparisons to the sterling crop of Wolverines that went off to the NHL last Spring. Fantilli’s new coach got in on it, saying at media day that the freshman from Nobleton, Ontario combined Brendan Brisson’s shot, Matty Beniers’ two-way game, and Thomas Bordeleau’s vision.
On Saturday night at Yost Ice Arena, Fantilli did something neither his Wolverine forebearers nor Eichel could claim: scoring his first collegiate goal not once but twice. On the dress rehearsal late in the first period, Fantilli one-timed a Luke Hughes feed past Lindenwood’s Roni Salmenkangas before racing to the Children of Yost to celebrate. After the goal was initially ruled Fantilli’s, further investigation revealed a Dylan Duke deflection.
After about thirteen more minutes of game time, with the Wolverines enjoying a two-man advantage, Fantilli arced across the top of the offensive zone before bearing down on Salmenkangas and releasing a terrifying wrist shot that left no doubt as to the goal scorer. The tally gave Michigan a lead it wouldn’t relinquish en route to a 3-1 victory and season-opening sweep over the Lindenwood University Lions.
Though both Michigan’s victories came via a multi-goal margin, neither came easily with the Lions striking first on both occasions.
Friday night’s game got off to an inauspicious for the Wolverines start thanks to a fast and physical first period from Lindenwood. Where Michigan appeared methodical in transitioning the puck up ice, trying to retain possession, the Lions were direct and without hesitation.
If you wanted a clue as to how the Lions conceived of the transition to the Division I game, a glance at the size of their incoming freshmen offers that hint. Of the six freshmen who played Friday night for Lindenwood, three were listed at six-foot-six. The Lions did not intend to whimper their way into Division I; instead, the plan is intimidation.
David Gagnon opened the scoring with four of the five Wolverine skaters caught up ice late in their shifts. Then, Andy Willis doubled the Lindenwood lead after an ill-located turnover set the Lions up for a close range 3-on-0 against Erik Portillo.
According to Brandon Naurato, it wasn’t a case of being caught off-guard by Lindenwood’s game so much as forgetting Michigan’s own: “We didn’t play to our identity. We’ve been working on things for six weeks and I don’t think anybody saw any of those things…It’s just good teaching tools for them to see what works and when you don’t do it the right way what doesn’t.”
Before the horn sounded on the first though, freshman Jackson Hallum pounced on a rebound to pull the Lion lead back to one with his first career goal in maize and blue.
After scoring, Hallum began to round the net, only to reverse his field upon remembering that the occasion of scoring one’s first as a Wolverine is best marked with the Children of Yost. The freshman laughed about the celebratory change-of-direction after the game, saying “I didn’t really know what to do because it was my first time playing in a real game here and scoring in this rink, so little rookie mistake.”
In the second, Michigan erased the Lions’ lead within a minute and didn’t stop there. After a strong opening shift from the fourth line (centered by Nick Granowicz), Mackie Samoskevich dropped Drew Kuzma to his knees with a deke before rifling a shot past Lion goaltender Trent Burnham.
Impressive though the play from the Connecticutian winger was, Naurato had his eye on Dylan Duke’s screen that took away any hope of Burnham making a stop. “We didn’t have a net front presence at all in the first period, and Duker’s right there. I don’t think the goalie even saw it. Obviously, Samo’s got a great shot, but [there are] all the little things that go into scoring. It’s a five-man unit.”
The Samoskevich goal ignited what would turn into five straight Michigan tallies, including his second, before goals from Granowicz, Jay Keranen, and then Mark Estapa. At the time Estapa scored Michigan’s fifth goal of the period, Lindenwood had just one shot in the frame.
As much as Naurato might want to credit an intermission reversal of fortune to a rousing speech in the locker room, the first-time head coach attributed the team’s second-period success to an increased sense of purpose from his players, saying “I’d love to tell you that we had some great speech after the first. We said some things, but we said some things before the game. We said some things after the second. They just made the decision to go and do it.”
In the third period, senior forward Eric Ciccolini—playing in his first regular season game since last October—notched a hard-earned, opportunistic goal.
The goal ended a brief if unlikely Lindenwood comeback bid and felt a fitting conclusion to the regular season opener. After the game, Naurato lauded Ciccolini for his persistence through a lengthy rehab process, noting “I don’t think people appreciate what it takes physically and more mentally than anything to come back from an injury like that and just get back to where you’re used to being. I know Chick put a lot of work in and he was dialed even when he was hurt just doing stats and video and being around the guys.”
Saturday night’s game could easily have opened with a multi-goal Michigan advantage, but Salmenkangas warded off a Wolverine onslaught. Throughout the game’s first dozen minutes or so, it wasn’t just that Lindenwood struggled in terms of generating offense, it was that they hardly seemed to touch the puck.
The Lions didn’t register their first shot on Portillo until nearly six minutes into the period. Even still, in total contradiction to the run of play, Hunter Johannes pounced on a Steve Holtz misplay at the blue line to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. At that point, the game was fifteen minutes old, and the shot was Lindenwood’s third and final bid of the period.
Within three minutes, Michigan equalized with the aforementioned Fantilli-turned-Duke goal on the power play to take a tied game into the dressing room after one.
Fantilli’s official first goal, coming not long after the second’s midway point, sprung Michigan ahead. The first period trend of utter Wolverine dominance in terms of shots continued, but as Naurato would explain postgame, the thin margin on the scoreboard made for a tense evening.
“That’s exactly how we want to play, especially the first twelve, fifteen minutes. I thought their goalie played really well. As a coach, am I worried on the bench? I’m not worried, but you don’t want to allow them to keep hanging on. You want to get that next one.”
For Michigan, the next one wouldn’t come until early in the third period when the Wolverines’ pair of Floridian freshmen combined to give the team a two-goal margin at last. Gavin Brindley (from Estero) left a drop pass for Seamus Casey (of Fort Myers), who wired a shot off the crossbar and in. In celebration, Brindley leapt with utter delight at Casey’s wrister.
With the security of a two-goal advantage, Michigan finally had a bit of breathing room with which to fend off the last of the Lions’ feistiness over the game’s remaining fifteen minutes to seal the sweep.
Devoid of context, a pair of come-from-behind victories against an opponent its second weekend of Division I hockey might sound uninspiring for a team with national championship aspirations. However, if the season’s first two weekends are any indicator, this Lindenwood team appears more ‘18 Golden Knights than ‘74 Capitals as new kids on the block go. Moreover, Michigan showed impressive perseverance to find a way past a fast and physical opponent, despite game scripts going against their favor early in both cases.
It was far from a perfect weekend for Brandon Naurato’s bunch, but the Wolverines will skate into next weekend’s clash with BU undefeated and having overcome a bit of adversity. There are much worse ways to open a season.
Odds & Ends
5-on-3 set up
Twice over the weekend, Michigan garnered a five-on-three power play against the Lions. The first, which it didn’t convert, came in Friday’s third period. The second, which became a launchpad for Fantilli’s (second) first goal, came in the second Saturday night.
In both cases, Brandon Naurato deployed a slightly different power play formation to the usual set up during the weekend’s five-on-fours. Using his top unit of Luke Hughes, Fantilli, Duke, Rutger McGroarty, and Samoskevich, Naurato placed a clear emphasis on moving Samoskevich and McGroarty down to the goal line, and even below, as outlets.
You can see Samoskevich and McGroarty assuming their posts abreast of Salmenkangas as Fantilli loops across the zone.
After Saturday’s game, Naurato explained that his objective had been showing his talented top unit some possibilities. “We tried a couple different things. Right now I’m just giving them different options and then letting them make plays out there. We’re not going for set plays, but as you go through the course of the year, there’ll be several options and then…it’ll be harder to pre-scout.”
The idea of putting a concept on film to give an opponent something to worry about is familiar in football, but something you don’t hear quite as often in hockey.
Naurato also acknowledged that because power plays are such an object of fascination for him, they can also be a source of stress, saying “I’m very pessimistic on power play because I take so much pride in it and all the stuff that we go over on the video, but I thought they did a really really good job.”
Michigan scored three power play goals over the weekend, but to Naurato, they were unfortunate not to have done further damage. “With the chances that we’re generating, we should be getting…way more success.”
Duke on the art of playing in front of the net
Throughout the weekend, whether in deflecting home his own goal or obscuring the Lions’ goaltenders’ vision for his teammates, Dylan Duke was a formidable netfront presence. Listed at five-foot-ten and one-hundred-eighty-one pounds, Duke is perhaps an unlikely candidate for that crease-side role, yet the responsibilities come naturally to the Ohioan winger.
For Duke, playing in front of the net is about supporting teammates whose talents are best expressed toward the perimeter of the offensive zone—both in screening goaltenders and in providing a passing outlet.
“The biggest thing is obviously, when guys are shooting the puck like Samo and Adam and Hughesy from the point, to take the goalie’s eyes away. He can’t save what he can’t see. So get in front of his eyes and then obviously, they have another option when they get in trouble to rim the puck down the wall behind the net and then I could jump behind and grab it quick and come out the other side and they have options when I’m there and obviously then feeds on the tips and kind of just feeds our offense and helps us score goals.”
In theory, going to the front of the net should be a fool-proof means of generating offense, accessible to anybody, but, in practice, not just any forward can master the subtleties of playing in and around the goal mouth. That Duke was rewarded for his netfront labor with a goal is well-deserved, but, as he explained, his value in that role often emerges without him scoring whether in recovering pucks below the goal line or temporarily blinding a goaltender above it.
A Brief Note on Lindenwood
Lindenwood has not opened its tenure in Division I hockey with four consecutive losses. Despite that suboptimal record, the Lions deserve hearty commendation for their opening four games. The green Lions traveled to two titans of the sport in their first two weekends and gave both a serious scare. Even better, after just four DI games, Lindenwood has a clear identity: fast, physical, and direct. The Lions aren’t done taking on DI hockey giants; they will travel to number one Denver in mid-December and number three North Dakota in early January. If they can keep the energy they have shown through four games, they may do more than just scare a blue blood out of those next four against top ten opponents.
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