Week 8: “All Michigan’s United”
Week 8: “All Michigan’s United”
Michigan draws then wins against a Harvard team that came to A2 perfect. For the Wolverines, depth scoring, game management, and a visit from some valiant victors contributed to a joyful weekend
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To most of Yost Ice Arena, the Conquering Heroes’ arrival was audible before it was visible. A murmur rose fast to a roar as the rink’s capacity crowd recognized the late arrivals gathering at the Zamboni tunnel. When Harvard netminder Mitchell Gibson gloved and froze an Adam Fantilli bid and the Jumbotron flashed a graphic of the afternoon’s score from Columbus, a full ovation erupted. The Big Ten (East) champs, fresh from a romp through the Buckeye state, returned a visit paid to them back in September by the reigning Big Ten hockey Tournament champions.
If there was any doubt prior to that moment, there would be none moving forward: Teams in maize and blue would not lose to teams in red on this Saturday. Quick to sap joy wherever they detect it, the Big Ten referees threatened a delay of game penalty on the home side for their guests’ cameo on the ice, but freshman forward Rutger McGroarty wasn’t concerned.
When asked how the team would have reacted had the officials followed through on assessing a penalty, the eternally optimistic McGroarty quipped “I think we would have soaked the delay of game penalty for something like that.”
There was a moment early in the third when it appeared the football team’s arrival may have thrown off the Wolverines’ focus, with Matthew Coronato scoring for the Crimson early in a period in which Harvard showed signs of offensive life for the first time all evening. However, a McGroarty snipe and then Seamus Casey empty netter sealed a 4-1 victory that was never in cosmic doubt.
The win capped a weekend in which the University of Michigan men’s hockey team drew with Harvard on Friday before handing the ninth-ranked Crimson their first loss of the season Saturday. In the process, the Wolverines showed proficiency in depth scoring and game management that had been absent, even in some of the season’s earlier successes.
Not quite twenty-four hours prior to Harbaugh, McCarthy, and company’s arrival at Yost, it appeared the weekend might not take on such a triumphant tenor.
A minute and sixteen seconds into Friday’s third period Harvard defenseman Henry Thrun scored a power play goal to give the Crimson a 4-2 advantage. Michigan had played admirably to that moment, outshooting its eastern rival and occupying the Crimson defensive zone for several extended stays at even strength. However, having lost three straight (albeit the first in overtime and the second and third with massive illness-induced absences as context) entering the game, there could be little solace to be taken from another defeat.
Instead, Michigan re-asserted its control over the net fronts at either end of the rink, eschewed its favored transition game for a more workmanlike cycle-based attack, and clawed back to level terms thanks to goals from veterans Nolan Moyle and Philippe Lapointe.
For head coach Brandon Naurato, the comeback was about a return to the game plan: “We started playing our game, we started delivering pucks, and we were harder, putting more pucks behind them, not turning it over at the blue line, which didn’t feed their transition game.”
In quelling the rush-based Crimson attack that worked well enough to see Harvard out to that 4-2 lead, Michigan also unlocked another level to its play in the offensive zone.
“We talked about…getting to the net, and it just creates chaos,” said Naurato. “When you create chaos, they get running around and then you come in waves and attack.”
Throughout the third-period comeback and even preceding it, the two most visible Wolverines were McGroarty and fellow freshman Gavin Brindley. Throughout both games this weekend, Michigan experimented with several different incarnations of the three lines playing behind the untouchable Duke, Fantilli, and Samoskevich top trio. Amidst that juggling, McGroarty and Brindley took nearly all of their shifts together—sometimes with Lapointe, sometimes with T.J. Hughes, sometimes with Kienan Draper.
Though they didn’t score, Brindley’s quick-twitch transition skills and McGroarty’s intelligent movement and physicality proved an overwhelming combination. On Lapointe’s third-period equalizer, McGroarty cast aside Harvard defenseman Ryan Siedem to win a puck in the corner and move it to Brindley below the goal line. Brindley needed just one touch to send the puck against the grain of a scrambling Crimson defense to Lapointe in the slot. From there, Lapointe rifled a shot past Gibson, and the game was tied.
Even if speed in transition is Brindley’s calling card, the Floridian freshman and his Nebraskan running mate distinguished themselves Friday with their combination play within the offensive zone. Regardless of their third linemate, the duo found ways to cut through the Crimson defense and sow seeds of chaos throughout the attacking zone.
“He can hunt, he can check, but he can also create offense, and it all comes from his feet,” Naurato said of Brindley. “When he’s moving his feet and creating that space whether he’s driving, cutting back, or delaying, I think that’s a big thing for him…He looked like a first rounder. If he can keep doing that, he’s a first round pick all day.”
Moyle’s goal, which came not quite a minute and forty-five seconds after Thrun put Harvard ahead by two, illustrated the extent to which Michigan’s third-period success stemmed from its command of the net front.
The goal emerged from a Johnny Druskinis point shot, which Lapointe deflected. Despite Lapointe’s screen and tip, Gibson made the initial save, but a rebound leaked out and Moyle banged it home from point-blank range. That Lapointe and Moyle offered a firm presence just beyond Gibson’s crease helped turn an innocuous point shot into a key goal in revitalizing Michigan’s faith.
Though Michigan rallied to level the game, it had to settle for a tie after a scoreless overtime. In inter-conference college hockey, shootouts can be played but do not count toward the almighty Pairwise standings. Thus, the result is officially recorded as a draw, even if Michigan did lose the shootout shared by the two teams.
After the game, Lapointe spoke to the muddled nature of such a conclusion: “Anything other than a win feels like a loss, if it’s a tie or a shoutout loss. It’s a little weird with college hockey, you don’t have to do the shootout, but we love the game, so might as well sneak in a shootout. Guys want to get their cookies in a shootout, and it’s fun for the fans too.”
Impressive though the comeback was, there were clear areas for improvement from Friday to Saturday. Michigan carried play for long stretches Friday night, but something about Harvard’s goals seemed to come too easily. This is not meant as a slight at Noah West’s performance in net but rather to convey a sense that the Crimson found life in transition a bit too accessible.
On Saturday, Erik Portillo returned to the Michigan crease and delivered perhaps his best performance of the season, stopping thirty-nine of the Crimson’s forty shots on goal. The towering Swede was especially sharp in a third period in which he had to make twenty saves.
Naurato explained the decision to start West on Friday as a reward for his strong performance in State College earlier in the season rather than an indictment of Portillo’s recent form. He went on to call Portillo’s Saturday performance “outstanding” and added “he’s, in my opinion, the best goalie in college hockey.”
Mark Estapa set Michigan out ahead two minutes into the game with another goal that reflected sustained offensive zone time and a strong presence around Gibson’s crease.
In the dying stages of the period, the Wolverines doubled their lead when Adam Fantilli found Mackie Samoskevich in the slot with a no-look backhand pass. From such prestigious real estate, Samoskevich would make no mistake. Once again, Michigan’s success came not from its vaunted transition game but instead its ability to create from within the offensive zone.
In another carry-over from Friday, Brindley and McGroarty took center stage and asked questions of the Crimson defense all night long. In the third period, with the game at a critical inflection point—teetering between another Saturday night blown lead and a potential victory over an erstwhile unbeaten foe, it was McGroarty who provided an insurance goal with a perfectly picked corner.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, it feels good,” said McGroarty after the game. “I like scoring goals…Brindley gave it to me, and I didn’t really look, and I just fired it and I knew where the net was…And then I saw everybody come sprinting up to me and start hugging me. I’m like ‘let’s go boys.’”
As for his chemistry with Brindley, McGroarty attributed the duo’s effectiveness stems from the pleasure they take in playing together: “I thought we were both moving our feet, we were using our skills, and we were just having fun honestly. Hockey’s fun, and you gotta remember that sometimes, and we loved this sport. I felt like this weekend we had a lot of fun with it. I still think there’s a couple things that we need to work on, but it was definitely a building block for us.”
In a game with eighty-seven combined shots on net, Michigan did an impressive job of maintaining control. Though it suffered a brief wobble in the early third, the Wolverines pushed back and warded off an opponent with formidable firepower of its own, thanks in large part to Brindley, åMcGroarty, and Portillo.
Naurato attributed this success to a collective commitment to sound structure and perseverance against a strong performance from Gibson, saying “It’s just being above them, being physical, and not allowing them to quick transition. Their goalie was unreal all weekend…That game could have been a different score early, but that’s how the game works.”
Seamus Casey found the empty net with 2:42 to play, and the Wolverines had handed Harvard its first loss of the season.
Between Friday’s draw and Saturday’s victory, obvious reasons for optimism about the Wolverines’ trajectory. All season secondary scoring has been a challenge with the DAM line carrying an outside portion of Michigan’s offensive freight. This weekend, the DAM line scored a pair, but six of the Wolverines eight goals came from other sources. Throw in an imperious performance from Erik Portillo and a mid-game visit from the soon-to-be B1G champions, and there can be no conclusion other than once again accepting that it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
Odds and Ends
More McGroarty on “The Game”
After Saturday’s win, McGroarty helped explain the role a certain football game from the afternoon had in his team’s success: “That’s a big win beating Ohio, and it was a lot of fun to see [the game] and JJ going up to Portillo and dapping him up. It was pretty cool.”
He explained that he watched The Game with Luca Fantilli and Druskinis—“just laying down, we weren’t really talking, but we were just watching the game and having fun with it.”
When asked what it was like to switch from being a fan in the afternoon to a player in the evening, McGroarty admitted that it was a novel experience: “I feel like it’s all Michigan’s united. Usually we wouldn’t watch something like that before a game if I’m gonna be honest, but then, I mean, it’s Michigan-Ohio. It’s a big game; you’ve gotta watch that.”
Druskinis Carving Out a Role
Another obvious bright spot from the weekend was the further emergence of Johnny Druskinis. The freshman made his collegiate debut out of necessity due to the ill absentees against Minnesota. He showed promise in a limited role, then built on it with strong performances throughout the Harvard series.
“Johnny’s ultra physical and kills a lot of plays,” said Naurato after Friday’s game. “I thought his poise with the puck was really good. Cutting back or getting his butt out and not just chucking it up the wall, he made the right plays. It’s funny when guys know that they’re going to be in, and you’re gonna get a chance, myself or anyone else, with or without confidence, there’s two different players. So Johnny’s got some confidence now, and good for him.”
On Friday, Druskinis’ presence was still something of a necessity with Keaton Pehrson out (due to injury, rather than illness). However, with his strong play, the freshman earned a spot in Saturday’s lineup even with Pehrson back in action.
As Naurato pointed out, Druskinis aptitude with the puck helped him fit in straight away with Michigan’s defense corps, but he also adds a uniquely intimidating presence to that group. On a team where skilled puck movers abound, it is likely a comfort to Naurato to have Druskinis bring something different.
His primary partner over the weekend was Luca Fantilli, and between Fantilli’s ability as a puck mover and Druskinis’ physicality, it’s not hard to imagine that pair having some staying power over the next four seasons.
Edwards and Casey Continue to Thrive
To stick with the defense corps, Ethan Edwards and Seamus Casey continued to stand out together. The two future New Jersey Devils did outstanding work all weekend—whether in creating offense from the attacking zone or getting out of their own end.
On Friday evening, Edwards scored an artful goal, knifing through the slot to beat Gibson as Lapointe provided a screen.
Later in the evening, Edwards lifted Casey Severo off his skates with a deke.
“Eddy had a great individual effort,” Naurato said after Friday’s game. “He’s put a lot of time in watching video, him and Seamus—how he can create more offense at the blue line. I know he’s trying extra touches in practice, and it’s all him. He’s been doing a great job with it. He’s getting those wingers to pivot and a really nice goal tonight, but it’s been building for the last couple of weeks.”
Not to be outdone, Casey’s weekend, in addition to clinching Saturday’s game with the empty-netter, featured a spectacular stretch pass for McGroarty, which he sent form below his own goal line to lead his fellow freshman perfectly into a controlled zone entry.
After Friday’s game, Edwards attributed the pair’s success to their burgeoning chemistry: “I think we’ve developed a lot of trust within our partnership there, and over the last few weeks, it’s just grown tremendously. He’s an unreal, unreal, unreal skilled player, so it’s fun to play with, and I know something’s going to happen every time we’re out there.”