Michigan hockey coach Brandon Naurato was practically beaming as he took questions Thursday.
“I’m excited,” Naurato said over and over. “Nobody is more excited than me and our staff right now.”
This eagerness stands in stark contrast to the attitude around the Wolverines last year. Just weeks before the season started, Naurato lost one of his most impactful players, forward Rutger McGroarty, to an entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. With one penstroke, Michigan had a gaping hole in its offensive production and was down a veteran forward it was counting on to help bridge two eras of Wolverines hockey.
Team 103 ultimately struggled to find an identity and put together consistent performances. After its loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals, Michigan failed to reach the NCAA Tournament via pairwise standings. For the first time in Naurato’s tenure, there was no postseason action for his team. There would be no chance to prove they could become something more in the postseason — more than a disjointed team that frequently lacked chemistry.
Naurato believes that Team 104 is different.
“It’s been a lot of fun working with this group,” Naurato said. “Just a group of kids that want to get better every day. Which sounds so simple and cliché, but maybe when you have it early, you don’t appreciate it as much, and when you don’t have it, you don’t appreciate it. And I’ve had both, and I’m very excited.”
That excitement that was so rarely expressed about last year’s team was evident both in Naurato’s words and in the smile that frequently crossed his face. As young as the team is — the Wolverines feature as many freshmen as sophomores and juniors combined — Naurato believes these players make up the deepest roster he’s ever had at Michigan.
With that depth comes the need to find what works. Last year, Naruato shuffled the lines game-to-game, attempting to find any internal remedy to that team’s woes — an ultimately Sisyphean task. He’ll need to do the same this year, but for different reasons and, Naurato hopes, for far less time.
“If I never had to change the lines all year, then it’s a perfect world,” Naurato said. “My goal is not to do what I did last year. As soon as we find chemistry, that’s what we’re looking for. You do it in pairs, and then there’s a third guy that mixes in. We feel like we’ve got some pretty good pairs, but it’s wide open. I’ll probably blow it up the first 10 games, maybe even the first half. I’ll blow it up until we find chemistry. I think we’ll find it earlier than we did last year.”
Naurato is also more than ready to bet on his team, even with the shifted college hockey landscape. The influx of CHL players has shaken up college hockey, and it’s magnified in the Big Ten with the addition of big-name players such as forwards Cayden Lindstrom and Porter Martone at Michigan State and left-winger Gavin McKenna at Penn State. Naurato isn’t concerned about his team’s ability to compete with those teams, but his eyes also aren’t on what moves those teams made or what players he missed out on in the recruiting process.
Naurato’s gaze is firmly trained on the ice: on the battles he’s observed in practice, the defensive responsibility he’s noticed and the “hard skills” he’s seen — skills he believes will make this team just as successful as any in the country and will shape the team’s identity in a way it didn’t last year.
“Hard skill, all about the team, all about Michigan,” Naurato said. “And they just fight the fight. I don’t know what we are, but I know that if we ever go through a slump, I’m betting on these guys to respond. If we’re doing very well in a stretch of games, say we’re on a winning streak, I don’t think these guys are going to get comfortable. That’s my gut feeling right now. … We haven’t played a game, but we’re very optimistic with this group, because we feel we have the right people, a lot of Michigan men.”
Last year, Naurato said he was “excited to see where we’re at” as Michigan approached the start of the season. This year’s team has already gained his excitement even before the season begins. Next week, when the puck drops against Mercyhurst, fans will see if it was deserved.
