Much has been made of the No. 4 Michigan hockey team’s youth to start the season. Draft eligible talent like freshman forwards Adam Valentini and Cole McKinney have been the talk of the town as the Wolverines rolled through the first two weekends.
But Thursday against Robert Morris, the Wolverines struggled mightily. Michigan looked disjointed for the first time all season and it was only through an unassisted goal from Valentini and some fortunate bounces that the Wolverines defeated the Colonials. Although it’s not uncommon for young teams to struggle early in the season, the way the squad responds to those issues is critical. And sometimes, a veteran presence can make all the difference.
That was the case on Friday, as Michigan’s most experienced players stepped up and drove play, resulting in a dominant 10-2 victory.
When Michigan’s play fell flat as the Wolverines were down 1-0 just two minutes into the game Friday, it was junior Jayden Perron who kickstarted Michigan’s resurgence. Perron was demoted from the first line to the third between Thursday and Friday, but the change caused him to surge up the scoresheet. On the power play with two minutes to go in the first period, Perron was left wide open by the Colonials at the net front. Freshman forward Malcolm Spence passed it to him cross ice and Perron went upstairs on goaltender Charlie Schenkel to tie the game for the Wolverines.
It was an important goal, but Michigan was still struggling. Then, senior forward Josh Eernisse exploded for the second time in two weekends. Killing off Michigan’s third penalty of the night, Eernisse received a pass from senior defenseman Tyler Duke and raced up ice. Like Perron, he went backhand on Schenkel and gave the Wolverines the lead just 28 seconds after they had tied the game.
“It all starts with Tyler Duke,” Eernisse said. “He makes a hard play on the wall. He’s on his backhand. He throws a sauce up the middle. He takes a big hit for that. And then from there, I was just on a break and went in. The goalie dropped. I was able to bury it. But just the selflessness from him to be able to know that he’s probably going to take a hit on that play and still dish it and find me, that was a huge spark.”
It was a pivotal moment of the game. Eernisse and Duke’s efforts gave the Wolverines the lead. Now they needed to extend it before Robert Morris could respond. Eernisse was again the one to elevate, tipping in a blue-line floater from sophomore defenseman Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen to extend Michigan’s lead to two goals.
“He was snakebit last year, but all credit to him,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “He and (senior forward Kienan Draper) do stuff after practice every single day. We have our skill sessions before practice and just really hammering on that net front goal scoring. … We have not worked on breakaways, so I don’t get where he’s getting those breakaway goals! But credit to him for putting the time in.”
Ideally for Michigan’s offense, though, it wouldn’t rely on herculean individual efforts like Eernisse’s. The Wolverines want their lines to generate offense as a collective, with any member able to score. Eernisse’s goals were important because Michigan had the lead, but what it really needed was a return to the form that had carried it past Mercyhurst and Providence.
A goal from sophomore forward Will Horcoff signaled exactly that. For the first time in two days, Michigan managed to find the passing form that had driven its offense so far this season. The neat passing from freshman defenseman Henry Mews to Duke to Horcoff, who wristed a puck over Schenkel’s right shoulder, was exactly the kind of play that has defined the Wolverines thus far and what they needed to resume — and it was again driven by two experienced players.
Michigan’s youngest players have some of its most dynamic offensive talents. But in games where a team runs into an opposition that disrupts its gameplan, the leadership and experience of veteran players and their ability to elevate is crucial. The Wolverines’ veterans saved them from what could have been an embarrassing early season loss to a weaker opponent and helped the team’s youth find a way through a difficult game.
