With the No. 1 Michigan hockey team missing a few starters to the ongoing World Juniors Championship, coach Brandon Naurato got creative.
Saturday night against the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP), Naurato jumbled up his lines to take best advantage of the talent he had at his disposal, creating some unusual combinations; one of which was senior defenseman Tyler Duke being moved to the left wing. But those rotations couldn’t stop Michigan (16-4) from rolling out to a 7-5 exhibition win over USNTDP (9-16).
“It was just coming back to playing our game plan,” senior forward Josh Eernisse said. “That’s kind of what we preached all week. We knew guys are going to be maybe jumbled in a little bit, especially being light on forwards with guys at World Juniors.”
It took the Wolverines less than a minute to put their stamp on the game, when sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson opened the scoring by finishing off a team move with his wrist. It was the first goal of the season for Robertson — predominantly a creator of goals rather than a scorer of them — setting the tone for a night where roles looked a little different.
“I think it’s just new spots where the guys were killing it,” Naurato said. “So happy for those guys. Everyone feels a part of it.”
And though the team didn’t look the exact same, it was business as usual for the first period. Senior forward Josh Eernisse, junior forward Nick Moldenhauer and junior forward Jayden Perron piled on for a resounding 4-1 lead by the end of the period.
But in the second, Michigan began to feel the absence of its missing players. Freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic, one of the Wolverines’ brightest stars of the first half of the season, is still currently in action for Team Canada at World Juniors, leaving freshman Stephen Peck to take the reins in his stead. Though Peck fared relatively well in the first under little duress, his second period was much more challenging. USNTDP roared back into the matchup with four second-period goals to turn Michigan’s comfortable position into a precipitous one.
In addition to Ivankovic, the Wolverines also found themselves missing the speed of sophomore forward Will Horcoff or the stick-handling of sophomore forward Michael Hage, also both absent and depriving the team of an additional burst on offense. Two of USNTDP’s four second-period goals came on a breakaway, exploiting a hole in Michigan’s transitional play. Hage and Horcoff, who have both been incredibly potent for the Wolverines on the breakaway this season, would’ve provided the speed Michigan needed to pounce on pucks and drive up the opposite direction. But their absences left the Wolverines looking slower on offense than usual, providing USNTDP with transition opportunities. On the whole, Michigan was particularly short-staffed on offense, with just 10 of a possible 12 forwards suiting up on the night.
And in the third, the Wolverines took on a less forthcoming and more conservative position to compensate for their weaknesses going forward. Michigan opted to drop deep and pull its skaters back rather than crowd the zone, focused on holding onto their 6-5 lead. It was another example of the Wolverines adopting new in-game roles in a game state that differed from what they were used to, as even Michigan’s forwards cut in to defend the net. And despite increased pressure from USNTDP, the Wolverines weathered the storm to defend their lead and eke out a victory.
“That’s it at the end of the day,” Eernisse said. “Everybody knows what they’re supposed to do and executes on it, and that’s why we can have guys in and out and playing different positions and still be able to find ways to win.”
Saturday was a little different from what Michigan was used to — both in playing a developmental program in an exhibition and doing so without three of their most significant skaters. But thanks to adjustments made both pregame and midgame, the Wolverines held on to ring in the new year with a victory.
