The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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54 THE WOLVERINE OCTOBER 2019 HOCKEY PREVIEW BY BOB MILLER I n a tight, competitive hockey conference like the Big Ten, ex- perience is often the deciding factor in the outcome of games. As Michigan head coach Mel Pear- son enters his third season in 2019-20, he's seen both sides of the experience equation. In his first season of 2017-18, Michigan put on a second-half charge that led to a Frozen Four appearance. In his follow-up campaign last sea- son, a less-experienced lineup played in 18 games that were decided by one goal. Eleven of those games went to overtime, 10 in Big Ten conference play. The result was a below Michi- gan standards record of 13-16-7. "It's a fine line [between winning and losing] every night," Pearson pointed out. "I think that was re- ally evident in our last six games. All close games, so many overtime games. The bounce goes one way and you lose. It goes another way and you win. If we would have won one more game last year, we would have finished in second place [in the Big Ten], and we didn't, so we end up fifth. That's how close it was. "The Big Ten is a tough conference and it's going to continue to get stron- ger. We're seeing that on the recruit- ing trail. Wisconsin has taken a huge step forward. Minnesota high school hockey is on a real upswing now and all the young players Minnesota has lined up are terrific. Penn State is starting to turn the corner with their program and become a powerhouse. "Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Michigan State just spent another $20 million on their building — huge upgrades there and they're serious about it. Ohio State is resurgent, so the Big Ten is a very good league. We have seven of our teams in the top 11 in attendance in college hockey." Pearson's second season was played with a roster sporting 10 true freshmen. While several of those freshmen contributed, the coach is counting on that greater level of ex- perience found on this year's roster to matter in the inevitable tight con- ference games. "I think one of the things you can look back at is that, sure, we took Senior forward Will Lockwood led the team with 16 goals and ranked second with 31 points last season, trailing No. 7 overall pick Quinn Hughes by only two. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL BOUNCING BACK A More Experienced Michigan Team Looks To Rebound From A Tough 2018-19 Campaign HOCKEY P R E V I E W