The Wolverine

October 2017

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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HOCKEY PREVIEW prise some people. I don't expect us to be rated very high in the preseason coaches' poll or anything like that, but that's okay. We'll have to prove it to some people and earn their respect as we go forward." He said he hasn't set any specific expectations for his first season. "The biggest thing is you don't want to put a ceiling on them," Pearson said. "You want to set the bar high. I don't think as a staff we're going to set specific goals, or expectations, but just in general we want to be the best we can be every day. I know it's cliché, but I think that's where we have to start until we understand who we are and get an identity." That identity is something impor- tant to Pearson and his staff. Pear- son retained both assistant coach Brian Wiseman and volunteer assis- tant Steve Shields, who helps with the goaltenders, from the previous staff. Both are former Wolverines who suited up for Berenson, while his new addition is another former U-M icer in associate head coach Bill Muckalt, who assisted Pearson for the first four years of his tenure at Michigan Tech before he served as the head coach and general manager of the Tri-City Storm in the United State Hockey League for the past two seasons. "I want people to see an exciting, fast-paced, skilled team," Pearson said. "We're in the entertainment busi- ness and you want to excite people, so that's how we need to play. But we also want to be known as a team that's hard to play against and a team that plays hard- nosed defensively. "We're going to play an up-tempo game, but when we don't have the game we're going to play extremely hard to get it back so we can go back on offense and have some fun." He's been focused a lot on speed so far and said he will continue to re- cruit players that can fit into a fast- paced, hard-nosed style. His teams at Michigan Tech were known for being both fast and physical. The area that Michigan needs to improve the most, according to its new leader, is team defense. "Total team defense," Pear- son said. "We're going to have to be much, much better than we were last year as a team. That's not only our defen- semen, but our whole team structure and how we play. "Part of that is offense, if you can play strong with the puck and possess the puck more than we did last year, then obviously you're not go- ing to have to play in your own zone as much. That's the key." His hope is that Michigan's offense will improve to the point where other teams are forced to focus more on slowing down the Wolver- ines. Pearson is confident that his players will put in the necessary work to improve, even if it takes a while. "It's a culture, it's a decision, it's the dirty work," Pearson said. "That's the lunch pail stuff — play- ing hard-nosed defense. Everyone wants to play on offense, everyone wants their cookies and goals and as- sists, but we're going to have to demand [defense] from them. " I t ' s a d e c i - sion if you want to play team defense. T h e y ' re g o i n g t o make that decision that it's important to them and important to our team, and that it'll help us win games. If we can show them that, then they'll buy in." Defense needs to be something that the team takes pride in — and the coach said seeing how his team fares at defending Big Ten champion Penn State at the end of October will be a great spot to check the progress. Michigan opens the season with an exhibition against Western On- tario Sept. 30, before traveling to St. Lawrence and Clarkson, both small schools in New York. After that, the Wolverines will play host to Ver- mont before opening up Big Ten play against the Nittany Lions on the road. The Big Ten slate was moved up to start earlier in the season, and that's something Pearson likes. "We're going to have some bumps," Pearson admitted. "It's going to take a little bit of time, but I think it's im- portant we continue to grow as a team and get better week to week. "If we can do that, then after Christmas we should be hitting on all cylinders." Until then, Pearson couldn't hold back his excitement when talking about getting back on the ice for game days at Yost Ice Arena. "It's one of, if not the greatest, venue in college hockey to play games at," he said. "I've been to a lot of them, and I don't think it gets any better than this. I'm just really looking forward to getting on the ice and playing in games." Pearson "I don't expect us to be rated very high in the preseason coaches' poll or anything like that, but that's okay. We'll have to prove it to some people and earn their respect as we go forward." Sophomore forward Jake Slaker led the team with 21 points last year and was named the overall Rookie of the Year by the University of Michigan Athletic Department. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL OCTOBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 61

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