The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2018 THE WOLVERINE 51 but also a young group of defense- men. The overriding thought in Pear- son's mind was that his first U-M squad would need to win close, low- scoring games if the team hoped to have any success. He and his coaching staff made changes to lines and defensive pair- ings early in the year, working to cre- ate chemistry and figure out which players worked best with each other. Most of all, Michigan needed to have confidence and believe in the new system Pearson and his staff were attempting to implement. It took time, but that belief eventually came — winning games, of course, helped with that. "The team really came together and understood our expectations and what we wanted, how we needed to go about doing that and then trusting the process," Pearson said. "I think that more than anything is, 'Hey, maybe these guys know what they're doing,' and just to trust us and go for it." One thing Pearson never ques- tioned about his team was its resolve. His favorite memory of the season goes back to a moment that showed the mental toughness of the Wolver- ines — the team's first meeting of the season with then-No. 4 Minnesota Nov. 10. Michigan trailed 3-0 midway through the second period before rallying to tie the game at three just minutes into the third period. How- ever, 33 seconds later, Minnesota scored to take back the lead. Michi- gan sophomore forward Jake Slaker managed to re-tie the game, and in overtime fifth-year senior forward Alex Roos had the puck bounce in the net off his head for the game- winning goal. "We were down and out and get- ting our rear ends handed to us, and we battled back," Pearson said. "The excitement for the players and the crowd and the energy in the build- ing — they were high-scoring games, so there was a lot going on. Tough on coaches, but great for players and the crowd. "That weekend was pretty special. It showed me the perseverance that our guys had." CONFIDENCE BOOST Following that victory over Min- nesota, the Wolverines went 1-5-2 in its next eight games. After defeat- ing Michigan State in the third-place game of the Great Lakes Invitational — for just its second victory in nine chances — the Wolverines prepared for a home-and-home series against the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame Fight- ing Irish Jan. 5 and 7. Notre Dame was playing some of the best hockey in the country and continued that against Michigan, beating U-M 2-1 in both games to improve to 18-3-1 overall and a per- fect 12-0 in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Michigan's record at the 20-game mark was a measly 8-10-2 (3-6-2-1 Big Ten). The weekend in early January changed the course of Michigan's season. On the surface, the Wolver- ines were beaten twice by a team clearly better than them, but deeper it was a signal to the Michigan play- ers that they could in fact play with any team in the country. The confidence boost that series gave Michigan can't be understated — but as Pearson reminded his team, they were still losses. For the mo- mentum to really shift, U-M needed to win. "It gave us some confidence," the coach said. "Now having said that, confidence doesn't necessarily win you games. You feel good about yourself, but when you lose, the next week can be tough. "You come into the week de- pressed, and I'm a glass half-full kind of guy, so we had to spin it or pull away the good things from that weekend that we wanted to continue going forward." Next up was a road rematch with Minnesota, which still ranked far ahead of the Wolverines at No. 9 na- tionally. Building on the confidence gained from the weekend prior, Michigan swept the Gophers in Minnesota for Despite being projected to finish sixth in the seven-team Big Ten and starting the Pearson era 8-10-2, Michigan got hot in its final 20 games, posting a 14-5-1 mark down the stretch and reaching its first Frozen Four since 2011. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY