For the Michigan Wolverines (8-7-3), the first half of the season has been up and down. The Wolverines maneuver around the ice with remarkable skill, control the puck, and produce shot after quality shot, making Michigan appear to be the best team in college hockey at times. However, Michigan has appeared lost for the most of the third period. On the verge of victory, the team starts to close up, zone entry/exits become sloppier, and errors start to pile up.
However, with a ton of hockey ahead of them, the Wolverines will get a chance to establish some consistency when the regular season begins on January 12 against Stonehill. At the moment, Michigan is ranked No. 13 in USA Hockey, No. 15 in USCHO, and No. 15 in Pairwise.
In the first half of the season, the Wolverines were among the most injured teams, and it was pretty hard to find a player who wasn’t dealing with something. Jackson Hallum, a forward who was the team’s fastest player and one of Michigan’s most valuable depth providers, was lost for the season early on.
Moreover, three forwards suffered injuries in the same game against Penn State: Rutger McGroarty, Mark Estapa, and Dylan Duke. Estapa and McGroarty have not yet made a comeback to the ice, but Duke did return the next evening. Estapa has not been the subject of any news, but McGroarty, who was once the top scorer in the country, is anticipated to return in the second half of the campaign. Just his return will help the forward.
Defenseman Ethan Edwards, who hasn’t played yet this season, would provide Michigan with another seasoned blue line playmaker and a top-five rotation that rivals any in the nation if he takes the ice in 2024.
2. Reduce Penalties and Enhance Penalty Kill
In terms of penalty kill percentage, opponents’ power-play attempts per game, and power-play goals per game, Michigan is currently last in the Big Ten. The Wolverines are among the bottom six teams in each of these three categories out of 60 Division 1 college hockey teams, so even settling into mediocrity during the second half of the season is a positive.
It’s easy to start getting better: accept fewer penalties. Under head coach Brandon Naurato, Michigan has had trouble taking bad penalties when it matters most. Naurato encourages players to play quickly and freely, but it might be in the long run best for Naurato to rein in some of this freedom.
Second, Michigan must exercise more restraint when it comes to penalty kills. The Wolverines don’t have to go on lockdown like Wisconsin, Boston College, or Quinnipiac—three teams vying for the national championship that are all above 90% on the PK this season—but even a small improvement could mean the difference between making it to the Frozen Four and not making it to the NCAA Tournament.
Right now, Michigan’s kill percentage is.746; an improvement of less than 7% would place the Wolverines in the middle of the pack nationally and help them win more games. Without cutting down on penalties or strengthening this area of special teams, Michigan’s ability to win games will always be compromised.
Given goalie Jake Barczewski’s raw stats, it would seem that the Canisius transfer hasn’t been that successful. At the moment, he has a 2.725 goals against average and a.913 save percentage. But the two nearest to him matter more than the man between the pipes when it comes to these passable numbers.
The Michigan defense lacks a balancing mechanism. Either it is open to teams scoring, or it is fluid and unassailable. This defensive discrepancy is one of the main causes of Michigan’s mediocre performance. While dominance on this end of the rink is not necessary, a raised floor combined with a foundation of discipline could be the spark that propels the Wolverines into the NCAA Tournament.
