Michigan’s Young Hockey Team Is A Welcome Distraction for Wolverine Fans.
For most fans of Michigan sports, 2020 is shaping up to be a winter of severe discontent. The football team, after a promising start to the season winning their first game, suffered an agonizing series of defeats, none more painful than a disastrous 49–11 loss to a rival Wisconsin squad that had recently been forced to take a hiatus due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the players. It is speculated to only be a matter of time before head coach Jim Harbaugh is fired.
Wolverines fans can look ahead to their basketball season with somewhat more optimism, as second year coach Juwan Howard is making his mark both on the team’s culture and its future recruiting class. Nevertheless, the Wolverines basketball season is yet to begin (delayed due to, what else, the COVID 19 pandemic), with the Wolverines ranked 25th in the AP’s preseason rankings poll, some work will need to be done to fulfill the championship aspirations that have frustrated Michigan fans for more than thirty years.
In the meantime, however, Wolverine fans do have one program playing currently that can provide some welcome respite from the woes of their football program. Although it is less well known than its basketball or football programs, Michigan hockey has no less of a pedigree. It has won nine national championships, although its most recent was in 1998, and twenty-five appearances in the Frozen Four (NCAA hockey’s version of the Final Four). The program has turned out a raft of top NHL players, including in recent years such young stars of the game as Quinn Hughes, Dylan Larkin, Kyle Connor and more.
The team’s last full season, 2018–19, was a down year by their normal standards, as the Wolverines failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. However, in 2020–21, the Wolverines are looking to have a resurgent season, featuring one of the most impressive collections of freshman talent to be featured on an NCAA hockey team in recent memory. And so far, they have lived up to the promise of their talent, winning their first four games, including two against Wisconsin.
The freshman class is a mix of players who have already been drafted by NHL teams in the 2020 draft and even younger players who project to be top picks in 2021. Brendan Brisson and Thomas Bordeleau were each drafted by arch rival NHL franchises in 2020, with Brisson a first round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights and Bordeleau a second round choice of the San Jose Sharks. But for now, they are already emerging together as a potent scoring combination, with Bordeleau providing the assist on Brisson’s first NCAA goal. Bordeleau has shown himself to be more than capable of lighting the lamp himself, scoring a highlight reel goal to win the second Wisconsin game in overtime. Hockey prospect analyst J.D. Burke tweeted that Bordeleau is the “no doubt” choice for best player on the team so far.
But perhaps the true promise of this team lies in those freshman who have a year to go until they are selected by an NHL team in 2021. While Brisson was a late second round pick and Bordeleau a second rounder, the Michigan freshman class features three prospects who could contend for the top ten, if not first overall pick in the upcoming draft.
As potent a scoring combination as Bordeleau and Brisson have been, Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson have perhaps been even more lethal. Johnson in particular is considered to have first overall potential, as in his final year of junior hockey he was by far the top scorer in the British Columbia Hockey League, posting 101 points in 52 games. So far for the Wolverines this season, Johnson has showcased the playmaking ability that has led observers to compare him to Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner, with six assists and one goal in his first four games. Beniers, who plays on the same line as Johnson, has also excelled with five points in his first four games.
Perhaps the young Michigan talent with the highest ceiling is the one who plays on the blue line, defenseman Owen Power. A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Power was one of the top defensemen in the United States Hockey League juniors, putting up more than a point per game playing with the Chicago Steel. He has perhaps the greatest physical tools of anyone in his draft class, measuring in at six foot five inches and 214 pounds. A left handed defenseman, his size and potential skill have drawn lofty comparisons, such as Hall of Famer Chris Pronger and Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman.
Power has also performed well so far, on both sides of the ice. On offense, he has four points in his first four games, including the assist on Thomas Bordeleau’s overtime winner against Wisconsin. Furthermore, he has a plus/minus score of +7. This means he has been on the ice for a net total of seven goals- having a positive plus minus is traditionally considered a measure of strong defensive play, although how indicative it is of overall effectiveness has been debated by various analysts, as it may not take into account the context of the player’s presence on the ice for goals for and against. If he keeps this up, Power may well surpass his teammates and be the NHL’s first overall draft pick in 2021.
Four games is still a small sample size, but this Michigan hockey team has already shown that it can live up to the high potential and expectations placed on them in the leadup to the season. How the rest of their season plays out over the following weeks and months (with the looming specter of COVID-19 continuing to be present) remains to be seen, but so far Wolverine fans disappointed with their football team can look to them as a welcome distraction and source of happiness.
