{"id":136814,"date":"2022-11-02T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=136814"},"modified":"2022-11-01T21:04:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T02:04:48","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/02\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-2\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Top-ranked Michigan squad playing with renewed identity where ‘everything’s a learning environment’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Michigan players celebrate a recent goal (photo: Michigan Photography).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michigan interim head coach Brandon Naurato is a teacher by nature, and that teaching approach to coaching is already bearing fruit for a Michigan team with a 12-member rookie class.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m so blessed to have really good people from the freshmen to the other kids around that they want to be the best versions of themselves,\u201d said Naurato.<\/p>\n

Through eight games, the Wolverines are 7-1-1 and have outscored opponents 42-22. Michigan leads the nation in offense, averaging 5.25 goals per game with freshmen doing 45 percent of the goal scoring.<\/p>\n

Rookie Adam Fantilli leads all scorers nationally in points per game (1.88) and is third in the nation for total goals (eight). Both Fantilli and classmate Rutger McGroarty have registered their first collegiate hat tricks. McGroarty notched his first three goals of the season in Michigan\u2019s 6-5 overtime road win against Western Michigan, all three goals scored on the power play. Rookie defenseman Seamus Casey had the first assist on all three of McGroarty\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

McGroarty credits the entire University of Michigan, the coaching staff, the athletic department\u2019s support staff, and fifth-year forward and captain Nolan Moyle for creating an environment that helps this year\u2019s freshmen feel welcomed and supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said McGroarty. \u201cPlaying high-end hockey is something we came here to do, and I love every second of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGroarty said that he and his classmates are as supportive of each other as they are competitive, a mindset that permeates this Michigan team. \u201cWe come to the rink every single day with an attack mentality, and we just want to keep getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into every weekend, we\u2019re looking for a sweep. I think that anything less than a sweep is not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of their record \u2013 and their ways to find wins in the two high-scoring, back-and-forth games against Western last weekend \u2013 the Wolverines became the new No. 1 team in the DCU\/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. Naurato said that he\u2019s especially grateful that he works with players who don\u2019t want to be lulled into becoming too comfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a conversation about being No. 1 in the country, and it means nothing,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cYou want to be No. 1 in the country at the end of the year. Now with that said, they should be proud of themselves for what they\u2019ve done to date, but I [told them what] the record is when Michigan first becomes No. 1 and it\u2019s well below .500. You\u2019ve got a bigger target on your back and let\u2019s not get complacent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep this learning environment so when you\u2019re not having success, it\u2019s not about coaches yelling and screaming and you\u2019ve got to work harder. it\u2019s about teaching \u2013 and winning\u2019s about teaching, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naurato developed his coaching style by developing other players. After his own four years as a forward at Michigan, Naurato played another four in minor league hockey before moving to player development. From 2012 to 2020, he worked with USA Hockey as director of player development. From 2018 to 2021, he also worked with the Detroit Red Wings as a player development consultant.<\/p>\n

After having served as assistant coach for a year under Mel Pearson in 2021-22, Naurato was tabbed in August to shepherd the Wolverines through their first year of the post-Pearson era. Pearson was let go from Michigan in August of this year following the release of a report by WilmerHale, a Washington, D.C. law firm hired by the University of Michigan to investigate allegations that former Michigan goaltender and volunteer coach Steve Shields had been fired in retaliation for bringing Pearson\u2019s alleged abuses to the attention of the school.<\/p>\n

The WilmerHale report did not find that Shields was let go for being a whistleblower, but it did bring up concerns about Pearson\u2019s conduct, including allegations that he pressured hockey players to lie about COVID-19 testing, contributed to a toxic environment for women employees and forced goaltender and team captain Strauss Mann to leave the program when Mann went to Pearson with concerns regarding team culture. In part, the report stated, \u201cOur investigation did identify cultural issues within the hockey program that warrant attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Berenson was the head coach when Naurato played for Michigan, but Pearson was the associate head coach under Berenson as well. Naurato sounds sincere when he walks a diplomatic line talking about what he, associate head coach Bill Muckalt and assistant coach Rob Rassey are doing to change the culture of Michigan hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of things in the media and it\u2019s hard to talk about what I plan to do because personally, I don\u2019t feel like we as a staff have proved anything and I don\u2019t want to talk out of turn,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cI\u2019m trying to be respectful. But we really want to create a learning environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk to the kids about being vulnerable with each other, and even us owning things at different times. It\u2019s just so important as a coach to earn respect. Do I need the players to like me? Yeah, I think they need to like me. When they like and respect you, they listen. There may be guys that don\u2019t like certain things at times, but if they respect you, I think it holds weight because they know you have their best interests in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old school mentality\u2019s gone. You still need to be firm, but they need to know you care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naurato said that pressure on players can come from agents, parents, and coaches while they\u2019re \u201ctrying to figure it out,\u201d creating an environment that may make learning difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re kids,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cThere\u2019s things that they just don\u2019t know. We can\u2019t get upset with them. Can you imagine getting upset with a kid for not knowing how to ride a bike?\u201d<\/p>\n

The teaching-centered approach paid off in tangible ways against the Broncos. While the Wolverines surrendered nine goals in the series, they found a way to score 11 and sweep a very good Western Michigan team. The freshmen were \u201cpoint-a-game players\u201d heading into that series, said Naurato, \u201cand I think I met with almost all of them, and they want more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight of Michigan\u2019s goals against Western were scored by freshmen, and the rookies registered six assists, including Jackson Hallum\u2019s helper on Nolan Moyle\u2019s game winner in Friday\u2019s 5-4 home game.<\/p>\n

Naurto said that the freshmen are all \u201cstudents of the game\u201d and that they all \u201cwant to be the best versions of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding as a coach to work with guys that are chasing success and want to be better,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to be honest with them, show them where they\u2019re at, pat them on the back.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s teaching. Everything\u2019s a learning environment, and they\u2019re embracing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wolverines open Big Ten conference play this weekend when they play undefeated Penn State on the road in a two-game set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan interim head coach Brandon Naurato is a teacher by nature, and that teaching approach to coaching is already bearing fruit for a Michigan team with a 12-member rookie class. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m so blessed to have really good people from the freshmen to the other kids around that they want to be the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":136817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[802],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Big Ten Hockey: Top-ranked Michigan squad playing with renewed identity where 'everything's a learning environment' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michigan interim head coach Brandon Naurato is a teacher by nature, and that teaching approach to coaching is already bearing fruit for a Michigan team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136814\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Top-ranked Michigan squad playing with renewed identity where 'everything's a learning environment' - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michigan interim head coach Brandon Naurato is a teacher by nature, and that teaching approach to coaching is already bearing fruit for a Michigan team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136814\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-02T15:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-02T02:04:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/umich_lssu_102222.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"942\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula C. 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