{"id":147127,"date":"2024-04-09T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=147127"},"modified":"2024-04-10T07:38:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T12:38:36","slug":"resilient-michigan-team-peaking-at-right-time-wolverines-playing-to-get-back-to-where-we-believe-that-we-should-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/09\/resilient-michigan-team-peaking-at-right-time-wolverines-playing-to-get-back-to-where-we-believe-that-we-should-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilient Michigan team peaking at right time as Wolverines return to Frozen Four, playing \u2018to get back to where we believe that we should be\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Rutger McGroarty has been a top offensive player this season for Michigan (photo: Michigan Photography).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the third of four previews for teams playing in the 2023 NCAA Men\u2019s Frozen Four this week in St. Paul, Minn. Click here for all of USCHO\u2019s Frozen Four coverage<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Michigan Wolverines<\/h4>\n

How they got to St. Paul<\/strong>: Won the Maryland Heights Regional, beating North Dakota 4-3 and Michigan State 5-2<\/p>\n

Top players<\/strong>: F Gavin Brindley (25-28-53), F Dylan Duke (26-23-49), T.J. Hughes (19-29-48), Rutger McGroarty (16-36-52), D Seamus Casey (7-38-45)<\/p>\n

Top goalie<\/strong>: Jacob Barczewski (20-13-3, 2.81 GAA, .909 SV%)<\/p>\n

Why they\u2019ll win a national championship<\/strong>: More than any other team in this field, the Wolverines have something to prove. The only team to reach the Frozen Four as something other than a No. 1 regional seed, Michigan feels like it was counted out all along. The Wolverines are battle tested, making their third consecutive Frozen Four appearance. They\u2019re fast, they\u2019re gifted offensively, and their defense is gelling at just the right time of the season.<\/p>\n

Why they won\u2019t win a national championship<\/strong>: As good as they are up front, the Wolverines can still allow a lot of goals. There\u2019s little advantage to averaging four or more goals in a game if you also allow five, as Michigan has done 10 times this season. For the past two years, the Wolverines have relied on their lethal offense to compensate for everyone else\u2019s scoring chances, but as they found out against Quinnipiac last year, that\u2019s not something that can be relied upon in the Frozen Four.<\/p>\n

Michigan is a team with something to prove.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people counted us out four or five weeks ago,\u201d said Wolverines coach Brandon Naurato, \u201cand all of the guys believed in the resiliency of this group to get back to where we believe that we should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where they are now is where the Wolverines have been for the last two consecutive years, in the Frozen Four. Those previous trips resulted in semifinal losses to the eventual national champion, to Denver in 2022 and Quinnipiac last season.<\/p>\n

As recently as a month ago, the Wolverines were a PairWise bubble team. Following a 6-2 road loss to Minnesota March 1, the team had a moment of reckoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an honest conversation with the guys about what it takes to win at this time and people being all in and then just going out and earning it,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cWe didn\u2019t like the effort that game, but we\u2019ve kind of turned the corner since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan picked up a 6-5 overtime win against the Gophers the following night and went on a 6-1-0 run, the only loss 5-4 in overtime to Michigan State in the Big Ten playoff championship game.<\/p>\n

Naurato calls the Big Ten playoffs the real turning point for a Michigan team that finished fourth in conference play, a team that was oh-so-close in so many games throughout the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing good hockey all year, but for whatever reason, the other team was getting the bounce instead of us,\u201d said Naurato. The Michigan coaching staff is encouraged that players have been able to \u201cfind ways to create opportunities\u201d that have gone Michigan\u2019s way, especially in third periods. \u201cGuys have pushed it over the edge,\u201d he said, but added, \u201cWe still have some work to do going into the Frozen Four.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan brings to the Frozen Four the deadliest power play in college hockey, one that converts at 34.5% — five percentage points ahead of Boston College and six ahead of Boston University, both of which are insanely good by any standards. Michigan\u2019s PP is fueled by a deep, skilled offense and six players with 16 or more goals. Between them, Dylan Duke and Gavin Brindley have 51 goals and are among the top 10 scorers in the country.<\/p>\n

But in a Frozen Four field that boasts the four best offensive teams in college hockey \u2013 with outrageous talent and depth on every squad \u2013 Michigan\u2019s downfall may be its team defense. In their last seven games leading up to the Frozen four, Michigan has scored 30 goals and allowed 23.<\/p>\n

Naurato sees the play of goaltender Jacob Barczewski as steady and consistent. \u201cHe\u2019s been the guy all year.\u201d Barczewski, a St. Louis native, transferred from Canisius after backstopping the Griffins to the 2023 Atlantic Hockey playoff championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome seeing him have success in front of so many friends and family in the regional in St. Louis,\u201d said Naurato. Barczewski\u2019s 38-save performance propelled Michigan to that win over Michigan State, a team that had bested the Wolverines in four of their five meetings in the 2023-23 campaign. The win was also Barczewski\u2019s career-best 20th of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefense wins championships,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cGoaltending is obviously a huge part of this time of year. You need everyone to step up, but your goalie\u2019s pretty important.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Michigan\u2019s experience \u2013 and experience with challenges on and off the ice \u2013 that gives the Wolverines perspective heading into St. Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis junior and senior class, they\u2019ve been to three Frozen Fours in a row,\u201d said Naurato. \u201cThey\u2019ve won multiple Big Ten championships. That goes back to a COVID year. It goes back to a coaching change. It goes back to having Steven Holtz in the ICU and four other players in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan won back-to-back Big Ten playoff championships on the road against Minnesota (2022, 2023). After a season as assistant coach, Naurato became the interim head coach following Mel Pearson\u2019s departure in August 2022 and was named head coach in March 2023. Adenovirus went through the Michigan team in fall of 2022, and Holtz nearly lost his life to it.<\/p>\n

This season, said Naurato, \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of little things.\u201d Naurato said that the team is \u201cextremely excited\u201d about the Frozen Four opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing this three years in a row,\u201d said Naurato, \u201call credit to our players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the third of four previews for teams playing in the 2023 NCAA Men\u2019s Frozen Four this week in St. Paul, Minn. Click here for all of USCHO\u2019s Frozen Four coverage. Michigan Wolverines How they got to St. Paul: Won the Maryland Heights Regional, beating North Dakota 4-3 and Michigan State 5-2 Top players: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":147128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1426],"tags":[812,596],"coauthors":[802],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nResilient Michigan team peaking at right time as Wolverines return to Frozen Four, playing \u2018to get back to where we believe that we should be\u2019 - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the third of four previews for teams playing in the 2023 NCAA Men\u2019s Frozen Four this week in St. Paul, Minn. 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