Just like last season, Michigan is once again heading to the Frozen Four. Perhaps in this case it will be the Fervent Four as temperatures are supposed to be SLIGHTLY WARMER than the last few endings to the college hockey season. Should I even bring a coat? Regardless, the Wolverines have achieved back to back appearances -their record maintaining 27th overall- for the first time since the days of Jed Ortmeyer, Eric Nystrom, David Moss, and Milan Gajic. Those were the days when making the Frozen Four was BOR-ING. Between the springs of 1992 and 2003, the Maize and Blue made the national semifinals NINE times in twelve tournaments. That's absurd...or maybe it wasn't. Maybe that's just what elite programs did. Only twice, though, in those couple of handfuls of Final Weekends did Michigan hang the banner. In fact, the only times they won a single game were the times they won two: '96 and '98, obviously. (That actually rings true to this day, sans 2011). Once again, however, Michigan is starting to make going to the Frozen Four a consistent thing. In three of the last five tournaments, Michigan has won a Regional and progressed to the final stage. Not too bad. The thing is...was it even expected? Not really. I mean...sure, okay, with Fantilli and Luke Hughes on the team, they could carry the team there theoretically. That's not overly crazy. But how many stars did Michigan lose after that crushing night in the Boston mist? I count five. Plus, their senior Mighty Mite captain. And two other really good players. AND several more Blue Collar Glue Dudes (who all seemed to score in the Tournament)! It's not like Michigan went portal shopping and snagged a ton of Want-To guys who were looking to Level Up. They brought in eleven freshmen. And all but two of the ones who consistently played were in their drafted year...or younger! Now, a handful of those guys are definite future NHL Dudes, but still! This team is different. [David Wilcomes] Some Background Heading into the 07-08 season, no one knew what to expect. Gone were Hero TJ Hensick, Superman Jack Johnson, and the underrated Andrew Cogliano. Sure, Porter and Kolarik were back (and 1st rounders Mark Mitera and Chris Summers), but was that enough? How good were the drafted freshmen? Would Billy Sauer be able to finally put it together? Turns out all of the answers to those questions were YES (well, except the last one in Denver). That team did have front-liners that allowed the soon-to-be-awesome freshmen time and space to explode. Max Patch was a sight to behold. Aaron Palushaj, Carl Hagelin, Matt Rust, and Louie Caporusso all had moments and found roles endearing themselves to the Yost faithful. Only one frustrating first period forced that crew to use up everything just to get back on even footing...before the inevitable overtime doom. That was still the most fun team I watched in my 20 seasons watching the program. In 10-11, just making the NCAA tournament was a goal as late as the beginning of February. That was not how it was supposed to go, though. This was the culmination year of that wonder-class of the the previous Frozen Four season of 2008. Hagelin (Bjork!), Rust, Caporusso, Langlais, Winnett, SCOOTER, and Bryan Hogan were all in their final season and hoped to return to where they started. This team had leaders, depth, defense, and experienced netminding in both Hogan and Shawn Hunwick. Still, it took a great 9-1 run down the stretch just to get to a somewhat underwhelming #2 seed. After an emotional-cleansing OT win against then conference opponent (haha oh man!) Nebraska-Omaha and a Hold-On-To-Your-Butts down the stretch win over double upset-minded Colorado College, the seniors did get to add a year to the Frozen Four banner. Unfortunately again, giving every last ounce of energy and determination to gain a monumental upset win over juggernaut North Dakota cost them dearly on Saturday night in St. Paul. [Patrick Barron] Even in 17-18, while the Wolverines had to rescue a first half of a season to be forgotten, that team had a perfect combination of experience leader/scorers to head their top line in Dancs, Marody, and Calderone with Sam Piazza, Joe Cecconi, and Nick Boka on the backend. First round picks Quinn Hughes and Josh Norris grew up throughout that season to show what they would eventually become in the NHL. That wasn't a great team, but they gelled at the right time and got a nice couple months of desirable goaltending (again, until the end) from Hayden Lavigne. Once again, it was Notre Dame that came calling and added to the Haunts of St Paul. My point? Since the boring Frozen Four days, Michigan's return trips have all been on the backs of experienced, older players. Yes there were young bucks ready to take over the scene, but there were plenty of grizzled dudes who carried the water for stretches of time. Not this year, though. Not on this team. I'm certainly not taking anything away from the returning seniors -Nolan Moyle, Jay Keranen, Keaton Pehrson, Nick Granowicz, and Eric Ciccolini, but if you add all of their points together (44), you get fewer than both Luke Hughes (47) and Adam Fantilli (64). Sophomore Mackie Samoskevich has 43. Even 86 game veteran Erik Portillo arguably had his wobbliest season in net (although his last 4-8 games were some of his best). I won't even go into last summer's program/coaching debacle. They also had most of a coaching and support staff that was either learning on the job or learning each other's names. This was a super young team that was expected to be good, but probably a year away from being dominant. While they did slog through the first half of the season or so, it was clear by the end of January, kids were growing up. Coaches and players both were figuring it all out. They finally got healthy, built a little chemistry, and started owning folks. Now, this team that was supposed to be a year away...just might be three days and nights away. [AFTER THE JUMP: Game breakdowns]
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