Michigan hockey keeps winning, Naurato’s value keeps rising — and it’s title or bust
Michigan is off to the Frozen Four for the second straight year under an interim coach and a young team that found a way when things seemed dire. The Wolverines needed a late goal and an overtime winner to pull out a 2-1 win over Penn State in Allentown, Pa. … and forgive U-M fans if they believed it wasn’t in the cards.
RELATED: Frozen Four bound — Michigan hockey beats PSU in OT, 2-1
To say U-M hockey is due would be an understatement. For years, the bounces, the luck, whatever you want to call it, seemed to work against the Wolverines. On Saturday, it was three goalposts, a hot goalie in Liam Souliere, and several missed opportunities.
For 52 excruciating minutes the diehards were thinking, “I’ve seen this movie before.” They desperately needed someone to step up and change the ending.
Enter Hobey Baker finalist and frosh phenom Adam Fantilli, who picked up a rebound off a Mackie Samoskevich shot and finally got the Wolverines on the board.
“We were drawing up set plays for our power play, and me going down there was something that was big for us,” Fantilli told the Michigan Daily. “… [Freshman forward Rutger McGroarty] got a whack on it, I got a whack on it, and it ended up going in.”
PSU didn’t quit, and coach Brandon Naurato (who continues to push the right buttons and had his team playing its best hockey at the end of the year) called a timeout to settle things down after the Nittany Lions carried the play for the rest of the third period. They limped a bit to overtime, but the coach knew they just needed to get there.
Samoskevich saved many fingernails in Ann Arbor when he ended the suspense with a wicked wrist shot 52 seconds into overtime.
To add to the drama, he apparently told his teammates on the bench he was about to end it before his shift.
“He looked at me and he said it, right before he went out and scored,” sophomore forward Dylan Duke said.
The next goal is to win it, and this just might be the team to do it … an interim coach with the nation’s youngest squad. And let’s be clear — Naurato’s stock has never been hotter. When he replaced Mel Pearson, many called it the perfect move given the coach’s desire to be here, ties to the program as a player and an assistant, and his recruiting ties and prowess.
Late in the season, more started to wonder how much longer athletic director Warde Manuel would wait to remove the interim tag, especially after the Wolverines captured the Big Ten Tournament title with a win at Minnesota.
With each victory, the price tag goes up and alums and others wonder what’s taking so long. Now, they’re starting to go public, like former defenseman and NHL player Aaron Ward.
Naurato has pushed all the right buttons, has the perfect demeanor behind the bench, and it’s clear his players love and respect him. He didn’t panic when Michigan carried the play but couldn’t solve Souliere, telling his guys to keep attacking.
“I just have two options,” Naurato said. “I can be negative on the bench, which will feed into the players, or we can keep it positive and stick to the plan.
“It’s an easy answer.”
It was a “relief,” Fantilli said when he finally evened the score. But there was still work to do. They came out flying in OT, and it didn’t take long.
“We said it right before our first shift [of overtime] — ‘we’re going to win this game,’” Duke said. “…We didn’t know it was going to come that shift but we knew it was going to come. We were due.”
They were, having carried the play much of the game. And the program is, too. It’s been 25 years since the last title in 1998, and so many outstanding Michigan teams have come and gone since.
But it takes a bit of luck to win a title, no matter how good you are, and Michigan’s hasn’t been good. Perhaps this is the year.
Manuel could provide a little more juice before the Frozen Four in announcing a contract for Naurato and taking the interim tag off. Lord knows the coach has earned it, and not just because of his team’s exploits. He’s recruiting well despite being interim, is clearly adept in the Xs and Os, and clearly has the respect of Red Berenson and the alums.
All that’s missing is the storybook ending. He and his team will have a shot at that in just a few weeks.
