SPOTLIGHT ON GOALTENDERS
By Joe Gladziszewski

Michigan goalie Shawn Hunwick has taken the right mental approach.

You’ll always remember the winning quarterback or the kicker that made the field goal at the buzzer to give your team a championship, but you won’t remember the left tackle that made a key block or the holder that got the ball down prior the kick.

The point is that it takes more than one guy to make things happen, and that’s the dilemma that goalies face at all levels of hockey. When championships are won, you’ll always remember the guys that backstopped the team. More significantly, you’ll always remember when the goalie didn’t do his job.

That comes with the territory and it takes a special composition to deal with those things. Michigan goalie coach Josh Blackburn was in that position as a player who competed in two Frozen Fours and now helps guide the Wolverine goaltenders – including Thursday night’s star Shawn Hunwick.

“That’s what makes a good goalie or a great goalie,” Blackburn said. “When it’s on the line and (in cases where) you have a huge breakdown, that’s the role of a goalie always, especially here. You can’t win any championship if you don’t have great goaltending.

While a goalie’s error will long be remembered, they also have the opportunity to help out teammates following a turnover or blown coverage. Being the last line of defense makes a difference.

“I know that’s something you’ve got to deal with, but it’s never really been in my head,” Minnesota Duluth goalie Kenny Reiter said. “When you start to think about stuff like that, I think it happens more often, so you try not to dwell on stuff like that.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of goaltending isn’t a quick glove hand or butterfly reflexes, but the ability to manage the mental part of the game. Staying calm and consistent is the key, especially at a setting such as the Frozen Four.

“Even if you’re not a very nervous kid, you’re nervous here because of what’s at stake,” Blackburn said, and complimented Hunwick’s approach to this weekend. “Mentally, he was nice and even and that’s what you want to be. In the game emotions go up and down and the key is to keep it level throughout the whole game and I think he did that very well.”

On the other side, the Bulldogs don’t have a full-time goaltending coach right now, but Reiter has plenty of good options for seeking advice. His older brother, Kevin, played at Alaska Anchorage at the beginning of the decade, and he also works with goaltending consultant Shane Clifford in his hometown of Pittsburgh. With that advice, the right approach and the right confidence has him in

“I think it was just settling in. The moment kind of gets to you and there are a little bit of jitters here and there. I think that’s natural, anyone that’s not nervous doesn’t have a pulse,” Reiter said. “I’m just trying to approach it like any other game, stay calm, stay confident and we’ll see what happens.”

STYLE DIFFERENCES; NEW ROLES SUIT MICHIGAN
By James V. Dowd

When Michigan reached the Frozen Four in Denver in 2008, the Wolverines were one of the tournament’s favorites, riding the backs of senior forwards Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik, both of whom were among the nation’s top goal scorers with more than 30 a piece.

The play of that top line is what many remember about that year’s Wolverines, and those memories represent a stark contrast with the current Michigan squad. This season’s leading scorer Carl Hagelin has just 18 goals, and the team has scored 26 fewer total goals than the Porter-led squad, forcing them to play a more conservative and defensive style that a Wolverines team has in the past.

Despite the stylistic differences between the 2008 team and the current squad, this year’s seniors learned a thing or two from Porter and Kolarik about accepting roles no matter the significance.

“With (the 2008 team), we did have two 30-plus goal scorers, but we all accepted our roles,” Michigan forward Scooter Vaughn said. “The leading guy in blocked shots that year was Chad Kolarik and he also scored 30 goals, so that year really kind of set the mark for our class. Unfortunately we lost to Notre Dame that year, but as team we were a team, and this year we wanted to get that feeling back.”

Vaughn, a freshman defenseman in 2008, has seen his role change drastically during his four years at Michigan. The senior was moved up to a forward spot by coach Red Berenson and has thrived in his current role as a secondary scorer and a physical, defensive forward with 15 goals on the year.

“Every role that I’ve had I haven’t had a problem with,” Vaughn said. “I really wanted to go out with a bang and I really thought I could help this team. Whether it was on the scoresheet or not, I feel like I’ve been an influence on this team.”

With Vaughn taking a more offensive role, fellow forward Matt Rust settling into a more defensive role than he has in the past and other stories ranging from Shawn Hunwick’s journey from walk-on to starter or Kevin Clare’s minutes in Brandon Burlon’s absence, there has been no shortage of adjustments for the Wolverines.

Vaughn credits Berenson for finding the right roles for the right players, and for getting the most of the team by challenging players to fit in the role that best helps the team win.

“Coach always talks about getting out of your comfort zone,” Vaughn said. “You don’t know how great you can be, you don’t know what you can do until you push yourself past the limits you can do. This year as a senior, I wanted to push myself out of those comfort zones and see what I could do as a player on and off the ice.”

LIGHTER APPROACH HELPS BULLDOGS
By Mike Eidelbes

A racquetball-sized ball of athletic tape rolled into one corner of the Minnesota Duluth locker room.

“FUMBLE!!!” shouted one Bulldog. In an instant, a half-dozen players piled up on the floor in a mad scramble for the coveted adhesive orb.

On the other side of the room shortly thereafter, a group standing two deep encircled the stalls of defensemen Scott Kishel and Drew Olson as they took part in a video interview. The peanut gallery was silent and attentive, brewing barbs in their heads for the moment the camera turned off.

Though they’re comprised of a variety of individuals, teams have a collective personality. North Dakota referred to each step it took toward this year’s Frozen Four as a business trip and treated the journey with a similar gravitas. Miami’s teams have been similarly subdued, as were those from Boston College. The Denver group that won the 2004 national title, on the other hand, was a fun-loving group, one more interested in talking about police escorts and fantasy hockey pools than power plays and penalty killing.

Minnesota Duluth, while not as goofy as the ’04 Pioneers, certainly trends toward that end of the spectrum.

“We love the sport and we love where we’re at right now, so why not take it in?” Olson said. “It’s a business trip, and you’re coming down here for one thing, but why not make it fun while you’re here? Not many teams have the opportunity to do this.”

That sort of carpe diem philosophy has served the Bulldogs well. They’re a tight-knit bunch—“Everybody talks to everybody,” Minnesota Duluth sports information director Bob Nygaard said following the team’s Friday skate at Xcel Energy Center—which has been important for club that has experienced its share of ups and downs this season.

“The last thing you want to do is grip the stick too tight and worry about what could go wrong,” said Olson, a sophomore from Brainerd, Minn. “We’re always finding ways to amuse ourselves when times aren’t going right. When things aren’t going well, someone might jump up and tell a joke and lighten the mood a little bit.”

It’s a lot of fun to be a Bulldog right now but, make no mistake, they’re not all about battling for tape balls and trying to crack teammates up during interviews.

“We love what we do,” said Olson, “but when it comes down to game time, it’s like we flip a switch.”