When it comes to scheduling in collegiate hockey, the coaches have a big say in the nonconference teams they face. For Big Ten coaches, 14 weekends are devoted to in-conference play, with four games against each team. But the rest of the games are up to the staff.
They can choose to have a mix of perceived “easy” and “difficult” matchups, giving their players weekends of rest in preparation for the more challenging games. Or, they can make each weekend just as hard as the last, allowing no time to breathe between difficult opponents.
This season, Michigan coach Brandon Naurato chose the latter.
Prior to the first game of the season, Naurato made it clear that he curated the No. 10 Wolverines hockey team’s schedule to pose a challenge every single weekend. Instead of warming up to the high-ranked opponents, Naurato threw Michigan into the belly of the beast against Minnesota State in week one.
The Wolverines have just 10 games left before it heads into postseason play. Michigan’s record may not be thankful for the constant challenge, but the players are, as it’s preparing them for what may lie ahead in the post-season.
“We want to play teams that are going to be in the tournament,” Naurato said Sept. 24. “That’s what helps you navigate who you are and where you are in the pecking order. When you win those tough games, it means something, and you find out something about yourself. And when you come up short, it means something and you find out something about yourself.”
While Naurato said this days before the season even started, his sentiment about playing teams that will be in the NCAA Tournament is currently hitting harder than ever. The Wolverines faced five nonconference teams this season, and although some of them were not ranked at the time they played Michigan, they’re all ranked now.
As it currently stands, Minnesota State is No. 14, Arizona State is No. 11, St. Cloud State is No. 17, Boston University is No. 8 and Western Michigan is No. 3. Not only was the nonconference schedule difficult, but in-conference games are always intense, especially when Michigan State and Minnesota are ranked in the top five. The rankings may be ever-changing, and teams can find themselves in and out of them, but the evidence speaks for itself — the Wolverines haven’t taken their paws off the gas.
“They’ve had a really tough schedule,” Naurato said Tuesday. “ … You hope that you’re battle-tested at the end of the year, but to play hard games every weekend and not take your foot off the gas, there’s pros and cons to that.”
There are definitely pros to having a tough schedule, as playing highly-ranked teams gives Michigan an opportunity to face top opponents and learn its systems before seeing them in the tournament. Also, it brings up the Wolverines’ “Quality Win Bonus” if they beat the top teams, as they have many times at this point. Right now, Michigan’s QWB is third in the country.
However, while the QWB is high, the Wolverines’ pairwise win percentage, a major factor in determining the NCAA tournament standings, is low. This is mainly due to the sheer amount of overtime wins Michigan has this season, which aren’t counted as full wins by pairwise. With six of 14 wins being in overtime, many of the Wolverines’ wins aren’t true wins for the NCAA.
Michigan has split and swept series against higher-ranked opponents, from Michigan State to Boston. The Wolverines have also only been swept once all season. That being said, splitting series week after week and sitting near a .500 record won’t grant Michigan a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve been splitting a lot of weekends, but we know we can compete with these teams as long as we play our game for a full 60,” sophomore forward Evan Werner said Tuesday. “Looking forward, we have a great opportunity to play some really good teams down the stretch and hopefully string some wins together and then take that into the playoffs.”
Werner is right — the Wolverines have a great opportunity to string wins together down the stretch. So as difficult as Naurato makes the schedule, the wins are still the determinant factor for whether a tournament run is a reality or a pipe dream.
The post Michigan’s tough schedule holds benefits and drawbacks as postseason approaches appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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