The halls of Yost Ice Arena should be bustling right now, with the Michigan Wolverines' pep band blaring "The Victors" and the Children of Yost -- the boisterous student section -- heckling an opposing goaltender. But with no fans allowed in the building, one of college hockey's most sacred cathedrals is empty. And yet, it certainly isn't quiet.
Outscoring opponents 21-9 through six games, the No. 7 Michigan hockey team is making plenty of noise on the ice. Starting the season 4-2, the Wolverines' offensive attack is spearheaded by a group of freshmen that has come in with an incredible amount of hype, attention and expectations, shining a bright spotlight on the program.
Head coach Mel Pearson brought in 10 first-year players, four of whom were already drafted into the NHL and three of whom could each go in the top 10 of the 2021 draft. Among them is 6-foot-5 two-way defenseman Owen Power, who was ranked as ESPN's preseason No. 1 prospect for the next year's draft and is poised to be the highest-drafted collegiate player since Jack Eichel (No. 2) in 2015.
If they could, scouts would be taking up a rather large section of seats in Yost. Due to local regulations to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19, however, the school has not allowed spectators into the building, including scouts who now have to catch the team on video like everyone else. (The Wolverines travel to Penn State for a Big Ten matchup on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU and the ESPN app.)
Michigan has been known as a perennial power and owns one of college hockey's proudest traditions. No team has more than their nine national titles, though the last came in 1998. The program has been in a state of rebuilding these last few years, and after their 22-year streak of reaching the NCAA tournament ended in 2012, the Wolverines have been back twice.
It's not for lack of talent. Michigan has graduated dozens of players to the NHL, with 31 making their NHL debuts since 2007-08. It is one of the most robust NCAA alumni groups in the league. Nineteen former players suited up in NHL games last season, with another 10 alumni on NHL benches or in front offices. Yost has doubled as an NHL factory for about as long as it has had ice.
Despite all of that success in the past, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more robust and decorated recruiting class in the school's storied history than the group Pearson and assistants Kris Mayotte and Bill Muckalt have built here (with an additional nod to former assistant Brian Wiseman, who was in on recruiting this class before becoming an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers). Having spent more than 20 years as an assistant or associate coach at Michigan before getting the top job, Pearson was around for the peak years of the program in the late 1990s when the Wolverines won their last two national championships. He's seen the best of the best roll through campus, but the specialness of this class is not lost on the head coach, even though he knows as well as anyone that success isn't guaranteed.
"You've got some very special individuals, you can go down the list," he says. "They're a fun group, they're enjoyable, they bring a lot of energy. Everybody worries about, 'Oh you've got all these freshmen.' But you know what? They don't know any different. They just play. They've got so much energy that they get you excited because they just bring it every day, and it rubs off on our team."
When asked by local media during a recent Zoom press conference how he would describe the freshman class, first-year forward Brendan Brisson kept his answer pretty simple.
"I'd say elite," Brisson said with a chuckle, amused by the ease with which he came to the word.
With the credentials this group possesses, it's hard to disagree with the confident 19-year-old. Let's take a look at this cast of characters:
Owen Power, D: ESPN's preseason No. 1 for the 2021 NHL draft, Power is big, rangey, mobile and sound at both ends of the ice. The 6-foot-5, 214-pound Mississauga, Ontario native was the USHL's Defenseman of the Year in 2019-20 after posting 40 points in 45 games for the Chicago Steel. His 0.89 points per game was the fourth-highest by a under-18 defenseman in USHL history, and he already has four points through six games with Michigan.
Kent Johnson, C/W: Voted the most valuable player in Canadian Junior A hockey last season following a 101-point performance in 52 games for the BCHL's Trail Smoke Eaters, Johnson checked in at No. 3 on ESPN's preseason draft rankings. He is a magician with the puck on his stick and an elite passer. He is tied for second in the nation in scoring with eight points, including an NCAA-best seven assists.
Matt Beniers, C: Originally committed to Harvard, Beniers flipped to Michigan not long after Ivy League schools announced they were pausing all athletics
Assuming Power, Beniers and Johnson all get picked in the first round of this year's draft, it would give this recruiting class four total first-round picks (Brisson). That would tie the record high for a single recruiting class with Boston University in 2016 (Clayton Keller, Kieffer Bellows, Dante Fabbro and Jake Oettinger), Minnesota in 2006 (Erik Johnson, Jimmy O'Brien, David Fischer and Kyle Okposo) and North Dakota in 2005 (Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie, Brian Lee and Joe Finley).
"Right away, you could see their skill," said Strauss Mann, the reigning Big Ten Goaltender of the Year and junior co-captain, of the first-years. "I'm pretty fortunate to go against them in practice and get better myself. When a guy like Kent Johnson is coming down on a 2-on-1, he's got like five things he can do where another player probably only has two. Having to face those kinds of players that are going to be in the NHL in a couple of years, if I want to get to the next level, I need to be able to stop them every day. We're all just trying to make each other better."
Pearson says the toughest thing he's had to do so far this season is set the lineup because he knows he has no choice but to leave some talented players in the stands. This freshman class adds to an already strong veteran roster than includes first-round NHL draft picks Cam York (Philadelphia Flyers) and John Beecher (Boston Bruins). Only one other team in the history of college hockey has had six first-round picks on the same roster: North Dakota in 2005-06. And though it's down the road, next season won't bring easier lineup choices; the Wolverines are expected to bring in potential 2021 first-round picks Mackie Samoskevich of the Chicago Steel and NTDP defenseman Luke Hughes, who is following in older brother Quinn's footsteps and joining Michigan as part of the 2021 recruiting class.
The team held a lot of Zoom meetings over the summer to get everyone on the same page. Expectations were laid out, but more importantly, relationships were being built between the team's veteran players and this important group of first-years. Brisson said those Zoom meetings helped the team feel like "a group of brothers" immediately upon arriving on campus.
Mann and fellow co-captain Jack Becker did a lot of the heavy lifting. The junior goaltender went so far as starting a small book club with some of the new charges. He recommended the Joshua Medcalf book Chop Wood, Carry Water: Fall in love with the process of becoming great for some of the first-year players, including Power and Johnson, to help with their mindset for the season.
"Getting them to buy in has been a huge emphasis this offseason, knowing we were going to have so many new freshmen who were going to play huge roles and take over a lot of the scoring," said Mann, who has started the season with a .939 save percentage through six starts. "We just knew we were going to have to get them into the culture fast and speed up the learning curve a bit."
The team had four weeks of practice before playing a game. They started in small groups and eventually were able to move to full-team practices.
"We didn't know when the games would start, so we just kept getting ready," said Bordeleau. "The team chemistry was getting built. It was really helpful. I think the strength of our team is everyone knows their role, and I think we're all bought into our team identity."
Even beyond uncertainty around the season, the freshman class is navigating a first year of college unlike any experienced before. With so many classes done virtually, Pearson has also had to help manage the academic side of things to make sure the players get what they need in less than ideal circumstances. Since they've been able to have their facilities open, Yost has sometimes doubled as a study hall. Pearson credited academic counselor Ashley Korn for the work she's done with the team in keeping them on task.
On top of the academics, there's the added attentiveness required to keep the players safe and healthy. Postponements and cancellations have become the norm in any of the college sports that are active. The Wolverines hockey team so far has been unscathed, though, with the players doing everything they can to hold each other accountable.
"Since we've been on campus all together, not one of us has tested positive for COVID-19," said Brisson. "I feel like that just kind of shows how dialed in we are with our season. We have a bunch of team rules and we're holding everyone on the team accountable. We all want to play, we want to win."
For Power, Johnson and Beniers, there's also the looming draft, which they've all been working towards their whole lives. But Power says the trio never talks about it.
"We all know that the draft is out of our control, so we just focus every day in trying to get better."
Michigan has done a lot of winning to start the season, opening up with a 4-0 record with back-to-back sweeps of Arizona State and Wisconsin. The young Wolverines then got a dose of humble pie at the hands of a Notre Dame team that was effective in shutting down their skilled players with a very defensive style.
It was a reminder that the road ahead is going to be tough, with all of the obstacles college athletes are facing from virtual learning, regular COVID-19 testing and the rigors of a compressed schedule that may be dotted with postponements over the course of the year.
While the young Wolverines may hit some roadblocks along the way, and the future is anything but certain, there's no denying how special it is to have this collection of talent at a single school at one time.
"You don't want to be too premature on anointing these guys as the best class ever, covering not only Michigan but college hockey," says Pearson. "There's a lot of talent there and high expectations, but you know you've got to get the job done, and I really have the faith and confidence that they will."