Photo by Michael Caples
There’s a certain time of summer where you can start to feel it in the air. It’s subtle. Once the warm summer day fades, a faint chill increasingly develops in the evening air. Maybe a few leaves start to change on the trees in the front yard, and the days are getting shorter.
Your daily routine starts to shift, too. Kids start another year in school. Weekends spent on the lake or at the community pool now center on a parking lot around a stadium, firing up the grill and spending a few hours with family and friends. Once you make your way inside, you’re treated to all the pageantry and tradition you’ve always enjoyed. The band playing loudly. Fans, in unison, knowing which chants to break out at which moments.
It can only mean one thing: college hockey season is here.
Alright, well, there might be another sport that comes to mind first. College football reigns supreme in the United States, and there’s nothing wrong with spending your fall Saturdays that way, either. But that’s merely the start of the clock – we’re only one month left until the puck drops on another season of college hockey.
Hockey fans around Michigan likely don’t need a reminder, though. If you follow the Michigan Wolverines or Michigan State Spartans or any/all of our seven Division 1 programs, you’ve been counting down the days for almost six months. Expectations are high for many teams in the state, and it’s easy to see why.
No Hobey, No problem for the Wolverines
You’d excuse a team for expecting to spend a year retooling after losing their highest-scoring forward, top defenseman and starting goalie.
Looking at the statistics and accolades can make it sting even more: Adam Fantilli signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets after being drafted third overall, following a Hobey Baker-winning season where he led the nation with 65 points in 36 games; Luke Hughes immediately debuted and saw playoff action with the New Jersey Devils after racking up 48 points in 39 games as a sophomore at Michigan; and Erik Portillo signed with the Los Angeles Kings after playing almost every minute in net for Michigan over the last two seasons, reaching the Frozen Four both times.
But that’s the nature of recruiting high-end talent in college hockey – they typically only stay for one or two years. The Wolverines and second-year head coach Brandon Naurato return a talented group, and preseason prognosticators still list them among the favorites heading into this season.
It doesn’t hurt to return a roster which features seven NHL draft picks up front, including a potential top line of Rutger McGroarty (14th overall/Winnipeg/2022), Frank Nazar (13th overall/Chicago/2022) and Gavin Brindley (34th overall/Columbus/2023). McGroarty and Brindley saw their roles expand and point totals improve as their freshman seasons progressed and will be looked to to lead the offense in 2023-24. Nazar was limited to just 13 games as a freshman due to injury, but that should be enough of a college hockey taste to hit the ground running this season. Early returns were promising, as he registered a four-goal game at the World Junior Summer Showcase, an evaluation camp for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship that took place at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth in August.
Michigan lost each of its top-three scorers (Fantilli, Hughes and Mackie Samoskevich) but returns all of its next nine, a group which includes three NHL-drafted defensemen: Seamus Casey, Ethan Edwards and Fort Gratiot native and newly-named UM captain Jacob Truscott. That trio could each benefit from expanded roles after the departure of Hughes. Casey, in particular, will be a sophomore who showed increased confidence with the puck as the season progressed and should see an influx of powerplay minutes. A pair of transfers could solidify the defensive group, as Tyler Duke comes over from Ohio State to join brother and junior forward Dylan Duke, and Marshall Warren joins the team from Boston College, where he served as captain last season. Neither will be intimidating presences size-wise, but they will enhance the 200-foot attack Naurato pushes for from his Wolverines’ squad, as both NTDP products are talented with the puck.
Green and White and trending up
College hockey is just better when the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry is alive, and while emotions always run high regardless of each team’s position in the standings, games that might determine Big Ten Tournament seeding or NCAA Tournament bids will always have that extra layer of motivation.
The Spartans are looking to qualify for their first NCAA tournament since 2011-12 and made major strides in ending the drought last season, winning nearly as many games (18) and the previous two seasons combined (19) in Adam Nightingale’s first season as head coach of his alma mater. That step forward, paired with some impact transfers and an impressive freshman recruiting class, has expectations around East Lansing trending back to the direction that they should be.
We’ll start with the transfers, led by a pair of NHL draftees in Isaac Howard (31st overall/Tampa Bay/2022) and Red Savage (114th overall/Detroit/2021). Howard was a prolific scorer with the U.S. National Team Development Program in his draft season, finishing with 33 goals and 82 points with the Under-18 Team. He reunites with his head coach from that season in Nightingale after an up-and-down freshman season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Similarly, Savage, a Red Wings prospect, spent two seasons at Miami University (Ohio), which has struggled in the stacked NCHC. His performances at the last two World Junior Championships have displayed that there may be more offense to his game, as he combined for nine points in 12 games over those two tournaments.
Also highlighting the incoming class: former Hartland High School star and Mr. Hockey winner Joey Larson moves closer to home after notching 27 points in 36 games at Northern Michigan as a freshman; Slovakian defenseman Maxim Strbak was selected 45th overall by the Buffalo Sabres after a season split between the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and the Slovakian under-18 and under-20 teams; and Belarussian blueliner Artyom Levshunov is a preseason candidate to go top-10 in the 2024 NHL Draft, staying in North America after racking up 42 points in 62 games with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. A huge summer addition to the Spartans’ class, Elite Prospects has Levshunov listed at No. 3 in the world on their consolidated draft rankings.
But the newcomers don’t tell the full story here: the Spartans were a noticeably improved team last year and return all but one of their top-seven scorers last season, including all of the leading three: fifth-year Nicolas Muller, sophomore Daniel Russell and sophomore Karsen Dowart. Four of the top five-scoring defenseman will also be back: Nash Nienhuis, Matt Basgall, David Gucciardi (a Capitals prospect) and Viktor Hurtig (a Devils prospect). The incoming class, coupled with a young roster overall, should open a window for Michigan State to climb back into NCAA Tournament contention.
Goaltending will be of great interest, too. Red Wings fans will be especially focused on the Spartans this year as incoming freshman Trey Augustine makes two Detroit draftees in East Lansing, committing to the Spartans after an incredible 2022-23 with the U.S. National Team Development Program in which he logged a 29-1-2 record en route to being taken 41st overall by Detroit at the draft. The South Lyon native will battle for starts with senior Jon Mor and fellow freshman Luca Di Pasquo, a Livonia native who went 36-3-1 with a 1.70 goals-against average with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees.
But wait, there’s more
College hockey fans in west Michigan and northern Michigan are probably rolling their eyes at more Michigan and Michigan State talk. The Wolverines and Spartans get more TV time through the Big Ten Network, but are but a slice of the college hockey landscape in the state, which boasts seven D-1 teams, including Western Michigan, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Ferris State and Lake Superior State.
The Skate will be following all seven programs all season long and bringing you stories from these schools, too, two of which also qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.
Broncos reloading
Western Michigan finished second in the NCHC last season and has started a trend of landing a few players near the top of the nation’s scoring leaderboard, including three players who earned NHL contracts this summer after finishing top-15 in points: Ryan McAllister (Florida), Jason Polin (Colorado) and Max Sasson (Vancouver). The Broncos under head coach Pat Ferschweiler are having no trouble reloading, however, and that’s always necessary to keep up with the other powers-at-be in the NCHC.
The four transfers on the Broncos’ official incoming class list are all juniors or older, as WMU adds talent, depth and experience at forward with Joe Cassetti (Miami), Sam Colangelo (Northeastern), Matteo Costantini (North Dakota) and Ethan Phillips (Boston University).
Detroit natives Garrett Szydlowski and Owen Michaels are a part of the incoming freshman class, and the Broncos also got a major late add in Alex Bump, a Philadelphia Flyers draftee, committing after originally being a pledge to Vermont.
Tech returns a lot and a lot of Pietilas
Kicking off our quick looks through the CCHA teams, we start with the Huskies, a team looking to maintain or move up from its No. 2 finish (15-7-4-0-0–1) in the conference last season. Michigan Tech boasts an experienced squad whose returnees include goaltender Blake Pietila, who has won 58 of his his 98 college appearances, including 10 shutout wins in 2022-23 to help the Huskies into the NCAA Tournament.
Up front, the Huskies welcome back their top four scorers from last season in Rylan Mosley, reigning CCHA rookie of the year Kyle Kukkonen, Howell native Logan Pietila (twin brother of the aforementioned Blake) and Parker Saretsky.
Incoming rookies are highlighted by Howell native Chase Pietila and two other Finns who actually grew up in Finland – Max Koskipirtti and Lauri Raiman – to join all of the Michigan natives of Finnish ancestry who make the trek to Copper Country for their college hockey experience.
NMU looks for more
After finishing fifth in the CCHA last season (14-12-0-0-3-0), Northern Michigan brings back three of its top five scorers from last season in Andre Ghantous, New Jersey Devils draftee Artem Shlaine and Kristof Papp. Beni Halasz is back for a sophomore season after being the guy between the pipes for NMU last season – the native of Hungary played in 35 games as a rookie and finished with a 2.32 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and 19-15 record.
Portal additions in Denmark native Jeppe Urup (Sacred Heart), Anaheim Ducks draftee Jack Perbix (Western Michigan/Minnesota) and Mitch Deelstra (Ferris State) will add to both the Wildcats’ international flavor and overall depth.
Ferris State aims to bounce back
After finishing five points behind NMU for sixth place in the CCHA (9-14-3-3-1-2), Ferris State is looking to climb up the standings in 2023-24. We don’t yet have the Bulldogs’ finalized roster for the upcoming campaign, but it looks like the goaltending tandem of Noah Giesbrecht and Logan Stein are both back between the pipes, looking to build on the experience had last season.
Leading scorers Jason Brancheau (a Wyandotte Roosevelt product) and Stepan Pokorny both return, but the Bulldogs will have to find a replacement to the 200-foot game played by Bradley Marek, the Big Rapids native who is now with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.
A Lake State turnaround?
Last season, Lake Superior State finished at the bottom of CCHA standings, and they start the 2023-24 campaign needing to replace their top two scorers. Louis Boudon is off to the pros, while Jacob Bengtsson will be suiting up for Boston College.
The Lakers will be hoping for big jumps from Dawson Tritt and Harrison Roy, both of whom showed some scoring touch last season.
Rookies include Michigan natives Jack Blanchett (Monroe) and Branden Piku (Harrison Township), as well as defenseman Ross Roloson, son of former NHLer Dwayne Roloson and brother of Lakers forward Brett.
