Michigan hockey arrives in Minneapolis on a mission 

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Michigan will face No. 1 Boston College Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center as a significant underdog, and the Wolverines are loving every minute of it. Head coach Brandon Naurato has expressed nothing but confidence in his team since the Wolverines earned their way to a third straight Frozen Four with a 5-2 win over Michigan State. 

To be sure, the Wolverines are playing some of their best hockey of the year at the right time. They rallied just to make the NCAA Tournament, are getting great goaltending from Jake Barczewski, and the big guns are stepping up when needed most. 

This year feels different, Naurato said, after losses in the semifinals the last two years.

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest things we’ve talked about that we learned from — not that it was a negative in the past, but just that it’s easy to get distracted,” he said at a press conference Wednesday to talk about the meeting with the Eagles. “I don’t think, if you ask the guys, that we’re just excited to be here … I think they’re ready to go.

“But this year … we may look back on it in 5, 10, 15 years and be happy that we went to three Frozen Fours in a row, but we’re here to win, and we’ve got to earn that. We have a lot of work to do, and it starts on Thursday.”

It won’t be easy. B.C. (33-5-1) has won 14 games in a row and boast an offensive juggernaut. 

“There can be nothing going on, and they have ultra-talented players that can make something happen out of nothing,” Naurato praised. “I think that’s the biggest thing with the momentum shift. Youu feel like, oh, this team is outshooting the other time 9-to-1 in this segmen … they deserve to score. That’s the difference when you have game breakers. You can be getting out-shot or out-played, and they put one in the back of the net and it changes all the momentum.”

Michigan ready to prove something

But Michigan has scorers of its own, and they understand they have an opportunity to do something special — a feat not accomplished since 1998 when Marty Turco was in net and the Wolverines won their second national title in three years under Red Berenson. 

They’ve been back several times since, but they haven’t been able to finish. They’ve only been to the national title game once, in fact, proving how hard it is to win a title. But the last time was a special year — it was the same season the Michigan football team won the national title. 

“I think we have a lot to prove,” grad student defenseman Marshall Warren said. “Michigan hasn’t won a national title since 1998. That’s what we want to do for the alumni. That’s what we want to do for the Block ‘M,’ and it starts tomorrow.

“As a team, we were .500 during the break. We went on a little run there, but we’re not satisfied yet. It starts tomorrow, and we’re ready to go. B.C. is in our way, so we’re going to do everything in our power to get the win.”

“Obviously, it’s cool to see the stats with the ’98 team and how it’s all aligning, but at the end of the day, it’s up to us to repeat history, something that hasn’t happened since ’98 where football and hockey won in the same year,” captain Jacob Truscott added. “It’s definitely cool to see those stats, but it comes down to us to make it come to fruition.”

Not many expect it to happen. The Wolverines are the only team in the Frozen Four not a No. 1 seed — Denver and Boston U. are the other two — so if they get by B.C., they’ll face yet another huge challenge. 

Bring it on, Warren said.

“I think it’s kind of cool when people doubt you in a little bit of a way, because adversity breeds champions,” he said. “We’ve been through a little adversity all year. It’s cool just proving people wrong, and I think we’re going to keep doing that.

“We’ve got a special group here, and we have the 1998 trophy sitting in our locker room. It’s kind of cool to look at it every day and see that. You strive for that every day; you want that. So, how far are you willing to go for that trophy? That’s kind of been our mantra, our attitude going into this week.”

Tomorrow night is the first step to making it a reality.