On Michigan hockey coach Brandon Naurato’s future, recruiting prowess
Michigan hockey is off to a great start, 8-2 and No. 3 in the country under interim coach Brandon Naurato. The young Wolverines have already been ranked No. 1 nationally for a bit after sweeping Western Michigan, have a high-powered offense and great goaltending, and seem primed for another deep playoff run.
Naurato, a former Michigan player and assistant coach under Mel Pearson (who wasn’t renewed this year), is off to a great start, both on the ice and off. Last week, he picked up a pair of pledges in highly ranked Nick Moldenhauer and Tanner Row.
From our Bob Miller, Moldenhauer, a third-round NHL Draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is a right shooting center 5-10 170. He’s notched 10 goals and 7 assists in only 11 games for Chicago in the USHL.
Rowe, a forward with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, switched his commitment from UMass to Michigan. The Calumet, Mich. native was the 176th pick in the 12th round of the 2021 Phase II USHL Draft after spending a season with the Maryland Black Bears of the North American Hockey League (NAHL).
In Maryland, Rowe played in 38 games during the 2020-21 season, picking up six goals and three assists in helping the Black Bears break into the Robertson Cup Playoffs. In postseason play, Rowe averaged a point every other game with four assists in eight playoff game appearances as Maryland made it to the 2021 Eastern Division Final.
After landing these two, Naurato told the Michigan Daily it was still tough to recruit with the interim tag.
“For sure it’s harder, 100 percent,” Naurato said. “I feel like we might not have gotten certain players … like every single family brings it up. … It is what it is, but it’s definitely more difficult.”
But a bit easier when you’re winning and in the top 5. He picked up another one recently in Aidan Park. From Miller:
“A 6-0, 185 pound, ‘06 birth-year Hermosa Beach, California native, Park has played the past three seasons, including this year, for Shattuck St. Mar, a power house development program.”
Park has scored 50-plus goals for Shattuck each of the past two seasons in approximately 50 games each season. He is a first round pick by the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL Futures draft and will likely play there next season.
“If I was talking to a recruit right now — and I know this sounds bad — but I’d look at him and say, ‘Do you think our staff’s going to be around?’ We’re No. 1 in the country and 7-1.”
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He admitted he didn’t think about the interim tag much, but he did often think about proving himself. Recruiting is one day of doing that.
“We want to keep getting guys like [our players]. It’s been awesome,” he told MgoBlue.com before the season. “You’d have to ask them how they feel, but I think it’s been super positive from what they’ve said to me.
“I’m excited about this group. We have 12 freshmen but a lot of leaders coming in from the freshmen class, and a lot of leaders coming back. It’s kind of cliché, but our line this year is, ‘Good dudes only.’ What that means is you treat people the way you want to be treated.”
But they have to be good players, too, and well coached. So far, Naurato is proving himself on both fronts.
The fact that he got his opportunity at his dream school without head coaching experience isn’t lost on him.
“It means a lot. You take the time to talk to Warde [Manuel] and you get the job and you’re excited for a split second,” he said. “Especially the family — seeing how excited my family was, was really cool. I’ve got a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old and they’re pretty pumped up. Met my wife at Michigan. A lot of roots here.”
Sounds like just the kind of guy the Wolverines were looking for. Manuel could — and should — remove the interim tag ASAP to give him a better opportunity to keep it rolling.
