Previously: Freshmen forwards, returning forwards, season preview HockeyCast, defense/goalies

Over the past week and a half I've been slowly rolling out my Michigan Hockey Season preview. Over the first three installments we were breaking down the roster, and today we come to the final piece of the puzzle. In this article we will instead be focusing on the rest of the conference, as well as Michigan's schedule more broadly. Then, at the end, we will make a few predictions, and wrap up the preview. Let's start by analyzing the B1G, which I have broken down into tiers: 

 

Tier I: The Contenders - Minnesota, Michigan, and Notre Dame 

Michigan 

Not going to go in depth because that's what the other preview articles were supposed to do. 

 

Minnesota

Last season: 1st in B1G, 24-11-4 (17-4-3), lost in Frozen Four 

Key Additions: Logan Cooley, Jimmy Snuggerud, Ryan Chesley, Brody Lamb, Connor Kurth, Luke Mittelstadt

Key Losses: Ben Meyers, Blake McLaughlin, Sammy Walker, Chaz Lucius, Tristan Broz, Ben Brinkman 

Minnesota was close to Michigan's equal last season, finishing ahead of the Wolverines in the standings, though Michigan did beat Minnesota for the B1G Tournament title and won the season series. Both teams met the same fate in the end, losing in the Frozen Four, the Gophers to Minnesota State and Michigan to Denver. Minnesota had a bit of an odd offseason, stomaching huge losses on offense but rolling over the entirety of a very good defense laden with NHL talent. Ryan Johnson, Jackson LaCombe, and Brock Faber all have a shot to play in the NHL and are the strength of this team. 

The college hockey blogosphere is coronating Minnesota, earning the #1 ranking in CHN's preseason power rankings. I am a bit more skeptical of the Gophers, placing them in the same tier as Notre Dame and Michigan and refusing to name them outright favorites for the conference. The reason is the sizable turnover on offense, as well as questions I still have in net. As for the offense, I'm a bit confused why Michigan's offensive losses have been emphasized by neutral observers but Minnesota's have not... Gophers lost a ton! Ben Meyers was an awesome player, the alleged best skater in college hockey, while McLaughlin and Walker were important complementary scorers. Likewise, the departure after just one season of the talented Chaz Lucius (signed in pros) and Tristan Broz (transferred to Denver) means Minnesota will have to lean on freshman more than you'd like. 

To be clear, the freshmen that they add are projected to be studs. Logan Cooley went 3rd overall in the 2022 Draft and he should be a star right away. Jimmy Snuggerud went in the first round as well, while Brody Lamb and Connor Kurth were also drafted. Minnesota's offense should be fine, but we'll see how long it takes for the forwards to gel. The return of star Matthew Knies, who scored 15 goals and 33 points in as many games, will help usher the likes of Cooley and Snuggerud into college hockey. 

Defensively, the return of such a veteran group of blueliners sets the team up for success. Adding 2nd round pick Ryan Chesley to that mix is pretty nice too. They will make life easier on goaltender Justen Close, who is my other question mark. Close was thrust into duty last season when starter Jack LaFontaine exited the program to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes. Expectations were very low for a seldom-used player without a flashy recruiting profile but Close balled out in the half-season he played, posting close to a .930 SV% and leading Minnesota to Boston. If that Close is the real deal, then Minnesota will be a great team. I just need to see him do it for a little longer for me to believe that's the real Justen Close, because he has fewer than 20 career NCAA games at that level of play. 

Overall, I will save some of my comparison between Minnesota and Michigan for the end of the article, but the Gophers should be a very good team, top ten in the country. Their raw talent and experience on defense will take them a long way. Whether they win the B1G and find themselves in contention for the #1 overall seed comes down to if Close can hold up as a star goalie and how long it takes for the offensive pieces to gel. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: An annoying foe, mediocre teams, and a rebuild]

 

[James Coller]

Notre Dame

Last season: 3rd in B1G, 22-10-8 (12-6-6), lost in NCAA regional final 

Key additions: Chayse Primeau, Jackson Pierson, Ben Brinkman, Drew Bavaro, Finlay Williams 

Key losses: Max Ellis, Spencer Stastney, Graham Slaggert, Cam Burke, Adam Karashik 

Notre Dame had a rather fascinating offseason, losing the usual number of pieces on offense and defense but choosing to build exclusively through the portal to plug those holes. Few teams in college hockey had a better offseason in the portal than the Irish, to their credit, scooping up Chayse Primeau (Omaha) and Jackson Pierson (UNH) at forward and Ben Brinkman (Minnesota) and Drew Bavaro (Bentley) on defense. Those should be plug and play options for the Irish to fill the holes vacated by scorers Ellis and Slaggert and defensemen Stastney and Karashik. 

The Irish took just four recruits in the 2022 class(!) and as a result it's mostly going to be the same team with a few new pieces plugging in. Notre Dame was an excellent defensive team last season, as they always are, though the shot suppression numbers were not as stellar as normal, leaning a bit more on goaltending. Ryan Bischel returns (.924), but the one piece they didn't replace is Matt Galajda (.933), who was the starter. The Irish added an old goalie out of the USHL with a .900 in that league, so I am left to think that Bischel is going to be the guy night-in, night-out. He's been solid in his NCAA career thus far, but has not been the go-to guy either year (behind Dylan St. Cyr in 2021 and Galajda in 2022). That may be the biggest question on the team. 

Otherwise this is a classic veteran Notre Dame team. The portal additions are ancient guys (Primeau is 17 months older than your author!) who are college hockey veterans and they roll over experienced scorers like Ryder Rolston, Landon Slaggert, Justin Janicke, and Jesse Landsdell, not to mention offensive defenseman Nick Leivermann. They don't have a go-to star offensively, but a lot of players who score 0.66 points-per-game. As long as the goaltending is good, they'll run their system, dull the game down, and grind out victories. Objectively terrible hockey to watch, but it's effective. No reason to think Notre Dame won't be in the hunt again with the level of experience on this roster. 

 

[James Coller]

Tier II: The Squishy Middle - Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State

Ohio State

Last season: 4th in B1G, 19-12-4 (12-8-4), missed NCAA Tournament 

Key additions: Tyler Duke, Stephen Halliday, John Larkin, Davis Burnside, Scooter Brickley 

Key losses: Georgii Merkulov, Grant Gabriele, Will Riedell, Quinn Preston, Ryan O'Connell

Ohio State was one of the more surprising teams last season in two different ways: first that they were a B1G contender after a disastrous COVID season and second that they collapsed as hard as they did down the stretch, finishing 1-6 in their final seven to miss the NCAA Tournament after having been a seeming lock. It felt like a team that way overperformed and then crashed hard back down to earth at the end of the season. However, it was still a productive rebuilding season in Columbus. 

The Buckeyes were a solid team boosted by getting good shooting numbers from their forwards and immaculate goaltending from an unlikely source. Jakub Dobeš seemed like a ho-hum recruit when he matriculated to Ohio State last fall, a career .900 SV% goalie in the USHL who then was stunningly one of the B1G's top goaltenders. His .934 was the main reason that a team getting outshot on average at even strength was on the verge of making the NCAA Tournament. Whether OSU can jump into the tourney picture this year hinges on whether Dobeš can repeat that brilliance because it was the primary pole propping up this tent. 

The roster outside of Dobeš was merely decent. Georgii Merkulov had one of the craziest shooting seasons I can remember at any level of hockey, scoring 20 goals on 55 shots(!!!) for an unheard of 36.4% shooting percentage. Merkulov did exactly what someone in that position should do, which is cash out and head to the pros. Outside of Merkulov, the forward position was a bunch of guys who all scored ~8 goals. They lose a couple of those players but add a top tier recruit in Stephen Halliday, who was the #2 scorer in the USHL last season. I expect the offense should be about as good as it was last season, which was fine. 

Defensively OSU is happy to get Mason Lohrei (2nd round pick) back for a second season. His injury last season contributed to OSU's late-season tailspin. They add Tyler Duke, Dylan's brother, who surprisingly went undrafted in the 2022 NHL Draft to the mix, which should help too. 

I don't see any reason why OSU should be worse than they were last season, unless Jakub Dobeš has some sophomore reversion, which feels very possible. I also don't see a ton of reason for OSU to be much better either (hard to get better goaltending than what they got last year!). They don't have a lot of guys that jump off the page or talent equivalent to the top teams in the conference. Having a more complete season that gets them into the NCAA Tournament should be the goal for the Buckeyes. 

 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Wisconsin 

Last season: T-5th in B1G, 8-22-4 (5-15-4), missed NCAA Tournament 

Key additions: Kyle McClellan, Jack Horbach, Charlie Stramel, Cruz Lucius, Tyson Jugnauth, Ben Dexheimer

Key losses: Tarek Baker, Roman Ahcan, Jesper Peltonen, Josh Ess, Tyler Inamoto, Max Johnson

In the NHL there's an old pseudo-analytic stat called PDO, which is the sum of a team's shooting percentage and save percentage. In a balanced league like the NHL, those numbers should sum to 100. Therefore, teams with a PDO >100 are considered somewhat lucky and likely to come back to earth, while those with a PDO <100 are considered somewhat unlucky and likely to improve. We can't properly resurrect PDO in the NCAA, but it is still a decent heuristic. Wisconsin would be a team that PDO is screaming improvement about as they had a PDO of 96 last season (.898 SV% + 6.4 SH%)! They were college hockey's worst shooting team and also bottom half in SV%. 

So yeah, they're likely to see some luck-based improvement, even if there is no other improvement. However, I think there should be. Wisconsin returns four of their top five scorers from last season, including the extremely talented Corson Ceulemans (1st rounder in 2021) on defense. Matty De St. Phalle looks primed to be a fine player as well at forward and the Badgers now add a draft pick in Cruz Lucius (4th in 2022) and the hyped Charlie Stramel (projected top 10 in 2023) up front. Wisconsin took the 11th-most shots per game in the NCAA last season and that number should tick up even higher. With more talent up front and better shooting luck, I expect a massive improvement in the offensive numbers from Wisconsin. 

Defense has more questions. Wisconsin allowed the 5th most shots in the NCAA, playing high event games that they'd like to control a bit more. Ceulemans returning helps and they replace departing defensemen with more talent, Tyler Jugnauth (4th rounder in 2022) and Ben Dexheimer (stellar in the USHL). Will they be able to lock down their own zone better? Hard to say, but they should be able to make some more saves.

Last year Wisconsin got solid goaltending from Jared Moe but were obliterated in the 14 games that Cameron Rowe appeared in, as the netminder struggled to a staggeringly bad .861 SV%!! Rowe has been disappeared and is replaced by Kyle McClelland, who posted a .932 at Mercyhurst. There will be a big step up in competition for McClelland but he's no stranger to facing tons of shots: Mercyhurst was one of the only teams to allow more shots per game than Wisconsin did, yet McClelland put up those numbers. He's likely a pivotal upgrade at the most important position. 

In totality, Wisconsin is a talented team, the most talented outside of Michigan and Minnesota. Problem is, they've been that every year for the last several years and only once has that translated into a finish in the B1G befitting of their talent level. Last season the Badgers were a mediocre team- similar possession numbers to OSU- but the divergent outcomes in the teams' success came down solely on PDO factors. The shooting was unlucky, and should revert to normal, but the poor defensive stats need improvement, even if goaltending improves. A lot of parts here need to get better for Wisconsin to make the tournament, but it's possible. Even if it doesn't, there's no way they should be as bad as last year, because poor luck was a sizable part of 2021-22. 

 

[James Coller]

Penn State

Last season: T-5th in the B1G, 16-19-2 (5-16-3), missed NCAA Tournament 

Key additions: Ashton Calder, Carter Schade, Alex Servagno, Jared Crespo, Dylan Gratton, Noah Grannan 

Key losses: Clayton Phillips, Adam Pilewicz 

No team in the B1G returns more than PSU, who has nearly the entire team back for another spin, with a few recruits and a transfer from North Dakota joining the picture. How they had room to add that many guys without losing any major contributors, I do not know, I can only report on what the roster says. In rolling over the whole team, PSU is returning an odd squad from last season. They scheduled a cupcake non-conference and handled those opponents, with the exception of a stunning win over North Dakota, and then got blasted in the B1G. A B1G Tournament sweep of OSU to knock the Buckeyes out of the NCAAs was a nice finish to the year, but the Nittany Lions ended 2021-22 in search of a formula to get them back to what they were a few years back. 

Part of the problem for Penn State's fall is that they were B1G contenders when Michigan and Minnesota were not talented. Now the cavalry has arrived for those historic programs, a level of talent PSU cannot match. The other part of the problem is they haven't been able to find a half-decent goalie since Peyton Jones left. In PSU's shot-happy, offense-first system, you need a goalie who is good at stopping high-danger chances to survive. Jones was stellar at that, everyone since then has not been. Oskar Autio has mercifully moved on, leaving Liam Souliere as the guy. He was becoming the guy last year, a glimmer of light with a .905 (compared to Autio's .893), but still a sizable step back from Jones (.919 during PSU's B1G title year). 

If I were a PSU fan, I would've wanted to see a solid second option replace Autio next to Souliere. Unfortunately, the guy PSU is adding, Noah Grannan, has a career SV% below .890 in the USHL. He was on the USNTDP team in 2019-20 (with Beniers and Bordeleau!) but his play left him one of the few players on that squad to go undrafted. Not exactly what you want! The Nittany Lions are thus placing all their eggs in the Souliere basket, which is a hell of a gamble. 

Outside of that, PSU was decent. Their possession numbers are artificially inflated from the system they play, shooting more than any other team in college hockey. Their special teams were lackluster and the offensive stats were middling, a mediocre team that should get better via continuity and added experience. But for me, until the goaltending comes around, it's hard to consider them a contender for the NCAAs. A scrappy team that can upset a top tier team? Sure. A team with a shot at the NCAAs or B1G title? Not yet. 

 

[JD Scott]

Tier III: At least we have a new coach! - Michigan State 

Michigan State

Last season: 7th in B1G, 10-22-3 (5-18-1), missed NCAA Tournament 

Key additions: Justin Jallen, Zach Dubinsky, Michael Underwood, Miroslav Mucha, Ryan Nolan, Viktor Hurtig, Karsen Dorwart

Key losses: Mitchell Lewandowski, Dennis Cesana, Josh Nodler, Griffin Loughran, Kristof Papp, Drew DeRidder 

The best thing you can say about MSU's past year in hockey is they fired Danton Cole. Last season's team was an abomination, winning as many games as they did because of Drew DeRidder, a fine goalie. Everything else was a dumpster fire. They were 56th (out of 60 teams) in possession at even strength, 52nd in scoring, and 45th in goals against, propped up by a 17th-best SV% (thanks, DeRidder!). They were 42nd in shots per game and 57th in shots against per game. Just two players scored more than 8 goals and somehow watching the Spartans play was even more unpleasant than these statistics. They were a mess that made you say "good grief". 

Thankfully, the Cole era is over and in hiring Adam Nightingale from the USNTDP, MSU has restored some energy to the program. The roster he inherited is wretched, exacerbated by the decision to transfer or graduate of DeRidder and five of their top nine scorers. Nightingale picked up a few decent transfers, including Miroslav Mucha of Lake State and goalie Dylan St. Cyr from Quinnipiac (and formerly Notre Dame), to try and patch this roster together. He's also picked up some mojo on the recruiting trail, reeling in a few nice prospects (what you expect when you hire the NTDP coach), but it remains to be seen whether Nightingale can coach. The track record of USNTDP coaches in the NCAA is far from perfect, especially since the last guy MSU hired was an ex-USNTDP coach (Cole). 

Though this year will not include any of Nightingale's guys, I actually think it may be a decent test of his ability to coach. This is not a good roster, but with forwards like Jesse Tucker, Jeremy Davidson, and Erik Middendorf and defensemen like the Krygier brothers returning, and a solid batch of forwards + a pair of decent goalies, this team shouldn't be awful. They should still probably be last in the B1G, but if they're abject again, that's a bad sign in my opinion. Danton Cole's team last year looked poorly coached, poorly structured, and with bad systems. They were completely uncompetitive against Michigan and (to a lesser extent) Minnesota. That shouldn't happen again and if it is, I don't think it portends well for the totality of the era. The best case scenario is still getting out of the cellar of the conference, though. 

 

[JD Scott]

The Non-Conference Foes

Last year Michigan played a loaded non-conference schedule and it paid off in getting the Wolverines the 1st overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. This year is not as stacked, but there still are several stiff tests that will give us a decent reading of the team, in addition to the usual easier games to pad the record. Here is a quick rundown on the opponents who will face the Maize & Blue in 2022-23: 

• Lindenwood: This is an opponent you have probably never heard of and I do not quite understand. The Lindenwood Lions are a team from St. Louis who are moving up to D1 this season. Michigan should blast these guys all the way back to Missouri, and I don't get what Michigan is getting out of this matchup. Two easy wins, yes, but against an opponent like that, I don't think we can learn anything about the team. In other words, it is the hockey equivalent of playing Hawaii in football. One fun note: Lindenwood is coached by 1980s/1990s Red Wings and Blues defenseman Rick Zombo! 
• #12 Boston University: I am higher on the Terriers than some, which is odd to say about a team that is 12th ranked in the preseason poll. BU took a little while to get going last season but finished the year on a tear, 15-4-1 in their final 20 games. It wasn't enough to get them into the tournament, but they return eight of their top nine scorers and both goalies. With that production returning, I think they could be the best team in the Hockey East and a top five team if it all comes together. They are talented and add a couple more NHL picks from their recruiting class. As the second opponent of the season, BU should provide a good measuring stick for Michigan. 
• Lake Superior State: Lake State projects to be a pretty middling team, as they were last year. The Lakers were 16-17-3 last season and came to Yost, beaten soundly by the Wolverines. Now Michigan makes the return trip to Sault Ste. Marie and I don't see a major reason to think that LSSU is a very different team. They lose several key players but do return both goalies who helped prop up a team getting soundly outshot. Feels like a mid-tier CCHA squad, so if Michigan is a legit team, Lakers shouldn't pose much of a threat. Will be the first test on the road for this team. 
• #14 Western Michigan: WMU had a banner year last season, outplaying Michigan in October during a home-and-home and eventually earning a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They came up a little short in the Big Dance against Minnesota but it was the best season in program history. Now comes the rebuild (or reload). Western loses their top five scorers and their goalie, including all of their stars Ethen Frank, Drew Worrad, and Ronnie Attard. The Broncos pick up some pieces from the portal and have an okay freshman class, but I think that, at best, they are a fringe tourney team given the drop off. The preseason ranking is more a nod to last year than what this year projects to be. This matchup will have a lot of intrigue given what happened last season with the "GLI". 
• #11 Harvard: The Crimson come to Yost over the Thanksgiving weekend and they will pose another test for Michigan. Harvard snuck into the tourney last year by winning the ECAC Tournament and should be a pretty good team this season. They do lose star Nick Abruzzese but return their most talented forward Matthew Coronato and several other key scorers and their goalie. Add in two NHL draft picks and a pair of other promising players as recruits and I buy Harvard as a solid tournament team.  

 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Predictions 

Last season I predicted that Michigan would go 27-7-2 in the regular season and would get a #1 seed in the tournament. They ended up going 24-6-5, with one game canceled due to the GLI "incident", and did get a top seed in the NCAAs. I predicted they would narrowly edge out Minnesota in the regular season, but instead it was Minnesota narrowly edging Michigan out in the regular season, though Michigan got the last laugh in the B1G Tournament. Overall, I will say I was pretty accurate on these predictions. 

As for my stupid predictions, last year they were: 

• Brendan Brisson scores 25 goals
• Thomas Bordeleau scores 55+ points and is a Hobey Baker finalist
• Philippe Lapointe surprises us and notches 8 goals
• We wonder by the end of the season if Luke Hughes is the team’s best defenseman
• Erik Portillo posts a higher SV% than Strauss Mann did last season

Of those I went 1-2-2. My win was the Luke Hughes one- I will contend he was the team's best defenseman. The two ties are the Brisson one and the Portillo one. Brisson scored 21 goals but missed four games with the Olympics, something I was unable to foresee in the season preview. He probably doesn't score four goals in four games if he plays those games (although two were against MSU), but he likely notches a couple, in which case his total would be close enough to 25 for me to call it a push. Portillo's .926 was nearly identical to Mann's .930 in 2020-21, so I'm taking that as a push as well. The other two were straight up busts, Lapointe scored only 3 goals and Bordeleau scored only 37 points and was not in the Hobey discussion. 

So, I think I still have some credibility when it comes to prognostication. How do I see this team looking? 

Overall, I came away from the process of writing this preview more optimistic for Michigan Hockey than I was coming in. The more I delved into the numbers, the more I came to believe that this team has an immensely high ceiling and that they have a good shot of hitting it should the freshman reach their projections and assimilate to college hockey well. Though some have portrayed Michigan as having devastating losses from last season, which does have some truth, they roll over quite a bit of experience at the back-end of the roster. Between Keaton Pehrson, Luke Hughes, Ethan Edwards, and Jacob Truscott, you have 4/6 everyday defensemen from last season returning, including two who should be All-B1G level players (one of which being a mega-star). Another player, Steve Holtz, has played 1/3 of a season as a starting defenseman and is in his third year in the program. Oh, and the team's goalie, who had a top ten SV% in all of college hockey last season, is back for another spin. 

The return of Portillo gives this team a very high floor and guarantees they will have good goaltending night-in and night-out. That alone is massive. Add in a defensive group with a lot of returning production, one that is plugging in a 2nd round pick in the only hole filled by a new player, and it's hard for me to say there's a ton of turnover there. Yes, Owen Power and Nick Blankenburg were good players, etc, but that's still a group that comes back intact. It will carry Michigan early on and the question of how good the team is rests on how good the freshman forwards are, and how long it takes for the offense to gel. 

In terms of the talent at forward, though, Michigan has the most offensive firepower in the B1G on paper and among the most in the country. You can make the case they are no less talented up front than they were last year. You subtract Matty Beniers, but if Adam Fantilli is what he's expected to be, I'm not sure there's a drop-off there. Subtract Bordeleau, but oh, there's Frank Nazar III. Subtract Kent Johnson, but oh, there's Rutger McGroarty. Subtract Brendan Brisson, boom, there's Gavin Brindley. Toss in Jackson Hallum to replace Johnny Beecher and a healthy Eric Ciccolini in place of Mike Pastujov and yeah, there's a legit case here. 

But again, that paragraph is talking about talent level. Where you expect some drop off is instant production. Frank Nazar III is a more talented player than Thomas Bordeleau, but will he be better at NCAA Hockey right away? That remains to be seen. When many of those guys mentioned above were freshman, they were awesome right off the bat, but they were streaky. That 2020-21 team had some ups and downs before settling into a groove late. It's reasonable to believe this could take a bit of time while the freshmen get their feet wet. Maybe the stars, Samoskevich, Nazar, Fantilli, do the scoring early but it takes longer for the Brindleys and Hallums to score. Reasonable assumption. 

On the other hand, one could also argue that the bumps in the 2020-21 season were related to the fact that Michigan Hockey always had first half bumps under Mel Pearson, no matter how veteran and "ready" the team was (see: last season). Indeed, that's where we have to circle around to the coaching. Michigan lost its coach and reshuffled its coaching staff. That is a pretty sizable question mark! It's a bit of uncertainty we have to account for, but it's hard to know if it will have a clear cut impact on this team. The continuity with an assistant coach like Bill Muckalt on staff will help. 

With all that in mind, my prediction for this season is that Michigan finishes second in the B1G to Minnesota by only a couple points. Out of 34 regular season games, I have Michigan going 22-10-2. I do think they will start a little slower and then get going. The B1G will be a decent conference and with the combination of a solid non-conference slate and a fine record, I think Michigan will be right on the divider between the 1 line and the 2 line for the NCAAs. Get into the tournament, and anything can happen. 

In the stupid, hot-take-ish prediction category, this year I'm going with: 

• Frank Nazar leads Michigan in goals with 20  
• TJ Hughes surprisingly carves out a role in Michigan's bottom six 
• Keaton Pehrson triples his career goal total and scores three for Michigan this year 
• Seamus Casey finishes with more points than Ethan Edwards 
• Michigan does not lead the NCAA in PIM again, due to fewer five minute majors, but they will remain one of the more penalized teams in the NCAA with the likes of Fantilli, Holtz, and Moyle in the lineup 

Some good old stabs-in-the-dark! 

 

[Campredon]

Wrap

This year's preview clocks in at ~19,000 words over four pieces, in addition to two hours of podcast audio that covers the roster (you can catch the B1G preview episode next week). David and I will also be on MGoRadio this Friday talking about hockey in between the segments covering football, if you're interested in tuning in. I hope this preview gave you all plenty to gnaw on as we get ready for the hockey season, which kicks off this Friday night at 7:00 pm in Ann Arbor against Lindenwood. For the content plan for the site, Hockey Weekly will make its usual occasional appearances in the fall before ramping up more regularly in the winter, while the HockeyCast will continue weekly throughout the season. 2022-23 may not have the crazy hype of last season, but as I've laid out in this preview, I think this team can end up being just as good. It's another absurdly talented roster and it should be plenty of fun to follow!

Go Blue.