Mel Pearson makes a historic jersey number change
In the 95 year history of the program, no player has ever worn a number high than #39.
Until now.
The roster announcement today was wild seeing a #91 on a Michigan jersey.
8 players will venture beyond #39. All but one of them are already on the roster and were apparently excited enough to want to leave their old numbers.
Here is the full roster.
# | Player | Pos. | Ht/Wt | Class |
2 | Luke Martin | D | 6-3/215 | So. |
4 | Cutler Martin | D | 6-0/220 | Sr. |
5 | Griffin Luce | D | 6-3/214 | So. |
8 | Jack Becker | F | 6-3/195 | Fr. |
9 | Josh Norris | F | 6-1/195 | Fr. |
10 | Will Lockwood | F | 5-11/172 | So. |
11 | Brendan Warren | F | 6-1/185 | Jr. |
12 | Dakota Raabe | F | 5-9/155 | Fr. |
13 | Jake Slaker | F | 5-10/184 | So. |
17 | Tony Calderone | F | 6-0/200 | Sr. |
18 | Adam Winborg | F | 6-2/200 | So. |
20 | Cooper Marody | F | 6-0/190 | Jr. |
21 | Michael Pastujov | F | 6-0/190 | Fr. |
22 | Niko Porikos | F/D | 6-3/200 | Sr. |
25 | Luke Morgan | F | 5-11/190 | So. |
28 | Alex Roos | F | 5-9/175 | 5th |
30 | Hayden Lavigne | G | 6-3/200 | So. |
31 | Chad Catt | G | 5-10/190 | Jr. |
33 | Joseph Cecconi | D | 6-2/205 | Jr. |
43 | Quinn Hughes | D | 5-9/175 | Fr. |
45 | Jack LaFontaine | G | 6-3/197 | So. |
47 | Christian Meike | D | 6-0/172 | So. |
61 | James Sanchez | F | 6-1/184 | So. |
74 | Nicholas Boka | D | 6-1/200 | Jr. |
88 | Steven Merl | F | 6-4/207 | So. |
90 | Dexter Dancs | F | 6-2/205 | Sr. |
91 | Nick Pastujov | F | 6-0/202 | So. |
I think it's great and a great way to signify a new era.
A problem with just 1-39 is that Hockey's incredible history includes no numbers honored/retire.
You could have Al Renfrew, Red Berenson and Brendan Morrison honored with their own #9 banner.
August 11th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
Interesting!
August 11th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
Mildly!!!
August 11th, 2017 at 12:54 PM ^
SOMEWHAT!
August 11th, 2017 at 12:58 PM ^
A TAD!
August 11th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
A lil bit
August 11th, 2017 at 1:17 PM ^
I'm fucking intrigued!
August 11th, 2017 at 1:44 PM ^
A skosh!
August 11th, 2017 at 3:42 PM ^
I had to +1 all of you because this made laugh so loudly that the cat looked at me like, "What the hell, man?"
Well done. The smart ass is strong with you all.
August 11th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
Die, you random sonofabitch! It's coming!
August 11th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
Jerk!!!
August 11th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 12:54 PM ^
WD, was there reasoning behind the <#39 ?
August 11th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
Red's longstanding policy--kept things simple. There's a paragraph on it in John Bacon's Blue Ice, if memory serves.
August 11th, 2017 at 3:53 PM ^
Red didn't like higher numbers. He didn't want players feeling more important than others or something along those lines.
August 11th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
First Brian writes about Samuels today and gets me misty-eyed re-watching Denard.
Now I see #91 and the room gets dusty over the early 90's Red Wings.
I don't usually follow hockey, but it's still powerful to see that number. Is Nick Pastujov anywhere near that good, or is there another reason that's NOT invoking Federov?
August 11th, 2017 at 2:26 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
He's from Bradenton, Florida, in the shadow of Tampa Bay, home of a more contemporary NHL star - #91 Steven Stamkos.
August 11th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
I'll say it: This was something that wasn't broken and didn't need fixing. 1-39 is the way it's always been, there are plenty of numbers to go around. Previous players bought into it as a cool element of the program's history, and as a long-time follower of this program, seeing a guy skate around in #91 at Yost is nothing that I see as awesome nor interesting.
/getoffmyicylawn
August 11th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
Huh. That's definitely interesting, and in Michigan hockey terms quite a big change. I don't mind it, I guess--Mel is a new coach. It's not like they're changing the uniforms.
I do kinda wish guys had kept their old numbers, but I wasn't that familiar with them anyway so it's no big deal to me.
August 11th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^
I am whelmed by this information
August 11th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^
This is true, though Red did have a #88 jersey printed up for Eric Lindros that Lindros would have worn had he come to Michigan.
August 11th, 2017 at 2:20 PM ^
We can put together a pretty good all-sports "people who would have gone to Michigan if they had gone to college" list: Eric Lindros, Kevin Garnett, Derek Jeter.
August 11th, 2017 at 2:26 PM ^
and that swimmer guy...
August 11th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
anybody from MSU.
August 11th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
9 Al Renfrew
9 Gordon Berenson
9 Brendan Morrison
11 Kevin Porter
31 Steve Shields
35 Marty Turco
August 11th, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^
That's 4 numbers.
You're missing Vic Heyliger, but (like Ty Cobb with the Tigers or Willie Heston with the football team) there's no number to retire for him. You could maybe make a case for 12-Dave Debol or 10-Denny Felsner, and there is no way that I would include Steve Shields with those other 5. He was great, but not "retired number" great.
You might also want to consider #17 Wally Grant.
August 11th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
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August 11th, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^
WHAT DOES UM FAN FROM SYDNEY HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS