The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1422614
62 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2021 MICHIGAN HOCKEY championship and just using this extra year as a time to leap in my develop- ment." Power further explained he looked at it as an opportunity to become a more well-rounded prospect before making the jump to the NHL. "Offensively, I've got a ton of work to improve on in different situations," Power said. "Defensively, the same thing – becoming harder to play against and being able to get stops right away. So I see room for improvement, and I'm focusing in on those two areas of the game." Power and his Michigan teammates are more than aware of the target on their backs given the talent level in Ann Arbor. He believes his teammates are doing what they can to keep the distrac- tions to a minimum while they work to achieve their goals. "You hear all the outside noise talking about our team," Power said. "I think with the guys in the locker room, we do a pretty good job of canceling that out and just focusing on ourselves and worrying about trying to get better as a team and as an individual every day, so at the end of the day, hopefully, we'll be playing for a championship, but I think all of us are doing a pretty good job at staying in the present and not looking too far ahead." THOMAS BORDELEAU EARNS 'FREE ICE TIME' AS DEPENDABLE FACEOFF WINNER Thomas Bordeleau's scouting report will show a playmaker with great hands and a strong shot, but what has made him a terrific player for the Wolverines early this season is in the finer details. Like his father, former NHL forward Sebastien Bordeleau, the sophomore forward is carving out a niche for him- self on the faceoff dot. Bordeleau won 59 percent of his faceoffs through the first four games of the season, headlined by a 14-of-21 performance in an upset of then-No. 1 Minnesota State at the Ice Breaker Tournament Oct. 16. That is an 11 percent improvement from his freshman season perfor- mance. "It came from my dad who was good at it back in the day," Bordeleau said. "He taught me early on that it's kind of free ice time. If coach trusts you on the fa- ceoff, you're going to get on more often." Bordeleau, whom the San Jose Sharks selected with the 38th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, won Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was a member of the all- conference second team last season while leading the Wolverines in scoring with 30 points. He embraces the opportunity to play the mental game on the dot and notice the nuances of what his opponent tries to do. "A lot of guys are like 'set up first, make sure you get your space first on the dot, make sure you kind of win the dot,'" Bor- deleau said. "But a lot of times I kind of like seeing how the guy sets up, just taking a step back and seeing where his hands are at, how wide he is with his feet, where he puts his blade on the dot." A trick that Bordeleau learned from his father was the ability to flip his hands on his stick during particular draws. It is a unique trait that takes a special player to pull off. "It takes a lot of skill to be able to do that," senior forward Jimmy Lambert said. "Not many people can just flip their hands around and be as successful both ways as he is." The composite talent of the hockey team is enough for Michigan to win a lot of games this season, but Bordeleau's detail-oriented approach to the faceoff circle is among the things that could push this group over the edge in its toughest challenges. FUTURE WOLVERINE SPEAKS ON HOCKEY ROOTS, APPEARS IN WAY-TOO-EARLY MOCK DRAFT Frank Nazar III is one of the next in line to join Michigan hockey's pipeline of NHL-caliber talent. The Mount Clemens, Mich., native, who will join U-M ahead of the 2022-23 season, was molded by a rich hockey history in his home state. "My dad used to own a parking garage in downtown Detroit, and he'd park all the people for the Red Wings games across from the rink," Nazar told USA Hockey's National Team Development Program website. "From that, he just became a huge hockey fan and even was in the pa- rades when they won the Stanley Cup." "Growing up, watching him watch the games was what got me into it. One day, he asked me if I wanted to play and I said yes." Nazar, who committed to Michigan in April 2019, currently stars for the USNT- DP's U18 team, where he had five goals and six assists through 11 regular-season games. The toolkit he could potentially bring to the next level made him the No. 18 overall pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a late-September 2022 NHL Mock Draft from Lyle Richardson of Bleacher Report. "A versatile forward who can skate at center or right wing, the 5-foot-10, 174-pound Nazar collected 28 goals and 55 points in 45 games with the U.S. national U17 team," Richardson wrote. "He also had 20 goals and 36 points in 31 games with USNTDP Juniors in the USHL. He is expected to play for the University of Michigan in 2022-23. "DobberProspects.com's Nick Rich- ard considers Nazar 'a versatile forward with great speed and a dynamic offensive skill set.' The Athletic's Corey Pronman singled out his skating and his competi- tiveness." ❑ Defenseman Owen Power chose to return for his sophomore season despite being selected by Buffalo in the 2021 NHL Draft. PHOTO BY DAVE HARWIG