The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/213966
"It is so important for a young player to experience some early success, especially for a goalie, because it just fuels your confidence and no other position in hockey demands more confidence than your goaltender," said position coach Josh Blackburn, himself a four-year starting netminder for the Maize and Blue (1999-2002). Waiting For His Opportunity Appointed head coach of the Aberdeen Wings of the North American Hockey League in January 2013, Travis Winter felt the team needed to upgrade its goalie situation. He scanned the rosters of other teams and saw that Nagelvoort wasn't earning many starts with the Soo Eagles. He put in a call and brought Nagelvoort to Aberdeen. "I had some prior experience with him when I was coaching in Cedar Rapids and he came to one of our camps, and the thing I knew about him was he an ultimate competitor," Winter said. "He's a big-game goalie. He doesn't get nervous. He thrives in pressure. He loves the spotlight. He has great composure, competes and doesn't get rattled. "The mental side of goaltending is probably more important than the physical, and this kid has always had the attitude, so I knew he had a chance to become a really good goalie for us." In 10 games with Aberdeen, Nagelvoort went 8-1-1 with a 1.66 goalsagainst average and a .949 save percentage. It felt great that after a long junior career as a journeyman, hop- ping from team to team, someone actually believed in him. Nagelvoort, of course, always believed in himself, but seemingly no one else was willing to. "I don't know if I would call him a late developer because the talent has always been there," Winter said. "It just seemed like wherever he went, whichever team he was with, there was already a No. 1 goalie and he came in as the No. 2. I don't know how to explain that. "Sometimes that happens. Some kids get overlooked if they don't wow at camps or if they're not the right size — though he's a physically impressive goalie [at 6-2, 208 pounds] — or they get such a small window of games, and don't get the opportunity they need. "He's been that guy, and all he needed was that chance to really show what he could do, and when we gave it to him, he took advantage of it, and it looks like he's taking advantage of it now for Michigan." Some kids could be bitter about the slight, but the ones that make their dreams reality — like walk-on turned starter Shawn Hunwick (2009-12) — persevere and become better players thanks to the chip. "There were definitely times of frustration because it seemed like at a lot of places, I wasn't given the chance to compete," Nagelvoort said. "In hindsight, that was great for me. Because of my personality and the way my game has involved, I've had to earn everything I got, and that's the situation that faced me when I came to Michigan also."