The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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ally makes you special," 2008 Hobey Baker award winner Kevin Porter said. "If you're an offensive guy, it's scoring goals or making plays. If you're a defensive forward, it's working to make a penalty-kill unit and be someone the coaches trust in late-game situations. "For most guys, it's not until their sophomore, junior or senior year that they really expand their games and become both an offensive and defen- sive forward, so the guys that can do both early in their careers are really unique." Compher can do both. He is one of only three players on U-M that kills penalties and has a spot on the power play, joining sophomore al- ternate captain Andrew Copp and freshman classmate Tyler Motte. "To be a threat both ways … you don't see those kids come along very often," assistant coach Brian Wise- man said. "You feel confident about him playing in all situations, whether it's taking a big faceoff in the last minute, matching up against certain lines or certain players, and knowing when he gets the puck he can make a play for teammates or put it in the net himself." In 26 games through Feb. 18, Com- pher led the Big Ten in freshman scor- ing with 26 points, as well as power- play points (11, with three goals) and penalty-kill markers (three). He is a leading contender to win Big Ten Rookie of the Year. IMPRESSED UPON HIM AT AN EARLY AGE While Compher largely credits Pe- drie for instilling a defensive mental- ity in his game at 13 years old, Ped- rie in turn notes that Compher was simply wired differently than most skaters his age. "The moment he came to Team Il- linois, he brought that attitude with him, and all I really needed to do was stress a little bit more to play as hard in your own zone as you do on the offensive side," Pedrie said. "He em- braced that challenge from day one, and really took it to another level because of how competitive he was." Compher hated when the other team scored, especially if it came against his line. This season, he has finished a game in the minus column of plus/minus in just four of 26 con- tests — he's finished with a positive in 11 games for a plus/minus of plus- 10 so far. "If you look at the best teams in the NHL, their best players are guys like [Chicago Blackhawk] Jonathan Toews that will sell out defensively even though he's a great offensive player because he wants to win so badly," Compher said. "Winning has always been the most important thing to me, and I know the game is DIGITAL BONUS: CLICK THE ICON TO PLAY OR STOP THE PODCAST The Wolverine's Michael Spath talks with former Michigan goalie Noah Ruden