The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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HOCKEY RECRUITING coming in, and we really like our two goalies." Michigan signed seven players in the fall — defensemen Griffin Luce, Luke Martin and Christian Meike, and forwards Steve Merl, Nick Pas- tujov, Will Lockwood and James San- chez — and this spring the Wolverines added netminders Jack LaFontaine and Hayden Lavigne. They also picked up a commitment from forward Adam Winborg for next season, though he has yet to sign a letter of intent, and thus, U-M cannot comment on him. Larkin was the No. 15 player se- lected in the 2014 NHL Draft, while Connor was the No. 17 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Among this year's haul, Luce is the highest-ranked signee in the bunch, rated as the No. 70 prospect for this summer 's NHL Draft according to the league's Central Scouting Service. Lockwood is listed at No. 108, Pas- tujov at No. 112 and Sanchez is the No. 146 prospect. LaFontaine is also the No. 10-ranked North American goalie. "On the forward side, we have some speed, some size, some skill, some really solid young players that should develop into well-rounded players for us," assistant coach Brian Wiseman said. "On the blue line, we have guys that can skate, guys that can move the puck, guys that are hard to play against, guys that are competitive and have natural leader- ship tendencies. "And then we feel really good about the goalies we're bringing in. You add them to a mix with [rising] senior Zach Nagelvoort and [rising sophomore] Chad Catt, and we feel we have a healthy competition in net to provide the stability and confi- dence that maybe we haven't had here in years past." Luce served as an alternate captain Freshman Luke Martin, a St. Louis native who was a member of the U.S. National Development Program Under-18 team last year, will compete for playing time in 2016- 17. PHOTO BY RENA LAVERTY