The Wolverine

June-July 2012

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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next season, and will develop into an anchor along the blue line over an entire four-year career, Trouba is a once-in-a-decade type talent that will impact immediately, and will be expected to leave Michigan before exhausting his eligibility. "He's a big-time player," Berenson make an impact. We like where he's at and where he's going to go. His best hockey is ahead of him." While Carrick should contribute Goalie Steve Racine went 15-0-0 with a with a 1.66 goals-against average and .938 save per- semen next season, but could not say no to Trouba and Carrick. The Wol- verines also needed to add at least one high-end offensive talent, and Nieves — like the two blue liners — ranks among the most skilled skaters at his position nationally. "I think Nieves has the potential to Michigan will return seven defen- THE STANDOUTS get into our top mix of forwards next year," Powers said. "He has some of the attributes that [rising sophomore] Phil Di Giuseppe has, as far as an of- fensive makeup of good hands, good vision, can skate. "So I think he'll be an offensive contributor for us. I don't know if it will be as a playmaker or a goal scorer, but he will definitely have an impact on this team." The 6-3, 184-pound Nieves spent the past two seasons at Kent School playing for former Wolverine Matt Herr (1995-98). In 2012, he had seven goals and 32 assists in 26 games be- fore joining the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League for Oct. 2, 2009 — F Cristoval Nieves March 13, 2010 — D Connor Carrick Aug. 8, 2010 — F Justin Selman Sept. 2, 2010 — F Daniel Milne Sept. 27, 2011 — D Jacob Trouba Oct. 27, 2011 — G Jared Rutledge Dec. 16, 2011 — G Steve Racine 2012 COMMITMENT TIMELINE 44 THE WOLVERINE JUNE/JULY 2012 centage for the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 2012. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE RACINE their playoff push. In 13 games with the Ice, he had two goals and assisted on eight more. Playing on a stacked USA Team that featured three defensemen ranked among the top-50 draft-eli- gible prospects this year — Trouba (No. 5), Brady Skjei (No. 24) and Pat- rick Sieloff (No. 44) — Carrick wasn't allotted the same minutes, and gen- erally played in their shadow. But the 5-10, 197-pounder earned greater playing time in the final few weeks of the season, and he flourished. In six World Championship games, said. "I like that he's a big kid that can skate. He's a defensive defense- man. He's a physical defenseman. An offensive defenseman. He hits like a truck. He can rush the puck as well as any of our defensemen. He can shoot it, and contribute offensively, and then like all defensemen, he will need to be coached so that he can play against the best forwards in col- lege hockey." The 6-2, 196-pound Trouba spent half of his junior year skating with the Under-18 team (promoted from the Under-17 team) in helping the squad to its third consecutive World Championships gold medal. He then spent his entire senior year with the Under-18 team, and scored nine goals with 23 assists in 54 games this past season. "He's probably as well-rounded a he had a pair of goals and a pair of assists, including a marker in the gold-medal victory over Sweden. In 57 games overall this past year, he had eight goals and 13 helpers. "Trouba gets a lot of the publicity, but Carrick will be a solid college player," Berenson said. "You talk about character and work ethic, and being 100 percent invested in your team — that's Carrick." "If you look at Connor's first year defenseman as we've had in my 20 years," Powers said. "He is a physi- cal presence on the ice at all times; you have to keep your head up. He's fast and pushes the pace, and he has excellent offensive instincts. Defen- sively, he's smart, strong in the cor- ners and in front of the net. He makes good decisions with the puck. "He's right in that category of the elite guys we've had on this campus — Jon Merrill, Mike Komisarek, Jeff Jillson and Jack Johnson." in the U.S. program compared to his second, he really emerged," Powers added. "He learned a lot in year one, went through some ups and downs, and this year took on a more promi- nent role. He got power play time, which he does have a gift for be- cause he has some really good offen- sive instincts, and that culminated with a really nice Under-18 World Championships. "Connor is ready to come in and Milne and Selman to skate on the top two lines next season, but both players will fill roles in their rookie years and should become productive performers eventually. The 6-0, 185-pound Milne ranked The Maize and Blue do not expect THE FORGOTTEN TWO third in scoring for the St. Michael's Buzzers of the OJHL in 2012, picking up 47 points in 38 games, with 16 goals. He also had three goals and nine assists in 11 playoff contests. "This was a hard year for him be- cause he had a lot of nagging injuries

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