BOSTON – Erik Portillo spread out in the fold and looked back as the puck jumped out of the net behind the Michigan goalkeeper. Defender Luke Hughes slammed his stick down on the crossbar, breaking it in the middle on another turn across the tube.
Just like that, Wolverines’ season, filled with national championship dreams thanks to one of the most talented lists in program history, came to an abrupt and overwhelming end. The top-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament could not survive Denver’s dominance in a 3-2 overtime loss that eliminated UM and extended its title drought to 24 years.
With the loss comes big questions, including whether Wolverines’ first seven rounds of NHL draft picks will return and how the program plans to replace a number of key seniors. But no one is greater than whether coach Mel Pearson returns for a sixth season – and if he should, after a season full of controversy ended with a 10th national title and a hollow sense of underachievement after wasting so much talent.
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According to the Michigan Daily, the five-year contract that Pearson signed when he was hired to replace Red Berenson in 2017 expires on April 30. The student newspaper reported that talks on an extension had been put on hold until after the Frozen Four.
“I work under the direction of the athletic director and the board of directors,” Pearson recently told the Daily. “So if they’re willing to have me back, that’s the plan.”
Asked Thursday if he would be Wolverines’ coach next season, Pearson postponed a comment.
“I’m glad you like me,” he whispered, “but I just want to talk about the match and our team tonight.”
After standing still at the back of the room and hearing Pearson’s press conference after the match, UM’s sports director Warde Manuel also declined a comment when asked about the contract situation later at TD Center.
“He should probably manage,” Manuel said.
These conversations are also complicated by two significant situations – an investigation into section IX violations and complaints in the workplace and two situations involving COVID-19.
First, the student assignment reported that “Pearson and director of hockey operations Rick Bancroft allegedly created a toxic work environment for female employees, and that Pearson allegedly retaliated against a player for expressing problems within Wolverines’ program.”
This investigation, allegedly conducted by the law firm WilmerHale, began in October 2021. Pearson denied the allegations to the Daily on January 31.
“The truth will come true at the end of the investigation,” Pearson said at the time. “And I feel very confident that the accusations will be proven wrong.”
Along with these allegations, the Title IX investigation also accused Pearson of telling players to lie on their COVID-19 contact tracking forms prior to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, which Michigan was eliminated from without playing due to a positive COVID-19 test. . Whether Big Ten or the NCAA could also weight these claims is unclear.
Then there is the situation with the Great Lakes Invitational.
A Michigan Tech fan site received documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that Pearson demanded a match between Wolverines and Western Michigan, scheduled for December 30, canceled in the summer of 2021 due to the planned absence of UM players for World Juniors.
Michigan said on Dec. 27 that they could not play the game against the Broncos “because of health and welfare protocols within Wolverines’ program.” Wolverines were still able to play Michigan Tech to a 0-0 draw with an 18-man list on December 29th.
It caused a stir around the sport, with Cornell coach and NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Committee member Mike Schafer telling the College Hockey News in December that the Wolverines were exploiting “a loophole” by abusing the pandemic rules for COVID-19 absence. He added “there is nothing the committee can do.”
“In the future, it’s something I suppose we’ll have to address,” Schaefer told the website. “As a committee, we will definitely talk about it. I’m sure we do. And I’m sure Commissioners will also talk about what happened. Nobody wants this.”
Pearson on Thursday pointed to his players’ willingness to come to the Frozen Four despite the many problems.
“This team was as close as anything else,” he said. “They really came together as a group, whether it was missing guys from controversies, the Olympics, whatever it was. I mean, they were dealing with a lot.”
But apart from outgoing seniors Nick Blankenburg and Garrett Van Wyhe on the podium, Michigan did not make any of its other players available after the loss. That included none of the 13 players selected by NHL teams. None of the first-round picks produced a point against Denver; the only drafted player to do so was Thomas Bordeleau, a 2020 pick in the second round of San Jose who scored UM’s second goal to level the game in the third period.
“They’re just incredible teammates, incredible guys on and off the ice,” Van Wyhe said of his talented teammates. “And they boned off – I do not know if I can say it right now – but they gave us everything, everything they have. So I’m really proud of them, I’m really proud to be one of their teammates. ”
Whether this collection of draft picks stays together is still unknown, based on both the program’s ongoing controversies, and also because NHL teams could call in the coming days to start their professional careers. And whether Pearson’s future is linked to that group, or whether their decisions may affect his, is also still unclear.
In the end, instead of celebrating a championship like they last did in 1996 and 1998, the Wolverines were left to consider a missed opportunity, as they did in 1997 – another extremely talented team wondering what went amiss.
The big difference: This group is entering an uncertain low season without knowing if they will be able to run it together again for their own chance of redemption and a long-awaited return to NCAA glory.
Chris Solari has been covering college hockey since 1994 for several businesses.Contact him: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.