Someday soon, Michigan hockey’s talented 2021-22 roster will migrate to the NHL, where the Wolverines will exchange their matching maize-and-blue sweaters for conflicting colors.
They’ll get an early taste of that in February in the Beijing Olympics, as Team Canada became the latest squad to announce a team with a healthy Wolverine presence. On Tuesday, Michigan defenseman Owen Power was named to the Canadian roster while forward Kent Johnson was named one of six alternates.
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Power was the No. 1 overall pick (by the Buffalo Sabres) in the 2021 NHL draft while Johnson went No. 5 overall (to the Columbus Blue Jackets). Both have lived up to the high expectations this season; Johnson leads U-M with 24 assists and has 30 points in 23 games while Power has three goals and 23 assists in 24 games. Johnson sits in third place in points on the U-M roster. Both have a plus-21 rating.
Fellow Wolverines Matty Beniers and Brendan Brisson were named to Team USA on Jan. 13, along with goalie Strauss Mann, who played for Michigan in 2020-21, and defenseman Steven Kampfer, 33. Beniers, taken No. 2 in 2021 (by the Seattle Kraken) and Brisson (No. 29 in 2020 by the Vegas Golden Knights) are Nos. 1-2 in points for Michigan, with 32 and 31, respectively.
The men’s hockey competition begins Feb. 9, and the U.S. and Canada open their schedules (against China and Germany) on Feb. 10. The U.S. and Canada are in Group A; they’ll face each other at 12:10 p.m. Feb. 12, likely with a top spot in the group on the line. The tournament wraps up with the gold-medal game on Feb. 20.
Oddly enough, the honors for the Wolverines could be good news for U-M’s biggest rivals; the Wolverines (19-7-1, 10-6-0 Big Ten) will be without their top four players for two games against Michigan State on Feb. 11-12 (including the annual “Duel in the D” at Little Caesars Arena on Feb. 12) and two games against Ohio State in Ann Arbor on Feb. 18-19. U-M also has two games scheduled on the road against Notre Dame soon after the Olympics wrap up, on Feb. 25-26. Those games complete the Big Ten regular season, with the conference tournament set to start March 4 at campus sites . Michigan is tied for first (with OSU) the Big Ten with 33 points entering Tuesday.
The Olympic hockey tournament was originally set to feature NHL players for the first time since 2014. Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was considered a strong candidate for the U.S. squad, defenseman Moritz Seider was already named to the German team and Lucas Raymond was making a late push for the Swedish roster. But a multitude of COVID-induced postponements and quarantine concerns in China led the league to decline to participate, with national federations turning to a mix of minor leaguers and college players.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.