Checking In with Brandon Naurato
9/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Today we feature a Livonia native, who won a few state titles at Catholic Central, played junior hockey before coming to Michigan, loves to shoot and is named Brandon. Although all these characteristics apply to senior alternate captain Brandon Kaleniecki, we're actually talking about freshman forward Brandon Naurato.
| | Naurato |
After working hard at practice and working on his favorite part of the game -- shooting -- Naurato took some time to give a few quotes. He talked about his roommate, his Catholic Central days, how he didn't think Michigan would be an option and of course how he loves to shoot.
On rooming with Zac MacVoy ...
"I'm a bit of a neat freak and he's kind of a mess. Everything is mine and he just uses it. We went to Catholic Central together for two years and we're both from Livonia, so we played on the same summer league team for fun, a bunch of us guys did. We were friends before that, so it's worked out well."
On his pre-game routine ...
"I take a nap the day of the game and re-tape all of my sticks. I always take a shower before I get dressed."
On his hockey progression as a kid ...
"I started when I was five. I played in Livonia. When I started playing AAA it started getting really serious for Compuware. You just hear about the Compuware junior A team and then going on to college. You always want to do that. I always looked up to one of my older cousins who played junior A for Compuware when I was playing for the younger team. He didn't play college hockey because he hurt his back. They lived in Ann Arbor and were big Michigan fans and I always wanted to play for the Wolverines. Once I went to (Detroit) Catholic Central I saw (David) Moss and (Brandon) Kaleniecki go to play juniors and a lot of other guys and then go to Michigan. I thought if I work hard maybe I can be like them."
On his decision to play for Catholic Central instead of trying to play juniors ...
"I always wanted to play for Catholic Central. My older cousin played for Catholic Central. AAA hockey, I think, is definitely better than high school hockey, but Michigan high school is getting better. Catholic Central has a great coach over there that gets guys like Kaleniecki and Moss, they never played AAA, to the next level. From seeing those guys go I just wanted to be like them."
On if he ever played with Kaleniecki or Moss ...
"No, I was a freshman when they were seniors. I could have played that year but I wouldn't have played that much, so I decided to play one more year for Compuware, my third year. Then when I was a sophomore I started at Catholic Central."
On how his success was at Catholic Central ...
"Awesome. We won the state championship every year I was there. I was the leading scorer on the team my junior and senior years."
On his choices following high school graduation ...
"After C.C. I was talking to a lot of junior teams. I got drafted in the USHL draft (United States Hockey League) by Cedar Rapids (Iowa). I was the 30th pick overall I think. I went there for a year and Cedar Rapids didn't work out too well. After that I got picked up by Omaha and went out there for last year."
On if he expected to eventually play college hockey when he went to play juniors ...
"That was the goal. Coming out of C.C. you're not like, 'I'm going to play for Michigan.' If someone told me I was going to play for Michigan coming out of C.C. I would have said, 'if I could have one wish it would be to play for Michigan.' It was far, far away to play for the University of Michigan. I had to do a lot to get there."
On his injury while playing for Omaha ...
"In my first exhibition game, before even our first tournament, I tore cartilage in my (left) labrum. I just thought I separated my shoulder or something. I went to the doctor and he actually told me I was done for the year or there is this new thing called the gunslinger splint that this Japanese guy invented. He said, 'it's not 100 percent it's going to work. It's more 50-50. It might not do anything. You have to wear it for three weeks, sleep in it, can't take it off.' I had to sleep with my hand out like this (pointing out sideways) on my back for three weeks. The doctor said, 'when we take it off we'll do about a month of rehab. We'll take an MRI and look at the before and after and if it is better you can play. But it's 50-50.' After all of it when I spoke to him it he said it was really like 75-25. It was a miracle that I got better. I was supposed to have surgery and that would have put me out for six to eight months. I was pretty lucky.
"When I got back it was November 1 (2004). That was my first game against Cedar Rapids, my old team, and I had two goals that night. I did really well. Then I started talking to Michigan and I committed over Christmas."
On if Tim Miller helped get U-M's attention ...
"I don't think Tim had too much to do with it. I think what was huge was my coach (Mike Hastings in Omaha) and how well respected he is. For Moss and Kaleniecki coming here they had ties to my high school coach and they talked to him a lot I'm sure. It all just worked out well."
On if he's always been a Michigan kid ...
"I always had University of Michigan stuff in the house. My dad didn't go to Michigan. My mom didn't. My uncle did, my mom's brother-in-law. That was the only person in our family. My dad always watched Michigan hockey and Michigan football. It was just always around."
On if he saw many Michigan hockey games at Yost ...
"A few. We always had season tickets to the Red Wings games so we never really went to that many. I've probably been to five or six my whole life. I haven't been to one since my senior year in high school. U-M played Ferris State when Chris Kunitz was on the team. (Jeff) Tambellini was a freshman. I remember that because Tambellini had two goals and, well I was scoring goals in high school, but this kid is sick. I'm never going to play college hockey if you have to score like that. He was just unbelievable."
On what helped him improve from Catholic Central to juniors hockey ...
"The jump from high school to juniors is so much bigger than the jump from juniors to college. I still haven't played a college hockey game but you can see in practice some. Especially the USHL because it's such an awesome league and most of the guys just go into college. Our top players in the USHL usually go into college and are first or second line guys right away.
"I didn't like it in Cedar Rapids because I was a goal scorer at C.C. and they didn't treat me like a goal scorer. They had me on the fourth line, so that's why I wanted to get out of there. Omaha treated me like a goal scorer. I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time."
On what it will feel like to play for Michigan ...
"I was just telling Ebby (Andrew Ebbett) the other day that it just hit me when we started getting our equipment in. You're walking out to the ice and you're skating in the rink with a big 'M' on your jersey. When you commit it's not like being in the locker room, being with the guys and wearing the jersey. It just hits you big time when you do that kind of stuff. The first game is going to be pretty amazing. I don't know how to describe it because I haven't felt it yet."
On his favorite U-M player ...
"The players I look up to are guys like (Andy) Hilbert, or (Jeff) Tambellini or (Brandon) Kaleniecki too, even though he's still on the team. I always admire guys that can shoot the puck. I just like watching. Everyday I watch Kal and I wish I could watch Tambellini shoot everyday and learn something from him. I just like watching those guys and seeing Kaleniecki's work ethic. I like to see how they shoot the puck and see the little things they do with shooting the puck. I always admire at how good they are with that."
On his favorite NHL players ...
"Joe Sakic and Brett Hull because they can shoot the puck."
On his favorite goal ...
"I had a few overtime goals in juniors but my biggest goal was my senior year (at C.C.), which was our year to win it kind of like U-M last year, there were a lot of seniors. We were number one and we played the second place team in the state (Farmington) for the state quarterfinals, it wasn't even the final. In Michigan high school hockey you have 1,000 people at every game. They sold out Compuware's arena, which is like 4,000 people, so it was pretty cool. We won 4-3 and I had a hat trick and the game-winning goal. That was a pretty big game for me. I was pretty excited about that."
On if he has any Tim Miller stories ...
"It was just funny how once he committed to Michigan he didn't wear anything but Michigan clothes the rest of the year. The guy must have spent about $10,000 on Michigan apparel in the next week."
On what is happening for him to have a good game ...
"For me to have a good game I definitely have to be a plus or even. If I'm getting scoring chances, getting open and being plus or even at the end of the game or getting chances and being good defensively then it's a good game. If I'm getting scoring chances and I'm still minus one but I have two goals then I don't think that's a good game. It's good offensively but that was my biggest thing last year that I struggled with, having a complete game defensively and offensively. If I have a good game it's getting a lot of scoring chances, being a plus or even and playing well defensively.
"(To get chances) I think I have to get myself in a good position to get the puck. I need to work hard out of the corners to get myself open and get shots on net."
On how quickly he can name his 10 classmates ...
"Naurato, Swystun, Bailey, Miller, Sauer, Mitera, Johnson, Turnbull, Cogliano, MacVoy .......... Fardig."
Naurato zipped through nine of his fellow 10 freshmen in 12 seconds until he was stumped by Danny Fardig. A few final hints helped him finish the list in 20 seconds.
Checking In with ... Schedule
Sept. 12 -- forward Jason Bailey
Sept. 13 -- forward Andrew Cogliano
Sept. 14 -- forward Danny Fardig
Sept. 15 -- defenseman Jack Johnson
Sept. 16 -- forward Zac MacVoy
Sept. 19 -- forward Tim Miller
Sept. 20 -- defenseman Mark Mitera
Sept. 21 -- forward Brandon Naurato
Sept. 22 -- goaltender Billy Sauer
Sept. 23 -- forward Tyler Swystun
Sept. 26 -- forward Travis Turnbull
Contact: Matt Trevor (734) 763-4423
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