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A Cog in Edmonton's Wheel
TUESDAY | OCTOBER 9, 2007
This past spring, Andrew Cogliano, the 25th overall draft choice in the 2005 NHL draft, opted to leave Michigan and try his hand at making the Edmonton Oilers' roster. After earning a spot on Edmonton's opening-night roster, Cogliano quickly proved his worth, tallying his first career point in his Oilers debut.
Last night, the former Wolverine returned to the state of Michigan, facing off against the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-2 loss. In just his third game in the NHL, Cogliano notched his first career goal, a feat that had added significance because it was scored in front of family, friends and a trio of former teammates -- U-M juniors Brandon Naurato and Travis Turnbull and senior Chad Kolarik.
"Obviously, it's unbelievable to see him out there and see him doing so well," said Turnbull. "Even playing one game in the NHL is an accomplishment, and he's got three points in three games. I think he's off to a pretty good start."
Naurato and his teammates got to their seats early to watch warmups. Cogliano must have noticed where they were sitting since he scored into the goal closest to his former teammates. "It was just unbelievable, even seeing him in warmups with that jersey on," remarked Naurato. "We're best friends from here and former roommates, so I know all the small, different, weird things he does for warmups, and we were laughing about that. Seeing him wheel around was really cool. We were just so excited that he scored and that he got to come to Detroit and we got to see him after. He's just the same kid whether he plays in the NHL or he plays for Michigan. He's a great guy."
"When he almost scored we were going nuts," continued Naurato. "All the Red Wings fans were looking at us like we were crazy. But then we saw him break the puck out and I think Joni Pitkanen took it wide off of a drop pass from Robert Nilsson. We saw Cogs coming down the boards and were like, 'Oh, man, get through, get through.' He got through and scored and we were just going nuts. It was like we were the only ones in the whole crowd celebrating, and everyone was looking at us. We were standing the whole game waiting for him to score again. It was awesome."
Kolarik broke down his former center's play throughout the night. "He was just moving his feet last night; he was the fastest skater on the ice," announced Kolarik. "It was unbelievable to know someone and to have played with someone like that. I realized how good he was and how fast he really is. He's a beautiful skater -- he's a better skater than Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk. It was unbelievable. He did a lot of things well. He was winning faceoffs -- he won more faceoffs last night than he did here with me!" Captain Practices
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 5, 2007
Just as fans are curious about the 12-member freshman class, so are Michigan's coaches. NCAA rules have limited the coaching staff to just six hours of ice time with the squad over the three weeks leading up to the exhibition season (NCAA rules state that this season's first official hockey practice with coaches begins Oct. 6). In their stead, captain Kevin Porter, alternate captain Tim Miller and senior Chad Kolarik have taken over the helm as amateur coaches. "These practices are kind of tough," noted Porter (center of photo). "Without the coaches there, some of the guys like to screw around a little bit more. Trying to be a leader and get everyone to do the drills is kind of tough. They don't like to listen sometimes, so you have to yell at them a little bit."
Running through some hockey drills over a few hours sounds easy enough, but the trio of pseudo coaches learned about some of the intricacies that go into coaching. "I get really nervous when I'm demonstrating the drills," Kolarik admitted. "I always mess up and then they yell at me to get out of the way. And my shoulder is always in the way when I'm drawing on the board."
For Porter, it's proper whistle usage that can result in health hazards. "Obviously, for some of the drills we had to have a whistle, and I can't breathe out of my nose. I gave it to Chad because if I had a whistle in my mouth, I would have passed out." Luckily for Porter, Kolarik was ready to help him out. "I'm great with the whistle. I haven't mastered the art of the dry erase board though."
On a more serious note, Miller explained the situation well from the instructor's side of things. "You feel more like you're a coach than a player," noted Miller. "You have to worry about making sure everyone else is doing the drills right while you're trying to do them yourself. I've talked to Ports about how it's a little bit tougher challenge to do both at the same time."
Despite the somewhat looser restrictions on the practices, the captains stress to their teammates what their purpose is each afternoon. "We had a meeting before we started captain practices about how we had to take it seriously because we have such a hard start to the season," stated Miller. "Everybody is on board and everyone knows we have to work hard." | | | | |
