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Take that, Badger-man! [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Hockey Weekly Is Swept Up In Off-Ice Controversy Comment Count

Alex.Drain February 2nd, 2022 at 12:25 PM

I had not initially planned to do a Hockey Weekly this week because we had one last week and there isn't much new news to report on-ice. The team bulldozed the Wisconsin Badgers this past weekend, as expected, and now coast into their bye week in first place in the B1G standings, sending their four Olympians off to China. Unfortunately, the reason I decided to write this piece is two elements related to the program that have come out in the past week, one being a FOIA request made public pertaining to the murky WMU GLI cancelation, and the other being an MLive article detailing an ongoing investigation into the program. This will be a shorter piece than normal, as I'll quickly share a few takes on the Wisconsin weekend before then talking (briefly) about both of those off-ice matters: 

 

Badger Revenge 

On-ice, the Michigan Wolverines swiftly took care of business this weekend against a bad Wisconsin team. It was sweet revenge for the worst loss Michigan has suffered this season, when they lost to the Badgers at home back on October 29. Neither game was particularly close, 5-1 and 6-2 victories, though the second game had a wild flurry in the second period that temporarily made it interesting. Here's a few HockeyBullets from the weekend: 

- Ethan Edwards, continued. Last week I discussed the terrific play of Ethan Edwards, who has been coming on strong. This weekend he had the highlight reel moment of his season thus far: 

Edwards continues to grow as the season rolls around and now it's showtime for him. With Owen Power out of the lineup attending a Team Canada Olympic camp in Switzerland, Edwards was bumped up to the top defensive pairing with captain Nick Blankenburg. That's a lot of responsibility for a freshman, because that pair will draw top assignments over the two weekends of games during the Olympics. Edwards seems up to the task, though, and I'm excited to watch him in this final month of the regular season. 

- Speaking of Edwards, the defense scores a lot of goals. The Saturday game saw the team's defensemen score 3/6 goals that Michigan scored and the team now has two defensemen with double digit goals in under thirty games played (Luke Hughes has 10 and Nick Blankenburg has 11). Add in Owen Power with 3 and Ethan Edwards now with 2 and, and that's a lot of goal scoring to come from your blue line. But scoring goals is not the only way that the back end contributes to the offense for Michigan. They are a central component of driving offensive play whether or not they're the ones who actually put the puck in the net, either by facilitating breakouts or controlled entries, joining the rush, or pinching down in the offensive zone to aid the cycle. That large role they play is why they get the goals, which often come on plays looking like this: 

Mobility is key for Michigan's blue line. An old-time(y) defenseman with skating issues isn't making the play that Luke Hughes makes. The goals Michigan's defensemen score look like that because skating are their big assets. The team has a stable of smooth skating defensemen who are comfortable moving up and joining the play, which is why they play a big role in the offense, and then sometimes they get rewarded with having the goals attributed to themselves alone. The Michigan Colorado Wolverines Avalanche, basically. 

- A nice weekend for the non-Olympic guys. It was decently reassuring that, in the last weekend of games before the Olympics, Michigan got some solid offensive contributions from players who will not be heading to China. After all, they are the players who will be leaned upon to deliver Michigan victories against MSU and OSU in a couple weeks. The first goal I really liked from that crew is this one: 

Keaton Pehrson brings the puck down the wall and below the goal line before losing possession. 5th year senior Michael Pastujov gets involved in the ensuing puck battle, winning it and shielding possession of the puck to move it to the forehand, then delivering a good pass to a high danger area. There, Philippe LaPointe sees the open ice, moves to it, and receives the feed to wire it by the goalie. Beautiful play all around from three guys who will be in the lineup next time we see the team at Yost. 

Another goal I liked was this one by Mackie Samoskevich: 

Edwards leads the entry, puck bounces around to Beecher on the far side, who slides down the wall and makes a nice pass to Samoskevich in the slot, who rips it by the netminder. Beecher, Samoskevich, and Edwards are all drafted players, but none are going to the Olympics, making them exactly the kinds of folks that will need to step up. This goal showcases how much skill will still be on the roster even when you subtract Beniers, Brisson, Power and Johnson. 

- Erik Portillo, still good. Thanks to this weekend's performance (three goals against in two games), he's now up to a .953 SV% and a 1.54 GAA in nine games since Christmas. Michigan is 7-0-2 in those games and he's allowed two or fewer goals in eight of the nine games. Pretty good! 

[AFTER THE JUMP: one more take, and some off-ice deliberation]

Still OSU and Michigan at the top of the standings [JD Scott]

- Quick B1G standings update. The other games went pretty well for Michigan. Minnesota and Notre Dame, as well as OSU and PSU, split the two games in their respective series. ND and PSU's wins were in OT/SO, meaning that Minnesota and Ohio State got 4/6 points, but those two competitors both dropping points is what Michigan wanted. The Maize & Blue now lead the conference with 39 points in 18 games played, narrowly ahead of OSU's 37 points (also with 18 games played). Minnesota sits in third with 31 points (but 16 games played), and Notre Dame has 26 points (also with 16 games played). Thus, even if Minn/ND were to sweep the two games they have in hand, Michigan would still have leads over those two teams, meaning that the Wolverines have sole possession of first in the conference. 

Michigan now has the bye week while the other three teams all draw one of the bottom three squads. Any instance of OSU/Minn/ND not winning in regulation should be considered a win for Michigan. The following weekend Michigan gets MSU at home and neutral (Duel in the D) while Ohio State plays Minnesota. To me, that's the biggest weekend in question. If Michigan can sweep the lowly Spartans (even with four players subtracted from the roster), and OSU/Minnesota split, then Michigan is in a pretty strong position to win the conference. If OSU sweeps Minnesota, or Michigan is dropping points to MSU, then things get a bit dicier. 

Michigan is in solid position overall, but we're now entering a crucial stretch where this team will have to face the new challenge of a heavily modified roster. They have a lead in the conference but it is by no means over and four teams still have a shot to make noise. Continuing to play well is a must. One last note: after this weekend, Michigan has officially clinched a top four seed in the B1G Tournament, guaranteeing at least one postseason home game at Yost. If you're seed #2-4, you host a best 2 out of 3 series in the quarterfinals. If you're seed #1, you get a bye to the semifinals and then host a semifinal game against the lowest remaining seed for a one game matchup. 

 

A rematch of this game never happened, and we're getting more details as to why [Bryan Fuller]

Revisiting the GLI saga 

As consistent readers of this column may remember, Michigan was embroiled in controversy back in December after backing out of one of two scheduled "Great Lakes Invitational" games, slated to be against Western Michigan, due to vague "health and welfare protocols" for the players. Michigan claimed that their roster was short due to the World Juniors as well as injuries (true), but they also had enough players to field a lineup, which it did one day after the canceled game was set to be played, against Michigan Tech. Mel Pearson maintained that the decision was beyond his control and made by a team of Michigan doctors, but it nevertheless sent much of the college hockey world into a frenzy. I wrote about the incident back in early January, which you can read here. 

Last week we got some new details on what went down. Disgruntled Tech fans posing as muckraker journalists smartly remembered that university correspondence is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and filed to see email records relating to the days of mid-December leading up to the cancelation decision. They published their findings on the site TechHockeyGuide.com, and I'll drop the text of the email from Mel Pearson to Sport Administrator Josh Richelew quoted in the piece right here: 

Josh

Per our previous discussion, I highly recommend we consider the cancellation of our upcoming games versus Michigan Technological University and Western Michigan University.

As early as this summer we discussed the merits of hosting two games over the holiday break and my concerns in doing so. As it stands today, we will be missing 9 of our 26 available skaters because of injury, heightened COVID concerns or the World Junior Championship. This results in less than the full allowable complement of players we are able to dress for a contest.

With two weeks off and only three days to prepare, the uncertainty of COVID, raised mental health concerns, the increased risk for potential injuries and the current challenges with international travel, we are putting a tremendous burden on the health and safety of our limited roster of student athletes. Because of this, these scheduled contests are a growing cause for concern.

Thank you for considering this matter in question.

The rest of the piece reads like a collection of tears from a salty Michigan Tech fan, which it is, but the investigative work to uncover this email is indeed commendable. It does appear quite clear that Mel Pearson did not want to play either GLI game, but it also doesn't illustrate that he lied about it being outside his control. In fact, given his stated preference in this email, the fact they didn't cancel both games would suggest that the decision about whether or not to play was probably made by someone else.

Moreover, the email doesn't add much fuel to the popular line of thinking that Mel wanted to cancel because he thought Michigan was going to lose both. That's still possible, but the only reasons discussed in the email have to do with the perceived constraints placed on the players Michigan would have available, which does jibe with the line of argument Michigan used in the press release about "health and welfare protocol". Is it possible that Mel and the administration sat down in a room and decided to use "health and welfare protocol" as their front for trying to cancel games they thought they would lose (hindsight: Michigan did not lose the one game that was played- it ended in a 0-0 tie)? I mean, sure. But that's not what this email shows at all. And it definitely does not show that "Pearson was searching for excuses not to play either game" which was a line from this Tech Hockey Guide piece by said salty Tech fan/author. 

There are reasons not to believe much of what Mel is saying publicly right now due to reasons I will touch on in the next segment, but also this FOIA discovery was not the smoking gun that the Tech writer made it out to be. Rather it points to a plausible scenario straddling both the program's story and the popular position held by outraged college hockey observers: that Mel is not telling the whole truth when he talked about being disappointed that they couldn't play, but also that it probably was somewhat outside his control as to whether the games actually happened. More crucially, we still have no definitive proof as to why the WMU game was canceled (cowardice? or legitimate health concerns?). My hope is that this is the end of this saga, because I'm not sure there's anything else to be said about the topic, nor that any new details will come to light. Especially when there's a much bigger fish to fry now...

 

The man behind the bench is under investigation [James Coller]

A few brief words about the ongoing investigation 

Saturday morning brought with it a rather surprising development, the revelation that an investigation into the Michigan Hockey program has been going on for several months. The article, published in MLive, contains the text of a letter dated October 28, 2021, and sent from the DC-based law firm WilmerHale to an anonymous person who had filed four allegations against the Michigan Hockey program with the University of Michigan's Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office. The letter states that the firm had been hired to conduct an investigation into the allegations. The letter then details the allegations, which I will quote below: 

  • Head coach Mel Pearson “instructing students to lie on their COVID-19 tracing forms.”

  • Pearson and Director of Hockey Operations Rick Bancroft discriminating against female staffers and “creating a toxic work environment for female support staff.”

  • Pearson retaliating against a student athlete for “raising concerns” about the hockey team’s culture.

  • Bancroft knowing about sexual misconduct committed by the late athletic doctor Robert Anderson

Not much else is known at this time, other than that the investigation is ongoing. Mel Pearson was asked about it in his media availability Monday and maintains that the report will exonerate him and that the anonymous person in question is a "disgruntled employee":

The Michigan Daily is continuing to report on the story and are digging into individual anecdotes, that could provide context. Yesterday they reported via two anonymous sources that female support staff are not allowed into the locker room to perform work duties. I would continue to follow those reporters (Connor Earegood and Paul Nasr) as they do their own investigations. 

I have nothing else to say in the way of takes about this story because it's far too early to make the sharing of takes a worthwhile endeavor. We don't have many hard facts here and it makes much more sense to sit back and wait to see what the report has to say before passing judgement. It is not a productive use of my time or your time to shoot from the hip and give searing takes based purely on speculation when we will get a much clearer picture in the future. 

What I will say is that Mel continuing to coach is rather odd here. Often times, when investigations of substantial magnitude begin, the person who is the subject of the allegations is placed on administrative leave. Yet, Mel is still coaching, which could mean any number of things about the way the university views the severity of the allegations. Although, obviously, the report's findings will have the ultimate say in the matter. It is disappointing to have to spend so much time dealing with off-ice scandal, but only time will tell to what degree any of the allegations are true or not, and until that point, there's no sense on stewing on this much. 

Comments

UAUM

February 2nd, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^

Other than the covid stuff, the allegations are just recitations of the claims.  Contrast that with the Flores lawsuit, which has dates, images, and lots of detail.  If there were any credible evidence that Mel discriminated against anyone, the University would have put him on leave for its own CYA.  For these reasons, I believe Mel that this is just a disgruntled employee.

Joined: 11/03/2010

MGoPoints: 2162

enlightenedbum

February 2nd, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^

The policy reported in the Daily that bars female support staff from the locker room is not great institutionally.  Apparently a change from Red's which was players had to have some clothing on while women were doing their jobs in the locker room.

Joined: 06/06/2009

MGoPoints: 64411

crg

February 2nd, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^

I would argue the contrary: the fact that both Pearson & Bancroft are still performing all duties despite it being 3+ months since the law firm investigation started (meaning the school was probably aware for much longer) is a good sign that the administrators feel confident in their innocence.  The admins (from regents down to individual programs) are all keenly sensitized to prompt reaction to potential scandals now (with the various issues of the last few years).  I doubt any of them would want to risk further backlash if they thought this had strong supporting evidence.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

bronxblue

February 2nd, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^

Good stuff.  I think the policy about women not being in the locker room is troubling because it's a classic way of limiting women's abilities to grow at places because they can't do key parts of their jobs due to some puritanical concerns about propriety.  And yes, I recognize that a counter-argument is that having young men and women in the same locker room could lead to harassment but, well, if you can't not be an ogre in front of women now that's a player problem that needs to be fixed, not hide.

I will say that the coverage about that letter is a bit weird to me because so much of it is just restating a restatement by a law firm of the claims made in the original complaint.  There's no judgment either way in that letter as to the claims' efficacy, and so we might as well wait until more comes out before jumping to any conclusions.  This isn't Brian Flores filing a lawsuit with lots of evidence; my guess is the letter is almost verbatim what the claimant said and that's it. 

This article does a fine job stating that but it has been tiring to see certain people, including some people elsewhere who should probably know better, somewhat aggressively run with the worst possible interpretations of the situation to analogize this situation to the very real Anderson debacle, which feels like an attempt at a "cheap pop" when it's not necessary.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171702

crg

February 2nd, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^

I find concerns about that policy *potentially* overblown - I would like to know what the policies are for male staffers being present in women's locker rooms.  If it is the same, then it seems uniform enough (at least to counter the gender-bias arguments)... the AD should make that policy uniform and appropriate through all sports anyway.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

crg

February 2nd, 2022 at 3:08 PM ^

Was this done at the request of the student athletes themselves?  Or was this Mel's policy at Tech and he was just importing his style into here?  I think too many people are jumping the gun and assuming there was some boorish and/or misogynistic motivation behind this policy.  You say Red's policy was that there is no undressing while the female staff are in the locker room - were there defined hours for this?  It would be embarrassing for a kid to have walking from the showers to their locker without knowing a female was in the men's locker room (and conversely, what about male staff in the female locker room?).

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

4roses

February 2nd, 2022 at 3:34 PM ^

I have no insight into these or any other type of workplace investigations so I can't say that Mel continuing to coach is or isn't odd. But I would think the answer to the question lies in what the common (or acceptable) practice is when a Title IX complaint is filed. I imagine this is not the first complaint filed to U of M's Title IX office. What have they done in the past? That should be the starting point at least.  

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 5854