Below is the feature I wrote that ran in the December issue of the print version of The Wolverine magazine:
Nagelvoort Racine team up in goal
Michigan's goaltending tandem of sophomore Zach Nagelvoort and junior Steve Racine admittedly haven't played up to their capabilities yet early in the 2014-15 season. The duo forms Michigan's last line of defense on the ice and both are convinced the friendly competition between them will eventually bring out the best in the other.
Despite Michigan hockey's long-term tradition of single-goaltender systems, both netminders believe they can use the competition from the other to help push themselves to the higher performance level expected of them.
Nagelvoort started four of Michigan's first seven games and Racine started three this season. Although Racine has been in net for Michigan's only two victories in those seven games, the numbers posted by the pair are almost identical. Nagelvoort's goals against per game is 3.68 and Racine's is 3.88. Nagelvoort's save percentage is .889 with Racine just a touch below that with .877.
"What I ask of a goalie is to make the routine saves and try to maintain a save percentage of over .900," said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. "Both of our goaltenders are under a .900 save percentage at this point (through the Michigan Tech games).
"It's been a changing story here at Michigan where in years past we had guys like Marty Turco and Josh Blackburn and Al Montoya. They carried the mail night after night. It's not too much pressure on the backup goaltender to play. Even Steve Shields, when he played, he played just about every game, and we had a lot of success with that. But nowadays, it's not unusual to have two goalies that can play. That's where we find ourselves now. So, whether we can call one goalie a starting goalie or not, really the starting goalie is the one who ends up having the better record and eventually shows that he can play more."
However, Berenson's needs on the ice are immediate.
"Right now, it's been kind of a partnership," Berenson said. "I think both goalies think that they can play and help our team win. What I need from our goalies is for them to understand that we need better goalkeeping. We also need our defense to play better. Our goalies have to give us a chance every night no matter who is playing. I think they've both proven in the past that they can."
Nagelvoort, a 6-1, 209 pound native of Holland, Michigan, played 24 games as a freshman last season, posting an 11-9-3 record with a 2.20 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. The save percentage mark was the second best ever for a Wolverine in a single season only surpassed by Shawn Hunwick's .932 save percentage in 2011-12. Nagelvoort also turned aside a whopping 63 shots in Michigan's opening game against Penn State in last season's inaugural Big Ten Championship tournament.
"For me, there have been flashes of me playing my game, but I don't think I've yet played 60 minutes of the kind of hockey I need to play," said Nagelvoort of this season's slow start. "That's where I'm working to get. We just haven't had a lot of bounces so far. We've faced a lot of adversity and I think honestly if there's ever a time you want to face adversity, it's early on so you have time to work out the kinks. I think we just haven't played the best that our team, as a whole, can play for 60 minutes."
A 6-3, 190 pound, native of Williamsville, New York, Racine heads into his third season at Michigan hoping to get back to the form that saw him voted onto the CCHA Championship All-Tournament team in his freshman year. In the season-ending tourney that year closing out 2012-13, Racine posted wins against Northern Michigan and Western Michigan before falling to Notre Dame in the tournament final.
"Our record is something we're not too happy with right now, but it's still early in the year," offered Racine regarding the start of the 2014-15 season. "I think everybody's still pretty excited about this team, the group of guys we have. We're really talented up front. I think it's going to all come together."
While the pair of netminders agree about the goals and the methods to accomplish those goals, the two have different playing styles.
"I'm not the biggest guy, obviously being just shy of 6-2," started Nagelvoort. "Most guys that are big these days try to fill the net and block shots. I would call myself more of a reactive goalie. I think I have elements of that blocking style and I play my angles well. I like to incorporate a lot of aggressive, reactive movement. The big thing that is important playing at this level or any level higher is that every time a puck hits you, you've got to hold onto it. That's something I'm working on, just eating everything up."
"Steve is a little bit more of a blocking goalie than I am," Nagelvoort continued. "He has a good glove hand. He's more of a reserved goalie than I am. I'm more out
and aggressive. His style is more basic."
Racine's assessment of their playing styles differed slightly.
"I'd say my goaltending style is more of relying on my instincts and athleticism," Racine said. "I try to use my instincts and be quick. We're always looking to fine tune certain things, being a little bit more aggressive"
Of Nagelvoort, Racine analyzed that "he's very confident and he's always in great position. He's got really good hands. I think his best asset is probably his glove hand."
One thing that both Nagelvoort and Racine agreed on decidedly was the support and friendly competition the other provided.
"Zach and I have a great relationship." Racine said with a smile. "I don't think we've ever had any differences. Obviously, we both want to play, but the coaches are going to make the decision about what's best for the team."
Nagelvoort even more strongly endorsed the advantages of having Racine as his partner.
"Having a guy like Steve is an advantage in that we push each other every single day," said Nagelvoort, "Obviously, there's the fact that you're not going to play every night. If you slip up, someone's going to take your job. That's the kind of relationship and situation that everybody needs in order to push yourself even more to get better.
"Everyone wants to play every game. If you don't, I think you're in the wrong sport. I don't see any negative to having someone there pushing you every day. It's too easy to be content with a practice or a game in which you can say 'I played pretty well, but we lost'. That's just never okay. It helps to have two guys that are just itching for your job so that you continue to be pushed to up your own game."
Michigan goaltending coach Josh Blackburn, himself a part of the long tradition of single-goalie systems that Michigan coach Berenson used from 1990 to 2005, thinks that challenge facing Nagelvoort and Racine might just be easier if one or the other was able to win the job outright.
"It's easier mentally when you know you're going to play rather than if you let in a bad goal and then you're thinking 'am I not playing tomorrow?', offered Blackburn. " It's a whole other beast. A lot of teams do it well, but I personally think it's much harder to play in a two-goalie system as oppose to a one-goalie system where it's easier to get into a groove."
Blackburn's assessment of his two goaltending projects' future was positive, but realistic.
"Nagelvoort's strength is his size and physical ability," said Blackburn. "But, he's young and I think that we simply need more consistency from him. Racine is one of the fastest goalies I've ever seen, but again he needs more consistency and better concentration for 60 minutes. Both of them are physically capable of playing the way we need them to.
"They're in a tough situation because our team is so young that we're going to make mistakes. We're going to give up bad chances. It's tough for them because we're not giving up tons of shots necessarily, but we have given up a breakaway or two every game or several odd man rushes. We're not making it easy on them either. I do think they're getting better and our ultimate goal is to get two consistent goalies."
One of the stated goals of Berenson and his coaching staff heading into the 2014-15 season was to ease the load on the goaltending tandem by playing tighter team defense.
Both Racine and Nagelvoort realize that while the ultimate responsibility is on their shoulders to keep the puck out of the net, they're reliant on their teammates to make that an easier task.
"Defense doesn't come down to only one guy," Racine pointed out. "It's everyone as a whole, communicating well and being in the right position. It's working hard, that's number one, you don't have to be skilled to play good defense. That's one thing I think the team's buying into now.'
"I need the guys in front of me to eliminate turnovers and, basically, limit shots," agreed Nagelvoort. "I think we've got the defensemen here that can do that. We have done that in flashes. We just need to do it for 60 minutes."
Berenson needs defensive responsibility from everyone, but his decades of experience in both the collegiate and professional brings him around to a standard truth in the game of hockey.
"I still think the goalie is the last line of defense,' Berenson said. "Even though our defense might break down, our best teams had goalies that would help make up for our mistakes. The teams with young defenses, like we have now, if they make a mistake thus far, the puck is in the net.
"We haven't had that big save or that timely save that keeps the puck out and maybe gives our team a little more confidence. If the goalie can't make that save, then the team is even more worried about making a mistake."
Berenson is relying on that progress from Nagelvoort and Racine to turn a disappointing start to the season into the kind of finish that includes championship hardware.
Nagelvoort Racine team up in goal
Michigan's goaltending tandem of sophomore Zach Nagelvoort and junior Steve Racine admittedly haven't played up to their capabilities yet early in the 2014-15 season. The duo forms Michigan's last line of defense on the ice and both are convinced the friendly competition between them will eventually bring out the best in the other.
Despite Michigan hockey's long-term tradition of single-goaltender systems, both netminders believe they can use the competition from the other to help push themselves to the higher performance level expected of them.
Nagelvoort started four of Michigan's first seven games and Racine started three this season. Although Racine has been in net for Michigan's only two victories in those seven games, the numbers posted by the pair are almost identical. Nagelvoort's goals against per game is 3.68 and Racine's is 3.88. Nagelvoort's save percentage is .889 with Racine just a touch below that with .877.
"What I ask of a goalie is to make the routine saves and try to maintain a save percentage of over .900," said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. "Both of our goaltenders are under a .900 save percentage at this point (through the Michigan Tech games).
"It's been a changing story here at Michigan where in years past we had guys like Marty Turco and Josh Blackburn and Al Montoya. They carried the mail night after night. It's not too much pressure on the backup goaltender to play. Even Steve Shields, when he played, he played just about every game, and we had a lot of success with that. But nowadays, it's not unusual to have two goalies that can play. That's where we find ourselves now. So, whether we can call one goalie a starting goalie or not, really the starting goalie is the one who ends up having the better record and eventually shows that he can play more."
However, Berenson's needs on the ice are immediate.
"Right now, it's been kind of a partnership," Berenson said. "I think both goalies think that they can play and help our team win. What I need from our goalies is for them to understand that we need better goalkeeping. We also need our defense to play better. Our goalies have to give us a chance every night no matter who is playing. I think they've both proven in the past that they can."
Nagelvoort, a 6-1, 209 pound native of Holland, Michigan, played 24 games as a freshman last season, posting an 11-9-3 record with a 2.20 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. The save percentage mark was the second best ever for a Wolverine in a single season only surpassed by Shawn Hunwick's .932 save percentage in 2011-12. Nagelvoort also turned aside a whopping 63 shots in Michigan's opening game against Penn State in last season's inaugural Big Ten Championship tournament.
"For me, there have been flashes of me playing my game, but I don't think I've yet played 60 minutes of the kind of hockey I need to play," said Nagelvoort of this season's slow start. "That's where I'm working to get. We just haven't had a lot of bounces so far. We've faced a lot of adversity and I think honestly if there's ever a time you want to face adversity, it's early on so you have time to work out the kinks. I think we just haven't played the best that our team, as a whole, can play for 60 minutes."
A 6-3, 190 pound, native of Williamsville, New York, Racine heads into his third season at Michigan hoping to get back to the form that saw him voted onto the CCHA Championship All-Tournament team in his freshman year. In the season-ending tourney that year closing out 2012-13, Racine posted wins against Northern Michigan and Western Michigan before falling to Notre Dame in the tournament final.
"Our record is something we're not too happy with right now, but it's still early in the year," offered Racine regarding the start of the 2014-15 season. "I think everybody's still pretty excited about this team, the group of guys we have. We're really talented up front. I think it's going to all come together."
While the pair of netminders agree about the goals and the methods to accomplish those goals, the two have different playing styles.
"I'm not the biggest guy, obviously being just shy of 6-2," started Nagelvoort. "Most guys that are big these days try to fill the net and block shots. I would call myself more of a reactive goalie. I think I have elements of that blocking style and I play my angles well. I like to incorporate a lot of aggressive, reactive movement. The big thing that is important playing at this level or any level higher is that every time a puck hits you, you've got to hold onto it. That's something I'm working on, just eating everything up."
"Steve is a little bit more of a blocking goalie than I am," Nagelvoort continued. "He has a good glove hand. He's more of a reserved goalie than I am. I'm more out
and aggressive. His style is more basic."
Racine's assessment of their playing styles differed slightly.
"I'd say my goaltending style is more of relying on my instincts and athleticism," Racine said. "I try to use my instincts and be quick. We're always looking to fine tune certain things, being a little bit more aggressive"
Of Nagelvoort, Racine analyzed that "he's very confident and he's always in great position. He's got really good hands. I think his best asset is probably his glove hand."
One thing that both Nagelvoort and Racine agreed on decidedly was the support and friendly competition the other provided.
"Zach and I have a great relationship." Racine said with a smile. "I don't think we've ever had any differences. Obviously, we both want to play, but the coaches are going to make the decision about what's best for the team."
Nagelvoort even more strongly endorsed the advantages of having Racine as his partner.
"Having a guy like Steve is an advantage in that we push each other every single day," said Nagelvoort, "Obviously, there's the fact that you're not going to play every night. If you slip up, someone's going to take your job. That's the kind of relationship and situation that everybody needs in order to push yourself even more to get better.
"Everyone wants to play every game. If you don't, I think you're in the wrong sport. I don't see any negative to having someone there pushing you every day. It's too easy to be content with a practice or a game in which you can say 'I played pretty well, but we lost'. That's just never okay. It helps to have two guys that are just itching for your job so that you continue to be pushed to up your own game."
Michigan goaltending coach Josh Blackburn, himself a part of the long tradition of single-goalie systems that Michigan coach Berenson used from 1990 to 2005, thinks that challenge facing Nagelvoort and Racine might just be easier if one or the other was able to win the job outright.
"It's easier mentally when you know you're going to play rather than if you let in a bad goal and then you're thinking 'am I not playing tomorrow?', offered Blackburn. " It's a whole other beast. A lot of teams do it well, but I personally think it's much harder to play in a two-goalie system as oppose to a one-goalie system where it's easier to get into a groove."
Blackburn's assessment of his two goaltending projects' future was positive, but realistic.
"Nagelvoort's strength is his size and physical ability," said Blackburn. "But, he's young and I think that we simply need more consistency from him. Racine is one of the fastest goalies I've ever seen, but again he needs more consistency and better concentration for 60 minutes. Both of them are physically capable of playing the way we need them to.
"They're in a tough situation because our team is so young that we're going to make mistakes. We're going to give up bad chances. It's tough for them because we're not giving up tons of shots necessarily, but we have given up a breakaway or two every game or several odd man rushes. We're not making it easy on them either. I do think they're getting better and our ultimate goal is to get two consistent goalies."
One of the stated goals of Berenson and his coaching staff heading into the 2014-15 season was to ease the load on the goaltending tandem by playing tighter team defense.
Both Racine and Nagelvoort realize that while the ultimate responsibility is on their shoulders to keep the puck out of the net, they're reliant on their teammates to make that an easier task.
"Defense doesn't come down to only one guy," Racine pointed out. "It's everyone as a whole, communicating well and being in the right position. It's working hard, that's number one, you don't have to be skilled to play good defense. That's one thing I think the team's buying into now.'
"I need the guys in front of me to eliminate turnovers and, basically, limit shots," agreed Nagelvoort. "I think we've got the defensemen here that can do that. We have done that in flashes. We just need to do it for 60 minutes."
Berenson needs defensive responsibility from everyone, but his decades of experience in both the collegiate and professional brings him around to a standard truth in the game of hockey.
"I still think the goalie is the last line of defense,' Berenson said. "Even though our defense might break down, our best teams had goalies that would help make up for our mistakes. The teams with young defenses, like we have now, if they make a mistake thus far, the puck is in the net.
"We haven't had that big save or that timely save that keeps the puck out and maybe gives our team a little more confidence. If the goalie can't make that save, then the team is even more worried about making a mistake."
Berenson is relying on that progress from Nagelvoort and Racine to turn a disappointing start to the season into the kind of finish that includes championship hardware.
