“It doesn’t take an expert to walk in the rink most nights and tell you who the best player on the ice is,” Mayotte said. “A lot of people can figure that out. It’s ‘Well, who do I know that they know? Who do I know that they trust, that they rely on? How can I make that connection with them?’ ”
A central job of coaching is building a network. Each coach focuses on a specific region: Pearson has strong ties in Minnesota, Mayotte uses the connections he made throughout the Northeast in a previous coaching job and associate head coach Bill Muckalt covers his home region of western Canada. Between the three, they have the Wolverines’ key hotbeds covered.
Recruiting happens 11 months out of the year, whether that means United States Hockey League or USA development camps over the summer or different junior league games during the fall, winter and spring.
When the Wolverines’ have road games during the regular season, either Muckalt or Mayotte is usually out trying to find the next generation of Michigan players. When the Wolverines are playing at home, the coaches try to watch some recruits in the area before the game.
The system works because the coaches build trust with people in their area. When, for example, Muckalt is recruiting a player in British Columbia, there are five or six people the player can reach out to that will speak to Muckalt’s character and Michigan’s program as a whole.
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A player and their family have to be all in at such a young age, it’s not surprising that many of them have family connections to the NHL.
Brisson is the son of a prominent NHL agent. Freshman forward Philippe Lapointe’s dad, Martin, is a two-time Stanley Cup winner. Bordeleau’s dad, Sébastien, played in the NHL along with his grandfather, uncle and two great-uncles. As the game gets increasingly expensive and time-intensive, families that are already integrated into hockey culture are among the few with the means and desire to make the necessary investment into the sport.
Even players who grew up steeped in hockey don’t always take the most conventional path. Beniers’ road to Michigan gives a perfect — yet also unconventional — look into the recruiting process, and why forming connections early is critical.
“Well, it started with him telling me, ‘No,’ ” Mayotte said.
Mayotte had tried recruiting Beniers for three years when he was coaching at Providence College. In that process, he developed a strong relationship with Beniers and his family.
Wanting to stay close to home, Beniers initially committed to play at Harvard, but when the COVID-19 pandemic put the Ivy League’s season in question this summer, he decided to reconsider his options.
Mayotte got a call over the summer, letting him know that Beniers was considering a switch. Beniers hadn’t seriously considered Michigan in his first round of recruiting, but had been to Ann Arbor as part of the U.S. National Team Development Program which played against the Wolverines last season.
“He really liked the atmosphere here,” Mayotte said. “He loved the arena. He loved the game. He loved the feel.”
Beniers’ parents told Mayotte that after visiting, he wondered if he should have taken a more serious look at Michigan.
Late in the summer, Beniers called Mayotte with his final decision.
“Hey coach, you know, I really appreciate everything that you did,” Mayotte recalls Beniers telling him. “I know that Michigan is a great place, but growing up in Boston, I’ve always wanted to be close to home, so… Go Blue, I’m coming to Michigan.”
When it came down to it, it was a decision about hockey. He wanted to be able to play during his draft year, and he thought the Big Ten was most likely to make that happen. Mayotte served as a familiar face in a program Beniers knew little about. Without the connection, it’s unlikely he would have ended up in Ann Arbor.
“That’s the biggest thing when you’re making a change quickly,” Mayotte said. “You never really know exactly what a place is going to be like… A lot of times, it comes down to: Who do you trust? Do you trust the people that you’re going to play for?”
Michigan builds that trust through the reputation of its coaches and the program as a whole. And it has the track record to back it up.
The Wolverines’ alumni — Quinn Hughes, Kyle Connor, Kevin Porter — serve as proof to recruits that the Wolverines can deliver on their promises.
“You have to be sincere,” Mayotte said. “If you tell them something’s gonna happen, it has to follow through.”
For Pearson, this year’s historic 10-freshman haul is evidence that he’s proven himself as someone who follows through.