Daily Brews: Michigan’s Jacob Truscott named captain for Team 102

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain skating.”

Last week, it was officially announced that senior defenseman Jacob Truscott would be the next team captain for the Michigan Wolverines.

Truscott will be looking to take the hockey team to the next level this season. Similar to the football team, Michigan hockey has reached the Frozen Four each of the past two seasons, but has fallen short in consecutive years.

Team 102 returns a plethora of talent including defensemen Seamus Casey, Ethan Edwards, and forwards Dylan Duke, Rutger McGroarty, Frank Nazar, TJ Hughes, and Jackson Hallum. Michigan was also active in the transfer portal adding defensemen Tyler Duke and Marshall Warren, forwards Chase Pletzke and Josh Eernisse, and goalie Jacob Barczewski.

The transfer additions are in hopes of mitigating the key losses of All-Universe defender Luke Hughes, forwards Mackie Samoskevich and Nolan Moyle, goalie Erik Portillo, and a few other depth-providing players.

However, the elephants in the room are the decisions facing 2022 Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli and linemate Gavin Brindley. Both will hear their names called in the first round of this week’s NHL Draft and will then decide if they will return for one more run in Ann Arbor together.

On a more personal level, Truscott will be looking to return to the form he reached right before his junior season was prematurely ended due to injury.

In Truscott’s final appearance last season on January 21, Truscott had one of his best career performances in a Michigan sweater. Facing Big Ten Goliath Minnesota on the road, Truscott scored two goals including a game-winner 48 seconds into overtime to secure a 5-4 victory for the Wolverines.

Truscott finished the shortened season with four goals, 12 assists, and 16 points. Three of those four goals came in the final three games of the season for the former 2020 fifth-round selection of the Vancouver Canucks.

Regardless of who decides to stay, leave, or commit, Truscott is prepared to lead this team as an anchor on the blue line.