Assembling the Puzzle

Potulny’s Efforts Setting Strong Foundation at Northern Michigan

by Christopher Boulay/CHN Writer (@chrismboulay)

Defining success in a rebuild is relative and depends upon the program. Typically, it’s bringing the team back to a winning standard since lost, either temporarily or for the first time in a long while.

These don’t always go smoothly and in straight lines. And even if you have immediate success, or failure, the situation can still turn out the opposite.

For Grant Potulny, his early time behind the bench produced immediate results. To be a total rebuild, that must be sustained.

Potulny, in his third season at the Wildcats helm, posted two 20-plus win seasons in his first two years after joining from Minnesota, his alma mater, where he was an assistant for eight years.

Taking over for long-time Wildcats coach Walt Kyle was no easy task. The team struggled in Kyle’s last few years, and Potulny’s immediate success proved an impressive achievement. The first season was such a success that he signed an eight-year contract extension in March 2018, keeping him behind the bench through 2026.

“I was really fortunate when I stepped into the program that Walt had done a really good job having good kids and good players,” Potulny said. “For whatever reason, they didn’t have success. You typically don’t step into a situation like I did. I felt like the team was probably ready to take a step, no matter who was behind the bench. Fortunately for me, Walt and the staff had done a great job.”

Potulny’s arrival was quick and the adjustment wasn’t entirely seamless coming from his time with the Gophers. Not only did he have to adjust from the big-name school that historically acts as a landing spot for some of the best NCAA recruits, but he had to learn all about a program that was mostly new to him.

“To be honest, I didn’t know any of the guys on the team.”

“On purpose, when I watched the video, I watched just to see how they played, to see how much time I had to spend planning on how we were going to play,” Potulny said. “I tried not to watch players because I wanted to have fresh eyes on them. But when you turn the tape on, you see Phil (Beaulieu) and (Troy) Loggins and some of these guys and you go ‘Whoa, they fit pretty good.’ And then you get the rest of the guys and they have the right attitude and things start going OK. All of a sudden, success breeds success. Hopefully we can continue it.”

The 2019-20 season got off to a strong start with a split at home against Michigan State and then a tie and a win on the road at Boston University. The Wildcats impressed during the weekend at Agganis Arena, first in a furious third-period comeback Friday night, to a strong, 60-minute performance on Saturday. The defense and penalty kill, two expected strengths for this year’s team, kept Northern in a position to win the entire evening.

Much of the defensive success is due to senior defenseman and captain Beaulieu’s leadership.

“He’s an unbelievable captain, and for us, he’s the perfect captain," Potulny said. "He’s a great student, he’s a great person, he’s a really hard-working kid and he’s a great player. It checks all the boxes. He’s really personable. He’s got a relationship with all the guys and he’s great with the freshman. I think everyone knows what kind of player he is.”

Some of Northern’s younger players will need to mature quickly on the ice to help build after last year’s losses. The team lost goaltender Atte Tolvanen, forwards Denver Pierce, Adam Rockwood and Troy Loggins. Also gone are defensemen James Vermeulen, Tony Bretzman, Ryan Black and Connor Frantti.

“Now, the hard part is to continue (the past success) with new guys every year, and continue the expectation of what we’re trying to build as a program,” Potulny said. “I like the guys we have. We work hard. We know who we are. We try to stick to it.”

One player that should play a big role in the present and future of the team is sophomore forward Vincent de Mey. Part of Potulny’s first recruiting class, de Mey struggled as a freshman, but excelled in the early goings of this year. He scored the eventual game winner on Saturday night, and his five goals and six points lead the team.

“We were excited about a lot of (the first recruiting class),” Potulny said. “We were excited about a lot of them when we got them. … College hockey is tough for freshmen. We were kind of relying on maturation process for de Mey, (Ty) Readman and (Griffin) Loughran.”

For de Mey, his struggles last year were mainly due to bad luck. He played 29 games, but posted the same line then that he had in the four games this year.

“He had a bit of a disjointed year last year,” Potulny said. “He played in games, but right when he coming, and you can see when a guy is coming, he hurt his ankle and he was out for four or five games. Then, he comes back and it takes two or three games to come back into it. And then he got sick and he was out for another four or five games. ... He has a gift. He can really shoot a puck. We got to keep trying to find ways to get him the puck.”

Potulny’s experience recruiting and coaching in different situations is something that should benefit Northern over the next couple years. Next season will be the first where Potulny has all of his own recruits on the roster.

“At my old job, I had lots of 18-year-old freshmen,” Potulny said. “The guys that you get who have two or three years of junior hockey are quicker to transition (to the college game).

“Finding our niche recruiting was a little challenging to start. I think we’ve found it now. We stick to our recipe of guys who were proven scorers in junior hockey. There’s less unknowns with them. That’s what we’ve done. We really like the guys we have coming next year. For us, we have to do a lot of work on them early, but we want to make sure they are what we think they are, because you’ve got to make sure that you’re not getting lured into playing the ‘I hope they’re going to be a good player’ game. So we know what works for us and we stick to it.”

Recruiting at Northern obviously isn’t like recruiting at Minnesota. The players are different, but with the right touch, the results can be the same.

“I think at some of those programs, the hardest challenge is deciding who you’re going to take,” Potulny said. “That’s challenging on its own. Some people think it’s easy, but it’s not. For us, it’s making sure that the way we approach it is we try to build such a strong relationship with these potential student athletes. It’s not just an athletic decision, it’s a relationship (and) life decision.”

While there may not be the expectation to have the success hoped for last year, the Wildcats still can be a force in the WCHA. With Minnesota State and Bowling Green expected to roll to the top two spots, the middle is wide open, and if Northern can get an early jump in the conference standings, it’s far from crazy to think they can compete for home ice in the playoffs.

“Coming into the year, probably like everybody, you’re not really sure what you have,” Potulny said. “But especially for us because we lose the player of the year, the goalie of the year, you lose your first line and you lose four senior (defensemen). You’re not exactly sure who you are yet. I think we’re getting closer about figuring out who we are and who we can be.”

But before Northern can think about postseason hopes, the grueling WCHA conference schedule awaits. The Wildcats head to Ewigleben Ice Arena this weekend to face Ferris State and follow it up with two games at home against Alabama-Huntsville.

With two favorable weekends early in the conference calendar, it’s a great opportunity for Northern to make a statement to its opponents this year.

