Players from rival Livingston County hockey teams form bond as Wolverines
ANN ARBOR — Former Hartland hockey star Johnny Druskinis isn’t the first athlete to find playing time scarce as a freshman in an elite college program, but at least he has someone to help him navigate a challenging transition.
Jay Keranen of Brighton has played in 39 of 40 games for the University of Michigan hockey team, which faces Quinnipiac in the Frozen Four at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Tampa, Fla. — but it took three seasons in and out of the lineup for him to earn a regular role for the Wolverines.
Keranen, a senior defenseman, has been a valuable sounding board for Druskinis, who hasn’t played since Dec. 10 for a team loaded with NHL draft picks.
“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him, because I was in the same spot,” Keranen said. “Show up every day and work hard and be a good teammate and your time will come. He understands that. He’s done a phenomenal job all year working hard. He’s just a great guy, great teammate.”
Druskinis played in eight straight games in back-to-backs against Minnesota, Wisconsin, Harvard and Michigan State, collecting two assists and seven blocked shots on defense.
“Me and Jay are pretty close,” said Druskinis, who helped Hartland win state Division 2 championships in 2018 and 2019. “I talked to him a lot. He gives a lot of good advice. He’s been here a long time. He’s a senior. He’s a good leader on this team, so I definitely look up to him and go to him for those things.”
Although he hasn’t played as much as he hoped, Druskinis has grown as a player, competing daily in practice against some of the top talent in the country.
Michigan’s roster includes sophomore defenseman Luke Hughes, the fourth overall pick by New Jersey in the 2021 NHL draft, and freshman forward Adam Fantilli, projected to be the second pick behind Canadian junior superstar Connor Bedard in this year’s draft.
“I’m just watching top guys, learning from those guys, learning from the coaches,” Druskinis said. “Just learning every day, getting better, so everything’s been going good.”
During his early years at Michigan, Keranen was able to practice daily against players like Owen Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL draft, and NHL Rookie of the Year favorite Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken, among others.
“Over the last couple years, I’ve grown so much,” Keranen said. “You just watch some of these elite players and try to emulate what they’re doing. Just competing against them every day is the best thing for development. It’s been awesome. Even this year, talking to coach (Brandon Naurato), there’s still things I’m getting better at, improving, learning.”
Druskinis and Keranen came to Michigan for a chance to win a national championship, something that's eluded the Wolverines since the last of their nine titles in 1998.
They are two victories away from becoming part of history. The Michigan-Quinnipiac winner will face Minnesota or Boston University for the national championship at 8 p.m. Saturday at Amalie Arena, home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. ESPN2 is televising the semifinals and championship game.
“It’s unbelievable being at Michigan,” Druskinis said. “It’s a fun time being here. Great hockey players, great guys to be around. It’s been a crazy ride this year. We’re pumped to go to the Frozen Four. We’ve worked hard for it, so we definitely deserve to be there.”
The Wolverines have been fueled by the memory of a 3-2 overtime loss to Denver in last year’s national semifinals. That Michigan team had seven first-round NHL draft picks, including four of the top five picks in 2021.
“We returned quite a few, about half the time, so I think that experience is huge, just that adversity of losing,” Keranen said. “We came up short of what our goal was. That really inspired us this offseason. This summer, we worked really hard. Now we’ve got a chance to go for it again, so we’re just super excited.”
Keranen moved between forward and defense through the early part of this season, but has settled in as a defenseman. He has one goal and four assists in 39 games. He didn’t play as a freshman in 2019-20, played 14 games in 2020-21 and 17 games in 2021-22.
“Once you’re kind of in the mindset of just staying at ‘D,’ it helps build that momentum, for sure,” Keranen said. “Just doing whatever I can to help the team win.”
The Wolverines recruit players from as far away as Sweden and have only three former Michigan high school hockey players on their roster. Two of those players are Druskinis and Keranen, who took a different route to major college hockey than most players at that level.
Both are thankful for the opportunity they had to play for two of the top high school programs in Michigan.
“Those developmental years, on and off the ice, were huge for me,” Keranen said. “Just figuring myself out and just establishing that work ethic and love for the game. That’s when I decided hockey was the route I wanted to go. Now I’m living out my dream. I’m super lucky to have the Brighton organization and that coaching staff in my life.”
Druskinis played two seasons of juniors in the United States Hockey League after completing his career at Hartland.
“Coach Rick (Gadwa) prepared me for juniors and then juniors prepares you for college,” Druskinis said. “I just want to thank the whole Hartland hockey staff for helping me get into junior hockey and going on from there.”
Druskinis and Keranen attended the Brighton-Hartland hockey state semifinal game together March 10 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth. Brighton won that game 4-3 in triple overtime.
“It was cool seeing all the overtimes,” Druskinis said. “It was tough to see Hartland lose, but I know Jay was pumped for Brighton. Hartland had a good run.”
— Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Players from rival Livingston County hockey teams form bond as Wolverines
