Naurato Stays Mum On Ivankovic Injury In New Interview On WCSX

Last time Michigan head men's hockey coach Brandon Naurato spoke with Jim O'Brien on 94.7 WCSX, the team was heading back from World Juniors and feeling good about themselves. They were also relatively healthy, including in net -- but an injury to starting goaltender Jack Ivankovic has presented a whole new challenge for the Wolverines.

Ivankovic exited a Jan. 10 win over Notre Dame with an undisclosed injury that Naurato at the time said would sideline him for "a long time." Fast-forward a few weeks, and the Wolverines have ripped off four straight wins with Ivankovic out and have risen to the No. 1 spot in the national rankings. As for Ivankovic, Naurato is choosing to remain as tight-lipped as possible about the netminder's injury and any timetable for a return, as he was asked about it during the latest "Coffee With The Coach" on "Big Jim's House." Naurato also downplayed the importance of giving concrete injury updates in the first place, or withholding any information that he might have.

"It just doesn't matter, it's more out of respect to -- if I knew exactly what day he's coming back, I'd just tell everyone so they didnt ask," Naurato said. "But like, in a funny way, it's just, out of respect for the kid, it doesn't matter if I say a week, a month, a year, I'm not a doctor. So, I don't have 100% accuracy on my assessment."

Interestingly enough, college hockey teams handle injury information similarly to NHL teams. Injuries are typically vague, like "upper body" and "lower body," because it's fairly common for teams to test an injured player if they know what he's dealing with ahead of the game.

In the meantime, the Wolverines have rallied around freshman backup goalie Stephen Peck. They've allowed only nine goals over their last four games with Peck in goal. They'll look to keep it rolling and maintain their No. 1 status when they get back to game action on Friday and Saturday against top riveal Michigan State, including the annual "Duel in the D" on Saturday.

You can listen to "Coffee With The Coach" every Thursday in the 8:00 hour on 94.7 WCSX.