Thursday, November 22, 2007

Wolverines sign trio for '08-09 season

The University of Michigan signed forwards Robbie Czarnik (Washington) and David Wohlberg (South Lyon) and defenseman Greg Pateryn (Sterling Heights) for the 2008-09 season on Wednesday afternoon.

Czarnik and Wohlberg are with the United States National Under-18 Team in Ann Arbor, while Pateryn is playing in the United States Hockey League with the Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets.

"I've seen (Czarnik and Wohlberg) improve since they went (to the NTDP)," said U-M head coach Red Berenson. "I think they'll be solid players when they get here. Czarnik might be a little more of an opportunist type. If you had to compare them in a general way, I could compare Czarnik a little bit to Chad Kolarik. And I could compare Wohlberg a little bit to (Kevin) Porter. That's a little bit. We'll have to wait and see how they come along. They're both good players."

Pateryn is signed for next season, but may not report to Ann Arbor until the 2009-10 season. Last year, he was an All-State selection playing for Brother Rice High School.

"He really has a love for Michigan and Michigan hockey," said Michigan associate coach Mel Pearson. "He's playing in Ohio and we have an agreement with him that we'll reevaluate him at the end of the year. It's a pretty big jump from Michigan high school hockey into college and I think that's one of the reason's he left his senior year and went down into the USHL -- he's played very well there. He might need another year, so we're going to reevaluate that at the end of the season and sit down with Greg and just see if another year would make sense for him and us."

Kolarik and Porter are the lone seniors on Michigan's roster this season.

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