As he stepped off the ice for a post-practice interview on Monday, a couple teammates teased freshman forward Derek DeBlois about keeping a level head on his shoulders.

"Don’t forget where you came from, man,” they joked.

But talking with DeBlois reveals pretty quickly that the "stay humble" comments were only made in good fun. Less than one minute into the conversation with DeBlois, any questions of his early success and development were immediately attributed to teammates, linemates and the upperclassman leaders on the team.

DeBlois, who walked on to the No. 4 Michigan hockey team this season, is beginning to show those around him why he is ready to fill a role.

Saturday’s game against then-No. 10 Nebraska-Omaha marked just the third regular-season game that DeBlois has skated in, but the Rhode Island-native has wasted no time making his opportunities count.

Playing on the Wolverines' fourth line with senior right wing Scooter Vaughan and senior center Ben Winnett, DeBlois’ two assists on both of Vaughan’s goals led the freshman to the first multi-point game of his career on Saturday.

“It’s great playing with both (Vaughan and Winnett). They’re seniors with great leadership,” DeBlois said on Monday. “They tell me what to do, put me in the right spots. It’s good to go out and play hard because good things happen when we put it on net. We were fortunate to get a couple lucky bounces, and I was able to get a couple assists (Saturday).”

With so much veteran talent taking the ice each game this season for the Wolverines, Michigan coach Red Berenson can take the time to develop all of his freshman forwards, since he isn’t counting on them to score a ton of goals in their rookie seasons.

But DeBlois already has three assists to his name — two from Saturday and one from an Oct. 9 matchup at Bowling Green — and he has played in both of Michigan’s marquee matchups against then-No. 9 New Hampshire and Nebraska-Omaha.

“I think (DeBlois) may have been a little bit of an unknown coming in, compared to some of the other high-profile freshmen,” Winnett said after practice on Monday. “But it’s always nice to see a walk-on come in and not really expect a whole lot but work really hard and then end up getting up rewarded for it.

“You see kids like (junior forward) Luke Glendening come in as a small role as a freshman and look at him now as a junior, he’s grown so much as a player. Someone like (DeBlois) has the maturity and the outlook that I think he can do the same sort of thing.”

Glendening has been an obvious role model for DeBlois, as the two played together at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, along with freshman defender Mac Bennett. The familiar faces undoubtedly helped his transition to Michigan. In 47 games at Hotchkiss, DeBlois tallied 25 goals and 37 assists.

While DeBlois admits he still needs to “get stronger” to match the physicality that persists in the college game, he has made great strides in preparing to become a competitive collegiate player. Berenson called DeBlois “receptive” and “hungry … to do the right thing.”

“Every game he’s played, I’ve seen some good things from him, whether it’s his work ethic, his positioning — he’s very aware,” Berenson said. “He knows what he should be doing, trying to do the right thing. He’s been pretty patient with the puck, and he made that nice play to Vaughan on Vaughan’s first goal.

“I like his puck touches and I like his work ethic and it’s just a matter of him growing along as the season goes on … right now, he takes advantage of his ice time.”