With the Michigan hockey team running through a series of shooting and passing drills Tuesday afternoon, one individual stood out from among the rest.

And he wasn’t even on the ice.

In the near endzone stands, senior goaltender Bryan Hogan was moving laterally up and down Yost Ice Arena’s steps, testing the groin injury he suffered in the pre-game warmups at The Big Chill at the Big House on Dec. 11.

“It hasn't been fun at all,” Hogan said on Tuesday. “I’ve been working with (athletic trainer) Rick (Bancroft) with every little thing. He comes up with so many different techniques to work on, things I had no idea you could do to work the groin.

“We’ve been trying to get in shape now while trying to help my groin, so that’s the biggest thing right now … We just had a really hard workout today for rehab standards. It’s pretty much me and Rick right now. He’s my coach, and I have to listen to whatever he has to say.”

Last week, Hogan put on equipment for the first time since The Big Chill while working on moving from post-to-post and fielding a series of shots from a few Wolverines.

“It's week-to-week now,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said last Tuesday of the timetable for Hogan's return. “We think by the end of the month, he'll be skating and practicing. Until he starts practicing, there's no chance (he'll see game action). And he's going to need about a week of practice before we even think about putting him in a game.”

Sporting a Michigan hockey T-shirt and running shorts instead of his usual equipment in the Michigan coaches lounge yesterday, a slight look of moderate optimism was apparent on Hogan’s face in spite of his current situation.

The Highland, Mich. native said that a return might be possible against Michigan State on Jan. 29 at Joe Louis Arena, but considering he hasn’t fully practiced yet and is only at “60 percent” according to his assessment, the timetable for a return is lengthier than initially expected.

“Right now, I’m kind of at a point where — I was progressing so quickly, and now I’ve kind of flatlined a little bit,” he said.

Regardless of Hogan’s status, Berenson said that he’ll leave it up to Hogan and Bancroft to tell him when Hogan is ready to participate in a full-fledged practice.

“Once he gets into practice mode, then we’ll start thinking about even dressing him as a backup or when he might be ready to play in a game,” Berenson said.

Notes: Sophomore forward A.J. Treais didn’t practice on Tuesday. Berenson said he’s currently a little banged up and isn’t “100 percent” quite yet after suffering a hit in Michigan’s 3-2 victory against Ferris State on Friday … Former Wolverine Tristin Lllewellyn — who was removed from the Michigan program after “violating team expectations” on Jan. 12 — played his first game with the Elmira Jackals of the East Coast Hockey League this past Sunday. He tallied zero points and a plus-2 rating in 16 minutes of playing time. The Jackals lost to the Toledo Walleye, 6-5.