Following the Michigan hockey team’s dramatic finish in the NCAA tournament last season, Michigan coach Red Berenson found himself with a dilemma on his hands.

The goaltender he'd bred for three years to be the face of the Wolverines — then-junior Bryan Hogan — wasn’t the hero in net anymore. After racking up a record of 26-4-0 and setting a goals against mark of 1.97 that etched him into second place in the Michigan record books in his sophomore season, Hogan and the team faltered, and he missed the entire postseason run last year because of a groin injury.

Instead, it was the relatively unknown backup, 5-foot-7 junior Shawn Hunwick, who carried the team to a Cinderella finish, winning seven consecutive games before losing in the NCAA Regional finals to Miami (Ohio) in double overtime, 3-2.

With both netminders returning for their senior seasons, Berenson told them that the starting job was no longer Hogan’s right — even though he'd been in line for starting duties since his freshman season — rather, both he and Hunwick would have an equal shot at grabbing the starting job.

Berenson, who refers to himself as “traditionally a one-goalie coach,” determined that he would rotate the goalies until one proved to be far-and-away superior. But through eight games this season, he hasn’t seen it.

It isn’t for lack of solid goaltending, but Berenson just may stick with the rotation.

“Are we competing for a No. 1 job?” Berenson said on Tuesday. “Maybe, it depends how it goes. If they both play well and our team is winning, then they’ll both play. … I’m not closing the door and saying, ‘We have to have a No. 1 goalie.’ ”

So far, it’s worked. Hogan, who has been starting the second game of every weekend series, said the arrangement is helping him get back on track after disappointing results last season.

“It keeps you fresh and keeps you ready to go,” Hogan said. “It’s like a football experience — you get ready all week for one game, and you just go out there and try your best to compete.”

Hogan admitted that the competition in net has boosted his own performance, because “it’s just a different mindset now that you have someone on your back all the time.”

On paper, Berenson’s decision may seem easy — Hogan holds a perfect 3-0-0 record and 1.67 goals against average, while Hunwick has fallen on harder times with a 1-1-3 record. But the difference has been largely due to the offense’s lack of production with Hunwick in net.

In his five starts, Hunwick has allowed 14 goals, but the sixth-ranked Wolverines (3-0-1-0 CCHA, 4-1-3 overall) have only knocked in 15 themselves — five fewer than their total in Hogan's five appearances in net.

Hunwick has been staked to an early deficit in his last three games, and he admits that playing from behind changes the mindset of a goaltender.

“It’s absolutely nice to play with the lead — it changes the other team’s game plan once we get the lead,” Hunwick said on Tuesday. “When we played against Ferris State on Friday night and we didn't get a shot on goal for the first 15 minutes, obviously they’re doing something right. But Saturday we got a couple early goals on two shots, and that really changed their game plan, so if we score first, pretty much we get to dictate the game.”

At the same time, Berenson thinks Hunwick has fallen victim to something he calls “puck luck.” In the first period against Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 22, forward Ryan Walters lifted a puck over the goal, but it hit Hunwick’s back and fell into the net.

“The first goal on Friday night against UNO was bad puck luck,” Berenson said. “The second was a rebound, he gave up an easy rebound and they scored a bad goal on a shot that wasn’t even a good scoring chance to start with. So you make some of your own puck luck too.”

Regardless of the results so far, Berenson has shown that he has full confidence in both of his goaltenders. Against CCHA opponent Alaska this weekend, his rotation will continue — Hunwick between the pipes on Friday, and Hogan on Saturday.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve both proven that they can be winning goalies at this level for this program,” Berenson said. “I like the competition. I think competition is good for both of them.”