In the past, senior night for the Michigan hockey team hasn’t been all that climactic. Usually, there's no lingering possibility that this could be the last game in front of the home crowd; usually, the Wolverines have already guaranteed themselves a home playoff series in the coming weeks.

That won't be the case this year.

Michigan currently sits in seventh in the CCHA. The team must win Thursday against Notre Dame and then in South Bend on Saturday to negate any chance Michigan has of falling below the eighth spot and losing home-ice advantage in the opening round.

More than anything, earning extra time at Yost Ice Arena for a playoff series is on the seniors’ minds as Thursday quietly approaches.

“I think the time it will set in is actually when I know I play my last game here,” senior defenseman Steve Kampfer said yesterday. “But I think Thursday night will kind of be a wake up for me, but not right now. It hasn’t set in at all.”

And Michigan coach Red Berenson wouldn’t have it any other way. The coaching staff scheduled the game on a Thursday so that students could be there to support the seniors. But he remembers good and bad performances from his seniors in the past. Because of this, he won’t even mention the event to his team this week.

“I’ve gone so far as, ‘this game’s for the seniors,’ and we stunk the joint out,” Berenson said. “You never know what the emotional trigger is, but I don’t think it works for us.”

The 2010 class — consisting of Kampfer, fellow defensemen Chris Summers and Eric Elmblad and forwards Brian Lebler and Anthony Ciraulo — already knows that this regular season will be the worst of its career at Michigan. Barring a run to the CCHA Tournament Championship, the Wolverines will also miss out on their first NCAA tournament in 20 years.

Despite the comparatively poor season this year, the class has a CCHA title and NCAA Frozen Four appearance to their credit (both in 2008). They are also nearly 60 games over .500 in their time wearing the winged helmet, including a 55-16-3 record at Yost.

Even with more games to play in the season and Berenson's opposition to building up senior night emotionally, the team recognizes that it will be different from a normal game. At the very least, the Wolverines' post-game routine will be different, if the game itself doesn't seem abnormal.

“It’s obviously going to be a pretty emotional affair,” Summers said. “It is every year for the seniors, even the guys that aren’t seniors, seeing them do that whole ceremony after the game.”

As for who will get the most emotional, how about a 6-foot-3 inch, 212-pound Canadian?

Both Summers and Kampfer joked that Lebler, the Penticton, British Columbia native, will get the most emotional when his name gets called over the loud speaker.

“When I came in here I never thought that Brian would be a softie,” Kampfer said with a grin. “I think now he’s a softie. He’s going to be the one that’s going to tear up the most. There’s been a couple of times he’s choked up in meetings.”