It was supposed to be Billy Sauer's year.

Last season he emerged as one of the country's elite goalies, leading the country in wins, and played a key role in Michigan's first Frozen-Four run in five years.

But after posting 30 wins and a 1.95 goals-against average last season, the senior is splitting time between the pipes with sophomore Bryan Hogan. It's the same role Sauer had as a freshman, before he spent two years as the full-time starter.

And with Michigan’s startling win-loss differential between starters — Sauer is 2-6, Hogan is 7-1 despite similar statistics — Sauer might end up watching from the bench for both games against Michigan State this weekend.

“It’s really a tough situation for me because I know if we’re not winning when I’m in net, I know it’s tough for coach to put me in, even if he does think I’m playing well,” said Sauer, who led the nation in win percentage last year. “It really is hard for me so I can just hope for the best. There’s only so much I can control.”

Michigan coach Red Berenson usually chooses his starting goalie early in the week, but he’s taking a different approach this week.

“If Hogan plays Friday, we might wait until after the game to announce Saturday's goalie," Berenson said.

And with the offensive support Hogan has been getting this year, it’s very likely he could be back in net Saturday if he gets the first start. The Wolverines have scored 37 goals when Hogan starts and just 10 with Sauer in goal. Michigan hasn't scored a goal with Sauer in net in almost 150 minutes, dating back to Nov. 14.

Last year, Sauer had the support of the nation’s No. 2 offense, which averaged nearly four goals a game.

“It’s tough,” Sauer said. “If I could score goals or something, that’d be great.”

It’s not as though either goalie is playing statistically better than the other. Sauer has a 2.64 goals-against average with a .903 save percentage. Hogan has allowed 2.29 scores a game and tallied a .909 save percentage.

And that just further clouds the situation.

“It’s not as simple as it might look,” Berenson said. “It’s not black and white. It’s all the intangibles.”

And that’s the biggest advantage the undrafted Hogan had over Sauer, a seventh-round NHL draft pick of Colorado in 2006, coming into the season. Hogan says he’s been in a similar situation almost every season since his sophomore year of high school at Detroit Catholic Central.

“A lot of guys were buddies with the one goalie and they thought he was the guy,” Hogan said. “That was when it really got competitive for a spot. That’s really where I started to learn to develop each year.”

Hogan eventually split time with the other goalie, a junior.

But more importantly, Hogan grew accustomed to everyday competition and gained experience earning his team’s trust from the ground up.

"I learned a lot from that," Hogan said. "And each year and on it was really competitive. So that definitely helped me to get where I'm at now."

As a result, Hogan is much more comfortable playing just one game a week, whereas Sauer has been the full-time starter since his sophomore year.

Sauer took longer at the beginning of the season to adjust to the circumstances, over hyping himself for his one start rather than staying calm for each game as he did last year.

Sauer says he has improved on that. But it may be too late now with Hogan establishing himself as the go-to goalie.

The team is simply responding better to the sophomore.

“There’s so many other things, intangibles,” Sauer said. “Maybe I don’t know what I’m doing. Hogan is doing something right now that has the team winning no problem, and I’m not doing that.”