PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Robbie Czarnik left the Michigan hockey program in late November of 2009, but he never really left Ann Arbor.
After finishing his first year with five goals and 11 assists, Czarnik hoped to live up to the hype when he came in as a freshman to Michigan from the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor.
But after totaling just three points in his final nine games as a Wolverine and being placed on the third line, the Washington, Mich. native felt it was time to pack his bags and play for the Plymouth Whalers in the Ontario Hockey League.
“(Robbie is) just one of those kids that’s been down all the time,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said in Nov. 2009. “We’re trying to pick him up — ‘It’s okay, Robbie. You’re a good player,’ and on and on. But this is the end result.”
Berenson said that he had meetings with Czarnik about his role on the team and reiterated that the coaching staff was always encouraging of him, but in the end, the decision to leave the program was Czarnik’s.
While he doesn’t play in the friendly confines of Yost Ice Arena anymore, Czarnik still calls Ann Arbor home — literally. He lives with a few juniors on the current Michigan hockey team and takes seven credits at Michigan in hopes of graduating in the near future, a commendable decision given the intense nature of playing junior hockey.
And in his second season with the Whalers, Czarnik is tied for first in team scoring with 31 goals and 42 assists, where he plays on the first line and with the first power play unit.
Following Plymouth’s 5-4 loss to Saginaw on Friday night — in which he tallied a goal and an assist — Czarnik commented that with playing in the OHL, there’s a 68-game regular season schedule that allows for more time on the ice compared to Division-I hockey.
“I just think it was better for development wise,” he added about the transition from Michigan to Plymouth. “I didn’t think I was developing at Michigan — that’s just my standpoint on it.
“(The Ontario Hockey League) is known for developing players for the next level, and I noticed a big change in my game when I got here.”
A third round selection by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Czarnik said that there was more emphasis on positioning when he came to Plymouth. With the OHL being a more physical league, he also said that “better puck protection” was a key to excelling on the ice.
After this season, Czarnik won’t be eligible to play in the OHL because he’ll be too old, but he plans on hopefully playing in the American Hockey League next year.
“I’m disappointed that he’s giving up on the hockey front,” Berenson said following Czarnik’s decision to separate himself from the program. “Things don’t always go your way when you get to this level, but I hoped he would have persevered. I think (his freshman year) was a real challenge for him, emotionally, and he just never got over it.”
For a coach that places so much stock in obtaining a college degree and not becoming apart of a class of “hockey bums,” Berenson can rest assured that Czarnik didn’t give up on another front: an education.