ANN ARBOR, MI — There is a sign, a big sign with two block ‘M’s on either side hanging in the locker room at Yost Ice Arena. During the week, it reads: Win the next game. On game days, senior captain Mac Bennett swaps it for a new one: Win this game.

After a victory over Boston College in the home opener, the sign was replaced with the letters “BC,” if only for a moment of celebration. 

The poster found its home in Yost prior to the 2013-14 season, after Bennett sat down with his team to outline goals for the upcoming year. Apart from dreams of a national championship, the consensus was simple: win the next game. 

“The funny thing about it is that if you win the next game, eventually there’s no more games to win,” Bennett said. 

That is the motto of ‘Team 57,’ however cliché it may sound. 

Bennett apologizes for referring to last year so often when talking about this team’s character, promising not to bring it up again once the season picks up.

Most of the Wolverines’ upperclassman leadership sings the tune of comparison: what was last year will not be this. But, they clarify, recognizing that the nation’s second-youngest roster will take time, no doubt, to find its identity. 

Efforts to build team unity — a quality lost upon last year’s Michigan until March 1st, when it faced a win-out or miss the CCHA and NCAA tournaments situation — have included everything from Saturday afternoon paintball and movies to team dinners. 

In 2013, off-ice activities and meals aren’t organic, but this doesn’t diminish their importance. This is an entirely new team. More than a quarter of the roster is new to Michigan hockey. But unlike those of Michigan’s past, this team doesn’t need a definition. It was provided with one the moment the lights in Yost were shut off last season. Like the poster in the locker room, this identity is a direct reaction to the failures of 2012, where Michigan didn’t make the post-season. 

Call it a knee-jerk reaction. Call it an apology. 

“The reason is to kind of remind us of what our thought process was last year,” Bennett said. “Michigan has this huge history, obviously, of being in the NCAA tournament and last year was a disappointment. This is to kind of get us back on track in terms of if we one game at a time, eventually it’s going to work itself out and hopefully we make the tournament.”

The fourth-ranked Wolverines are undefeated through four games, a feat they couldn’t claim this time last year. They have escaped two road-game overtimes and survived two ranked teams — including then-No. 4 Boston College. Michigan’s 10 freshmen have contributed tremendously to early-season successes. Two freshmen — Tyler Motte and Evan Allen — netted the game winning goals in two of Michigan’s three wins this season. Meanwhile in place of injured goaltender Steve Racine, freshman Zach Nagevoort produced two solid games against New Hampshire last weekend — keeping the Wolverines out of the loss column in overtime.

But Bennett knows the threat of collapse is still very real. In 2012, Michigan was ranked No. 3 in preseason polls, projected to make another NCAA title run and to continue its 22-year tournament-appearance streak. The Wolverines had dazzling freshmen last year, too. Jared Rutledge, Jacob Trouba and Boo Nieves, each of whom came to Ann Arbor destined for greatness. After a dominant exhibition-game victory over Windsor at Yost, it looked like Michigan would live up to all of those expectations. 

You know the rest. 

Before the Wolverines’ exhibition game against Waterloo (Ont.), Bennett said that this team — ranked No. 10 according to USA Today — would surprise people this season, knowing the expectations for this year had been lowered after last. For many schools, top-10 nod is not too shabby, unless you’re Michigan. 

And so, with expectations and disappointments in mind, everything this year will be compared the dismal lows and ultra highs of last season. Every win will be one more apology written into the history books, every loss a stinging reminder of what has yet to be erased. 

“We have the mentality of: just focus on the here and now,” said sophomore forward Boo Nieves. “Do what you can and play your role.” 

The only Wolverine who doesn’t mention last season is Michigan coach Red Berenson. Without him, a post-seasonless year is not the travesty that it was this past March. He built the status quo. Berenson doesn’t need to apologize and he doesn’t want to hear ‘I’m sorry,’ either. 

He, like this Michigan hockey team, wants one win at a time. 

“We’re playing for Michigan, for that block ‘M’ and what its represents,” said senior forward Derek DeBlois. “It’s kind of cliché but it’s such a privilege to put on that sweater.”

So the Wolverines aren’t apologizing to Berenson or the Children of Yost, to former Wolverine greats or even to themselves. They are apologizing to the rafters, to the banners of old and to the ones they could have added.