Nearly seven months after he left Northern Michigan University in April, former Wildcat goalie Jared Coreau has been called up to the Detroit Red Wings bench as an official team member.
According to MLive, the Detroit Red Wings recalled Coreau from his previous position within their affiliate team, the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, after they assigned goaltender Petr Mrazek back to the Griffins on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The switch came only a month after Mrazek was brought from the Griffins to serve as current Red Wing goaltender Jimmy Howard’s reserve goalie and Coreau was sent to the Griffins.
After playing with Coreau for last year’s season, sophomore forward Darren Nowick said he could see Coreau’s work ethic helping him open doors to larger opportunities in the future.
“I think it is unreal,” Nowick said. “It is great to see him up with the Red Wings. He was the hardest working guy on the team easily and it was easy to see him moving forward into something professional early on just by seeing how hard he worked at it.”
Preceding the switch, Coreau played three years with the NMU Wildcats, starting his collegiate career alongside former teammate Reid Ellingson in 2010. In 2013, Coreau signed a three-year free agent contract with the Red Wings during his junior year in Marquette, foregoing graduation to join the Wings in Detroit.
According to Nowick, the team could see Coreau potentially leaving the Wildcats early to pursue a career in the NHL.
“We definitely saw him going to this down the road,” Nowick said. “It was definitely easy to see him being capable of going to such a professional level.”
Following the signing of the Red Wing contract, Coreau played two games for the Toledo Walleyes, reserve for Minnesota goalie Mac Carruth. Coreau then went on to appear in one game for the Griffins, tallying a save percentage of .846.
Coreau’s former head coach at NMU, Walt Kyle, said the opportunity Coreau has on the bench for the Wings opens the door for Mrazek to get ice time for the Griffins, which might be a reason behind the switch.
“What usually happens is teams have their backups and their third goalie, who never really get to play,” Kyle said. “What probably happened and I don’t know, but they probably brought him up because they want [Petr Mrazek] to actually play instead of sit on the bench for the Wings. I can’t speak for the Wings, though.”
According to MLive, Coreau will be playing backup to Howard until current Red Wing reserve goaltender Jonas Gustavsson recovers from a stick neck injury. Gustavsson is predicted to return to the Wings within the next two games.
During his career at NMU, Coreau tallied an overall record of 15-19-4 with a 2.70 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. Coreau’s switch with Mrazek also coincided with his birthday.
