Pitlick carry on proud family tradition with the Gophers

When you have the family pedigree that Rem Pitlick has, it’s hard to imagine going anywhere else than where he wound up — the University of Minnesota.

Rem’s dad, Lance, was a Minnesota defenseman from 1986-90, and captain his senior year, then wound up playing eight years in the National Hockey League for Ottawa and Florida. His mother, Lisa, was a two-time Big Ten champion gymnast for the Gophers and went on to compete with USA Gymnastics. OK, his cousin Tyler bucked the family and went to Minnesota State, and now played in the Dallas Stars organization. But the path seemed clear enough.

But to get there, Pitlick first had to navigate a harrowing path through high school and junior hockey, the kind of thing that his forebearers did not concern themselves with. Even today, Minnesota high school hockey is king in the state, and more players there than anywhere else stay in high school than go to the USHL. Many, of course, do both.

Pitlick wanted to stay at Shattuck St. Mary’s for his senior year, but felt a lot of pressure to go to Waterloo, which had taken him in the USHL draft.

“It was difficult, to be honest looking back I didn’t know if I was ready to leave,” Pitlick said. “(The coach in Waterloo) got pretty upset with me, so it almost felt like I was forced to go. I felt pressured and I decided to go when I wasn’t quite ready.”

Pitlick’s current teammate, Tyler Sheehy, was also with the Black Hawks during that 2014-15 season. He saw it too.

“As far as Rem goes he was kind of a smaller guy at that point. He didn’t have the weight on that he has now,” Sheehy said. “Obviously he’s a really strong kid now, weighing about 200 pounds, and I think when he was in Waterloo his first year he only weighed around 155, 150 pounds. It’s a little bit difficult to adjust when you’re a little bit of a smaller guy and I think he felt that.

“I think the coaches were a little tough on him. I think there were a couple times where he wasn’t in the lineup, and as far as confidence goes, that’s kind of a hard thing to deal with it. I think he just had a hard time dealing with that.”

Pitlick stuck it out.

“That was just the situation I was in,” Pitlick said. “I didn’t have another choice. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I was just kind of there.”

After a slow start, Pitlick ended up posting 89 points in 56 games in Muskegon, and was named the USA Hockey Junior Player of the Year, the USHL Player of the Year and the USHL Forward of the Year. He led the league in goals, assists and points.

As fraught as his time was, it served him well.

“I try to work on everything,” Pitlick said. “You can never be as good as you can be. You can always get better. … I would consider myself a student of the game, so I try to work on whatever. There’s not anything that you’re good enough at, so that’s kind of the mentality that I have, that you can always learn and grow.”

From there, he came to Minnesota and made an impact. This season, has been another level. It started early and has only picked up steam from there. He has a point in all but two games since Nov. 17. That game just so happened to be a frustrating loss at home to St. Lawrence, one of the worst teams in the country, a loss that may have ultimately cost Minnesota an at-large NCAA bid.

He had 21 points in 14 games down the stretch, and wound up with the most goals by a Gopher since Nick Bjugstad.

Some of Pitlick’s transformation this year — from good player to essential force — is attributed merely to becoming an “upperclassman” on a young team. But part of it is undoubtedly his move from wing to center, something that new coach Bob Motzko implemented as soon as he came in. Motzko, the long-time coach at St. Cloud State, and an assistant at Minnesota when it last won a national championship in 2003, came back to the Gophers before the start of this year. Moving Pitlick was one of his first ideas.

“Coming in, we wanted to get him to center, and he was all in,” Motzko said. “I jokingly said, ‘Anyone can play defense as a wing — you’ve got one guy. As a center, you’re playing 200 feet,’ and that was a big adjustment. And I think he’s doing a terrific job becoming a number-one center. His offense has stayed consistent, and we have total confidence in him defensively. He’s got a chance to be awful special.”

Pitlick had played center in junior, so it wasn’t totally foreign. But was the move done by design, or out of necessity for a Gopher team that had holes in the middle?

“Maybe both, but with a high-end talent, you gotta try it,” Motzko said. “You want to put your best players there, and he’d done it before. … And his best hockey is all down the road. We’re deep at center right now.”

For his part, Pitlick brushes it off as no big deal. Just another common thing for a hockey player to deal with. He’s certainly handled the change with aplomb. He said his conditioning helped him make the adjustment to center with relative comfort.

“I’ve just matured as an athlete,” Pitlick said. “Jumping up a level is different, obviously there’s bigger, stronger faster guys in college and just took a little bit of time to adjust to the speed. I’ve been playing with some good players this year, so that’s helping as well. Just adjusting to the speed and realizing that maybe you have a little bit more time and space than you think you have.”

After putting up 32 points as a freshman, he had 31 last year, which actually led the team. Those are not classic Gophers numbers. In other words, the offense has been stagnant the last few years. Last year, it cost the team an NCAA bid, though it took a miraculous series of events on the final weekend before the selections to keep the Gophers out; they missed by .0001 points to Minnesota-Duluth, which went on to win the national title.

This year, the team has broken out offensively, though the defensive deficiencies have held the team back from being a true contender.

Just like when he was back at Shattuck, Pitlick will soon be facing another decision of whether to stay for a senior year, or leave. He is a third-round pick of the Nashville Predators, and may be getting the same kind of pressure Waterloo gave him. And maybe the time is right. Or maybe he’ll want to stay and take a last crack at a championship next year with the Gophers.

If history is any guide, he will handle the decision with the same grace he did the previous ones.

Jashvina Shah contributed to this article.