The last time the Michigan hockey team played in the Frozen Four was 2008, when members of this year’s senior class were freshmen.

Back then, senior forward Louis Capurusso remembers thinking it would be the first of many trips for the Wolverines.

That hasn't happened, which gives those seniors a sense of urgency when the Wolverines open NCAA tournament play against Nebraska-Omaha Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis (5:30 p.m., Comcast 900).

“We definitely were spoiled our freshman year, to make it so far,” said senior forward Matt Rust. “I think at that point we were confident in ourselves as a class that we were going to accomplish something, winning a national championship.”

In 2008, the Wolverines were the tournament's No. 1 overall seed and lost 5-4 in overtime to Notre Dame in a national semifinal in Denver.

The following year, Michigan was upset by Air Force in the regional round and last year lost to Miami in double overtime of a regional championship, making this the last chance for this year's seniors to realize the success of their initial campaign.

That’s still the goal. Rust said he tries not to think about this being his last go around because he thinks it hurts his game.

Some of the other seniors use it as motivation.

“All the seniors know that there’s only four games left, max, here at Michigan and we want to make the best of it,” Carl Hagelin said. “As a leader, it’s important to ingrain that in all the other guys, too. Even though they may have four years to go, they may never get this opportunity again.”

Michigan has won a Division I-best nine national titles, the last coming in 1998.

TIME OUT During the regular season, television timeouts range between 60 and 90 seconds in length. During the NCAA tournament, the TV breaks last between two and three minutes, adding a couple elements of strategy to the game.

Michigan coach Red Berenson sees the potential for positive and negative impact on his team.

“We want to play at a pace and a TV timeout can kill that," he said. "On the other hand, it can let your players recover. So if you wanted to play three lines more, which I think (Nebraska-Omaha) might do, we might be ready to match that.”

Michigan is the home team on Friday and will get last substitution.

PLAYOFF BEARDS You won’t see playoff beards on the Michigan hockey team. According to Michigan goalie Shawn Hunwick, Berenson makes sure the Wolverines are clean cut throughout the season and into the playoffs.

There is one exception.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Matt Rust,” Hunwick said of his bearded teammate. “He must be on coach’s good side. He’s been letting him get away with that beard for a little while. He looks like a lumberjack.”

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734-623-2561 or petercunningham@annarbor.com.