A year ago, he would try to carry the puck from goal line to goal line or dump and chase it along the boards. But he doesn’t do that anymore, MSU head coach Rick Comley said.

“We always wanted him to join the rush, create the rush and give it up — then keep going if you want,” Comley said. “His decision-making is so much better now. He’s scoring some pretty goals.”

Ratchuk, who is sixth in the nation among defensemen in scoring, tallied five goals and two assists in the past three games. Three of those goals were in the Lake Superior series alone. All of this earned him CCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors.

“He is a threat,” Comley said. “He can turn a rush into an attack. He still obviously has to work defensively, but there’s a high risk with Mike.

“His defensive game is what he has to get better at, but his decision-making with the puck has improved so much. It’s growth (and) confidence. He’s a kid still.”

That, and being too eager offensively, presented difficulties for Ratchuk.

“A big problem I had last year was I was so anxious to come in right away, to jump in as an offensive player, you know, make things happen,” he said. “I kind of forgot what I was really there to do. This year, I learned to slow the game down in my own head.

“Defense first and offense will come. Because of that, it’s kind of made it easier to make things happen.”

Senior defenseman Daniel Vukovic says the future of the defense is in good hands as long as Ratchuk’s along.

“He’s been one of the best players on the ice for both (defense and offense),” Vukovic said. “When you can have that in one of your defenseman, especially when they’re talented offensively, that’s just helping the whole team.”

However, improvement comes from experience and age, he added.

“He’s always willing to learn, and that’s one of the biggest things,” Vukovic said. “I’ll teach him one little thing, and he’ll teach me 10 new things.”

During his freshman season, Ratchuk played in 40 games with only four goals and eight assists for 12 points. This year, he has already scored six goals and 12 assists for 18 points.

And it’s only 21 games into — or about halfway through — the season.

“Looking back, it was frustrating because I expected more from myself,” Ratchuk said.

“You know, contribute a lot more than I did, but I think that was because I tried to force plays that weren’t there or force things to happen. I’ve learned to take what’s given, and that’s helped a little bit.”

It “almost feels easier to make plays” because of this learning process, he added.

“I would use my speed to get out of the zone, but I would never slow down to get to the blue line,” Ratchuk said. “That’s why it was harder for me to make plays. I would never stop my feet.

“I’ve finally learned to really look around and see what I have — if anything’s open or not … There’s still a lot for me to work on.”