February , 2004 ORTeSicligan tilp sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com 9 Even in youth, forward could always fire away Cagers need road wins to earn tournament bid By Sharad Mattu Daily Sports Writer Even as a kid, when he was just beginning to learn about the sport of ice hockey, Michigan sophomore Jeff Tambellini was always good at firing slapshots at any part of the net. "Right from the get-go, the one thing I could always do was put the puck over the goalie's shoulder," Tambellini said. "When the goalies are seven years old and can't even reach the top of the net, my thing was always to try to put it over their head. It's something I've had from day one." Today, the goalies that he faces are bigger, but his rocket slapshot (when a player brings his stick back as a sort of windup before shooting) and even better wristshot (where a player push- es the puck at the net with a flick of the wrist) continue to be the main rea- sons he is an elite player. It is easy to see why Michigan's opponents fear him, especially on the powerplay. With the man-advan- tage, Tambellini is usually posi- tioned at the blueline or near the faceoff circle. When he has the puck, if he so much as moves his stick back to begin a slapshot, the defender will quickly sprawl along the ice to prevent the puck from ever reaching the goal. For Tambellini, the slapshot and the wristshot were strengths at an early age, but it has taken hard work and endless practice to keep it that way. "You have to have be in control and be able to shoot in stride," the Port Moody, British Columbia, native said. "We don't get to stand still and let the puck loose. You've got to be able to move and control the puck at the same time and have it in the right spots so that when you release it, your whole body is mov- ing in one motion." Time in the weight room also pays off. Tambellini said: "It's all about power from your legs. It also involves surprising the goalie, so you have to have quick wrists and put all your strength into it." Accuracy is essential, and it requires timing and coordination. "It's a learned art to be able to read the goalie and look down, and then get your head back up and find your tar- get again," the forward said. "There's a lot of deception involved in it." Snipers also have to learn how to deal with and overcome slumps. Tam- bellini has been sitting at nine goals since Nov. 8 and had scoring chances throughout last weekend's series against Lake Superior State. "I get to watch guys like (Detroit Red Wings forward) Brett Hull," Tam- bellini said. "Hull went through a 20- game slump. I've just got to keep shooting the puck ... and sooner or later it's going to start going my way." Michigan coach Red Berenson shares his optimism for the coming weeks. "I think he's a marked player," Berenson said. "Last year he slipped between the cracks because he wasn't well known. "With the way our team is develop- ing, it's going to be hard for other teams to pinpoint him when we've got (other lines) playing well." DANIEL BREMMER Garden State of Mind The Michigan basketball team has yet to beat a good Big Ten team on the road. It will have to do that soon in order to give itself a chance for an NCAA Tournament berth. Don't give up hope just yet. Michigan sits at 3-4 in the conference and will have a hard time catching 5-1 Wisconsin atop the Big Ten. But the Wolverines are entering a stretch of the season with a home stand and some apparently easier road contests that may help spring them up in the standings. A second- or third-place finish in the Big Ten - still very much within reach - would mean an almost-auto- matic NCAA Tournament bid, some- thing Michigan hasn't earned since 1997. Something which would make this season a success. Now, it's up to the team to capitalize on that opportunity by winning away from Crisler. Michigan's four remain- ing road games will come against opponents (Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Northwestern) which are a com- bined five games over .500. That's a much easier stretch than Michigan just endured, featuring games at Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State and Illi- nois - teams that are a combined 21 games over .500. Michigan will probably need to win. on the road at Minnesota and North- western (11th and ninth in the confer- ence, respectively) and then at either Iowa or Indiana to have a good shot at the tournament. Last year, the Wolverines proved that they could handle a good team in its own building when they knocked off then-No. 24 Purdue 78-67 on Feb. 19. That win was one of four Big Ten road wins last season. And looking at the conference road games that this year's squad has played so far, how many of those games should Michigan really have won? One -just as many as they did win. It's tough to say that a young Michi- gan team should have beaten Michigan State on the road. The Spartans were ranked as high as No. 3 in the preseason polls. It's true that Michigan State lost tough games early, but playing six of your first 12 games against teams ranked in the top 20 is going to put a dent into any team's record, regardless of how talented that team is. To make matters worse, Michigan had to travel to East Lansing and the Breslin Center to take on their in-state rivals. This is the same Breslin Center that has been regarded as one of the toughest places to play in college bas- ketball by Sports Illustrated, and the same place where only one Michigan player (Bernard Robinson) had seen significant action before the game three weeks ago. The Kohl Center in Wisconsin is just as intimidating. Since Bo Ryan took the reins as coach of the Badgers more than two years ago, Wisconsin is 23-0 in Big Ten home games. Playing Illinois, a team that lost two of its first three Big Ten games, may have been Michigan's best chance to steal a big win away from Crisler thus far. But playing in Champaign is no cakewalk, either. The Illini have gone 47-2 in home games in the past three- and-a-half years. While the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State isn't exactly the toughest place to play a road game, the fans weren't rooting for Michigan, either. The fact that the Wolverines won in State College shows that they aren't completely lifeless every time they're on the road. But winning some road games isn't money in the bank just yet. Michigan needs to learn some lessons from its early Big Ten losses in order to make a run at the top of the conference. One thing is clear: The Wolverines can't go six, eight or ten minutes with- out putting any points on the board and expect to win. In their loss to Michigan State on Jan. 17, the Wolverines led the Spartans 19- 15 midway through the first half and looked like they could steal a win. But Michigan went nine minutes without a field goal en route to its 71-54 loss. A week and a half later, Michigan once again failed to play a consistent 40 minutes. The Wolverines hung with Wisconsin on the road for the entire first half, but allowed the Badgers to go on a 20-5 second-half run. On Wednesday, Michigan shot the lights out for most of the night against Iowa - but the Wolverines couldn't hit a shot during a six-and-a-half-minute stretch in the first half, when they allowed the Hawkeyes to run off 15 unanswered points. These are the types of lapses that the Wolverines can't afford as the Big Ten season winds down and they prepare for the gauntlet of "must-win" games that may emerge. But it's not time for the Wolverines to panic, nor is it time to sit back, look at the schedule and chalk up some easy road wins, either. To make this a successful season and achieve the oft-discussed goal of an NCAA berth, Michigan will need to focus on playing more consistent bas- ketball and allow its talent to shine through. No matter where the team is playing. New Jersey native Daniel Bremmer can be reached at bremmerd@umich.edu. RYAN WEINER/Daily Michigan sophomore Jeff Tambellini used his cannon of a shot to lead the team in scoring as a freshman last season. He has nine goals so far this year. Walk-on Bell living every hoopster' s dream By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer While playing basketball at the CCRB or the fIM building, people may dream that they are driv- ing by Dion Harris or guarding Daniel Horton. But Ashtyn Bell is living that dream. He may not receive playing time, or even be listed in the team's media guide, but Bell is a member of the Michigan basketball team just like Horton or Harris. He just took a different route to get there. The sophomore from the western Chicago sub- urb of Oak Park walked onto the team during try- outs this year and was placed on the roster shortly after the season started. Because he has- n't played yet and wasn't on the team from the beginning, most fans don't even know Bell is a Wolverine. A lot of people who don't know him now come up to him when wearing his team apparel and ask, "Oh you play for Michigan, what number are you?" And Bell has to reply "Oh, I'm number 12. But I don't play." Coming out of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, where he averaged 17 points a game his senior year, Bell received offers from Division II and III schools. But he felt that it was worth it to take a risk and attempt to walk on to the team at Michigan in order to receive a goodteducation. Bell wants to eventually move on to medical school and become a psychiatrist. "Honestly, I felt that I was good enough to make this team and that I was good enough to play Division I basketball," Bell said Bell contacted the coaching staff when he came to visit Michigan his senior year of high school. But Bell didn't give up after he didn't make the team last season. He stayed in Ann Arbor over the summer to work on his game, and his perseverance paid off when he made the ros- ter this fall. "I knew it just takes time," Bell said. "I had to be real dedicated just to make it to this point. I didn't get down on myself. I didn't give up at all. I just kept working." Now Bell's role is to work with Horton and Harris in practice, preparing them for upcoming challenges. Horton, who got to know Bell through mutual friends last year, has been one of his best friends since he's been at Michigan. "He likes to have fun," Horton said. "He not a guy that you have to watch what you say to, because he doesn't take everything to heart. He's just an easygoing guy." But now Horton has had a chance to really get to know Bell as a basketball player. "He loves being here," Horton said. "He's a great player in practice and he gives us an ele- ment that we don't have on this team. He can really shoot the basketball, so it really makes it tougher to guard him in practice. Coach (Tommy Amaker) always says that if we can guard guys like him and (sophomore) Dani (Wohl) in prac- tice, then we can guard anybody." The team has also had the chance to enjoy Bell's passion for the game. "Ashtyn brings energy," freshman walk-on John Andrews said. "He's one of, if not the, quickest guys (around). He energizes the team." While Bell is thrilled to be on the team, he's not satisfied with staying in his current role. "I want to be more than that," Bell said. "I hope that I can keep working on my game and get to know the plays, and hopefully, one day, play and get some sufficient minutes and provide what Dion and Dan are providing right now." 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