The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 13
Hillman a sticker stopper
By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Writer
All year, the Michigan field hockey
team has relied on its defense to carry it
to victory. Senior captains Kate Dillon
and Katy Moyneur have led the unit,
but junior Lori Hillman has also played
a pivotal role for the Wolverines.
While Hillman may not show up
in the box score with tons of goals
and assists, her work in the defensive
backfield has helped pace Michigan
to a No. 9 ranking and a share of the
Big Ten regular season title.
"My role is as a vocal leader, but also
to lead by example," Hillman said.
Hillman's leadership and defen-
sive ability impressed enough peo-
ple for her to earn the season's final
Big Ten Defensive Player of the
Week award yesterday.
Hillman led the Michigan defense to
its eighth shutout of the season. Against
Penn State on Saturday, the Wolverines
held the Nittany Lions to five shots -
just three of which were on goal.
The Penn State game was not an
aberration for Hillman. She has been
solid for Michigan all year long.
Hillman's ability was evident two
weekends ago against Ohio State,
when she helped prevent the Buck-
eyes from getting even a single shot
on goal. Hillman and the rest of the
defense kept the Buckeyes far away
from Michigan goalies Beth Riley
and Molly Maloney by switching
positions with senior captain Adri-
enne Hortillosa.
"They are interchangeable, and the
center midfield is a lot of running and
we wanted to keep Adrienne fresh,"
coach Marcia Pankratz said. "Lori is
a really strong defender and we were
able to make those adjustments."
Hillman believes that her tenac-
ity as a defender is her best asset on
the field. The Buckeyes got to see
a lot of that determination. With
back-to-back games, Hillman knew
that the defensive backfield could
be tired, so the switch did not come
as a surprise.
"We had back-to-back games and we
just needed to keep everyone fresh,"
the Gibbsboro, N.J., native said.
Position swapping between Hill-
man, Hortillosa and Moyneur fre-
quently occurs because Pankratz is
confident that they are smart enough
to know when to make the decision to
change spots. Pankratz's faith in Hill-
man to make on-the-field adjustments
demonstrates Hillman's maturation as
a leader on the team. Hillman earned
Pankratz's trust from the beginning,
and she has started every game since
she stepped on campus.
"It was a hard transition from
sophomore to junior, especially with
the class we lost," Hillman said. "The
captains were named, but that doesn't
mean that nobody else can step up to
a leadership role."
With its victory against Penn State,
Michigan wrapped up a first-round bye
in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan's
opponent will be either Ohio State or
Penn State - two teams that know the
strengths of Hillman and the rest of the
Michigan defense all too well.
To advance in the Big Ten Tourna-
ment, Hillman said Michigan needs
to continue to focus on the basics.
"I definitely think that we are going
in the right direction," the Academic
All-Big Ten selection said. "We've
been playing really well together, and
I'm expecting great things for the end
of the season."
TOMMASO GOMEZ2UVI~/ LDily
The Michigan hockey team salutes the 1955 and 1956 national championship teams after defeating Ferris State on Friday.
Former champs return to Yost
Junior Lori Hillman (2) has been a defensive leader for the field hockey team.
Hillman was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week yesterday.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
By Jake Rosenwasser
Daily Sports Writer
After Michigan's 3-0 win over Ferris State on Friday
night, the Wolverines gathered on the ice and unchar-
acteristically skated away from their locker room. The
players glided to the band's corner of Yost Ice Arena and,
in unison, raised their sticks to salute the special visitors
in attendance: Michigan's NCAA Champion teams from
1955 and 1956.
"This is what the tradition of University of Michigan
hockey is all about - having players from the past come
back and be remembered," coach Red Berenson said.
The players from the teams of the mid-1950s were
honored during the first intermission of Friday night's
game, and the student section at Yost gave the famed
former students a standing ovation.
"It's nostalgic to be back," former forward Jerry Kar-
pinka - who played on both teams - said. "There are
people here who I haven't seen in 50 years.
"The facilities are fantastic compared to when we
played here and things have changed quite a bit. When
we played, our rink sat only 2,500 and nobody had full
scholarships."
In those days, the hockey team played at the Sports
Coliseum on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Hill Street.
The Coliseum is now used for intramural and club sports.
Many of the players also worked in fraternity houses for
their meals.
Former defenseman Mike Buchanan - who wears one
of his two championship rings to this day - marveled at
how things have changed at the rink and around campus
in general.
"Michigan hockey is a much bigger promotion now,"
Buchanan said. "I have a son who watches games in
California."
As different as most things are from the past, the fan
interest has not changed a bit.
"We had a smaller arena," Buchanan said. "But they
would be sold out weeks in advance."
Former All-American Bob Schiller gladly spent the
weekend juggling his time between two reunions - the
hockey reunion and a surprise family celebration.
"My son Rob was supposed to come here and be with
me," Schiller said. "But I was totally surprised to find
that most of my family came out, as well."
In total, four of Schiller's five children made the trip
from the West Coast to be with their father for the spe-
cial homecoming event. Schiller's children also brought
eight grandchildren with them.
"We kept it a secret for about nine or ten months,"
said John Schiller, Bob's youngest son. "And we sur-
prised him tonight before the game. My mom and dad
were waiting at will-call for my brother Rob, but then
we came around the corner with about 10 of us. It was
neat because it was a surprise, but it was an emotional
moment, too."
The family only gets to congregate a few times a year
because it's divided up between Seattle, Los Angeles,
Tucson and Lansing.
"We're just going to hang out and spend as much
time together as possible for the weekend," John Schil-
ler said. "It's especially neat to be here and see the
camaraderie between Dad and the rest of the team.
Fifty years is a long time. It's amazing the relation-
ships are still so strong."
Otto Riegger , Michigan's former team manager
- who was also Bob Schiller's roommate for all four
years at Michigan - helped to coordinate the Schil-
ler family get-together. The two longtime friends still
remain very close.
"We spent a lot of time at the rink," Riegger said. "We
had a job scraping the ice. They didn't have Zambonis
back then, so we scraped the ice after public skating for
a small pittance."
Vic Heyliger, 93, coached both championship teams to
18-5-1 and 20-2-1 records, but was unable to attend the
reunion. He was represented by Al Renfrew, his brother-
in-law, who followed him as coach at Michigan.
After the salute, the championship teams of old waved
back in appreciation.
"Coach Berenson and (captain Eric) Nystrom got the
salute together," senior forward Milan Gajic said. "They
won it all. They certainly deserve it."
Big
Tein looks to right ship
By Josh Holman
Daily Sports Writer
CHICAGO - Sometimes, stand-
ing in one place is just the same as
losing ground. If you're not moving
forward, everyone else is bound to
pass you eventually.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney
gave his best version of a "State of the
Conference" speech regarding basket-
ball on Sunday at Big Ten Media Day.
It was filled with the normal sound
bites one would expect to hear from a
man content with the direction of his
program.
"I think it's a good time for the Big
Ten and I'm really looking forward to
the upcoming season," Delaney said.
Last year was one of the Big Ten's
worst in recent memory. Just three
teams earned invitations to the NCAA
Tournament. Illinois - last year's
regular season Big Ten champion -
advanced as far as the Sweet 16, but
was knocked out by Duke.
It was the second straight year that
the Big Ten was shut out of a Final
Four appearance.
Michigan finished tied for fifth
in the Big Ten last year, a position
normally good enough to justify an
NCAA Tournament berth. That was
not the case for the 2003-04 season.
"It's not really a story when the
Big Ten is one or two or three in the
RPI," Delaney said of the system that
rates team and conference strengths.
"That's not a story. What's a story is
when the Big Ten is four, five or six
in the RPI."
The Big Ten rounded out 2004 with
a big, fat RPI rating of six. Given the
rapid change of the college basket-
ball landscape within the last year -
including the growth of the ACC and
the Big East's plans for expansion - it
will be interesting to see whether the
Big Ten leaves observers with another
story to talk about.
The first opportunity to compare
and contrast this upcoming season
with past ones will come during the
Big Ten/ACC Challenge. From Nov.
29 through Dec. 1, nine Big Ten tehms
will square off against nine ACC
teams. Last year, the ACC won seven
of the nine contests.
"Last year, we got overwhelmed
a bit, I would say," Delaney said. "If
you're a competitor, you want to play
... whoever's considered the best.
"To me, there's no disgrace in losing
games to anybody. But certainly, what
is difficult is when you don't want to
play whoever the best is."
Traditionally, the challenge games
are scheduled by trying to pair the top
team from one conference with the
top team from the other, and so on.
The only problem encountered by the
system is that just three Big Ten teams
received preseason top-25 rankings,
while three ACC teams received rank-
ings in the top-five.
Michigan did not break the pre-
season top-25 in the polls, but it's
slated to play at No. 4 Georgia Tech
on Nov. 30. The Yellow Jackets are
somehow the fourth-best team in the
nation, yet just the third-best team in
its conference, behind No. 2 Wake
Forest and No. 3 North Carolina.
The contract between the confer-
ences and ESPN for broadcast rights
will end after this year's sixth Big Ten/
ACC Challenge, but both conferences
have expressed interest in continuing
the showdown, especially in light of
the recent ACC expansion.
This could be the year the Big Ten
closes the gap on the rest of nation.
The conference has a long way to
go, but, as Delaney said, there's
nowhere better to prove that than
against the best.
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