Tuesday
March 22, 2005
sports. michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com

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Rebounding key for
Montoya in playoffs

Want to be a kid

again

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By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Editor
For a hockey goalie, rebounds are important.
There's a constant focus for a netminder to control
rebounds and stop opposing teams from getting sec-
ond and third shots. But that's the obvious stuff, and a
goalie has to rebound from a lot more than that.
During Friday's semifinal game against Alaska-
Fairbanks in the Super 6, Michigan goalie Al Mon-
toya faced just 12 shots - six in the first period and
six more in the next two combined.
"It's a tough game for a goalie to play in because
you're not taking a lot of good shots," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "Al was good. This was a game
of staying focused for a goalie."
So what does a goalie do to keep his focus while
facing one shot every five minutes? Montoya's back-
up, Noah Ruden, explained that it's tough for a goalie
in a situation like that, but there are things that they
do to stay involved in the game. Ruden said that a
popular solution for a goalie is to come out of the net
a lot - either to play the puck or to skate around in
between whistles.
"And from night to night, it's not that much dif-
ferent because when you finish one game, the next
day you start your refocus again," Ruden said. "And
he does a good job of getting himself ready for every
night."

The next night, against Ohio State, Montoya faced
29 shots - 28 from the Buckeyes and one that rico-
cheted off Michigan defenseman Eric Werner and
flew into the goal just wide of Montoya. After the
game, Montoya said that he made all the saves that he
thought he should have made. Ruden said that it was
one of those goals that was just unfortunate and added
that, as a goalie, you have to learn to forget those.
"In a game like that, you have to brush it off right
away because they drop the puck 15 seconds later,
and, if you're still thinking about that goal, the next
shot coming - you're not going to think about it."
Recently, Montoya has been on fire. In the play-
offs, he has given up an average of just one goal per
game. It is, in part, because the Wolverines have
focused defensively on not allowing as many shots,
but it is also because of the kind of saves that Mon-
toya has been making. Midway through the first peri-
od of the game against Ohio State, Montoya made
a save from the high slot. He couldn't quite control
the rebound, and it trickled out to his left. He dove to
his left and made the second save. Berenson has said
all season that his hope is for his goalie to be at peak
form when the playoffs start, and maybe Montoya is
at that point.
"I think he's making subtle saves. He's making
hard shots look easy. He's ready for the second shot.
And I think that, if it comes down to goaltending,
then we'll have an edge," Berenson said.

ERIC AMBINDER
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FOOTBALL

RYAN WEINER/Daily
Michigan goalie Al Montoya Is giving up an average of one goal
per game In the playoffs this season.

Carr optimistic about M'

starters

By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Editor

To many sports fans, the month of March means
college basketball is winding down and the baseball
season is set to begin.
But this time of year is also vital for college foot-
ball teams. The season is about six months away, but
now is the first opportunity for squads to gather on a
field since the bowl season.
On Saturday morning, Michigan held the first of
15 spring practices. And it didn't take long for the
players to get to work. After stretching briefly, they
split into groups to work on different drills. On one
end of Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, the defensive linemen
were working with new defensive line coach Steve
Stripling on breaking through blocking, while, in the
middle of the field, defensive coordinator Jim Her-
rmann was telling the linebackers how to use all their
strength when hitting the tackling sled. At the other
end, quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler worked with
freshman Chad Henne on footwork.
The Wolverines return 15 starters from last year's
team, but this year's transition won't be easy. Of the
seven starters Michigan is losing, a record-high four
were All-Americans.
Here's a look at where the Wolverines stand
right now:
OFFENSIVE LINE: Michigan returns four-fifths of its
offensive line but must find a replacement for All-
American David Baas, who started last season at left
guard and moved to center early in the season. Rue-

ben Riley - who started the last seven games at left
guard - will spend time at center, as will Jeremy
Ciulla and Mark Bihl. Leo Henige, who started two
games at left guard last season before suffering a sea-
son-ending knee injury, is limited in practice but will
be in the mix.
RECEIVERS: Replacing Braylon Edwards, Michi-
gan's all-time leading receiver, will be difficult if not
impossible. That said, the Wolverines have two top
receivers in Steve Breaston, who showed in the Rose
Bowl what he can do when healthy, and Jason Avant.
But finding a third and fourth receiver will be dif-
ficult. Carl Tabb, Adrian Arrington and Doug Dutch
all have talent, but if they can be reliable threats
remains to be seen.
It is also possible coach Lloyd Carr will go with
two tight end formations more this season to get both
Tim Massaquoi and Tyler Ecker on the field.
BACKFIELD: On Thursday, Carr said he was par-
ticularly excited to see the improvement quarterback
Henne and running back Mike Hart would make in
their first spring with the Wolverines. After the team's
first practice, Carr seemed just as excited about two
different players who play the same position.
Quarterback Matt Gutierrez is still recovering
from last fall's shoulder surgery, but he participated
in just about every drill. His velocity isn't all the way
back, and his throws will be limited, but Carr said
he's "way ahead of schedule."
Carr also raved about running back Kevin Grady,
who finished high school in December just to be with
the team for spring practices, saying he will be well

ahead of where he would otherwise be if he had wait-
ed until the summer to join the team.
Michigan also lost a valuable player in full-
back Kevin Dudley. Candidates, to replace him
are Brian Thompson, who is sitting out the spring,
and Obi Oluigbo.
DEFENSIVE LINE: Tackle Gabe Watson and end Pat
Massey are back, and returning starters LaMarr
Woodley and Pierre Woods often play as pass-rush-
ing ends in Michigan's 3-4 defense. The Wolverines
often rotate linemen in and out, so Rondell Biggs,
Will Paul and Jeremy Van Alstyne will see playing
time as well.
A focus this spring will be to find a way to get
to the quarterback. For the second consecutive year
Michigan struggled up front, managing just 21 sacks
last season.
LINEBACKERS: Fifth-year senior-to-be Scott
McClintock will lead this unit, which was recently
hit by the surprising loss of Lawrence Reid to a neck
injury in addition to the departure of Roy Manning.
This may give an opportunity to Prescott Burgess
and Shawn Crable, who have talent but have had to sit
behind older teammates.
SECONDARY: This may be Carr's biggest concern.
Michigan lost two All-Americans from this unit in
cornerback Marlin Jackson and safety Ernest Shazor,
and Carr has admitted that the team's depth at the
position isn't the best.
Cornerback Leon Hall and safety Ryan Mundy
return, and safety Jamar Adams and cornerback
Grant Mason will likely join them.

Remember when you ate lunch
from a paper bag?
When you needed a bedtime
story from Mom to fall asleep?
Screech Powers?
Ah, the good ole days - when life
was so simple.
You never had homework to do on
Saturday and Sunday. You could sit
on the couch with Dad and watch the
games.
Back then sports was a luxury. You
could cry your way out of soccer prac-
tice or go to bed before Game 7 start-
ed and not really care you missed it.
Now, you're more of a worrier.
And it's very hard to keep up
with sports. But you do it anyways,
don't you.
Many of you are beginning to see
the sun rise on the real world, where
happiness is in the shade. Student
loans need to be paid for. But you have
to find a job first. Oh and make sure
it's a job you love. And I know you've
thought about marriage and a family.
Forget that M3 - you've got a mort-
gage to save for. All of this has dried
somewhere in the back of your mind.
Sports are like that first gulp of
water after playing basketball for two
hours straight.
Ahhh, relief.
Don't worry, I won't try to compare
sports to having a girlfriend. I'd just
like to share some thoughts on the one
aspect of life that we truly never stop
caring about, no matter how many
times it leaves us heartbroken. We just
keep coming back.
We get lost in the game.
A friend of mine said a sporting
event is unique from any other kind.
We know the setting. The start time.
The characters. But not the plot.
Would you pay $67.50 to watch a
three-hour movie without a preview?
The morning after the morning
after St. Patrick's Day, I woke up
unusually early. But then again, I
never sleep well after 17-hours of
Guinness. I think I set a world record.
Cereal. E-mail. Shower. Mosey on
over to the television.
It was just after 10:30 a.m., and, in
preparation for the day's NCAA Tour-
nament games, I found high school
basketball on Fox Sports Detroit.
The game: Class D High School
State Championships. Live. From the
Breslin Center. Bellaire vs. Detroit
Rogers.
I'll begin with the end of the game.

t's easy .
Bellaire leads 68-67 with three
seconds remaining in regulation. Bel-
laire holds possession under Detroit
Rogers's basket. A simple lob pass
to the far end of the court would end
the game. Instead, a Bellaire player
nervously inbounds the ball to his left
toward a charging teammate.
The following happened in one you-
got-to-be-kidding-me motion: Detroit
Rogers freshman Eric Evans stepped
in front of the pass, gained possession,
lobbed the ball in mid-twist toward
the circular piece of iron and was
fouled. Ball's good! Four-point play.
Game over. Detroit-Rogers wins! State
Championship stolen.
It wasn't yet noon on that Saturday
morning, and no - I checked - the
game wasn't on ESPN Classic. I felt
like Al Michaels in 1980. Like the
opposite of Scott Norwood on sticky
Tampa Bay turf.
I momentarily forgot about my mul-
tiple rejections - from a special lady
and law schools. I didn't think about
my dog Kobe who may have cancer.
And it felt great. And I reflected,
like I'm prone to do.
Sports! The greatest weight-loss
system. Things aren't so heavy after
all.
What a great way to start a day.
Quite unexpectedly, another ending
worthy of Casablanca would unravel
later that evening in the Albu-quirky
region.
Round of 32. No. 2 seed Wake For-
est versus No. 7 West Virginia. This
one seemed pretty predictable.
Ah. Again. Something unique about
sports: you don't know what's going
to happen - fickler than a tennis ball
during a rally.
Back-and-forth - West Virginia
pulled ahead and looked like it would
win. Then Wake battled back with yet
another clutch 3-pointer.
Enter Mountaineer Mike Gansey.
The 20-year-old blew up for 19 in
two overtime periods. Three-point-
ers. Free-throws. Two-steppers to
the basket. This kid's shots were
like the parents of a teenage girl
with the door closed - they were
going in no matter what. I hadn't
heard of Gansey before this game.
Now, I'll never forget that he single-
handedly courted the Mountaineers
to Cinderella's ball.
I left my friend Bob's house after
that game, playing basketball down
Packard Street for about a quarter of
a mile pretending to be Gansey. The
people walking past me probably
thought I was drunk or something.
Nah, just back to the good-ole days.
Not a care in the world.
For the doubters out there, just
watch Sports Center for highlights of
last night's Vanderbilt-Wichita State
NIT game. Eric Ambinder can be
reached at eambinde@umich.edu.

Mahler turns things around for Blue

By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Writer

ATHENS, Ohio - Numbers never
lie. Or do they? Sophomore shortstop
Leif Mahler is living proof that, some-
times, what you see on the stat sheet
isn't exactly what you get.

Last year, as
a true freshman,

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Michigan shortstop Leif Mahler upped his batting average over 100 points last weekend.

Mahler commit- U
ted just four errors $QO
the entire season
- good enough
for a .974 fielding
percentage - and batted a respect-
able .306.
The Columbus native was given the
Ted Sizemore Award as the top defen-
sive player at the end of the season and
began the 2005 campaign No. 1 on the
depth chart.

But this season, Mahler hasn't looked
as impressive.
"I started out a little slow with the
bat and defensively, too," Mahler said.
Going into the weekend, Mahler was
hitting .116 and had committed five
errors. And his fielding struggles only
continued - he added four more errors
to his total this weekend.
But Michigan coach Rich Maloney
understands that baseball is more than
just numbers on a sheet of paper.
"Sometimes, when you're a young
player and you're struggling with the
bat, you have a tendency to try too
hard (in the field)," Maloney said.
"But he's a really good fielder, and all
the guys know that. I feel very confi-
dent in him."
Although Maloney knows Mahler
hasn't been at his best so far this sea-
son, the coach noted that the sopho-

more has made some tough plays
throughout the year.
Just ask sophomore shortstop Bryant
Witt of Ohio University.
Mahler stole two would-be hits from
Witt in the third and sixth innings of the
first game of the weekend. In the third,
Mahler chased down a well-struck
ground ball in the hole between short
and third and put on a clinic on how to
field a ball to your backhand side. In
the sixth, Mahler preserved a perfect
game by making a leaping grab.
Mahler is starting to break out of
his hitting woes. He improved his
batting average more than 100 points
over the weekend to .223. He illus-
trated his improvement in the second
game of the three game series. Mahler
went 3-for-5 and drew first blood for
the Wolverines.
To open up the second inning, juniors

Mike Schmidt and Matt Rademacher
hit a pair of singles and were on second
base and first base, respectively. That's
when Mahler stepped up to the plate
and lined a frozen rope to the gap in
left-center - that hit the outfield wall
on the fly. When the dust settled, two
runners had crossed home plate and
Mahler was standing on second.
"This weekend, hopefully, I've
turned things around," Mahler said.
"I'm hitting and seeing the ball a lot
better. We worked on some things this
past week, and the results seem to show
that things are going pretty well."
DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING: The Michi-
gan baseball team hit well over the
weekend, but after the first game, there
was one statistic that worried Maloney:
runners left on base.
"We left a lot of opportunities (on
base) to make it a larger lead than it
was," Maloney said. "But I thought
we played well, and, when you have a
pitcher as hot as (Jim Brauer), it's pretty
much a moot point, which is awesome."
At last week's Lamar Classic, the
Wolverines scored a total of 12 runs
with two outs and left 31 runners on
base. Against Ohio, Michigan only
scored six runs with two outs, and still
stranded 31 runners.
"We've been getting timely hitting,"
Maloney said. "I just look at the fact we
scored 10 runs and we scored six runs.
If we keep scoring six runs, with the
way we've built our team around pitch-
inar wP, ,hnn,1dhe rertty i, -"M

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Early Bird Rate: $35 for ads placed on or before March 17th, 2oo5.
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Published on: March 31st, 2005.
Refer to the classified section of the Daily for more info!
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ir

Fulbright Information Session,
TODAY
Tuesday, March 22nd at 12:00pm
at the International Institute
Room 2609, School of Social Work Building
Daniel Glasson, a 2004 Fulbright Scholar to Poland,
will describe his experience as a Fulbright grantee and

UniversWty of MiciDigan
2005
LesderSeas <
May 9K4or August 22-27
At LeaderShape you will....
Develop your leadership

Text: ____________________