The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Thursday, March 27 2008 - 5A
MICHIGAN 4, IPFW 2
Miller's tough
year gets better
By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
One more day, and Tim Miller
would have stayed scoreless for a
full calendar year.
But against Michigan State Feb.
23, the junior's 364-day score-
less streak came to an end. Miller
scored not one, but two goals
against the Wolverines' in-state
rival in their only triumph over the
Spartans this year.
While the dreaded streak
came to end in a brief, celebratory
moment, Miller's struggles have
lasted throughout the top-ranked
Wolverines' historic season.
At the end of last year, Michigan
coach Red Berenson chose Miller
to don the alternate captain 'A' on
his sweater. The two-way forward
was coming off a 24-point season
with a plus-13 rating. Berenson said
he thought Miller looked like one
of the team's best forwards in Min-
nesota for the season-opening Ice
Breaker Invitational in October.
After that, things went down-
hill.
As Michigan swept team after
team, Miller went longer and lon-
ger without a goal.
"When the puck doesn't go in,
sometimes you psych yourself out
and you make it even worse on
yourself," junior" Travis Turnbull
said. "You could tell he was really
squeezing the sap out of his stick.
He had some great chances, but
when that would happen, he would
kind of panic."
As time progressed, Miller's
goal-scoring confidence decreased
and he started passing the puck
more.
"He'd be in great position (to
score) and he'd try and make a pass
to someone else and they wouldn't
expect it," Berenson said. "And then
it was a non-play that he should've
shot."
Turnbull added: "When you're
not playing well, it can be really mis-
erable. If you make it to this level,
hockey is your entire life. If it's not
going well and you're working this
hard everyday, it's pretty tough."
Associate head coach Mel Pear-
son also saw Miller's frustration in
practice.
"Just, 'Wow, am I ever going to
score?'" Pearson said. "It definitely
plays with your mind. You probably
think you're never going to score
again."
Then, in December, Berenson
took away Miller's 'A' and award-
ed itto junior defenseman Mark
Mitera.
It wasn't as though Miller was
playing badly. He was one of the
team's best penalty killers and
defensive forwards, and was dish-
ing out plenty of assists. He was
See MILLER, Page 8A
ROB MIGRIN/Daily
Junior Mike Wilson threw two innings as part of Michigan coach Rich Maloney's pitching rotation in the Wolverines' 4-2 win yesterday against IPFW. Maloney gave eight
pitchers time on the mound after weather forced him to postpone three games.
FULL ROTATION
Maloney uses eight
pitchers in victory
Despite big bats, Blue
struggles to capitalize
Physical point guard
pushes floor for 'M'
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
Ja elle Cooper, Carly Benson
and Krista Phillips get most of the
credit for the Michigan women's
basketball team's resurgence.
But there's one player whose
impact has been overshadowed
- junior Jessica Minnfield. As the
starting point guard, Minnfield's
role isn't to take over games - it's to
manage the game.
"It doesn'tbother me," Minnfield
said of her perceived secondary
position. "I don't pay attention to
that stuff."
Minnfield's selfless attitude has
translated into a team-high 3.2
assists per game.
It's her energetic style that
helped the Wolverines (9-9 Big
Ten, 18-13 overall) get to the Sweet
16 of the Women's National Invita-
tion Tournament and manage their
first postseason
victory since
2001. Tonight,
the Wolverines
face Southern
Mississippi (8-
8 Conference
USA, 21-13) after
coming off an
18-point victory
against Virginia
Commonwealth
Monday.
Minnfield also
SO. MiSS.at
Michigan
Matchup:
So. Miss.
21-13; Michi-
gan 18-13
When:
Thursday
7 P-M.
Where:
Crisler Arena
By JASON KOHLER
Daily Sports Writer
WhenjuniorMikeWilsontook
the mound yesterday against
Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, he
knew all he had to do was get
through the first inning.
After givingupjustone hit and
striking out his final two batters,
Wilson headed to the dugout as
the ace of an eight-pitcher rota-
tion that surrendered just one
earned run.
Except for junior Mike Pow-
ers, who pitched both the sixth
and seventh innings, every
Michigan pitcher worked one
inning for the Wolverines in a 4-
2 win yesterday at Ray Fisher
Stadium.
"It was really no decision,"
Michigan coach Rich Maloney
said. "We hadn't played in a
long time and guys have to get
out there. You can't use them
much more than an inning
because then they wouldn't be
ready for the weekend."
The biggest factor in Malo-
ney's personnel choices was
a six-day layover between
games. Since last Thursday's
7-4 win over Oakland, Michi-
gan (10-6) had three straight
contests postponed due to the
winter weather.
in the seventh inning, Malo-
ney decided to break from his
pitching strategy and put Pow-
ers in for an encore performance
on the mound after an impres-
sive sixth inning.
In two innings, Powers
allowed one hit and struck out
two batters.
Powers struggled earlier this
season, posting three straight
losses against Portland, Arizona
State and East Carolina, so Malo-
ney wanted to give him a chance
to regain confidence by pitching
multiple innings.
"It was good to get him work-
See MASTODONS, Page 8A
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
It took eight innings for the
Michigan baseball team to finally
pull away from Indiana Purdue
Fort Wayne, but it wasn't because
they didn'thave
the opportuni- NOTEBOOK
ties.
Despite tallying 11 hits, the
Wolverines scored just four runs,
two of them coming in the eighth
inningfrom senior DerekVanBus-
kirk and sophomore Chris Berset.
But Michigan's eight stranded
runners were the night's most
telling number.
The problems started early,
when Michigan left two runners
on base in the first inning after
a one-out walk from senior Leif
Mahler and a single by junior
Zach Putnam. The struggles con-
tinued into the seventh inning,
when freshman Ryan LaMarre
started the inning with a double
to left-center field. He advanced
to third on a sacrifice bunt by
junior Kevin Cislo but was unable
to score.
For a team thathad to postpone
three games in one week, Michi-
gan was just glad it got on track.
"We've had a longtime off from
seeing live pitching out in the
field," VanBuskirk said. "This is
See NOTEBOOK, Page BA
Spend Your Summer
leads the team in
scrapes and bruises.
Duringthe second-round match-
up, Minnfield was knocked to the
ground numerous times and, at one
point, had tobe restrained byjunior
See MINNFIELD, Page 8A
Complete the grid so that every row, column
every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.
1.
I5 8J 4_
42
4T81 7 1
1~t 6 7 2
3 7 5
T7 9 5 4
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