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Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - 8
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
*I
Kampfer injured
in off-ice incident
Threet the likely starter in
Happy Valley on Saturday
Junior becomes third
defenseman out for
this weekend
By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Editor,
A week ago, the Michigan hockey
team's deep defense was expected
to carry what looked likea depleted
offense.
After three
defensive inju-
ries in the past
week, it's now
the opposite.
Junior defen-
seman Steve
Kampfer is the KAMPFER
latest Wolverine
tosufferasevere
injury that will keep him sidelined
for an extended period of time.
Michigan coach Red Berenson said
Kampfer was hospitalized after an
off-ice incident late Saturday night,
but has since been released.
"He's going to be out of the line-
up for a while,"
Berenson said NOTEBOOK
yesterday.
Entering the season, Kampfer
was the Wolverines' second most
experienced defenseman behind
senior captain Mark Mitera.
Mitera suffered a "severe" knee
injury in the first period against St.
Lawrence Friday and is out for the
foreseeable future. He "can hardly
walk" right now, Berenson said.
Mitera will determine whether
he needs surgery within the next
two weeks, once the swelling goes
down.
The other blow is the loss of
freshman defenseman Brandon
Burlon, who sprained his ankle in
practice last Tuesday: The second-
round NHL pick won't skate this
week or against Northern Michigan
this weekend. He's likely out for a
couple weeks, Berenson said.
Sophomore defenseman Chad
Langlais is nursing a minor injury
and sat out practice Monday, but he
will still play against the Wildcats
this weekend.
Junior alternate captain Chris
Summers played left wing in the
preseason, but he's back on defense
now.
"Tha experimencdidn'tlastvery
long," Berenson said.
Even with Summers' return
Michigan's blue line is still very
depleted.
Junior walk-on Eric Elmblad and
freshman Greg Pateryn, who was
a healthy scratch Saturday, will be
filling much bigger roles. Berenson
also put senior fourth-line forward
Danny Fardig on the blue line in
practice yesterday.
"They're depth players that are
now in the lineup," Berenson said.
"We're thin on defense, and we
really need to focus on these guys
being ready to play."
Berenson was in a similar situa-
tion late last season. When defen-
seman Kevin Quick was dismissed
from the team for credit card fraud
and defenseman Scooter Vaughan
missed time for jaw surgery, Elm-
blad started his first-career game
in the quarterfinals of the CCHA
Tournament.
Against Northern Michigan this
weekend, Summers will be the
only defenseman with more than
a season of experience. Elmblad
and Pateryn have played six career
games combined.
"Obviously, this is a sense of
urgency for our whole team,"
Berenson said. "If our team's going
to have any success, our forwards
have to do a good job of helping our
defense. We can't leave them back
being outnumbered time and time
again like even we did this past
weekend."
CAPTAIN STATUS: With Mitera
out, Berenson said Summers will
serve as Michigan's "acting cap-
tain" and wear a 'C' on his sweater.
He added that the coaching staff is
discussing giving out another 'A' or
two. But it's unlikely a sophomore
would be given a letter this early in
their career.
"I would consider it, but I don't
want them worried about that right
now," Berenson said. "I want them
worried about playing. They all
have good roles on our team. I don't
want them worried about being
expected to lead the team."
The most likely candidate for an
'A' is senior second-line forward
Travis Turnbull, Michigan's top
returning goal scorer. Senior Tim
Miller wore an 'A' for the first half
of last season, but his play suffered
and Mitera replaced him as an
alternate captain halfway through
the year.
GOALIE UPDATE: Berenson
reiterated his plan to have senior
Billy Sauer and sophomore Bryan
Hogan split time between the pipes
this weekend. The pair will con-
tinue to alternate starts unless one
begins to play much better than the
other. Both goalies let in three goals
against St. Lawrence.
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Junior defensive end Brandon
Graham leads the Michigan foot-
ball team in sacks (five) and tackles
for loss (10.5).
Sophomore NOTEBOOK
cornerback Don-
ovan Warren is still second on the
team with two pass breakups.
Freshman slot receiver Martav-
ious Odoms still has the team-best
in catches (23), receiving yards
(253) and kick returns (244 yards
on 10 returns).
All of them played missed the
Wolverines' 13-10 loss to Toledo on
Saturday with injuries.
Tack on that redshirt fresh-
man starting quarterback Steven
Threet missed the second half
with a bruised elbow, and Michi-
gan was extremely limited.
But Michigan coach Rich Rodri-
guez expects all four to play Satur-
day at No. 3 Penn State.
Graham has been plagued by a
leg infection, Warren hurt his quad
and Odoms was out with shoulder
problems.
Threet didn't practice yesterday,
but Rodriguez said he expects the
quarterback to be ready by Satur-
day, addingthat Threet will start if
he's completely healthy.
Junior running back Brandon
Minor had to be taken to the hospi-
tal after he was injured on a27-yard
touchdown catch in the first quar-
ter. He had X-rays, which revealed
he has bruised ribs. Minor will
wear rib protection and Rodriguez
thinks he will play Saturday.
Sophomore Junior Hemingway
(mononucleosis) and junior run-
ning back Carlos Brown (ankle)
are still out. Hemingway hasn't
returned to practice yet, and senior
linebacker Austin Panter (shoul-
der) will probably also be forced to
sit out the game.
TOLEDO REVIEW: When Mich-
igan loses, it's quiet in the Rodri-
guez household after the game.
There was a similar tone in the
locker room after Michigan's 13-10
loss to Toledo.
Rodriguez said his postgame
speech wasn't quite as angry as
Redshirtfreshman quarterback Steven Threet bruised his elbow in Michigan's loss to Toledo, and didn't practice Sunday.
it was after losing to Illinois the
week before.
"It wasn't the same tone, but
I don't think it needed to (be),"
Rodriguez said.
Redshirt junior punter Zoltan
Mesko said Rodriguez made a com-
parison that put the Wolverines'
struggles in perspective.
"It's not life or death," Mesko
said. "It's not like you have a kid
that's terminally ill. I'd rather to
have this than be 6-0 and have the
kid that's terminally ill. That's got
to be a tough situation, but you've
got to look at it. It could be worse."
Rodriguez saw what he expect-
ed when he reviewed film - criti-
cal mistakes, a team that didn't
play well and players who weren't
fundamentally sharp. But he didn't
think Illinois beat the Wolverines
twice, citing a great practice last
Tuesday.
Still, Rodriguez hasn't seen con-
tinuous offensive progress.
"At times, and at times not," he
said.
When in doubt, Rodriguez
tries to focus on one aspect of the
offense and rely on it, but there's
no position on Michigan's offense
that's very experienced.
"Find another team that has as
much inexperience offensively as
we did this year," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the Wolverines'
intensity wasn't good in the game,
but their effort was. He also didn't
think his players were physical
enough, which he thought may
have due to them thinking too
much. But Rodriguez said his play-
ers have been more resilient than
the coaches.
Rodriguez didn't talk to fifth-
year senior K.C. Lopata about his
missed field goal near the end of
regulation, but Rodriguez said the
kicker was working hard and didn't
seem down on himself.
PENN STATE LOOMING: Even.
though Rodriguez said he sees "no
weaknesses on any of the three
phases" for the third-ranked Nit-
tany Lions, he's looking forward to
the game against Penn State to get
the taste of the Toledo loss out of
his mouth.
"Saturday can't come fast
enough," he said.
Fifth-year senior defensive end
Tim Jamison said other teams are
looking to beat the Wolverines
while they're down.
"We're Michigan," he said.
"Everybody wants to take a shot at
Michigan."
Penn State is led by quarterback
Daryll Clark. Rodriguez recruited
Clark when he was coming out of
prepschoolandhasbeenimpressed *
with the quarterback's ability to
make differenttypes of throws.
FEAGIN COULD PLAY: Fresh-
man Justin Feagin still could still
make his college debutthis season.
Rodriguez said he probably should
have played Feagin asa slot receiv-
er against Toledo.
Feagin, originally recruited as a
quarterback, has been taking reps
at slot receiver. Although Rodri-
guez thinks Feagin's future at
Michigan is in the slot, the coach
plans to give Feagin work at quar-
terback in practice, too. Rodri-
guez said playing quarterback has
helped him pick up schemes in the
slot.
Stacy snags spotlight with two clutch goals
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By MICHAEL FLOREK
For the Daily
There's a new Mr. October in
town.
In his first two games this
month, senior Jake Stacy put up
two memorable performances.
Against No. 8 Notre Dame on
Oct. 1, he tallied the eventual
game-winning goal at the 23:11
mark, leading the Wolverines to
a 3-1 victory, their first-ever win
over the Irish.
Three days later, Stacy followed
that performance by netting the
lone goal of Michigan's 1-0 upset
win over No. 20 Indiana.
Stacy kept up his hot streak
with two assists in Michigan's 5-1
win over Western Michigan on
Sunday.
"We knew it would be a step-
ping stone for us, we knew itwould
set us up for the rest of the year so
(we had) a lot of focus and alot of
heart," Stacy said.
The 5-foot-8 Grand Rapids
native used his quickness and
strength to earn All-Big Ten First
Team honors last season. After
his career year, he is looking to
continue that success despite fac-
ing defenders who are up to eight
inches taller than him.
"He is one of the quickest over
five to 10 yards," Michigan assis-
tant coach Paul Snape said. "He
is very elusive and he is tough to
mark because he is so explosive.
His vertical jump is very good as
well, so he has got some good ath-
letic traits even though he does not
have height on his side."
Stacy's height has not stopped
him from putting up big num-
bers.With seven-goals this season,
Stacy has already matched his
total from his last three seasons
combined. This increase in scor-
ing has him fourth in the Big Ten
in points (19).
Snape said he likes that Stacy
is making runs in the box and is
always in the right spot to score.
Stacy's performance in the
wins over Notre Dame and Indi-
ana earned him Offensive Big
Ten Player of The Week and
National Soccer Coaches Asso-
ciation of America Player of the
Week honors.
"He has always had the talent
and the technique, but in the last
year or two he has really applied
himself," Snape said. "His tactical
understanding has really grown
and he has become a really intel-
ligent player."
Stacy has pushed his team to
an 9-2-2 record and up to No. 24
in last week's NSCAA/Adidas top-
25 poll. It was Michigan's first
appearance in the rankings this
year.
The Wolverines will need Sta-
cy's clutch play to continue, as
they still have to beat No. 2 North-
western and No. 17 Ohio State if
they hope to capture the Big Ten
title.
"We have to just take it game by
game," Stacy said. "I think every 0
BigTen team is areallygoodteam,
but every team is a team we can
compete with."
Graduate School
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Today!
The Michigan Union, 4pm-7pm
Meet with over 100 graduate schools
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Explore options, collect application
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Visit The Career Center's website for a
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Secause...one day can make all the difference!
For more information contact us at:
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Stop by our booth at the
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LEHIGH
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