The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, November 12, 2008 -10A I I ICE HOCKEY'S 10-GAME PROGRES ORT GJON ejVMA4 ,,CH FS2 Oe U OFFENSE: ___ __ USPECIAL TEAMS: & I I The Michigan hockey team's offense has surprisingly been its strength. Sophomores Aaron Palushaj and Louie Caporusso have stepped it up this season along with the rest of the Wol- verines to create two dynamic scoring lines. Caporusso leads the team with nine goals and has been boosted by the addition of Palushaj to his line two weeks ago. While the Wolverines have scored timely goals, most recent- ly this Saturday against Alaska, the offense has been nonexistent in key games. Twice this season against ranked teams, Northern Michigan and Boston University, Michigan didn't score any mean- ingful goals. The Wolverines lost 7-2 to BU and were shutout in their first game against the Wild- cats. Michigan will need to score in big games if it wants to make it deep into the postseason. Games against Miami, Michigan State and Notre Dame later this season will be key tests for the offense. Michigan's extra-man attack is starting to show improvement, scoring on five of its last 19 chanc- es. The Wolverines are sixth in the CCHA with a 14.7-percent con- version rate. That number should gradually improve throughout the season, largely because Palushaj and Caporusso are playing like the coaching staff hoped they would. The two had combined for seven of Michigan's 10 power-play goals this season. Caporusso seems to be scoring from every angle and Palushaj has been routinely feeding teammates through traffic to create scoringchances. One concern is the status of Michigan's penalty kill. Alaska enteredlastweekendwithjustthree power-playgoalsin 52 chances.The Nanooks netted two more during Michigan's Saturday night win. The Wolverines' penalty kill has now surrendered 12 goals. Michi- gan has killed just 77.4-percent of its penalties, which is next-to-last in the CCHA. But the stat is a little deceiving because Boston scored five of those 12 power-play goals on Oct.25. JEREMYCHO/Daily Sophomore center Louie Caporuso I I SAID ALSALAH/Daily Sophomore forward Aaron Palushaj DEFENSE: Entering the season, there was little doubt Michigan's defense would be one of its strongest and deepestunits. But after two expe- rienced blue-liners, senior Mark Mitera and junior Steve Kamp- fer, were lost for most of the year with injuries, the unit couldn't have looked more depleted. As a result, sophomores Scooter Vaughan and Tristin Llewellyn, who weren't even dressing for every game at this point last year, have started at times. The two have played well in the their new roles, and each has double-digit blocked shots. Sophomore Chad Langlais has also kept up his strong play from GOALTENDING: last season, accumulating a plus- seven rating, second best on the' team. And with freshman Bran- don Burlon finally back from an ankle injury, some much-needed depth returned to the lineup. But the unit still has a lot of room for improvement. Overall, the Wol- verines have done a solid job com- pensating for the loss of Mitera and Kampfer. The net was up for grabs heading into the season. Question marks fol- lowed senior Billy Sauer's meltdown against Notre Dame in last year's FrozenFour. Uncertaintysurround- ed sophomore Bryan Hogan, who played in just six games last year. Ten games into this season, after five starts for each goalie, the ques- tionsremain.Thistime,it'snotabout who can handle the pressure - it's about who has the slight edge. With the exception of Michigan's blowout loss at BU, both goalies have proven they can keep the Wolverines in the game. Each boasts a save percentage of just more than .890. On a series-by-series scale, the two netminders have performed pretty evenly. Each has made some highlight-reel-worthy saves. Michi- gan has given up 28 goals, some have been fluke goals, including weird bounces off skates, but Hogan and Sauer have allowed a worrisome amount of easy rebound goals. Wins and losses depend on offen- sive production and smothering defense, too, but at the end of the day, Sauer is 2-3-0 and Hogan is 5-0. JEREMY CHO/Daily Sophomore Scooter Vaughan JEREMY CHO/Daily Sophomore goaltender Bryan Hogan a I .. ........ - -,"' , I I ICE HOCKEY Mitera sidelined for three to six months By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer Senior captain defensemen Mark Mitera will be out three to six months ° after undergoing knee surgery last Thursday, Michigan hock- ey coach Red Berenson said yesterday. Mitera injured- his knee " colliding with a St. Lawrence player late in the first period of Michigan's season opener. MITERA "Mitera had his surgery on Thursday and everything, we're told, went as expected," Berenson said.' "He'll be slowly rehabbing. There'll be a lot of intangibles. One of them is his knee and how it heals. And another is his work ethic and the rehab." Berenson said he's optimistic because Mitera is young and has not sustained a similar injury before. Mitera was a shutdown defenseman last sea- son for the Wolverines, recording a plus-30 rating and 23 points. He and junior Steve Kampfer were expected to anchor a strong defensive corps, but both have suffered serious injuries. Kampfer, who was injured in an off-ice alter- cation, will see the doctor next week when his status will be re-evaluated. He is currently wear-' ing a neck brace. SWIMMER From Page 1A "I just knew I was going to devote this meet to him," he said. "To swim my races for my dad is the greatest honor I can give him. Some people in Israel would really question what kind of people we are becoming where sport is more important than religion,,but anyone who knew my dad would know that I made the obvious decision and the right one. I haven't regretted it for a minute." Just five days after his father's death, Mandel swamhis first Olym- pic event, the 200-meter butterfly. The pain was difficult to deal with at first, he said, but became easier every day. But not only was Mandel concerned with managing his own emotions, he was also aware of his impact on his teammates' mindset. "The hardest part is to isolate yourself from everything in the pool," he said. "When I thought about it, my goggles were wet from the inside, and not from the water. Forty-eight hours before I swam, I began to be completely isolated so that when I got to the pool, I could just focus on my race and my tech- nique. But it was also important for me to not be miserable outside the pool because by doing that, you negatively affect your teammates." Mandel was especially appre- ciative of the support he received from Club Wolverine teammates Eric Vendt and Peter Vanderkaay and former Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek. Just six hours after hearing Mandel's father had died, Urbanchek spoke with Mandel at a flag raising ceremony in the Olym- pic Village. "I got a lot of support from Jon and I admire him for being such a good swim coach and acaring per- son," he said. "When he talked to me, it was kind of a fatherly conver- sation. All the support reminded me that I'm here and rightnow, I've got to get the job done and feel bad later." Just beingin Beijing was a dream come true for Mandel, whose life- long goal had been to swim at the Olympics. In 2003, when Mandel walked into Canham Natatorium for the first time, he carried a purple key- chain on his backpack that he had made in 2001 engraved with his name and "08.08.08," the date of the opening ceremonies of the Bei- jing Olympic Games. As he walked through the hall-' way decorated with the swim caps -of former Michigan Olympians from around the world, he noticed there was one country that was unrepresented: Israel. "When I stepped into the pool and saw the Hall of Fame and allthe caps, I knew right away I wanted to put the Israeli cap up there, and its been my goal since then," he said. Because Israel is a small country it does not have its own Olympic tri- als qualifying meet like in the Unit- ed States. To qualify for the Israeli Olympic team a swimmer had to finish in the top 12 of an event at the European Swimming Champion- shipsinthe NetherlandslastMarch. Mandel finished in 13th place in the 200-meter butterfly. He not only set an Israeli national record, but he also became the first Israeli swim- mer ever to swim the 200-meter butterfly in under two minutes. But he was still 0.02 seconds away from qualifying for the Olym- pics. When Greek swimmer Ioan- nis Drymonakos was disqualified, Mandel didn't have an automatic ticket to Beijing. It would take two months of fighting against what Mandel called the "international bureaucracy" to secure his spot on the Israeli team. "In an Olympic year, the Greek Federation would not want a doped swimmer under their name, so they tried to cover it up," he said. "My dad and my mom worked day and night to pull some strings. They got some help from the president of the World Swimming Federation and some very kind people and eventu- ally, it worked. But they didn't just sit at home and wait for it to come." In the meantime, Mandel flew to Spain, where he spent two and a half weeks at a training camp with the Israeli Olympic team. While he was there, Mandel learned Dry- monakos was denied an appeal and would not be allowed to compete. Mandel would be going to Beijing. Mandel's ability to stay focused on his races certainly paid off. He improved his time in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events and set an Israeli national record in both. Although he swam with a heavy heart, he touched the wall with a proud sense of accomplishment for achieving his lifelong goal. Back at home, Mandel's personal tragedy had instantly captured the interest of many people who heard his story. Mandel'smother stayed at home during the Olympics and was surprised at the amount of atten- tion her son received. "He became a hero in Israel," she said. "You cannot even imagine how many stories were in the news- papers, on the Internet and on TV. When Alon was swimming around I noon in Israel, everyone dropped what they were doing to find a TV and see how he was doing. All of Israel was behind him." After his final races were over in China, Mandel returned to Israel to attend his father's funeral. Ten days later, just two days after his 20th birthday, he was on another plane. This time he was heading back to Ann Arbor to begin a new school year and collegiate swim season. Walking across campus this fall, Mandel still carries the same pur- ple key chain he made over seven years ago. The Olympic games are over, but the key chain is now a reminderofthe hardworkandded- ication that helped him achieve his goal. This season, he hopes to win an individual event at the Big Ten Championships. His goal for the London games in 2012 is to finish in the top eight. "I don't think after this experi- ence, I will ever experience such a hard thing," he said. "I said the same thing after the crazy March I had with three swim meets. But now that I've had this bigger thing happen, I believe each one of us can always have the energy to do our best, but we just have to believe in ourselves."