The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Friday, October 29, 2010 - 7 1

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 29, 2010 -7

JAKEFROMM/Daly
Senior forward Carl Hagelin has had a slow start to the season in terms of scoring.
Last year, Hagelin was one of the Wolverines' top offensive threats.
Blue faces first
true CCHA road
test in Bulldogs
By MARK BURNS should be in pretty good shape.
Daily Sports Editor "If we can take their crowd out
of the game, it might take them out
Yost Ice Arena is arguably of the game too," Brown said about
the toughest venue in the entire getting the first goal. "If they come
CCHA - that's no secret. It's cer- outjumpingon us early, the crowd's
tainly among the going to be into it and the place is
rowdiest places Michigan at going to be rocking. It might hurt us,
in the country, and we're not looking too into it, but
especially when Ferri St it could always be a factor."
compared with Matchup: With Ferris State (1-1-0, 4-2-0)
Goggin Ice Cen- Michigan 3-1- coming off its best year in recent
ter in Oxford and 2; Ferris St. 4-2 memory, finishing third in the con-
Munn Ice Arena When: Today ference during the regular season,
in East Lansing. at 4 PM. Berenson knows that this will be a
But when the Where: textbook end-to-end battle.
Wolverines travel Ewigleben "We just have to take care of the
to Ferris State in Ice Arena puck by getting the puck quickly out
Big Rapids, Mich- LiveBlog: of the zone," he said. "We have to
igan this after- www.michi- have some sustained pressure then
noon for the first ga ndailycom once we get the puck out. Ferris is a
game of a home- transition rink.
and-home series, "We're not going to keep it in
they'll play in a well kept secret of a their zone all night, and when it
rink that might just challenge Yost turns over, we have to be ready for a
for that top honor: Ewigleben Ice foot race back to our zone, and then
Arena. get it out quick again. It's going to be
"When you win a game in there, transition hockey."
you have to be ready to compete Berenson added that the keys to
hard," Michigan coach Red Beren- playing an effective transition are
son said of Ewigleben, in which good passes, head manning the puck
the Bulldogs had a conference-best and forcing turnovers in the neutral
14-4-2 home record last season. zone.
"The emotion, the noise, the rink- The mental preparation should
size ...We've gone in there and have be as important as the X's and O's
had good games, but you're going to when playing the Bulldogs, espe-
have to play well." cially since Hagelin said that the
Boasting a lower-than-normal team might have been lacking that
roof and a seating capacity just prep last Friday when the Wolver-
under 3,000, Ewigleben's student ines dropped a 4-2 home contest to
section sits tight against the glass Nebraska-Omaha.
behind the Wolverines' net for two "We got together and talked as a
periods. team that preparation is the key to
"They always pack that place success," Hagelin said earlier this
when they play us, and the fans are week about the team's 6-1 win the
pretty ruthless and try to get under following night against UNO.
your skin," senior forward Carl After Wednesday's practice,
Hagelin said. Berenson said that the "first respon-
Regardless of the type of envi- sibility comes on us" with regards to
ronment the Wolverines will be his team's mentality before games,
playing in, sophomore winger Chris but that some of the responsibility
Brown said that the coaching staff also lies among the 20 players in the
has emphasized just how crucial the locker room as well.
first five minutes of any game is - "The coaches have the right mes-
especially on the road. It's vital for sage, but the captains and leaders
capturing that early tally, some of need to know that the team talk is
the game's momentum, or even just just as important because they have

establishing early sustained offen- to be in sync," Berenson said. "If the
sive pressure. I team thinks that the preparation
Brown added that if Michigan can be less than what the coaches
(2-0-0 CCHA, 3-1-2 overall) can think, then forget it. It's not going
maintain a high level of intensity for to work. But the first responsibility
the entire 60 minutes, then the team comes on us."

Big Ten coaches praise Beilein

By ZAK PYZIK
Daily Sports Writer
CHICAGO - It was no secret
at Big Ten basketball media day
that Michigan is expected to be at
the bottom of the pack. Coaches
and players from
opposing teams NOTEBOOK
said time and
time again that the Wolverines are
rebuilding. Even Michigan coach
John Beilein acknowledged that
the Wolverines have easily the
youngest roster in the conference.
Everybody gets it - the team has
an uphill battle from here on out.
But when Indiana coach Tom
Crean finished his opening state-
ment at the coaches press confer-
ence, something caught the ear of
the Michigan media in the room.
"There might be some prepara-
tions that are as hard," Crean said.
"But there are none harder than
getting ready for a John Beilein-
coached team."
While many coaches made
references to the game's unpre-
dictability - that any team could
beat any other on any given night
- it is also clear that Michigan's
unknown weapons in conjunction
with Beilein's complex scheme may
challenge better Big Ten teams.
Beilein primarily ran a 1-3-1
defense last year. But after offens-
es picked it apart, the Wolverines
instituted man coverage. Beilein
finished the season by switching
between the two.
"I don't know why they think
its difficult to coach against me; I
don't know anything else," Beilein
said. "Certainlylastyear therewere
many games it wasn't difficult to
coach against us. I think if we can
get open shots and knock them
down it's going to change our whole
look. And our defense, unlike last
year, will have to be consistent."
This year, Beilein mentioned
that he is going to attempt the 1-3-1
again. With that, Michigan intends
to use the fast break much more
effectively. Essentially, Beilein's
aggressive defense will have to
convert more turnovers into points
to compete with other Big Ten
schools - something it couldn't do
last year.
INJURY PLAGUED: Arguably
the biggest preseason headline
has been Purdue forward Robbie

Several Big Ten coaches noted the difficulty of preparing for teams coached by Michigan coach John Bellein (pic
2009) during the Big Ten conference at Big Ten basketball media day on Thursday.

Hummel's season-endingACL tear.
The senior participated in about
three team practices and 10 indi-
vidual workouts before Boilermak-
er coach Matt Painter knew that
Hummel had to call it quits.
Purdue was ranked first in the
conference by multiple media
outlets prior to Hummel's injury.
But as soon as news came out that
Hummel was done, Michigan State
became the definitive leader, and
Ohio State was the popular number
two.
The Boilermakers lost Hummel
for the season with the same injury
last February.
"For us, we have some experi-
ence of going through this," Painter
said. "It stinks ... it's like Ground-
hog's Day for us. But we have been
through this with not having him
or not having him 100 percent.
And we've been able to make some
adjustments. We've had some
bumps in the road, and I think
we've learned from that."
Michigan State's Kalin Lucas is
facing similar issues as star point
guard missed the entire offseason.
The senior ruptured his Achilles
tendon in March and was sidelined
for five months.

"Players are made inthesummer
and teams are made in the win-
ter," Spartan coach Tom Izzo said.
"But we had about five players that
didn't make themselves any better
in the summer. But in Kalin's case I
think (he) became a little better by
injury. Now he doesn't rely just on
speed, he relies on his knowledge of
the game ... If he gets that all back
we're going to have a better player.
"I'm very nervous," Izzo said
about the high expectations for his
team after Lucas's injury. "We're
not going to be as good of a team
until the middle of December ...
Because we are going to have some
(setbacks). How do you handle
that?"
Indiana guard Maurice Creek
showed up to Chicago with a knee
brace on. He fractured his left knee
in late Dec. 2009. Before the injury,
Creek averaged 16.5 points a game
and completed about 45-percent of
his 3-pointers.
Iowa guard Matt Gatens tore a
tendon in his left hand.
"Matt's having surgery today,"
Hawkeye coach Fran McCaffery
said yesterday. "You're probably
looking at three weeks before he
can play."

PRESEASON PRESENTS: Lucas
received Preseason Big Ten Play-
er of the Year honors, which was
actually a surprise to him.
"It is really a shock, to be hon-
est," Lucas said. "I had no clue I
was going to get it because of my
injury. At the same time, I know
I will work hard every day and I
will live up to it. At the same time,
it could have been my teammates."
Illinois's Demetri McCamey,
Purdue's JaJuan Johnson and
OE'Twaun Moore and Wisconsin's
Jon Leuer joined Lucas as the Pre-
season All-Conference team.
Michigan State, Ohio State and
Purdue gathered the Nos. 1, 2 and
3 in preseason rankings, respec-
tively. Although those three teams
seem like the dominant forces, any
team could pull away with the Big
Ten title at the end of the season,"
Izzo said.
"When you've got a Wiscon-
sin or a Minnesota that are put in
the middle of our pack right now
- that's scary," he said. "Because
they're good. They're well coached
and good. Those guys have done it
all the time ... we're up to six, seven
or eight (teams) that are really
good."

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