2B - November 7, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com A
28 - November 1, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom ~
Be sure to keep an eye on the kids
IOWA CITY -
ake your eyes away from
the screen for just a
minute. Stop rewinding.
Junior Hemingway isn't going to
get his hands under the ball any
more on the eleventy-first replay
than he did live.
It was
a messy
weekend for
Michigan's Big
Three - foot-
ball, basketball
and hockey.
Brady
Hoke and Co. STEPHEN J.
dropped (or NESBITT
did they?) a
comeback
chance
in Iowa City. John Beilein's
boys narrowly escaped witb a
eight-point exhibition win over
Division-II Wayne State. Red
Berenson and the hockey team
ended the program's longest
home winning streak, a span of
20 straight games inAnn Arbor.
It ended as a 2-2 weekend for
the banner Michigan teams.
Nothing to write home about -
though plenty of grievances to
Facebook or tweet - but there
was plenty of silver lining on this
cloudy weekend.
At Kinnick Stadium, an eleva-
tor ride changed everything.
When the Wolverines lined up
to punt with four minutes left in
the game, the media made its way
to the elevator at the back of the
press box. One Marcus Coker first
down and the game was over.
By the time the elevator car
descended from the fourth floor
to the third - where a pair of
pleased Iowa fans stood waiting
- then down to ground level, the
game was suddenly back in reach.
Maybe you forgot about it.
Rewind a little further back, past
the uncalled pass interference
and the two official reviews.
There it is.
Lost in the middle of the
would-be heroics and officiating
antics of the Wolverines' final
drive was the precedingthree-
and-out forced by the Michigan
defense.
Ninety seconds off the clock,
wasting only one Michigan time-
out. Denard Robinson and the
offense suddenly had new life.
And they almost made it count.
Without that stop, there would
have been no photo finish. What
you should note, though, is that
without four freshmen playing on
defensive coordinator Greg Mat-
tison's shutdown defense, there
wouldn't have been that stop.
Mattison started three fresh-
men - linebacker Desmond Mor-
gan, cornerback Blake Countess
McGary, on Thursday cemented
Michigan as a risingtitle con-
tender next season.
For a Michigan basketball
fan, anything after the McGary
announcement was just a bonus.
In the exhibition against
Wayne State, sophomores Tim
Hardaway Jr. and Jon Horford
were the first- and third-leading
scorers for Michigan. They were
also the leading rebounders.
The basketball team boasts
a lineup so youngthat only one
upperclassman - senior guard
Zack Novak - is expected to
start. The youth, some which isn't
even on campus yet, is driving
this movement.
Michigan basketball isn't
selling a team, it's sellingthe
expectation of a long-standing
program.
At Yost Ice Arena, the home
winningstreak is over.
But the 21-year NCAA Tourna-
ment berth streak doesn't appear
to be in jeopardy. Despite losing
eight seniors after last season's
run to the national title game, the
Wolverines are ranked third in
the nation.
Berenson replaced the depart-
ing seniors with fresh faces
from places like Ontario and Las
Vegas. Through 10 games, the
underclassmen have scored 20 of
Michigan's 46 goals.
The dynamic trio of freshmen
forwards Phil DiGiuseppe, Travis
Lynch and Alex Guptill round
out the team's top-five goal scor-
ers, combining for 13 goals. Last
season, the entire seven-man
freshman class scored just 17 total
goals.
The point is this: At Michigan
we are on campus with a Frozen
Four contender, a Final Four con-
tender and a warm-weather bowl
contender. And no team is in its
prime.
Michigan football will be back
when it has a true quarterback
- maybe De La Salle (Warren,
Mich.) junior Shane Morris in
2013. Michigan basketball will
be back after consecutive NCAA
Tournament appearances and
a big-name recruit on campus
in 2012. Michigan hockey will
be back when, well, they never
really budge. But this is a heck of
a young team. So go ahead and
grovel at a down weekend, but
maintain perspective. Michigan
athletics aren't going anywhere
but up, but the real talent lies in
its youth.
Alright, rewind one more time,
Hemingway may have cradled it
better the eleventy-second time.
- Nesbitt can be reached
at stnesbit@umich.edu or on
Twitter: @stephenjnesbitt.
4
4
Freshman Blake Countess has become a starting cornerback under Brady Hoke.
and defensive end Brennan Beyer.
On the final drive, he had the
confidence to add linebacker Jake
Ryan to that mix.
Beyer kept contain on first
down, forcing Coker into a short
gain. Morgan fought off a block
and pulled Coker down a yard
short of the marker on second
down. And Ryan broke off the
edge on the decisive third down
and caught Coker in the backfield.
Don't see this cup half full?
Look at the 2012 recruiting class.
Behold the future. At Crisler
Arena, it was Mitch-igan week.
The commitment of the
nation's No. 2 recruit, Mitch
Across-the-board scoring salvages split Hustle must carry 'M' hockey
By LIZ VUKELICH
Daily Sports Writer
When the No. 3 Michigan hock-
ey team entered thethird period of
its game against Western Michi-
gan tied on Saturday night, there
was a feeling of deja vu.
Twenty-
four hours WMU 3
earlier, the MICHIGAN 2
Wolverines
were in the
WMU 2
exact same MICHIGAN 5
position.
The game
was tied 2-2 entering the third
stanza, with both teams desper-
ately searching for a way to come
out on top.
Michigan couldn't find an ave-
nue on Friday, falling to the fourth-
ranked Broncos, 3-2. But Saturday,
Michigan rectified its problems
and salvaged the weekend with a
resounding 5-2 win - with help
from some unfamiliar faces.
"Our team came out tight," said
Michigan coach Red Berenson of
Saturday's game. "We played bet-
ter (defense), with a little more
sense of urgency. We're just trying
to pay more attention to details."
After losing in the final 30 sec-
onds on Friday, Michigan changed
the trend the next night when
sophomore forward Derek DeBlois
found a rebound that clanked off
the post and scored for the Wol-
verines midway through the first
period.
Michigan's goal went unan-
swered for the remainder of the
first stanza - the only other good
look the Broncos had was saved
by fifth-year senior goalie Shawn
Hunwick just as the buzzer sig-
ADAM SCHNITZER/Daily
Freshman forward Alex Guptill scored a goal in Michigan's 5-2 win Saturday.
naled the end of the period. But
what Western Michigan couldn't
find in the first period, it made up
for very quickly in the second. The
Broncos' equalizer was followed
by another goal 10 minutes later.
Once it was wired, Michigan kept
cruising at a comfortable speed,
with help from a previously quiet
source - the power play.
Freshman forward Alex Gup-
till started the trend for the Wol-
verines when he scored after the
Broncos took a holding penalty,
and sophomore defenseman Mac
Bennett followed suit in the third
period.
"I think we just worked harder
to get to the loose pucks," said
Guptill. "On that one goal Mac
Bennett scored, we chased hard,
had pressure. It's little plays like
that which end up in the goals."
The power play goals put Mich-
igan up by one. But the insurance
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the Wolverines needed to put
away the game came from junior
forward A.J. Treais in the third
period.
Junior forward Kevin Lynch
had a clear shot on goal. But
instead, he took the puck behind
the net and patiently waited
for Treais, who was skating up
towards the crease. A quick dish
from Lynch was all Treais needed
to tuck the puck in the corner of
the net. Lynch's empty-net goal
with two minutes left in the game
rounded out Michigan's scoring
for the night. But what impressed
Berenson wasn't the number of
goals scored, but where the scor-
ing came from.
Lynch replaced sophomore for-
ward Luke Moffatt to skate with
Treais and freshman forward Phil
Di Giuseppe.
Treais and Di Giuseppe com-
pose two-thirds of the Wolverines'
most productive line. It seems like
whenever Berenson wants a player
to rack up some points, he puts
them with the duo.
"I just felt a little better with
Lynch up there," Berenson said. "I
think it was good for our team. We
needed a change. That line strug-
gled (Friday) night."
That line wasn't the only one
that struggled on Friday - most
of the Wolverines played slug-
gishly. Once again, Michigan spent
too much time in the penalty box.
Though the Broncos didn't score on
any of its seven power play oppor-
tunities, the offensive momentum
was huge for Western Michigan.
As the game wound down and
the Broncos scored, Michigan
couldn't find any opportunities for
an equalizer. That's why Berenson
decided to change all of the for-
ward lines for Saturday.
The swap wasn't just beneficial
for Lynch. DeBlois, Guptill and
sophomore defenseman Kevin
Clare, who have all been towards
the lower end of Michigan's point
tally, were impact players over the
course of the weekend. And that's
comfortingfor the Wolverines.
"(Having lots of people score)
has been huge this year," Guptill
said. "Everyone's been chipping in,
it's huge like that."
f you want to know why the
Michigan hockey team lost
on Friday against Western
Michigan and won on Saturday,
don't look at the box score.
Sure, if you just want to know
what hap-
pened,go
ahead and
look.
You'll see,
the scores - ,
a 3-2 defeat
and a 5-2 vic-
tory for the
Wolverines. ZACH
You'll see HELFAND
that Michi-
gan outshot
the Broncos on Friday, and out-
shot them in the third period, too.
You'll see that the Broncos did
the same to the Wolverines on
Saturday.
But if you want to know why,
don't waste your time. If you
want to understand why, catch
the end of a Michigan hockey
practice.
There, you'll see something
more. You'll see players skating
lines - back and forth, back and
forth - to exhaustion.
Maybe you'll see A.J. Treais
beating his linemates. More
likely, you'll see him in the back,
trying to close the gap. If you
watched the way Michigan works
on hustle or what Red Berenson
just called "the details," then you
would've seen a familiar sight on
Saturday.
Treais sprinted down the
length of the ice with five min-
utes remaining as Michigan led
3-2 just like he was trying to
catch his teammate in practice.
Treais had skated up to center
ice when Kevin Lynch took the
puck up the right side of Western
Michigan's goal, one-on-one with
a defender.
"I was really far back in the
play," Treais said. "I thought he
was just going to shoot it."
So did everyone else in Yost Ice
Arena. But Lynch pulled up, and
Treais kept on coming. Show-
ing patience, Lynch skated with
the puck behind the net, then
snapped a pass to the speeding
Treais for an easy goal.
Michigan took a 4-2 lead with
five minutes remaining.
Game over.
Hockey, more than any other
sport, is about work. The most
common remedy to cure a loss is
not "we need to play better," it's
"we have to work harder."
Skaters work on literal shifts.
Players clock in and clock out on
the fly - the only thing missing
is the lunch pail. Hockey isn't
basketball where one player can
dominate. It isn't football, where
the team that executes best wins.
Life as a hockey player is life as
a worker. Sometimes, you catch a
bad bounce. Often, you fight. And
you could have all the skill in the
world, but if you don't hustle you
won't win.
Legendary hockey writer Bob
Verdi once wrote of the Stanley
Cup-contending Bruins of the
late 1970s that, "They show that
the greatest ability is the ability
to work. Their insignia shouldbe
a droplet of sweat."
Sweat decided each game for
Michigan. The teams entered the
final frame in both games with
the scored tied, and in each, one
team asserted itself in crunch
time.
On Friday, the Broncos beat
the Wolverines to each loose
puck, won each fight in the cor-
ner and put more pressure on
fifth-year senior goalie Shawn
Hunwick.
"They just kept on pounding us
down in our zone and outwork-
ing us," said senior defenseman
Greg Pateryn. "That's just hustle
and effort, it has nothing to do
with skill."
When the Broncos finally
cracked the Michigan defense
with one minute remaining, they
didn't do it through any set plays
or dekes or fancy skating. They
fought in front of the crease so
they could ram the puck into the
net.
"In the last 10 minutes of the
game when the game was on the
line, I thought we got outplayed
and outworked," said Michigan
coach Red Berenson.
Little separated each team
this series. The shot total for the
series? Dead even.
Western Michigan commit-
ted one more penalty. On Satur-
day, Michigan worked harder.
Worked harder than it had Fri-
day. Worked harder than Western
did Saturday.
Sophomore forward Derek
DeBlois fought his way through
defenders to score on a rebound
for Michigan's firstgoal. Fresh-
man forward Zach Hyman dove
to keep the puck in the attack-
ing zone. Treais created his goal
through hustle.
"We just worked harder to the
get to the loose pucks and that
kind of thing," said freshman for-
ward Alex Guptill, who scored a
goal of his own on Saturday. "It's
little plays like that that end up
into goals."
At No. 4 in the nation, West-
ern Michigan might just be the
toughest CCHA team Michigan
will face all season. Miami (Ohio)
- Michigan's next opponent -
has struggled early and Notre
Dame has lots of talent, but no
team has asserted itself as the
conference's best.
So this weekend's series was a
good test for Michigan. The Wol-
verines aren't any more skilled
than Western Michigan, nor will
they be against any of the nation's
other top teams.
When Michigan scores, it
won't score using stars. It will
score using balance.
The Wolverines found goals
from players like Guptill and
Mac Bennett - who scored his
first two goals of the season this
weekend - or Kevin Clare, who
scored his first career goal simply
because he had the awareness to
take a shot after the goalie fell.
Berenson said that the game
of hockey isn't really aboutskill.
He would know. Berenson estab-
lished himself as one of Michi-
gan's greatest scorers ever, but
he'd rather be known as an "hon-
est" two-way player.
"I know there's a little bit of
physical talent and strength and
conditioning and everything,"
Berenson said. "(But) it's all men-
tal. The whole game is mental."
Michigan won't dominate any
other quality foe. The Wolverines
can go far, but only go as far as
their hustle and work ethic take
them. And those are qualities you
won't find in a box score.
- Helfand can be reached
at zhelfand@umich.edu
(
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Directed by Malcolm Tulip
Dept. of Theatre & Drama
November 17 - 20
Arthur Miller Theatre
General Admission $26
Students $10 with ID
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ADAM SCHNITZER/Daily
Junior forward A.J. Treais and the Wolverines did the dirty work they needed to on Saturday to beat the Broncos.
i 1 l---