Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 — 7A
‘M’ changes venue for week
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Daily Sports Editor
For
multiple
Michigan
hockey
players,
Tuesday’s
practice was nostalgic. They
weren’t reminiscing about old
memories
at
Yost Ice Arena,
but
rather
practicing at their old stomping
grounds: the Ann Arbor Ice
Cube, home of the United States
National
Team
Development
Program.
“It brings back old memories,”
said junior forward Andrew
Copp. “I spent a lot of time here
in my life. It’s pretty cool to come
back and see the people who
helped me get here. It’s always
good to be back in your home
rink.”
Added sophomore forward JT
Compher: “It’s fun to be back. I
got to see my old coaches. It was
a similar drive over from school,
so it brings back some memories.”
The Wolverines practiced at
the Cube on Tuesday and will
again on Wednesday to help
themselves adapt to a larger
ice surface, which they will see
this weekend at Wisconsin. The
surface caused
problems
a
year ago, when
Michigan lost
all four Big Ten
road
games
on larger ice
surfaces.
Yost
Ice
Arena’s
ice
surface is 200
feet by 85 feet, while Wisconsin’s
Kohl
Center
—
where
the
Wolverines will play a two-game
series this weekend — is 200 feet
by 97 feet.
Last season, the larger ice
surfaces proved to be too much
of a challenge. Michigan lost two
games at the Kohl Center, 5-2 and
3-1 respectively, while also losing
two games at Minnesota on an
Olympic ice sheet.
To change the trend, the
coaching staff decided to use the
Cube — which has three Olympic-
size ice sheets — to its advantage
and get the team acclimated to
the intricacies that come with
playing on larger rinks.
“It’s a really big (advantage),”
said associate
head
coach
Billy
Powers.
“Our
goaltenders
and
our
defense
will
probably
tell
you that this is
going to come
in handy. Come
Friday night, there’s going to be
less of an adjustment and it’ll be a
nice comfort level.”
Added sophomore netminder
Zach Nagelvoort: “I don’t think
that it’s that much tougher. The
biggest difference is on the power
play. The team can exploit the
fact that they can go that much
farther on the outside. That’s the
biggest difference I’ve noticed.
It’s figuring out the different
angles.”
Due to the bigger rink, one
line that may be poised for a big
weekend is that of Compher,
junior forward Boo Nieves and
sophomore forward Max Shuart.
Nieves and Shuart are two of
Michigan’s fastest players and
will certainly use the extra space
to their advantage.
“With the big ice, they can use
their speed,” Compher said of his
linemates. “I think if we can use
that speed and get to the net, we’ll
have a good weekend.”
NAGELVOORT
FEELING
“AMAZING”: Nagelvoort hasn’t
started a game since Michigan’s
5-1 defeat at Boston College on
Dec. 13. However, despite not
starting, the netminder’s morale
isn’t low.
“It’s really good,” Nagelvoort
said of his current state of mind.
“I couldn’t be happier. I have had
a lot of good weeks of practice.
Everyone wants to play every
night, but the team is doing
well, right? (Junior goalie Steve
Racine) has been playing well, so
that’s great.”
Still, no starter is set in stone,
and the coaching staff has yet to
make a decision on who will play
between the pipes in Madison.
“Terrific, terrific,” Powers said
of Nagelvoort’s recent play. “I can
tell you, in these last two weeks,
I’ve seen a dramatic change.
All I can tell you is that both
goaltenders have looked really
good in practice, and Zach has
looked really good.”
SINELLI ON DEFENSE?:
After playing forward up until
this week, senior Andrew Sinelli
practiced
as
a
defenseman
Tuesday due to multiple injuries
on the blue line.
Freshman
Cutler
Martin
didn’t play last Friday against
Ohio State due to an upper-body
injury, and senior Mike Chiasson
is also out with an undisclosed
injury.
“He’s been (a defenseman)
in the past,” Powers said. “We
wanted to see how he looked, and
he needs to get some reps there
in case we need him there.”
Michigan isn’t
like most teams
S
aturday, freshman guard
Katelynn Flaherty entered
the locker room at half-
time scoreless. For most squads,
a top-scorer not producing for
a full half
would spell
out defeat.
But the
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team isn’t
like most
teams.
The
Wolverines
don’t
have one standout player
to lean on, but that’s OK,
because a different star
emerges seemingly every
game. Saturday against
Northwestern, that star
was sophomore guard Siera
Thompson.
While Flaherty floundered
during a high-pressure away
game, Thompson shot 5-of-9
from long range, scoring 20
points to compensate for the
freshman’s uncharacteristically
low eight points.
“Siera is a tremendous
shooter,” Michigan coach Kim
Barnes Arico told WKTA Radio
on Tuesday. “But she’s kind of
been a little
bit quieter
this year
and people
haven’t talked
much about
her, because
Katelynn
came in and is
really picking
up some
scoring. Both
of them, I think, have made
over 40 threes on the season.
“Siera does so much, but a lot
of times, it’s quiet, and that’s
just her personality as well.”
With Thompson’s heroics,
the Wolverines (4-2 Big Ten,
12-5 overall) picked up their
first road win of the season.
That’s not to say that no one
else contributed, though.
Senior guard Shannon Smith
and senior forward Cyesha
Goree scored 20 and 18 points,
respectively.
Flaherty, Thompson, Goree
and Smith average more than
10 points per game, with Goree
leading the way, with 14.7. But
in the last three games, Smith
has averaged 24 points.
Smith stepped up in a big
way against Ohio State on
Jan. 17, wowing the crowd at
Crisler Center with a 36-point
performance to lead her team
to a 100-94 overtime win. She
scored those 36 points against a
team that had previously upset
a ranked Rutgers squad by 17
points.
“(Smith) is really focused
and really determined to have
a tremendous senior season,”
Barnes Arico said. “She brings
the team with her. Her energy
and her enthusiasm just brings
the team along, and she was
incredible once again and kind
of willed us to victory.”
Michigan also restrained
Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell,
the nation’s leading scorer at
24.9 points per game, to just
13, thanks to Goree’s stellar
defensive play.
Despite the Wolverines’
recent string of success,
you won’t find a Michigan
player atop any statistical
leaderboards.
But they do have Goree, who
averages a double-double. They
have Thompson, who shoots
over 40 percent from beyond
the arc. They have Flaherty,
who takes gutsy step-back treys
without hesitation. They have
Smith, who will drop a career-
high 36 points and say “It really
doesn’t matter if I (had had
zero points), I’m just happy we
got the victory.”
Because the Wolverines
aren’t like most teams.
If Mitchell were to get
injured today, Ohio State would
have to completely alter its
game plan.
But for Michigan, there isn’t
a single setback that would
completely spoil the team’s
chances at a tournament run.
Sure, if one of the leading
scorers had a season-ending
injury, there would be
drawbacks, but nothing the
Wolverines couldn’t combat.
Someone else would be there to
step up.
If Goree was injured, there
would certainly be a drop-off
in rebounds, but scrappy senior
forward
Nicole
Elmblad
would still be
able to grab
boards. Even
the 5-foot-7
Smith has
averaged 4.6
rebounds per
game.
And when
it comes to scoring points,
Michigan definitely doesn’t
have a problem. Most games,
four Wolverines end up in
the box score with more than
10 points. But the fear of not
producing drives Michigan,
too.
“When we see that other
kids are really improving,
we want to reward them and
give them the opportunity
for pushing themselves and
doing the things that we ask,”
Barnes Arico said Dec. 19.
“If somebody else becomes
complacent, we’re going to
switch it up, just so they know
that there’s always that chance;
it keeps everybody hungry.”
With that attitude, it’s
no surprise that there are
plenty of worthy players on
the bench who haven’t seen
much playing time. Freshman
forward Jillian Dunston could
step in for Elmblad, or junior
guard Madison Ristovski
could effectively play in place
of sophomore guard Danielle
Williams.
As of late, Michigan has been
benefiting from its deep roster.
The Wolverines have beaten
rivals Ohio State and Michigan
State at home, and of their
five losses, three came against
against ranked teams.
But the Wolverines have
moved past those losses.
They’ve realized they’re not
like most teams.
Kelly Hall can be reached
by email at hallkl@umich.edu
and on Twitter @KellyHall20.
Wolverines prep for rapidly
approaching Opening Day
Michigan picked
fifth in Big Ten
preseason poll
By BEN FIDELMAN
Daily Sports Writer
In its 2014 campaign, the
Michigan
baseball
team
finished 30-29-1. But 11 of its
29 losses were by just one run,
with many of them coming early
in the season. Compounding the
issue was the fact that much of
the team’s success rested on the
shoulders
of
underclassmen,
who
were
unfamiliar
with
playing at the collegiate level.
Encouragingly, had it won
all of those one-run games, the
team’s final record would have
been 48-18-1 — on pace with
reigning conference champion
Indiana. Even if it had won
around half of them, the team
would have rested at a solid
36-29-1.
The team has trended upward
in each of its three seasons
under coach Erik Bakich, and
some believe this is the year
that the growth will show the
most on the field. But one of the
earliest conference rankings
of the year, from b1gbaseball.
com, projects the Wolverines to
finish fifth in the Big Ten — one
spot lower than their fourth-
place finish last season.
“I honestly don’t care if
we’re first or fifth (in the
preseason poll),” Bakich said.
“I told the guys that rankings
are something we can’t control,
so we’re not going to pay
attention to it when we’re not
receiving votes, just like we’re
not going to pay attention to it
when we’re in the top 25 later
this season.”
Last year, those one-run
losses were billed as learning
experiences, but now it’s time
to see what actually stuck. With
much of the leadership weight
up for grabs, the underclassmen
will be called on to step up as a
whole.
The
experience
and
leadership will be key, as the
Wolverines will also have to
contend with a much different
landscape
than
in
recent
years. This is prompted by the
addition of two solid programs
in
Maryland
and
Rutgers,
along with increased parity
among traditional conference
powerhouses,
like
Indiana,
that are projected to finish
somewhere other than at the
top of the standings.
Michigan doesn’t have much
time to figure out what its
winning formula will be this
year. The team’s first three
weekends of conference play
feature matchups against the
projected
first,
second
and
fourth-place teams: Maryland,
Nebraska
and
Indiana,
respectively.
Another major challenge the
team is facing is the amount
of time it’s able to spend
working as a group. NCAA
regulations have kept players
and coaches from doing much
training together since mid-
December, meaning a good
chunk of the winter has seen
players doing more self-policed
individual workouts. On Jan.
23, the allowed time expands
to 20 hours of organized team
training per week, with coaches
being able to work on more
group-based
concepts
and
traditional practice.
“(The amount of time for
team practices before opening
day) is much shorter than
Major League Baseball’s spring
training, so the onus is on
individual players to have a
training regimen over holiday
break,” Bakich said. “Our guys
are self-motivated, and really
strive to improve. They’ll be
able to come back and hit their
stride very quickly.”
Working on both individual
and team skills is especially
important
for
players
like
sophomores Jackson Lamb and
Hector Gutierrez, who will
specialize in one position rather
than play multiple, as they did
during their freshman seasons.
Lamb started in the outfield
for the Wolverines 29 times in
2014, but he will exclusively
be a pitcher in 2015, according
to Bakich. Coming out of high
school, Lamb was clocked in the
upper 90s from the mound, but
he wasn’t able to pitch often last
season due to a back injury. He
figures to be a key component
of the Wolverines’ bullpen this
year.
In
a
similar
situation,
Gutierrez was listed as both
a pitcher and infielder last
season, but he will only play in
the field this year. This change
is much more cosmetic, as he
only pitched in two games while
playing more frequently in the
infield.
Whether it’s because of the
team’s winter workout habits
or simply having another year
of
experience
under
some
of the young players’ belts,
the coaching staff is looking
for the on-field product to
come together rapidly for the
Wolverines this month. Opening
day is quickly approaching, and
with the team being put to the
test right away on the road for
seven straight weeks to open
the season, it will have to hit the
ground running.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Junior forward Andrew Copp will practice in the same rink he played in as part of the U.S. National Development Team.
NOTEBOOK
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich’s team heads into 2015 looking to improve on a fourth-place Big Ten finish in 2014.
“It’s always good
to be back in
your home rink.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KELLY
HALL
“Her energy and
her enthusiasm
just brings the
team along.”
DID YOU COME HERE
TO PLAY SCHOOL?
IF NOT, JOIN THE MICHIGAN DAILY!
COME TO A MASS MEETING AT
7:30 P.M. AT 420 MAYNARD:
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25
MONDAY, JANUARY 26