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.”

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