2B — Monday, February 16, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Through steel blue eyes
T
he first thing you notice
when you walk into her
office are the framed
newspapers
resting on a
shelf oppo-
site the door.
One screams
the head-
line “His-
tory Makers.”
The other,
“Champions
in the West.”
Then you
turn right,
toward her desk. There, you
see the large stuffed wolverine
atop the cabinets on her wall,
and then the numerous Big
Ten championship trophies
positioned carefully in
mahogany-colored cubbies.
Your eyes are drawn to the
white sheet of paper pinned
to the wall behind her right
shoulder. It’s a to-do list written
neatly in black marker, thick
enough so you can clearly read
items six and seven:
6. Call in one of my players. 7.
Make them cry.
Later, you’ll ask about it,
and she’ll explain the list
was made by a player as a
gag for Halloween. She’ll tell
you why she keeps it: the list
is “hilarious,” but also “not
inaccurate.”
But you don’t know that yet.
You wonder if she could make
you cry.
As she glares at you through
steel blue eyes, you decide she
probably could.
* * *
C
arol Hutchins is the face
of Michigan softball,
though she’ll disagree
vehemently with the notion,
citing Bo Schembechler’s “The
Team” speech in the process.
Never mind that you can’t
seem to escape her stare
anywhere inside the new
softball center. There’s a large
cardboard cutout of Hutchins
by the stairs, for instance,
and pictures of her on walls
throughout the building.
“I’m not very happy about
that,” she said. “I’ve just been
the fortunate one to get to be the
leader of the program. … If I up
and retire tomorrow, it’s going
to be here. My goal is to leave
it standing strong, to put it in
position to be successful.”
But her achievements speak
for themselves: In 30 years,
never a losing season; 17 Big
Ten crowns; 16 NCAA regional
titles; and the first national
championship won by a program
east of the Mississippi River.
So too do the challenges
she overcame to reach those
milestones.
There were the years before
universities
properly valued
women’s
sports, when
she had to
work double-
duty as both
the softball
coach and as
a secretary,
or how she
sometimes had
to tend to the
outfield grass herself.
Today, Hutchins enjoys the
use of world-class softball
facilities — even if she scorns at
how much her face is plastered
on them.
“I certainly have seen a lot of
years,” she said. “The growth
of women in sport, especially
women
in college
athletics — I
could have
never dreamed
it.
“I’m still a
coach because
I realize it’s
better than
working
for a living.
Coaching
is about a life, and it’s about a
family. It’s what I do. It’s what
I love.”
Michigan moved into that
new softball center just over
than a year ago, but there’s
already a minor issue. One
wall in a conference room is
dedicated to celebration photos
of all of the Wolverines’ Big Ten-
champion teams.
When Michigan won its 17th
such title last spring, someone
noticed there wasn’t any more
space left for their picture.
“We need a bigger wall,”
Hutchins said with a laugh.
* * *
T
he color in Hutchins’
eyes comes from her
mother. The intensity
behind them, from her father.
He was a Marine and a cop,
and he made sure Hutchins
valued two things: discipline
and honesty. From his strict
parenting came her imposing
personality.
“There was never one day in
my life that I felt like my dad
didn’t love me,” she recalled.
“I knew he loved me, but I was
afraid of him, and I was never
going to get in trouble with
him. I would venture to say that
I am really hard on my kids,
because I want them to achieve
the greatest thing they can. I
want them to get the most out of
their career because that’s what
success is.”
Hutchins’ goal at Michigan
isn’t to win, though that has
virtually always been a side
effect. Rather, she strives to
turn “weak-minded kids” into
graduating classes of leaders
who understand “it’s OK to be a
strong woman.”
“Learning it is where there’s
tears,” she said. “Learning it
is where you go through those
tough times. It’s not all comfy.”
She’s not promising to be
nice, or to be a friend, or to be a
mother figure, but she vows to
push her players to greatness.
And Hutchins expects there
to be rough patches along the
way. She expects frustration.
She expects them to cry — as
long as her players know she
cares about them.
“That’s what you do to people
you love — you push them,” she
said. “I know they’re kids. I know
they’re not going to be perfect.
That, though, is not an excuse.
“I’m here to say, ‘Fall down?
Get up.’ That’s what we do.
That’s how you grow up.”
So while step No. 7 on her
mock to-do list involves pushing
people to tears, it’s only as a
precursor for item No. 9:
Make the team great.
There’s no doubt she has done
that.
Zúñiga can be reached
at azs@umich.edu and on
Twitter @ByAZuniga.
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins has built a powerhouse program in Ann Arbor, and the mementos, including newspapers and trophies, decorate the softball center.
ALEJANDRO
ZÚÑIGA
“I’m here to say,
‘Fall down? Get
up.’ That’s what
we do.”
inconsistency. Even if it isn’t
Berenson’s first choice, and
if the Wolverines have been
satisfied with beating mediocre
teams in a mediocre Big Ten,
complacency will incite a steady
decline.
The most costly turnover of
the weekend, and perhaps of the
season, came late in the second
period of Saturday’s game when
junior forward Andrew Copp
laid a pass off at the blue line
that was picked off.
Copp raced back to
Michigan’s zone to stymie
a breakaway opportunity,
and as he made contact with
Minnesota’s Travis Boyd he fell
hard into the boards, crunching
his left arm and left shoulder in
the process.
The Wolverine captain left
the game and never returned.
He held his arm at his side,
immobilized, as he walked
to the locker room. After the
game, his arm was in that same
spot.
It isn’t fair to speculate about
Wilcox, Minnesota
blank Wolverines,
sweep series, 2-0
Despite strong
performance from
Racine, Michigan
drops finale
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — It was
an unconventional play, but
with
desperation
mounting,
freshman forward Dylan Larkin
got
down
on all fours
right
by
his team’s
bench to stop forward Hunter
Fasching
from
scoring
an
empty-net goal.
The play worked, but the
puck broke loose. Moments
later, Larkin banged his helmet,
then his hands, then his stick on
the boards. Minnesota forward
Kyle Rau had netted the goal
— his fourth of the weekend
— putting a dagger in the No.
12 Michigan hockey team’s
comeback efforts.
The Wolverines (8-4 Big Ten,
16-10 overall) had just spent
56 minutes trying to avenge
an early goal. The efforts were
all for naught, as the Golden
Gophers (6-2-3, 16-9-3) held on
for a 2-0 win and the weekend
sweep.
Though
the
defeat
was
Michigan’s third loss in four
games,
its
improved
effort
against a strong team on the
road didn’t go unnoticed.
“I thought our team played
harder,” said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. “We played well.
Both teams were stingy, both
goalies played well. We’ve got
to score a goal to win the game,
and we couldn’t score one.”
After dominating Friday’s
game by a score of 6-2, the
Golden Gophers picked up right
where they left off just four
minutes into the game. As two
Wolverines were occupied with
a big hit on the boards, forward
Seth Ambroz fired a high
screamer past junior goaltender
Steve Racine to give Minnesota
a 1-0 lead.
Despite the early setback,
Michigan
—
Racine
in
particular — settled in for a fast
and physical first period. The
forwards had a number of good
looks and near-misses as the
defense cleaned up its passing
on the other end.
That effort carried into the
second period, but as the shots
piled up, Racine and Minnesota
goaltender
Adam
Wilcox
seemed to only get better in the
back-and-forth battle. In total,
Racine stopped 31 of 32 shots in
his first start since Jan. 16.
“He gave us a chance,”
Berenson said. “Your goalie
comes in here and gives up one
goal against a team like that,
you’re going to have a chance at
winning. We just didn’t get the
goals that he needed.”
Added Racine: “I was just
seeing
pucks
well.
We’ve
been talking a lot about my
preparation
going
into
the
games. I thought my preparation
today was really good.”
With nine minutes to go in
the second period, what had
been a fast-paced game came
to a troublesome halt. Copp
and Minnesota forward Travis
Boyd, tangled up in the midst of
an increasingly physical game,
flew into the board behind
Racine hard enough to bring the
crowd to its feet.
While the fans at Mariucci
Arena wanted a penalty on
Copp, the junior proved to be
the real victim of the collision,
failing to get up for several
minutes. Though he was seen
without a cast after the game,
it remains to be seen just how
long the team’s captain will be
off the ice.
The Wolverines were without
their captain for the rest of the
game, but continued their strong
play, actually outshooting the
Golden Gophers once Copp
went to the locker room.
But as the clock wore down,
frustration set in for Michigan.
Once scoring 4.36 goals per
game, the Wolverines were shut
out for the first time all season.
Rejection by rejection, Wilcox
was able to get inside the heads
of Michigan’s players. Moving
forward, senior Zach Hyman
knows that can’t happen again.
“We’ve got to keep shooting,
keep throwing it at the net,”
the forward said. “We can’t get
frustrated. We’ve got to keep
putting it on net, and eventually
if we do the right things, staying
in our system, it’s going to go
in.”
Still trailing 1-0 in the third
period, Michigan picked up
its pace. Minnesota matched,
however, every shot, hit and
save
the
Wolverines
made,
ultimately pulling off the win
and pulling into a tie for first
place in the Big Ten.
It was an improved effort for
Michigan, but in Minneapolis
against a team that is 5-0-1
in the past three weekends, it
simply wasn’t enough to win.
“I’m happy with our game
tonight,”
Berenson
said.
“I
didn’t like the outcome, but I
thought our team played much
better. We gave ourselves a
chance, but then we couldn’t
score. One thing we’ve been
able to do is score goals, but we
couldn’t tonight.”
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berenson’s team has lost three of its past four games against Michigan State and Minnesota after winning 13 of its previous 16.
Copp’s injury, but it doesn’t look
promising. Berenson may have to
plan accordingly to shift around
lines that have showcased
chemistry and depth all season
long. Racine made his case as
the new starting goaltender
for a second time this season,
and Berenson will have to plan
accordingly.
And now that the Wolverines
no longer have a tight grasp
on first place in the Big Ten
standings, Berenson will have to
plan accordingly.
Change is difficult and
sometimes unwanted, but at
the same time, it’s usually
warranted. Michigan hasn’t had
its back against the wall since
mid-November. Back then, it
responded by winning 13 of its
next 15 games.
It’s now mid-February, and the
Wolverines are stuck again. They
need a triumphant response,
something they’re capable of.
And willing or unwilling,
change is something they’ll have
to accept.
Summitt can be reached at
jssumm@umich.edu and on
Twitter @jeremysummitt.
ROSES
From Page 1B
MINNESOTA
MICHIGAN
2
0
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan Hockey
10
Freshman forward Dylan Larkin’s point
streak that ended with Saturday’s
shutout loss
31
Saves by Michigan goalie Steve Racine,
including 18-for-18 in the second period
1979
The last time Michigan was shut out by
Minnesota
2008
The last time Michigan won at Mariucci
Arena in Minneapolis