6A — Thursday, February 18, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Marody on the way back from illness
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
As the Michigan hockey team
left the rink at the conclusion of
its practice Wednesday, another
team took the ice — Ann Arbor
Skyline High School. The Eagles
had a game that afternoon,
but
before
they
suited
up,
some players and coaches took
pictures on the edge of the rink.
Little did they know that they
would get a short speech from
Michigan
freshman
forward
Cooper Marody.
“I asked them if they’re JV or
varsity,” Marody said. “And I told
them I played JV my freshman
year, so don’t feel like you’re not
going to be able to make it.”
Earlier this year, it was clear
Marody had made it himself.
He wasn’t just another player on
the roster. He was centering the
third line and had a hot start to
the season that landed him first
on the team in points.
Though
he
cooled
off,
Marody’s 14 points are still
good for 10th on the team, and
he is just eight points short of
jumping to fourth — behind the
line of freshman forward Kyle
Connor and junior forwards
Tyler Motte and JT Compher —
in that ranking.
And to the freshman forward,
much of his early success stems
from his own ice back home in
Brighton, Mich.
Roughly
six
years
ago,
Marody’s father built a rink in
the family’s backyard at home.
Now that Marody is in Ann
Arbor, the ice time has been
passed down to his little brother.
But that doesn’t mean he has
forgotten the days of skating
alone in his own backyard arena.
“That (rink) is what took
me to a new level ... being out
there every day, gaining the
confidence,”
Marody
said.
“I worked on my hands a lot
there, worked on a lot of skills.
That’s how I’ve been able to be
successful at the higher levels.”
But in the middle of January,
Marody’s success was quickly
put on hold when he was
diagnosed with mononucleosis.
The freshman has been forced
to sit every game since the
Wolverines’ 8-6 win against
Ohio State on Jan. 17.
Naturally, the nearly month-
long waiting period to get back
on the ice was frustrating for
Marody. As if being sidelined
wasn’t disappointing enough,
missing out on Michigan’s stellar
performances
in
trademark
venues made the experience
even worse.
In
back-to-back
weekends,
Marody was forced to watch
from home as the Wolverines
played Penn State in Madison
Square Garden and Michigan
State in Joe Louis Arena in the
“Duel in the D.” Those aren’t
experiences that come around
very often.
He was stuck on the outside
looking
in,
as
Michigan
continued
to
build
a
case
for
being
one
of
the
most
historic
offenses in the
past decade of
college hockey
— scoring 32
goals
in
the
seven games he
missed.
Despite his
frustration, the time away from
the ice may have been a blessing
in disguise for Marody.
“Everything happens for a
reason — nothing you can do
about it besides coming back
stronger,” Marody said.
“When you do something
every day, you kind of lose how
cool it is and how special it is.
I think I gained that back, and
that’s
what
has
allowed
me to be so
successful
in
the
past,
to
put that extra
passion
(into
my game).”
Then there’s
the music —
another
area
into which he
has put extra
passion during his time away.
For most people, being sick
with mononucleosis gives you
a whole lot of time to sit around
doing nothing.
While there was some of that
for Marody, he also put a lot of
time into schoolwork and playing
the guitar, something he taught
himself to do. And Sunday, he
took it to the next level by starting
to write his own song.
By Marody’s estimation, it took
him just 30 minutes to write, and
yesterday, he produced the final
product — tweeting the YouTube
link to the acoustic song.
Now, his Michigan teammates
are just wondering which one of
them will get a role in the next
performance.
“A lot of the guys have made
jokes about getting featured,
doing a little bit of background
singing,”
Marody
said.
“I
think
Boo
would
be
good
to incorporate a little bit of
drumming in there, because
he’s a big-time drummer. I don’t
know about any background
singing, but I think Boo would
be good for drums.”
Coming
down
with
mononucleosis also gave Marody
a unique opportunity to take an
extended period of time to learn
from watching his teammates —
specifically JT Compher.
Compher is about as close
as Marody can get to a perfect
example on the Wolverines’
roster.
The junior captain centers the
first line, as Marody did on the
third, and is second on the team
in points with 43, good for third
in the country. That’s without
mentioning that Compher is
ranked second nationally in
assists, trailing leader Tyler
Kelleher by just two.
But despite all of Compher’s
eye-popping numbers that are
largely a product of his finesse
game, that’s not what stands out
the most to Marody.
“He’s just a really smart player
in the first place,” Marody said.
“I think what really separates
him is his grittiness and ability
to stay on guys, win the little
battles in the corners, all the
things like that around the zone.
He’s just relentless all around
the ice, and I think I really want
to implement that in my game.”
With Marody set to return to
game action soon, potentially
the
non-conference
game
against Ferris State on Friday,
taking what he has learned and
translating it into results is a
likely possibility.
Even with an illness, Marody
has made the most of every
minute off the ice as he did on it.
And while he missed the
celebrity-like thrill of playing
in the Joe or the “World’s Most
Famous Arena,” maybe that will
bode well for Michigan.
Because the next time Marody
steps in front of crowd at Yost Ice
Arena, don’t be surprised if you
see someone playing with the
passion of a kid in his ice rink
back home.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Freshman forward Cooper Marody was off to a blazing start to the season before mononucleosis sidelined him. He could return to game action this weekend.
“When you do
something every
day, you lose ...
how special it is.”
Fouls lead to trouble
By KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor
Just 12:50 into the first half
Tuesday at Ohio State, Michigan
sophomore guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman committed
his second foul on guard JaQuan
Lyle, who drove to the net for
a layup. As Lyle sank his free
throw — one of Ohio State’s 17
during the game — junior guard
Andrew Dakich replaced Abdur-
Rahkman, who headed to the
bench for the rest of the half.
Abdur-Rahkman has proven
to be a sparkplug on the road
in senior guard Caris LeVert’s
absence,
scoring
15
and
16
points against Penn State and
Minnesota, respectively, in the
two away games leading up to
the matchup with the Buckeyes.
Though Michigan was trailing by
eight points, Beilein benched him.
Ohio State (9-5 Big Ten,
17-10 overall) headed into the
locker room at halftime with
an eight-point lead and never
relinquished its lead thereafter.
The second half didn’t get any
better for the Wolverines (9-5,
19-8), and the Buckeyes cruised
to a 76-66 victory.
After the game, Beilein said
he was very tempted to break his
two-foul benching rule, but he
stuck by it.
“But again, (the margin) was
like two or three points with
two minutes to go,” Beilein said.
“There’s no reason to say, ‘OK,
the sky is falling.’ And then they
scored the last five points to
make it an eight-point game.
“So you’re not going to put a
guy in there with a minute left to
go with two fouls on him. I don’t
think that was a big difference.
I’ll do it if I think the game is
getting out of control. I didn’t
think it was with two minutes
to go (until halftime). I thought
we were right there, and they
scored the last two times, and
we didn’t.”
Michigan
continued
to
make
detrimental
mistakes,
committing 14 fouls in the second
half. For a team that gives 15.7
fouls per game — the eighth-
fewest in the country — 14 in one
half is unusual.
Three Wolverines, including
Abdur-Rahkman,
ended
the
night with four fouls each, and
they barely escaped the game
without a player fouling out.
Michigan is the only team left
in the country that hasn’t lost a
player to disqualification.
Junior forward Mark Donnal,
who flirted with the mark
against Purdue and Minnesota,
avoided the bug against Ohio
State and ended up leading
Michigan with 17 points on
6-for-10 shooting.
When asked about defending
down low, where the Buckeyes
outscored
the
Wolverines,
38-28, Donnal said Michigan
needs to improve on getting
into position.
“A few times, we got too low,
and when the offense gets into
position like that, it’s tough
to stop the run to the basket,”
Donnal said. “We just have to do
a better job of staying locked in
defensively.”
Ohio State shared the ball
well, leading to a balanced
offense with five players scoring
in
double
digits,
partially
because Michigan couldn’t find
an effective defense. Man-to-
man defense seemed to lead to
the most problems, allowing the
Buckeyes to draw fouls.
Michigan committed six fouls
in the first five minutes of the
second half, including two from
sophomore
forward
Aubrey
Dawkins in a four-second span.
More fouls often equate to more
playing time for the bench, and
in this case, the substitutions
didn’t
help
Michigan
much.
The Buckeyes outscored the
Wolverines in bench points, 20-9.
The largest deficit was 14
points with 12:08 remaining in
the second half, just moments
after Ohio State reached the
bonus with its seventh foul.
Michigan seemed to chalk up
the loss to a mix of fatigue and
an emotional rollercoaster of a
week, with a win at Minnesota
and a victory over then-No. 18
Purdue at home. Regardless, the
Wolverines were out of sorts, and
it was noticeable.
“We just gotta bring it every
game,” Donnal said. “We had a
chip on our shoulder for the game
at Purdue, and unfortunately, we
just didn’t bring it tonight.”
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman found himself in foul trouble on Tuesday.
Bakich focuses on gratitude
for Michigan’s support staff
Fourth-year coach
has success with
staff he brought
from Maryland
By SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Writer
At the Michigan baseball
team’s banquet Friday, Michigan
head coach Erik Bakich spent
45
minutes
introducing
his
entire staff. Everyone, from
the
groundskeepers
to
the
nutritionist to the parents to
the
student
managers,
was
personally thanked.
Bakich is in his fourth season
at the helm of the program, aided
by assistant coaches Sean Kenny
and Nick Schnabel and volunteer
assistant coach Aaron Etchison.
“(The coaches) made it a
precedent to make a structural
foundation for a new program
at Michigan,” said senior left-
hander Evan Hill. “One that
doesn’t only look at the aspects
of baseball, but it looks at the
aspects of life and for us as men.
One thing that I appreciate in
my time here is that I’ve become
a better man. I’ve developed a
lot. And, more specifically, I’m
excited about the relationships
I’ve built and know that they’ll
be lasting ones.”
Sophomore
infielder
Jake
Bivens, who received several
preseason accolades after his
impressive
freshman
year,
also felt the coaching staff was
helpful — especially by relieving
pressure
that
preseason
expectations brought on.
“We have a really talented
team,” Bivens said. “So that takes
the pressure off of (individual
players) and allows us to not play
out of our comfort zone and our
abilities. The team and coaching
staff prepared us well for any
accolades. We know any individual
accolade is a team accolade.”
In 2014, Bakich’s first year, the
team had a total of 29 wins and
a 14-10 record in the Big Ten —
good enough to tie for fifth place.
The second year of Bakich’s reign
saw the team win 30 games,
finishing in a tie for fourth place
in the Big Ten. In the 2015 season,
the Wolverines continued their
upward trend and then some,
finishing with 39 wins and placed
second in the NCAA Louisville
Regional after winning the Big
Ten Tournament.
Bakich is also the youngest
head baseball coach in the
conference.
“We live in a gratitude zone,”
Bakich
said.
“(The
players)
say simple ‘thank yous’ all the
time, just like they should.
(The staffers)
sometimes
have
a
job
that could be
thankless, but
our team — this
team — is very
appreciative.”
Adding
on
to the lengthy
speech,
Bakich
then
spent another
10 minutes on his coaching staff.
He, along with Etchison and
pitching coach Kenny, came to
Michigan from the University
of
Maryland.
Etchison
was
a former catcher and Kenny
served as the pitching coach.
“(Etchison) is an outstanding
player, and now has become an
outstanding leader,” Bakich said.
“He’s destined for greatness.”
Kenny,
an
Ann
Arbor
native,
followed
Bakich’s
trend of improving the team
significantly each year. In 2014,
the pitching staff finished third
in the league, but in 2015, Kenny
led the team to second in the Big
Ten with 513 strikeouts.
“He’s the best at coaching
(pitchers)
in
the
country,”
Bakich said. “That’s not just
my biased opinion. There’s a lot
of people who think he’s in an
elite group of pitching. Other
programs around the country
have tried to steal this guy, but
Michigan — so he’s said — is the
big leagues. We’re so lucky to
have his talents and to have the
type of person he is on our staff.”
The final coach, Schnabel,
might not have traveled to Ann
Arbor from College Park, but
he was a teammate of Bakich at
East Carolina in the 1999 and
2000 seasons. Schnabel, like
the others, contributes to the
team’s success. In his first year
as recruiting coordinator, he
was credited with the 20th-best
recruiting class in the nation.
But
it
was
32
Michigan
players who won the 2015 Big
Ten Tournament.
It was the athletes who
walked out of
the
bullpen
and onto the
diamond.
It
was
then-
sophomore
left-hander
Brett Adcock
who struck out
four
batters
and
allowed
two hits and
a run in five
innings. It was his classmate,
infielder Johnny Slater, who
had two hits, out of the team’s
four total, against Maryland.
And it was then-junior Jacob
Cronenworth who closed out his
fourth straight game, pushing
the Wolverines to the NCAA
Tournament for the first time
since 2008.
But nobody, especially the
players, forgot the coaching staff
that got them there.
When
the
players
walk
onto the field Friday for their
season opener, all eyes will be
on them. But the athletes’ eyes,
when they’re not staring down
a 90-mph fastball, will be on
their coaches.
BASEBALL
“(The players)
say simple
‘thank yous’ all
the time.”
The Michigan baseball
season starts Friday
Check MichiganDaily.com
throughout the season