Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, March 22, 2016 — 7

Michigan’s long-awaited return

T

he night the streak ended, 
they rolled out a red 
carpet.

It was March 24, 2013, at 

Joe Louis 
Arena, and 
that carpet, 
extending 
from the 
rink’s 
entrance, 
became the 
only thing 
separating 
Notre 
Dame from 
its CCHA 
Championship trophy.

Its purpose was to celebrate 

the Fighting Irish, but as the 
carpet unrolled, bit by bit, it also 
served to taunt Michigan, which 
saw its streak of 22 consecutive 
NCAA Tournament appearances 
reset to zero that night.

Still in his net several minutes 

after the final horn stood Steve 
Racine, embraced by his senior 
captain A.J. Treais, watching a 
strip of red cross out his team’s 
sparkling record.

For the ensuing three years, 

the broken streak has been all 
anyone cared about. Racine’s 
senior class, and those that came 
after it, were burdened with a 
historic legacy as a measuring 
stick. Making the tournament 
was the expectation that came 
with signing a letter of intent for 
Red Berenson.

In 2000, when Mike 

Komisarek signed his own letter, 
that standard was apparent.

Even then, Michigan had 

already appeared in the NCAA 
Tournament for a decade 
straight, and he added to that 
total during his two-year career.

When Komisarek returned to 

Ann Arbor as an undergraduate 
assistant coach in 2015, the 
winning standard neither 

changed around him nor within 
him. To him, the goal for the 
Wolverines’ current squad was 
simple.

“It’s about getting back to 

where we were, where we’re 
supposed to be,” Komisarek said 
in October.

Saturday, with a 5-3 win 

against Minnesota, Michigan 
made damn sure it would be back 
this year — earning an automatic 
bid to the NCAA Tournament 
with its victory.

And in a season that has come 

full circle from 2013, the fact that 
the Wolverines will face Notre 
Dame for the first time since that 
March night seems like a symbol 
of fate.

The road back to this point has 

been a long and painful one, to 
be sure. It only recently became 
a straight path — one on which 
Michigan exorcised the demons 
that have followed it since Racine 
and his senior classmates were 
left on the wrong end of the red 
carpet.

In 2013, they were tasked with 

starting over when, in reality, 
a fresh start was impossible. 
Twenty-two years on the 
national stage erase that option.

For three years, that pressure 

continued to mount on their 
shoulders, and consistently, it 
proved too daunting to overcome.

Each of those years, the 

Wolverines entered the conference 
tournament needing one extra win 
in order for their season to live on. 
And every time, their season died 
there — first against Notre Dame, 
then in the opening round against 
Penn State in 2014 and finally 
in the championship against 
Minnesota in 2015.

Recollections of mid-season 

stumbles and late-season 
collapses began to simultaneously 
push the 22-year run farther 
from people’s memories and 

further cement it as the measure 
of success.

The team’s legacy was being 

written, and they didn’t have any 
way to edit it.

Michigan entered this season 

having felt the pain that comes in 
place of a postseason too often. 
Its players had fielded questions 
at a final press conference with 
bloodshot, teary eyes too many 
times. And while they never 
said it, it sure seemed like they 
had heard enough of the 22-year 
streak they had yet to rekindle.

That’s why, to begin their 

campaign, the Wolverines didn’t 
want to leave anything to chance. 
They didn’t want to scrape into 
the NCAA Tournament. They 
wanted to earn their bid in 
February. They didn’t want to 
just beat teams. They wanted to 
bury them.

And while Michigan wasn’t 

perfect, it started to turn heads, 
and quickly.

The Wolverines won the Great 

Lakes Invitational and lost just 
three games through Jan. 27. 
They swept Penn State on the 
season, outscoring the Nittany 
Lions, 33-11. Freshman forward 
Kyle Connor and junior forwards 
JT Compher and Tyler Motte 
emerged as a first line that could 
be the engine behind Michigan’s 
postseason push.

Then it all culminated in a 

rematch of the 2015 Big Ten 
Tournament championship — 
only this time, the script had 
been flipped.

The Wolverines had their 

NCAA Tournament bid in 
hand before the puck dropped 
Saturday. Minnesota was on 
the wrong side of the bubble, 
and Michigan was playing for 
reparation. The Golden Gophers 
were playing for survival.

And just like the season before, 

the team in desperate need of a 

win had a nail hammered firmly 
into its coffin.

“I wouldn’t say it was a chip 

(on our shoulder),” Compher said. 
“But I think that we had teams 
— we called it, ‘We owed these 
teams’ — Penn State being one of 
them, Minnesota (was another).

“We came here to play in big 

games. That’s why you come to 
Michigan, that’s why you want to 
be a part of this tradition.”

Compher was right; the 

Wolverines “owed them.” But 
that would be an understatement.

Minnesota and Penn State 

weren’t just teams Michigan had 
lost to. They were two teams 
that had begun to write the 
Wolverines’ legacy for them. 
They were two teams responsible 
for piling the pressure onto 

Michigan’s shoulders. They were 
two teams that continued the 
wrong streak.

But this past weekend, the 

Wolverines made a statement. 
They dominated Penn State. 
Then they finally won the close 
game they had lost for the 
previous three years. For the first 
time in what felt like forever, 
Michigan sent another team to a 
press conference with bloodshot 
eyes and buried its demons 
somewhere deep in Xcel Energy 
Center. It ended another team’s 
season, and now the Wolverines 
are back where they were, where 
they’re supposed to be. And 
not even that provides enough 
satisfaction.

“We know the group we 

have in that room, though, that 

this isn’t enough,” Racine said 
Sunday. “We need to go further, 
so we’re just trying to stay in the 
moment, be humble and keep 
working hard and try to get past 
this (round).”

It’s only fitting that Racine is 

the man to push the boundaries 
of what this team defines as 
success.

After all, he was the man in net 

when Notre Dame ended the old 
streak — the same one he’s been 
measured by his entire career.

Now, he’ll be between the 

pipes against the Fighting Irish 
in Cincinnati.

There will be no red carpet 

waiting that night.

If the Wolverines are really 

back, they’ll make sure Notre 
Dame has no chance to see one.

KEVIN
SANTO

JAMES COLLER/Daily

The Michigan hockey team will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012 against Notre Dame on Friday.

Wolverines whiff against Cowboys

Michigan takes 
one of three from 
Oklahoma State 
in strikeout-heavy 

series

By ETHAN WOLFE 

Daily Sports Writer

Michigan 
baseball 
coach 

Erik Bakich has stressed how 
important consistency is for a 
game as volatile as baseball.

In 
its 
three-game 
series 

against No. 19 Oklahoma State 
(13-7), 
Bakich’s 
team 
was 

consistent, but for all of the 
wrong reasons. Despite picking 
up a win in Sunday’s game 
to avoid getting swept, the 
23rd-ranked Wolverines (12-
5) struck out 34 times over the 
weekend.

It was Michigan’s pitching 

that once again anchored the 
team in its victory and kept 
the previous two games within 
reach. 
Wolverine 
pitchers 

allowed a total of 11 hits while 
letting up just 13 runs between 
the three contests, typically a 
stat line conducive to winning 
games.

But as was true in its earlier 

season losses, Michigan’s lineup 
struggled to even make contact 
at the plate versus Oklahoma 
State. The 7-8-9 hitters had an 
especially rough weekend, as 
they contributed 15 of the 34 
strikeouts.

The problem was not entirely 

with the bottom end of the 
lineup, though. In Saturday’s 
matchup, 
Cowboy 
pitchers 

fanned 17 batters, and every 
batter struck out at least once.

Bakich 
was 
especially 

astonished 
by 
Oklahoma 

State 
starter 
Trey 
Cobb’s 

performance — he punched 
out 13 batters and allowed one 
run in six innings against the 
Wolverines on Saturday.

“(Cobb) 
was 
throwing 

a 
slider,” 
Bakich 
said. 
“It 

tunneled just like his fastball, 
and when you get a guy who has 
an exploding slider like that, 
it’s really tough to hit. He had a 
great day. A good pitcher had a 
great day.”

Michigan struck out 10 times 

in its final game on Sunday and 
collected 11 runs in its three 
games, but Bakich was reluctant 
to point out any notable high 
points for the offense over the 
entire series.

“I think the easy answer would 

be the inside-the-park home 
run (by designated hitter Drew 
Lugbauer on Saturday),” Bakich 
said. “But there are no offensive 
highlights when you strike out 17 

times and lose the game.”

Currently, 
the 
Wolverines 

rank 66th in batting average 
with a .295 clip. Though that 
puts them in the top quarter of 
Division I baseball teams, they 
are tied for 10th in the Big Ten 
for runs scored.

Michigan players and Bakich 

have shown confidence that 
they can win the Big Ten 
Championship once again, but 
its problems at the plate have 
already 
proven 
costly 
this 

season. They struck out just 5.6 
times per game last year and 
have climbed to 7.1 to begin this 
season.

Bakich gave advice to his 

team how to combat the issue.

“When 
you 
do 
get 
two 

strikes,” Bakich said, “you just 
got to choke up and have the 
mindset that, ‘There’s no way 
I’m not putting the barrel of my 
bat on this ball.’ ”

Cole, McCallum 
taking on leading 
roles as freshmen 

By MATTHEW KENNEDY 

Daily Sports Writer

For 
the 
Michigan 

men’s 
gymnastics 
team, 

“upperclassman” is almost a 
foreign word this season.

After winning back-to-back 

national titles in 2013 and 
2014, the senior-led roster was 
drained, forcing the team to 
rebuild with younger gymnasts. 
With just four seniors and three 
juniors out of a group of 24, this 
year’s team dynamic is different 
than two years ago — and almost 
any other in the country.

“It’s been a little hard so 

far coming in with all of these 
freshmen,” 
said 
freshman 

Emyre Cole. “We’re definitely 
learning; 
we’ve 
made 
some 

mistakes.”

The team is led by 13 freshmen 

and four sophomores, a recipe 
that has been causing some 
issues for the Wolverines (1-6 
Big Ten, 4-9 overall) this season.

Yet, 
as 
the 
season 
has 

progressed, the athletes stepping 
up the most for Michigan have 
been a pair of freshmen: Cole and 
Anthony McCallum.

“They both got off to a slow 

start,” said Michigan coach 
Kurt Golder. “This is quite 
an 
adjustment 
from 
junior 

programs, (where) you go to 
long competitions where there 
is no support, nobody cheering 
for you, and you have a meet 
every three to four weeks. Now 
you have one every weekend … 
but they’ve been picking it up.”

Throughout the year, both 

McCallum 
and 
Cole 
had 

competed in multiple events 
each meet, with McCallum 
having 
competed 
in 
the 

all-around 
previously. 
But 

Saturday’s meet against Penn 
State marked the first time both 
of them competed in the all-
around.

In his debut performance, 

Cole showed that he had been 
making the progress Golder 
was talking about, narrowly 
finishing in second with a score 
of 86.850. In every event but the 
rings, Cole came in the top five, 
including finishing second in 
the vault only 0.050 points shy 
of first.

McCallum also had a good 

night, finishing third in the 
all-around with a score of 
85.400. Though he was more 
inconsistent than his teammate, 
he also excelled in the vault, 
narrowly beating out Cole to take 
home the crown in the event.

“It’s still strange because 

I didn’t know how much the 
team was going to rely on me,” 
McCallum said. “Now I’m kind 
of comfortable in that position 
(where) the team needs me, and 
hopefully the rest of the team 
can get stronger so I’m not as 
relied on. But I kind of own that 
position now; I think that’s the 
best thing to do in the situation.”

Fortunately for the rest of 

the team, McCallum and Cole 
seem to be peaking at the right 
time. The Wolverines have only 
one more dual meet, against a 
University of Illinois at Chicago 
team 
they 
defeated 
earlier 

this season, before competing 
in the Big Ten and NCAA 
Championship meets.

And even if this season 

doesn’t 
end 
in 
anything 

special, McCallum’s and Cole’s 
early-learned 
expertise 
and 

leadership should be beneficial 
down the road.

“Now that we’re in March, 

they’re finally in shape,” said 
senior Nolan Novak. “They’re 
getting the groove of things. 
They’ve stepped up and kind 
of fit the shoes of being an all-
arounder already, so that will 
bode well for them when they’re 
seniors.”

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

FILE PHOTO/Daily

The Michigan baseball team struck out 34 times in a three-game series against Oklahoma State over the weekend. The Wolverines won one of the three games.

