The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsWednesday
January 4, 2017 — 3C

ICE HOCKEY
Marody makes return 
to the ice for Wolverines

Coming 
into 
the 
2016-17 

season, the Michigan hockey team 
expected 
sophomore 
forward 

Cooper Marody to be a main 
contributor on a team losing much 
of its scoring from the previous 
year.

But after having academic 

issues last season, Marody was 
deemed ineligible for the first 
semester of this year, which meant 
that he would be unable to play in 
the Wolverines’ first 16 games.

Marody 

finally returned 
to 
the 
ice 

Thursday 
in 

the Great Lakes 
Invitational. But 
while he had 
been practicing 
with the team 
all season, in 
his first game 
— 
against 

Michigan Tech 
in the semifinal of the tournament 
— the sophomore showed some 
signs of rust.

Marody 
wasn’t 
alone. 

Michigan’s 
entire 
offense 

was stymied by the Huskies, 
producing just 23 shots on goal 
with zero goals. Marody led the 
Wolverines with five shots on 
goal, but that effort wasn’t nearly 
good enough, as Michigan Tech 
won, 2-0.

“It’s hard to show up and play 

his first game in probably nine 
months and make an impact,” said 
Michigan coach Red Berenson 
after Thursday’s game. “He’s 
worked hard all semester in 
practice. I think he’ll help our 
team, but it wasn’t to be tonight. 
He had a lot of chances, a lot of 
guys had chances — what if — but 
it never happened.”

Friday against Michigan State, 

Marody and Michigan’s offense 
flipped the script. The Wolverines 
notched five goals in all, with 
Marody earning three assists.

One of the beneficiaries of 

Marody’s playmaking was senior 

forward Alex Kile, who was on 
the same line as Marody in both 
games. Kile scored two goals 
against the Spartans, both off 
assists from Marody. And though 
the GLI served as the first time 
the two have played together 
this season, their improvement 
from one game to the next was 
noticeable.

“The first game back, it’s 

going to be a lot different than 
just practicing,” Marody said. 
“It’s been a while since I played 
a game and really got up to that 
speed. And I think after a day of 
playing together, me and Alex 

have gained great 
chemistry. And I 
think as a team we 
just played better, 
which helped us 
play better.”

Added 
Kile: 

“I 
think 
time 

will tell with our 
chemistry. 
But 

we’re two players 
that want to play 
with each other, 

and any time you have that, I 
think chemistry will form right 
off the bat. So, I mean, we’ve still 
got 20-plus games left, and I think 
as the season goes on we’re just 
going to get better.”

Michigan can only hope that 

the two will be able to develop 
that 
relationship, 
and 
that 

Marody will continue to improve 
as the season goes on. Not only did 
Marody provide another scoring 
threat on offense, but he also 
provides experience on defense. 
The sophomore wasn’t on the 
ice for any of the six goals scored 
against 
the 
Wolverines 
this 

weekend, and though plus-minus 
can be a flawed statistic, Marody’s 
presence was surely felt.

And on a team looking for 

answers after the first half of 
its season, Michigan will hope 
to ride some momentum from 
Marody’s return. With a majority 
of the Big Ten season left to play, 
coupled with the Wolverines’ 
inconsistency thus far, they need a 
boost from somewhere.

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor

“I think he’ll 
help our team, 
but it wasn’t to 

be tonight.”

Michigan finishes third at Great Lakes Invitational 

DETROIT — With the score 

knotted up at 4-4 at the end 
of regulation, the Michigan 
hockey team found itself in a 
five-minute 
overtime 
period 

in its first battle of the season 
against in-state rival Michigan 
State on Friday. It would take 
only one goal to determine 
the winner of the first of five 
meetings between the two foes 
this season.

That determining goal came 

from 
junior 
forward 
Tony 

Calderone.

Assisted by junior forward 

Dexter Dancs, Calderone was 
able to clean up a loose puck and 
put it in the back of the net with 
2:02 remaining in the overtime 
period. With his tenth goal of 
the season, Calderone helped 
Michigan stun the Spartans, 
5-4.

The Wolverines (1-3-0 Big 

Ten, 8-9-1 overall) took home 
a third-place finish in the 52nd 
annual Great Lakes Invitational 
with their victory over Michign 
State (0-2-0, 4-11-1), after a 
2-0 loss to Michigan Tech on 
Thursday.

“This 
was 
a 
learning 

experience,” 
said 
Michigan 

coach 
Red 
Berenson. 

“Sometimes we leave here with 
a lot of confidence, and I think 
we’re going to leave (the Great 
Lakes Invitational) with some 
resolve and some awareness. We 
can look at this and say, ‘These 
were the areas we’ve got to fix.’ 
If you’ve got a car with a flat tire 
and you won’t admit it, you’re 
not going to get very far. We’re 
going to stop and fix the flat.

“It’s not as easy as that, but 

that’s what we’re going to take 
from this tournament.”

Four of the game’s nine 

goals were scored in the first 
period, three of which came 

from the Wolverines. The first 
came 3:57 into the game, when 
sophomore 
forward 
Cooper 

Marody attempted a shot that 
landed behind Michigan State 
goaltender 
John 
Lethemon. 

Calderone was there to clean it 
up, though, opening the scoring.

Michigan’s second goal came 

from freshman forward Will 
Lockwood, who managed to 
score a clean, unassisted wrister 
just two minutes later. The 
goal marked his seventh of the 
season and was his first since 
November 11th, when he tallied 
a goal against Boston University. 
It also put Lockwood at second 
for most goals scored, only 
behind Calderone, who has 10.

For a few minutes afterward, 

the Wolverines were able to 
keep the Spartans contained 
without allowing any quality 
chances. 
That 
was 
until 

Michigan 
State 
defenseman 

Carson Gatt corralled the puck 
on the Spartans’ end and sent it 
down the ice to forward Logan 
Lamdin. Lambdin shot the puck 
into the net from the left faceoff 
dot and whittled Michigan’s 
two-goal lead down to one.

Senior forward Alex Kile 

tacked on the final goal of the 
period on an assist from Marody 
and freshman forward James 
Sanchez. Kile pushed the puck 
through a crowd of players 
in front of Lethemon for the 

Wolverines’ third goal.

The second period started 

with 4-on-4 play, as senior 
defenseman Kevin Lohan and 
Michigan State’s Jerad Rosburg 
both earned a trip to the penalty 
box for roughing after the 
whistle at the end of the first. 
This play decreased to 3-on-
3 when junior forward Cutler 
Martin and Spartan forward 
Patrick Khodorenko were both 
called for tripping.

Despite the calls, though, 

both 
teams 
killed 
off 
the 

penalties without allowing any 
goals. 

Senior 
goaltender 
Zach 

Nagelvoort made critical saves 
throughout 
the 
period, 
one 

of which was when Spartan 
forward Connor Wood brought 
the puck into a dangerously 
close position in Michigan’s 
zone. Nagelvoort deterred the 
shot, and managed another 
quick save soon thereafter to 
maintain the Wolverines’ two-
goal wlead.

Kile was the only player 

on either team to find the net 
in the second period, with 
6:41 left on the clock. While 
standing near Michigan State’s 
net, junior defenseman Sam 
Piazza generated a shot, and 
Kile tipped the puck into the net 
while it was still in the air.

This gave Michigan a three-

goal lead heading into the third 

period, but it took Spartan 
forward Mason Appleton just 
seven seconds to decrease the 
lead to two. After corralling 
the puck off the initial faceoff, 
Appleton scored on a breakaway 
to push the score to 4-2.

At the 14:50 mark, Gatt left 

the Wolverines clinging to a 
one-goal lead after scoring from 
a wrister.

“There’s a sense of confidence 

when you’re up 4-1, but Michigan 
State is a team that loves playing 
against us and they’re obviously 
not going to give up, especially 
in an enviroment like this, you 
can never count them out,” Kile 
said. “It was a good start for us, 
getting to 4-1, but it was a really 
bad third period for us, letting 
them get three straight. Moving 
forward, that can’t happen.”

In an attempt to strengthen 

his team’s lead, Calderone took 
the puck down to Michigan 
State’s net and passed it to 
freshman forward Jake Slaker at 
the last moment in a desperate 
attempt to get the puck past 
Lethemon, but it was no good.

In the final seconds of the 

period, Michigan State forward 
JT Stenglein skated through a 
crowded Michigan defense in 
front of the net to finish off a 
loose puck and score the tying 
goal.

But Calderone took advantage 

of 
the 
overtime 
period 
to 

put the Wolverines on top in 
this matchup of in-state and 
conference rivals. 

“Even though they took it to 

overtime, it’s a good learning 
lesson for our team,” Marody 
said. “There’s going to be times 
in the future when we’re going 
to have leads going into the 
third period, and we learned 
our lesson that the other team 
is going to come hard and they 
might score a couple of goals, 
but we finished hard at the 
end of the game. It was a good 
lesson.”

LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor

After falling to Michigan Tech on Thursday, the Wolverines recovered to defeat Michigan State in overtime on Friday.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Junior forward Tony Calderone scored the game-winning goal to defeat the Spartans and lead Michigan to a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational.

Thome shines in victory against the Badgers

While the Michigan women’s 

basketball team is known for 
its depth and ability to spread 
the ball around to a variety of 
contributors, 
one 
individual 

performance stood out for the 
Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 13-3 
overall) in their 73-56 road 
win over the Badgers (0-1, 5-9) 
to start the new year on a high 
note.

Sophomore forward Hallie 

Thome scored more than half 
of Michigan’s points — 37 to be 
exact. That feat lands Thome 
at No. 2 on the list of most 
points during a single game in 
Wolverine history, a fact she 
knew nothing about over the 
course of her dominant showing.

“I had no idea,” Thome said. 

“(Junior guard Maria Backman) 
tried to tell me at one of the 
timeouts, and I was like, ‘Maria, 
don’t tell me, I don’t want to 
know.’ I don’t like knowing the 
points, I just like playing the 
game and doing my own thing.”

Though Thome pushed the 

statistics to the back of her 
mind during game time, she was 
pleased to learn the final tally 
once the contest had come to a 
close. While Thome averages 
14.6 points per game so far this 
season, her accuracy took her 
to the next level Sunday, as she 
shot 13-for-15 from the floor.

“She hasn’t really had a 

breakout game in a while,” said 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “So hopefully this really 
elevates her confidence, because 
she was sensational.”

At 6-foot-5 — the tallest of 

the Wolverines — Thome used 
her height and length to her 
advantage in controlling the 
paint and making layups look 
effortless. She found her way 
to the free-throw line often and 
made the most of it, going 11-for-
13 on the afternoon. Thome not 
only led the team in points, but 
achieved a double-double by 
tacking on 14 rebounds. 

“Being 
aggressive 
and 

wanting to go get them (made 
the difference),” Thome said. 
“It was a close game, but we just 

had the will to want to go and 
get it. I think that’s what our 
whole team had.”

Junior guard Jillian Dunston 

played a major role on the 
glass as well, contributing nine 
defensive boards and preventing 
Wisconsin from gaining second-
chance attempts.

“That was our number one 

goal today, to just rebound the 
basketball,” Barnes Arico said. 
“We knew we were going to be 
undersized against them, and 
Jillian Dunston did a great job.”

Freshman 
guard 
Kysre 

Gondrezick was another bright 
spot on the court for Michigan 
on Sunday, tallying 16 points and 
five rebounds of her own.

As 
a 
newcomer 
to 
the 

Wolverines, 
Gondrezick 
has 

quickly made a name for herself 
in 
the 
conference, 
earning 

recognition as the Big Ten 
Freshman of the Week twice 
already this season. She has also 
recently broken into the starting 

lineup, as this was just her 
second time on the court from 
the opening tip. She joined the 
starting five for the first time on 
Dec. 28 against Rutgers. 

Against 
the 
Badgers, 

Gondrezick’s three 3-pointers 
in the fourth quarter solidified 
Michigan’s win over Wisconsin, 
proving that she might stay in 
the starting lineup for good.

The 
Wolverines’ 
leading 

scorer, junior guard Katelynn 
Flaherty, became Michigan’s 
fifth-highest scorer in program 
history with her eight-point 
performance. Yet it wasn’t the 
level of play that can usually be 
expected from Flaherty, who 
averages 17.9 points.

Flaherty’s eight points make 

this her fourth straight game 
with fewer points than her 
season average, following her 
totals of eight against Vermont, 
17 against American and 13 
against Rutgers.

“As a player, you have a 

couple games like that, you start 
questioning everything you do,” 
Barnes Arico said. “You start 
pressing, 
you’re 
questioning 

when your shot is released, 
pretty much everything.

“But 
she’s 
a 
tremendous 

player. … She’s going to play 
herself out of this.”

While 
Flaherty 
has 
still 

managed 
to 
be 
productive, 

Michigan is expecting much 
more from its consensus All-Big 
Ten first-team player. She went 
0-for-7 on 3-pointers against the 
Badgers, which leaves plenty of 
room for improvement.

But while the Wolverines 

wait for Flaherty to regain 
the 
shooting 
stroke 
and 

confident approach that have 
characterized her career, they 
have capable players who can 
make up for the deficit. With her 
performance Sunday, Thome 
proved that she can take control 
and lead Michigan to victory on 
her own. 

MAGGIE KOLCON

Daily Sports Writer

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Sophomore forward Hallie Thome scored more than half of Michigan’s points in the Wolverines’ win against Wisconsin.

