The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 — 7
Notebook: Marody leading offensive surge
When
Cooper
Marody
returned from a suspension
that kept him out the entire
first semester of the Michigan
hockey team’s season, he did
so with a bang, tallying three
assists on Dec. 30 against
Michigan State.
Since then, the sophomore
forward has been a catalyst for
the Wolverines’ offense. That
was most evident this weekend
in Michigan’s series against
Ohio
State.
Marody
broke
out with four goals — three
of which came in the second
period of Friday’s game alone —
and two assists.
It was the Wolverines’ best
offensive output of the season,
and though other issues arose
on the defensive end, the team’s
goal-scoring was cause for a bit
of optimism.
“I think, just as a team, we
got more pucks to the net,”
Marody said. “We talked about
that all week, getting shots, in
all kinds of situations possible.
And I think we did a great job
with that.”
Marody’s offensive aptitude
couldn’t
come
at
a
better
time for Michigan, as senior
forward Alex Kile and junior
forwards Cutler Martin and
Tony Calderone all sat out
against the Buckeyes. Marody
filled the void they left, as he
either scored or assisted on 60
percent of the team’s goals on
the weekend.
“You
can
see
what
he
brings even though he’s only
a sophomore,” said Michigan
coach Red Berenson. “...He’s
got a knack for scoring goals,
and he’s got a knack for helping
other people score goals. That’s
been missing on a regular basis
with our whole team, and I just
think he can jumpstart our
offense, and you saw that this
weekend.”
Penalty-Kill Woes
In the early stages of the
season, the Michigan penalty
kill unit was thriving. In fact,
it was ranked in the top-10
nationally at one time.
But since the start of the Big
Ten season, the Wolverines
have struggled in that regard,
falling to last place in the Big
Ten.
The unit’s struggles came
back to hurt them yet again
against Ohio State. Seven of the
10 goals the Buckeyes scored
in the two-game series came
on the power play. Without
those
opportunities,
paired
with Michigan’s potent offense,
the Wolverines likely would
have come away with two wins
on the weekend rather than
settling for the split.
“We’re not a ‘Broad Street
Bully’
team,”
Berenson
said. “We’re trying to play
disciplined hockey, but we’re
the most penalized team in the
Big Ten right now. So we’re
addressing that. We’ve got to
watch our stick, we’ve got to
watch our hitting from behind.
We’ve got our sticks up, we
had some accidental hooks and
trips. I mean, come on, we’ve
got to get that out of our game.
It’s killing us.”
Michigan’s rematch against
the Spartans next weekend
could prove to be a good chance
for the Wolverines to right
some of their penalty-killing
woes. Michigan State’s power
play unit ranks last in the Big
Ten at just 15.15-percent.
Injuries
In terms of their health, the
Wolverines are currently in a
state of limbo. Though Martin
returned to practice Monday
after
missing
the
weekend
series with an illness, Kile
and Calderone remained out
with
upper-body
injuries,
while freshman defenseman
Christian
Meike
has
been
sidelined with a lower-body
injury for over a month.
In
addition,
freshman
forward Will Lockwood left
Saturday’s game with what
appeared to be a head injury.
Lockwood took a big hit near
the bench area at center ice and
remained down for some time.
He then went to the bench,
where he could be seen talking
to trainers with his helmet off.
Lockwood returned to action
a few minutes later, but was
eventually forced to exit the
game, and remained out of
action in Monday’s practice.
Calderone,
Kile
and
Lockwood are three of the top
six point scorers for Michigan,
and though Berenson says they
are day-to-day, if they can’t play
against the Spartans, others
will need to step up to replicate
the offensive firepower the
Wolverines
exhibited
this
weekend.
“You saw Cooper, he stepped
up last weekend, and that really
helped our team,” Berenson
said. “But we’ve got a lot of
guys that have to do more for
our team, and sometimes it’s
producing. … We have a lot of
guys that have to help. They’re
playing regular, they’re playing
every night, and they’re getting
a chance.
“But it’s not about the goals
for — I think the goals for will
come when you’re playing well
— it’s about the goals against.
That’s what’s killing us.”
MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Sophomore forward Cooper Marody is coming off a weekend in which he notched six points against Ohio State.
Returning players
key for Wolverines
After the final out was called
in the 2016 season, five players on
the Michigan baseball team saw
their names selected in the MLB
draft.
First
baseman
Carmen
Benedetti and pitchers Brett
Adcock and Evan Hill accepted
the call to the big leagues,
while pitcher Jackson Lamb
and catcher Harrison Wenson
opted to continue their tenures
as Wolverines.
Typically when teams lose
their players to drafts, injuries or
other extraneous circumstances,
a
rebuilding
period
ensues.
But
Michigan
coach
Erik
Bakich has no
such plans.
“(The season
is) going to be
full of ups and
downs,” Bakich
said. “I just feel
like we are much
better equipped
to handle it now
than we were when we didn’t
handle it at the end of last year.”
With 12 returning juniors
and seven returning seniors,
the
Wolverines
are
looking
to take a top-down approach
to the upcoming season. The
experienced upperclassmen know
the ins and outs of the program
and will serve as mentors to the 12
newcomers to the team.
Clearly,
Bakich
and
the
rest of the coaching staff have
looming decisions to make to
fill the void left by Adcock, Hill
and Benedetti, but the players
filling their positions already
have substantial experience
under their belts.
“I think there are some guys
that have a lot of repetitions
in this program,” Bakich said.
“They’ve logged a lot of at-bats,
a lot of innings, been in some
high leverage situations and in
some tight games.”
Oliver Jaskie, who touted
a 3.19 ERA and a 7-3 record in
his breakout season last year, is
only one of those players. The
junior left-hander is poised
to step up on the mound to
assume the No. 1 spot in the
starting rotation.
In the field, junior third
baseman
Jake
Bivens
is
returning, looking to replicate
the lofty .356 batting average
that he posted last season.
Junior
infielder
Drew
Lugbauer hit seven home runs
last season, and his bat will
help provide a timely surge of
offense alongside Bivens.
With
the
returning
stronghold
of
upperclassmen,
fresh
off
the
bitter
loss
at
the end of the
season
last
year, Michigan
is
adopting
a
new, hardened
mentality.
“There are a
lot more guys
that we started this fall with
that are into our team values
and team standards,” Jaskie
said. “We got a tough training
this fall and we really worked
on mental toughness. I would
say our culture got stronger and
our foundation more solidified.”
The Wolverines are looking
at a schedule that will force
them to cultivate this culture
in a timely manner. Michigan
starts
the
season
with
a
15-game road trip, so a certain
toughness will be needed in
order to prevail over teams like
UCLA and USC.
After
their
long
stretch
away
from
home,
though,
the
Wolverines
return
to
the
Wilpon
Complex
for
18-straight home games, and
with the amount of turnover
on the team, that opportunity
could prove to be invaluable.
BASEBALL
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Writer
“I would say our
culture got stronger
and our foundation
more solidified”
Christner looks to rebound in final season
“Last year wasn’t very fun,”
were among senior left fielder
Kelly Christner’s first words to
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
upon returning to Ann Arbor
this fall.
And Christner’s words are
understandable. The stress of
sky-high expectations and the
pressure to maintain success after
a breakout sophomore year were
noticeable in her junior campaign.
A .393 batting average fell to
.313. Twenty-one home runs
plunged to just six and 67 runs
batted in dipped to 33. The 28
multi-hit and 18 multi-RBI games
turned into just 13 and seven,
respectively.
Following a stellar sophomore
season
that
resulted
in
a
unanimous selection to the All-
Big Ten first team and a spot
on the All-America third team,
it was clear something had
changed for Christner.
A much-needed asset for
the Wolverines, Christner is
now looking to revert to her
sophomore
self
—
mentally
and physically — and lead No.
6 Michigan to the Women’s
College World Series for the
fourth time in the past five
seasons. And it may have taken
this offseason for her to get back
to that form.
After minimal playing time as
a freshman, Christner evolved
into a starter her second season
with little expectations and the
freedom to make a name for
herself. But the self-inflicted
pressure after a triumphant
sophomore crusade is a challenge
Hutchins believes is often hard
for college athletes to handle.
“It’s my philosophy — right or
wrong — that when kids attain
that kind of success, sometimes
they don’t know how to recover
from it,” Hutchins said. “You
feel like, ‘I’m supposed to be
hitting .400, I’m supposed to be
hitting home runs, I’m supposed
to be an All-American.’ And
(Christner) allowed that to build
into the expectations.
“She’s as talented a kid as
we’ve had here. She just needs to
trust her game and relax.”
Christner shared the same
sentiment. She hopes that a
return to her old mentality will
lead to similar accomplishments
that put her name on the map
two years ago.
“I think this year I need to
just not let any of the pressure
get to me and realize that this
is my last year,” Christner said.
“I need to kind of just have
more fun with it, not take it
as seriously because it is just a
game.”
This newfound perspective
stemmed
from
the
advice
of
Christner’s
sister,
Katie,
who played college softball at
Wisconsin from 2013 - 2016.
“She told me, ‘Nobody asked
me what my batting average
was
my
freshman
year
of
college, but they asked me how
the experience made me into a
better person,’ ” Christner said.
“So I think all of us have tried
to focus on that, working on
letting (softball) make us better
people.”
Along with a changed mindset,
Christner devoted the summer to
focus on the mechanics of her
swing that adversely affected last
season’s numbers. In studying
side-by-side
comparisons
of
her
plate
appearances
from
sophomore to junior year, she
found glaring differences.
Fixing what Christner said
were correctable mistakes and
learning to relax in the batter’s
box — not getting what Hutchins
described as “tight” at the plate
— has already paid dividends in
practices and scrimmages.
“This summer, I really worked
on getting back to that swing I
had sophomore year,” Christner
said. “And I’ve felt good since
the fall, so I’m getting excited.”
And
though
Christner
dedicated time to herself during
the offseason, she is also entering
her second year as team captain
and is even more determined to
be an effective leader — a role she
feels comes naturally.
“I think I’ve always had the
kind of personality to where
I’m not afraid to say things to
a teammate,” Christner said.
“I think I’ve gotten better at
knowing how to handle each
person and trying to make them
the best player they can be.
“Looking up to the seniors
and upperclassmen, that really
showed us how to lead a team
and how to be a voice on and off
the field and make sure all of our
heads are in the right place.”
Now
with
batting
issues
and mental worries seemingly
behind her, Christner can focus
her attention on the upcoming
season and her last chance to
bring home the championship
that has been so elusive for
Michigan.
But
with
that
ultimate goal comes Hutchins’
simple rule for the senior to
uphold: “Just have fun.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior left fielder Kelly Christner found a new perspective this offseason that she hopes will help her return to form.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ set for rematch
with Michigan State
Just nine days ago, the
Michigan men’s basketball team
(4-6 Big Ten, 14-9 overall) made
its way to the Breslin Center
to take on a reeling Michigan
State
team.
The
Spartans
(6-4, 14-9) had just lost three
straight games to Ohio State,
Indiana and Purdue, and were
in desperate need of a victory to
halt their skid.
With that determination on
full display, Michigan State put
together a 12-2 run with 14:53
left in the second half to pull
away from the Wolverines, and
ultimately came away with a
70-62 win.
Since that Sunday contest,
the tables have turned, and
Michigan is now the side in
need of a recovery performance.
After suffering back-to-back
defeats — at the hands of their
two biggest rivals, no less —
the Wolverines are set for a
rematch against the Spartans
on Tuesday night.
With its postseason hopes
now
in
serious
jeopardy,
Michigan will hope to defend
its homecourt.
“This team is a group of guys
that just want to get better,”
Walton said. “When adversity
hits, it’s another chance to get
better.”
The Wolverines’ first priority
will be to stop Michigan State
forward Miles Bridges. Since
his return from an ankle
injury, the freshman has led
the Spartans’ resurgence in
conference play. He made his
leadership
apparent
against
Michigan, notching a double-
double with 15 points and 13
rebounds,
including
a
few
clutch
buckets
during
his
team’s decisive run.
“(He) can go both ways,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“He finishes with both hands.
And the fact that he’s now an
elite 3-point shooter, it’s a really
tough guard. So we’re going to
have to give a lot of help with
him.”
Even if it does turn out to be a
battle between the best players
on each team, though, Bridges
will have stiff competition from
Walton. The senior guard has
been on fire as of late, tallying
20-point games in each of the
Wolverines’ last three contests,
including 24 in that losing effort
in East Lansing.
The performance against the
Spartans featured his season-
high point total until he scored
25 against Ohio State, and he’s
shooting 52.8 percent from
the floor over the three-game
stretch
—
single-handedly
willing his team forward.
“There’s some players, and
I’ve said this before, they
practice until they get it right.
Derrick’s practiced so much so
he can’t get it wrong,” Beilein
said. “He doesn’t practice until
he makes it. He practices until
he can’t miss.
“He’s become an elite shooter,
he’s seeing the floor better. …
He’s looking to score and then
pass now.”
With just eight games left
in the Big Ten season, time is
running out for Michigan to
turn around its conference
fate. Walton has provided an
example of the sense of urgency
the Wolverines will need to play
with moving forward. It will be
up to them to follow his lead,
starting Tuesday night against
the Spartans.
“That’s the resilience that
every team has to have,” Beilein
said. “We’ve been able to bounce
back enough, but we really gotta
bounce back now. … We’re not
going to survive unless we have
this incredible resolve going
forward.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor