The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 — 7A

Goaltenders balancing
pressure, performance

There’s no straight path to 

becoming a goaltender — no 
rulebook, no schedule written in 
stone. It’s just a little bit different 
for everyone. 

For 
freshman 
Jack 

LaFontaine, it started during 
a birthday party one day when 
he was six. There was a group 
playing road hockey, and the 
makeshift 
goaltender 
before 

him hadn’t been doing well 
— “He was getting shelled,” 
LaFontaine said — so they put 
him in the net.

It didn’t seem like much at 

the time, but his stint in front 
of the net started a passion for 
hockey that would drive him 
to want to play competitively. 
After two years of badgering his 
dad, LaFontaine finally started 
playing organized hockey. At 12, 
he started to take it seriously, 
working out in the summers and 
playing more and more.

Now, he’s a goaltender for 

Michigan.

LaFontaine — along with 

senior Zach Nagelvoort and 
freshman Hayden Lavigne — 
make up Michigan’s starting 
rotation for goaltender.

Often viewed as a player 

that can make or break a 
game, 
goaltending 
comes 

with 
tremendous 
pressure. 

Goaltenders 
have 
to 
be 

competitive, have to be focused 
and have to be responsive.

They also have to truly want 

to be the person facing the tough 
shots.

“They obviously want to get 

hit with the puck,” said Michigan 
coach Red Berenson. “It’s an 
unusual position, but they know 
that there is a reward for that. As 
far as the technical part of goal, 
you have to be a good skater, 

you’ve got to be mentally tough. 
If you give up a bad goal — and 
everyone in the building knows 
it, your teammates know it — it’s 
not like you can take the puck 
and go down and get it back. You 
can’t score a goal; you just have to 
worry about the next shot. It’s a 
mentally demanding position as 
well as a physically demanding 
position.”

Padded up in protective gear, 

goaltenders are faced with the 
ultimate challenge of guarding 
the net generally from five 
opposing players. 

When a team’s offense is at the 

other end of the ice, goaltenders 
are left alone in their defensive 
zone, tracking the puck for 
any potential scoring chances. 
Sometimes, it can be easy to 
forget about the other goaltender 
when the action is at the opposite 
end of the ice.

But sometimes the player 

that’s left all alone in the crease 
can be the one that pulls a team 
together.

“When 
we 
had 
Shawn 

Hunwick, he was our third 
goalie,” Berenson said. “And 
nobody ever expected he would 
play, but when he did play, the 
team played so hard for him 
because they liked him so much. 
He worked so hard and got 
no credit and no opportunity. 
When he finally got to play, they 
couldn’t play hard enough for 
Shawn.”

After replacing the 2009-

10 goaltender, Bryan Hogan, 
due to an injury, Hunwick 
wound up leading his team to 
a CCHA Tournament title and 
made two NCAA Tournament 
appearances.

But even with team support, 

it can be difficult to handle the 
pressure of the position. Many 
often express that a goaltender’s 
job is mostly mental. As the last 

string of defense before a puck 
goes in the net, it’s easy to blame 
goaltenders for goals.

“If I have an office job, and I’m 

working from nine to five, and I 
make six mistakes that day, it’ll 
probably go unnoticed unless I 
bring them up to someone and 
say, ‘Hey, can you help me with 
these?’ ” Nagelvoort said. “If I go 
and play goalie and I make two 
mistakes, and the other team 
only makes one, we lose that 
game.

“It’s 
being 
able 
to 
keep 

yourself mentally strong, and 
knowing that you’re going to 
make mistakes almost every 
night. (NHL goaltender) Henrik 
Lundqvist doesn’t get shutouts 
every game. The best goalies that 
have played the game get scored 
on in probably the majority of 
the games they play. It’s making 
peace with that in your head.”

The 
pressure 
put 
on 

a 
goaltender 
is 
almost 

unparalleled. When a team wins, 
most look to the lead scorer or 
forwards for credit. But when 
a team loses, no matter by how 
much, goaltenders are often left 
to shoulder the burden.

But 
for 
some, 
the 
pros 

outweigh 
the 
cons. 
For 

LaFontaine, it’s what motivated 
him to abandon road hockey for 
the real deal. And it’s what makes 
putting up with the work and the 
pressure so appealing.

“After a win, when everyone 

comes to your crease, they’re 
pouring off the benches and 
they give you a little tap on 
the helmet,” LaFontaine said. 
“It’s nothing big, not like a 
massive hug, it’s just a little tap 
on the helmet and it’s the most 
rewarding feeling in the world. 
When you’re just lying across 
your crossbar and everyone is 
saying, ‘Hey, good job,’ it’s the 
best feeling ever.”

‘M’ responds to poll pressure

Four games are left in the 

No. 
20 
Michigan 
women’s 

basketball 
team’s 
regular 

season, and it’s never looked 
better — literally. 

It’s the first time under 

fifth-year coach Kim Barnes 
Arico and just the seventh 
time in school history that 
the Wolverines have won 10 
games in Big Ten play — the 
record stands at 13 conference 
wins in the 1999-2000 season. 
Michigan (10-2 Big Ten, 21-5 
overall) has also clinched a spot 
in both the USA Today Coaches 
Poll and the AP for the fourth 
time under Barnes Arico. 

But the success puts a “target 

on their backs” according to 
the Wolverines, and pushes 
opponents to play their hardest. 

“Everybody is bringing their 

best game to you, every night,” 
Barnes Arico said after a win 
against Iowa on Feb. 5. “So 
it’s incredibly difficult and we 
have some teams that are in the 
bottom of our league, but you go 
on their home court and you do 
life on the road in the Big Ten.

“That’s what happens when 

you’re a good team. People 
start coming for you. And 
now, Michigan is circled on 
everybody’s schedule as a good 
team, let’s knock them off. 
So I think we’re going to face 
everybody’s best game.” 

The Wolverines have won 

six straight games, hold third 
place in the conference and 
are the only team in the Big 
Ten to shoot at least 40 percent 
from deep. The team is ranked 
first nationally in 3-point field 
goal percentage — shooting 
40.8 percent — largely led 
by 
freshman 
guard 
Kysre 

Gondrezick, who ranks third in 
the nation with a 47.3 shooting 
percentage from behind the 
arc. 

Barnes Arico has compared 

Gondrezick to both sophomore 

center 
Hallie 
Thome 
and 

junior 
guard 
Katelynn 

Flaherty, linking the athletes 
by their standout freshman 
performances. In some ways, 
though, Barnes Arico thinks 
being a freshman is the easiest 
year, despite the nerves from 
transitioning into college ball. 

Players like Gondrezick — and 

junior guard Jillian Dunston 
— keep the game “loose” and 
others feed off that energy.

By the time players become 

a sophomore or junior, though 
— like Thome or Flaherty — 
opposing teams set up double 
teams to defend, making it 
harder to maneuver around 
the court. This is the situation 
Thome faced Sunday in the 
Wolverines’ 75-66 win against 
Wisconsin.

The first time the Badgers 

came to Crisler Center on Jan. 
1, Thome broke away with 
a 37-point game. Yet, this 
past week, Thome managed 
just 13 points while Flaherty 
dominated 
the 
game 
with 

35. Though Thome was still 
the 
second-highest 
scoring 

Wolverine 
on 
the 
day, 

Wisconsin knew to stop the 
6-foot-5 center.

But what has pushed the 

Wolverines past the adversity 
directed at their top scorers is 
the ability of the team to look 
for assists and to depend on the 
depth of the bench. 

“I think our team has gotten 

to the point where they have 
a great understanding of, ‘If 
we’re going to be a successful 

team, we have to have more 
than one or two people that can 
score,’ ” Barnes Arico said. “We 
also have to have the ability to 
pass the basketball. When you 
have someone like Katelynn 
Flaherty who can score the 
basketball as well as she does 
but (can also lead) our team in 
assists, that’s pretty special.” 

Leading 
the 
team 
in 

assists is senior guard Siera 
Thompson, who has amassed 
136 to date. The senior class is 
small, as it’s comprised of just 
guards Danielle Williams and 
Thompson. And the pressure 
to not only perform, but to also 
recognize their careers’ end, is 
taking its toll. 

“(Thompson), who has been 

tremendous for us for four 
years, for the last few games 
has really struggled to make 
her shots,” Barnes Arico said. 
“She just looks like she presses 
a little bit and I tried to talk 
to her a little bit yesterday on 
our day off, and she said, ‘You 
know, Coach, there’s only (four) 
games left in my career in the 
regular season and I want to 
be at my best and I want to be 
perfect for the team.’ ”

But perfection may not be 

necessary, as the Wolverines 
seem to have the rest of the 
season firmly in check and 
are favored in the rest of their 
matchups against Indiana (7-5, 
17-8), Michigan State (6-6, 16-9), 
Nebraska (1-11, 5-19) and Penn 
State (7-6, 17-8). If Michigan can 
keep afloat, it could be looking at 
its first appearance in the NCAA 
Tournament since 2012-13. 

“The bigger picture is we 

just have to realize we’re being 
successful and keep doing what 
we’re doing,” Barnes Arico 
said. “Keep working extremely 
hard, keep practicing hard, but 
really try to enjoy the moment 
and really try to have some fun 
with it.

“It’s the end of the season, 

the final stretch. Let’s try to 
enjoy it as much as we can.” 

Night and day

W

ith two distinct 
possibilities for 
the future, the two 

outcomes of the past two weeks 
have been as different as night 
and day wfor the Michigan 
men’s basketball team.

In the first seven-day span, 

the Wolverines suffered a 
disheartening eight-point loss 
to Michigan 
State in East 
Lansing, 
and after 
a midweek 
bye, lost to a 
subpar Ohio 
State team 
at Crisler 
Center by 
four.

In both 

of those games, Michigan 
displayed a combination of 
poor shooting from the floor 
and defending in the paint that 
ultimately led to its downfall. 
Those two central problems 
have appeared sparingly at 
various points throughout the 
season, but when they finally 
showed up in full force, the 
Wolverines didn’t have a ready 
response.

At the Breslin Center, 

Spartan forwards Miles 
Bridges and Nick Ward had a 
field day. Matched up against 
redshirt sophomore forward 
DJ Wilson and sophomore 
forward Moritz Wagner, 
respectively, Bridges notched 
a double-double with 15 points 
and 13 rebounds while Ward 
poured in 13 points on perfect 
6-for-6 shooting.

To add insult to injury, 

Michigan State’s defense held 
Michigan to just 33.9 percent 
shooting from the field and 
26.9 percent from beyond the 
arc. While the Wolverines 
attempted to generate an 
offense along the perimeter, 
the Spartans took over in the 
middle and led the points-in-
the-paint battle by 14.

The situation grew dire 

against the Buckeyes, as 
Michigan simply couldn’t 
stop Ohio State down low. 

The Buckeyes outscored the 
Wolverines 26-8 in the paint 
and 19-4 in second-chance 
points, dominating them both 
in the post and on the glass.

Ohio State’s trio of big 

men proved to be physical 
mismatches for Wilson and 
Wagner, who had the tall task 
of shutting down players with 
far more experience in the 
post. Forwards Marc Loving 
and Jae’Sean Tate led the 
way with 17 and 13 points, 
respectively, while center 
Trevor Thompson secured a 
double-double with 13 points 
and 11 rebounds. 

“It is tough,” said Michigan 

coach John Beilein after the 
loss. “Those guys are young 
bucks in there playing for the 
first time, and they are going 
to get overmatched sometimes, 
and they’re going to get better. 

We just gotta wait it out until 
they get there, that they’re not 
sitting next to me, that they 
know how to 
play without 
fouling and 
they know how 
to move their 
feet better.”

Two 

consecutive 
losses to its 
two biggest 
rivals was 
certainly a 
tough pill 
to swallow, 
but their 
implications took a harsher 
toll.

After the disappointing 

week, Michigan dropped 
to 4-6 in the conference — 
firmly in the bottom half of 
the standings — and sat on 

the outside looking in at the 
NCAA Tournament. With their 
postseason hopes on life alert, 

the Wolverines 
would need 
a dramatic 
resurgence to 
put themselves 
back into 
consideration.

Still, the 

upcoming week 
featured a 
rematch against 
Michigan State 
and a trip to 
Bloomington, 
where Michigan 

hadn’t won a game in seven 
years. Two more consecutive 
losses looked like a real 
possibility for the Wolverines, 
and with games against No. 
11 Wisconsin, No. 16 Purdue 
and Northwestern still left 

on the schedule, a sure death 
sentence.

But in the two days between 

the Ohio State and Michigan 
State contests, dusk turned to 
dawn, a new week began and a 
new Michigan emerged.

On Tuesday night, the 

Wolverines blitzed the 
Spartans from the opening 
tip. Shooting a scorching 75 
percent from the floor and 72.7 
percent from beyond the arc in 
the first half, Michigan had a 
55-29 lead at halftime.

“If you say, ‘This is the only 

way we’re going to win,’ and 
you go, ‘We’re going to shoot 
threes all night,’ then all of a 
sudden you can get empty real 
quick,” Beilein said. “We are 
a good shooting team. That’s 
never been the big adjustment 
we’ve had to make.”

While Bridges and Ward 

still repeated their totals of 
15 and 13 points, respectively, 
the Wolverines matched 
Michigan State with 34 points 
in the paint. Instead of being 
overmatched physically, 
Michigan overmatched the 
Spartans in terms of energy.

Forcing 21 turnovers and 

scoring 30 points off them, the 
Wolverines wreaked havoc all 
game long, eventually blowing 
out Michigan State by nearly 
30 points.

Though the hot shooting 

didn’t travel with them to 
Assembly Hall, that persistent 
energy did. On Sunday, 
Michigan forced another 15 
turnovers against Indiana 
and scored 20 points off them 
en route to claiming another 
double-digit victory.

Wilson and Wagner proved 

to be bright spots rather than 
blind spots, turning it around 
on the defensive end. The duo 
acted as a thorn in the side of 
Hoosier center Thomas Bryant, 
limiting him to just eight 
points in the contest. They 
came up big on offense as well, 
as Wilson scored 13 points 
and Wagner notched a double-
double with 11 points and 10 
rebounds.

Two decisive wins was 

clearly a dose of medicine, but 
their ramifications provide 
stronger relief.

The Wolverines pulled 

themselves up to 6-6 in the 
conference — the final spot 
in the top half — and now 
sit as a projected 11-seed 
in the NCAA Tournament 
according to ESPN’s most 
recent Bracketology report. 
While there is still much work 
to be done, Michigan is still 
breathing.

With six games left in their 

Big Ten season, the question 
remains: Will the Wolverines 
stay in the light of day or revert 
back to the darkness of night?

Ashame can be reached 

at ashabete@umich.edu or 

on Twitter at @betelhem_

ashame. Please be kind.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Editor

“Everyone is 

bringing their 

best game to 

you, every night”

ICE HOCKEY

LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily

Michigan coach John Beilein and the Wolverines have experienced two enitrely different weeks that have ultimately resulted in a 6-6 conference record.

BETELHEM 
ASHAME

“That’s never 

been the big 

adjustment we’ve 

had to make”

