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”