8A — Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan splits series
with No. 5 Minnesota
With just over three minutes
left
in
the
third
period,
freshman goaltender Hayden
Lavigne
skated
towards
Michigan’s
bench.
Senior
forward Alex Kile took his
place, jumping onto the ice and
heading toward Minnesota’s
defensive end to give the
Wolverines a man-advantage.
It was a last-ditch effort for
the Michigan hockey team, as
it trailed 3-1 during the final
stretch of its second game
against No. 5 Minnesota. But
despite the last-ditch efforts
from
the
Wolverines,
they
wouldn’t
close
the
deficit.
Instead, the Golden Gophers
scored an additional empty-net
goal.
With the final goal, Michigan
(4-12-2-2
Big
Ten,
11-18-3
overall) fell to Minnesota on
Saturday
in
the
second
game of a home
series at Yost
Ice Arena, 4-1.
The Wolverines
split the series
with the Golden
Gophers (13-5-
0, 22-10-2) after
recording a win
Friday, 5-3.
“We
didn’t figure our game out
quickly enough,” said senior
defenseman Nolan De Jong.
“Yesterday, we definitely didn’t
like our start but we liked the
way we came out in the second
and third. We ended the game
really well tonight, but it was
the first 40 minutes that kind
of bit us at the end of the day.
(Lavigne) did a great job of
keeping us in it, keeping it
within a couple goals, but I
think we just couldn’t figure
ourselves out quickly enough.”
The beginning of the first
period was chopped up into
penalties, as five were tallied
within
a
13-minute
span.
Despite the early back-and-
forth play as a result of power
plays and penalty kills, neither
team was able to capitalize on
an opportunity to put itself on
the scoreboard.
But with 4:35 remaining in
the first period, Minnesota
forward
Rem
Pitlick was able
to do just that
on a Michigan
turnover.
Forward
Tyler
Sheehy
sent the puck
from
behind
Lavigne’s
left
to Pitlick, who
was waiting in
front of the net
to finish it off.
Sophomore forward Cooper
Marody was almost able to
tie the score when he sent in
a rebound that bounced off
Golden
Gopher
goaltender
Eric Schierhorn. But the goal
was waived off, as Schierhorn
had been down on the ice,
and the Wolverines remained
scoreless
headed
into
the
second period.
“The mentality was, ‘Hey,
we need to play better. We’re
still in this game, it’s a one-goal
game.’ We’re still in the game
even though the shots were
lopsided,” said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. “We knew that
we could play better than we
were playing, but you just don’t
turn a switch on. Our team is
trying and they’re playing,
but
they
weren’t
playing
with enough of an edge, they
weren’t playing with enough a
bite and we were chasing them
around.”
Both teams knocked down
the number of penalties they
were taking in the second
period
—
only
recording
coincidental
minors
for
roughing with 1:08 left — and
in their place, three goals were
scored throughout the frame.
The
first
came 11:55 into
the period when
Gopher forward
Tyler
Sheehy
beat
Lavigne
on a pass from
forward Justin
Kloos.
An
additional goal
from
forward
Leon
Bristedt
three
minutes
later pushed the score to 3-0 in
favor of Minnesota.
The
Wolverines
finally
landed
themselves
on
the
scoreboard
when
junior
forward Tony Calderone beat
Schierhorn with the assistance
of Marody to cut the deficit
to 3-1 heading into the third
period. Up until that point,
Lavigne faced 31 shots, while
Schierhorn saw just 17.
Almost halfway into the
third period, after a Minnesota
power play ended, Marody
again almost capitalized on a
chance to decrease the deficit.
Freshman
forward
Nick
Pastujov had just returned to
the ice after serving a penalty
for having too many men on
the ice, and sent the puck to
Marody. But Schierhorn was
there to stuff the shot, and the
score remained at 3-1.
And despite the Wolverines’
last-minute efforts, the only
other
goal
that would be
scored was an
empty-netter
at the hands of
Sheehy, ending
Michigan’s
series
with
Minnesota in a
split with the
4-1 loss.
“They’re
one of the most
skilled teams in
the country and I don’t know
if we respected that as much
as we needed to,” Calderone
said. “I think we needed to lay
bodies early and set the tone,
but I think we were a little
lackadaisical today off the start
and they capitalized.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berenson and the Wolverines had an up-and-down series.
The Wolverines came back for a
5-3 win Friday, but lost Saturday
“We didn’t
figure our game
out quickly
enough”
“We knew that
we could play
better than we
were playing”
LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor
With Walton’s emergence, Irvin accepts new role
It has been an up-and-down
month for Zak Irvin.
The senior wing went through
a rough stretch for the Michigan
men’s basketball team at the end
of January and into February,
starting with the Wolverines’
game at Michigan State on Jan. 29,
which began a four-game stretch
where he scored just 13 points on
4-for-31 shooting.
Irvin improved at home against
Wisconsin on Feb. 16, when a
banked 3-pointer with the shot
clock expiring seemed to jump
start his shot, as he put up 18 points
on 6-of-12 shooting.
Since
then,
it’s
been
temperamental
for
Irvin,
culminating in what Michigan
coach John Beilein called an
“exceptional” performance Sunday
night at Nebraska, where he scored
15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
“That game against Nebraska,
(Irvin) was as good as (senior
guard Derrick Walton Jr.) was,”
Beilein
said.
“Derrick
was
sensational, but Zak was really
good too.”
Michigan,
though,
hasn’t
missed a beat. The Wolverines
have gone 6-4 since the game in
East Lansing. It’s a big difference
from earlier in the season, when
a poor shooting performance by
Irvin usually spelled doom for
Michigan, such as the November
loss at South Carolina, where Irvin
scored just five points on 2-for-13
shooting.
A lot of Michigan’s success
without a scoring Irvin is due to
the emergence of his roommate
and best friend, Walton, whose
starring role Irvin has enjoyed
watching.
“Zak really enjoys seeing his
roommate do so well,” Beilein said.
And with less pressure on
himself to score, Irvin has excelled
in other areas.
The senior wing has become
a mainstay on the defensive end
of the court, and his help defense
on some of the Big Ten’s premier
frontcourt players in Wisconsin
forward Ethan Happ and Purdue
forward Caleb Swanigan has
boosted Michigan to top-25 RPI
wins down the stretch to solidify
its NCAA Tournament resume.
“Derrick’s playing really well
right now,” Irvin said. “But I’m
still trying to do as much as I can
with the scoring
load. I’m trying to
affect the team in
other areas.
“I know how
important
it
is to play well
defensively
to
win games and to
be in games, so I
really just try to
be that anchor
on defense, and I
know if I do that, everything else
will come into play.”
It’s an odd transition for Irvin
to go from a go-to scorer to the role
he is in now. When Irvin came to
Michigan four years ago, his role
was to be a shooter. Now, his job on
the team has changed to more of a
secondary scorer and a mainstay
on the boards and the defensive
end.
“(Irvin) just turned it over
and said, ‘I’m going to become a
defensive player and forget about
(the slump), and I know that if I put
less pressure on
myself to be the
guy, I could be a
better performer,”
Beilein said.
And in turn, as
Irvin has defined
his role, so has the
rest of the team.
And
it’s
made
for a better team
overall.
“(Zak’s
playing) a different role on the
team, but it’s made our team better
right now,” Beilein said. “As Zak
was going through a transition of
trying to read things better and
shoot it better, it forces us to go
in other directions while he gains
some confidence back, and it’s
made our team better.”
But through it all — the slump
and the role change — Irvin’s
confidence hasn’t wavered.
Over the last seven games of the
season, Irvin averaged 10 shots per
game, not a far cry from the 11.75
shots per game he averaged before
then.
“He’s got a lot of faith in
himself,” Beilein said. “He’s really
got a good personality of letting
things go.”
Added Walton: “The player and
person that he is, he wants to be
great at everything, so when one
thing isn’t working, he’s worked so
hard on everything. Overall, I don’t
think his demeanor has changed.
He’s still a confident person.”
Now, with Irvin’s collegiate
career coming to an end, Michigan
is going to need him to be as
confident as ever.
Except this time, unlike earlier
in his career, he will need to be
confident in other aspects of his
game besides scoring.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Senior wing Zak Irvin has stepped up on the defensive end and on the glass to compensate for his decreased scoring.
MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Editor
“The player and
person that he
is, he wants to
be great”