8 — Friday, December 8, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines earn 4-0 victory over State
In the last game of the 2017
calendar year at Yost Ice Arena,
the Michigan hockey team gave
its fans two things they had been
waiting all season to see.
Buoyed by a perfect, 21-for-21
performance between the pipes
by sophomore goaltender Hayden
Lavigne, the Wolverines (3-4-2
Big Ten, 7-6-2 overall) took down
Michigan State, 4-0, on Thursday
night, recording their first shutout
of the year.
And
with
three
minutes
remaining, senior forward Tony
Calderone scored his third goal of
the game, capping off an emphatic
victory over the Spartans (1-7-
1, 7-9-1) with his first career hat
trick.
Each of Calderone’s goals came
differently. The first took place
with five minutes remaining in
the second period. Senior forward
Dexter Dancs’ pass hit Calderone
on the edge of the crease, with
just Spartan goaltender John
Lethemon in the way. Calderone
coolly took his time, dancing to
the goalie’s left and firing the
puck into the top of the net.
Calderone lit the lamp for a
second time halfway through
the third period. Junior forward
Cooper Marody and Calderone
worked
a
two-on-one
to
perfection, as Marody’s cross-ice
pass hit Calderone’s stick and he
finished with a one-timer.
The final tally, with 3:28 left
in the game, materialized out of
a scrum around the net, and the
Wolverines’ captain knocked it
home.
“I’ve had a couple two-goal
games, it’s not something always
on your mind too much but to get
the third one really felt awesome,”
Calderone said. “My linemates
made it easy today. Dexter made a
great play on two of them, Cooper
made a great pass on the second
so I think they made it really
easy and they’re the reason it
happened.”
Added Michigan coach Mel
Pearson: “He scores in a bunch of
different ways. The goal I really
liked was the second goal of the
game where he gets it all alone.
It’s hard when you don’t have
any speed and momentum, the
goaltender’s just standing there
with you. He made a bunch of
moves, and he just made it look
easy. I’m really happy for him,
proud of him and the senior class
the way they performed tonight.”
Despite statistics that might
have
predicted
otherwise
—
Michigan State came into the
contest ranking just 53rd in
the nation in goals per game
— the Spartans were the more
threatening team in the game’s
first
five
minutes.
Quick,
dangerous puck movement forced
Lavigne to make several tough
saves, and Michigan State held an
early 5-0 advantage in shots on
goal.
Surprisingly, though, Michigan
might have come away from the
first period with a stronger feeling
of missed opportunity. After a
Spartan penalty, the Wolverines
began
their
first
stretch
of
extended attack, and nearly came
out of nowhere to shoot into the
lead when the puck bounced to
freshman forward Josh Norris
in the crease with the goaltender
way out of position. Norris’ shot,
however, sailed over the pipe.
While
Michigan
couldn’t
capitalize on its power play, the
Wolverines did appear to be
settled down from that point, as
the rest of the first period was
much more evenly matched.
The
script
of
the
initial
stanza was flipped after the first
intermission. This time, it was
Michigan that had better chances
— most notably, a flip shot by
freshman forward Jack Becker
that bounced over Lethemon and
across the crease.
All that threatened to change,
however,
when
Becker
was
penalized
for
cross-checking
five minutes into the period.
Sophomore defenseman Griffin
Luce joined him in the box just 13
seconds later, and the Wolverines
found themselves staring down
the barrel of a gun.
Michigan
State,
however,
couldn’t pull the trigger. The
Wolverines jammed together in
front of the net, laying out to block
shots while desperately trying to
withstand the two-man deficit.
Upon
returning
to
full
strength, Michigan wasted no
time breaking down the ice.
Junior
defenseman
Joseph
Cecconi launched a missile from
the point, which Norris was there
to tip home for a 1-0 lead. From
there, the Wolverines didn’t look
back.
While
Calderone’s
performance is the one that will
undoubtedly
be
remembered
from Thursday, Lavigne was
superb in his own right. The
sophomore
commanded
both
sides of the net from the very
beginning of the game, spreading
out to deny the Spartans on
numerous occasions.
Pearson was quick to give
Lavigne the credit for Michigan’s
first
shutout,
bemoaning
the
numerous
“grade-A”
opportunities that Michigan State
had.
“We gave up too many grade-A
opportunities,” Pearson said. “As
you watch the game back, I’m
not going to like it. Some of the
opportunities we’re giving up,
especially at key times in the game
— I think Hayden bailed us out
tonight. We’ve to be better, we’ve
got to cut down on grade-As. You
need goaltending, obviously, and
he did a phenomenal job.”
Regardless, that criticism did
little to erase the significance
of the result, especially for the
Wolverines’ senior class.
“I told the team after the
game, the seniors, it’s your
last game here in Yost against
Michigan State — last regular
season game at Yost,” Pearson
said. “What a way to end your
career against Michigan State at
Yost Ice Arena.”
Deja Church, ‘M’ guard of future
In Deja Church, the Michigan
women’s basketball team may
have found its guard of the future.
In the young season, the
freshman standout has already
made an impact as the first
player off the bench. Her high
level of play was on display in the
24th-ranked Wolverines’ 82-76
win over Marquette on Thursday
night. Church went 5-for-8 from
the floor to tie her career-high of
12 points.
“Deja was incredible,” said
Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico. “I think she’s getting better
and better every time she steps out
on the floor. She was outstanding
on both ends of the floor, and she
had a block that should make the
SportsCenter highlight loop.”
Her most significant basket
came with 3:54 left in the game
when she hit a layup as the
shot clock expired – giving the
Wolverines a 71-67 lead.
In her 26 minutes on the floor,
Church undertook much of the
ball-handling responsibilities. For
the most part, she seemed unfazed
by the Golden Eagles’ full court
press. She found success driving
the lane and was able to knock
down shots through contact.
But a lot of what Church brings
to the court goes unnoticed in the
box score. She is a high-energy
player that aggressively attacks the
basket. She plays stingy defense
and always fights for loose balls.
With these intangibles and
a high level of passion, Church
takes after senior forward Jillian
Dunston. Barnes Arico thinks
Church’s fiery personality will
be important in years to come.
Dunston seems to agree.
“I love the comparison,” said
Dunston. “And she has a lot of
heart. I’m excited to see how she
develops.”
Church, a Michigan native,
prepped just down the road at
Southfield A&T High School.
As a senior, Church averaged 24
points per game, 10 rebounds, 4.2
assists and 3.1 steals while leading
the Blue Jays to the semifinals of
the state tournament. She earned
a bevy of accolades, including
a Class A Co-Player of the Year
Award, OAA Player of the Year
nod, a Michigan Miss Basketball
finalist and a nomination for the
McDonald’s All-American game.
Ranked as the 67th overall
recruit
by
Prospects
Nation,
Church’s talents were sought
after by many schools. Despite
originally
committing
to
Minnesota,
Church
ultimately
decided to stay home.
“All my family is here,” said
Church. “My family never missed
a game in high school or AAU, and
that really sunk in. So I changed
my commitment to come here.”
It seems that Church made the
right decision. Thus far, she has
averaged 7.78 points per game
while shooting an impressive 66
percent from the field. Granted,
at times, she has still looked like
a freshman. Her four turnovers
and pair of fouls in the fourth
quarter undoubtedly contributed
to Marquette’s near-comeback.
Even
Church
is
certainly
not a finished product. Barnes
Arico feels she just needs more
experience.
“I think the biggest thing for any
freshman is to be consistent night in
and night out and even throughout
the course of the game,” Barnes
Arico said. “I think mentally when
we got up 16, Deja kind of relaxed
for a second and then there were a
couple of mistakes.”
For
Church,
the
biggest
adjustment has been the quick
pace of play at the college level.
She seems to be getting more
comfortable, though, scoring 12
points in each of her last three
games. As the season progresses,
she will likely be a bigger focal
point of the offense.
Coming
into
the
season,
questions remained over who
would be the starting point guard
after former guard Siera Thompson
graduated. This year, Church isn’t
the answer. Barnes Arico shifted
senior guard Katelynn Flaherty to
the point position.
But while Church has big
shoes to fill by replacing the
Wolverines all-time assists leader
in Thompson and all-time scoring
leader in Flaherty, her success
seems imminent.
Michigan pulls out 82-76 win
With the outcome suddenly
uncertain,
the
ball
found
Nicole Munger on the right
wing. She took the shot and
sunk the three, putting the
Wolverines up by five with
just under three minutes to go,
the most important moment of
Michigan’s season thus far.
The 24th-ranked Wolverines
hung around in the first half,
took a commanding lead in
the third quarter, then nearly
blew it in the fourth in a
roller coaster 82-76 win over
Marquette.
After Michigan (6-2) opened
up a 16-point lead with just
under eight minutes to go in the
game, Marquette (4-4) started
making shots. Suddenly, the
Golden Eagles were on a 9-0
run and the lead was cut to
just seven. Minutes later, it
was cut to two after an Erika
Davenport layup and disaster
was impending.
“Once we got the lead, we
became very, very complacent,”
said senior forward Jillian
Dunston. “And we allowed
them to get any shot off that
they wanted.”
Michigan, however, managed
to pull through thanks to
Munger’s three, a timely charge
by junior center Hallie Thome
and an and-1 layup from senior
guard Katelynn Flaherty. Those
elements combined to get the
lead to six. Crisis averted.
“(Coach Kim Barnes Arico)
pretty much told us just to stay
calm and the clock was our
friend and the time was our
friend,” said freshman guard
Deja Church. “We were taking
quick shots, she told us to pull
the ball and let’s run the clock
out a little bit and just stay
calm, don’t let the defense
rattle us.”
Marquette will lament this
loss, and with good reason.
It had a chance to put the
Wolverines
away
early.
It
didn’t. It had the chance to pull
off an impossible comeback in
the fourth. It didn’t.
The Golden Eagles jumped
out to a 10-4 lead in the game’s
first
five
minutes
as
the
Wolverines sleepwalked. From
Munger missing two open shots
to Dunston turning the ball
over on an entry pass, Michigan
didn’t look sharp. The chance
was there for Marquette, but it
couldn’t seize it.
By the time Church went
coast to coast and laid the ball
in to finish the game’s opening
quarter, the Wolverines had cut
the deficit to four.
From there, it was a tug-
of-war. With Flaherty held to
seven points on 1-for-8 shooting
from the field in the first half,
Michigan had to batten down
the hatches and play defense.
That they did.
The
Wolverines
limited
the Golden Eagles to just .868
points per possession in the
first half, an admirable mark
against a team that ranked 16th
in the country in points per
game coming into the contest.
That was enough to keep
Michigan in the game going
into the break, at which time it
trailed 33-29.
The
Wolverines’
two
freshmen standouts — Church
and forward Hailey Brown —
ignited that effort. Church,
who has lived up to her
reputation as a strong one-on-
one defender, did so again on
Thursday, forcing misses as
easily as Flaherty hits shots.
As for Brown, she provided
vital rim protection, notching
two blocks in the first half and
three in the game.
As play opened in the second
half, she forced a miss at the
rim, then came down on the
other end to for a layup, cutting
Marquette’s lead down to two.
One possession later, Munger
hit a corner three to give
Michigan its first lead of the
night. The Wolverines never
squandered that lead, despite
their best efforts.
“I was nervous before the
game that we couldn’t handle
their pressure, but at halftime
I was confident that we could
handle
their
pressure
and
we could score against them
from what I saw in the first
half,” Barnes Arico said. “(At
halftime), I said, ‘Try to go over
the top, try to get rid of the ball
when they’re double-teaming
you
and
we’ll
score
easy
baskets.’And I think we did.”
After
Michigan
took
its
initial lead, Flaherty put in
a layup to extend the lead to
three and it looked like the
floodgates might open. No
matter, the Golden Eagles’
Selena Lott nailed one from
downtown to tie the game a few
possessions later, stopping the
impending cascade. However,
she couldn’t stop the trickle.
The Wolverines spent the
rest of the third methodically
adding to their lead. A Flaherty
layup
here,
two
Thome
free throws there and good
defense throughout. After a
few minutes, Michigan had
pulled together an 8-0 run to
go up 50-40. By the end of the
quarter, the lead grew to 11. A
few minutes into the fourth, it
stood at 16.
That
lead
proved
insurmountable.
FOOTBALL
Hurst undecided on
playing in bowl game
Fifth-year senior defensive
tackle Maurice Hurst Jr. has
a long future of football ahead
of him, but next on his plate is
the Michigan football team’s
bowl game.
Whether or not Hurst will
play in that game, though, is
still up in the air.
Hurst, who projects to be
a high first-round NFL Draft
pick, spoke to media Thursday
afternoon and said that he has
not yet decided whether he
will play in the bowl game.
“I’m
not
really
sure.
Right now, it’s
just
business
as
usual,”
Hurst said. “I
haven’t made a
decision.”
The risk of
playing in the
Outback Bowl
on Jan. 1 relates
to injuries.
Last year, Michigan’s senior
tight end Jake Butt tore his
ACL in the Orange Bowl. Butt
was drafted by the Denver
Broncos with the first pick
of the fifth round, No. 145
overall, but could have likely
been picked much higher —
and earned a significantly
higher pay check — had he not
been injured.
Butt
spoke
before
the
Orange Bowl and said that he
fully understood and respected
the
decision
of
players
like
Stanford’s
Christian
McCaffrey, who chose not to
play in a bowl game to avoid
the risk of injury.
Nonetheless, Butt decided
to
play
and
unfortunately
faced a devastating outcome.
“Being there,” Hurst said,
“and seeing (Butt) go down,
it was heart wrenching to see
the emotion on his face.”
Hurst, now in the same
position that Butt was in a year
ago, contemplates the same
decision.
He said that he’s going to
be talking with his family,
coach Jim Harbaugh, Butt and
guys like former defensive
end Chris Wormley — who
now plays for the Baltimore
Ravens.
Hurst
hopes to have
the
decision
finalized
sometime in the
next two weeks.
Pro Football
Focus
added
Hurst
to
its
All-American
First Team for
defense,
and
rated
him
as
the top-graded player in the
country for both sides of the
ball.
His talent is obvious, and
his stats back it all up. He
has contributed 132 tackles,
33 tackles for loss and 13
sacks over the course of his
Michigan career, and was
a consensus first team All-
Big Ten honoree by both the
coaches and media.
One of the only things not
on Hurst’s resume is an NFL
contract.
But that really will come,
regardless
of
his
decision
about
the
upcoming
bowl
game.
The fifth-year senior defensive tackle
said he is still weighing his options
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Being there
and seeing
(Butt) go down,
it was heart
wrenching
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Freshman guard Deja Church stood out against Marquette, going 5-for-8 from the floor to tie her career-high of 12 points.
HUNTER SHARF
Daily Sports Writer
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan hockey team came out with an emphatic win over the Spartans.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer