6A — Thursday, February 1, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Former coach Berenson wins award
The accolades keep coming
for Red Berenson.
After being honored with a
formal rink dedication of the
“Red Berenson Rink” at Yost
Ice Arena earlier this month,
the legendary former Michigan
hockey coach — who retired at
the end of last season — was
named the 2018 Hobey Baker
Legends of College Hockey
Award recipient Tuesday.
The
annual
award
is
presented by the Hobey Baker
Memorial Award Committee
to honor “one of the all-time
great contributors to the game
of college hockey.”
And after three years as a
Michigan varsity letterwinner
and another 33 behind the
Wolverines’ bench, Berenson’s
accomplishments in Ann Arbor
cemented him as one of those
contributors.
The
ultimate
“Michigan
man” since 1959, Berenson came
from Regina, Saskatchewan and
played four years of hockey for
the Wolverines. The Canadian
was named All-American twice,
the 1962 WCHA Most Valuable
Player and a team captain his
senior season.
Berenson would go on to play
17 years in the NHL as a member
of the New York Rangers, St.
Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings
and
Montreal
Canadiens
—
with
which
he
won
two
Stanley Cups —
and coached in
the NHL until
1984. He then
returned to his
alma mater as
head coach and
immediately
rebuilt
the
Michigan hockey program into
the storied one it is today.
With Berenson at the helm,
the Wolverines captured 21
conference
championships
and qualified for the NCAA
Tournament in 23 of his last
27 seasons. From 1991 to 2012,
Michigan made 22 straight
tournaments, an NCAA record
that still stands. Berenson led
the Wolverines to 11 Frozen
Fours
and
two
national
championships, in 1996 and
1998.
Berenson retired with the
fourth-most wins in NCAA
hockey history with an 848-
426-92
career
record. He also
groomed
two
Hobey
Baker
Memorial
Award winners,
73
NHL
players
and
140
Academic
All-Big
Ten
selections.
Berenson will
be honored on
May 28 in St. Paul, Minn., at
the annual Hobey Baker Award
Banquet. He becomes the third
Michigan coach to be named an
honoree, following Vic Heyliger
and Al Renfrew, who were
inductees in 1982 and 1990,
respectively.
Ian
Bunting
announced
Tuesday
night
that
he
is
pursuing a grad transfer.
The fifth-year senior tight
end was once seen as the heir
apparent to Jake Butt. Now,
he’ll finish his college career
elsewhere.
“This
has
been
a
very
difficult decision, but I have
decided to forgo my 5th year at
the University of Michigan in
order to play football and earn
a graduate degree elsewhere,”
Bunting wrote on Instagram. “I
have obtained my release. … This
place will always be a special
one for me and it has been the
opportunity of a lifetime.”
As
a
graduate
transfer,
Bunting will be immediately
eligible for whichever program
he joins. He ends his four-year
career at Michigan with 11
catches for 124 yards.
The
6-foot-7,
252-pounder
isn’t the first member of his
class to leave the program.
Quarterback
Wilton
Speight
and receivers Drake Harris and
Moe Ways will also play their
final year elsewhere, having
announced their intentions to
do so earlier this offseason. The
Wolverines have also brought in
a grad transfer of their own in
former Utah cornerback Casey
Hughes.
A
highly-touted
four-star
recruit with offers from Florida
State, Notre Dame, Ohio State
and Oklahoma, among others,
Bunting
never
completely
developed into the weapon many
originally envisioned him as.
After
redshirting
his
freshman year, he found the field
as a backup tight end during Jim
Harbaugh’s first season in Ann
Arbor. In the first four games,
Bunting caught four passes for
55 yards. But he didn’t record a
catch over the following eight
games.
With the return of Butt, an
All-American in 2015, Bunting
once again saw limited time as
a redshirt sophomore during
the 2016-17 season. Through the
first 12 games of the season, he
recorded just two catches for six
yards.
Yet when Butt suffered a torn
right ACL in the second quarter
of the Orange Bowl, it was
the seldom-used Bunting who
stepped into the Mackey Award
winner’s absence. He would
finish the game with three
catches for 40 yards, including
a 21-yard reception on a crucial
fourth down in the second half.
Bunting’s
breakout
performance in the bowl game
was seen as a harbinger of
future success. He entered 2017
as the most experienced and
most productive tight end on
Michigan’s roster. But Bunting
couldn’t hold off younger players
such as redshirt freshman Sean
McKeon and redshirt sophomore
Zach Gentry. The pair surged
ahead of Bunting on the depth
chart, finishing the season with
a combined 48 catches for 604
yards and five touchdowns.
Bunting, meanwhile, had one
catch for six yards.
Bunting’s
transfer
leaves
the
Wolverines
with
four
scholarship tight ends on the
roster.
Four-star
Mustapha
Muhammad and three-star Luke
Schoonmaker are set to enroll
this summer.
Bunting decides to take grad transfer
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior tight end Ian Bunting finishes his career at Michigan with 11 catches for 124 yards.
ORION SANG
Managing Sports Editor
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO
Former Michigan coach Red Berenson was named the recipient of the 2018 Hobey Baker Legends Award.
Berenson will
be honored on
May 28 in St.
Paul, Minn.
With his play, ‘The Microwave’ Poole seeking to expand role
Jordan Poole is comfortable in
his role.
He calls himself — and insists
others in the locker room also
call him — “The Microwave.” As
such, Poole serves as an offensive
sparkplug off the bench. When
the offense needs creativity,
assertion or sure shooting, Poole
can provide just that. It’s a role
that suits his game as much as
his gregarious personality.
“People go to me for the ‘hype
guy,’ ” Poole said. “Me personally,
I feel like if I hit one, I’m hot.”
At
Mackey
Arena
last
Thursday, with an explosive
Purdue offense beginning to
impose its will while Michigan’s
passive offense sputtered ever-
so-slightly,
the
Wolverines
needed a spark. In a game that
would eventually produce 180
points, any offensive lull could
be a death blow.
As Purdue regained the lead,
14-12, with a quick 6-0 spurt,
Michigan coach John Beilein
inserted the freshman guard.
On his first possession, Poole
received the ball on a simple
handoff, took three dribbles to
his right, stepped back to gain
separation and elevated for a
mid-range jumper to tie the
game up. On the defensive end,
Poole attacked the weak dribble
of forward Grady Eifert, diving
on the floor to force a turnover.
He got up, darted for the
corner and drained a transition
3-pointer.
In less time than it takes to
pop a bag of popcorn, Poole had
blitzed the Boilermakers and
snagged the lead back.
Microwave
on.
Mackey
silenced.
He did it against Indiana,
notching 19 points and taking
almost as many shots (10) as he
had in the season to date (14). He
did it against Illinois, draining
consecutive threes to stretch the
second half lead and totaling 11
points in an ugly game Michigan
had to grind out. He did it
against Maryland, sparking a
furious comeback with three
3-pointers in a two minute span
in the second half, and inciting
the loudest eruption at Crisler
Center all season.
This has been Poole’s role not
only the majority of this season,
but even dating back to his
senior year of high school, when
Poole was the sixth man for his
prep school at La Lumiere.
That role helped ease the
transition to college, where he
knew playing time would be
hard to come by at first.
“I’m glad it happened last
year,” Poole said. “If I was
starting all four years — or three
years in a row — in high school,
then came here and not started,
it could have been a confidence
breaker.”
Poole, of course, isn’t devoid
of confidence.
This season, he has clearly
identified a niche as a bench
scorer, and has evolved into a
valuable one at that. He scores
.58 points per minute, the best
on
the
team.
Despite
that,
Poole plays just
11.0 minutes per
game, ninth on
the team.
“I’m more of
a, ‘Try to come
in and make an
impact and win
the game.’ That’s
how I am,” Poole
said
Monday
regarding his role. “Obviously, I
want the best for the team.”
But while Poole has thrived
in his role so far, this team
needs him to be more. What was
best for the team in November
— when Poole was collecting
DNPs — may no longer be what’s
best now and into March.
Much of what held him
back
early
in
the
season
revolved around his defensive
consistency and shot selection,
skills that Beilein now considers
to be much improved.
“Jordan
Poole’s
defense,
right
now
—
and it was not
good in October,
November — it
is really coming
on,” Beilein said
Monday
night.
“He’s a pretty
bright kid, and
he
gets
that.
And
he
also
understands,
‘I’m going to play
defense and I’m going to take
care of the ball or I’m not going
to play.’ ”
Finding
minutes
for
the
freshman
can
be
a
tricky
predicament.
Senior
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-
Rahkman
and
redshirt
sophomore Charles Matthews
are
firmly
entrenched
in
the starting wing spots, the
two positions Poole can play
offensively. There have been
brief attempts to play Abdur-
Rahkman at point guard and
slide Poole next to him. There
may even be opportunities —
in certain matchups — to play
Matthews at forward next to
junior center Moritz Wagner,
slotting Poole into the other
wing position.
That Beilein is even willing
to maneuver the rotation to
account for Poole’s emergence,
though, signals the importance
of his skillset. For a team lacking
offensive assertion — one that
has scored 62 points or fewer in
three of its last four games and
is on pace for its second worst
adjusted
offensive
efficiency
since 2010 — Poole can be a
difference-maker.
“You can see,” Beilein said,
“he just does things that you
can’t teach.”
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
EVAN AARON/Daily
Freshman wing Jordan Poole leads the team with an average of 0.58 points per minute played.
“Me personally,
I feel like if
I hit one, I’m
hot.”