4B — Monday, February 12, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Calderone, Marody overcome recent drought with productive weekend
DETROIT,
Mich.
—
The
Monday after the Michigan
hockey team swept then-No. 9
Minnesota, senior forward Tony
Calderone and junior forward
Cooper Marody were nominated
for the Hobey Baker Award,
which
recognizes
college
hockey’s best player.
That was almost a month ago.
Halfway through the season,
Calderone had already posted
a team-high 15 goals, tied for
seventh in the nation. Marody’s
31 points led the Big Ten and
his 22 assists were second-best
in the country. The duo had
combined for five points against
the Golden Gophers, and — along
with senior forward Dexter
Dancs — accounted for almost
40 percent of the Wolverines’
total points on the season.
But then the tandem went
silent.
In the next three weekends,
Calderone and Marody notched
only one point between the two
of them. The pure goal-scorer
in Calderone and ice general in
Marody had lost what got them
recognized in the first place.
Despite contributions from
secondary scorers in a sweep
against
then-No.
12
Penn
State on Jan. 20, Michigan
wasn’t as fortunate afterward.
No offensive production ran
between two of the Wolverines’
biggest assets and the team
began to falter. It was swept at
then-No. 6 Ohio State and split a
home series against then-No. 18
Wisconsin.
Amid a tight race for home-
ice advantage in the Big Ten
tournament
and
PairWise
positioning
for
an
NCAA
Tournament berth, Michigan
couldn’t afford to stumble this
weekend
against
Michigan
State. It needed Calderone and
Marody to step up. And they
rose to the occasion, playing
prominent roles to help claim
five of six very important points.
Friday night in East Lansing,
the Wolverines and Spartans
played to a 1-1 tie, resulting in
a shootout to determine which
team received the extra point in
the conference standings.
In
regulation,
Calderone
and Marody had two and three
shots,
respectively,
creating
what
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson referred to as “grade-A”
scoring opportunities. While the
pair didn’t hit the back of the
net, they were slowly returning
to their old form.
After neither team scored
in the first two rounds of the
shootout,
Spartan
forward
Patrick Khodorenko’s shot in
the third round was stopped by
sophomore goaltender Hayden
Lavigne.
Then it was up to Calderone to
clinch the game.
While
previous
shootout
skaters sauntered toward the net
to try to make a move against
opposing goaltenders, Calderone
had other ideas. The senior
captain
barreled
down
the
middle of the ice with a full head
of steam. Head down, Calderone
quickly moved the puck from
his backhand to forehand and
sniped a shot past the glove of
goaltender John Lethemon and
right under the crossbar.
Despite the recent drop-off
in scoring, Calderone wasn’t
deterred to change his shootout
approach.
And
following
dormancy since mid-January,
he believes the game-winner is
vital to his confidence down the
regular season’s homestretch.
“(Assistant
coach
Brian
Wiseman) always tells me I’m
a shooter, so I tried to pick
up some speed, get the goalie
backing up a little bit and I was
lucky enough to get it in there,”
Calderone said after Friday’s
game. “I think it’s easy to get
frustrated
when
you’re
not
putting in the puck, but I have to
get back to basics, keep my feet
moving and hopefully that goal
can give me some confidence.”
While the Spartan crowd was
silenced, the Wolverines were
whipped into a frenzy. As the
team skated out to celebrate
with Calderone, Pearson and his
assistant coaches came together
for a group hug and jumped up
and down. The coach then ran
out onto the ice and embraced
his captain.
When asked why he showed
that much emotion, a usually
even-keeled
Pearson
didn’t
respond about the crucial Big
Ten point won or defeating an
in-state rival. He was just as
elated for the hard-working
Calderone for getting back on
track.
“It’s good for Tony because,
let’s face it, he’s been struggling
lately,” Pearson said. “For him to
go in and shoot that puck like he
did, he made it look easy and like
he’s done it a thousand times.
The ice was bad, but that was
pure Tony and hopefully that
gives him a bit of a lift here going
forward.”
The
next
night,
it
was
Marody’s turn.
Four minutes and 22 seconds
into the first period, sophomore
defenseman
Griffin
Luce
blasted a shot from the point
that bounced off Lethemon’s
pads and found its way to
Calderone in the left circle. Just
as the Spartan goaltender inched
outside the crease to make a
play on Calderone, the senior
directed a pass to the middle of
the ice for a streaking Marody.
Marody wouldn’t miss a beat,
tapping the puck into a wide-
open net to put the Wolverines
on the board. With a fist pump
from his knee and a jump into
the boards, Marody breathed
life into the Michigan offense
and energized the Wolverine
faithful scattered around Little
Caesars Arena.
“(Cooper’s)
a
phenomenal
player,” Pearson said following
Saturday’s
3-2
victory.
“He
should’ve had, I think, five or six
points tonight.”
For the rest of the contest,
Calderone and Marody applied
two-way
pressure
on
the
Spartans. Each finished with
four shots on goal, many crisp
passes
and
defensive
stops,
all contributing to plus-minus
ratings of plus-two for both
skaters in the win.
Calderone’s assist in the first
frame was his first point since
Jan. 13 at Minnesota. Marody’s
goal and assist gives him just
three points in the last eight
games.
Yet despite the recent setbacks
in point production, Calderone
and Marody kept playing with
the same intensity and grit that
originally earned them Hobey
Baker Award nominations.
“You have to trust yourself
that you’re a good player,”
Pearson said. “You have to have
that inner confidence … and the
points will come. You have to do
A, B, C, D and then when you get
the opportunities, make them
count.
“And they’ve played well, it’s
not like they haven’t played well,
things just haven’t gone in. But
I thought they had a real good
weekend, both of them, both
nights.”
How reassuring was it for
Pearson to have Calderone and
Marody show up in such a big
way this weekend?
“You knew it was going to
happen, they’re good hockey
players,” Pearson said. “If you’ve
ever played the game, you’re all
going to go through moments
where things maybe don’t go
your way. It can be for a short
period of time or it can be for an
extended period of time.
“I think the time is over. I’m
going to tell them it’s over.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior forward Tony Calderone broke out of a slump, scoring a shootout goal in Friday’s game before assisting linemate Cooper Marody on Saturday.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
Wolverines claim nailbiter over Michigan State
DETROIT,
Mich.
—
Over
the last two months, Hayden
Lavigne has asserted himself as
Michigan’s starting goaltender,
and has often had to stand on his
head to bail out his team.
Saturday night, it was Joseph
Cecconi’s turn.
With under three minutes to
play and the Wolverines leading
Michigan State, 3-2, Spartan
forward Cody Milan jumped on a
rebound after two Lavigne saves
and sent the puck towards the net
with the sophomore goaltender
out of position.
In Lavigne’s place, however,
was Cecconi, who caught the
puck with his right hand just
before it could cross the plane,
tossing it out of the crease as he
fell to prevent a penalty.
“I’ve had maybe one or two of
those but that was probably the
best one,” Cecconi said. “... Once
I saw the replay I knew that it
wasn’t a goal.”
The ensuing official review
proved the junior defenseman
correct, and Cecconi’s heads-up
play allowed Michigan (9-10-
3 Big Ten, 14-13-3 overall) to
escape with the Iron D Trophy
and a 3-2 victory over Michigan
State (4-14-2, 10-18-2) at Little
Caesars Arena on Saturday night.
The game’s early going seemed
to hint at a higher-scoring game
than Friday night’s 1-1 tie in
East Lansing. Five minutes in,
sophomore defenseman Griffin
Luce boomed a shot from the
point that bounced off John
Lethemon’s pads and to senior
forward Tony Calderone just
outside the left post. When the
Spartan goaltender came over to
defend him, Calderone dumped
an easy pass into the crease, and
junior forward Cooper Marody
rushed in to finish off the tap-in.
And then Michigan went cold.
Fifteen
first
period
shots
amounted to only one goal. The
first 11 of the second begot even
less. The Wolverines were given
a break, however, when Spartan
forward Mitchell Lewandowski
shoved junior forward Brendan
Warren into the boards, earning
himself a disqualification and his
team a five-minute major penalty.
Four
minutes
and
50
seconds later, Michigan still
had nothing to show for it. But
then, sophomore forward Adam
Winborg
gathered
the
puck
behind the Michigan State net
and set up for a wraparound
attempt.
Lethemon stuffed his first
shot. Ditto for the second. But
the third time proved to be the
charm, as freshman forward Jack
Becker got to the rebound and
put it past the Spartan goaltender
for a 2-0 lead, giving Michigan
crucial breathing room going into
the final period.
It would need all of it.
Michigan State forward Taro
Hirose scored directly off a
faceoff right after the third
period began. After freshman
defenseman
Quinn
Hughes
slipped home a close-range finish
off a pinpoint cross-ice pass from
Cecconi with five minutes to play,
the Spartans answered right back
when Patrick Khodorenko snuck
a pass under a Wolverine stick
and to David Keefer, who halved
the Michigan State deficit.
And in the end, it came down
to an unlikely save from an
unlikely source.
“I couldn’t watch the last two
minutes,” said Michigan coach
Mel Pearson. “We have to get
better. We have to learn how to
play with a lead. When you’re
(up) 2-0 — faceoff goal, bang, now
you’ve got a game. We get 3-1,
that should have been it. They
should not get another Grade-A
opportunity after that. And we’ve
got to understand that we’ve got
to learn to play in tight games
with a lead when there’s a lot on
the line.”
The
Spartans
outshot
Michigan, 34-33, including a 12-5
margin in the crucial third period.
Skirmishes broke out frequently,
and missed opportunities were
routine. By any measure, this
was not the Wolverines’ prettiest
performance.
Perhaps
Cecconi’s
game-
saving play was most emblematic
of that.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team won the Iron D trophy with a 3-2 win over Michigan State at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
Anatomy of a no-hitter
In her collegiate debut Friday
against
Alabama-Birmingham,
Meghan Beaubien plunked the
first batter she faced.
It seemed at the time an
ominous
foreshadowing,
but maybe it was more of an
announcement, a way of saying,
“I’m Meghan Beaubien. Don’t
mess with me.”
Making the start in the next
game, she didn’t allow a single hit.
“I think it’s really cool, and
I think it’s really telling of her
future at Michigan,” said junior
second baseman Faith Canfield.
“Just how successful she’s gonna
be.”
Even when things didn’t go her
way, Beaubien was unfazed. At
times, she was even entertained.
In the bottom of the second
inning,
Georgia
State
batter
Arden Jobe fouled off pitch after
pitch. Finally, Beaubien went to
her changeup — a 55 mph offering
that kept hitters off-balance all
day — and Jobe swung straight
through it.
“I actually have fun with
those situations,” Beaubien said.
“It’s always fun to have a battle
like that between a pitcher and a
hitter.”
But after that, the Panthers
didn’t seem to have much fight
left, as seven of the next eight
batters struck out.
Meanwhile, Michigan, which
had opened up a 2-0 lead in the
first
inning,
tacked on RBI
singles
from
junior
catcher
Katie Alexander
and
sophomore
outfielder Thais
Gonzalez in the
fourth to make
the score 5-0.
After
that,
Beaubien showed
her first signs of
being anything but in control, as
two fly balls seemed destined for
trouble before diving catches by
Gonzalez and senior right fielder
Aidan Falk kept the no-hitter
alive.
“People made fantastic plays
that game,” Beaubien said, “and
that shows that that no-hitter is
really a team effort.”
In the top of the sixth inning,
junior second baseman Faith
Canfield stepped up to the plate
with two runners on. She worked
the count to 3-2, waiting for her
pitch.
When she got it, it left the
ballpark to extend the lead to 8-0.
The Wolverines knew that
if they didn’t allow a run in the
bottom of the inning, the game
would end due to the run rule.
Three more outs would seal it.
Three.
Strike three whizzed right by a
flustered Georgia State batter.
Two.
A
routine
groundout
to
shortstop.
One.
Beaubien walked the next
batter on four straight pitches.
The crowd was restless. Was she
feeling fatigued? Could she finish
it off?
Then came a soft line drive
off the bat of Panther designated
player Megan Litumbe. Beaubien
turned around, tracking it until
it landed safely into the glove of
sophomore shortstop Madison
Uden.
Zero.
Her reaction was subdued
— a simple fist pump as the
Wolverines rushed the field. After
all, her pitching spoke for itself.
As hard as it is to top a no-hitter,
for Beaubien, this is just the
beginning.
“I expect that
she’ll have a lot
of great things in
her career,” said
Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins.
“ … We’ll take
the no-hitters in
stride, and I think
she handled it
like a champ.”
And
though
Michigan may not have had
quite the weekend it wanted
— dropping both its games on
Saturday — it knew one thing:
Mess with Meghan Beaubien at
your own risk.
SOFTBALL
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
“I expect that
she’ll have a lot
of great things
in her career.”