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.”

