8 — Friday, October 26, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan gearing up for St. Lawrence 

The 
pieces 
are 
slowly 
starting to come together.
Despite 
the 
No. 
12 
Michigan hockey team’s 1-2 
record, there’s been visible 
improvement in each game.
Sometimes 
the 
defense 
will 
show 
flashes 
of 
a 
lockdown group of blueliners. 
Sometimes, the offense looks 
like it has found its rhythm.
But with St. Lawrence (1-3) 
coming to town this weekend, 
it’s time for the Wolverines 
to put all the pieces together 
and finish brushing off the 
summer dust.
“It obviously takes a little 
bit to get the rust off from 
summer hockey and all that 
and get really going in the 
games,” said senior forward 
Brendan Warren. “But I think 
every 
game 
we’ve 
played, 
we’ve gotten better with the 
puck and better defensively, 
and just better all around. I 
think as we keep going here 
and working on things every 
week, 
we’re 
gonna 
keep 
getting better.”
The 
place 
Michigan 
has 
predominantly 
shown 
rustiness 
has 
been 
on 
possession — not just in the 
offensive zone or in the neutral 
zone, but anywhere on the 
ice. Countless turnovers and 
sloppy passes have led directly 
to goals for opposing teams.
Michigan 
coach 
Mel 
Pearson says the turnover 
issue has been addressed, but 
the next step is showing that 
improvement in a game.
“Now we have to go out and 
improve and learn from it, 
and sometimes that’s easier 
said than done because the 
pressure of a game, it’s hard 
to recreate that in practice,” 
Pearson said. “You’re trying to. 
You’re trying to create game-
like situations, so whenever 
they get in those spots where 
they can’t turn the puck over, 

they make a better read.”
As a team deep in a rebuild, 
St. Lawrence holds the drive 
of desperation, likely to take 
advantage of any opportunity 
the Wolverines 
give them.
“They’re 
gonna 
be 
scrappy. 
They’re 
desperate,” 
Pearson 
said. 
“They’re trying 
to 
rebuild 
there, 
their 
coach is in his 
second 
year 
there and he’s done a good job. 
They’re a scary team to play. 
You look at some of games they 
had last year, a lot of one-goal 
losses, especially early.”
Michigan has had two games 
decided by one goal this season 

— a 6-5 win over No. 19 Western 
Michigan and a 5-4 loss to the 
Broncos the following night. 
The Wolverines have, at times, 
been caught starting slow and 
not 
competing 
from 
the 
first 
puck drop.
In 
this 
weekend’s 
series, 
they’ll 
have to be ready 
from 
the 
very 
beginning.
“(The 
Saints 
are) gonna show 
up, 
they’re 
gonna 
play 
physical and they’re gonna 
compete,” Pearson said. “We 
have to make sure we bring 
our compete hats first and 
foremost and then skill can 
take over.
“Will (beats) skill if skill 

doesn’t show up.”
And this series is more than 
just an opportunity for the 
Wolverines to put the pieces 
together and knock the dust 
off.
In Friday’s game, Michigan 
will 
raise 
awareness 
for 
ALS 
— 
the 
incurable 
neurodegenerative 
disorder 
that former Wolverine Scott 
Matzka suffers from. Matzka 
was a member of the 1997 
National 
Champion 
team 
and 
played 
under 
Pearson 
throughout 
his 
Michigan 
career.
“It’s really important to us,” 
Warren said. “Everyone knows 
(Matzka) and everything that 
he’s been going through, so 
this is a big game for us to 
really do our part in helping 
the awareness get out about 
ALS and help (Matzka).” 

Johns balancing structure 
and athleticism for ‘M’

Brandon 
Johns 
has 
probably 
answered 
this 
question before. He’s more 
than happy to answer it 
again.
“Seventh grade,” he says, 
a hint of pride in his voice. 
“That was the first time I 
dunked, ever.”
If you’re looking for one 
fact to characterize Johns’ 
game, it’s that. He could rim-
graze at 12. Quickly, though, 
he corrects himself.
“Actually, 
no, 
my 
first 
dunk was sixth grade.
“It was in my gym class, 
cause 
I 
was 
trying 
to 
dunk. And to 
be able to dunk 
at 
that 
age, 
everybody’s 
like, 
‘What’s 
— 
are 
you? 
Ok, 
you’re 
a 
freak, 
or 
something.’”
Back 
then, 
the freshman 
forward 
guesses, 
he 
was 
6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6. Maybe 
freak is the right word.
Now, Johns is listed as 
6-foot-8, 225 pounds, and 
that feels like a conservative 
estimate. 
The 
raw 
athleticism jumps out. His 
high school tape is a clinic on 
catching lobs, putting back 
dunks and pushing the ball 
in transition.
“When 
I 
see 
Brandon 
take those big strides, it’s 
just, wow,” said sophomore 
forward Isaiah Livers.
He doesn’t mean that in 
terms 
of 
Johns 
grasping 
Michigan’s system. He means 
it in a literal sense.
Molding 
that 
talent 
to 
Michigan coach John Beilein’s 
system will be the challenge 
for Johns. After dominating 
at every level, Johns suddenly 
won’t be the 
best 
player 
on the court. 
It’s no secret 
that 
Beilein 
starts 
his 
players 
from 
the beginning 
— 
rebuilding 
muscle 
memory 
on 
pivots 
and 
chest passes.
Johns has spent all his 
life running the floor, then 
jumping off one foot before 
shooting or passing. That has 
to change now. Finishing off 
two feet is a sticking point for 
Beilein.
“It’s so hard,” Johns said. 
“Cause I’ve been doing it 
almost all my life. So, to 
finally try to break that, it’s 
kind of been a struggle, but 
I’m getting used to it. So, 
it’s coming along really well 
now.”
Still, 
there’s 
a 
natural 
hesitancy early in the year. 

Johns is learning to balance 
his raw ability with the 
structure required to play 
under Beilein. That will take 
time. It’s the little things that 
need to be fixed.
Recently 
in 
practice, 
Johns slowed down for a 
runner instead of charging 
into the paint and dunking 
on someone. That’s the type 
of behavior Beilein wants to 
eradicate.
“(For) Brandon, it’s pretty 
simple,” Beilein said. “You 
gotta go in and use all those 
god-given talents. And he 
will.”
It doesn’t take much to see 
that Beilein is right about 
the 
talent. 
Freshman 
forward 
Colin 
Castleton 
relayed a story 
that 
conveys 
the 
opposite 
of 
hesitancy. 
In 
a 
recent 
practice, Johns, 
without anyone 
boxing him out, 
slammed home 
a putback dunk, coming out of 
nowhere.
That’s what the Wolverines 
want Johns to be — a raging 
ball 
of 
athleticism, 
with 
enough confidence to know 
when to put a wide range of 
skill on display and when to 
tone it down.
“When 
he 
figures 
his 
confidence out, it’s bad, cause 
he can be very aggressive,” 
Livers said. “He has a nice, 
fluent 
jump 
shot. 
He’s 
athletic. And just, defense. 
It starts all on defense and 
rebounding right now. He’s 
working on going to the glass 
more on the offensive side, 
getting offensive rebounds 
and just moving his feet when 
he’s guarding Zavier Simpson 
or Dave DeJulius out there.”
Livers knows what Johns 
is going through. He did it 
last year — well 
enough to earn 
a starting spot 
by 
January 
— 
and 
won’t 
be 
shocked 
if 
Johns 
does 
the same. The 
two 
Michigan 
natives 
— 
Livers 
from 
Kalamazoo, 
Johns 
from 
East Lansing — have known 
each other for years. They’re 
one 
year 
apart, 
and 
it 
wasn’t irregular for them 
to show up at the same AAU 
tournaments.
When Johns is hesitant 
on offense, or doesn’t know 
where to be on defense, it’s 
Livers who can lend a hand.
“I have to help him,” Livers 
said. “I’d feel wrong if I didn’t 
help my guy.”
In middle school, when 
Livers first met Johns, he 
was easy to pick out. He was 
dunking in warmups.

Lavigne models play after NHL goaltenders

Carey Price, Jonathan Quick, 
Marc André Fleury and Roberto 
Luongo are all National Hockey 
League superstars in their own 
rights. But, they have something 
else in common.
They’ve all contributed a 
little bit of style to Michigan 
goaltender Hayden Lavigne.
It 
started 
with 
Luongo, 
a goaltender for the Florida 
Panthers. After all, it’s hard not 
to look up to someone who was 
a finalist for the Hart and Vezina 
Trophy — two of the highest 
NHL accolades possible.
But Lavigne had a simpler 
reason for looking up to the 
18-season veteran.
“I loved his outward comedic 
presence while he was still a 
professional athlete,” Lavigne 
said. “He approached every 
game like he knew what he had 
to do and what it takes, and we 
see that now that he’s played 
1,000 NHL games. But he’s still 
very vocal on Twitter, and he’s 
sarcastic on Twitter and funny, 
he likes to goof around.
“Which, I think he was a good 
outlet for me since I was always 
so serious and quiet in the locker 
room. It was a good way for me 
to see like, ‘Oh, you can relax a 
little bit and have some fun and 
still be competitive and ready to 
go.’ ”
While Lavigne and Luongo 
are not nearly as similar off the 
ice, they share traits on the ice 
that Lavigne tries to emulate.
Luongo 
is 
an 
athletic 
goaltender who uses his 6-foot-3 
frame and build to his advantage. 
Due to his athleticism, he is 
proficient in catching the puck 
with his glove rather than just 
blocking it. With the same height 
and a similar build as Luongo, 
Lavigne has always been a more 
athletic goaltender.
Mechanically, 
though, 
Lavigne wanted to make his game 
similar to Price, the Montreal 
Canadiens’ starting goalie.
“I think through juniors and 
everything I always tried to 
model myself after Carey Price,” 
Lavigne said. “And the last 

couple years I’ve really realized 
that that’s not a thing that 
happens in goaltending. There’s 
not one person that you can play 
exactly like, or very rarely is that 
the case.”
Instead of catering his style 
of play to one player, he instead 
looks to multiple 
role 
models 
with 
different 
strengths.
“So 
recently 
I’ve 
started 
to 
pick four or five 
goalies that I like 
to watch. Like, 
okay, 
what 
do 
they do well that 
I want to play like 
that?” 
Lavigne 
said. “So, Jonathan Quick is 
extremely explosive and battles 
like crazy. So, great, that’s 
something that I can contribute 
to my game. Am I gonna be able 
to play as far out as he does and 
make saves? Probably not. Am I 
gonna be able to skate that fast? 

No, probably not. I can’t do the 
splits every other play. So things 
like that. I don’t play like him, 
but there’s stuff in his game that 
I can emulate in mine.
“And then Carey Price, I love 
his composure and his stance 
and his demeanor. He’s just 
very 
big 
and 
confident 
in 
net, 
so 
that’s 
something that 
I like to try and 
put 
into 
my 
game. And then 
Marc-André 
Fleury, we have 
somebody that 
just 
competes 
and 
outwills 
everybody 
when he plays. He finds a way to 
get it done. So those have been 
three of my favorites the last 
little while.”
As a player, he doesn’t do 
anything 
extraordinarily 
physical, as goaltender coach 
Steve Shields likes to put it. 

Lavigne is athletic but not 
generational. 
His 
game 
is 
defined less by the physical 
aspects than the mental ones — 
a former weakness.
“He’s a confident guy in 
what he does. So technically, 
he’s sound. Technically, he’s 
a precise guy. He wants to do 
everything right,” Shields said. 
“He’s not very tolerant when he 
doesn’t do everything perfectly. 
So technically, he’s a little bit of 
a perfectionist.
“He’s an educated player. 
He knows what other guys are 
doing. He knows what trends 
are. You know, in the past, 
they’d call guys like that the 
rink rat. He’s always involved, 
he’s always looking at what 
other guys are doing and he has 
an opinion about it all, which I 
think it’s really good for a goalie. 
But technically, he’s where he 
needs to be. He just needs to get 
a little bit faster, little bit better 
and a little more consistent 
about everything.”

EVAN AARON/Daily

Freshman forward Brandon Johns is looking to utililize his athletecism for Michigan.

ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer

“Actually, no, 
my first dunk 
was sixth 
grade.”

“You gotta go 
in and use all 
those god-given 
talents.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne has looked to multiple goaltenders in the NHL for inspiration for his style of play.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

“He’s a 
confident guy 
in what he 
does.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore forward Josh Norris and the Wolverines are 1-2 and will host a series with St. Lawrence this weekend.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

“You’re trying 
to create 
game-like 
situations...”

