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Sports
Thursday, October 17, 2019 — 5A
Blankenburg embracing physicality despite size
Last January, when Penn
State came to Ann Arbor, then-
freshman
defenseman
Nick
Blankenburg was on the ice for
his first shift just under five
minutes into the game. Within
moments of taking the ice, he
laid a hit that Michigan coach
Mel Pearson can’t forget.
Forward Liam Folkes came
up through the neutral zone
and lost the puck as he crossed
center ice. Just as Folkes
turned to look for the puck,
Blankenburg stepped into a hip
check that sent all 182 pounds
of Folkes flying across the ice
— knocking off his helmet and
one of his gloves.
Blankenburg,
meanwhile,
calmly stood up and rejoined
the play. The hit set the tone
for what eventually became a
Michigan 5-1 win, and made
it clear to everyone in the
building
that
Blankenburg
was unafraid to play physical
hockey.
When
asked
about
Blankenburg’s physical play on
Wednesday, Pearson brought
up the hit from last year’s
game against the Nittany Lions
without prompting.
“He’s
got
a
little
nasty
streak to him,”
Pearson said. “I
still
remember
the
hit
last
year where he
popped
the
Liam
Folkes
kid from Penn
State on a real
good
hit.
But
he’s
a
bundle
of energy and a bundle of grit.
You’d like about 10 to 12 guys
like him on your team.”
At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds,
Blankenburg is the Wolverines’
smallest defenseman by two
inches and about 15 pounds
— but he doesn’t play like
it. In nearly every game, he
finds himself at the center of
chippy moments or involved in
skirmishes with the other team.
And sometimes, Blankenburg
will hit a player hard enough
that looks like it came from a
player twice his size.
Blankenburg
credits
the
foundation of his scrappiness
to growing up
with his brother
Alex,
who
is
three
years
older than him.
It’s a cliché that
older
brothers
play rough on
their
younger
brothers, but it
was reality for
Blankenburg as
a child.
“Whether
playing
mini
sticks in the basement or
just playing basketball in the
driveway, he would always
make sure I wasn’t … soft,”
Blankenburg said. “He would
always make sure that I’m
tough, so I guess you could
say I get that from him, and
especially my dad, too.”
His penchant for physical
play has sent Blankenburg to the
penalty box a few more times in
his career that Pearson would
prefer, but Pearson is clear
that he’d rather have a player
that goes too far at times than
one that he has to constantly
encourage
to
play with an
edge.
Blankenburg
certainly
has
an edge, and
now is tasked
with
finding
a
balance
between
playing
tough
and staying out
of the penalty
box. Last year, he took just
six penalties in 36 games, but
Pearson would like to see him
find even more control of his
emotions.
“For the most part, yes (he’s
composed),”
Pearson
said.
“Every once in a while, he’ll
just go off the deep end and
you’re wondering where his
brain went. … That’s where you
have to have emotional control,
and it’s hard, because of guys
like that who play so hard. It
can be difficult, especially
when it gets physical and he’s
trying to play physical, too. We
just have to remind him that
we need him on
the ice, not in the
box.”
This weekend,
the
Wolverines
host
Lake
Superior
State,
a
team
that’s
known
for
playing a very
physical
style
of
hockey.
It’s
exactly the kind
of game Blankenburg likes, and
it presents a test of his work on
maintaining his composure.
“Guys are going to try to
get under your skin, and that’s
really the point of the game,”
Blankenburg said. “I think
you’ve just gotta keep your
composure and just play hard.”
Michigan finishes 10th
at Crooked Stick Invite
Fifty-four holes in two days
is far from an easy trip on the
green, no matter how skilled
the
golfer,
and
first-year
Michigan coach Zach Barlow
knew that his team would need
to dig deep in order to find
success at the Crooked Stick
Tournament in Carmel, Ind.
With weather against them
and a tough field to go up
against — No. 13 Georgia and
No. 5 Vanderbilt
to name a few —
the
Wolverines
started the first
day of play with
a 306 through 18
holes.
“It’s
always
tough to stay in
it when you have
a
rough
start,”
Barlow said.
With Michigan
in 13th place and 11 of the other
14 teams in the field all scoring
under 300 after the first 18
holes, it was a challenge for the
Wolverines to claw back in the
second round.
Junior Charlie Pilon did just
that. After shooting a 75 for
3-over par in the first round,
Pilon reeled in a 71 for 1-under
par to close out the 36-hole
day. His three birdies on the
5th, 9th and 12th holes helped
him lead the Wolverines up
one spot to 12 at the end of the
first day.
Sophomore Ben Dunn had a
solid first day as well, tallying
a 76 for 4-over par on both of
his rounds. At the end of the
first day, and through 36 of
54 holes, Michigan sat in 12th
place.
“A
two-round
day
is
mentally
demanding
and
physically demanding,” Barlow
said. “We need to learn how to
just focus on the present. We
need good stretches of golf to
be longer and bad stretches of
golf to be shorter.”
The third round started off
delayed one hour due to frost
on the course. With winds
a problem just like the day
before, the Wolverines had a
lot to deal with if they wanted
to make it back to Ann Arbor
with a successful tournament.
Senior Brent Ito had a late
surge on the back nine with
two back-to-back birdies on
the 11th and 12th holes and
another
on
the 17th to
give
him
a
73 for 1-over
par
on
the
day.
This,
combined
with a solid
third
round
performance
from
junior
Henry Spring
—
75
for
3-over par — put Michigan
at 10th place to end their
tournament.
Pilon led all golfers with a
combined 223 for 7-over par
after 54 holes. Freshman Pier
Francesco de Col performed
well too, shooting a 76 for
4-over par in his first round,
second on the team at the
end of that round, and also
knocking in two back-to-back
birdies to start off the third
round.
“We have a ways to go,”
Barlow said. “Our short game
needs to get better, it is your
insurance policy.”
Even
though
the
short
game didn’t impress, Barlow
attested a bright spot from the
tournament, Pilon’s comeback
second round, to his assistant
coach Matt Hoffman.
“Matt walked with him for
a couple holes,” Barlow said.
“(They both) got in a good
rhythm.”
Wolverines shut out Ball State, 6-0
Wherever the Wolverines
go, their parents follow. A
weekend in enemy territory
was
no
exception,
as
the
Michigan field hockey team
earned
two
victories
at
Buckeye Turf Field, including
an overtime victory over Ohio
State.
Michigan’s
positive
momentum
and
parental
fandom earned the Wolverines
an
even
playing
field
in
Columbus on Sunday against
Ball State.
“No matter where we play, we
have an unbelievable amount of
support from our parents,” said
redshirt sophomore midfielder
Emma Tamer. “Even if we are
in California playing Stanford,
we still have a good amount of
our fans and it kind of always
feels a little neutral to me.”
No. 11 Michigan’s (10-3)
unwavering support paid off in
its 6-0 shutout victory over the
Cardinals (3-10).
With under a minute to
play
in
the
first
quarter,
redshirt sophomore forward
Kate Burney threaded a pass
to sophomore forward Katie
Anderson, who found the back
of the cage at the 14:04 mark.
After a scoreless second
quarter, the Wolverines started
the second half with three
shots in the first 65 seconds
en route to 14 total in the third
quarter.
“The biggest change came
at halftime. I think we kind
of woke up a little bit,” Tamer
said. “We all know the tactics
are
there.
It’s
about
the
intangibles. It’s about whether
we show up and work hard and
whether you’re on your girl
or you’re one step off. I think
those are minor details that
make a huge difference.”
Michigan’s
third
quarter
surge led to another late-
quarter goal, this time from
Tamer,
assisted
by
senior
midfielder Meg Dowthwaite,
pushing the lead to 2-0.
“We’re always trying to play
sixty minutes no matter if it’s
the first minute or the last
minute,” said Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz. “We’re a
very fit team and I think they
can manage doing that.”
Going
into
the
fourth
quarter, Ball State had not
registered a single shot since
the first half. The Wolverines’
smothering defense ensured
that didn’t change in the final
15 minutes.
“It all starts with a great
defense,”
Pankratz
said.
“We’ve had a bunch of shutouts
in a row and I think our
backfield players were really
clamping down defensively.”
Yet
it
was
Michigan’s
dynamic offense that stole the
show in the fourth.
Dowthwaite
got
things
started, scoring off an assist
from
sophomore
midfielder
Sophia Southam. The final
three minutes of the contest
included goals from sophomore
midfielder Kathryn Peterson at
57:02, junior midfielder Maya
Gompper at 58:08 and Tamer
less than a minute later— her
second of the afternoon.
After narrowly winning the
shots battle, 3-2, in the first
quarter, Michigan dominated,
28-3, the rest of the way. The
Wolverines’
aggressiveness
on the offensive end was
paramount in their fourth-
quarter scoring outburst.
“No shot is a bad shot,”
Tamer said. “We have amazing
forwards who have their sticks
down and can finish. We know
that it’s a process and not every
shot is going to go in, even
though we strive for that.
“I think it’s just trusting
the process and knowing that
eventually those goals will
come if we continuously work
hard.”
Sunday, that hard work paid
dividends.
‘M’ offense sputters in 1-0 loss
As graduate transfer forward
Nebojsa
Popovic
re-entered
the scoreless match in the 66th
minute, hope abounded that
the team’s leading goal-scorer
could spark a stagnant Michigan
attack.
Just a minute later, a goal
was scored — only it was
Indiana breaking the ice, not the
Wolverines.
Hoosiers midfielder Spencer
Glass tip-toed his way past the
Michigan defense down the left
flank before blasting a near-
post goal over the head of senior
goalkeeper Andrew Verdi. The
goal proved to be the difference
in what was a 1-0 loss for the
Wolverines (6-3-3 overall, 2-1-2
Big Ten) against No. 4 Indiana
(8-1-3, 4-0-0) on Sunday in
Bloomington.
“We take advantage of our
opportunities, and we have
them,” said Michigan coach
Chaka Daley. “They took one
of theirs, and we were not
fortunate enough to have one of
ours.”
In
the
game’s
waning
moments,
Michigan
created
one last chance in an attempt to
notch the elusive goal. A right-
side corner resulted in a frenetic
game of pinball in the box, the
ball bouncing off two Wolverine
heads before landing at the
feet of junior defenseman Joel
Harrison. Harrison unleashed a
strong bottom-center shot, only
for it to wind up in the hands of
conveniently-positioned Indiana
goalkeeper Roman Celetano.
Michigan’s defense continued
to serve as an anchor, limiting a
potent Hoosier attack to just one
goal. Junior midfielders Marc
Ybarra and Carlos Tellez in
particular helped set the game’s
aggressive tone from the onset.
“That’s
a
confident
group,”
Daley
said. “You know,
they
haven’t
conceded
more
than one goal
since game one.
So that’s a six-
week
period
where
they’re
not accustomed
to
conceding
goals. Defense is a big team
effort, back to front.”
The Wolverines especially
embodied the definition of team
defense in the 16th minute,
when Verdi strayed far out of
his net chasing a tailing cross
from the left side. Though the
ball found its way to an Indiana
forward before Verdi could
get it, junior defender Jackson
Ragen intervened to protect
the goal, denying the threat by
stepping in front and absorbing
the shot with his body.
Verdi’s play in the net also
offered the defense a firm
backbone — recording four saves
in the match.
“That’s what we ask out
of our goalies, to give us an
opportunity to win the game,”
Daley said. “And he did that with
a good performance.”
Noticeably
absent
in
the
Michigan attack was senior
forward Jack Hallahan, who
missed
the
contest
due
to
injury.
Still,
without
Hallahan,
the
Wolverines were
able to generate
opportunities
with
nine
shots
and
three
corners.
Despite the loss,
competing with
the perennial Big Ten favorite
in Indiana offers reason for
optimism.
“The group believes that we
can play toe-to-toe with anyone
in the country, even with a bit
of a depleted squad,” Daley said.
“So if we can get ourselves with
other guys that are coming back
full circle, that will be helpful.
Within the group, the belief that
we can do this against a tough
team is there.”
BRENDAN ULANCH
For The Daily
We have a ways
to go. Our short
game needs to
get better.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
MEN’S GOLF
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Nick Blankenburg has gained a reputation for physical play despite standing 5-foot-9.
(Nick
Blankenburg’s)
got a little nasty
streak to him.
ALEX WALKON
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Emma Taber scored two goals in Michigan’s 6-0 win over Ball State on Sunday.
JARED GREENSPAN
For The Daily
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Goalkeeper Andrew Verdi gave up a near-post goal but otherwise played well in Michigan’s 1-0 loss at Indiana.
The belief that
we can do this
against a tough
team is there.
Every once in a
while, he’ll just
go off the deep
end.