8 — Friday, December 6, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Nick Blankenburg maintains connection to late grandfather

There’s a railing on the left 
side of the second floor at Yost 
Ice Arena, overlooking the ice. 
It’s in the corner, tucked away 
just off the staircase and next 
to the stands on the short side.
It’s where Nick Blankenburg 
stands before every practice 
and every home game.
Every 
single 
one 
of 
Michigan’s 
players 
has 
a 
particular spot for his pregame 
routine, 
whether 
it’s 
Jack 
Summers — who wears No. 6 — 
sitting on the sixth seat in the 
stands or Jake Slaker laying in 
the back hallway by the locker 
room with his legs up the wall.
But for Blankenburg, this 
railing is his spot.
When 
the 
sophomore 
defenseman played his first 
game at Yost last October, 
he wasn’t sure where he was 
going to stand to stretch and 
visualize before the game. He 
gravitated toward the left side 
of the building, and he found 
the railing over there.
And then he looked down 
and realized his grandfather — 
Richard Orkisz, better known 
as Pops — had the seats just 
below the railing, in the corner, 
on the glass.
Blankenburg 
could 
wave 
hello or send a wink down to his 
grandfather before each game. 
He knew then that he’d found 
his place.
For as long as Blankenburg’s 
mom, Karin — Orkisz’s daughter 
— can remember, her dad was 
the definition of a rink rat. 
Any 
time 
one 
of 
his 
grandchildren had a hockey 
game or even a practice, they 
could count on Pops to be there. 
As Blankenburg got older and 
progressed from AAA hockey 
to high school hockey, his 
grandfather was a constant 
presence at the rink. Romeo 
High School was only about five 
minutes from Orkisz’s house.
Sometimes, he’d get to the 

games even before Blankenburg 
did. When Blankenburg would 
pull into the parking lot, he’d 
see Orkisz’s car parked in 
the handicapped spot. Both 
Blankenburg and Karin are 
quick to clarify that Orkisz 
wasn’t 
handicapped 
in 
the 
traditional sense, but his heart 
wasn’t the best and walking 
long distances was difficult for 
him.
“My dad would just be sitting 
at a table eating a hot dog and a 
bag of chips and a pop,” Karin 
said. “Waiting for Nick.”
When Blankenburg moved 
from playing for metro Detroit-
based Victory Honda to playing 
for 
the 
Okotoks 
Oilers 
in 
Alberta, Canada, Orkisz could 
no longer attend every practice 
and every game.
But that didn’t stop him from 
keeping up with his grandson 
every time he stepped onto the 
ice.
Orkisz kept Oilers’ 2017-
18 
schedule 
at 
his 
house, 
painstakingly filled out after 
every game with the score and 
whether Blankenburg got any 
points in the game. Finding 
that schedule showed Karin 
everything she needed to know 
about her dad’s relationship 
with her son.
“I don’t think I had anyone 
that was a bigger fan than him,” 
Blankenburg said.
When 
Blankenburg 
came 
to Ann Arbor on a visit, Karin 
decided to tell her dad the 
secret that they weren’t sharing 
with many people — that Nick 
was visiting Michigan and may 
play hockey for the Wolverines.
Orkisz’s jaw dropped.
No one in the family ever 
expected Blankenburg to end 
up at Michigan, and it was a 
dream come true for the whole 
family when it happened — 
especially Orkisz.
“He 
couldn’t 
get 
tickets 
fast 
enough,” 
Karin 
said. 
“And he was, I don’t want to 
say handicapped, but he was 
older, so it was harder for him 

to get up and down the stairs. 
So, when those glass seats 
were 
available, 
considered 
handicapped seats, that was 
perfect because we dropped 
him off right by the door, he got 
his hot dog, used the bathroom 
and then was cozy in his seat 
for the next three hours.”
And 
when 
Blankenburg 
realized his grandfather sat 
right below the railing on the 
left side, he decided to stand 
there before each game and 
give Orkisz a wink or say hi.
When Karin came to her 
first Michigan game, a few 
weeks into the season, her dad 
couldn’t wait to tell her all 
about their pregame moments.
And 
in 
warmups, 
Blankenburg 
always 
made 
eye contact with his biggest 
fan — a brief shared moment 
for grandfather and grandson 
among the chaos before a game.
Blankenburg 
was 
at 
the 
Mall of America on a Thursday 
morning in March when he 
got a call from his mother. He 
instantly knew it was about his 

Pops.
Orkisz’s health had begun 
to decline in January after 
heart 
surgery 
and 
ensuing 
complications, and the family 
knew the end was coming — but 
Blankenburg didn’t expect to 
get the call so soon.
Orkisz had been suffering 
from the flu and Karin took 
him to the hospital. It looked as 
though things were trending in 
a positive direction, and Karin 
was preparing to quit her job 
and move in with her dad to 
take care of him as he regained 
his strength.
“The day that he died, I saw 
him,” Karin said. “I was there 
from like — I went there after 
work. I stayed with him from 
like three to five, I brought him 
some soup, and then I just went 
home. I had something to do.
“And like two hours after I 
got home, my phone rang, and 
it was the hospital. I thought 
like, ‘Oh! They’re releasing 
him.’ … They told me that he 
was in cardiac arrest for like 45 
minutes and they were trying 

to revive him and what did they 
want me to do.”
Both Nick and his older 
brother 
Alex 
— 
then 
a 
goaltender for the University 
of Nebraska-Omaha — were on 
the road with their respective 
teams. After Orkisz passed on 
the Wednesday night, Karin 
didn’t want to call her sons and 
distract them. But then their 
oldest sister found out, and 
Karin knew she had to tell them 
before someone else did.
So, standing in the middle 
of Nordstrom with four of 
his teammates, Blankenburg 
answered the phone and heard 
Karin at the other end of the 
connection. He told her he was 
at the Mall of America, hanging 
out with his friends.
“Yeah, don’t really have good 
news for you,” Karin said.
“What? 
Is 
it 
Pops?” 
Blankenburg 
replied, 
and 
his mom told him what had 
happened.
“Pops 
would 
have 
never 
wanted you to come home 
or stop playing hockey or 

whatever,” Karin said. “Just 
stay where you’re at. Pops 
would want you to play.”
The Great Lakes Invitational 
Tournament 
last 
December 
was the last time Orkisz saw 
Blankenburg play hockey in 
person.
When 
Michigan’s 
first 
home 
series 
rolled 
around 
last 
January, 
Blankenburg 
looked down at the spot his 
grandfather always occupied 
and found it empty. His health 
wasn’t good enough for him to 
travel to see his grandson play.
But Blankenburg stood at 
the railing anyway, just as he 
always had.
And when he took the ice 
for warmups, he looked again 
at that seat in the left corner. 
Instead of making eye contact 
or throwing Orkisz a wink, he 
skated over and touched his 
knuckles to the glass in front of 
where his grandfather always 
sat.
When he returned to Yost 
this fall for the first game 
of this season, Blankenburg 
continued his usual routine 
at the railing. It’s a part of his 
pregame preparation now, and 
he has no intention of changing 
it just because his Pops doesn’t 
sit underneath it anymore.
“I feel like it was nice 
knowing that he was up in 
heaven with my grandma and 
they were both looking down 
on me, watching over me,” 
Blankenburg said. “I was happy 
to know that he was in a better 
place, and he had the best seat 
in the house.”
Blankenburg 
still 
gives 
Orkisz a knuckle touch through 
the glass before every game. It’s 
his way of remaining connected 
to the man that was always 
his biggest fan and strongest 
supporter.
Orkisz was at every game, 
every practice, everything he 
could be for Blankenburg’s 
entire hockey career.
And Blankenburg knows he’s 
still there every day.

Out of the blue

Michigan stages comeback late in fourth quarter, tops Syracuse in overtime, 84-76, for first power-conference win

Michigan’s 
players 
looked 
up. Two minutes remained in 
overtime. They led Syracuse by 
five. They could have dug in their 
heels, played drop-back defense 
and waited for the clock to bleed 
down. 
But there would be no waiting 
in this game.
Senior 
guard 
Akienreh 
Johnson jumped on a bad pass 
by guard Teisha Hyman, broke to 
the basket and picked up an and-
one. 
The Wolverines didn’t look 
back on their way to an 84-76 win 
over Syracuse. 
Even getting to overtime took 
a near miracle from Michigan. 
Midway 
through 
the 
fourth 
quarter, the Orange held a nine-
point 
lead, 
and 
Michigan’s 
offense was reeling. It had only 
hit one field goal in the quarter. 
In 
desperate 
times, 
the 
Wolverines needed a spark, and 
it was their defense that provided 
it. Coach Kim Barnes Arico dialed 
up a full-court press in hopes 
of forcing turnovers, and it paid 
dividends.
Starting with a quick bucket 
after a steal from sophomore 
forward Naz Hillmon, Michigan 
scored eight of the next 10 points 
— all of which came off Syracuse 
turnovers. 
“It was Naz at the front of that 
press, and (sophomore guard) 
Amy (Dilk) and (Johnson) right 
behind her,” Barnes Arico said. 
“They’re so long and disruptive, 
and they were so tough.
From 
the 
beginning, 
it 
was clear the game would be 
a nailbiter, with both teams 
reaching double digits before the 
first TV timeout. Junior forward 
Hailey Brown set the tone right 
away, driving past the Orange 
defense and drawing a foul less 
than 15 seconds in. She sunk both 
free throws. 
Every time one team made a 
big play that felt like a turning 
point, the other side would come 
right back with a quick bucket 
of its own. Much of this came 

from 
Syracuse’s 
high-volume 
performance from beyond the 
arc, especially early on. In the 
first quarter alone, it buried 5-of-
10 triples, three of which came 
from Hyman, who had previously 
made just two 3-pointers all 
season.
But 
the 
Wolverines’ 
adjustments on defense — and 
Hyman sitting out with foul 
trouble 
— 
meant 
Syracuse 
couldn’t quite maintain that 
same pace from downtown later 
in the game. Michigan’s press 
continued to fluster the Orange’s 
shooters, forcing poor passes and 
hurried shots. They made just five 
3-pointers in the second half. 
“We tried to keep switching 
defenses on them,” Barnes Arico 
said. “We tried not to stay in the 
same thing so they couldn’t get 
comfortable.”
Offensively, senior forward 
Kayla Robbins was the biggest 
difference-maker 
for 
the 

Wolverines. She led the team 
with 23 points, including a layup 
with just over a minute left that 
gave Michigan a one-point lead.
Once overtime started, it was 
all Wolverines. They outscored 
Syracuse, 13-5, in the extra period, 
making almost no mistakes and 
sinking a number of crucial free 
throws to seal the victory.
Going in, Michigan knew that 
Syracuse’s zone defense could 
cause problems — especially 
with the turnover woes that the 
Wolverines have endured this 
year. But they took care of the 
ball, found holes in the zone and 
picked up a signature win along 
the way. 
“We focused on worrying 
about ourselves, because as much 
as we focused in on their defense 
and their offense, they have to 
also worry about us,” Hillmon 
said. “So we just played our game. 
We knew that something would 
come to us.”

Down 
by 
10 
with 
eight 
minutes left, Syracuse had all 
the momentum. Two straight 
3-pointers 
appeared 
to 
put 
daggers in Michigan’s hopes as 
the game slipped out of reach.
Then a shooting foul gave 
freshman guard Michelle Sidor a 
chance at the line. She sank both 
of them. A scramble for the ball 
30 seconds later in the backcourt 
gave sophomore forward Naz 
Hillmon an easy layup to bring 
the game within seven.
“When we got down 10, we 
knew we were gonna have to turn 
it up,” said Michigan coach Kim 
Barnes Arico after a game her 
team came back to win, 84-76, 
over Syracuse in overtime. “I 
think you just saw the spark in 
Hillmon, and Hillmon coming 
alive in the front of the press. 
Nobody wants to face that. Her 

(6-foot-7) wingspan, and that’s 
really what she has, was really 
tough for their point guard.”
Never mind that, the Orange 
would do what they did every 
time the Wolverines attempted 
to claw themselves back into the 
game — hit threes.
Instead, a trap from sophomore 
guard Amy Dilk on the far side 
of the court gave Michigan the 
ball back. Senior forward Kayla 
Robbins, playing with four fouls, 
forced a turnover and put up a 
layup. It was a five-point game.
Syracuse made it halfway up 
the court before senior guard 
Akienreh 
Johnson 
forced 
a 
turnover, 
found 
Robbins 
streaking down the court for 
an easy layup — the deficit now 
three.
The Orange scored again. 
They turned the ball over again, 
the Wolverines scored again.
For once, Michigan wasn’t 
the team giving up possessions. 

There was no room for Syracuse 
to breathe as the Wolverines 
executed a nasty press. The 
Orange 
committed 
seven 
turnovers in the fourth quarter 
and five in overtime. They gave 
up 31 points off turnovers — 21 in 
the fourth quarter and overtime.
“It’s all with the top line,” 
Robbins said. “When you have 
(Hillmon’s) length up top, with 
her length in the press when 
we’re down, she’s done it plenty 
of times before — no one can 
stop it. No one can get through 
our first-line defense when we’re 
down.”
Added Hillmon: “But it doesn’t 
work without the second line 
being there with the traps, so 
that’s another thing of everybody 
working together, knowing what 
spots they’re supposed to be in 
and even when it did break down 
a couple times we didn’t put our 
head down, we got right back 
into it and still tried to get those 
stops.”
For a minute, the game looked 
to sit back into the normal 
rhythm. Like it did in the third 
quarter when the Wolverines 
forced an abundance of turnovers 
to bring the game within three, 
only to lose it just as soon as it 
began.
There 
were 
two 
minutes 
where Michigan dominated the 
glass, gained rebounds, forced 
turnovers, only to miss its shot. 
But Syracuse was impotent and 
turned the ball over again. The 
Wolverines worked their way 
into a one-point lead off a Robbins 
layup with just a minute left.
Michigan 
calmed 
down, 
and when it was unable to trap 
the Orange in the backcourt, it 
swarmed the arc — Hillmon and 
junior forward Hailey Brown a 
brick wall in the paint.
To start overtime, Syracuse 
committed a turnover. And then 
another. The Wolverines were 
up by four in a flash while the 
Orange were drowning.
Up by 10 with a minute left in 
overtime, the momentum was 
all with Michigan. Two free 
throws put a dagger in the heart 
of Syracuse.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

COURTESY OF KARIN BLANKENBURG 
Nick Blankenburg started standing over a second-floor railing at Yost because his grandfather would sit below.

BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

OLIVIA CELL/Daily
Senior forward Kayla Robbins led Michigan with 23 points against Syracuse in the Wolverines’ 84-76 win on Thursday.

