The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, November 18, 2020 — 17 Mira Shane aims to foster Michigan’s next generation in coaching role For four years, Mira Shane was the best goaltender in Michigan women’s lacrosse history. And now, just 18 months later, she’s making the return to Ann Arbor. Shane finished her career as Michigan’s all-time leader in career victories, saves and save percentage. Now, Shane is returning to her college town as a volunteer assistant coach to help out the Wolverines’ goalkeepers. After spending last season coaching at Harvard, Shane hopes to bring her “energy” and “good vibes” to Michigan. Aside from simply helping build enthusiasm on the field, Shane is looking forward to creating strong bonds with the goalkeepers, helping them improve both on and off the field. She also understands that her athletes have lives outside of their sport. “Every other coach told me that I wasn’t able to do my music,” Shane said. “I wouldn’t be the player that I had been without music. I (knew that I) would have support staff and a coaching staff that would see that (music) was important to me. I had other facets to who I was as an athlete.” Now, as a coach, Shane recognizes that relating to the goalies and asking them how they’re doing is just as important as improving technical aspects of goalkeeping. “Going from Harvard to here, I’ve kinda taken the page of listening to my goalies,” Shane said. “I think it goes back to that point about really trying to relate with whatever the athlete is going through.” At the end of the day, athletes walk away from the game with memories and feelings, not just the physical skills. It’s something she experienced first-hand during her collegiate playing career. In the last three minutes of her final game, a NCAA Tournament matchup on her home turf, Shane dove in an attempt to make a save, dislocating her shoulder on the play. By this time, the Wolverines were losing by an insurmountable goal differential. With tears in her eyes — maybe due to her physical pain, maybe due to the sadness of her college career ending — Shane was flooded with the many memories of her time at Michigan: memories of making amazing saves on the field, of hanging out with the members of her a capella group, of advocating for mental health awareness across campus and of speaking up for social justice and opportunity for all. Mira Shane returns to Ann Arbor with years of playing experience and a season of coaching under her belt, and she’s ready to support her athletes both on and off the field. It was the support that made the difference for her as a player. Now, it’s the same support that will help shape Michigan women’s lacrosse. HAYDEN GRIJNSZTEIN For The Daily Harbaugh’s message after blowout loss: ‘We’re not very good right now.’ Michigan handles Arizona State, 3-0, to sweep series Kent Johnson already looks the part When Jim Harbaugh spoke with the media following Michigan’s 49-11 evisceration at the hands of Wisconsin on Saturday night, his message was accountability. “We were thoroughly beaten in every phase,” Harbaugh opened, still settling into his place at a lectern beneath Michigan Stadium. “Didn’t really do anything well. And did not play good, did not coach good. “… Not a good place as a football team right now and that falls on me.” For Harbaugh, it was a unique tone to match a unique low point of his tenure. In past defeats, his lesson has been myopic. Michigan has had bad games, showings where Harbaugh felt his own performance wasn’t up to snuff. But rarely has he taken a macro view of his team and admitted that the Wolverines simply aren’t very good. On Monday morning, that’s the message he carried into meetings with his players. “We’re not very good this year, as our record shows,” Harbaugh said, according to junior cornerback Gemon Green. Harbaugh wasn’t telling his players anything they didn’t already know. On Monday, both Green and sophomore safety Daxton Hill acknowledged that Michigan isn’t where it needs to be. “This is really my first (time), having a losing record and all that,” Green said. “Even growing up in PeeWee I never had a losing record.” But the point of Harbaugh’s message wasn’t to kick his team while they’re down. It was to tell them to take advantage of this adversity. It’s a situation Michigan didn’t expect to be in — its Big Ten title hopes, New Years’ Six Bowl hopes and more out the window by week four — but the Wolverines “still have the opportunity to be the best players we can be,” according to Green. “It’s a faith in each individual player and each individual coach,” Harbaugh said. “And collectively as a team … keep pushing. You’re gonna find a way. You’re gonna find out what works, you’re gonna break through. I think there’s so many athletes that have realized greatness in athletic performance and in sports, a lot of areas of life isn’t perfection, it’s overcoming adversity and obstacles. That’s what we’re striving for.” And for a team filled with underclassmen starters, proving yourself for the future — as a team and as individuals — means something. “I wanna lead (the players),” Harbaugh said. “I want them to hear my voice and understand what the objectives are gonna be each and every day.” Right now, the first objective is changing the energy surrounding this team. It’s painfully clear — to Harbaugh, to his players, to anyone watching on TV — that the Wolverines’ body language Saturday night embodied a losing team. From Joe Milton’s first interception on Michigan’s first offensive snap, Harbaugh stood with his hands on his hips, staring forward. His team reflected that energy, reacting to their rare positive plays with muted claps and to the far more common negative ones with drooped shoulders and silence. “We came out flat, so just gotta continue changing the energy,” Hill said. “Not keeping the same energy but changing the energy on the sideline in the game, come out strong. That’s the biggest key of this game, whoever has the momentum first is gonna determine the outcome of this game.” It’s jarring to hear a Michigan player say energy is key to the outcome of a looming game against Rutgers. In Harbaugh’s five years, the Wolverines have outscored the Scarlet Knights, 256-37. This year is different. On the season, Rutgers has been outscored by five fewer points than Michigan has. Unlike the Wolverines, the Scarlet Knights beat Michigan State. Both schools have lost to Indiana, but Rutgers did so by one fewer point. Still, Michigan is 81 spots higher in ESPN’s SP+ rankings. It opened as a 10-point favorite and a loss, even in Piscataway, would be somewhat shocking. But it’s imminently possible in a way it never previously has been. “Who knows what next Saturday (holds),” fifth-year senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp said Saturday. “We might be in a dogfight, we might be winning by a lot, might be losing by a lot.” To avoid the third option, Harbaugh knows his message needs to click. “Eventually (the objective) is going to be Saturday, winning that football game,” Harbaugh said. “Everything that we can do by all means necessary to put ourselves in a position to win.” Following an 8-1 win on Saturday in which the Michigan hockey team controlled play for nearly the entire game, it was fair to wonder if the Wolverines could do it again. The Wolverines put those questions to bed almost as soon as the puck dropped Sunday night. It only took two and a half minutes for the Wolverines to get on the board. After they opened play controlling the puck in the offensive zone, freshman forward Thomas Bordeleau threw a soft backhand on net from the right circle. Sun Devils goaltender Cole Brady gave up a long rebound that freshman forward Kent Johnson quickly deposited in the back of the net. No. 12 Michigan (2-0) continued to dominate play in the offensive zone, resulting in a 3-0 win over No. 15 Arizona State (0-2). “Everything’s executed really well. Lots of skill,” junior goaltender Strauss Mann said. “Every team gets a certain amount of opportunities a game but when you have as much skill as we have offensively and also on the D end, it’s pretty likely to go in the net.” The story for the Wolverines was once again their freshmen. After Johnson tallied their first goal, he was crucial to their second. Over the final two minutes of the first period, the line of Johnson, freshman forward Matty Beniers and senior forward Jack Becker was dominant on the forecheck and spent over a minute controlling the puck in the offensive zone to wear down the Sun Devil defense. Eventually, with five seconds left in the period, Beniers found sophomore forward Eric Ciccolini in the slot from behind the net. Ciccolini made the most of the opportunity and wristed a shot past Brady. “Matt and Kent really have some chemistry, and Jack does with the line too, but those two guys seem to have some special chemistry with each other,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “But I like how they play. They’re good with the puck, but I really like how hard and what they’re doing and how smart they’re playing without the puck.” The Wolverines spent little time in their defensive zone. The only time Arizona State sustained possession in its offensive zone was following Johnson’s goal. The Sun Devils challenged Mann with two shots while the Wolverines’ defensemen could not get the puck out of the zone, until junior defenseman Nick Blankenburg took a hooking penalty. But on the ensuing power play, Arizona State failed to attempt a shot. The Sun Devils constantly turned the puck over, spending nearly no time in the offensive zone until too many men on the ice penalty negated the final minute of their power play. “My team in front of me played really well, blocked shots,” Mann said. “Especially today, you could see that at the end.” With Blankenburg’s penalty about to expire, Arizona State defenseman Jacob Wilson laid a big hit into sophomore forward Johnny Beecher, sending Beecher to the locker room. Beecher did not return, and while Pearson said he seemed fine after the game, his injury status is unknown. Wilson was called for a charging penalty, giving Michigan a five-on-three and a golden opportunity to extend its lead to two, but Brady came up with big save after big save for the Sun Devils. He robbed Beniers with a diving stop off a rebound and saved multiple one-timers from freshman forward Brendan Brisson from point-blank range. But despite not scoring on the power-play, the Wolverines had regained momentum and were in control the rest of the way. They outshot the Sun Devils 47-17 on the night. Even though Michigan could not find the back of the net in the second period, it spent much of the frame on offense and outshot Arizona State 16-3 in the period. Johnson and Beniers led the way, regularly on the ice for long offensive zone shifts. It wasn’t until the third period that the Wolverines scored again, when junior forward Jimmy Lambert converted on a power-play to seal the game. While the score didn’t reflect it, Michigan played nearly as dominant of a game on Sunday as it did on Saturday, with its highly- touted freshmen leading the way. An emphatic scream echoed throughout the mostly-empty Yost Ice Arena. Kent Johnson had glided into the offensive zone, picked up a rebound that floated into the slot and fired a puck into the back of the net. Before the goalie could even react, the freshman forward was already heading to the corner, cheering in jubilation with his hands in the air. “It was just pure joy,” Johnson said. “It was just so much fun to play with the guys.” Johnson’s first career goal capped off a memorable debut weekend for the winger. After totaling four assists in the season opener on Saturday — where Michigan blew out Arizona State 8-1 — Johnson’s goal set the tone early as the Wolverines captured their second win of the season, 3-0. Michigan looked like the stronger, faster team all weekend, and Johnson was emblematic of that on Sunday. He was flying around the ice displaying flashy dangles, and was a constant scoring threat. “Kent’s a hockey player, he’s a rink rat,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “He enjoys being at the rink and works on his game a lot. He’s got very good hands and a high hockey IQ.” The instant offensive explosion should come as no surprise. Johnson tallied 41 goals and 60 assists last year in the British Columbia Hockey League — the most in the league by a wide margin. For most freshmen, the transition from juniors to the college level can be difficult. Even the most talented players can face some growing pains as they adjust to the physicality and speed of the college game. But Johnson already looks a step ahead of his competition. As a projected top ten pick in next year’s NHL draft, he’s starting to prove that the hype is real. “Obviously everything happens faster, and I won’t have as many scoring chances as I did last year,” Johnson said. “But I feel like I can just play my game, and it’s really fun.” Johnson was also expected to be a boost to the Wolverines’ power play unit, which was middle-of-the-pack last season. He didn’t record any power play points on the weekend, but featured prominently throughout Michigan’s six man-advantage opportunities. Playing at left wing, Johnson spent most of the game on a line with another well-touted freshman: Matthew Beniers. The duo worked in lockstep and generated several scoring opportunities throughout the game. At one moment in the second period, Johnson corralled the puck behind the net and threw a behind the back pass to Beniers, who was sitting in front. Beniers’ shot was eventually blocked, but the play showed the potential those two have to be a special pairing all season. “I think we’ve got some great chemistry,” Johnson said. “Definitely really nice to play with him.” Added Pearson: “They complement each other well. You got some size, you got some skill, you have some speed. Everything you’re looking for on a line.” The Wolverines now turn their attention to Thursday’s matchup with Wisconsin. Johnson will hope to be a big part of the offense and find his way into the stat sheet again. “He’s a fun player, fun to watch,” Pearson said. “Probably not fun to play against.” THEO MACKIE Managing Sports Editor JACK KINGSLEY Daily Sports Writer JOSH TAUBMAN Daily Sports Writer MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Michigan moved to 2-0 with a 3-0 win over Arizona State on Sunday. MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily In his debut weekend with the Wolverines, freshman forward Kent Johnson racked up five points. FILE PHOTO/Daily Former Michigan women’s lacrosse goalkeeper Mira Shane is returning to Ann Arbor as a volunteer assistant coach, following a season coaching at Harvard.