The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, October 20, 2021 — 7 Scraping for control, Michigan struggled with Minnesota-Duluth’s offense early on. The Bulldogs kept the puck all over the ice, and the Wolverines couldn’t force it away from them. That all changed with five minutes left in the first period. The puck nowhere in sight, senior defenseman Nick Blankenburg took a massive strike to the head as Duluth forward Noah Cates rammed an elbow up high into Blankenburg. The Bulldogs earned a major penalty and Cates was thrown out of the game. Before the hit, Duluth dominated. That all came to a halt when Blankenburg fell to the ice, and Michigan would go on to win, 5-1. Unclipping his helmet and failing to stand up straight, the captain’s game seemed to be over. “Nick is a really strong kid,” senior forward Garrett Van Wyhe said. “After that hit it woke us up because we were flat footed in the first 10. Seeing his determination to get back out there really got us going.” The Wolverines looked to capitalize on the power play and avenge Blankenburg’s strike. With an opportunity to change the trajectory of the game, Michigan needed to take full advantage. With 40 seconds left on the clock, freshman defenseman Luke Hughes found the puck wide left of the goal, tying the game 1-1. Michigan tied the game, but in that moment found a sense of resolve. The hit turned the game around. “They took a major penalty which was a turning point in the game,” Michigan coach Mel Peason said. “We scored there. To get the first one was huge and then we took over the game in the second period.” The Wolverines went on to outshoot the Bulldogs 30-11 in the second period. Michigan scored midway through the second period through sophomore forward Brendan Brisson. By then the Wolverines had the game firmly in their grasp as Van Wyhe and sophomore forward Matty Beniers each scored. Duluth, on the other hand, couldn’t take advantage of their own power plays, going 0-for-4 as Michigan embraced a gritty mentality. Should Blankenburg have reacted differently, that all could have ended differently. In a situation where most players would retaliate against the Bulldogs, Blankenburg’s experience showed. He got back on the ice and played his role. “You get your emotions going in the games, but Blankenburg is as tough as they come,” Pearson said. “He wanted to go out and I wanted to make sure we sat him for a shift or two … he’s a competitor, a warrior and you want him on your team.” The captain proved his grit on the night. Returning to the ice after the hit, Blankenburg led the charge and made clean passes tape to tape. He kept his composure in Michigan’s biggest game of the year. Michigan started the game slow, but Blankenburg’s response to the dangerous hit set an example that the Wolverines could look to the rest of the game. Michigan needed its leader in its biggest game this season, and Blankenburg delivered. Major penalty provides spark in Ice Breaker semifinals Michigan manages mistakes in comeback victory over Minnesota State JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily Michigan senior defenseman Nick Blankenburg navigated his team to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes. NICK MOEN Daily Sports Writer Eli Brooks and Zeb Jackson not practicing While teammates stretched and shot around, fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks and sophomore guard Zeb Jackson stood off to the side. Brooks’ sported a walking boot on his left foot, with the injury announced as a mild sprain. When asked whether it would affect him longer term and possibly bleed into the start of the regular season, Brooks replied matter-of-factly: “I’m not going to miss any games or anything.” Jackson was out with an illness rather than an injury, a team spokesperson said on Friday. His symptoms were enough to prevent him from practicing, but not enough to keep him home and away from his teammates. This resulted in senior guard Adrien Nunez lining up on defense with what appeared to be the first-teamers, while freshman guards Kobe Bufkin, Frankie Collins, and Isaiah Barnes stood on the offensive side of the ball. Caleb Houstan is as advertised On the topic of freshman, forward Caleb Houstan showed a glimpse of what he might bring to this Michigan team. In shootaround before the start of practice, Houstan drained shot after shot from mid-range and a significant portion from beyond the arc. In the team’s first drill, a passing exercise, Houstan looked smooth and natural. In the few times the Wolverines messed up and were forced to restart the drill, Houstan wasn’t anywhere near the ball. Where he showed a flash of what made him 247Sport’s No. 10 nationally ranked recruit was in a mobile catch and shoot drill. It called for players running from baseline to elbow and back again after each shot for a minute straight. Each time Caleb’s turn came, he drew the gaze of the media. Shot after shot fell through the hoop, making it seem like Houstan would have to try harder to miss a shot than he would to make one. “He shoots the lights out,” Collins said at Michigan media day on Friday. “I mean I personally, when I walk around the gym and locker room, I call him Klay Thompson.” Houstan showed reporters what Collins meant when he said that on Friday. Though, it is important to remember that Houstan was not being guarded during the drill, and once defense is factored in, his efficiency is guaranteed to drop. Still, Houstan displayed his natural talent, and it was something that you couldn’t help but recognize. A new-look Terrance Williams II When sophomore forward Terrance Williams II took the court, he looked noticeably slimmer. His 6-foot-7 frame presented itself as that of a more agile small forward than a bruiser who could throw themselves around down low. The transformation was intentional on Williams’ part, and encompassed a large part of his offseason plan. “Over the offseason, I ate. I changed my eating habits. That’s really what it was,” Williams said. “Constantly eating greens like vegetables, I didn’t eat a lot last year. … It’s all paying off now because I feel it. I feel better now and I’m gonna continue to do my diet. It’s working now, staying disciplined” Paired with a workout regimen that aligned with his goals, Williams has shed 10 pounds, dropping from 240 to 230 entering the season. But his transformation doesn’t appear to be limited only to his physical attributes. Williams’ jump shot looked a lot smoother than the one he touted last year, and he, too, shot at a very high clip during the catch-and-shoot drill. “Terrance, especially, I’ve seen his jump shot improve tremendously,” senior forward Brandon Johns Jr. said. “There’s a lot more consistency.” If Williams can find that consistency in games, it will be a boon to this Michigan team, and It’s something that will be crucial for his ability to find minutes in the upcoming season. Big men stretch the floor At this point, it’s still all speculative. Without watching an intra-team scrimmage, drills that incorporated full-speed defenders or a game, it’s hard to make any definitive conclusions. That being said, freshman big man Moussa Diabate and sophomore big man Hunter Dickinson were sinking shots left and right. Diabate, especially, looked talented. On the hoop where he spent the majority of open practice, it seemed he was running through shooting drills more than anyone else on the floor. He hit shots from the baseline, the elbow and deeper shots closer to the arc. In warmups, he practiced floaters from the free throw line, making a meaningful amount of them. At 6-foot-11, any kind of shooting presence that he brings could prove to be a problem for opposing defenses. “It’s just unbelievable what he can do out there on the court,” Johns said. “It surprises me all the time.” In another part of the court, Dickinson participated in the same drills. From the baseline, he was banking his shots off the backboard and in on most of the ones he took. He also made a high percentage from shots closer to the perimeter. Dickinson has been looking to add a jump shot to his game to take it to the next level. The work he’s put in during the offseason was apparent on Friday, and truly becoming somewhat of a shooting threat will be necessary for his prospective NBA career. “I think just the three pointers are probably the biggest thing that (NBA) teams want to see out of me,” Dickinson said. CONNOR EAREGOOD Daily Sports Writer For Hire: Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and parts of Livingston County Area Salesperson Contact: Paul Montgomery Email: ccbrick@comcast.net Phone: (248) 683-1300 Cadillac Brick Co • Eager to learn about Brick Sales and industry • No degree required • Takes initiative and is organized • Background in reading home prints to assess a house a bonus asset With the score tied at two apiece and the clock dwindling, the Michigan hockey team transitioned out of its defensive end with speed. As sophomore forward Thomas Bordeleau cradled the puck, Minnesota State defenseman Benton Maase tried to lift his stick, with both of them angling towards the boards. Using his body to block the defense, Bordeleau gained one step, two step, then passed the puck into the wheelhouse of sophomore forward Brendan Brisson. With a snappy one-timer, Brisson turned a momentary lapse by Maase into the game-winning goal. “(Bordeleau’s) a really smart, cerebral offensive player,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “You could see that all the way and that’s a big time play … by both those guys.” Minor mistakes like Maase’s would go unnoticed against most teams, but there was little breathing room between two of the nation’s top teams. In a clash of skilled teams, the Wolverines’ fate hinged on how they managed those opportunities — both their own and those of the Mavericks. Michigan made mistakes early on in the form of unforced penalties, which negated many of its rushes. From a call on sophomore defenseman Owen Power for indirect contact to the head, to a tripping call on senior forward Jimmy Lambert, the Wolverines shot themselves in the foot when they mounted quality attacks. Michigan handled these kills well by keeping its structure and cutting off passing lanes, but those shorthanded minutes also gave the Mavericks plenty of time with the puck. That limited the Wolverines’ scoring opportunities and it allowed Minnesota State to keep Michigan’s high-power offense far away from its goal. The Mavericks also gleaned a goal off of a hooking penalty by senior forward Jimmy Lambert. Minnesota State defenseman Akito Hirose pinched along the boards to extend his team’s attack after a clear from senior defenseman Nick Blankenburg. Soon after, Hirose fired the puck on net and his rebound met the Mavericks’ forward Ryan Sandelin for a goal. “It hit my skate and then he was able to get the shot off,” Blankenburg said. “So I think in general, we’ve just got to be harder on pucks and harder to play against up front, especially against teams who work so hard.” That kind of play wouldn’t stand out much against weaker teams, but it gave Minnesota State time to regain its attack and get a lead heading into the second intermission. Michigan realized it couldn’t afford to make further mistakes, and it tightened up its game accordingly in the next period. But the Wolverines’ performance didn’t just revolve around mitigating their own gaffes. In such a close contest, they also took plenty of shots off of mistakes by the Mavericks. Small shifts in positioning led to big results for the Wolverines as open skaters generated offense. On Thomas Bordeleau’s game-tying goal four minutes into the third, he cycled the puck to freshman defenseman Jacob Truscott on the point and skated unnoticed to the left side of the Mavericks goaltender Dryden McKay, where he would tip the puck into the net for Minnesota State’s defense played well in their own end, winning back the puck with ease for the better part of the game. However, positioning errors like the Bordeleau goal and poorly timed plays like the Maase stick lift gave Michigan a window to grab a close win. That’s nothing new after the Wolverines’ win on Friday, but the pressure of a close score exacerbated every mistake. Whoever blinked first could dictate the game winner, and that energy radiated through every decision both teams made. Michigan played a game in which tiny errors led to some of its biggest moments. If the Wolverines benefit off those tiny errors like they did Saturday, that bodes well for a team that just grabbed both the Ice Breaker trophy and national attention. JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily Freshman forward Caleb Houstan showed off his silky shot at media day. NICK STOLL Daily Sports Writer Four biggest takeaways from the Wolverines’ preseason open practice MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Senior defenseman Nick Blankenburg received a high hit in the first period that ignited a spirited Michigan.