NORTH DAKOTA, MINNESOTA STILL ALIVE: It's playo time on the ice, too The Michigan Daily-Sunday, March 18,1979-Page 11 By DAN PERRIN While household stars Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson fight to bring their teams an NCAA basketball crown, there's another battle being waged at the same time. This one is on the ice, where such infamous pucksters as Nor- th Dakota's Kevin Maxwell, Neal Broten of Minnesota and George Mc- Phee of Bowling Green lead their respec- tive squads into the NCAA Hockey Championships this week at Detroit's Olympia Stadium After skating it's way to a first place regular season 'finish and three vic- tories and a tie in the WCHA playoffs, North Dakota has earned a bye into the semi-finals. The Fighting Sioux (29-11- 1), WCHA champs for the first time sin- ce the 1966-67 season, are led by fresh- man Maxwell (26-33-59) and will face off against Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) runner-up Dar- tmouth on Friday night. JOHN GASPARINI, in his first year as North Dakota's head coach, was pleased with his team's playoff perfor- mance versus Colorado College and Wisconsin, and planned no wholesale changes for the upcoming national tournament. "We had a tremendous team effort in the playoffs," said Gasparini. "I'm ex- tremely proud of the team; they over- came a lot of adversity in having to play without (defenseman) Travis Dunn, and (forwards) Doug Smail and Erwin Martens. "We're back to full health for the national tournament which might even be a bad omen," joked Gasparini. "Right now, we're just making sure our performance is up to par. We know what we have to do. We've had good success with the game we've played all year and we're not about to change it now." WCHA RUNNER-UP Minnesota (29- 11-1) also rolled through the league playoffs with little trouble, but has a rougher road to the NCAA title. The Gophers must play a first round NCAA game versus Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) champ Bowling Green (37-5-2) tonight at Minneapolis, with the winner advancing to the semi- finals opposite ECAC, champion New Hampshire on Thursday night.' The game will feature two of the country's top rookies in Bowling Green's McPhee (40-48-88) and Broten of Minnesota (20-47-67), as well as a pair of talented goalies, Wally Charko for the Falcons and Steve Janaszak of Minnesota. Both coaches, Herb Brooks of Minnesota and Ron Mason of Bowling Green are cautiously op- timistic going into the game. "For us to defeat Bowling Green in a single game playoff will take every bit of talent owned by our men," predicted Brooks. "We will have to skate, check and play without the puck better than any previous game this year. "THAT'S ASKING a lot, but then, I have asked an awful lot from this team all season,'' he continued. "Whichever team wants it the most will play in Detroit later this week." Mason's Falcons, who finished third in last year's NCAA's, could become the first collegiate hockey team to win 40 games in one season if they capture the championship. "I definitely see Minnesota as having the advantage, playing at home with a bigger rink," noted Mason. "But we've played very well on the road, which is unusual. "The game Sunday night might be for the NCAA Championship," Mason ad- ded. "Either team there could have the horses to go all the way." POR TER BREAKS NBA RECORD Flom salvages meet for crippled gymnasts Special to the Daily MORGANTOWN, ,W.Va.-Sara Flom salvaged some pride for a wounded Michigan gymnastics team yesterday, when she won the floor exercise event in the individual portion of the AIAW Midwest regional at the West Virginia Coliseum. With all-arounders Teresa Bertoncin and Colleen Forrestel out of the lineup due to serious injuries, Flom rolled up a two-routine total of 17.55 and added another floor title to the same crown which she earned at the state cham- pionship three weeks earlier. BUT BESIDES 'Flom's winning ef- fort, there was little for the Wolverines to cheer about. Mia Axon, who finished sixth in the all-around competition Friday night, picked up a third place on the uneven parallel bars and a fourth in vaulting, while Cindy Shearon finished sixth and Forrestel, before bowing out with a twisted ankle, claimed seventh in the latter event. In additon, Flom and Axon were named to the all-Midwest regional team, which is composed of 12 gym- nasts. The crushing blows came in the form of injuries to Bertoncin and Forrestel. While Forrestel competed in vaulting yesterday before her injury, Bertoncin disocated her knee during the balance beam event Friday. -BUT THAT WAS only a smattering of the-severe ailments which plagued the Wolverines. Flom entered the meet with strained knee ligaments, Lisa Ut- tal was nursing tendonitis in one shoulder, and Cindy Shearon was suf- fering from painful shin splints. In spite of the handicaps and hear- tbreaks, Coach Scott Ponto saw several positive signs for next season. "We did a super job on vaulting (Friday), and they did a pretty good job on beam," he said. "But Teresa's injury did hurt us. "I don't think Sara's injury affected her too much," he added. "She was a little shaky on beam, but she did a super job for us on floor." OHIO STATE'S Donna Silber, who ran away with the all-around title Friday, claimed top honors' in the vaulting, bars, and beam events yesterday, but an injury prevented her from competing in floor exercises. Piestons dr By AP and UPI PONTIAC-Kevin Porter broke the NBA season assist record and M.L. Carr and Bob Lanier scored 20 points apiece last night in leading the Detroit Pistons to a 105-98 victory over the In- diana Pacers. Porter dished out 20 assists to boost his season total to 918, toppling the old mark of 910 set by Nate Archibald of Kansas City in 1972-73. Porter, a 5-foot-10 playmaker one month shy of his 29th birthday, broke the mark with 5:14 to play in the third qurter, passing off to John Long, who connected on a short jump shot. Porter had 10 assists in that quarter, four in each of the first tx#o periods, and two in the final quarter. En route to his record, Porter has had 53 games with 10 assists or more this SCORES NHL Detroit 3, St. Louis 1 Boston 4, Chicago 2 Pittsburgh 5, Washington 2 NY islanders 5, NY Rangers 2 Exhibition Baseball Los Angeles 11, New York 9 Philadelphia 3, Chicago (A) 2 Atlanta 5. Minnesota 1 Cincinnati 4. Kansas City 2 St. Louis 3, New York (N) 3, 1i-inning tie Boston 3, Detroit 0 California 1, Milwaukee 0 Chicago (N) 7, Oakland 3 Houston 4, Montreal 2 Pittsburgh 7, Toronto 1 Seattle 10, Cleveland 2 San Francisco 5, San Diego i Baltimore 9, Texas 6 NBA Detroit 105, Indiana 98 New York 103, Philadelphia 101 lop aeers season. His best night was against Boston March 9 when he had 25 assists. Detroit never trailed after outscoring Indiana 35-22 in the second quarter to take a 59-46 halftime lead. The Pacers drew to within two points, 94-92, on a bucket by James Edwards with 4:27 to play, but Detroit scored the next nine points, including a pair of three-point plays by Lanier and Leon Douglas. Terry Tyler had 17 points and Porter 16 for the Pistons, who have won nine of their last 14 games. Indiana's Alex English led all scorer with 27 points. David's a Goliath rrns David Greenwood's attempt to reject a shot by DePaul's Gary Garland was all for naught as the Bruins dropped the NCAA Western Regional final, 95-91 to the Blue Demons. DePaul advances to the final four in Salt Lake City. CRANBROOK TAKES CLASS B: Trenton captures Class A hockey title By TOM STEPHENS Special to the Daily FLINT-The Lower Peninsula made a clean sweep of the state high school finals here last night, as Trenton shut out Sault Ste. Marie, 2-0, for the Class A title, while Bloom- field Hills Cranbrook edged Houghton, 6-5, for the Class B crown. In Class B, Steve Gasser scored both the tying and win- ning goals within a 30 second time span in the third period and Cranbrook killed a determined last-minute Houghton power play to ice the state title by a narrow 6-5 count. Houghton's Chuck Lower spearheaded the losing cause with a hat trick and one breakaway goal that was disallowed because of belated and controversial high sticking call. Gasser's linemates Dan Sahutske and Steve Black had two goals and a goal and three assists, respectively, to round out Cranbrook's production-line attack. In the second period of the Class A contest, Trojan penaity killer Phil De Sana poked a loose puck between a Soo defeh- seman's skates to give himself a breakaway. He deftly fired the puck past goalie Jim Claxton's stick side for the only goal Trenton needed. At 2:26 of the final period, Trenton's Scott Weedon took A power play pass from Scott Stephens at the point and fireda hard drive over Claxton's glove hand'for Trenton's insurance goal. The Blue Devils never really took control as the muscular Trenton defense forced most of their shots from outside th' Trojan blue line. Goalie Doug Buck handled all of his chances smoothly and made some good stops on the few serious S- scoring attempts. For Cranbrook, it was the first state title in its high school hockey history. For Trenton, who has reached the semifinals in each of the past five seasons and who lost last year to Sault Ste. Marie, it was their second championship in four years.