Wednesday, March 151 1972
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Nine
Wednesday, March 15, 1972 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
joel greer
The WCHA1
too many changes
THE WESTERN COLLEGIATE Hockey Association schedule
brochure cites the league's action as "College hockey at its
best." But with the loop changing its rules at such a rapid pace,
one can certainly question the quality of its product.
This past season has been a tremendous indicator of the
league's many problems and its efforts toward obtaining equit-
able solutions. The major., problem, of which all others stem,
is the fairness of WCHA scheduling. And the major reason is
the poor location of many of the teams.
Realistically, schools such as Michigan Tech and North
Dakota are so isolated, that proper scheduling becomes
expensive and nearly impossible. Now with ten teams com-
prising the loop, the perfect schedule would consist of each
team playing the others four times for a season total of
36 games. However, the various tournament affiliations,
the nember-non-member school rivalries, and the inability
to schedule mid-week games, makes that set-up incon-
ceivable.
So prior to this season, the rules committee (made up of
the member coaches, athletic directors, and faculty represen-
tatives) introduced a point system in an attempt to equate
each school's schedule.
Hopefully by now, everyone knows how the system works. In
short, each inter-team series has been worth eight points re-
gardless of whether four games or two games were played dur-
ing the season. Thus, the two game series' have been worth
four points per game, while the four game series are awarded
two points per game. With nine total series each team, of
course, played for a maximum 72 points.
Many questions arose this season concerning the va-
lidity of the new point system and there has been expected
unhappiness throughout the league. Michigan Tech head
coach John Macinnes, who this season joined the select
group of mentors with over 300 victories, calls it a ridicu-
lous plan. Says Maclnnes, "Anything that confuses the news
media, the fans, and the players is idiotic."
In fact, the system has been so confusing that the final
standings were not determined until many hours after the
final regular season game. "Next year," continues MacInnes, "I
think we'll go back to strictly percentages."
Michigan coach Al Renfrew, who saw his team jump fromI
ninth place to sixth place the final weekend of the season, ex-
plains that the point system this year was not fair for every-
one concerned. He says the inequality of home and away eight-
point series is the major problem.
nBob Johnson, whose Wisconsin squad finished with
a 2-8 conference mark and a second-place finish, sees
the plan as "very hard on the fans," but admits that the
home-away situation would correct itself over a two-year
period.
To compound the problem, the league. also introduced a
new playoff system making the exact finish extremely import-
ant. The top four teams in the league were hosts to the next
four squads with first playing eighth, second meeting seventh,
and so forth.
What the league didn't do was revise its antiquated tie-
breaking system. Believe it or not, ties in rank are resolved by
the "percentage of difference between goals for and goals
against." This system, which takes practically a math major to
decipher, undoubtedly caused Renfrew to lose many hours of
sleep when he learned that Michigan could miss a playoff spot
by some high-level mathematics.
Renfrew simply calls it a "bad way" to determine rank
and indicates two "better" alternatives: 2) the actual won-
lost percentage, or 2) the season series between the two
teams involved.
You can bet that the present system will not be around
next season because the inevitable happened. Both Colorado
College and Notre Dame finished with 28 points, Colorado had
a better percentage (.393 to .385), but Notre Dame grabbed the
eighth-and-final playoff spot on the basis of a better "percent-
age of difference between goals, for and goals against." For-
tunately for everyone involved, the Irish dumped Colorado's
Tigers three of four meetings this season.
Leaving all of those problems aside, the WCfiA must be
commended for their best playoff plan in years. In the past,
the playoffs were held at neutral sites, but giving an advan-
tage to the top echelon teams was finally realized. Also, in
an attempt to eliminate the one-game fluke, the winners were
decided this year by a two-game total goal set-up.
"It's a definite improvement," Johnson said before the
Badgers stopped Michigan Tech in the first round and
North Dakota in the second. "The top league finishers j
deserve the home ice advantage."
And the home ice advantage did wonders as every play-
off series was won by the home team. Fortunately, first-place
Denver and second-place Wisconsin will be representing the
West in the NCAA championships beginning Friday at Boston.
But just because the league lucked out in this regard
doesn't mean that their constant changes are really bettering
the sport. Hopeftilly, the rules committee will realize that league
rules can only be accepted faithfully after long periods of time.
Haphazard "improvements" can endanger the WCHA's tag of
"College hockey at its best."
Carter, Gagnon on
All-WCHA 2nd team
From Wire Service Reports Usitalo of Michigan Tech.
The first annual Players WCHA Of the tw-lve selections, seven
All-Star team was announced yes- were sophomores and only four
terday with defenseman Punch , were seniors.
Cartier and forward Bernie Gag- Gagnon scored the most goals
non representing Michigan on the 1 with 28 in 28 league games. Den-
Trackmen
By SANDI GENISI
Unfortunately for Wolverine
track fortunes, the Columbus jinx
struck again over-vacation. Under
the spell of its black magic, the
'new look" Wolverine track team
emerged from the Big Ten indoor,
track championships with the sus-
picious old look of losers.
Despite his high hopes for a
third or even second place finish;
daily
sports
NIGHT EDITOR:
BOB McGINN
for his thinclads, first year Michi- improvement on last year's ei
gan mentor Dixon Farmer had to spot."
settle for a mediocre fifth. In the To the surprise of no one, M
igan's Jamaican Olympian C
FOR MORE SPORTS SEE frey Murray proved his dom
PAGE SEVEN. tion in the 70 high hurdles,
ing Spartan ace John Mor
for the title with an 8.3 cloc
face of strong opposition from M u r r a y ' s running-mate,
Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin } Reeves, who was expected to
and Purdue, Farmer's runners ish high in both the high and
managed to capture only one in- hurdles, proved to be one of
dividual title and one second place Wolverines' worst jinx victim
enroute to their 25 team points. he failed to place in either e
The finish was, nevertheless, an Though losing his bid to
trampled
come the first Big Ten shotputter their int
to toss the shot over 60 feet to ghost-like
Minnesota's Colin Anderson, Wol- indoor tit
verine putter Steve Adams man- as they e
aged to hurl the 16 pound shot ference o
59-3 to-.cop the runner-up slot to Spearh
Anderson's amazing 61-1%, as tack, sup
both men eclipsed the old confer- ington a
ence mark set last season of 58-8. smashed
Meanwhile, pole vaulter Larry MSU squ
Wolfe captured a third with a 15-61 points an
vault. ence titl
ghth Other than these three fine in- Olympi
dividual finishes the Michigan and Dillc
Mich- squad had to settle for a fourth their wor
God- place finish by Greg Syphax in dash and
aina- the 300 and fifths by Reggie Brad- with Wa
edg- ford in the 600, Kim Hildebrandt 26.9, resp
rison in the 1000, Keith Brown in the victory in
king. three mile, and John Mann in the son's win
Mel high jump. Mann, a seven foot Casselma
fin- jumper, turned in a particularly roundedo
3 low disappointing performance, clear- Sparke
the ing the bar at a mere 6-8. in Colum
As as Perhaps the sting of the jinx ried the:
vent. was hardest felt in the mile relay NCAA in
be- as a strong Michigan team of Cobo Are
Syphax, Eric Chapman, Bradford, see the g
and Kim Rowe saw their five yard thin air.
lead at the start of the last leg With 1
disappear as Spartan Bob Cassle- Spartans
man blitzed past Rowe to bring finish in
home the victory for Michigan competiti
State in the second fastest time for thef
in the nation at 3:12.6. The Wol- same tea
verines finished second with a posted t
3:13.9. that eve
But while the Michigan team victim to
was haunted by disappointment, Nebraska
erstate rivals saw their
e hopes for a national
tle move one step closer
easily crushed their con-
pponents.
eading the Spartan at-
er sprinters Herb Wash-
nd Marshall Dill each
a Big Ten mark as the
in
uad captured 65 team Cassleman crossed the finish line
nd six individual confer- third in the 600 yard run.
es. Wolverine partisans had little
c hopefuls, Washington to get excited about as the Mich-
came within .1 second of igan team maanged to get only
Ad marks in the 60 yard three points. Godfrey Murray was
d the 300 yard dashes, the only trackman to come
shington's 5.9 and Dill's through, finishing third in the 60
pectively. Ken Popejoy's yard high hurdles in 7.2 behind
in the mile, John Morri- Notre Dame's Tom McMannon and
in the low hurdles and Tennessee's Bill High, who also
n's 600 yard dash title finished at 7.2.
out the Spartan victories. Of the other three Wolverine
d by this landslide win entries, Steve Adams in the shot
nbus, the Spartans car-
ir high hopes into the
ndoor meet at Detroit's
ena last weekend, only to
ghost of victory fade into
.5 points to USC's 19 the
needed a second place M M E-
n the final event of the
ion, .the mile relay, to tie
first place spot. But the
m that a week earlier had
he second best time in
ent behind Adelphi, fell F nalIAd
a slow heat and a strong
team that edged them 4:30 p m. TODA
[door
out of the second spot, and
brought moans of distress from
the highly partisan Detroit crowd.
However, the local fans had
certainly got their money's worth
as earlier in the day they saw
Spartans Washington and Pope-
joy capture national titles in the
60 yard dash and mile run, while
meets
put, and the mile and two-mile
relays teams, only the two-mile
relay team of Hildebrandt,,Chap-
man, Al Cornwell and Bill Bolster
made it to the finals, but they
failed to pick up a point, finish-
ing sixth in 7:39.5.
Other Big Ten contenders who
captured points included seventh
place Illinois' Lee Labadie and
Mike Durkin, who finished fifth
in the 880 yard run and 1000 yard
run, respectively, and Wisconsin's
Pat Matzdorf, world record hold-
ing high jumper, who finished sec-
ond in that event at 7-2% to Col-
gate's Christopher Dunn who won
on fewer misses. Illinois' two-mile
relay team of Dave Kamerer, Ron
Phillips, Labadie and Bob Mango
also captured the national two-
mile relay title with a 7:29.9 per-
formance.
t~a Vatl
i
"U.S. Relations With the Middle East: 1918-1972"
MR. DAVID NES
U.S. Foreign Service (Ret.)
Columnist for the Baltimore Sun
11
i
MARCH 16th
7:30 P.M.
-Associated Press
Assist for West
The nonpareil Jerry West spots the looming figure of Bob Lanier
and prepares to launch a bullet pass to a waiting Wilt Chamber-
lain underneath. Wilt hit the cherry pick to help the Lakers to
a easy 129-116 triumph of the misfiring Pistons.
HUBBARD 2ND:
Auditorium B
After Mr. Nes is through, it is hoped that the audi-
ence will stay and discuss the speech with him.
Sponsored by the Organization of Arab Stu-
dents in conjunction with World Week
I
Ma tmei
By DAN STUCK
and RICH BORUS
Third-seeded Wolverine Jerry
Hubbard put together some
amazing wrestling performances
at the National Collegiate
Championships at College Park,
Maryland, March 9-11, but he
was upended in the finals by
Wade Shalles of giant killer
Clarion State. Shalles, the out-
standing wrestler of the meet
with four pins, added Hubbard
to the list. Hubbard's second
place finish was the only place-
ment for the Wolverines.
Iowa State, led by 41,5 pound
bulldozer Chris Taylor, gar-
nered thQ collegiate crown with
103 Dnints. upsetting Oklahoma
State in the process. Michigan
State's 72112 points was good
enough to earn for the Big Ten
chan Spartans a second place
finish.
Bad luck and trouble hit the
Cowboys' from the Okie State
as Yoshiro Fuaita. OSU's 126
pound undefeated w r e s t l i n g
whiz, rolled off the mat in his
preliminary match and came up
with a separated shoulder. Fu-
gita was forced to forfeit his
match to the chorus of Cowboy
tears.
The Cowboy luck haunted
them again as Stan Dziedzic of
Slionery Rock, everybody's fa-
vorite teacher's college, disposed
of Alan Albright. Dziedzic
stomped Michigan's Mitch Men-
dragyl, 13-0, in the quarter-
finals.
Meanwhile, the Cowboy's Big
Fight rivals were having a ball.
The Cyclones just kept on com-
Ing. eliminating -everal Spar-
tans in the semi-finals. The re-
sult was never in doubt as chal-
lenger after challenger went by
the wayside.
Hubbard, Michigan's premier
wrestler, made easy work of his
early matches. Jerry was never
in danger as he danced and
played with his early foes.
Hubbard's show continued in-
to the semi-finals as he met
bomb
second seeded Hajine Shingo of
Washington. Taking Shingo into
overtime in what Coach Rick
Bay termed "great matches",
Hubbard eked out the decision
on the basis of judge voting,
split 2-1 in favor of the Wol-
verine.
But it was in the finals in
which the encore could not con-
tinue. Wade Shalles, one of two
champions produced by every-
body's second favorite teacher's
college, Clarion State, used a
headlock to put Hubbard flat on
the canvas. Hubbard just ran
out of gas, according to his
mentor.
Mitch Mendrigal, Michigan's
hopeful at 158, won his first
three matches before running
into Dziedzec. After his demise,
Mendrygal split his consolation
matches, winning the first 2-1
and losing the second to Larry
Johnson of Northern Illinois,
4-1.
Besides the above mentioned
pair, other Michigan grapplers
who earned a point apiece for
winning their first matches were
John Ryan in the 167 pound
class and Therlon Harris at 190.
Jim Brown was eliminated in
the upset of the evening.
Brown, who was expected to
go a long way in the tourney,
was toppled by Stacy Cody of
Idaho State. Since Cody him-
self was upended Brown was un-
able to grapple once more in
the consolation rounds.
Billboard s
Attention Freshmen: Are you
a football fanatic? Do you want
to be where the action is on
the Wolverine gridiron? Become
a football manager! Fringe
benefits: e.g. travel with team!
For information call David Fish
at 763-6838 after 7 p.m.
Aw
second team. Television station
WDAZ of Devils Lake, North Da-
kota conducted the poll among
the WCHA players at the conclu-
sion of the regular season.
Named to the first team was
Doug Palazzari of Colorado Col-
lege at center with Tom Peluso of
Denver and Duluth's Walt Leding-
ham on the wings. Palazzari's 27
goals and 30 assists were enough
for the WCHA scoring champion-,
ship while Peluso was runner-up
With 51 points.
ver's Pete McNab, who led the
league in assists with 31, and
Wisconsin's Dick Perkins', whose
2.3 goal-against average was tops
in the league, were not selected.
E SCORES
NBA
Boston 124, Golden State 110
Los Angeles 129, Detroit 116
Cleveland 127, Baltimore 118 o.t.
Meet the U-M Barbers
Chet, Cleve, Dave,
Harold and Jay
Open Monday-Saturday
Michigan Union
For the Student Body:
SALE
" Jdeans
" Bells
" Flares
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