The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 27, 1978-Page 9 A Pain in the Ice .. . Mother Nature gives dekers a snow job -1 Blue-Indiana: Tonigh ... maybe; A By PAUL CAMPBELL Everybody's got problems. Take the Michigan hockey team. The. Wolverines were supposed to leave yesterday for Denver, where they are scheduled to play the league leading Pioneers in a Friday-Saturday series. Now they're cooling their heels, hoping that the snow relents and that their rescheduled departure today at noon willcome off. That's fine and dandy for Denver, right? After all, the Pioneers are waiting out-there in the Mile High city with their too thin air and their too small ice sheet, which Michigan won't even get to practice on. They're sitting pretty in first place in the WCHA, where they've been since the second week of the season. They know that Michigan, like every team in the league, struggles to win on the road. WCHA Standings WCHA STANDINGS W L T,"TP Denver 16 4 0 32 Wisconsin 14 4 2 30 Michigan Tech 14 6 0 28 Minnesota 11 8 1 23 MICHIGAN 10 10 0 20 NotreDame 7 12 1 15 Colorado Col. 7 13 0 14 North Dakota 7 13 0 14. Minnesota- Duluth 6 13 1 13 Mich. State 5 14 1 11 THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES MICHIGAN at Denver Colorado College at Michigan State Michigan Tech at Wisconsin Minnesota at Minnesota-Duluth Notre Dame at North Dakota So everything should be smiles in Pioneer country, right? Wrong. Denver's got plenty of problems of its own. They've had to say goodbye to two of their forwards. First junior Alex Belcourt's (4 goals, 12 assists, 16 points) was kicked off the team for a fighting incident at a party. Freshman wing Brad Purpur (4-4-8) also has a problem. Hockey at Denver was fun for the newcomer from Win- nipeg, but classes weren't. Now he's academically ineligible for the rest of the season. 3/4"The loss of Belcourt and Purpur takes away the luxury of depth," said first year Coach Marshall Johnston. "Depth is a big factor in determining your degree of success. I just hope that this team can continue to come back and win games like they have been all year." The loss of Belcourt and Purpur is overshadowed by a much bigger problem.Denver is on NCAA probation. -That means that even if the Pioneers hold to form and win two WCHA playoff series, they will be passed over when invitations come out from Providence for the national semifinals. The Pioneers aren't standing still for the two-year ban, however. Realizing that their 16-4 WCHA mark portends well for post-season play, the university has planned an appeal. Legal alter- natives have already failed, as the Cir- cuit Court of Appeals unheld the NCAA decision. Bur back to hockey. Despite their problems, the Pioneers have surprised the league by holding first place for so long. They've done it with a well- balanced attack and the resiliency Johnston referred to. Junior Doug Berry leads the scorers with 15 goals-and 23 assista before last weekend's sweep of Minnesota-Duluth. He's followed closely by Sophomores Mark Davidsin (15-18-33) and Perry Schnarr (14-18-32) who beat Michigan with an overtime goal in the second game of the WCHA season. Senior Ernie Glanville has taken over the number one goalie spot from Jim Bales. Glanville came up with a rarity in college hockey against Duluth when he shut them out 4-0. His goals against average is hovering around three per game. Johnston, whose team must face Michigan at home before going on the road to battle red hot Michigan Tech and Wisconsin, thinks the Pioneers can hold on to first place if they win four of their next six games. Michigan coach Dan Farrell has similar aspirations for the Wolverines, who broke a seven game league losing streak when they beat North Dakota 5-2 on Saturday. "We'll be going out to Denver hoping for a split," said Farrell. "But then we play seven of ten at home, all against second-division teams, so maybe we can get a streak going." Farrell pointed out that his team played well in Denver last year, win- ning both games for the first time ever. But inconsistencies continue to plague Farrell's team. The coach hopes that Rick Palmer's solic Saturday per- formance is indicative of a hot hand. The senior will start Friday, and Farrell would go with him again if he performs well. The experiment which saw Dean Turner move up from defense to wing was short-lived, and dino will be back at the blue line against the Pioneers. He did a good job creating situations in the slot, but even his sometimes too aggressive play was missed at the point. Now that thelosing streak is over, Farrell would like to put thoughts of it in some random snowdrift. He'd rather talk about the team's attitude. "I think that the win will help us this weekend," said the coach. Johnston wasn't feeling too sorry for Michigan, either. "I remember a similar slump they had last year (Michigan lost seven in a row before winning 12 straight). Sometimes losing streaks are not that good an indication of how well a team is playing. ICER ICINGS: Dave Debol-is closing in on the only Michigan career scoring record he doesn't hold. Debol has scored 10 goals, four short of Kris Manery's standard. Manery, by the way, is quickly closing in on a 20-goal season for the Cleveland Barons of the NHL. Birth defects are forever. Unlessyou help. TO PROTECT THE UNBORN AND THE NEWBORN Big Ten bows to snow4 AS THE northern part of the United States is quickly turning into the Yukon, basketball games are falling almost as quickly as the snow. The Michigan-Indiana basketball game, originally scheduled for last night has been tentatively rescheduled for tonight at 8:05 p.m., Other postponements around the Big Ten are last night's Minnesota at Purdue, Ohio State at Michigan State and North- western at Wisconsin basketball games. These games have not been rescheduled as of press. time. For the wolverines, as well as Ohio State, the cancellations were the second straight in the Big Ten schedule. Last Saturday; Michigan's game in Columbus was postponed until the following. Monday because of the large snowfall in that city. MCAT - DAT -LSAT -GRE GMAT - OCATi-VAT -SAT NMB IRLp , ECFMG-"FLEX-VQE NAT'L DENTAL BOARDS NURSING BOARDS Flexible Programs & Hours There IS a difference!!! EDUCATIONAL CENTER Test Preparation Spec alists Since 1938 For Information Please Call (313) 662-3149 For Locations In Other Cities, Call: TOLL FREE: 800-223.1782 Centers in Major US Cities loronto. Puerto Rico and Lugano. 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