Page 8-Thursday, February 23, 1978-The Michigan Daily
CANHAM TAKES INITIATIVE:

Canham's Proposal I

WCHA eyes cost-cutting merger

By BOB MILLER
Don Canham is at it-again.
The ever-enterprising, highly suc-
cessful Michigan athletic director is in-
volved in another venture that would
save his department money, and in the
long run, increase revenue.
What Canham is trying to do is shake
up the Western Collegiate Hockey As-
sociation (WCHA) by expanding and
dividing geographically into different
divisions.
Included in his plan is the six-mem-
ber Central Collegiate Hockey
Association (CCHA) and a couple of in-
dependent teams. Expansion is not a
new topic to WCHA personnel, having
been discussed by a committee three
years ago.
But back then, incorporating the
CCHA into the WCHA would have been
analagous to the Big Ten football con-
ference merging with the Mid-
American Conference. Now it is more
like a Big Ten-Big Eight link-up.
"We're trying to change, (but)
nothing is definite," said Canham.
"The difficult part is just spending too
much on travel. When the WCHA was
formed, those were the only places to
play hockey."
The "those" Canham was referring
to means places like Colorado Springs
and Denver, Colorado; Grand Forks,
North Dakota; Duluth and Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
As it is, Canham explained that each
road trip costs approximately $8,000,
and since Michigan is the eastern-most
school in the league, Canham's
proposal of dividing divisions makes a
.lot of sense.
The CCHA schools play a caliber of
hockey similar to the WCHA, so the fear
that expansion would dilute the quality
is no longer applicable. But that is only
part of the reason that a CCHA-WCHA
merger would be so attractive. -
The CCHA members include:
Bowling Green, Ohio State, St. Louis as
well as three Michigan schools,
Western, Northern and Lake Superior
State.
The WCHA has teams representing
the Universities of Denver, Michigan,
Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, North
Dakota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin,
Michigan State, Michigan Tech and
Colorado College.
To expand and divide according to
Canham's plan would' increase the
number of natural rivalries. Michigan
would now play five intrastate oppo-

nents, Ohio State, Bowling Green and
Notre Dame, all potential gate attrac-
tions.
But that is part of the problem as
Ralph Romano, chairman of the WCHA
committee to study league structure
and the athletic director at Duluth, sees
it.
"Everyone favors the change that
favors them," Romano said, "we have
to think of a balance advantage instead
of an individual advantage."
At the outset, Romano feels that
change is inevitable, but "We're still in
the collecting (information) stage.
There are a number of possibilities, and
we'll get the reaction to them at our
(league) meeting in late April."
At the moment, there are five
proposals floating around. Three

mind if those two schools seceded to the
CCHA and left the rest of the WCHA in
tact.
But that is where Bessone takes ex-
ception. His plan calls for the five Big
Ten teams to be grouped together with
Notre Dame, WMU and BGSU.
But Michigan coach Dan Farrell
doesn't think Bessone's idea will be im-
plemented. "We have a 10-team league
and we don't want to frost out a Denver
or a Colorado College. They think
someone is going to get burned.
"It (a new league) doesn't have to be
the Big Ten and Notre Dame. The
primary concern is to save money, kind
of the bottom line."
What Farrell . envisions is a
geographic breakdown, either a north-

'Ereryone favors the change that favors them,'
Romano said, 'we hare to think of a halance ad-
ran tage instead of an indiridual adranitage.'

Still, Romano related how a team
like St. Louis is tired of traveling to
Michigan's Upper Peninsula to play
teams with no identity like Northern
Michigan and Lake Superior. But a
division revision would probably com-
bine the three UP teams (including
Michigan Tech) saving each of them a
huge amount of money each year:
Along the same'lines, St. Louis would
be able to play the Colorado schools and
the Minnesota schools more often,
creating new rivalries along with cut-
ting down on travel time.
Another strong point in favor of ex-
panding and dividing is that there
would be less time spent out of the
classroom. Teams like OSU, WMU,
MSU and Notre Dame are close enough
for Michigan to bus to on Fridays,
giving the team time to practice before
the game.
Currently, the Wolverines fly out on a
Thursday for a weekend series.
The seven schools that have not tur-
ned in proposals to Romano are
working on the subject and each in-
stitution will have a plan of its own at
the league meeting in April.
Romano is cautious, however, and
refuses to reveal his preference as
chairman of the league structure com-
mittee. "I really don't know where we
are leading (with the issue), and I am
trying my best to keep open on it."
When the league meets in April, there
will no doubt be a long and involved
discussion and the prospects of a com-
promise involving 16 schools will
probably take a long time in coming.
"We're not expecting to solve the
problem this year," said Romano, "the
fall of 1979 is our target date."
If and when the league is altered, it
will mark the first time since Notre
Dame entered the WCHA in 1971 that
the conference added a new member.

WEST
Denver
Colorado College
North Dakota
Northern Michigan
Michigan Tech,
Lake Superior
Minnesota
Minnesota-Duluth

By BOB MILLER
Of the five expansion proposals on file in Ralph Romano's office, three belong
to Don Canham.
Proposal I, seen above, would call for the inclusion of the CCHA into one 16
team league, split in two divisions. The problem with Proposal I is that it might
save Michigan money, but it would probably raise the hockey expenses of Nor-
thern Michigan and Lake Superior too much to make the division equitable for
them.
Proposal II would just have Michigan and Notre Dame join the CCHA and
leave the rest of the WCHA intact. The problem with that idea is the natural
rivalries, like Michigan-Michigan State, would be hampered. The only'Big Ten foe
in Proposal II would be Ohio State, a far cry from the traditional Wisconsin and
Minnesota rivalries.
Proposal III would incorporate the Air Force and the University of Colorado
into a three division, six team league set up like this:
REGION I: Michigan Tech, Northern, Lake Superior, Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Duluth.
REGION II: western Michigan, Michigan, MSU, Notre Dame, Bowling Green
and Ohio State.
REGION III: Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota, St. Louis, Air Force
and Colorado.
Canham's Proposal III divides the teams up well as far as geographic rivalries
are concerned. However, Air Force and Colorado are at the stage of quality the
CCHA was three years ago when the WCHA was reluctant to expand in the first
place.
Spartan coach Amo Bessone and Notre Dame athletic di'rector Ed Krause both
came up with the same proposal. It is the same as Canham's Proposal I, with the
exception of Minnesota replacing St. Louis in the East Division.
The trouble with that idea as Michigan coach Dan Farrell noted is teams like
Denver, Colorado College, Northern and Lake Superior wouldn't gain any advan-
tage out of it.
The idea of adding the CCHA into a big "Western Hockey Conference" has
merit, but it must be carefully conceived in order to keep the majority of the people
happy.
At least the WCHA is taking action now when it should instead of waiting until
it has to.

EAST
Western Michigan
MICHIGAN
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Bowling Green
Ohio State
Wisconsin
St. Louis

belong to Canham, one each to
Michigan State coach Amo Bessone and
Notre Dame athletic director Ed
Krause.
Krause is an ally of Canham's as both
AD's would welcome any resolution
that would save their schools hockey
travel money. Notre Dame is in a
strikingly similar position that
Michigan faces. At both institutions,
hockey is a lowly third place finisher to
football and basketball as far as fan in-
terest is concerned.
It is not surprising then, that the Irish
and the Wolverines are paired in all five
proposals. In fact, Canham wouldn't

south, east-west or Michigan Division.
The entire expansion discussion
hinges on one major factor: Is the
CCHA interested?
According to Doug Hinton,
Michigan's assistant coach, the CCHA
has the upper hand in any merger
plans. "They have six teams in their
league and are assured of an NCAA
berth, why shouldn't they turn the
WCHA down? If they expand, less of
their teams have a shot at the
NCAA's."
Romano concurs. "We're a little
arrogant to think the CCHA will just
buy into it."

WOMEN IN S TA TE CHAMPIONSHIP

Team tumbles when

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_:'s 1,

By JEFF FRANK
The position of team captain connotes
qualities of leadership, motivation,
talent and self-discipline, all of which
serve to inspire the captain's team-
mates to their ultimate performances.
One captain who epitomizes these
qualities is Ginger Robey, two year co-
captain of the women's gymnastics
team and defendIing state co-champion
in vaulting.
Robey exhibits in her actions and
routines the leadership that has helped
to improve the women's team.
The tumblers are a strong favorite to
finish second to powerful Michigan
State in tonight's SMAIAW state cham-
pionship meet at Central Michigan.
"'She's a fantastic captain," said
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Michigan coach Anne Cornell. "She's
always around to help others on the
team. She's one of the most mature
athletes I've ever met."
"I've set certain expectations of
myself as a gymnast and I expect
myself to live up to them, not only for
me, but for the team," said Robey. "As
captain I expect the others on the team
to accept the same responsibility for
the team that I do."
Robey and other co-captain Suzy
Stanton are the only holdovers from the
first year of varsity gymnastics in 1975.
During this period the team scores
have jumped from an average of 80
points per meet to the current average
of 128.
Those days of low scores are remem-
bered by Robey. "It's different. When
you're competing on a team for fun you
don't feel badly when you dont do well,"
she said. "Now you tell yourself 'if only
I had hit that routine we would have
won'."
A graduate of Ann Arbor Greenhills
High School, Robey thought her gym-
nastics career had ended after her last
club competition before college. At this
time, she decided to attend Smith
College in Massachusetts, a school
without a gymnastics team.
"I wanted to go back to New England
(she formerly lived there). The fact

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that there was no gymnastics team
didn't bother me," said senior Robey.
"I had reached a plateau gymnastically
and I decided I wasn't going to compete
anymore."
Robey transferred to Michigan at the
beginning of her sophomore year. At
the time she still had no plans to com-
pete. However, being a local athlete,
her presence was known to then both
gymnastics teams coach Newt Loken.
"Loken knew I was coming back. I
had done exhibitions in Crisler for
years. It was the first year of the
women's team and at that point I was
reluctant to come back," she explained.
"He called me up and asked me to
compete in a meet on the road. 'You
don't even have to compete beam' he
told me, 'there's an indoor swimming
pool (at the hotel),' so I went and I've
been competing ever since."
In the three years, that she's com-
peted, Robey has had several suc-
cesses, including becoming a finalist in
last year's Big Ten vaulting champion-
ships, which marked the turning point
for the women's team when it reached
its high water mark of the season.
"Several judges and coaches came
up to Anne (Cornell) after the meet and
told her how surprised they were that
Michigan did anything in Big Ten's
(they placed fifth)," Robey said.
Of course the high point of her career
at Michigan came during the 1977
SMAIAW championships where she
tied for first place in vaulting with
MSU's Pam Steckroat, scoring 9.1,
which remains a Michigan varsity
record.
In the confusion surrounding the
presence of co-champs, only one medal
was available to be presented and that
one was given to Steckroat, with no
provision made at the time for the
presentation of a medal to Robey; she
still has not received one.
"It's aliways good to win a title,
knowing that at that particular meet
you performed as well or better than
everyone else there,'' she said. "It's
nice to know that all that time you spent
putting into a routine is paying off."
If payoff is measured in time,
Robey's success is a prime example. In
addition to team practices,/she works
out for an hour daily before practice
and often will work out with the men's
team at the IM building after practice.

Ging.ex
"She's a very self-disciplined athlete
and she's very hard on herself," ex-
plained Cornell. "She puts a lot of
demand on herself for continued im-
provement."
Alth'ough she is a senior, Robey main-
tains one year of eligibility to compete,
since she didn't compete her first
season. At this time she doesn't think
she will compete next year, preferring
to graduate when she completes her
double major in zoology and

psychology.
Freshperson Colleen Forrestel,
Robey's workout partner, sums up the
team's feelings.
"When I see her push so hard I want
to push harder too. During workouts
she pushes me a lot and I push her a
lot," she said. "I respect Ginger for
how hard she works. She's a great
friend and I'm definitely going to miss
her next year."

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