'M' playoff picture settled The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, March 3, 1981-Page 13 By TOM SHAHEEN Another Michigan team is heading vest. Coach John Giordano's icers begin playoff action this weekend-not in sumy Pasadena, but in the serene set- tih$ of the Rocky Mountains-against the Denver Pioneers. THIS WILL BE the second meeting between fourth-place Denver and the fifth-place Wolverines. Michigan swept the first series at Yost Arena, 9-4 and 7- 5.' The two teams will play a pair of games at Denver University Arena, and the team which scores the most oals in the series will advance to round wo of the WCHA playoffs. The Pioneers have lost four games in a row, including last weekend's double besting by the WCHA's regular season chirnpion, Minnesota. Denver will look to winger Ken Berry and center Andy Hill to provide the scoring punch. And tlie-Wolverines must contend with net- minder Scott Robinson, one of the top goalkeepers in the WCHA. O0uluth at Minnesota The Golden Gophers will be playing Duluth minus Neal Broten-considered by many as the finest collegiate hockey player in America, who dislocated his left elbow two weeks ago against this same Duluth team. But the rest of the Minnesota scoring machine will be on hand to face the Bulldogs. The powerful Gopher attack is led by Steve Ulseth, the WCHA scoring champion, and runner-up Aaron Broten. Duluth was drubbed by Minnesota just a couple of weeks ago, 5- 2 and 9-1. Colorado College at Wisconsin The series between the Badgers aid Colorado College has been moved back to Saturday and Sunday nights because of scheduling problems in Madison. The extra- day's rest should help the Tigers, who are licking their wounds inflicted in the Michigan State series last week. The WCHA's cellar occupant upended Colorado College with two overtime victories in East Lansing, 6-5 and 5-4. Bruce Aikens is the team's leading scorer, and is supported on defense by Doug Lidster and Marc Chorney. Coach Bob Johnson's icers are led by Ron Vincent, Scott Lecy and center John Newberry. And Terry Kleisenger will perform the goaltending duties for the second-place Badgers. North Dakota at Tech North Dakota, last season's NCAA champions, finished in sixth place this year in the WCHA. Gino Gasparini's icers are a young team, and have had a successful season for the most part, but faltered badly towards the end of the year. Michigan Tech, who wasted the Wolverines twice last weekend, features goaltender Frank Krieber, an outstanding senior. The Huskies, not an offensive powerhouse, finished sur- prisingly high in the WCHA accordng to v. ":": i; r.: ":~~. ,~,f}:5:; : fi;.'"9rf..f,:...: n.:.;:" ":. ". ^ }' .r"' . ..... . . ..:rr.3?..*. :"::.:r:">?*....*..........{:.;.}..;h... : .."i :... ".: .. ....: .. i,,.::5..}. . ".}"45: }:'. }".:: tt2 :: :K" Icers drop to fifth i By MARTHA CRALL The Michigan hockey team continued its hot streak through the first weekend of spring break before turning ice cold last weekend. The icers swept Denver, then tied for first place in the WCHA, 9-4 and 7-5, to extend their winning streak to seven games before losing two games to Michigan Tech, 5-4 and 5-2. Jeff Mars collected four goals and *wo assists to earn co-WCHA Player of the Week honors and pace the Wolverines against Denver. The Mich- igan offense, which averaged eight goals per game during the winning streak, dominated the Pioneers, who have been among the leaders in defense this season. Denver's offense, which was second in power play scoring, capitalized on only one of six power play opportunities on Friday night. But thanks to 13 Wolverine penalties the ' ollowing evening, the Pioneers scored hree of their five goals with a one-man advantage. Paul Fricker and Rudy Varvari each picked up a win in the series. Then the Huskies came to town, but they weren't the least bit intimidated by the red-hot Wolverines. On Friday night, Tech was down 4-2 in the third period, but it wasn't out, as the prover- bial roof caved in on the Wolverines vith a little more than 13 minutes left in the game. The Huskies scored three straight goals - two on power plays - in a relatively penalty-free game to hum- ble Michigan. Giordano started Varvari on Satur- day, before 8,207 bi-partisan fans, the largest crowd of the season and second largest in Yost Arena history. But it was the Huskies' fans who went home happy, as Tech scored five unanswered goals after the Wolverines had taken a 2-0 first period lead, to knock Michigan into fifth place and earn third place for themselves in the final standings. Now Featuring: The Thursday Restaurant Page i~ __ _ _ Help Develop Tomorrow's Energy Business Today! Go & Grow with AMERICAN NATURAL RESOURCES COMPANY Leaders in Energy Sources Exploration! 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