The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, March 10, 1981-Page 9 Blue Lines r Icers overcome obstacles .. . ... a surprise to many By MARTHA CRALL Five months ago nobody besides the Michigan hockey team thought it would be where it is-the second round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. I was one of the many doubters. The obstacles in the way of a successful season for the Wolverines were well publicized. The icers were embroiled in the media overkill of a hazing incident; they lost their top three scorers and their first-year coach, Wilf Martin, became ill after the first week of the season and resigned shortly thereafter. But after decisive 5-2 and 5-4 victories over a fourth-place Denver team at DU Arena in their first-round total-goal series this weekend, the Wolverines have never played better the whole season long. And I became a believer. Defensively, which is the area in which head coach John Giordano stresses, Michigan looked sharp. Offensively,.it played with the intensity that enabled it to average over seven goals in its last nine regular season games. Defensemen John Blum and Tim Manning played their usual good games, but it was senior Mark Perry who deserves recognition for his performance on Saturday night. After Steve Richmond and Dave Richter, two defensemen, were slapped with game disqualifications, sitting them down for the finale, Perry saw more playing time than he has seen in any one game all year and rose to the occastion. The Ann Arbor native dashed any doubts about his reputation as a defen- seman, coming through in the clutch. The circumstances surrounding the bench- clearing brawl after Friday night's game which landed Richmond and Richter and Denver's Glenn Johnson and Ed Beers seats in the press box on Saturday were disgusting. The 2,000 fans, who were as obnoxious as any NHL fans, acted like animals in a zoo all night and what ensued after the final whistle was something that doesn't belong in college hockey or any other sport. It all started when Beers kayoed Michigan's Joe Milburn with a highstick seconds before the game's end. It was brought about by the Pioneers' frustration over blowing a minute-and-a-half five-on- three power play advantage when they were trailing by three goals. It was highly un- necessary, just the same. Before the melee was ended, a referee had been drilled uncon- scious, two Plexiglas partitions had been knocked onto the ice by the fans, the same group had thrown a chair on the ice in the direction of Paul Fricker and Brian Lundberg and the players from both teams had proven how juvenile they could act, retaliating one after another and dragging out the ugly scene for several minutes. The referees had to deliberate for over an hour after the teams had finally left the ice to determine which offenders would be penalized. Had all the guilty parties been assessed punishments, there probably wouldn't have been enough icers left to play on Saturday night. On the complimentary side, this team did play its proverbial heart out in the must-win series. Both teams were injury-riddled, but Michigan did a better job of playing over them. That was thanks to players like Brad Tippett. The sophomore winger is no doubt one of the hardest workers in the league (ac- cording to several coaches) who played and played well on two bad ankles. Tippett had been on crutches until Wednesday and was heavily taped for practice on Thursday in Denver and for both games. At the conclusion of Saturday's game, he could barely walk. But he knew he had a job to do and he did it, typifying the attitude of the underdog Wolverines all season long. With each week this season the coming games have been more crucial than the for- mer ones and this week is no exception. The icers face perhaps their biggest challenge so far in another must-win second-round playoff series in Houghton this weekend against Michigan Tech (who has beaten Michigan in four of their five meetings this season). But the Wolverines are peaking precisely at the right time and for the first time I am op- timistic about their chances of winning. The icers have come so far since October-it's time to show what they are really made of. SPORTS OF THE DAILY: 'M' swimmers drown in Daily Photo by DEBORAH LEWIS THE CENTERS for the Showbiz Kids and the Skywalkers tip off the finals of the intramural Superstars basketball competition. The Skywalkers won, 56- 53. IM CHAMPIONSHIPS: 'Walkers take final By CHUCK HARTWIG It was a disappointing weekend for Michigan's men's swimming team as it was forced to settle for a fourth place finish in the surprising Big Ten Cham- pionships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Surprising because for the first time in 20 years, Indiana did not capture the cdampionship. Iowa stunned the Hoosiers, who took second place. Wisconsin finished in fourth, while Ohio State took fifth place honors behind the Wolverines. "It was a bad meet for us when it should have been a great meet," said coach Bill Farley. "We swam very poorly the first two days of the meet, and we just didn't score well." Farley stressed, however, that the meet was a very fast one which was really tough to score in. Michigan's best performances came from Tom Ernsting who finished third in the 100 yard breaststroke, and diver Ron Merriott, who finished third in both the one- and three-meter diving events. Men served losses The nationally 10th ranked Michigan men's tennis team's hopes for a quick start fizzled this weekend as it dropped three of its four matches in the Corpus Christi Team Tournament at Corpus Christi, Texas. "It was definitely a swim or sink situation," said senior team captain Matt Horwitch."We just didn't swim as well as we hoped to." THE NETTERS LOST their opening match Thursday to the University of Texas, 7-2. Michigan came back strong IM SCORES SUNDAY Basketball Independent (Cpmpetitive) MMB 2, Special Edition 0 (forfeit) 821st Squadron 45, Basketeers 40 Independent (Superstar) Skywalkers 56, Show Biz Kids 53 Fraternity -A' Alpha Phi Alpha 59, Beta Theta Pi 50 Evans Scholars 52, Psi Upsilon 50 Fraternity 'A', Sigma Phi Epsilon 38, Lambda Chi Alpha 26 Women's (Competitive) 'A' Lakers 32, TKO Limited 26 -B' Bogey Busters 31, Barbour 5. Co-Rec Class 'A' Nitwits 55, Fubars 50 'B' Honey Dippers 46, Remnants 45 Residence Hall 'A' 'A' Lewis House 45, Couzens Blue 43 sB' Long Shots 46, Adams House 37 on Friday, defeating Oklahoma State in a close 5-4 match, but dropped another cliffhanger to Louisiana State 5-4. The Wolverines were defeated in their final match Saturday by Texas A&M, 6-3. Both junior Michael Leach and Hor- witch gave impressive performances as they collectively won all four of their matches. Also excelling was sixth singles player Ihor DeBryn, whose split set victory against Oklahoma State led the Wolverines to their only win. Third singles player, sophomore Tom Haney, attributed the team's "disap- pointing" performance to a lack of playing experience this season. "We weren't quite as sharp as we could have been due to the fact that we have had only one outdoor practice this year," he said. "In addition, this was our first match." -BARB BARKER Women netters win Michigan's women's tennis team is quietly becoming a team to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. In a rare Sunday morning match with Illinois, the Wolverines humiliated their out-of-town visitors, 9-0. The shutout lifted Michigan's dual match record to 4-1. "I WAS WORRIED we'd be overcon- fident," said coach Oliver Owens. "Michigan State beat them (Illinois) yesterday, 8-1, and we defeated MSU by the same score. But everyone played well." Marian Kremer, Michigan's No. 1 singles player, had little trouble with Sara Olson, disposing of the Illini netter with a R-2. 6-l i tn muscle pull in her right shoulder throughout the singles match, but was well enough to team up with Mary Mac taggart and scored a straight set 6- 1, 7-5 doubles victory over the Illinois team of Sandy Burgess-Lisa Buchanan. Sue Weber, the lone Wolverine senior, continued her fine play, beating Kathy Kewney 6-2, 6-0, and then paired up with teammate Maryanne Hodges to notch a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Kewney-Rita Hop- pmann. TOM SHAHEEN Synchros surface Two of Michigan's top synchronized swimmers, Betsy Neira and Cathleen O'Brien, placed 23rd and 25th respec- tively out of a field consisting of the nation's best 54 synchronized swim- mers at the National Team Trials in Columbus last weekend. The top 18 finishers qualified to compete on the national synchronized swimmng team. O'Brien and Neira competed in three days of intensive figure competition, If you're into campaigning for real, Chart your course with a nourishing meal. For luncheon or dinner The League's a sure winner Both in voter and gourmet appeal. Q.T. SPE STU h' U" MSen TeMichigan Ma Next to Hill Auditorium Yo Located in the heart of he campus.-tick it is the heart of the campus.. one tourney posting scores of 83.670 and 84.402, respectively. BOTH O'BRIEN AND Neira also placed eighth in the national duet com- petition. However, because both Neita and O'Brien are sophomores, their per- formances last weekend indicated they have a bright future, according to Lin- demen. "We hope that they will do bet-. ter next year," added the coach. Both Neira and O'Brien will go on to. compete at the trials for the Junior United States Synchronized Swimming- Team. The entire team will travel to the regional championships to be held in. Columbus next weekend. JOE CHAPELLE Lunch 11:30 to 1:15 Dinner 5:00 to 7:15 ECIAL LOW PRICES FOR UDENTS nd your League Limerick to: nager, Michigan League 7South Ingalls ,u will receive 2 free dinner *ets if your limerick is used in ie of our ads. By BRUCE NEARY In a tightly fought battle, the Skywalkers beat the Showbiz Kids 56-53 to win the Superstar division of IM basketball. Thus the finals matched the Skywalkers' football starters Keith Bostic, Stan Edwards, and Stu Harris with the Showbiz Kids' former Michigan cager Steve Grote. Led by Grote's eight first-quarter points, the Showbiz Kids opened up a three point lead which they held through the half. HOWEVER, IN the third quarter Bostic heated up, scoring nine of his game high 23 points. By the end of the quarter, the Skywalkers held a 38-35 lead. They stretched that lead to five, but the Showbiz Kids came back to tie the score at 53 when Andy Rudy hit Kent Storey with a minute left. The ,r Skywalkers then stalled until Bostic beat Grote back door with :11 left. The Showbiz Kids brought the ball up and got off a shot, but it missed. Edwards grabbed the rebound and was im- mediately fouled. Alpha Phi Alpha 59, Beta Theta Pi 54, In an atmosphere resembling more of a party than a basketball final game, defending champ Alpha Phi Alpha defeated Beta Theta Pi 59-54 yesterday at the Old IM Building to claim the fraternity 'A' championship. With a stereo, a throng of loyal fans, and clap- ping pledges to spur Alpha Phi Alpha on during the warmups, the defending champions started fast and never glan- ced back at the overmatched, but grit- ty, Beta squad. Right from the opening tip-off, the contrast in the styles of play became evident. Alpha Phi Alpha chose to operate a run and gun offense based on the quickness and shooting touch of its two guards, Tony Jones and B.C. Harris. EHr BETAS, on the other hand, relied on the excellent outside shooting touch which led to its number two Daily ranking and victories over Kappa Sigma, Zeta Psi, and Omega Psi Phi in the 'A' playoffs. The Betas chose to be patient on offense attacking the Alpha Phi Alpha 2-3 zone with passing and perimeter jumpshots. Unfortunately, for the Betas, one shot was all they could muster-if the Betas made the shot, they're in the game, if not Alpha Phi Alpha controlled the game. GREG DEGULIS Nitwits 55, Fubars 50 In the Co-Rec finals, the Nitwits ad- ded the basketball title to their crowns in softball and football, beating the Fubars 55-50. The Fubars jumped to an early lead with their fastbreak, and despite 22 points from Jill Smith, the Nitwits trailed 32-24 at halftime. However, tight defense by, the Nit- wits-they held the Fubars to 4 third- quarter points-and better play from their other women, changed the game around. They grabbed a five-point lead during the third quarter and led by that much the rest of the game. BRUCE NEARY Lewis (Bursley) 45, Blue (Couzens) 43 double OT Despite trailing throughout most of the game Lewis House-Bursley com- bined quickness and speed with some late clutch free throw shooting to struggle to a 45-43 double overtime vic- tory over Couzens Blue in the Residen- ce Hall 'A' class A championship basketball game Sunday. Both teams traded baskets early in the game, and the first half ended in a 21-21 tie. JEFF QUICKSILVER ALASKA CAMPNG oeeAla Rafting tentngtkng yo a caneng and fishng s ,al - Hot springs cmp buadLi EISURE C kitchen, 18 fromSeatle LL 1 LII\L adventure tours WRITE FOR FREE FULL COLOR BROCHURE 3436 TONGASS, KETCHIKAN ALASKA 99901 WII t -, Uv c ory. Kremer was bothered by a sligh LSAT GRE GMAT Test Preparation How do you prepare for these important tests? Get the facts no cost or obligation t32466 Olde Franklin e~Xt0o Far ming ton H ills, Educaional Mlt 4801 L f411Cat1Bt (33 851-2969 xiii (call collect) Please send me your "What Are The Facts" brochure - Name Address Phone Test: LSAT fl GMAT fl GRE SUMMER JOBS CEDAR POINT AMUSEMENT PARK, Sandusky, Ohio, will hold on-campus interviews for sum- meer emsploymnt: mer eployent:Date: Thursday, March 19 Time: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ., Place: Placement Office .{ Over 3,400 positions available for a wide variety of jobs. Dormitory or apartment style . housing available. Contact the Placement Office for information and appointment. Spend a sum- mer in one of the finest resorts in the North. Every Mondy Now t thru Friday:j AvailabletSA riO tPONDEROSA YOUR CHOICE o - == - VALUE MEADS Chopped Beef The University of Michigan Recreational Sports Department offers: Adult Recreative Slow-Pitch Softball Leagues Who: All teams - men's, women's, co rec When: Spring/Summer beginning May 11, 1981 Where: Mitchell Field located on Fuller Rd.x SURGICAL SCRUBSUITS Authentic, Comfortable & Roomy COLORS AVAILABLE: White Jade Green Blue Misty Green Special dinners feature choice of Chopped Beef or Fish Filet, and both include All-You-Can-E at Salad Bar, Baked Potato and Warm Roll with Butter. = - Filet of Fish Dinnr .