4 Wrestling vs. Ohio State Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Crisler Arena SPORTS Hockey vs. Ohio State Friday, 7:30 p.m. Yost Ice Arena The Michigan Daily Tuesday, February 11, 1986 F Page 8 Fiery Anzalone sparks LSSC Lakers 4 By SCOTT G. MILLER Lake Superior hockey coach Frank Anzalone has added new meaning to the phrase "starting at the bottom." The Lakers' sweep of Michigan this past weekend put them close to the top of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. There are only five poin- ts separating fourth-place Lake Superior (20-13-1, 17-12-1) from first- place Michigan State. Last season Anzalone's Lakers almost reached the pinnacle of college hockey. The team lost to eventual NCAA champion RPI in the quarter- finals after a second-place CCHA finish, the best in the program's history. But the penthouse view of the hockey world is new for one who star- ted from the basement of the coaching profession. Anzalone's first hockey job was as player and coach of the Den Bosch Division One team in the Netherlands for the 1978-79 season. Anzalone returned to the United States the next season to coach the Waterloo, Iowa Blackhawks of the U.S. Junior League. He also coached the Austin, Minn. Mavericks of the same league before becoming an assistant coach at Lake Superior in 1982. When former head coach Bill Selman resigned to go into business, Anzalone inherited a floundering Laker program in the middle of the 1983 season. The Laker's tide of success can be traced to the head man. "Frank is an excellent coach. Look at where the team was before he got there," said Michigan captain Frank Downing. "He just turned them around. I have never played against them when a .< Anza lone ... a 'New York city guy' every single player did not work hard." The work ethic and a dominating defensive style are the building blocks of the Lake Superior team, since attracting blue-chip talent to Sault Ste. Marie is a recruiter's nightmare. "Defense is the number-one priority in the game because I have never had a Dan Dorian (Western Michigan) or a Joe Murphy (Michigan State). We are never going to have one at Lake Superior," said the Laker coach whose record at LSSC is 50-46-4. 1 have to get the tenth best player and make him a good player. "The theory is you can't teach of- fense but you can teach defense because defense takes hard work. You can work as hard as you want but if' you are not a goal scorer you are not going to score." While lacking goal scorers, the' Lakers never lack er otion. The team would sink without inspired play. Its tight defensive style needs discipline and direction. "I think Anzalone gets his team pumped up," said Orchard Park, N.Y. native Frank Downing. "I know what kind of guy he is. He is a New York" City guy, a tough guy, and a good guy." "He's a tyrant," said Michigan defensemen Jeff Norton, who played for the Anzalone gold-medal winning team in the National Sports Festival last summer. "He likes hard work,. and he knows the game." "If you want to play for him you have to go a hundred percent or you're not going to play at all." Anzalone's all-or-nothing style gets the maximum effort from his players. It also resembles that of fellow Brooklyn native and North Carolina State' basketball coach Jimmy Valvano. "I enjoy Valvano. I think he is areal fiery guy," said Anzalone. "I think I have to be fiery because this program was way down. "You can be as masterful a coach as you want but if you can't motivate and get the kids to do what you want,' you are going to keep losing. We don't have the best team in college hockey so I have to be a motivator." The inspirational coach's bench demeanor is changing but not of his own volition. "I have quieted down because every time I yell at the ref s I get a two minute bench minor," said Anzalone. "I don't know, I guess my Italian voice, travels." Anzalone himself may travel. from Lake Superior providing he can step to an even higher plateau in college hockey. "My ambitions are to do as well as I can at Lake Superior," said the Laker coach. "If there is ever something good for me I would move on. Daily Photo by PETE ROSS Lake Superior State goalie Joe Shawhan, the leading netminder in the CCHA, sprawls in front of the Lakers' net Saturday night. The Lakers' dominating defense helped coach Frank Anzalone's squad secure home-ice advan- tage in the CCHA first-round playoffs for the second straight year. Before you make a long distance commitment, make sure you know what you're getting into. "It would have to be a really good move for me right now. I enjoy being the coach at Lake Superior, being kind of a dark horse and seeing that the kids play good hockey and graduate on schedule." The Lake Superior program and its coach are right on schedule in rising from the cellar to build a winning Division One hockey team. 4 ' Thinclads take firsts By JEFF RUSH In weekend competition at' Michigan State the Wolverine's women's track team turned in a Spar- tan performance of their own, cap- turing four firsts and four seconds. The Wolverines were most dominant in the 1000-yard run, as Cathy Schmidt, Kelli Burt and- Melissa Thompson captured first, third and sixth, respectively. While Michigan coach James Henry went into the meet concentrating on the relay events, the showing in the 1000-yard run left him thinking about possible NCAA qualifications in in- dividual events. "Right now we are running best at the middle distances (such as the 1000-yard run), and that's the area where we have the best chance to qualify for nationals," said Henry. Henry was also pleased with the team's performance in the relay events. The Wolverines took firsts in the distance medley relay and the mile relay and seconds in the sprint medley and the two-mile relay. "Our intentions were to just run well in the relay events, and we ac- complished that," said Henry. "As far as the team is concerned, we've had a consistent team performance at every meet." Rounding out the string of firsts was Angie Haffner's performance in the high jump. Haffner took first with a jump of 5-81. The first-place showing came after a bout with the flu. "Angie had two excellent attempts at NCAA-qualifying jumps," said Henry. "She's back on track." 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