Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 13, 1987 Blue -S'. K t Bernadette... ...you're the tops Lines By DARREN JASEY The following is a letter to a UIC Pavillion usherette I met during the Wolverine hockey team's stay in Chicago earlier in the season: Dear Bernadette the usherette, Hi. Remember me? We met last Halloween night at an Illinois-Chicago hockey game. Surely you remember the weekend that your team kicked Michigan's butt in hockey. The scores were 5-2 and 13-3. YOUR TEAM was flying so high at the time. It had just won three in a row before clobbering Michigan. It even went on to beat first-place Michigan State the following week. Those lopsided scores have haunted me to this very day. At the time I was very distraught. In defense of my school, I told you that this was an uncharacteristic effort you were seeing from the Wolverines. They lose a lot, but they're never blown out of a game. "It can be a good hockey team," I said. I also told you of the evil that occurred on Halloween night that left half of the team sick. But you and your friends still laughed and taunted me. "You came all this way to write about this team?" you said. TO THINK, me of Mighty Michigan being taunted by the student-ushers of this small school near downtown Chicago. The Michigan team also had to bear the brunt of the UIC taunts. As the Flames rolled up the score they waved their towels, and the small home crowd screamed, "We want more!" After the series, Joel the Zamboni driver brought out the brooms and the players hoisted them high. I kept my cool. "Laugh," I thought. "Go ahead. Have your fun. Your team still has two games in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines will get you back." In all my years as a Michigan fan there is one trademark I'll never forget: Michigan teams always bounce back from humiliation. Well, last weekend our time came. I was all set for a Michigan sweep. Everything was pointing in the Wolverines' direction. They had won four of their last six games, while UIC had lost four in a row and was only 4-9-1 since the Michigan massacre. Two of those Wolverine victories were sweet revenge against Miami. There was no doubt that the same treatment was in store for your Flames. LAST WEEK optimism ran rampant in the Wolverine camp. The youngsters had gained confidence and started to contribute more. To play .500 hockey during the season's second half was not out of the question for the improving team. By Friday night I expected the young Wolverines to be breathing fire. Just think: a weekend sweep and they'd actually be ahead of the Flames in the standings. Well Bernadette, my Michigan Wolverines died last weekend. The early Flames goals were like gun shots aimed at the Wolverine's hearts. By the second period of Saturday's game, the Wolverines had no pulse. By the end of that second game, the Flames' towel waving and their chants of "SWEEP!" became almost unbearable. This time the scores were 7-4 and 7-2. IT WASN'T the Wolverines who were hungry for the win, it was the Flames. "They just seemed like they didn't have any emotion at all," UIC's leading scorer, Jeff Nelson, said. "We thought they would come out like gangbusters. Instead, they'd score a goal and hardly anybody would congratulate each other. They didn't look like they wanted to win." Said Michigan senior wing John Bjorkman of the lifeless Wolverines, "We weren't desperate enough. We didn't want it bad enough." Emotion is very important for teams like Michigan and Illinois-Chicago. It allows them to compete with the elite teams like Michigan State and Bowling Green. I'm sure that you, being a competitive gymnast, would agree with what UIC head.coach Val Belmonte said about emotion: "It can make an average player greater than a great player." That's what's sad about Michigan's performance last weekend. The Wolverines were talented enough to beat Illinois-Chicago but as Michigan head coach Red Berenson put it, they just didn't show up. So Bernadette, go ahead and gloat. You've got every right to. Your team has bested mine by an unreal 32-11 margin. You win. You have the better hockey team. And don't worry I won't even mention that our basketball team whipped yours 123-86. So long. Darren. Daily Photo by JOHN MUNSON Illinois-Chicago's Todd Beyer puts the crunch on Michigan's Mike Moes last Friday night at Yost Ice Arena. The Flames crunched the Wolverines' hopes for revenge as they swept the weekend series, 7-4, 7-2. t t r 1 Tumblers blowi Office of Career Planning & Placement Presents Lawrence L. Gladchun Sr. V.P. & Regional Chairman Michigan National Corporation By JIM DOWNEY A Big Ten Championship Preview? Wolverine men's gymnastics coach Bob Darden hopes the Windy City Invitational was nothing of the sort. Michigan finished a disappointing ninth in a field of eleven teams at the meet hosted by the University of Illinois- Chicago. "It was sort of embarassing with all of the Big Ten teams there," said Darden. "We left the floor with our tails between our legs." All seven Big Ten schools with men's programs were represented (Indiana, Purdue, and Northwestern have no teams). Although the Big Ten is the premier conference in the country, the team had set goals higher than the 252.30 finish they gained. "WE HAD hoped to score in the 260s, which would have been a good score for us at this time of the year," said Darden. Iowa (268.10), Ohio State (267.75), and Minnesota (265.95) captured the top three spots. "We gave away ten points on mental mistakes," said Darden. "But if there is a silver lining, and there is, it is that we have room for considerable improvement." Juniors Craig Ehle and Nick Lamphier led the team with Sawa consistent performances in a six events. Ehle was the team's individual point leader, collecting a score of 51.4 out of a possible sixty. Senior captain Mitch Rose, still hampered by a bad ankle that has limited him to four events, qualified for the finals in two. Senior Brock Orwig, an all- around performer, was troubled by an ankle problem which contributed to an uncharacteristically inconsistent performance. He managed fourth-place finishes in both the floor exercise (9.45) and the still rings (9.10). Darden admitted to being surprised at the outcome of the team's first meet of the 1987 NCAA season, but remained optimistic. "The guys are back in the gym working hard today," he said. "And with the exception of Southern Illinois, we'll have a chance to prove ourselves again to everybody who was there this past weekend." The Wolverines' first opportunity comes this Saturday when the Ohio State Buckeyes come to town for a dual meet. 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