4
Hall of Fame Bowl
tickets still available
Michigan Ticket Department
Corner of State of Hoover
The Michigan Daily
SPORTS
Wednesday, December 9, 1987
Men's basketball
vs. Austin Peay
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Crisler Arena
Page 10
leers
Blue
Lines
Oh, East is East, and West is
West, and never the twain shall
meet, Till Earth and Sky stand
presently at God's great judgment
Seat; But there is neither East nor
West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to
face, though they come from the
ends of the earth.
-Rudyard Kipling
By JULIE HOLLMAN
Kipling's ballad came to life this
past weekend when Michigan battled
head to head with Hockey East
representative Boston College. The
two teams met and they met hard, as
each was struggling for a badly
needed victory.
Both teams are strong and talented
but have failed to live up to presea-
son reputations and fan expectations.
Before the series, each team was fifth
in its division and each was coming
off a string of defeats.
Michigan had lost three in a row,
including suffering its first sweep of
the season at the hands of Lake Su-
perior, the previous weekend. Boston
College had just beaten Colorado
College, but before that, had lost
four in a row and was sporting a 4-5
ecord.
BC'S EXCUSE for mediocrity
is more understandable than Michi-
gan's. The Eagles, normally a na-
tionally contending team, lost four
players to the Olympics and one to
the NHL, leaving a young and inex-
perienced squad. As for the Wolver-
ines, they're not offering any ex-
cuses for their 7-9 conference record,
but they're also not providing any
solutions. That's mainly because the
cause of their ailments is too puz-
zling.
Michigan has played some great
hockey; and it has played some bad
hockey. Often, the Wolverines look
like two different teams even within
play
/
. t
game of
Jekyll
and Hyde
4
the same game. Last weekend was a
prime example of the Michigan
schizophrenia.
On Friday night, BC and Michi-
gan played an evenly matched but
boring, scoreless first period. Not
much was expected from BC since it
failed to score in the first frame in
its last three games, and four of its
last five.
SO THE burden of excitement
fell on Michigan. But the
Wolverines failed to capitalize on the
Eagles' lack of productivity. As
Kipling put it "He fired once, he
fired twice, but the whistling ball
went wide."
After that first dry period though,
the weekend got very exciting. The
Wolverines came out of the locker
room a changed team. By playing
some of their best hockey this
season, they pulled out to a 3-0 lead.
In the third frame however, the
Jekyll came out of the Hyde. In an
all too typical fashion, Michigan let
the Eagles stage a comeback, yield-
ing two quick goals.
The Wolverines showed some
strength, scored two more goals, and
Doily Photo by ROBIN LOZNAK
Don Stone's goal helped Michigan past Boston College Saturday. Despite the Wolverines' sweep last weekend, head coach Red Berenson
still sees room for improvement.
held on for the win.
SATURDAY night, Michigan
again showed some character and
some softness. After climbing back
from a 2-1 deficit to take a 4-2 lead
in the final period, Michigan allowed
BC to tie the game and force an
overtime period.
The Wolverines gained new life
in the extra frame, and within 29
seconds, clinched the victory and
their first sweep of the season.
So it was a very good weekend
for Michigan, but not a great
weekend. "Good things happened
this weekend," said head coach Red
Berenson. "But the games we have
to look at are the ones that move us
up in the standings." And the
Wolverines have had some trouble
winning those.
WITH HALF the season now
over, Berenson is taking a hard look
at his team in evaluating its current
position. "Sometimes its
worthwhile that a team face reality,"
he said. "We have to regroup,
because the direction we're going in
right now is not good enough
against the top teams."
Michigan split with league-lead-
ing Michigan State but also split
with cellar dwellers Miami of Ohio
and Ferris State. Michigan could not
have improved its standing this
weekend because BC was a non-con-
ference foe. The sixth-place Wolver=
ines ended up dropping from eight
points out of first to ten points out.
Up until the Lake Superior series,
the Wolverines were able to salvage
something from each weekend, but
they have not been consistent.
The problem is three-fold. In or-
der to make the jump into the upper
half of the standings, Michigan must
improve on overall team defense,
third-period consistency, and
preparation. "We still need to learn
how to win in the third period re-
gardless of the score," said Berenson.
"We've also been discussing
preparation because we spend all
week getting ready, but we're not
getting into sync until Saturday."
So there it is, the dark and dreary
explanation. Now it will be up to
Berenson and the rest of the team to
find the bright solutions. There's
enough time to make up the dis-
tance, but it has to be done quickly.
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