4 .wr Hockey vs. Michigan State Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Yost Ice Arena SPORTS Men's Gymnastics vs. Minnesota Tomorrow. 7 p.m. Crisler Arena The Michigan Daily Friday, January 29, 1988 Page 10 Intense icers set for strong Spartans 4 By JULIE HOLLMAN Whenever Michigan and Michigan State get together for a hockey game, the competition is always ruthless. But this weekend, when the two teams clash at Yost Ice Arena tonight at 7:30 and at Munn Ice Arena to- morrow night, the intensity level will shatter the me- tcr, as the stakes riding on this series are unusually h igh. "This series is going to be the most intense series I've ever played in," said Wolverine goalie Warren Sharples. "If you thought the last series between us was intense, this one will surpass it greatly. We won't be satisfied with anything but a sweep." The reason the two teams are so fired up is that the outcome could send one team soaring to new heights and send the other plummeting. Michigan State (16-5-3 CCHA, 18-7-3 overall) is currently at the heels of Lake Superior State in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings and can pull into first place by winning one more game than the Lakers. Michigan (13-11, 17-13) on the other hand, will be fighting to maintain its third place position. The Wolverines presently stand nine points behind the Spartans but only one point ahead of fourth-place Western Michigan and two ahead of Bowling Green. "The games at this point in the season always seem more important," said Wolverine head coach Red Berenson. "With so much at stake I sense it will mean a lot to both teams to play well." The last time these two rivals met, they each played their best at home and ended the weekend with a split. The victory for Michigan, however, marked the first time in the last five meetings with Michigan State that the Wolverines came out on top. Last weekend the Spartans disposed of Illinois- Chicago in two hard fought games. The sweep in- creased the Spartans current winning streak to five games. In the midst of all their good fortune, however, the Spartans suffered one major blow. After earning his first career hat trick on Friday, first-year student Jeff Harding received a major penalty for head-butting on Saturday and has been suspended for this weekend's series. Spartan head coach Ron Mason expressed disap- pointment in the loss of a star contributor. "The way he was playing when he was thrown out, it's bound to have a bearing," said the NCAA's fourth-winningest coach. "Anytime you take out somebody who's having success, it's going to have an impact because it forces you to change your lines." After being forced to digest a tough loss against Ferris State last Saturday, Michigan should come out of the locker room with a vengeance. "Whenever a team doesn't play its best and they get upset about it, that's good because we usually bounce back and have an even better game," said Berenson. "I think we all felt that we let that game slip away from us and we have to make up for it." The results for each team could rest on the shoulders of its goalie. Both netminders are coming off strong performances. Two weeks ago Sharples earned CCHA Player-of-the-Week honors for his efforts against Illi- nois-Chicago and last weekend, MSU's rookie goalie Jason Muzzatti notched his 13th straight CCHA vic- tory in the series with the Flames. Muzzatti also owns the second-best goals against average in the league-2.96. 4 4 i I Michigan State's Ron Mason is the fourth winningest hockey coach in NCAA history. Both coaches agree that consistency will play a key role in the series. The Wolverines, however, have experienced a difficult time grasping this concept and Berenson points out that the team which makes the most mistakes will probably lose. "We haven't played as consistently as (Michigan State) has and that's probably the difference in the two teams," he said. In trying to dispatch the Spartans, Michigan will look to the hot stick of winger Bryan Deasley who recorded four tallies against Ferris State, including a hat trick Friday night, his second of the season. Daily Photo by ROBIN LOZNAK, Michigan goaltender Warren Sharples makes a save against Ferris State last week. He and the Wolverines face off with Michigan State tonight at Yost Ice Arena and tomorrow night at Munn Arena in East Lansing. M', MSU scoring leaders Michigan GP G Brown,R 30 17 Powers, B 28 19 Brost, T 30 16 Stone, D 30 15 ..O'Connor, M 29 8 A 20 17 19 14 18 Pts 37 36 35 29 26 Michigan State GP G A Reynolds, B 28 21 14 Heaphy, S 27 15 20, Cole, D 28 12 23 McRe'olds, B 28 8 18 Russell, K 28 10 14 Pts 35 35 35 26 24 MEN'S AND WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: Men look for remedy against Gophers- 4 The ALL MY MUFFINS "MUFFETTS" . . - only at a 1220 S. University 747-7009 say: try our delux muffins. starring~ :X x x x x x x x By STEVEN GINNS Losing is contagious and the men's gymnastics team has been over exposed to it this season. Tomorrow night at Crisler Arena (7 p.m.), the winless Wolverines will try to end this affliction against Minnesota. According to head coach Bob Darden that task will not be easy. "Minnesota ranks right up there with Ohio State," he said. Ohio State originally passed the disease on to the Wolverines in the first meet of the year in whipping them, 280.5-252.8. In its next encounter, Michigan fought back and improved its chances to shake this contagious disease by scoring a 266 in the Windy City Invitational. Darden looked for the recovery to progress. However, the opportunity for a quick recovery was not realized. Illinois caused the losing to spread by inflicting another defeat upon the Wolverines, 278.95-258.6. The diagnosis for this weekend does not look good. Compounding the slim chances for a recovery is an injury to first year student Sven Jonsson. A former member of the Swedish National team, Jonsson broke his ankle in practice.sCoach Darden was pleased with Jonsson's performances up to that point. Women to battle Ohido St., Penn St. The confidence level is high as the women's gymnastics team travels to Columbus to battle Ohio State and Penn State in a tri-meet tonight. Last week Michigan defeated Illinois to improve its record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten. But the Wolverines will need more than confidence to beat Ohio State - the five year reigning Big Ten champs. The Buckeyes have averaged a score of 183 to Michigan's 174 this season. However, head coach Dana Kempthorn feels her team can place ahead of Penn State. "I am looking to pull in second if not stick right near Ohio State,?' Kempthorn said. . 4 u Cherry Cheese Surprise Raspberry Choc. Chunkj Peanut Butter Cup 1 i Illini trio go CHAMPAIGN (AP) - The University of Illinois apparently will not pursue disciplinary action against three Illini basketball play- ers, including leading scorer Kenny Battle, who were involved in a car crash, an official said yesterday. Battle, 23, Larry Smith,19, and Marcus Liberty, 19, were ticketed for unblemished illegal transportation of alcohol after a three-car accident early Sunday. Smith, the driver, also was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions. Battle, a junior forward, leads the team with 16.2 points a game this season, while Smith, a sophomore4 guard, is scoring 5.7 points a game. Liberty is sitting out his first season because of low scores on his college entrance tests. 333rl=TTTTm-rre/ I What makes a JOB FUN? 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Seville (Spanish language program) 4:00 p.m. MLB Commons, 4th floor London summer program 7:00 p.m. 180 Tappan Hall Florence (Italian language program) nr n -~, -- T T3 h , r. --- A , M.... Tuesday, February 2 Wednesday, February 3 Monday, February 8