Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 6, 1989
Blue
Lines
'M' is GLI champs,
believe it or not!
Myles O'Connor and Don Stone were two of the Wolverines who helped
Great Lakes Invitational championship trophy back to Ann Arbor.
JOSE JUAREZID&MY
bring the ,
Jaffe, Genyk quit hockey team
BY MIKE GILL
Junior backup goaltender Tim
Genyk and sophomore forward Billy
Jaffe left the Michigan hockey team
following the teams pre-Christmas
games against Illinois-Chicago.
Both players cited the fact that the
game they loved as a kid, had stopped
being fun.
"I'm not angry. I am disappoin-
ted," Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "I was disappointed to see either
of them leave-in the middle of the
year. I don't think that's what we're
trying to build. The lessons you
learn in sports is that you don't give
up and quit.
"IT'S INTERESTING that
the very next weekend our team ends
up in a position where we could have
easily quit (trailing 5-1 to North
Dakota) and we ended up with the
biggest win of the year."
Berenson summed up, "Every
player comes to a point where he
realizes his career is over or isn't
going anywhere. I think that's what
happened to both Tim Genyk and
Bill Jaffe.
Genyk, reached last night by
phone at his appartment, refused
comment, except to say "It stopped
being fun and I soured on the sport."
Genyk did not see action as a
Wolverine, joining the team as a
walk-on transfer sophomore. "He was
only with us for a year and a half,"
Berenson said. "I think it was a little
premature on his part to expect to
play, particularly with a player like
Warren Sharples ahead of you."
BERENSON added that he
expects to pick up another back-up
goaltender this season, probably from
the crop which tried out prior to the
season.
Jaffe saw action in 11 of 20
games this season on the fourth line.
He totalled one goal and one assist.
For Jaffe, also reached last night
at his appartment, quitting offers him
the opportunity to do other things
with his life.
"I didn't love it anymore," Jaffe
said. "The role I was playing didn't
appeal to me anymore. I knew I
wanted more of an opportunity, I
didn't see it coming and I didn't feel
the opportunity would be more in the
future.
"THIS WAS a long time in
coming. This was one of the biggest
decisions in my life. I wanted to
stick it out at times but I was so
unhappy. Sometimes you gotta do
what you feel is right for yourself,
not to sound self-centered."
Neither player complained openly
of his situation before quitting.
Berenson praised both for their atti-
tude and added that both were well
received by the team. Genyk was not
on scholarship; Jaffe was on partial
scholarship.
Jaffe, tanned and fresh off a trip
from Sarasota, expects to be in the
stands for one of this weekend's
games against Lake Superior, noting
that he is still a Michigan fan and
that he is best friends with many on
the team.
"I was so happy they won the
GLI. I'm sure it will be hard to
watch at first, but I hope they do
well, I really do."
AFTER thinking of transferring
out of Michigan for this semester,
Jaffe has decided to stay, citing the
many opportunities the university
offers.
This summer, Jaffe will enter into
the broadcasting world, working as
an intern at the NBC affiliate in
Chicago. He also plans to begin
refereeing hockey and possibly work
some play-by-play.
"If there is one thing I'd like
people to know it's that there is
more to Billy Jaffe than hockey."
BY MIKE GILL*
Special to the Daily
DETROIT - Mike Moes picked up the puck as it
bounced off one of the official's skates and headed down
the ice. The Michigan bench leaned over the boards a
little further as he skated by. Moes held his team's fate
in the little puck he pushed ahead.
Finally, the North Dakota defenseman blinked, Moes
winked, and Michigan won the Great Lakes Invitational.
And what did this guy want to say about all the nifty
moves he made to give Michigan its first GLI cham-
pionship in 13 years?
"I wanted to pass it." Pass it? Geez. Start shakin'
your head.
IF YOU WERE on hand at Joe Louis Arena or
watching somewhere across the country on TV last
Friday, you should still be shaking your head.
And if you have just learned that Michigan took a 5-1
deficit with 15 minutes left in the game, and leaped,
hopped, and skipped, its way into the lockerroom with a
6-5 double overtime victory, start shaking.
Maybe these guys took that great satiric line from the
current box office smash "The Naked Gun" personally,
where Leslie Nielsen tells his flame, "My dear, what we
have may only amount to a hill of beans, but it's our
hill, and our beans."
The Wolverines' hill was 20 minutes left to prove
something. Their beans were a group of gutsy players
who never said never. And in this case, the two equaled a
GLI championship.
Brothers, Brown, Brost 'n' Brost read the scorecard in
that fateful third period. And it was B-utiful.
BUT THIS WAS more than a game of goals. It
was one of those games where you found your heart
stuck somewhere in your throat when Michigan swarmed
around North Dakota goaltender Chris Dixon. It also had
to be pulled out of the stomach each time Warren
Sharples stopped another Fighting Sioux rally. A yo-yo.
This was a game where Denny Felsner whistled a shot
with 3:12 remaining in the third, only to have it barely
deflected. A game where Don Stone feeds Moes from
behind the net and Moes shoots just wide. The throat has
a heart ready to be coughed up.
This was a game where Dakota spread Sharples on the
ice, like mustard on rye, and doing everything but adding
that top piece of bread. No mayonnaise. No victory.
This was a game which saw Alex Roberts, the
swarming defenseman, lose his stick, continue on, stop a
shot nonetheless with his skate, then turn the reigns over
to Sharples to save another and zap the scoring
opportunity for good.
Heart-attack game, ha boys?
FINALLY WITH 5:57 remaining in the second
overtime session, Moes (and it's pronounced "Moose,"
like the animal, OK?) came stomping over the blue line
like a wild...well, reindeer.
Champions.
How much fun that is. Remember playing "Kill the
Guy" in grade school, where you pile on the guy that has
the football? That's what happened to Moes after his
goal. Later he was doused with water and ice by his
roommate Rob Brown.
The scene included Sharples being greeted at center ice
by Roberts with a giant bear hug - and as they fell, a
devastated North Dakota team skated by. The scene was
players embracing the Michigan flag; Mocs and
Sharples, the two overtime heroes, hugging; Michigan
coach Red Berenson, a guy who puts so much
importance in a firm handshake, giving one to Moes
along with a slap on the shoulder, and Kent Brother
taking the trophy and shaking it six times into the air to
the delight of the crowd.
And you wanna hear the funny part?
THE PUBLIC ADDRESS announcer asked "the
champions" to come forward and accept token remem-
berances of the tournament.
They didn't budge. Maybe it hadn't sunk in yet. It
took team trainer A.J. Duffy's frantic motions to get
them down the ice.
And just maybe, it hit them.
Who would of thunk? 5-1. Read it. 5-1. And the4
came back.
Berenson told them at the end of the second period,
"How are you going to explain this to your parents and
friends in a championship game, in a tournament like
this?"
So they went out there and worked hard.
START WITH Todd Brost. It's easy to over-glorify
a person's play when the team wins. But let's just say,
Brost's play in period three and OT is beyond adjectives,
The co-captain had two goals and two assists in thie
game. The goals were probably the easiest things he did*
all night. "I just happened to be at the right place at tte
right time and scored," Brost said. "My linesmates
deserve the credit. I just put in their rebounds."
It was more the way he handled the puck, and carried
himself on the ice. He exemplified the determination that
was starting to shape this Michigan team in the third. a
A man possessed. With a passion. "He never gives
up. He never gives up," Berenson said while shaking hits
head. "That hopefully will be a part of the personality of
this team."
It sure rubbed off in this game. Jeff Urban, who uitil$
now had only played in a little over half of the team's
games, came up with three assists in the tournament,
two in the finale.
"We had guys like Jeff Urban who played out of his
mind," Sharples said. "That's the kind of effort you neld
to win big games."
Urban stated: "We had to go for it all."
They did. They got it. Who would of thunk?
IT WAS A game won for the seniors, Brost, Urban
and Myles O'Connor who have had so little to show for
their stay at Michigan. "I think this is my most
satisfying moment at Michigan," Brost said while sittiig
quietly next to his locker, sucking in the moment. "I
thought we could do it, I really did."
It was a team which never stopped believing :in
themselves.
In mid-December, with Michigan mired in an 0-72
slump, I grabbed a bite to eat after practice one night
with Kent Brothers. Between bites on buffalo wings, tile
conversation moved to the GLI and he said with tre
sincerity, "You know, Mike, I really believe we're gonna
win that thing. I really do."
"Uh-huh" I answered. Win it? When they can't even
win a hockey game? After the second period, I had
another chuckle at the thought.
BUT IN THE lockerroom, Brothers first words ware
"ala Joe Namath," referring to Super Bowl III when
Namath predicted a New York Jets win - despite heavy
odds against them.
Which is about true. Entering this tournament, an
entering the third period, no one gave Michigan a chance.
Except themselves.
"You just can't give up," Brost said.
And because they didn't, they're GLI champs.
A-9
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HAPPENING
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Lakers
Continued from Page 12
"Yea, he's kind of a hyper
coach," Michigan co-captain
Myles O'Connor said. "You see
him behind the bench and you hear
a lot of stories about him. But
Anzalone doesn't play a game,
he's got five of his players on the
ice.
"Just seeing him behind the
bench yellin' and screamin' - it
gets you pumped up a little."
Lake Superior has had trouble
on the power play. They rank last
in the league for effectiveness
while having the extra man,
scoring on only 14 of 97
opportunities, a .144 percentage.
Michigan is only slightly better,.
averaging a goal on one out of
every five chances. However,
during the GLI the Michigan
powerplay exploded against
Michigan Tech and North Dakota,
scoring on five of seven
opportunities.
Warren Sharples will start in
goal tonight for the Wolverines
and possibly Saturday, depending
upon his effectiveness in the
opener. "He obviously deserves to
play at this point," Berenson said.
"But the minute we think we need
(Timmy) Keough to come in and
give him a push or a rest, we'll do
that.
Earn
your
place
in
the
sun.
Earn your M.B.A. in Miami.
One and two year programs, depending on your
background. New classes start in January, May,
and late August.
For information, call or write:
UjNIVERSITY OF
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