Ice Hockey
vs. Michigan State
Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
SPORTS
Men's Basketball
vs. Duke
Tomorrow, 2 p.m. (ABC)
Crisler Arena
he Michigan Daily
Icers face-off for St
riday, Decemb
ber 8, 1989
Page 9
By Andrew Gottesman
Daily Hockey Writer
If there ever was a series that needed a special
scoring system for emotion, the Michigan-
Michigan State hockey matchup is it.
When the puck drops tomorrow night at Yost
Ice Arena to begin a two-game, home-and-home
weekend series between the Wolverines and the
Spartans, all the statistics will go out the
window.
The Spartans (13-3-0 overall, 12-2-0 in the
CCHA) will shed their first place CCHA status
and the Wolverines (10-5-1, 8-5-1) will no longer
be riding a four-game winning streak. This series
isn't about who's better on paper; it's about who
wants it more. Forget finesse and the past - if
you could keep score of emotion you'd know
who the winner will be.
"The games with Michigan are very unpre-
dictable," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said.
"The emotion can create more goals or keep the
score low. The most important thing is just not
to fall behind too far. It's important to keep the
games close."
But if anybody will threaten to blow these
games (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 4 p.m.)
wide open, it will be Mason and his All-;
Everything Michigan State offense. The Spartans
have outscored their CCHA opponents, 91-40,,
this season to lead the CCHA in goals. Western
Michigan is second in scoring, 25 behind the
Spartans torrid pace.
"Seeing what they've done against other
teams, we've just got to go out and limit
chances," senior defenseman and co-captain Alex
Roberts said. "You have to bear down in one-on-
one confrontations."
Actually, the two players the Michigan
defense will have to tighten up on the most are
Kip Miller (16 points, 15 assists, 31 points) and
Pat Murray (9-21-30), the only 30-point scorers
in the league.
"We're going to have to play our best
defensively," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"That'll mean goalkeeping, penalty-killing and
defense.
"On the other hand, they don't give you a lot
offensively."
Michigan State, ranked third in the nation,
sports two of the top four goalies in the league
ate pride
in sophomore Mike Gilmore (2.41 goals against
average) and junior Jason Muzzatti (2.73).
But senior center and co-captain Mike Moes
doesn't think the Wolverines are facing a wall.
"Nobody's going to tell me that Jason Muzzatti
is as good as (Michigan goalie) Warren Sharp-
les," he said.
"Things are really clicking for them. We're
not going to get very many chances and we've
got to capitalize," Sharples said. "But now they
(MSU) are playing a strong team and we'll see
what kind of character they have."
The Wolverines, who are coming off sweeps
of Western Michigan and Boston University, are
playing arguably their best hockey of the season
and should give the Spartans their toughest test
in the interstate rivalry in years. "The last two
weekends have probably been the best back-to-
back weeks for us," Berenson said. "But it
doesn't mean anything if we don't go out and do
it again.
"These games are important for Michigan
pride. The standings don't mean a thing and the
teams on paper don't mean a thing."
Michigan defenseman Todd Copeland and Michigan State defenseman
Don Gibson battle for position in last year's action.
.Swimmers aim for
a crawl to victory
by Michael Bess
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend is an important one
for the Michigan men's swimming
team trying to rebound from its
performance in Texas last weekend.
Coming off a fourth place finish
in the Longhorn Invitational, the
Wolverines face a strong Eastern
Michigan squad. The regional rivalry
begins at 7:00 p.m. tonight in
Canham Natatorium. On Saturday,
four Michigan swimmers will
compete against some of the
nation's best in the Nebraska Sprint
Invitational.
Although Eastern pales in com-
parison to the maize and blue in
most sports, swimming is a definite
exception.
Michigan assistant coach Mark
Noetzel respects the Hurons. "They
have some competitive guys that
could give us trouble," he said. "We
could see some very fast times if
they push us."
Whether the times are fast
enough to qualify for the NCAA
championships remains to be seen.
But Michigan swimmers Mike Bar-
rowman and Brent Lang qualified last
week in Austin.
Despite last week's fourth place
finish, the Wolverines have not lost
their confidence and remain fixed on
improving for March.
"We're not too disappointed,"
Noetzel said. "Every swimmer pro-
ved season best times, so you can't
be disappointed by that."
Saturday's event in Lincoln
should be interesting, as the top
swimmers.from Michigan, Nebra-
ska, Iowa, Texas and Division III
champion Kenyon battle for aquatic
supremacy. The one hour televised
competition features a number of
short distance races and should test
Michigan's best. Representing the
Wolverines will be Jarret Winter,
Rick Wilkening, Lang and Ba-
rrowman.
"It's unique," Noetzel said.
"Every team enters one swimmer in
each event which is exciting. It's
going to be a situation where teams
send a swimmer head to head against
another's."
Duke
continued from page 1
will probably be a lot of scoring.
Prior to Wednesday's loss, the Blue
Devils had scored over 100 points in
each of their first three games -
victories over Canisius, Northwest-
ern, and Harvard. Michigan's offense
has also found its way back on track.
After a slow start, the Wolverines
reached the century mark against
Iowa State and Central Michigan.
The game will be especially
important to the Wolverines as an
early-season barometer of their
bench. Coach Steve Fisher said after
Wednesday's dismantling of Central
Michigan that he was pleased with
the amount of playing time his
back-ups have had.
"We've got eight people that
have played in stressful situations,"
he said.
A big question revolves around
Michigan's depth in their front
court. 6-foot-11 back-up center Eric
Riley is the Wolverines insurance
policy in case Vaught or Mills get
into foul trouble.
But Riley has averaged only five
points and four rebounds, and he
struggled inside against Arizona -
the only other top 20 team Michigan
has played. "If he can find ways to
use his quickness against their
strength, things might balance out
for him," Vaught said. "But this
game will definitely be a test. It's
the toughest game for him so far."
"(Riley's effectiveness in the
paint) depends on how they call the
last week of school and the players
have a lot of papers and finals,"
Krzyzewski said. "The Syracuse
game was very physical and I'm just
hoping we'll get our level of inten-
sity up that high Saturday."
Coach K's problems are com-
pounded by the fact that only nine
players will make the trip. Center
Crawford Palmer and guard Joe Cook
are injured. Forward Clay Buckley is
suspended for two games for aca-
demic reasons. Though Duke's top
players will all be at the game, their
lack of bodies may be important if
they get in severe foul trouble.
74ea
L
Brickey
game," Fisher expla
ined. "If they let you play real
physical, he's at a definite
disadvantage with his lack of
strength and weight. If they call it
relatively close, then he'll be OK."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has
too many concerns about his own
depth to worry about exploiting
Michigan's weaknesses. "This is our
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