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 Eat With The Best. S ZGCVAIAN WCST. 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