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Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday -- October 9,1989

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Experience
by David Hyman
Daily Hockey Writer
The Michigan hockey team skates into the 1989-90
season with lofty expectations, having been picked to
finish third in the Central Collegiate Hockey
Association coaches preseason poil.
Bolstered by the return of nine seniors, both coach
and players expect the Wolverines to make a run at the
CCHA crown.
"We lost three players from last season, but based
on last season's improvement and a more experienced
team, we have the leadership we need to be
successful," head coach Red Berenson said.
"Having nine guys around for three years is a big
factor and we have that senior pride in that we really
want to make big strides this year," added co-captain
Mike Moes.
Michigan finished fourth last season with a 17-1.1-4
CCHA record (22-15-4 overall) and with the
combination of some veterans and some new blood,
the Wolverines are ready to make a jump to the top of
the league.
Moes (14 goals, 24 assists) and Rob Brown (10-18)
provide Michigan with two experienced senior centers
for the first time in Berenson's six year reign.
Brown, who led the team in scoring (21-23) his
sophomore season, had a somewhat different role last
year, providing the Wolverines with a needed two-way
center.
"He's not a prolific scorer," Berenson said. "We
don't expect him to lead the team in scoring, but he
could if we needed him to like he did his sophomore
year."
Sophomore left-winger Denny Felsner is the player
Michigan will rely on to put the puck in the net, as he
led the Wolverines with 30 goals and 49 points last
year.
"He's coming off a great freshman year and I expect
him to have another great season," Berenson said.
Junior Don Stone (24-17-4 1) and sophomore Ted
Kramer (17-15-32) will provide added scoring threats.

aids

icers

Additional experience up front will be provided by
seniors Ryan Pardoski, Brad Turner (out at least six
weeks with a broken wrist) and Tim Helber, juniors
Jim Ballantine and Kent Brothers and sophomore Mike
Helber.
Mark Ouimet leads a trio of newcomers on offt
along with David Roberts and Dan Stiver.
Alex Roberts anchors an experienced defensive
corps, including fellow seniors Todd Copeland and
Randy Kwong and junior Mark Sorensen and
sophomore Doug Evans.
However, three newcomers - David Harlock,
Patrick Neaton and Chris Tamer - will see plenty of
ice time. "Freshmen are freshmen," Berenson said.
"They're going to make mistakes, yet. I feel these
freshman have got what it takes to become good
players."
"They'll have to learn from their mistakes and
when they do make mistakes, I'll just have to do a
little more," added senior All-American candidate
goalie Warren Sharples.
Sharples will have to continue his strong and
consistent goaltending to take the Wolverines to the
top. "(Goaltending) is one of our strong points and
we're not worried," Moes said.
"Goaltending is real important and fortunately we
have some experience back there," Sharples said. He
returns from his best season, in which he accumulated
17 wins with a 3.69 goals against average.
Sophomore Tim Keough (5-4-2 and 3.51) will
provide the pipes with additional support.
But no matter how much experience the team enters
the season with, the Wolverines find themselves on
the road the first three weekends, then at home for at
least one game 12 of the remainingl13 league
weekends.
"There's no question we have to play well on the
road to stay in the running," Berenson said. "How you
start can really make a difference in your year."

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FILE PHOTO
Michigan goaltender Warren Sharples is one of the keys to the Wolverine's season. Sharples will return to the
net this year, his final year, as Michigan's top netminder. Coach Red Berenson said that much of the
Wolverines fate will be determined by Sharples play. Central Collegiate Hockey Association coaches voted
Michigan to finish in third place this year, which would mark the highest finish ever in the Berenson era.

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1989-90 Pre-season Central Collegiate
Hockey Association Coaches Poll
Team (First Place Votes) Points
1. Michigan State (8) 80
2. Lake Superior ( 1) 65
3. "'Michigan 64
4. Bowling Green 60
5. UIC 44
6. W, Michigan 34
7. Ferris State 23
8. Miami (OH) 21
9. Ohio State 14

Spartans, Lakers lead strong CCHA

by Eric Lemont
Daily Hockey Writer
At the league's media day two
weeks ago, several Central
Collegiate Hockey Association
coaches described the CCHA as the
premier hockey league in the
nation. And they may be right.
CCHA teams have won three of
the last six NCAA hockey champ-
ionships and this year had the most
players drafted by the National
Hockey League in its June draft.
While the league is strong, it is
also one that any of the top four
teams can win. Besides Michigan,
here is a look at the remaining
teams in the league as the coaches
predicted them to finish.
Michigan State - The
Spartans are loaded. In addition to
the nation's leading scorer, Kip
Miller, (32 goals, 45 assists, 77
points), the Spartans (37-9-1 last
year) return the CCHA's highest
scoring defenseman, Steve Beadle
(14-40-54).
Michigan State also returns all
three of its goalies including last
year's CCHA playoff MVP Jason
Muzzatti (32-9-1).
The team's strength is not lost
on the CCHA coaches, who picked
the Spartans to finish first in their
preseason poll, or coach Ron
Mason.
"Up front, I think we've got as
good a group of offensive people as
we've had in a long time," Mason
said. "And we've got four good
returning defensemen who, as a
group, are probably as good as any
in the country."
Lake Superior State - The
Lakers return six defensemen from a
unit that gave up a league low 90
goals last season. All-American
Kord Cernich heads the defense and
will receive strong support from
CCHA All-Tournament selection
Dan Keczmer.
Coach Frank Anzalone feels the
defense will have to be strong to
make up for the loss of goaltender

Coaches pick Michigan for third

Bruce Hoffort, last year's CCHA
player of the year. Hoffort signed
with the Philadelphia Flyers over
the summer.
Said Anzalone: "We feel that our
team still has to stress defense and
good coverage of people because we
still are of the belief that if we
don't play that way, we're not
going to be able to compete with
some of the upper echelon teams in
our league."
Miller
Bowling Green State
University - The Falcons had a
solid season last year, finishing 5th
in the league. Coach Jerry York,~
though, has bigger plans for this
year - a conference championship.
"We want to win the
championship," York said. "That's
what the bottom line is early in our
season."
To accomplish this, Bowling
Green will need strong play out of
center Nelson Emerson. The three-
time 60 point scorer will become
the Falcons all-time career scoring
and assist leader with a similar
output this year.
Right winger Joe Quinn,
defenseman Kevin Dahl and
goaltender Paul Connell are also

part of a senior class York feels
"will spearhead our team this year."
University of Illinois at
Chicago - The Flames were hot
last year, finishing third in the
league and coming off a school
record 23-win season (23-14-5
overall).
Although losing Sheldon
Gorski, the nation's top goal scorer
from last year, UIC has all of its
defensemen returning.
"I think we're going to have
well balanced scoring," said head
coach Val Belmonte. "Our strength,
of course, is that we have our
veteran goaltender coming back in
David (Depinto) and I think we're
going to be strong defensively."
While this is Belmontie's
biggest team since he's been at
UIC, he feels it might also be one
of his quickest.
"I thought we were pretty fast
last year and I think our speed is
even quicker this year," he said.
Western Michigan - The
Broncos are coming off a 6th place
finish last season, the team's worst
since coach Bill Wilkinson's first
year in 1982. But the coach is
confident last season was an
apparition.
"We were disappointed with the
outcome of last season, but we felt
a lot of the losses were due more
towards injuries or lack of breaks
rather than lack of hard work or
talent on the part of our players,"
Wilkinson said.
Center Paul Polillo, who led
the team in scoring last year (20-
46-66), returns for the Broncos as
does powerplay specialist Jeff
Green. Green scored 10 of his 23
goals with the man advantage.
Western also returns three junior
and three senior defensemen.
"We're going to be a club that's
going to put a lot of pressure on

people offensively. And defensively
I think we're going to do the job as
well," Wilkinson said.
Ferris State - The Bulldogs 'S
will need a more potent offense this
year to be competitive in the
league. Right winger Bill Thomas
is the team's top returning scorer
with a meager 29 points (11-18).
Forwards John dePourcq (9-19-28)
and Mike Jourgenson (9-16-15)
will join Thomas on the front line.
"We need more offense and we
need to score more goals," said
coach John Perpich. "We have
several forwards who have a history
of scoring goals. We need them to
meet the challenge and produce."
Miami - The good news is
that the Redskins return 10 of their
top 12 scorers from a year ago. The
bad news is that these scorers form
the nucleus of a team that finished
in the league's basement.
New coach George Gwozdecky,
a former assistant at Michigan
State, wants to be "a little more
competitive with the bottom four
teams in our league" and to cut
down on losing one goal games,
something they accomplished 10
times last season.
Center Craig Fisher, last year's
leading scorer (22-20-44), and left
winger Ken House (19-14-33) will
lead the Redskins offense. Both
were named to the CCHA All-
Rookie team last year.
Ohio State - Don't look for
the Buckeyes in Detroit at the
CCHA playoff finals this year -
they were picked to finish last in
the league in the pre-season coaches
poll.4
Todd Fanning, who earned all
nine of the team's victories last
year, gives Ohio State experience in
goal while Paul Rutherford, the
team's second leading scorer last
year (16-27-43) will be looked on
to lead the Buckeyes offensively.

U U U

Bowling
Green
46*
Bowling Green State University
Nickname - Falcons
Colors - Burnt Orange and Seal Brown
Enrollment - 17,800
Arena - BGSU Ice Arena (3,400)
Head Coach - Jerry York
Career Record at BGSU (10 years) - 256- 149-19

Ferris State
University
Ferris State University
Nickname - Bulldogs
Colors - Crimson and Gold
Enrollment - 11,792
Arena - Ewigleben Ice Arena (2,573)
Head Coach - John Perpich
Career Record at FSU (3) - 43-69-11

UIC
FLAMS
University Illinois-Chicago
Nickname - Flames
Colors - Indigo and Flame
Enrollment - 25,000
Arena - UIC Pavilion (8,802)
Head Coach - Val Belmonte
Career Record at UIC (8) - 104-156-11

Lake
Superior
Lake Superior State University
Nickname - Lakers
Colors - Royal Blue and Gold
Enrollment - 3,100
Arena - Norris Ice Arena (3,200)
Head Coach - Frank Anzalone
Career Record at LSSU (7)- 158-98-19

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