Ice Hockey
Blue-White game
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Yost Ice ArenaI
The Michigan Doily.
SPORTS
Wednesday, October 3, 1990
MICHIGAN'S
CHAMPIONS OF
THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE CHAMPION:
Matt Elliott
DEFENSIVE CHAMPION: r
Chris Hutchinson
OFFENSIVE HUSTLER:
Derrick Alexander{
DEFENSIVE HUSTLER:
Martin Davis
SPECIAL TEAMS
CHAMPION: Otis Williams
SCOUT TEAM CHAMPION:
Ron Buff
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: t
Bobby Powers t
MICHIGAN'S LONG
PLAYS OF 1990
RUSHING
Jon Vaughn 63 yards 's.
UCLA
PASSING
Elvis Grbac to Alexander 55
yards vs. UCLA
RUSHING TD
Vaughn 63 yards vs. UCLA t
PASSING TD
Grbac to Desmond Howard 44'
yards vs. ND
FIELD GOAL
J.D. Carlson 33 yards vs. ND I
PUNTING
Eddie Azcona 48 yards vs.
Marylandh
PUNT RETURNj
T. Welborne 38 yards vs. ND '
KICKOFF RETURN
Howard 41 yards vs. ND
INTERCEPTION RETURN
Vada Murray 34 yards vs.
Maryland
Eric Lemont
Who
's5
No. 1? Don't
ask Big Ten coaches
Here we go again. With the Big Ten season only a few days away,
member coaches are once again engaging in their annual hot-potato ritual.
In coach-ese it comes out something like this: Don't say our team is
good. Hell, we've got a waaaays yet to go. But check out that Little
College on the Prairie team we're playing next week. Now that's a
football team for you. We're just taking things one game at a time and
looking for one thing -Improvement.
Ohio State coach John Cooper, for one, believes that "Illinois and
Michigan are the two teams to beat in this league."
But what about the Spartans? According to Iowa coach Hayden Fry,
"MSU could very well be undefeated."
And Hayden Fry, if you ask Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, "always
has his teams ready to play." Or, if you ask Michigan coach Gary
Moeller, "The team that caught my attention is Iowa...they have a chance
to win it."
Alvarez's Badgers take on Michigan this weekend, whom Alvarez felt
was the No. 1 team coming into the season. "I felt Michigan was the
defending champion and had a great nucleus and I don't see anything to
change that."
No. 1? Don't mention that to Moeller.
"I think that first, Illinois is as strong as anybody in the conference
because of their defensive personnel," Moeller said. "I think we're a
contender in the league but we're going to have to improve each and every
week to keep in that position and have a chance to win the thing."
So, let's see, the final list of contending teams in the Big Ten are
Ohio State, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State. Only five
teams? What about Indiana?
"The team that's sort of caught everybody's eye, at least by the stats,
is Indiana," explained Minnesota coach John Guttekunst.
Granted they have won their three games by the scores of 45-24 (vs.
Kentucky), 58-7 (Missouri) and 37-6 (Eastern Michigan). But Indiana?
"They're going to beat some of those guys and some of those guys
better not be us," Moeller said.
For once, wouldn't it be nice to hear a coach say: I don't care if
they've outscored their opponents 1000-0, they haven't seen a squad of
22 men like they'l1 see this Saturday, and they will feel it well into next
week. Time of possession? Hell, we're going to hold on to the ball longer
than a line to the Nickels Arcade Post Office. To quote the infamous
Clubber Lang 'My prediction? Pain.'
But maybe the fact that all coaches basically sound the same isn't their
fault at all. After all, they are only part of a well-oiled system in which
each performer - player, coach, and media person - plays his or her
part. Certain questions are expected to be asked with the coach and players
expected to provide certain answers.
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, like all coaches, has trouble evaluating
other Big Ten teams. Alvarez favors both Iowa and Michigan in this
year's race. Wisconsin will host Michigan this weekend in Madison.
This is not to say that coaches should denigrate another team. But, at
the same time, it would be nice for a frank assessment of one's own team
to be given if there is something good to say. If a player performs well it
should be noted without the obligatory qualifier that he still needs to
improve. Don't we all?
By artificially building up the exploits of the opposing team while
denigrating one's own, coaches shut readers out from the valuable insight
that could be gained from a candid assessment.
By giving pat answers to pat questions, the system force-feeds
information to the fans.
Yes, it's expedient and efficient.
Yes, it is probably unavoidable.
But, at the same time coaches lose credibility (see Notre Dame coach
Lou Holtz) and fans lose touch with the reality of the game. Only in
sports can you end up with five No. 2 teams.
Football
vs. Wisconsin
1 p.m. (WJR, WWJ, WPZA)
at Madison, WI
Page12
IM, cers
expected'
to finish
in second"
by Matt Rennie
Daily Hockey Writer
As the beginning of the 1990-91
college hockey season draws closer,
the anticipation surrounding the
Michigan team continues to build.
The Wolverines were picked tt
finish second in the Centra
Collegiate Hockey Association
conference in both the media ad
coaches pre-season polls last week.
This is the highest projected finish
for the Michigan icers in their ten-
year association with the CCHA.
"I am a little surprised,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"It's a compliment to our program
and a compliment to our recruiting
This could be an exciting year for
us."
Michigan State was picked to
win the CCHA in both polls, while
Lake Superior State and Bowling
Green trailed the Wolverines in third
and fourth place, respectively.
The fact that Michigan was
ranked ahead of Lake Superior State
was somewhat unexpected, main
because the Wolverines are a ver
young team while the Lakers return
eight seniors. Berenson is wary
about taking the rankings too
seriously.
"We haven't proven that we're a
second-place team," Berenson
conceded. "It will be a challenge."
The Wolverines finished fourth
during the CCHA regular season last
year, and narrowly missed a bid to
the NCAA tournament. Michigan
did not beat Michigan State or Lake
Superior State in four regular season
games against each team. Still,
Berenson cannot contain his own
excitement over this year's squad.
"This team's potential is the best
potential of any team I've ever had,"
Berenson said. "We don't have to
overachieve to beat anybody."
Berenson said that while the
increased expectations put added
pressure on the team to perform, it
is a welcome change from the days
when nothing was expected from the
team.
"We want that pressure," fie said.
"We don't want to be a fourth-place
team."
Berenson hopes that the
excitement among the hockey'
faithful will result in increased*
attendance from the general student
body at Wolverine home games,
particularly when Michigan State
visits Yost Ice Arena.
"When we played MSU in the
past, their fans came in and
outnumbered the Michigan fans,"
Berenson said. "This year, we are
actively trying to increase
attendance. We want to shut them.
out of the building."
Student season tickets are
currently on sale at the athletic ticket
office. The cost is $50 for the 19
game season, including one game
against Michigan State at Joe Louis
Arena.
The first chance for Michigan
fans to get a look at the team will bb
this Friday, during the team's Blu-
White intrasquad scrimmage. Game#
time is 7:30, and admission is $2.
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