The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, November 13,1991 - Page 11
111
Time to blow whistle
on excessive penalties
by Josh Dubow
Daily Hockey Writer
After last season, the NCAA Hockey Rules Committee decided to
place more emphasis on calling penalties away from the puck. Specifi-
cally, the committee wanted to curb the growing number of hooks, holds,
and interferences away from the action, in order to give players more free-
dom to skate and to raise scoring.
This season, seeing five-on-five hockey for extended periods of time has
been a rare occurrence. On average, there have been 10 more penalties a
game in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) this year.
This has placed a much greater importance on the specialty teams. Despite
this, Michigan coach Red Berenson is pleased with the results of these
new points of emphasis.
"I am absolutely in favor of it," Berenson said. "I know our team is a
lot more aware of hooking and interference away from the puck than last
year. I know a lot of you guys don't like it, but it really helps the game."
CCHA Coordinator of Officials Dave Fisher said about 80 percent of
the conference's coaches are in favor of the new changes.
One of the dissenters is Western Michigan coach Bill Wilkinson. Af-
ter the Wolverines' series with the Broncos in which Wilkinson's team
was whistled for 37 penalties, Wilkinson and some of his players criti-
cized the officiating.
"I think they're ruining the game," Wilkinson said. "They're really
cracking down on all kinds of things. It's getting to the point where
you're never on the ice five-on-five."
Bronco defenseman Andy Suhy agreed with his coach. "I personally
think the penalties are kind of brutal," he said. "A big part of my game is
stick work and tight checking, and they aren't allowing that."
The idea behind this new emphasis is good. Fans do not come to hockey
games to see talented players like Denny Felsner taken out of the game by
unskilled players holding them away from the action. But just as impor-
tantly, fans do not come to games to see the referee blow his whistle ev-
ery time there is the slightest infraction.
One of a referees most important jobs is to create and maintain a flow
to the game. The contact that had been going unchecked disrupted that
flow. However, the referees strict penalty calling also interferes with it.
Minnesota coach Doug Woog felt referee Perry Petterle took the
Michigan game out of the players' hands with his excessive penalty call-
ing Saturday night.
"I think it had the makings of a great game," he said. "I don't think it
needed all the interruptions it had early in the game. This was the best
tempo game we'd seen all year, but it was slowed down by the penalties."
Ideally, players wouldn't clutch and grab away from the play, and this
would create the fast-tempo game fans love to see. Then, the change would
not be needed. However, players and coaches will do almost anything to
gain the slightest advantage. If the referees did not stop the holding and
other bothersome infractions, teams would play to take advantage of the
situation.
While the referees need to limit the interference away from the action,
they have gone too far. Fisher has said the players and coaches must adapt
because the referees will not. Both sides need to compromise.
The conference and the teams want to put out the most exciting game
of hockey they can. Fans do not enjoy excessive penalties or the restraint
of marquee players. While players need to realize that this contact will
no longer be allowed, referees also must ease up on their enforcement of
these rules to make the game more enjoyable.
Blue water polo wins Big
Ten
Co-captain Varner leads team past Northwestern in final
by Tim Spolar
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's water polo
team achieved one of its goals for
the season - winning the Big Ten
championship tournament - Sun-
day in Evanston. The 8-5 victory
over host Northwestern in the
championship game culminated the
Wolverines' perfect weekend.
Michigan (14-2 in the Big Ten,
27-5 overall) began the tournament
Friday by walloping Purdue, 18-2.
Saturday, the Wolverines coasted
through the remainder of their pre-
liminary round games, beating Iowa,
Michigan State, and Illinois by
scores of 14-2, 10-7, and 11-3, re-
spectively.
"None of the preliminary round
games bothered us too much,"
Michigan coach Scott Russell said.
"Everything turned out as we ex-
pected, but you always have to go
through the motions."
In the Sunday's championship
round, the Wolverines opened
against defending Big Ten champ
Wisconsin. Once again, Michigan
dominated, pounding the Badgers,
12-2.
Michigan then advanced to the
championship final where they faced
archrival Northwestern, the top-
ranked team in the tournament. The
Wildcats were the only conference
team to beat the Wolverines, win-
ning two of the team's three previ-
ous meetings. Despite having the
home-pool advantage, the Wildcats
were unable to penetrate the
Wolverine defense and goalkeeping
nor could they keep pace with
Michigan's intense offense.
Ina turnabout from the season-
long trend between the squads,
Michigan outscored Northwestern
3-0 in the final quarter to win the
of Michigan's co-captains, was;
named the tournament's MVP, as
well as being selected to the all-
tournament first team. Kulp, David
Prince, and goalkeeper Mike;
Winkelman joined Varner on the,
first team. Paul Murray earned a
spot on the second team, as did:
Aaron Frame, another Michigan co-
captain. However, with such an effi-
cient and dominating team, the
Wolverines expected to receive a
few more of the honors.
"We would have liked to see
more of our players named to the
(all-tournament) teams," Russell
said. "Jeff Prince, for example, had
an outstanding tournament any way
you look at it. He had 13 goals, but
he is primarily a defensive special
ist, and his defense was outstanding:
this weekend. Dan (Varner) and Jeff
are our two defensive specialists,.
and part of what made Dan play so
well was the tremendous fashion in
which Jeff played."
Michigan will draw the top seed.
and host this weekend's Midwest!
Regional championship tournament
at Canham Natatorium. Runner-up
Northwestern, Wisconsin, and
Michigan State comprise the other
Big Ten representatives at the tour-
nament.
"I don't think we're going to
work on anything new for the Re-
gional tournament," Russell said.
"Our conditioning is at its peak. For
the regional tournament, we need to
sustain the type of intensity that we
had at the Big Ten championships."
The Michigan men's water polo team cruised past Iowa, Michigan State,
and Illinois, before beating Northwestern to win the conference crown.
game.
"I was a little surprised that we
were able to (shut Northwestern
out in the final quarter), because
they are really intense when the
game is on the line," Russell said.
"They picked their game up a couple
of notches, but we were able to
match them and just, shut down
their offense."
Michigan was led in scoring by
senior Steve Kulp, an Ann Arbor
Pioneer grad, who chalked up 17
goals. The brother combination of
David and Jeff Prince, both of whom
attended Ann Arbor Huron, notched
14 and 13 goals, respectively.
"Our scoring throughout the
tournament was extremely well-
balanced," Russell said. "Steve
(Kulp) usually leads us in scoring,
but if you look down the scoring
statistics, you see a lot of people
contributed. That, to me, says that
our whole team was contributing at
the offensive end."
Senior defender Dan Varner, one
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8:30 a.m.
At Destination MBA - for
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10:30 to noon: Minority MBAs
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8:30-noon: Destination MBA
12-4 p.m.: MBA Forums
1-5 p.m.: NBMBAA Job Fair
All events are free to
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10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Michigan Union
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Sandra Jahiel, Director of Career Development for the Annenberg School for Communication,
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Graduate School and MBA Day
Conference Highlights