The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - February 10, 1992 - Page 5
ICERS
Continued from page 1
falling Ouimet, wheeled and beat
BG goalie Will Clarke.
Holmes tied the score on a quick
strike after Martin Jiranek peeled
the puck from the Wolverine de-
fense right in front of the goal.
The game-winning goal by
Holzinger left a bitter feeling
among the Wolverine contingent.
When a whistle was heard to signal
an apparent offsides, Ward eased off
Holzinger allowing him to get off
his winning shot. After a small dis-
cussion, referee Brent Rutherford
allowed the goal.
"I thought I heard a whistle, I
was on (Holzinger). I turned to
(linesman John) Pearson, and he said
he had the whistle," an upset Ward
'We just played all-
around smart hockey.
We dumped the puck
* when we should have,
we took the body
when we were
supposed to, and we
didn't take any
retaliation penalties,
and maybe they did.'
- Peter Holmes
Bowling Green captain
said. "I only had one hand on the
stick, and only stayed on (Hol-
zinger) at all to protect the goalie.
When I went over to the box, he
changed his story. He's got no balls.
He didn't want to overturn the
goal."
Holizinger also said he thought
he had heard something but finished
the play anyway.
"We thought the play had been
blown dead," Berenson said.
Almost in the same breath, though,
he added, "We didn't deserve to win
EVANS
Continued from page 1
Once home, Evans recuperated,
and in his words, "figured out what
I needed to do to be better." This
included taking boxing lessons
from his father to improve his
confidence, and more importantly,
playing at a San Jose Sharks free-
agent camp in Minnesota and
holding his own.
Now a senior, Evans returned
with a new outlook.
"I really made an effort to
change a lot of my habits and I tried
to be a little less jovial than I was
in the past," he said.
It is an effort that has reaped
results.
"He's been playing great," said
team captain David Harlock, Evans'
defensive partner. "This is the third
year I've been here, and this is by far
the best I've seen him play."
In the Wolverines' sweep over
Lake Superior State two weekends
ago, Evans played an integral role in
limiting the high-scoring Lakers to
three goals in two games, including
a shutout. The senior logged time on
the penalty-killing unit which
nullified 17 of 18 Laker advantages.
"He's done all the things that
we've asked our defensemen to do,
and he's done it consistently,"
Berenson said.
It comes as no surprise to
Berenson that the improvement
comes this season. one in which
MLJI
MOM
r
D
'M' icers need to
snap out of slumber
by Rod Loewenthal
Daily Hockey Writer
Mark Ouimet battles Bowling Green goalie Will Clarke in the third period Saturday evening at Yost Arena. The
score remained tied 2-2 as Clarke prevailed.
this game."
Friday's game started the same as
Saturday's - a Falcon goal before
the fans could warm their seats.
Falcon captain Holmes started the
puck up the ice from inside his own
blue line, and passed to Sean
Pronger, who beat Steve Shields
from just outside the goal crease.
"They got an early goal, and we
needed that, we never got back into
the game after that," Berenson said.
"We had a bad first period, then the
whole game we didn't put our
chances in."
While the Wolverines did not
finish their chances most of the
night, Felsner knotted the score at a
goal apiece, assisted by Ouimet,
sandwiched between defensemen.
The sandwiching continued up
fellow defenseman Aaron Ward
said. "Very out of the ordinary. A
little on the weird side."
As Ward is perhaps Evans' only
equal for garrulity, he is most
qualified to explain the enigma that
is Doug Evans.
"You firstget here, he's the first
guy that makes you want to go
home," Ward said in reference to
Evans' odd brand of humor. "I don't
think there are words to describe
what the hell he is."
There is his pregame ritual, for
instance. Evans makes certain to
clarify that "they're not really
things that I have to do, but it's just
a ritual, a tradition."
The Thursday routine includes
watching the television shows,
"The Simpsons" and "Beverly
Hills 90210," eating the same
dessert at Cottage Inn, and kissing
the lamp in front of the restaurant
with his finger.
And there is the matter of being
a player from California, a state
which has never been mistaken for a
hockey hotbed. His decision to play
ice hockey in the Golden State does
not necessarily make him odd, since
he could't choose where to grow
up, but it does not exactly acquit
him either.
The story, not surprisingly, is an
interesting one. When Doug was
eight, his older sister, Kendra, took
figure-skating lessons at an ice rink
in a shopping center. Doug tagged
along, and took to the ice very
quickly.
A month after the lessons began,
Kendra underwent an appendectomy
and never returned to the ice. Doug,
of course, has achieved somewhat
greater success.
After quickly rising in the sparse
ranks of California hockey, Evans
came to a crossroads.
"I had pretty much made it as far
as I could out in California and (my
coach) said, If you really want to
give yourself a chance to be a good
hockey player, you should move out
to Michigan and try it out there,"'
Evans remembered.
He eventually made the
Compuware team, played two
seasons for the junior hockey
powerhouse, and was part of a
national runner-up squad in 1987-88.
Evans is now a senior and a leader
on a team with dreams of greater
achievement. It is a testament to his
maturity that he maintains a near-
sighted focus.
"We're still just trying to take
it one weekend at a time, like I've
been saying all year," he said.
At most, his Michigan career
will last seven more weeks. And
and down the ice on both sides. The
Falcons frustrated the Wolverines
in the same area Michigan excelled
against LSSU - smart, aggravating
play.
"We knew what position we
were in, but we'd stayed with the
best in the country, Minnesota and
LSSU," Holmes said. "We just
played all-around smart hockey, we
dumped the puck when we should
have, we took the body when we
were supposed to, and we didn't take
any retaliation penalties, and maybe
they did."
A skirmish at the 13:14 mark of
the first period illustrated the first
and certainly most damaging - the
Wolverines never tied it again - re-
taliatory strike. Heavy checking de-
generated into the skirmish and
when Brian Wiseman entered the
brawl furiously, referee Roger
Graff saw fit to give him six min-
utes in the penalty box.
After the power play was inef-
fective for three full minutes,
Carper found an open Holmes, who
buried the puck from just eight feet
in front of the net.
Bylsma's goal and a Holzinger
hat trick, surrounding goals by
Ward and Roberts put BG up 6-3.
Ted Kramer scored the final
Wolverine goal.
Michigan's Gordon summarized
the weekend consistent with his
teammates' feelings.
"We beat ourselves, there are no
two ways about it," he said. "We
were taking ourselves for granted
thinking we could win without to-
tal effort. We can't."
Bowling Green, 4-3
at YostI.. Arena
FIRST PERIOD
BowlingGreen 1, Michigan 0. Bylsma 10
(Carper) :56.
Penalty - Michigan, Harlock (slashing)
2:16.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Newana
(interference) 4:04.
Penalty - Michigan, Tamer (highsticking)
6:35.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Holmes (tripping)
12:29.
Michigan 1, Bowling Green 1. Ward 5
(Stiver) 12:49 (pp).
Bowling Green 2, Michigan 1. Solly 8
(Harkins, Bylsma) 17:17.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Klee (holding)
19:38.
SECOND PERIOD
Michigan 2, Bowling Green 2. Stiver 6
(Stone. Willis) 2:45.
Penalty - Michigan, Sinclair (highsticking)
3:48.
Penalty - Michigan, Evans (holding) 5:47.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Holmes
(hooking) 6:29.
Penalty - Michigan, Ward (interference)
9:42.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Carper (holding)
11:21.
Penalty - Michigan, Harlock (slashing)
19:42.
Penalty - Michigan, Stewart (tripping)
20:00.
THIRD PERIOD
Penalty - Bowling Green, Holzinger
(highsticking) 2:27.
Penalty - Michigan, Willis (elbow) 7:05.
Penalty - Michigan, Stewart (highsticking)
7:45.
Penalty - Bowling Green, Jiranek
(interference) 8:54.
Michigan 3, Bowling Green 2. Felsner 26
(Ouimet) 11:54.
Bowling Green 3, Michigan 3. Holmes 23
(Jiranek) 13:03.
Bowling Green 4, Michigan 3. Holzinger 12
(Klee) 17:03.
Penalty - Michigan, Stiver (slashing)j
20:00.
Score by Periods
BowingeGren... 2 0 2 - 4
Michigan.- .......1 1 1 - 3
Shots on goal
Bowing Green. - 8 2 9 - 19
Mchgan....- ...... 8 7 6 - 21
Goaltenders - Bowling Green, Clarke (3-3) 22
shots, 19 saves: Michigan, Gordon (5-2-1) 25
shots, 21 saves,Gordon left the ice at 19:11 of the
third period.
Power plays - Bowling Green 0 for 8:
Michigan 1 for 7.
Officials - Referee, Rutherford; Linesmen,
Dobzrelewski and Pearson.
Attendance - 6,808.
Saturday nights game
Until Friday night, the Michigan hockey team was flying high, basking
in the glory of hard-fought and justly-deserved victories against league-
leading Lake Superior State.
However, this Saturday the Wolverines were practically booed off the
ice at Yost Arena in a less than stellar outing against a struggling Bowling
Green team. While Friday's 7-4 loss was disheartening, Saturday's short-
fall was nothing less than a major disappointment.
After the losses, everyone was a philosopher of sorts. The players and
coaches offered up their detailed analyses of a team's play that was best de-
scribed by Michigan coach Red Berenson's undiplomatic statement, "We
stunk the place up."
But as a testament to this team's talent, Michigan was still in the game
late in the third period Saturday despite a lackluster display of hockey.
Michigan got a wake-up call Friday night losing, 7-4, but the Wolver-
ines failed to get out of bed Saturday. Either the alarm wasn't loud enough
down in Bowling Green, or else the Wolverines were in too deep of a
slumber to awaken Saturday night.
However, Berenson heard the ring earlier in the week during practice.
"Coming off last weekend I said I was worried about Bowling Green,"
Berenson said.
Obviously, he was talking to an empty bench because his players weren't
listening. Saturday night, Berenson didn't have the patience for the Wolver-
ines to read his lips. Instead, he drastically altered his lines in an effort to
jump-start a high-octane offense that has stalled as of late.
"We're just not gene'rating any offense," Berenson said. "We're just not
getting enough from our forwards. We can't keep going back to (forward
Denny) Felsner. We're still searching."
And the blame cannot solely be put on a failing offense. When a team
like Bowling Green scores seven goals (granted one was an empty-netter),
rarely will any offense be able to compensate.
The defense, which had struggled early in the season and then rebounded
as of late, lacked the mental poise at crucial moments of the game. Friday,
the Falcons flew out to an early 1-0 lead at :23 seconds into the game. On
' Saturday, Bowling Green caught the Wolverines napping again and snuck
the puck past Chris Gordon at just :56 seconds into the period.
"We're trying to score on the first shift of the game when we should be
focusing on stopping them," defenseman Aaron Ward said.
The same thing happened against the Illinois-Chicago Flames in the
UIC Pavilion last month. The Flames jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a
goal scored only :14 seconds into the game. Many of the Flames thought
the goal set the tone for the remainder of the game. It broke Michigan's
confidence while it added extra drive to a zealous Flames team.
And Friday night against Bowling Green, the early goal sparked a Fal-
con team that had lost 14 of its last 16 games by one goal. Bowling Green
played Michigan in the same fashion that the Wolverines had scrapped
against Lake State last weekend.
"To beat them took our best effort," Bowling Green Jerry York said.
"Tonight was our best game of the year and it's quite a feather in our cap to
get a win against them."
But it's not just Bowling Green that's getting excited to play one of the
top teams in the country. Every team in the conference is aiming for Michi-
gan. Against Ohio State in Columbus several weeks ago, Michigan did not
easily discard the last-place CCHA team.
York, coach of Bowling Green's 1983-84 NCAA championship team,
has traversed the same path Michigan finds itself stumbling upon now.
"Michigan's the number one team in the country. We've been there before
and it's a bear."
An unusually sullen Mark Ouimet delivered the team's prognosis after
Saturday's loss. "We've never been this low," he said. "I don't think we're
handling the pressure well. We're not focused. I'm questioning whether
this team wants to win enough. It's embarrassing, real embarrassing."
MICHELLE GUY/Daily
Captain David Harlock is tripped up during a weekend loss to Bowling Green as Patrick Neaton and Mike Stone look on. The sweep by the Falcons
has dropped Michigan into third place in the CCHA, two points behind both Lake Superior and Michigan State, which are tied for first.
HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Hockey Writer
Evans
Evans has matured and focused on
his hockey instead of, for lack of a
better phrase, being goofy.
"I like the idea of kids enjoying
themselves, and it's good to have
kids on the team that are jokers,"
Berenson said. "But there's a point
where you've got to get down to
business and be able to play, too."
That is not to say that Evans has
become a tight-lipped, walk-the-
This weekend's series marked the return of Bowling Green defensemen
Ken Klee and Rick Mullins. The duo's reappearance on the ice proved duly
beneficial to the eighth-place Falcon squad.
Klee, a junior, tore ligaments in his knee in August while trying out for
the U.S. Olympic team and was expected to be out for the season. The re-
markable rapidity of his rehabilitation was cause for celebration among
Bowling Green backers.
"I thought he really gave us a boost," Bowling Green coach Jerry York
said of Klee. "He'll get better as he gets more ice time and gets back into it.
But his knee held up and he feels good."
While York only gave Klee limited ice time during the Falcon sweep,
the Kansas City, Mo., native contributed generously to the Falcon cause,
playing strong defensively and chipping in an assist in the offensive zone on
Saturday night.
"I think Kenny Klee's return really helps us," York said. "He's one of
the best defensemen in the nation."
Defenseman's return fills
Bowling Green with Klee
period of Saturday's game, those wild and crazy denizens of Section O had
. more of their oh-so-clever fun.
The partisans hollered, each message on the Yost electronic message
board. When the scoreboard operator flashed, "GO-GO-GO ... GO! ...
WOLVERINES," the Yost Yahoos responded, "GO, GO, GO ... GO ...
WOLVERINES!"
As the board repeatedly flashed "STAND UP!! !" the fans obediently
stood, sat and stood again. Secret plans are underway for a "You are hungry.
You want Subway sandwiches!!!" message.
HELBER HURT: Michigan forward Mike Helber took a shot in the
hand Saturday blocking a puck while killing a Michigan penalty. While the
senior admitted to some lingering pain after the game, he glumly admitted,
"It doesn't hurt as much as the loss."
STREAKERS APPREHENDED: After a remarkable run of 21 games,
the Wolverines finally dropped a regular-season contest in Yost Arena.
The last loss came at the hands of Lake Superior State, a 4-3 setback suf-
fered in December 1990. Friday's defeat ended Michigan's five-game