The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday- February 17, 1992 --Page 5
'M' icers continue
rollercoaster ride
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Hockey Writer
Melee leaves few to score many
Five goals highlight six minutes of three-on-three hockey
Time is running out on the Michigan hockey team. Nearly the whole
regular season has passed, and the Wolverines are still looking for anwers to
questions they faced in their opening-night loss to Michigan State.
"I think we're a little bit behind where we want to be," senior forward
Ted Kramer said.
It isn't easy to fault a team that outscored its opposition, 18-9, but
Michigan finds itself in that precarious position.
"It's not whether you win so much, as much as how you play," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said after Friday's 8-4 victory.
It sounds like the refrain you learn in second-grade gym class. But he
couldn't be more correct.
The Wolverines, for parts of the game, dominated Miami in the same
way the color green dominates grass. Michigan owned the first period, but
for the remainder of the contest was more inconsistent than an Oliver North
testimony.
"That's one thing we have to overcome coming down the stretch,"
forward Brian Wiseman said of his team's lack of consistent effort. "Playing
against a better team, they're going to capitalize on that."
If nothing else, give Michigan credit for recognizing Miami as a team to
slough off against. The Redskins came into the weekend averaging 3.7 goals
per game, third worst in the conference. Friday, the Wolverines' second and
third-period lapses amounted to only four goals. In the Saturday matinee,
Michigan's third-period nap ended in a three-goal Miami outburst.
If Michigan pulls a similar stunt next weekend against Michigan State, it
will, like Wiseman said, find itself on the wrong end of a blowout.
The real problem with the Wolverines' malady is that there's no quick
fix. You can't say, "O.K., we're going to be more consistent," and suddenly,
be at the top of your game.
Playing consistent requires motivation, something the Wolverines have
lacked for much of the season. When you have perhaps the most talent in
the country, and people insist on reminding you of that fact, you tend to take
the Bowling Greens and Miamis lightly. However, this explanation for their
flat play exists doesn't justify it.
Michigan is cursed, in a sense, with being too talented. The fact is, most
nights, it can take its opposition lightly. The Wolverines' talent has carried
them many nights this season. And while the Wolverines have learned their
lesson each time, the accompanying victory has dulled the sting of the scare.
If the Wolverines want to win the conference title, they will finally have
to pay heed to what they state each close call: there aren't any easy games in
the CCHA.
Michigan has held its own with the upper division, but it hasn't done the
job against the underlings. Of their six conference losses, three have come
against seventh-place Bowling Green (two) and sixth-place Illinois-
*Chicago.
Last season, Michigan had the motivation of wanting to prove the NCAA
wrong after being snubbed the previous year. It was a driving force, and the
Wolverines rode to great success behind it.
"Last year's team, we were still always the underdog. So I think we went
into games a little bit differently, mentally," Kramer said. "Now we're
expected to win, so there's that added pressure."
Michigan has had all season to learn to deal with the pressure. But it
appears it is still in the initial stages of the learning process.
by Andy De Korte
Daily Hockey Writer
Three-on-three competitions,
popularized by the Gus Macker
basketball tournament and the fast
pace of a playground pick-up game,
made a visit to Yost Ice Arena
Saturday night. The puck found the
net nearly as often as a basketball -
five times in six minutes.
At the 15:51 mark of the first pe-
riod, Wolverines David Roberts,
Cam Stewart, Patrick Neaton, Doug
Evans, and Ted Kramer paired off
with Redskins Rene Vonlanthen,
Trent Eigner, Steven Rohr, Joe
Cook, and Chris Bergeron respec-
tively. Outside of Stewart's take-
down of Eigner - each received
double roughing penalties - the ac-
tion consisted of light roughhousing
and resulted in eight roughing
penalties and 10 skaters in the
penalty boxes.
Only two penalties can be served
simultaneously, thus six minutes of
three-on-three hockey ensued
following the 12 penalty minutes
that accrued. Also, since the three on
three does not constitute a power
play, no one leaves the box when a
team scores.
With two less men on the ice,
defense takes a backseat and the fans
are treated to hockey, mano a mano.
While the situation can be a
showcase for the elite performers,
not everyone may be pleased.
"We're the type of team that
needs to play five-on -ive," Miami
coach George Gwozdecky said.
"...(three-on-three) is the time when
between the legs 10 seconds after
Ward's goal.
Blasi's goal marked the end of
the Redskin rush and the 3-2 score
would be the closest Miami would
get to Michigan.
Hobey Baker candidate Denny
Felsner illustrated the 'premier' edge
'We don't have skill
players to matchup
with Michigan.'
- George Gwozdecky
Miami hockey coach
others talked about by scoring his
second goal of the night. Coming
from the right corner, he was able to
skate around the front of Michaud,
make him commit his body to a
save, and guide the puck around
him.
"It's great for me, I like it,"
Felsner said. "There's a lot of room
on the ice, usually there's three guys
hanging on me. At that point its p11
one on one, if someone falls, it's a
two on one going the other way."
When the second period started
only four players remained in the
box, but 1:51 still remained inthe
short-handed situation.
The Wolverines were not done.
Roberts, who was in the penalty box
when the fun started, found David
Oliver just inside the left circle.
Oliver wasted no time, and
completed the scoring barrage,
recording his first goal of the night
to accompany three assists.
PAUL TAYLOR/Daily
Michigan goalie Steve Shields makes a stick save, one of his 21 against
Miami Friday night in the Wolverines' 8-4 victory. Shields returned Saturday
night to stop 12 more Redskin shots.
the better players hit the ice. We
don't have the skill players to
matchup with a team like Michigan
when its three-on-three or four-on-
four at this point. Anytime we're not
at full strength, I'm not overjoyed."
Redskin leading scorer Ken
House assisted by Enrico Blasi
opened the goal-scoring bonanza.
About 40 seconds later, Aaron
Ward was hauled down. On the
delayed penalty, Felsner moved into
the zone and found the recovered
Ward, who rocketed it past Mark
Michaud.
After Miami won the ensuing
faceoff, Blasi and House changed
roles, and Blasi beat Steve Shields
ICERS
Continued from page 1
goalies the team relaxes and thinks
the game is over. The defense started
to let up a bit. When we put Shields
back in, I wasn't blaming Gordon, I
wanted to get our team back in
focus."
Michigan did regain that focus
after the timeout, and four minutes
later Wiseman's line broke Miami's
back with two goals within 26 sec-
onds. Oliver brought the puck in
from the right corner and slid it
through the crease to an open
Felsner who one-timed it past a
sprawling Richard Shulmistra.
Later on that shift, Oliver
carried the puck across the blueline
and dropped a pass for Wiseman
who beat Shulmistra with a wrist
shot low to the glove side.
That line had started the scoring
for the Wolverines on the power
play 5:59 into the first. Defenseman
Aaron Ward fed Oliver from the
left point who fired a pass onto
Felsner's stick. Felsner one-timed
the puck past Mark Michaud.
Ten minutes later, Roberts and
Miami's Rene Vonlanthen mixed it
up by the boards inside Miami's
zone. The other eight skaters on the
ice joined the fracas and referee Jim
Sotiroff handed out 12 roughing
penalties. The next six minutes
were played three on three.
"We're the type of team that has
to play five on five," Miami coach
George Gwozdecky said. "We don't
have the skill players to matchup
with a team like Michigan when its
three on three or four on four at this
point."
Michigan outscored the
Redskins, 3-2, during the ensuing six
minutes, to stretch its lead to 4-2.
Mike Helber and Wiseman added
second period goals, and Ted Kramer
set up linemates Roberts and
Stewart on a two on one to close out
the scoring at the 14:49 mark of the
third.
"It feels good to be back with
those guys," Kramer said. "We feel
confident together. Some of the
lines I've been on have made me
more defensive minded, but with
Dave and Cam I'm much more
offensive minded."
Friday, the Wolverines jumped
out to a 4-0 first period lead behind
goals from Mike Stone, Oliver,
Wiseman and Kramer. However,
Michigan could not put away
MIUHELLt uUY/Uaily
Michigan's Mike Knuble gets entangled with Miami's Jason Mallon in the
third period of Michigan's Friday night victory,
Miami as the Redskins retaliated
with two goals early in the second.
Michigan answered back with three
unanswered goals, but once again
Miami responded with two of its
own. Roberts completed the scoring
with assists from both his
linemates.
"We let them back into the game
after the first period," Berenson
said. "We didn't have a solid game
defensively. We didn't finish our
checks; we had defensemen going for
goals instead of dumping the puck
in. We can't play like that."
Ward had no explanation for the
team's lackadaisical play.
"We had a good week in practice,
but our effort wasn't there
(Friday)," Ward said. "Thankfully
we're going through our down time
right now and not later. We need to
motivate ourselves as players. The
coaches have done everything, now
it's left to the players."
MICHIGAN, 10-5
at Yost lee Arena
FIRST PERIOD
Penalty - Miami, Marshall (tripping) 5:32.
Michigan 1, Miami 0. Felsner 27 (Ward,
Oliver) 5:59 (pp).
Penalty - Michigan, Ward (elbow) 8:56.
Penalties - Michigan, Neaton (tripping);
Miami, Miller (tripping) 10:02.
Penalties - Michigan, Evans (roughing),
Stewart (double roughing), Roberts (roughing).
Kramer (roughing), and Neaton (roughing);
Miami, Vonlanthen (roughing), Eigner (double
roughing), Bergeron (roughing). Rohr
(roughing), and Cook (roughing) 15:51.
Michigan 1, Miami 1. House 20 (Blasi)
16:15 (3 on :').
Michigai 2, Miami 1. Ward 6 (Felsner,
Shields) 16:55i (3 on 3).
Michigan 2, Miami 2. Blasi 12 (House,
Marshall) 17:09 (3 on 3).
Michigan 3, Miami 2. Felsner 28 18:11 (3
on 3).
SECOND PERIOD
Michigan 4, Miami 2. Oliver 24 (Harlock,
Roberts) 1:25 (3 on 3).
Michigan 5, Miami 2. Helber 6 (Stone) 2:05.
Penalty - Miami, Bergeron (elbowing) 2:53.
Michigan 6, Miami 2. Wiseman 18 7:01.
Penalty - Michigan, Wiseman (tripping)
10:23.
Penalties - Michigan Roberts (roughing);
Miami, Carter (cross checking) 16:37.
Penalties - Michigan Tamer (roughing);
Miami, Carter (roughing) 19:04.
THIRD PERIOD
Michigan 7, Miami 2. Stewart 10 (Roberts)
1:32.
Michigan 7, Miami 3. Bergeron 12 (Blasi,
House) 2:06.
Michigan 7. Miami 4. Savage 17 (Oates)
3,'06.
Penalty - Michigan, Felsner (checking
from behind) 4:53.
Michigan 7, Miami 5. Savage 18 (House,
Cook) 6:11 (pp).
Michigan 8, Miami 5. Felsner 29 (Oliver)
10:47.
Michigan 9, Miami 5. Wiseman (Oliver,
Felsner) 11:13.
HOCKEY NOTEBOOKk
'M' gets contributions
from all lines in swee
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Hockey Writer,
If the Michigan offense had spread the wealth any more evenly tis
weekend, it would have been accused of being socialist. In scoring 18 goals,
the season high for a series, 11 of 12 Wolverine forwards tallied either a
goal or an assist.
Defensemen David Harlock, Aaron Ward, Tim Hogan and Patrick
Neaton all added to their point totals as well.
Leading the barrage was right wing David Oliver, who busted out of a
seven-game scoring drought with an eight-point weekend. This series,
Michigan coach Red Berenson's decision to reunite Oliver with Denny
Felsner and Brian Wiseman paid immediate dividends. The line posted
back to back scores, Oliver's 23rd coming at 12:02 in the first period Friday,
and Wiseman scoring three minutes later.
"The three of us really like to play together," an ecstatic Oliver said
Friday. "You've really got to come ready to play and we were."
STEWART! STEWART!: Forward Cam "Doughboy" Stewart endeared
himself to the Wolverine faithful once again Saturday. The sophomore
knocked home a feed from linemate David Roberts in the slot'fbr
Michigan's 10th and pizza goal, thus making the fans in attendance eligible
to receive a free pizza from Cottage Inn.
The last time the Wolverines reached the pizza plateau, in their 9-3 blud-
geoning of Ohio State Jan. 25, Stewart delivered the goods as well.
MIAMI A VICE FOR SENIORS: Navigating the rough waters of the
CCHA is always difficult. But for seniors Mike Helber, Doug Evans,
Felsner and Kramer, Miami has always represented a calm in the storm.,
The senior class ran up a 15-0-1 ledger against the Redskins, its best
mark among all CCHA opponents. Felsner and Kramer, in particular, have
always welcomed a series with the Redskins. Felsner concluded his games
vs. Miami with 24 goals and 18 assists, while Kramer totaled 10 goals and
12 assists.
"I get my goals against every team," an unimpressed Felsner said upon
being informed of his totals. "I don't really worry about that."
As the Redskins will make the CCHA playoffs for the second time in
their last seven attempts, the possibility remains for another match.
BOYS' SCOUTING: The Central Scouting Bureau rankings, which rates
players for the upcoming NHL draft, looks favorably upon the Wolverines,
both present and future.
Frosh Tim Hogan checks in at 29th among skaters while fellow de-
fenseman Al Sinclair occupies the 58th spot. Among goaltenders, rookie Al
Loges stands 19th. Recruits Ryan Sittler (sixth) and Steve Halko (94th)
also made their way onto the list.
WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: The series attendance of 10,075 was Yost
Ice Arena's lowest for the season. For the year, Yost is averaging a turnout
of 6,135 per game.
THE ROAD TO THE JOE: The Athletic Ticket Office will start taking
orders for the CCHA playoffs this week. More information can be obtained
by calling the office.
Through February 16, 1992
Men's Hockey Standings
f goti.isV. i1 " l.
Conference Games
TEAM W L T PTS
Lake Superior 17. 6 3 37
Michin n 16 6 3 35
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