Ice Hockey
vs. Michigan State
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
SPORTS
Men's and Women's Swimming
Speedo Collegiate Cup
Today and Saturday, 10 a.mJ6 p.m.
Canham Natatorium
I ------- -------
The Michigan Daily
Friday, December 4, 1992
F
Page 11
M'
to clash
with Spartans in ice war
Rivals face-cffor
by Brett Forrest
Daily Hockey Writer
This is it. It is the game, the big enchilada, the whole
ball o' wax. While there are important contests sprinkled
throughout the Wolverines' 35-game regular season
schedule, none are bigger than this weekend's matchups
with the Spartans from Michigan State.
The series dates back to MSU's first game on Jan.
11, 1922 and Michigan holds an overall advantage of
104-90-6. Last season the Maize and Blue garnered a
record of 2-1-1 against the Spartans, losing the opening
game of the year and,-then sweeping MSU at Joe Louis
Arena later in the season.
The rivalry will continue tonight at Yost Ice Arena
and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing.
The Wolverines sputtered earlier this season and have
yet to put forth back-to-back intense weekends of quality
hockey. The Spartans had a rough start to their season
but have come on strong as of late.
With only one point separating the two teams in the
CCHA standings, both squads know this weekend could
go a long way toward determining the rankings at the
close of the season.
"We've played well lately, but on the whole it has not
been a banner year," Michigan State coach Ron Mason
said. "We're improving.
"Michigan is very talented in every area, goaltending,
defense and offense. They know what it takes to get the
job done. They are starting to hit their stride."
Mason, the NCAA's winningest active coach, has
owned Michigan coach Red Berenson's number, going
201st time tonight
24-11-3 against the Wolverines during Berenson's
tenure. The importance of this weekend's series is not
lost on Berenson.
"It's important in the standings, with State being right
behind us," Berenson said. "It could be a deciding week-
end. When we get down to the end of the season, these
points could be important."
"Anytime you play MSU, it can be pivotal,"
Michigan captain David Harlock said. "We really can't
prepare for the emotional mood swings that happen in
these games. It's going to be a big weekend."
Beyond the points at stake in these games, there is the
emotion, the tension, and the rivalry. The players on
these teams really do not like each other, they often
dream about rubbing the other team's faces in the
Zamboni snow fermenting outside the rink.
"It's MSU. You don't need any more incentive,"
Wolverine David Oliver admitted. "No matter what sport
we play them in, it's always a big game. We're all
pumped."
"It ranks just behind the CCHA championships in
importance. It's just the rivalry itself that's important,"
Michigan junior Aaron Ward said.
Even the coaches know how crucial these yearly
matchups are to their respective schools.
"When you've got two big schools in a state like this,
it transcends all sports," Mason stated. "It is a very in-
tense rivalry. The series always has great emotion and
great fans."~
"It can really help us in recruiting and can also be a
measuring stick of where our team stands," Berenson
said. "It is always important to play well against
Michigan State."
KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Daily
Michigan takes on intra-state rival Michigan State for the first time this season tonight at Yost Ice Arena. The
weekend series will continue tomorrow night when the two teams face off in East Lansing.
Wrestlers hope for honeymoon in Vegas
by Michael Rosenberg
Daily Sports Writer
Las Vegas casinos take wagers
on everything from pro football to
presidential elections. Presumably,
the casinos don't invite bets on col-
lege wrestling tournaments. If they
did, odds makers would be hard
pressed to measure Michigan's
chances in the Las Vegas Classic
this weekend.
The Michigan grapplers enter the
tournament hoping to end their pre-
season the way they began - with
an impressive showing from most of
the wrestlers. Three weeks ago, the
Wolverines had an outstanding sea-
son-opening performance at the
Ohio Open, giving coach Dale Bahr
reason to believe that Michigan
could contend in the Big Ten.
Last weekend, though, the team
struggled in the Northern Open in
Madison. In Las Vegas, Michigan
will try to shed its Jekyll-and-Hyde
personality and establish itself as
one of the top teams in the Big Ten.
Unlike the Ohio Open, which fea-
tured teams from the eastern part of
the country, or the Northern Open,
which featured teams from the
northern United States, the Las
Vegas Classic is a national tourna-
ment. It will feature teams from
many different parts of the country.
Like the previous two tourna-
ments, Las Vegas will not tally team
scores. The main purpose of partici-
pating for the Wolverines is to an-
swer some questions concerning
several wrestlers.
One of these questions involves
all-American Lanny Green. Green
moved down in weight from the
177-pound class to 167, and he has
struggled at his new weight. If he
doesn't perform well in Las Vegas,
Green may move back to 177 for the
start of the regular season in
January.
For now, sophomore Jesse
Rawls, Jr. occupies the 177-pound
spot. If Green moves back to 177,
Rawls could be redshirted. Rawls
posted a 22-10 mark in his rookie
season with the Wolverines.
Rawls' brother James is a senior
on the Michigan squad. He will
move down a weight class from 142
to 134 to start the season. The vet-
eran went 31-9 a year ago, including
a fourth-place finish in the 1991 Las
Vegas Classic and a seventh place
finish in the Big Ten Champ-
ionships.
Big Ten contenders Iowa and
Penn State will also compete in Las
Vegas this weekend. The Hawkeyes,
who have won the conference title
for 19 straight years, are once again
a national powerhouse. Iowa won six
of the 10 individual crowns at the
Big Ten championships last spring.
Penn State returns four all-Amer-
icans and six other letter winners
from a team that went 18-4-1 in
1991-92. Rookie coach John Fritz
leads the Nittany Lions in their first
Big Ten campaign.
For the Wolverines, junior Brian
Harper will wrestle at 150 pounds.
Harper placed third in Las Vegas a
year ago and placed fourth at the Big
Tens last year. The top three finish-
ers were all among the top five
NCAA qualifiers last season at 150,
and two of them have graduated.
At 158 pounds, redshirt junior
Sean Bormet hopes to improve upon
his third-place showing in the 1991
Las Vegas Classic. Bormet's only
losses in that tournament were to
Wisconsin's two-time national
champion Matt Demaray and
Arizona State's Ray Miller, who was
ranked fourth in the country at the
weight.
The heavyweight division serves
as another Wolverine stronghold.
Steve King, a transfer from Notre
Dame, is expected to place high at
Las Vegas. Two seasons ago, King
came within one victory of ach-
ieving all-American status.
Two-time all-American Joey
Gilbert will not wrestle in the
Classic. Because Gilbert is being
redshirted this season, he has to pay
his own way to tournaments. This is
not as financially feasible for Las
Vegas as it was for the Columbus
and Madison tournaments. Gilbert
wrestled in each of those tourneys.
The squad does not compete
again until January 9, when it takes
on Ferris State and Morgan State at
Cliff Keen Arena.
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The Michigan wrestling team seeks to close the preseason tournament
schedule on a positive note this weekend atthe Las Vegas Classic.
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