The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - February 1, 1993 - Page 5 HOCKEY NOTEBOOK Mark the date and time: two oalie assist by Chad A. Saf ran Daily Hockey Writer DETROIT - A goalie getting an assist is definitely a rare occurrence. Two goalies from the same team notching a point happens as often as a Democratic president takes office. The United States now has Bill Clinton in the White House, and the Michigan hockey team claimed two scoring goalies Saturday against Michigan State. Wolverine netminder Steve Shields grabbed his first assist of the season on Mark Ouimet's first period goal at the 7:27 mark that put Michigan up 2-0. Shields now has five assists in his career. Chris Gordon made his contribution in the third period. Gordon nabbed his point on Dave Roberts' tally at the 14:57 mark, giving the Wolverines their eleventh goal of the night. "I was totally surprised," Gordon said. "I had no idea that I was even in- volved in that play. I wasn't getting many shots, so I was just diving for pucks, getting as many as I can. I didn't know what happened. The next thing I know, I had an assist." Gordon had one assist last season. PACKING THEM IN: Michigan citizens love their college hockey, and they proved it Saturday at Joe Louis Arena, as 18,275 people passed through the turnstiles to watch the Wolverines and Spartans battle. The crowd was the largest ever to witness a non-tournament college hockey game in NCAA history, surpassing the total set Nov. 28 at the Palace of Auburn Hills when Michigan played Notre Dame. For that game, 18,147 fans came to watch. The Wolverines have now played in front of the three largest non-tour- nament crowds in NCAA history. Joe Louis Arena hosted 16,643 fans to see the Feb. 22, 1992 contest between Michigan and Michigan State. THOSE WACKY FANS: The Michigan faithful that made the journey to Detroit did not leave their creativity in Ann Arbor. As the Wolverines continued to extend their lead over the Spartans, the fans decided to rub it in a little more. During the third period, the chant of "Go play Central," referring to Central Michigan, echoed through the arena. Of course, the Chippewas do not even have a varsity hockey team. The ideas kept coming though as the call of "Put the band in" was sounded. In addition, the familiar "Pizza, Pizza" cheer was used several times. In contests at Yost Ice Arena, Cottage Inn offers a free pizza when the Wolverines score 10 goals or more. Unfortunately for the fans, no free food was distributed at the game. DEFENSE, DEFENSE: The Michigan blueliners continued their sparkling play of late Saturday, allowing a season-low 13 shots on net and only two the entire third period. In the last five games, Michigan's See ICERS, Page 8 Melees mar Friday night contest UIC cheap shots lead toflticuffi; Berenson launches diatribe at refs by Tim Rardin Daily Hockey Writer Leading 8-0 after nearly two and one-half periods of play, the Michigan hockey team had, to that point, provided the fans at Yost a memorable show against Illinois- Chicago Friday. Unfortunately, though, it was the ensuing action on the ice - a bench- clearing brawl with 11:08 re- maining - that the 6,758 in attendance will remember. Throughout the game, the odds of such an incident occurring increased with every cheap shot that the Flames threw. In fact, Coach Larry Pedrie's squad gave every indication that its entire game plan was centered around the notion of offset- ting Michigan's superior talent with physical, albeit it illegal and premed- itated, play. "They came out trying to run us out of our building, and there's no way you're going to do that," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "The problem was a long time be- fore the fight started. There were a lot of problems going on out on the ice. "You just knew; it was like a time bomb ready to go off." And indeed that bomb did go off. At 8:52 of the third period, UIC's Derek Knorr shoved Wolverine Mark Ouimet to the ice after the whistle, provoking Ouimet's line- mate Dan Stiver to pay Knorr back for the hit. "I took a dive and I tried to get the penalty," Ouimet said. "Stiver was just sticking up for me. We're not gonna get run out of our own building by a bunch of idiots like that." From there, a number of different fights developed amidst a shower of "C-YA" signs thrown by seemingly everyone in the arena. When all was said and done, three Michigan play- ers - Ryan Sittler, Ron Sacka and Rick Willis - were disqualified for fighting, while four Flames were kicked out. More than twenty min- utes later, the penalty boxes looked more like the team benches. Berenson, needless to say, was less than satisfied with the officiating of the whole game, fight and all. "The way (the refs) should've stopped (the fight) is by controlling the game to start with, which wasn't being done," he said. "It's so frus- trating having to play against players like that and a team like that, with officiating like that." Illinois-Chicago coach Larry Pedrie had a different take on the whole affair. "I didn't think the game was out of hand," he said. "One of our play- ers was at fault. It was just pure frustration. That's not the way to handle frustration." The way the Flames did handle that frustration illustrated the differ-y ence between the two teams. "They shouldn't be allowed to play in the league if they're going to do something like that," Michigan's David Oliver said. "I don't respect them as much as I did." In the end, the fight, coupled with the 107 total penalties - 92 in the: third period alone - severely blem- ished an otherwise stellar perfQr- mance by the Wolverines. "Stewart had a great game. Ouimet had a great game. A lot of our kids played really well," Berenson said. "And yet you've got; everyone talking about all the crap that went on. These things shouldn't happen in college hockey." Dan Stiver (left) and Brian Wiseman celebrate after a goal in Saturday's matchup at Joe Louis Arena. The Wolverines won the season series, 2-1. SCORE BY PERIODS UIC 001- 1 Michigan 2 5 1 - 8 First Period: 1, UM, Neaton 7 (Oliver, Stewart) (pp) 10:52. 2,UM, Stiver 13 (Roberts, Ouimet), 16:49. Second Period: 3, UM, Stewart 11 (Ward), 2:56. 4, UM, Hilton 8 (Stewart), 6:06. 5, UM, Stewart 12 (Hilton), 12:22. 6, UM, Stone 7 (Willis, Sacka), 15:57.7, UM, Sacka 4 (Ward, Harlock), 19:52. Third Period: 8, UM, Wiseman 6 (Stewart Neaton) (pp) 4:19.9, UIC, MacDonald 6 (Bessert,Thidobeau), 12:31. Goalie Saves: UIC, Hillebrant (7-11- 5--23), Featherstone (x-x-7-30). Michigan, Shields (8-10-x-18), Gordon (x-x-13-31). Officials: Referees - Brent Rutherford, John LaDuke. Lines- man -John Kelly. Attendance: 6,785. SCORE BY PERIODS Michigan St. 1 0 0 - 1 Michigan 52 4- 11 First Period: 1, UM, Oliver 22 (Stewart, Hilton), 1:54. 2, UM, Oiumet 9 (Ward, Shields), 7:27. 3, UM, Neaton 8 (Stewart, Hilton) (pp), 11:05. 1, MSU, Woodward 8, 11:56.4, UM, Hilton 10 (Stewart, Neaton) (pp), 14:59. 5, UM, Stiver 14 (Roberts), 17:46. Second Period: 6, UM Oliver 23 (Neaton Wiseman), 1:55. 7, UM, Knuble 13 (Roberts) (pp), 13:52. Third Period: 8, UM, Stiver 15 (Roberts, Harlock) (sh), 4:27. 9, UM, Knuble 14 (Roberts, Tamer), 9:05. 10, UM,Wiseman7 (Harlock, Roberts), 12:27. 11, UM, Roberts 11 (Sinclair, Gordon), 14:57. Goalie Saves:MSU, Buzak (9-16- x-25), Kruse (x-x-1 1-36). Michigan, Shields (3-7-x-10), Gordon (x-x-2-12). Officials: Referees - Brent Rutherford, John LaDuke. Lines- man -John Kelly. Attendance: 18,275. HOCKEY Continued from page 1 Steve Shields (one assist) and Chris Gordon (one assist). . Despite the score, the Spartans restrained themselves from taking out their frustrations with cheap shots on the Wolverines. However, Illinois-Chicago could not keep its emotions in check Friday night. The two teams amassed 27 penal- ties apiece (of the 54 total infrac- tions, 40 were called in the final pe- riod) that totaled 146 minutes. The biggest altercation came at the 8:52 mark of the third period with Michigan ahead, 8-0. The end result of the melee that delayed the game for over 15 min- utes was three disqualifications for fighting on each team and two 10- minute misconduct penalties. For the Wolverines, forwards Ron Sacka, Ryan Sittler and Rick Willis were all ejected and suspended for Saturday's game, while Dan Stiver was whistled for a misconduct penalty. "Our player was at fault," UIC coach Larry Pedrie said. "It was pure frustration and that's not the way to handle frustration. It got out of hand more because of the score." Michigan center Brian Wiseman, who was making his return from a back injury and contributed his sixth goal of the season, said he sensed trouble coming early in the game. "We knew that something was coming," Wiseman said. "The refer- ees let somethings go. It was an un- fortunate situation. We showed a lot of pride and character out there. It is a tribute to the team and the coaches." The incident overshadowed, a standout performance from Michigan right wing Cam Stewart. The junior forward slammed home 'You see he (David Roberts) can make great plays. Every so often he comes up with a move you haven't seen before. He's been an important playmaker more so than a goal scorer this year.' -Red Berenson two goals to go along with his three assists. With the five points, Stewart eclipsed last season's total of 28. Two of the points were garnered with the aid of Kevin Hilton. Stewart assisted Hilton when he fed Hilton from the goal line to the high slot, where the freshman forward smoked his eighth tally of the season past Flame goalie Jon Hillebrandt. Hilton returned the favor six minutes later when he spotted Stewart in the slot from behind the goal line. Stewart banged home his 12th score to give the Wolverines a 5-0 lead in the second period. Defenseman Alan Sinclair looks to pass Saturday against Michigan State. BLUELINES Continued from page 1 1988 to 1992 with a 11-8-3 record against Michigan, and both teams made their way to the semifinal round of last season's NCAA tour- nament. The series has been marred by late hits, scuffles and brawls in the past few years. Two years ago at Joe Louis Arena, the benches emptied at an intermission and at least five dif- ferent battles took place. This December in East Lansing, after a tight-checking Spartan vic- tory, the teams queued to shake hands and another brawl ensued. "They have a lot of dummies on that team," Spartan Bryan Smolinski was overheard saying after the contest. 0 From where does this hatred em- ine players and staff have refined their recruiting, game plans and ap- proaches to the game to the point where they are no longer the butt of Spartan jokes. There was a time when the Yost crowd was decked in green. Hockey was unpopular in Ann Arbor, and Spartan fans bought many tickets to games in supposed enemy territory. That time is long gone, as the Yost crowd of today is one of the most boisterous and enthusiastic in the na- tion. CCHA teams dread playing in such a hostile environment against one of the top-rated teams in the country. Times have definitely changed. With Michigan fan support reaching a crescendo and the teams having split two earlier games this season, the scene was set for something re- tossed at the 19:53 mark of the first period. "In the '80's, when the score was 13-3 for us, we came in and took our gear off and the game was over and nobody thought much about it," Ma- son said. "By the way they played tonight, I think they've got the talent and experience now to win the na- tional title if they can put together games like this. So, it's just some- thing we have to write off. "We got bombed tonight - maybe it'll give us a standard that we have to move up to." Mason is actually resigned to the notion that Michigan is a better team than MSU. Michigan better than Michigan State? This is akin to the fall of an empire. "It's embarrassing. It's humiliat- ing to lose like that in front of "It's hard for those guys to accept that we have improved to the point where we're better than they are," Michigan senior captain Dave Har- lock said. This is coming from a player who was on the other end of that 11-4 MSU victory and has been a key component of Michigan's rise to prominence in college hockey. The Wolverine upperclassmen have toiled at length to give the pro- gram the credence and respect it now enjoys. They were the ones who made the team good enough and popular enough to pack Yost for a game against Kent State. They can now revel in the spoils they have earned. "When the score hit double digits, you could see a wave of green head for the exits," Ward said of Saturday's game. All the Michigan seniors must CCHA Standings Team W Miami 15 Michigan 15 Lake Superior 14 Michigan St. 11 W. Michiaan 11 L 2 4 4 7 s T Pts. 3 33 2 32 4 32 1 23 2 24 I I