The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - March 15, 1993 - Page 5
r I
U
Wui
(I
Li
nos
Fans offer final 'C-ya!' to seniors
Six veterans skate for last lime on Yost ice; lookforwand to nextfew weeks
Icers need to step up
against stronger foe
Daily Hockey Writer
1
Competition.
It's a simple concept, really. Good competition tends to breed good per-.
formances. Poor competition tends not to.
Case in point: the Michigan hockey team, which, in its last 16 games, has
played in only two contests that can be legitimately labeled competitive -
against Miami and Lake Superior.
That's not to say that Michigan has played poorly during that span. On
the contrary, anytime you outscore your opponents 128-24 in 16 games,
you're undoubtedly doing something very, very right.
The Wolverines have played well but have not played their best hockey.
The reason? They haven't had to.
With the exception of those two games with the Redskins and the Lakers,
and one with Michigan State (which hardly counts considering Michigan's
11-1 victory), the Wolverines have played the lower division of the CCHA
exclusively - Illinois-Chicago, Ferris State and Kent State once, Ohio State
and Bowling Green three times and Notre Dame five times. It's difficult to
find motivation to play great hockey against not-so-great teams.
"A game like that doesn't bring out the best in our team," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said after Friday's 13-2 victory over the Irish. "You
expect to win. You play relaxed. You lose your focus."
While that is perhaps understandable, the question remains as to how it
affects a team when it finally does play a competitive game - like the
Wolverines likely will next weekend in the CCHA semifinals (the winner of
Friday's Lake State-Bowling Green game).
The negative scenario, of course,
is that the lackadaisical play carries
over into the next game, and so the
performance that made for an easy
victory against Notre Dame makes
for a tough loss against a team like
Lake Superior.
Michigan knows that scenario all
too well.
After six convincing victories in
which they scored in double figures
twice and never gave up more than a
single goal, the Wolverines went
down to play first-place Miami in
Oxford and lost, 4-3, in overtime.
Michigan made too many costly er-
chances.
Against Ohio State, a similar ef-
fort spells a blowout victory. Against
H the Redskins, the Wolverines miss a
a rio shot at securing their second consec-
utive regular-season league title.
Of course, Michigan is an experienced club. In the last few years, it has
certainly risen to the occasion much more than it has not. The Wolverines
know the positive scenario too.
"We know we have to play well," senior defenseman Chris Tamer said
Saturday. "One, because it's our last game at Yost and two, because we
want to build a good base for the rest of the season."
"It makes it hard to get in good game habits," junior forward Mike Stone
said. "People do things they'd never do against Lake State or Miami."
And that's the point.
There is no question that the Wolverines will not win the CCHA tourna-
ment or the national title if they play every game with the lapses they dis-
played against Notre Dame this weekend. But, there is also no reason, as
Stone suggests, to think that they will.
Michigan knows what-it takes to win. After all, the Wolverines did reach
the semifinals of the NCAA tournament last season, and they are the No. 2
team in the country. The point is simply that the ingredients necessary for
victory against Ohio State and those needed against Miami or Maine are
substantially different.
"All year, we haven't had a string of good competition back to back to
back," senior captain David Harlock said. "It'll be a challenge (playing bet-
ter competition in the coming weeks), but we're up for it."
HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Smallest Yost crowds of
season disappoint coach
by Brett Forrest
Daily Hockey Writer
Michigan coach Red Berenson was a little disappointed with the fan
turnout at Yost Ice Arena this weekend for the playoff series with Notre
Dame. The weekend's crowds were the two smallest of the season's 19
home games. Friday's crowd was a sparse 3,476 while Saturday's game at-
tracted 4,314 spectators. Yost's capacity is 7,235.
"(Fan support) makes home ice advantage more significant," Berenson
said. "It was still playoff hockey and there's a little bit of magic there."
SHIELDS SHINES: Junior goaltender Steve Shields was awarded the
CCHA Best Goaltender Award given to the puck stopper with the lowest
goals against average (GAA) in league play with a minimum of 1,000 min-
utes.
With 23 victories, Shields also surpassed Michigan State's Ron Scott to
record the most victories in a CCHA season. He ended the season as the
leader in GAA (2.10) and save percentage (.912) and leads all active goal-
tenders with seven CCHA playoff wins.
HOW MANY GOALIES DO YOU NEED?: Friday's game featured a rare
occurrence when six goalies made their appearances for the Wolverines and
Fighting Irish. For Michigan, Shields, Chris Gordon and Al Loges each
played one period. Notre Dame began the game with Greg Louder, but after
giving up five goals on Michigan's first nine shots, was replaced with Brent
Lothrop. During the final stanza, Carl Picconatto saw action.
NOTABLES: A Michigan player has been named CCHA Player of the
Week four of the past six weeks. The Wolverines sport a 9-2 home CCHA
playoff record. Since the Feb. 6 loss at Miami, the squad has outscored its
opponents, 81-16.
ANN ARBOR 5.0: Four Michigan skaters have topped the 50-point mark.
by Chad A. Saf ran
Daily Hockey Writer
For six Michigan hockey players,
Saturday was the last waltz. The
class of 1993 will no longer be doing
its dancing in front of the Yost Ice
Arena crowds.
The Wolverines' seniors - for-
wards Mark Ouimet, Dave Roberts
and Dan Stiver, and defensemen Pat
Neaton, Chris Tamer and captain
David Harlock - closed out their
home-playing careers in style as all
scored a goal in the team's weekend
sweep of Notre Dame in the first
round of the CCHA playoffs.
As Saturday's game wound
down, Red Berenson played the se-
niors exclusively for the last two
minutes and the crowd of 4,314 re-
sponded, rising to its feet for a stand-
ing ovation at the 1:30 mark of the
third period. However, it was just the
beginning of the cheers that would
reach their crescendo when Ouimet
scored his 15th goal of the season on
a pass from Roberts.
"I couldn't imagine a better end-
ing," Ouimet said. "I've gone all
year without showing my dance. It
was a nice ending."
Michigan coach Red Berenson
was proud of the effort put forth.
"It was a great game for the se-
niors," Berenson said. "It was nice
for them to score on their last shift in
their last game at Yost Arena."
As the rest of the team left the ice
following the 8-1 victory, the seniors
skated around the rink waving
Michigan flags and thrusting sticks
into the air. This slow dance around
Yost's interior provided the group a
chance to reflect upon its four years
in Ann Arbor.
Ouimet was unprepared for what
was going to happen as he went
around the ice one final time.
"You never imagine it until you
are out there," Ouimet said. "You
see all the seniors ahead of you do it.
It gives you a weird feeling in front
of your stomach. All of a sudden you
are here and then you are not."
"It's kind of sad because we will
never be at Yost again in front of our
fans,"Tamer said. "It's also kind of
happy because it's been a good year
and we hope to finish it off good.
The biggest thing is that we've made
an additional step each year."
Roberts, who's first career goal
was a game-winner against Bowling
Green off an assist from Neaton, has
seen the support grow in conjunction
with the Wolverines success.
"Freshman year we would get
3,000 fans if we were lucky,"
Roberts said. "Skating around, it was
great to see how enthusiastic the fans
are. It shows how far we've come."
And they have come a long way
indeed.
In the sextet's first season, the
Wolverines finished fourth in the
CCHA and won 24 games, the
fewest number of games won in the
seniors' four seasons. Year number
two in Ann Arbor led to an NCAA
appearance and a second-place
league finish. Last season ended
with a loss to Wisconsin in the
NCAA semifinals and a CCHA reg-
ular-season title.
However, Harlock and Stiver are
not dwelling on the past for too long.
"All good things have to come to
an end," Harlock said. "So, I am sad
in one sense, but everyone's still ex-
cited about what's ahead."
"I'm looking forward to the rest
of the season," Stiver said.
Berenson mentioned that a great
deal of the team's prosperity the next
three weeks will be because of the
senior's effort.
"I've always said we're as good
as our senior class," Berenson said.
It is a class that Ouimet is glad to
have been a part of.
"I am proud to be part of this
class, the greatest class in Michigan
hockey history," he said.
DOUGLAS KANTER/Daily
Senior defenseman Pat Neaton salutes the Yost crowd after Saturday's
game. The seniors circled the ice to a standing ovation after the game,
their last at home.
SWEEP
Continued from page 1
"I felt bad about the score. We
didn't play our power play units af-
ter midway through the second pe-
riod," Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "Games like that don't help us.
We did a lot of little things we got
away with. We didn't go backwards
but we didn't have a great game."
Saturday marked the final home
game for Michigan's seniors and
they went out in style. Roberts, Dan
Stiver, Pat Neaton and Mark Ouimet
dented the twine during the evening,
with Ouimet's second goal coming
at the 18:58 mark of the third period.
It was a special time for the se-
niors as they skated their final lap
around the Yost ice surface to chants
of "Milwaukee" - the site of this
year's NCAA championship game
- from those in atten-dance.
"It's sort of sad for it to be over
here," Neaton said. "It was a special
moment for us. (Four years) go by
real quick, quicker than you think."
In the game itself, Wiseman
again opened the scoring at the 7:24
mark of the opening period with a
power-play goal assisted by Cam
Stewart and senior Chris Tamer. It
was the first of Stewart's three as-
sists in the period, helping Michigan
close out the stanza leading 3-0.
Wolverine goaltender Steve
Shields again entered the third pe-
riod seeking his third shutout of the
season. During a four-on-four situa-
tion, though, Ward was caught nap-
ping while Irish forward Jeff Has-
selman tooled in on Shields, who
also could have been mistaken for
Rip Van Winkle.
Hasselman slipped the puck
through the five hole for his seventh
goal of the year at the 10:31 mark of
the final period. Berenson yanked
Shields to give Loges some time a
minute later.
"I was mad because I got caught
sleeping," Shields said. "But it's
good to get this game over with.
We're looking forward to the last
five games. I hope we can make it a
great season for (the seniors) in the
next couple weeks."
Notre Dame stepped it up a notch
in Saturday's game, but Michigan's
superiority was evident. The Irish
went 0-for-12 on the power play on
the weekend and gave up 77 shots
on goal, including 39 total first-pe-
riod shots.
"If we're going to lose 46-8
(combined score of six games), we
want it to be to the national champi-
SCORE BY PERIODS
Notre Dame 1 0 1 - 2
Michigan 742- 13
First Period: 1, UM, Wiseman 12
(Knuble), 2:02. 2, UM, Harlock 3
(Knuble, Sittler), 2:33. 3, UM,
Knuble 23 (pp) (Ouimet, Halko),
8:36.4, UM, Stone 10 (Willis), 10:26.
5, UM, Roberts 21 (Stiver, Ouimet),
11:12. 6, ND, Ling 14 (Bankoske,
Bieck), 11:24. 7, UM, Roberts 22
(Sacka, Halko), 15:59.8, UM, Sacka
8 (Harlock, Halko), 16:32.
Second Period: 9, UM, Hilton 16,
5:38. 10, UM, Roberts 23, 6:24. 11,
UM, Knuble 24 (Tamer), 15:41. 12,
UM,Tamer5 (Sacka, Stone), 19:29.
Third Period: 13, ND, Rushin 1
(Gregoire), 2:49. 14, UM, Hogan 4,
4:37. 15, UM, Stone (sh) (Loges),
13:07.
Goalie Saves: UM, Shields (8-x-
x-8), Gordon (x-13-x-13), Loges
(x-x-9-9). ND, Louder (4-x-x-4),
Lothrop (9-9-x-18), Picconatto (x-
x-6-6).
Officials: Referees-Terry Schug,
Roger Graff. Linesman - John
Pearson.
At: Yost Ice Arena
Att: 3,476
ons," Schafer said. "I wish it was the
pros and we could get the first draft
pick."
"We know (the Irish) are a better
SCORE BY PERIODS
Notre Dame010- I
Michigan 3 1 4- 8
First Period: 1, UM, Wiseman 13
(pp) (Stewart, Tamer), 7:24.2, UM,
Stiver 23 (Stewart, Hilton), 11:34.
3, Oliver 33 (Stewart), 16:03.
Second Period: 4, UM, Roberts
24 (Ouimet, Halko), 13:50.
Third Period: 5, UM, Neaton 10
(Sittler, Stone), 5:19.6, UM,Knuble
25 (Sittler, Shields), 8:06. 7, ND,
Hassleman (Gregoire), 10:31. 8,
UM, Stewart 18, 16:10. 9, UM,
Ouimet 15 (Roberts), 18:58.
Goalie Saves: UM, Shields (4-9-
8- 22), Loges (x-x-1- 1). Notre
Dame, Lothrop (16-6-6- 28).
Official Referees - Terry Schug,
Roger Graff. Linesman - John
Pearson.
At: Yost Ice Arena
Att: 4, 314
team than they were earlier in the
season," Berenson said. "But we're a
much better team than we were ear-
lier in the season."
Thursday, March 11
Miami (OH) 7, Ohio St. 2
Friday, March 12
Michigan 13, ND 2
Miami (OH) 8, Ohio St. 2
(Miami wins series 2-0)
Lake Superior 7, UIC 2
Michigan St. 6, Kent 5
BGSU 5, W. Michigan 4
Ferris St. 8, Ak.-Fair. 6
Saturday, March 13
Michigan 8, ND 2
(Mich. wins series 2-0)
Lake Superior 4, UIC 2
(LSSU wins series 2-0)
Michigan St. 5, Kent 2
(Mich. St. wins series 2-0)
BGSU 6, W., Michigan 3
I i ;ns series 9-0
:; :.
,I
i