The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, December 6, 1993 - 7
Chemistry leads to power play success
Three veterans plus rookies help Michigan take advantage of opportunities
By JAESON ROSENFELD
DAILY HOCKEY WRITER
KALAMAZOO - If you are 6-
foot-3, 220 pounds, there are some
sports you just can't excel in.
Wolverine forward Mike Knuble,
who has those dimensions, probably
has little or no future as a projectile in
the sport of dwarf tossing.
But when it comes to playing the
slot on the power play, one of the
roughest positions in hockey, Knuble's
size becomes quite an asset. His role is
to clear the front of the net and muscle
in loose pucks.
Like Knuble, each of the other four
Wolverines on the power play unit has
assumed a distinct role utilizing his
attributes. While it's favorable for
Michigan to have someone of Knuble's
size on the ice for man-up situations,
five players of his stature probably
wouldn't make up an effective unit.
With Knuble, Brian Wiseman, David
Oliver, Jason Botterill and Brendan
Morrison, Michigan coach Red
Berenson seems to have found just the
right mix.
"We didn't plan this power play
over the summer," Berenson said.
"When we knew who we had on our
team we didn't really know for sure
who was going to fit, but these five
have obviously surfaced as the best on
the team right now."
The qualities that make this group
successful were evident against West-
ern Michigan, as the unit went7-for-19
for the weekend on the power play.
Each player showed off the skill that
made him right for the unit.
Knuble's strength was particularly
important against Western, whose pen-
alty killers were constantly trying to
knock him around in the slot. Their
harassment did little though, as Knuble
had three power-play tallies on the
weekend.
"He's 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds and
it's tough to push that around," Oliver
said. "If he can plant himself there, no
one's going to knock him out of there,
and he's going to pick up any loose
pucks around."
Oliver, on the other hand, makes a
living on the left circle. His scorching
slapshot earned him a pair of power-
play goals this weekend and moved
him into the CCHA scoring lead with
29 points.
"Literally, he's been as good aplayer
as there is in the league all season,"
Berenson said. "A guy like-Oliver can
score with the best of them."
The key to the power play is captain
Wiseman; who serves as the Wolver-
ines''quarterback' on the ice. Wiseman
has a knack for finding the open man as
evidenced by his four assists Saturday.
"Wiseman is so creative and so
dangerous," Berenson said.
It's the two newest Wolverines,
however, who have rounded out the
unit so nicely. Botterill's strength on
the boards helps Michigan keep the
puck in the zone, while also enabling
him to grab rebounds in front of the net.
Meanwhile, classmate Morrison roams
(Knuble's) 6-foot-3
and 220 pounds and
it's tough to push that
around.'
- David Oliver
Michigan forward
behind the net and distributes the puck.
"Botterill; it's hard to beat him to a
loose puck in front ofthe net," Berenson
said. "And Morrison is an excellent
playmaker from the side."
And when you bring the five to-
gether, you get something special, ac-
cording to Berenson.
"There's so much talent and they're
so creative. They're beginning to an-
ticipate each others' moves, and they're
really dangerous. You 'Can give the
puck to any one of them and they can
make a great play. You can watch the
tapes but you can't just predict what
they are going to do."
JOHNATHAN LURIE/Daily
Brian Wiseman takes some punishment on this play but then dishes it out
with his passing on the power play.
BLUE LINES:
*Cheap tactics slow down Wolverines
jy JAESON ROSENFELD
VAILY HOCKEY WRITER
KALAMAZOO -If you can't beat'em, knock the hell
out of 'em.
: That seems to be the coaching philosophy of Western
Michigan's Bill Wilkinson, whose teams are consistently
among the roughest in the Central Collegiate Hockey Asso-
*,iation.
: Michigan, on the other hand, features all the speed and
skill to skate right by the Broncos. Since Western simply
-doesn't have the attributes to compete with Michigan in a
wide open hookey game, being physical has to be part of its
-game plan.
. The contrasting styles of play set the stage for an interest-
ing matchup between speed and brute force.
It also sets the officials up for a whole lot of verbal abuse.
You see, no matter how the referees called the game, they
were going to get lambasted. If they called a tight game it
would hurt the Broncos, while if they let the teams play,
Michigan would suffer.
The Broncos did exactly what they had to do to stay in the
games. Everywhere you looked this weekend, Bronco play-
ers were pushing, hooking, cross-checking and generally
trying to beat up the Wolverines.
The term for these tactics, in hockey lingo, is "clutching
and grabbing," andjust about every Michigan player thought
Western committed more than its fair share of foul play.
"Well, that's Coach Wilkinson's style of play - just
clutch and grab," Michigan netminder Steve Shields said.
"There was so much clutching and grabbing going on out
there, it's almost embarrassing to watch."
But unfortunately for Western, the Wolverine netminder
wasn't the only one noticing the Broncos' physical play. The
referees whistled Western for 36 penalties in the series.
Since the only chance his team had was to intimidate
-Michigan, Wilkinson criticized the referees' tight calling of
the game before storming out of the locker room.
"If you have to kill penalties all god damn night and you
don't have a chance at the power play (you can't win),"
Wilkinson said. "The officials, they might as well put them
in the NHL, because that's where they belong. That's all I
have to say."
Wilkinson's statement might seem a bit ironic, because
usually being sent to the National Hockey League would be
apromotion forareferee. However, in the wake of the recent
NHL officials' strike, his statement translates into him
saying, "Those refs were a bunch of second-rate blind
scabs." Not exactly a compliment.
The real irony of Wilkinson's statement is that the
Broncos had seven power play chances Friday and 12
opportunities Saturday - the exact numbers that Michigan
had. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that, whether
deserved or not, the Wolverines had just about as many
penalties as Western.
Thatmeant perhaps Michigan was playing dirty, too. But
such was not the case, according to Berenson, who found a
familiar scapegoat in the referees.
"One of our goals is to be the least penalized team in the
league," Berenson said. "(But the referees) want to even up
the penalties. They don't care if one team is taking 10 shots
and the other is taking one. They call it five and five."
Berenson was right on the mark. Western definitely
deserved more penalties and Michigan fewer, and there was
some equaling out on the officials' part. But to say that
Michigan was totally innocent of committing penalties
wouldn't be a fair assessment. It takes two to tangle, and the
Wolverines took more than their share of payback penalties.
"A guy falls into me and gives me a shot in the head, so
I give him a punch back," Shields said. "He hits me another
time and lend up getting a penalty. You've got to learn to live
with it and not get upset."
One can understand Shields' and the rest of the Wolver-
ines' plight. It's tough not to fight back when you're taking
shots and they're not getting called. With the speed the
Wolverines possess, though, many teams will try the same
physical tactics that Western uses. And Michigan players
will have to learn to "take one for the team" once in a while.
Even if the referees should have called one on the other guy.
"Sometimes they just push you over the edge, and you
take a penalty," forward David Oliver said. "Guys aren't
really thinking ofthe team when they're doing that, but when
you're so frustrated there's nothing else you can do.
"I think that's something we're going to have to work on
as a team if we're going to be successful in the playoffs."
The Wolverines' penalty-killing unit, one of the best in
the nation, made Michigan's penalty binge this weekend
inconsequential, by stymieing 17-of-19 Bronco power plays.
But penalty-killing is not easy work, and Mike Stone and Co.
would be the first to tell you, the fewer times they have to kill
penalties, the higher the Wolverines' victory chances will be.
And in the tough CCHA, why make things more difficult
than they already are"?
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Mike Knuble feeds a pass to teammate Warren Luhning in Michigan's 6-3 victory over Western Michigan.
E0iGtATF.
CIfYXE
',SOC HT & "
ROUNDUP
GAMES PLAYED
DEC. 3 AND 4
Spartans move to
ennd in UCHA
UOl% X-FAi%4L
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michigan St. 6, Kent St. 3
Steve Guolla had a hat trick and two
assists Saturday night as Michigan State
beat Kent State, 6-3.
Anson Carter added two points for
* Michigan State (7-2-3 CCHA, 9-3-3
overall), including the game-opening
score 59 seconds into the game. But
Kent State (3-4-1, 7-5-1) took a 2-1
first-period lead with goals from Sam
Thornbury and Claude Morin.
Guolla tied the score with a second-
period goal assisted by Carter and Bart
CCHA STANDINGS-
Through games of Dec. 4:
Turnet. Bob Krosky answered with a
power-play goal for Kent, but Steve
Suk came back with a power play for
Michigan State.
The Spartans dominated the third
period with two scores from Guolla
and Carter's empty-net goal.
Ferris St. 4, Bowling Green 3
Robb McIntyre had a goal and an
assist Saturday night as Ferris State
defeated Bowling Green, 4-3.
The Bulldogs' Dwight Parrish, a
sophomore, scored his first collegiate
goal on a power play at 9:24 of the third
L iii'%./1 mAd.. U
period.
Bowling Green (6-2-2, 8-3-2)
opened the scoring on Kevin Lune's
goal. FerrisState (4-9,4-1 1)answered
on Doug Smith's score. Curtis Fry
drove one past Craig Lisko on a power
play, but McIntyre answered on a
power play of his own.
Bowling Green took a 3-2 lead at
the end of the second on Sean Pronger's
goal, but couldn't fill the net for the
rest of the game.
The Bulldogs got third period goals
from Mike Kolenda and Parrish for
the 4-3 win.
Ferris' Lisko made 24 saves,while
Will Clarke had 26 saves.
Ili.-Chicago 2, Notre Dame 2OT
Jamie Ling had a goal and an assist
for Notre Dame but neither team could
find the net in overtime as Notre Dame
tied Illinois-Chicago, 2-2, Saturday.
Notre Dame (4-4-2, 6-6-2) held a
2-0 until late in the second period on
Ling's goal at 5:47 of the first period
and Tim Harberts' score at 6:28 of the
second.
The Flames (1-6-1, 2-10-1) made
it 2-1 on Mike Peron's goal at 15:38 of
the second. The Irish held onto the
lead until Mark Zdan scored forUIC at
3:32 of the third to force overtime.
HOCKEY
Continued from page 1
- three assists in a game. "We really
haven't had that for 60 minutes for a
couple of weeks now.
"They had so many opportunities to
exploit our penalty killing, but I think
we probably have the best penalty kill-
ers in the league, if not the nation."
Michigan's first penalty in the game
was assessed to Shields as he lost his
cool following a run-in with a Western
player.
"A guy falls into me and gives me a
shot in the head, so I give him a punch
back," Shields said. "He hits me an-
other time, and I end up getting a pen-
alty. You've got to learn to live with it."
Oliver's two goals and one assist
Saturday, along with a goal and an
assist on Friday, moved him into the
league scoring lead with 23 points.
"He's been as good aplayer as there
is in this league all season long,"
Berenson said. "He's as dangerous a
player as there is in this league."
A season-high crowd of 7,057 at
Yost saw the Wolverines take a 4-1
lead into the third period. Michigan
scored twice more for a comfortable
five-goal advantage.
Al Loges replaced Shields in the
nets as the Wolverines had the game in
check. This is quite different from most
of this year's games, which have come
down to the action of the final 20 min-
utes.
"I think we've decided more games
in the third this year than in the past,"
Shields said. "This is only the second
game where I've gotten a break when
we've been up.
"It shows we don't have the fire-
power we did. We'regoing to be in alot
more tough games this year."
Knuble had two goals and two as-
sists and Jason Botterill scored his team-
leading 13th goal of the year to lead the
Michigan scoring.
The Wolverines made Western pay
for its penalties, converting on 3-of-7
power plays, while the Broncos scored
just once in seven chances.
"They're a chippy team and that's
the way they're going to play against
us," senior center Mike Stone said.
"They feel they have to do that to stay
even with us.
This game featured two third-pe-
riod melees that resulted in multiple
penalties for the teams. With 3:43 re-
maining, each team lost two players,
and with 27 seconds left, all the players
involved had an early exit to the
lockerroom.
"They seem tobegne of the rougher
teams that we play, but it was a good
test for our team," Berenson said.
w 177AyGA E
MICHIGAN 6, WESTERN MICHIGAN 1
Western Michigan 1 0 0-1
Michigan 1 3 2-6
First Period - 1, UM, Botterill 13 (0liver,
Knuble), 15:06 (pp). 2, WMU, D'Arcy 3 (Brekke,
Rentrew), 17:07 (pp). Penalties - Whitton, WM
(cross-checking), 4:36: Brekke, WMU (cross-check-
ing), 14:07: Luhning, UM ( interference), 15:47.
Second Period - 3, UM, Knuble 9 (Halko4
Morrison). 5:38.4, UM, Knuble 10, 7:38 (pp).5
UM, Legg 5 (Stone, Federov), 12:13. Penalties-
Maloney, WMU (tripping), 6:07; Cardwell, WMIJ
(holding). 9:16; Halko, UM (roughing). 20:00~
Innanen, WMU (cross-checking), 20:00.
Third Period - 6, UM, Oliver 10 (Knuble
Morrison), 4:09 (pp). 7, UM, Hiltonn6 (Sloan), 4:50]
Penalties - Sloan, UM (interference), 1:40; WMU~
bench, served by Zimmerman (too many men)
3:01; Stone, UM (checking from behind), 3:20,
Ward, WMU (slashing), 3:39; Sloan, UM (tripping),
6:49; Whitton, WMU (holding), 9:41: Wiseman.- ,ni
(high-sticking), 11:18: Whitton, WMU (slashing)]
13:58; Innanen, WMU (roughing), 16:17; Cardwell
WMU (roughing), 16:17; Schock, UM (rough1
ing),16:17; Luhning, UM (roughing), 16:17
Gallentine. WMU, misconduct, 18:21; Stone. UIA
Galnie Mmsodc,1:1 tnL(hooking), 19:20: Mayers, WMU (roughing). 19:331
Zimmerman, WMU (roughing). 19:33; J. Brown
WMU (roughing), 19:33; D'Arcy, WMU (roughing),
19:33; Whitten, WMU, double-minor (roughing)
19:33: Hilton, UM (roughing), 19:33; Madden, U
(roughing). 19:33; Halko, UM (roughing), 19:33
Sloan, UM (roughing), 19:33; WMU bench, 20:00.
Shots on goal - WMU 8-17-8-28. UM 9-11
17-42.
Power-plays - WMU 1 of 7; UM 3 of 7.
Goalie saves- WMU, Renfrew 7-14-15-36.
UM, Shields 8-11-3-22, Loges (9:15 third) X-X
5-5.
Referees - Perry Petterle, Mike O'Donnell.
Unsman - Marc Pouliot.
At: Yost Ice Arena. A: 7,057.
MICHIGAN 6, WESTERN MICHIGAN 3
Michigan 2 1 3-6
Western Michigan 0 1 2-3
First Period - 1, UM, Knuble 11 (Botterill,
Shields), 3:16 (pp). 2, UM, Morrison 9 (Oliver,
Wiseman), 17:30 (pp). Penalties - Schooley,
WMU (interference), 1:19; Shields, UM, served by
Sinclair (roughing), 4:31: Wiseman, UM (hooking).
8:37; Willis, UM (cross-checking), 10:00: Ward,
WMU (cross-checking), 10:00; Schock, UM (cross-
checking), 10:16; DArcy, WMU (cross-checking),
10:16; Whitton, WMU (high-sticking), 10:16;
Cressman, WMU (holding). 13:51; Knuble, UM
(elbowing), 15: 11; Mayer, WMU, double-minor (hold-
ing-interference) 15:51; Willis, UM (charging) 20:00.
Second Period - 3, UM, Oliver 11 (Wiseman,
Morrison), 11:04 (pp). 4, WMU, Innanen 7
(Schooley, J. Brown), 18:05. Penalties - Hogan,
UM (cross-checking), 4:41; Schooley, WMU ('inter-
ference), 7:23; J. Brown, WMU (hooking), 9:07;
Zimmerman, WMU (cross-checking), 10:10; Ward,
WMU (cross-checking), 11:40; Knuble, UM (hook-
ing), 11:58; Schock, UM (interference) 14:09;
Sinclair, UM (cross-checking), 19:23.
Third Period - 5, UM, Oliver 12 (Wiseman,
Sinclair), 5:47. 6, WMU, J. Brown 6 (Mayers,
D'Arcy), 11:44 (pp). 7, UM, Knuble 12 (Morrison,
Wiseman),14:33 (pp). 8, WMU, Innanen 8(Brekke,
Maloney), 16:36 (pp). 9, UM. Hilton 7, 18:04 (en).
Penalties - Halko, UM (cross-checking), :14;
Sittier, UM, double-minor (roughing), 3:23; Brekke
(roughing), 3:23; Schooley, WMU (holding), 8:30;
Botterill, UM, double-minor (roughing), 11:04;
Kenny, WMU (roughing), 11:04; Ward, WMU (charg-
ing), 13:15; Wiseman, UM (hooking), 18:14:
Renfrew, WMU, served by Zimmerman (hooking),
18:41; Wilkinson, WMU (high-sticking), 19:36.
Shots on goal - UM 15-12-12-39, WMU 10-
7-11-28.
Power-plays - UM 4 of 12; WMU 1 of 12.
Goaliesaves-UM, Shields 10-6-9-24. WMU,
Renfrew 13-11-9-33. -
Referees - Roger Graff, Matt Shegos.
Linesman - John Kelly.
At: Lawson Ice Arena. A: 4,547.
T-SHiRT
PRINTING
HIGH QUALITY
LOW PRICES
r
__j
Kathryn P. O'Brien
M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
663-2973
Counseling
* Individual
* Couples
CONFERENCE
OVERALL
TEAM
Michigan
Michigan St.
Bowling Green
Lake Superior
W. Michigan
Notre Dame
Ferris St.
Kent
Miami (OH)
Ohio St.
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1002 PONTIAC TR.
994-1367
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