The Michigan Daily - SPORTSTuesday - Tuesday, January 18, 1994 - 7 no Blue relentless in pursuit of perfection By PAUL BARGER DAILY HOCKEY WRITER NOTRE DAME - Every week it seems that the Michigan hockey team is primed for an upset. The squad travels to small arenas that are about as loud as the UGLi to play against teams that win as many games in a season *s Michigan wins in three weeks. Teams are sky high when the Maize and Blue comes to town. The Notre Dames and Ohio States of the world wait all year for that one miraculous moment when they can finally pull the "upset of the season" against the Wolverines. But this year, those upsets don't seem likely to happen. The Wolverines have been able to avoid the unthink- able, unlike the other big guns in the CCHA. Just this past Friday, Lake Superior State had to come from two goals down to tie Ohio State and Bowling Green lost to Notre Dame. Saturday, the Irish, fresh off their upset kill, prepared to take on Michigan in front of a packed, albeit deathly quiet, Joyce Fieldhouse. Michigan was dull after last week's tremendous effort against Lake State. This was Notre Dame's big chance. And, of course, it got blown out. The fact Michigan came away with the victory cannot be explained by talent alone. It can also be explained by the fact that the Wolverines are not getting caught up in the rankings or their hefty lead in the league standings. Every *ight, the team gives a total effort no matter what the caliber of opponent. "We're not thinking about where other teams are rated," senior David Oliver said. "We're just coming in and playing our game. As long as we can do that, I think we will be successful." When one part of the team lets down, another plays even harder. Saturday night, for example, the defense did not give its best effort. The goaltenders picked up the slack, as teve Shields had two of his best periods this season and Al Loges played a perfect third. With this type of depth it will be tough for anyone to defeat Michigan this season. But don't tell the team that. The Wolverines realize that the only way to keep the winning streak alive is to give 100 percent every night. "Good teams should, and they do, win games like this," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Teams that just think they're good will lose games like this, because they think they're better than everyone. We know we have to work as hard as they (Notre Dame) work, and if we do we should come out on top." The problem now is that every team in the nation is gunning for Michigan. Any loss will be considered an upset. The Wolverines will get the opposition's best effort throughout the rest of the season, and when you get the best you must give your best, no matter how good you are. Opposing coaches like to talk about the skills of Brian Wiseman, Oliver and Shields, but that is an injustice to the rest of the Michigan players and the team as a whole. The respect that the team's stars receive is well-deserved, but it takes a lot more than two or three guys to tally a 21-I- I record. "We've had a lot of different guys contribute, more than one or two players," Berenson said. "Oliver and Wiseman are leading the team, and Shields will come up with a big save in goal, and Mike Stone has done a great job for us wherever we have put him. Players like Kevin Hilton, Mike Knuble and Steven Halko have all come up and done a good job as well." The players expect a lot from each other, but they do not sit around and watch as someone else wins the game for them. On any given night, the scorers may be off, the power play could stall or the defense could collapse. That is when the complete team effort will be needed most. Instead of waiting for that moment, the squad is play- ing every game like it is its last and leaving nothing to chance. It is that intensity, more than its talent, that should carry Michigan for the rest of the season. EVAN PETRIE/Daily Notre Dame defenseman David Welch lays a hit on Michigan center Kevin Hilton. The Wolverines defeated the Irish, 6-1, extending their win streak over Notre Dame to 15 and their CCHA win streak to 16. ICERS Continued from page 1 Notre Dame would not catch Michigan on the ice or on the scoreboard as the Wolverines added two more goals to up their lead to 6-0. The first came when Wiseman made a pretty feed from behind the net to Warren Luhning for a chip shot out front. Harold Schock followed that at the 18:31 mark on a whirling shot with his back to the goal that went off the left post and into the net for his sixth of the season. Schock's tally came on yet an- other beauty of a pass, this time from Luhning, who skated into the zone with Kevin Hilton and Schock on a three-on-two. "When they come into the zone, they have some tremendous passing skills," Schafer said. "When we come into the zone, it's a crash, a clunk and maybe it will get where it's going." The puck finally did get where it was going when Jamie Morshead ended Shields' shutout hopes with a score at the 19:16 mark of the second period. At that point, the scoring was over and so was the game for all intents and purposes.o Schafer hopes that after the Irish's Jan. 29 meeting with the Wolverines at the Palace of Auburn Hills, his season with the Wolverines will also be mercifully over. "I would like to see us finish high enough so we don't have to go to Ann Arbor (for the CCHA play- offs)," Schafer said. "With all due respect to the beautiful city of Ann Arbor, we don't want to go there again." Vrrw /~t*7 is a showcase of Asian Americans today to e presented April 9 during the 1994 Midwest Asian American Students Union Conference here at Michian. Tryouts, as well as informational meetings, will be 7pn Janaury 18th and 19th in the Nik i Giovanni Loun&c in Mojo. No experience neccessary. Just natural character. Women interested in trying out for the formal wear portion of the production should bring Heels. Injury-plagued 'M' tennis comles up shy in Tennessee A W By JOSH BRAYER FOR THE DAILY Mission denied. Last-minute injuries kept the men's tennis team from winning the Volunteer Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., and gaining national respect. In their first-round loss to Okla- homa, the Wolverines not only lost 5- but they also lost their No.4 player, dam Wager, who suffered a pulled stomach muscle midway through his singles match. "There wereafew games that went down to the wire and could have gone either way," Michigan coach Brian Eisner said. "With a full lineup I feel that we could have not only defeated Oklahoma, but we could have won all f our matches." Wager was able to play in his doubles match against Oklahoma and then returned the next day against Murray State to win both his singles match (6-4,6-3) and his doubles match with Mike Nold to aid in Michigan's lone victory of the tournament, 5-2. Also adding key singles victories were Peter Pusztai, Brad Kramer and Chris Wyatt. Then, after a close two-set loss to urray State's Martin Jansson, the Wolverines' No. 1 player Dan Brakus caught the flu and was unable to play in Michigan's third-round, 5-2 loss to Michigan State. "It's hard to win when you have to go that deep into your lineup, and shuffle things around at the last minute," Eisner said. The loss of a couple of key players during the tournament, coupled with the earlier loss of No.2 singles player John Costanza, gave younger players the opportunity to gain experience. "You must have depth so people canstep up when the top players can't play," Eisner said. "Even though we didn't win we were able to give some of our younger players experience so that they will be able to step up and get the job done in the future." F-it Period-1. UM, Botterill 14 (Wiseman, Oliver), 5:32 (pp). Penalties - Dal Grande, ND (holding), 4:43; Welch, ND, (elbowing), 12:15; Schock, UM (holding), 17:22. SecondP.deod-2, UM,Oliver19(Botterill):41. 3, UM, Willis 5 (Arnold), 3:17. 4, Knuble 23 (Oliver), 7:59 (pp).. 5. UM, Luhning 6 (Wiseman, Oliver), 1524.6 Schock 3 (Hilton, Luhning),18:31. 7, ND, Morshead 5 (Gruber, Ling), 19:16. Penalties - BruininksND (hooking), 6:25; Sloan. UM (hooking), 838;Knuble, UM (slashing), 12:58; Ling, ND (elbow- ing),13:17; Gruber, ND(high-sticking), 15:32: Welch, ND (roughing), 17:12; Botterill, UM (holding and roughing), 17:12; Osiecki,:ND (high-sticking), 18:00; Arnold, UM (holding), 19:00. Third Period - None. Penalties - Luhning, UM (double minor for roughing), 1:41; Rushin, ND (roughing), 1:41; Oliver, UM (checking from be- hind), 12:42; Willis, UM (high-sticking), 19:24; Bales, ND (high-sticking), 19:24. Shots on goat - UM 11-137-31. ND 8-13- 11-32. Power-plays - UM 2 of 5; ND 0 of 7. * le saves--UM,Shields 8-12-x-20,Loges x-x-11-11. ND, Salzman 10-8-7-25. Referees- Jim Breach, Matt Shegos. ynes Fian - Larry Lulich. At: Joyce Fieldhouse. A: 3,368. It C 3 SI2C P*F iNT- N a " MULTI COLOR SPECIALISTS * ARTIST ON STAFF + RUSH ORDERS * NEAR U OF M CAMPUS 1217 PROSPECT, ANN ARBOR 665-1771 FF with this ad. MULTICULTURALISM & THE UNIVERSITY "Empowering the Underrepresented or Stifling Academic Freedom?" Y Y \6 I a 9 s . IN W