$PORTSMonday Triva :~ When did Team Canada last capture hockey's Olympic gold medal? (Answer, page 2) k 6 iic4 rZ1i4r Inside SPORTSMonday Men's Gymnastics Track The R.H. Factor Women's Basketball Hockey Wrestling 2 3 3 4 5 7 'M'hockey reaches for answers Blue drops three in a row, falls from No.1 1a By ANTOINE PITTS DAILY HOCKEY WRITER OXFORD -With the CCHA title already in its hands, the Michigan hockey team faced the last extended road trip of the regular season, looking 0o stay focused for the upcoming league playoffs. However, the Wolverines faced a team, in Miami, still fighting for its playoff position. The Redskins (15-11-1 CCHA,17- 13-1 overall) clinched home ice for the first round of the playoffs, sweeping a pair of games from Michigan (23-4-1, 28-5-1) by identical 5-3 scores at Goggin Ice Arena. The defeats gave *he Wolverines their first three-game losing streak in four years and dropped them out of the No. 1 spot in the nation. Miami goaltender Richard Shulmistra stopped 41 shots Friday, and another 33 Saturday - keeping Michigan at bay when it had golden opportunities to score. "The real key to our success was Shulmistra," Miami coach George iwozdecky said. "He made some huge saves for us when he really had to." "I just go out and play, and if the team lags and gives them lots of shots, I try to respond," Shulmistra said. "If they play strong defense and give me 18 shots, I try and stay awake and come up big for them too." Jason Botterill's 19th goal of the season gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead halfway through the first period Satur- day, but Miami scored the next three to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. Mike Stone pulled Michigan to within one, scoring with 5:45 left in the game. However, the Wolverines would get no closer, as Shulmistra stymied several Michigan scoring chances. Marc Boxer's empty netter with six seconds remaining closed the scoring. "Their goalie played well and the puck's not going in for us," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "One thing you want to do is generate offensive chances and you've got to capitalize on them. I can't remember when we've had as many good chances as we had in this game." The Wolverines had a chance to tie the game with 4:21 left as Miami's Trent Eigner was called for high-stick- ing. Berenson called timeout to set the strategy, but a Botterill penalty 24 sec- onds later evened things up. Brian Wiseman was whistled for interfer- ence nearly a minute later and soon a one-man advantage for Michigan turned into a two-man advantage for See MIAMI, Page 5 .......... Wolverine Warren Luhning stretches for the puck in Michigan's 5-1loss to Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena Feb.,19. Rose sinks Itml;n- win *streak runs to nine Men swimmers win ninth straight conference crown By BRETT FORREST DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER The Michigan men's basketball team is playing like a scratched record. However, the No. 3 Wolverines are skipping on a part they enjoy listening to. * Against Illinois (7-6 Big Ten, 14-8 overall) at Crisler Arena Tuesday, the Wolverines (12-2, 20-4) started the game sluggishly, stormed back to grab a double-digit lead in the second half, nearly allowed the opposition to climb back into the game and needed Jalen Rose to bail them out at the finish., Michigan won the game, 79-70, before 13,548 spring break fans. Rose led all scorers with 24 points, 17 of them coming in the second half. Illinois led by as much as six in the earlygoing, but Michigan took over for good, 13-12, as Rose converted his first two free throws of the day at the 12:16 mark of the first half. Michigan's lead ballooned to 18 in the second half, but the Illini shaved it to five points late in the game. Rose would not let his team succumb. "I turned to (Michigan assistant coach Brian) Dutcher at one point and said, 'Boy,he'sgood,"'Wolverine head coach Steve Fisher said of his junior guard. "He did it in a fashion where it wasn't like he thought he was lucky." Rose needed no luck at the 16:27 mark of the second half. He grabbed the ball off of an Illini turnover on Michigan's end and rambled down the left side. Rose faked right, went left and slammed home two to put Michigan up, 48-35. "I don't think there is anyone who can guard him," Illinois coach Lou Henson said of Rose. "I don't think the pros could guard him. He's an excep- tional player. He can hurt you in so many ways, and he did it tonight." From the 12:50 mark of the second half until the 7:20 mark, Illinois outscored Michigan, 13-9. Rose scored all nine points, and Michigan still clung to a nine-point advantage. "Late in games we try to put the ball in his hands," Michigan junior Jimmy King said. "He makes the right deci- sions, taking the shot or making the pass. We look for him to do that." "It's not old hat," Rose said, downplaying his performance. "The team did a good job getting me the ball." Illinois native Juwan Howard led Michigan in scoring at the half with 10 points, and finished with 21. He tied Rose for the game-high in rebounds, See ILLINOIS, Page 4 By BRE JOHNSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER MINNEAPOLIS-The Michigan men's swimming and diving team was less dominant in its victory at the Big Ten Championships compared to last season's 788-477.50 triumph - but just slightly. The Wolverines took the lead after the second event Thursday night, amassed 744 points and cruised to a 154.5 point victory over second-place Minnesota. The Gophers finished sec- ond for the fifth year in a row. Leading the way for Michigan was 1994 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year, Tom Dolan. Dolan stood atop the winner's stand three times in individual competition - the 500-yard freestyle (4:16.85), 400 individual medley (3:46.97) and the 1,650 free (14:51.79) - and once more in a relay -the 800 free. All four swims qualified Dolan for the NCAA Championships in late March. In the process, the freshman set the University Aquatics Center poolrecord in all three of his individual events and Big Ten records in both the 500 and 1,650 freestyles. "The 1,650 felt pretty good," Dolan said. "Going in, Iwanted to go under 15 minutes, but I didn't really know how fast I was going to go. It was a great finish to my meet so I feel really confi- dent going into NCAAs." Despite Dolan's accomplishments, the Big Ten coaches decided to spread the wealth of the awards and named Iowa's Rafal Szukala Swimmer of the Meet. Szukala also had a tremendous weekend, winning the 100 and 200 butterfly in pool-record times. His 100 time of :47.52 eclipsed a 10-year-old conference record as well. Szukala was surprised with his performance and the award. "I'm really happy with my best time in the 100 fly," Szukala said. "The record was great and very unexpected. (Swimmer of the Meet) was even more unexpected." Dolan was not the only Wolverine to have outstanding performances. Jun- ior Gustavo Borges won both the 100 and 200 freestyles with times of :43.32 and 1:35.91, respectively, and placed second in the 50 free with a time of :19.95. Krzysztof Cwalina won the event with a time of :19.75. Borges also swam on four relays, anchoring three, including the conference record-set- tinig 400 free relay. Sophomore Royce Sharp contin- ued his dominance of the 200 back- See M SWIM, Page 6 Jalen Rose tries for two against Minnesota Feb. 19. No contest: women tankers grab Big Tens Aodest champion By DARREN EVERSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER INDIANAPOLIS - Michigan's catch phrase for the first day of the Big Ten women's swimming champion- ship was "just get through it." If the Wolverines were to be truly challenged, the competition would have to make its Dove on opening night, since the races Michigan excels at weren't scheduled until the following evening. Obviously this team's concept of a tough day is one they win by 50 points, since that was the margin. One might wonder why the rest of the conference bothered to show up the last two days. Richardson was speaking of fresh- men Rachel Gustin, Anne Kampfe and Melisa Stone. All of them were named to this year's All-Big Ten team, along with sophomore Beth Jackson and jun- iors Hooiveld, Jennifer Almeida and Humphrey. Humphrey, a seven-time All- American, turned in a scintillating per- formance in the 200-yard backstroke on the meet's final day. Her time of 1:55.77 bested the old Big Ten record by nearly half a second - a record that was already hers. Even still, breaking the record might have even caught her by surprise. By MARC DILLER DAILY SPORTS WRITER he adjusts her swim goggles to her head before stepping onto the blocks and at this, the moment of preparation, she puts all other distractions behind her. She stands apart from everyone for a few minutes, just :> reflecting on the '<> task at hand and K psyching herself up. Standing on the blocks now. Humphreys focus leads 'M' women swimmers This is Alecia's habitual preparation for any swim race. In her third season on the Michigan women's swimming team, Humphrey has managed to impact the world of collegiate swimming like few others before'her. While with the team, Humphrey, a junior backstroker and individual medley swimmer, has already amassed many individual accolades. She is a