The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, January 23, 1995 - 5 9 U Wui (I Li nos L I f "! f Mlichigan forward Jason Botterill grabs on to the stick of Bowling Green defenseman Todd Kelman during action Friday DOUGLAS KANTER/Daily night at Yost Ice Arena. Wolverines are both lucky and quite good By TOM SEELEY Daily Hockey Writer AUBURN HILLS - During the Michigan hockey team's current nine- game winning streak, the Wolverines have made clear that good teams find a way to win. Some nights, the men in maize and blue have looked awesome. They've fired on all cylinders and made it look like they could easily dismantle a squad the caliber of the Russian Red Army team. Other nights, however, the Wolverines have gone through stretches where they've played like someone forgot to remind them that Friday and Saturday night are not exactly the time to catch up on their sleep. But while the games' styles of play have differed, the results have not and each game has ended with another Michigan victory celebration. The streak began with an 11-2 manhandling of Notre Dame back on Dec. 3 and has extended through Saturday's 9-3 come-from-behind win over those same Fighting Irish. In between, the Wolverines won a seventh consecutive Great Lakes Invitational Championship, completed a weekend sweep of the defending national champions on the road and won both of the overtime games played this year. On several occasions, Michigan has needed only its superior talent and depth to outplay some lesser teams, but then again the Wolverines can't play Ohio State, Michigan Tech or Notre Dame every night. Many of the Wolver- ines' victories show that this team has really found its niche as they head into crunch time of a grueling conference schedule. A little over a week ago, Michigan headed to Sault Ste. Marie to face the defending national champion Lake Superior State, but the Wolverines didn't let all of the championship banners hanging in the rafters intimidate them. Michigan jumped out to an early lead over the Lakers in the first game of the senes and never looked back en route to a relatively easy 5-1 triumph. The next night was a different story, however, as the home team came out firing, winning every face off and beating the Wolverines to every puck. The Lakers outplayed Michigan all night long, but each time Lake State notched a goal, the Wolverines quickly responded to even the score. As if netting the game-tying goal with only nine seconds left in regulation wasn't enough to drown the Lakers, Michigan's final response came in the extra period when Bill Muckalt scored to give the Wolverines the win. After stealing two points, Michigan coach Red Berenson described himself as feeling like a "bank robber leaving town." But then in the next game, Friday night against Bowling Green, Michigan looked more like the Keystone Cops than the No. 2 team in the country. After staking themselves to a two-goal advantage, the Wolverines allowed the Falcons to force the game into overtime, but Michigan pulled it out yet again.. Mike Legg deflected Peter Bourke's shot and the puck slid between the pads of Bowling Green goalie Will Clarke. Both Berenson and Legg described the Wolverines' win as "lucky". "(Bourke) just rifled it at the net, and honestly it just hit my stick and went in," Legg said. That's the way things have been going for the Wolverines lately. Sometimes the team has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and other times it has coasted from the opening face off. The method of victory is really not that important because when a team has eight players averaging more than a point per game over the last nine games, like Michigan does, that team will somehow find a way to win. And while some people may use "luck" to describe the Wolverines' good fortunes of late, the element of chance just does not do this team justice. And if you haven't figured it out yet, this Michigan squad is one whale of a good team. Bowing Green clings to Erst place in conference Associated Press Defenseman Chad Ackerman ored two goals and assisted on an- ther as Bowling Green held on to rst place in the CCHA with a 6-4 ictory over Michigan State. *ie victory kept the Falcons (13- -1 CCHA, 16-7-1 overall) a point ead of Michigan, which beat Bowl- g Green Friday, and three points ead of the Spartans (11-3-2, 16-6- Michigan State took leads of 2-1 d 3-2, but the Falcons scored four raight goals to take control. ckerman started the spree with a Sat 14:59 of the second period to e score at 3-3. Mike Johnson scored 72 seconds to the third period and Ackerman ded his second goal at 14:06. Curtis ry scored the final goal. Brett nchard and Jason Clark also scored r the Falcons. Dean Sylvester scored twice for ichigan State along with Richard eyes and Taylor Clarke. ill Clarke made 24 saves for owling Green while Mike Buzak opped 34 for the Spartans. Miami (Ohio) 2, Lake Superior 1 Andrew Miller scored twice and huck Thuss made 30 saves as Miami hio) beat Lake Superior State, 2-1, turday. Miller beat Laker goalie John rame at 5:24 of the second period en the scoring. He gave the CENTRAL COLLEGIA TE HOCKE Y ASSOCIATIONN Zedskins (8-5-4, 10-10-4) a 2-0 lead t 13:15 of the second. Lake Superior (5-8-3, 7-10-5) [osed to 2-1 with Mike Morin's goal t 7:46 of the third but could get no loser. Ferris St. 6, W. Michigan 2 Jason Blake scored two goals, his irst sparking a three-goal second pe- iod for Ferris State, as the Bulldogs eat Western Michigan, 6-2, Satur- ay. Ferris State (7-9-2, 10-12-2) led 2- when Blake scored at 6:05 of the econd. Tim Christian added a short- anded goal, and John Duff scored mother goal as the Bulldogs took a 5- lead. Dwight Parrish and Andy Roach ad a goal and an assist for Ferris. )erek Innanen and Chad Anderson :ored for the Broncos (6-9-1, 14-11- :). Jeff Blashill made 24 saves for the 3ulldogs and Brian Renfrew made 25 :ops for the Broncos. Ohio St. 7, Ill.-Chicago 1 Tom Askey made 49 saves, and ;raig Paterson, Randy Holmes and ared Whidden scored two goals apiece s Ohio State beat Illinois-Chicago, 7- , Saturday to split the weekend se- es. The Buckeyes (2-13-1, 5-16-2) >ok a 7-0 lead before the Flames (7- -2, 10-11-2) finally scored. Sasha Guilbault netted the other oal for the Buckeyes. Rob Mottau cored for the Flames, and Paul Spen- er made 25 saves. fir ICERS Continued from page 12 defeat the Falcons. Mike Knuble's goal midway through the first period gave the Wolverines a 2-0 lead, and a repeat of Michigan's 7-3 win over Bowling Green earlier this season seemed likely. However, the Falcons managed to hold the Wolverines to just seven shots in the period, and they got things going offensively in the second. Goals from Brett Punchard and Brian Holzinger knotted the game at two. Michigan's Bill Muckalt broke the tie with a wrap- around goal late in the period, but Punchard answered with a score of his own just moments later. "The first 10 minutes of the game belonged to Michigan, but our guys got much more involved after that," said Powers, who was hardly in tears at game's end. "We've got a bunch of guys (in the lockerroom) who just gave everything and are disappointed, but I don't want anybody hanging their head. If we com- pete like that, we're going to win our share of games down the road." The following evening, the Wolver- ines had a much easier task ahead of them in Notre Dame - or so they thought. "I don't know if it was because we won a big game last night or what," Berenson said. "I didn't like the way we played for most of the game. We didn't give (goalie Al) Loges the protection we should have." As it turned out, Michigan had plenty of offense, regardless of who was in goal. The Wolverines pulled away from MICHIGAN 4, BOWLING GREEN 3 (OT) Bowling Green 0 3 0 0--3 Michigan 2 1 0 1-4 First Period - 1, UM, Botterill 11 (Muckalt, Gor- don), 3:34.2, UM, Knuble 17 (Morrison,Turco), 9:28. Penalties - Gordon, UM (tripping), 6:15; Sinclair, UM (holding), 11:22; Hall, BGSU (holding), 18:26. Second Period - 3, BGSU, Punchard 8 (Johnson,Lune), 1:27 (pp). 4, BGSU, Holzinger 26 (Punchard, Kelman), 4:59.5, UM, Muckalt 15 (Botterill, Gordon), 16:01.6, BGSU Punchard 9 (Holzinger, Fry), 16:49. Penalties-Sloan, UM (roughing afterwhistle), 1:06d Luhning, UM (charging), 8:19; Turco, UM served by Arnold, (high-sticking), 19:31. Tli Period - None. Penalties - BGSU, benchi served by Crombeem (too many men), 1:37; Fair, BGSU (roughing), 5:51; Knuble, UM (roughing), 5:51. Sh-bongoad-BGSU 8-1160-25. UM 7-12-10- 1-30. Powrphsy-BGSU 1 of 5, UM 0of 2. Goiesaves-BGSU, Clarke 5-11-10-0-26. UM, Turco 846-0-22. Rtamem-Jeff Shell. isneSnan-John Kelly, Devin Newell. At: Yost Ice Arena A 7,387 the Fighting Irish in the third period, thanks to forward John Madden. Mad- den pulled off a natural hat trick in the third period, scoring all three of his goals in the final 20 minutes of play. "Johnny's played well in this build- ing," Berenson said. "I don't know if he's scored as much before, but he's always played well in this building. "I enjoy play in front of all these fans," Madden said. "It's more emo- tional and definitely more exciting." Madden's and Michigan's success against Notre Dame didn't come with- out a fight. Berenson chose to give Loges a rare start, and the Fighting Irish greeted him rudely, opening up a two- goal lead in the first period. After that, the seniornetminder"stoodon his head," as Madden put it, stopping all but one of Notre Dame's shots on goal. "You could have made an instruc- tional video out of the way they played," Fighting Irish coach Ric Schaefer said. "I didn't think the game would end 2-0. I knew we'd have to score a few more and I knew they would get on track." MICHIGAN 9, NOTRE DAME 3 Michigan 2 2 5 -91 NotreDame 2 1 0-3 FirstPeriod-1, ND, Welch 2 (Ling), 4:02(pp). 2, ND, Bales 5 (Ling, Harberts), 7:26(pp). 3, UM Botterill 12 (Gordon, Knuble), 8:01(pp.). 4, UM Fox 1 (Sinclair, Legg) 10:06. Penalties - Sloan, (hooking), 3:32: Willis, UM (cross-checking), I6:32; Rushin, ND (interference) 7:53: Gordon, UM (slashing) 15:18; Bruniniks, ND (holding) 17:55; Sinclair, UM (hooking) 17:55; Knuble, UM (roughing) 20:00: Morrison, UM (high-sticking) 20:00; Theel, ND (roughing) 20:00; Hasselman, ND (roughing) 20:00. Second Period- 5, UM ,Knuble 18 (Morrison), 4:31. 6.'ND. Ling 8 (Gruber), 9:34. 7, UM, Botterill 13 (Hilton), 13:28 (pp.). Penalties - Muckalt, UM (elbowing) 2:07; Theel,.ND (holding) 11:56; Botterill, UM (roughing) 16:41: Gordon, UM(roughing) 16:41; Halko, UM (roughing) 16:41; Welch, ND (roughing) 16:41; Coe, ND (roughing) 16:41; Lorenz, ND (high-dticking) 16:41; Morrison, UM (elbowing) 17:27. Third Period - 8, UM, Madden 9 (Luhning) 2:12. 9, UM, Legg 12 (Luhning, Muckalt) 5:03 (pp.). 10, UM, Madden 10 (Halko, Sloan) 9:01. 11, UM Madden 11, (Luhning) 14:39. 12, Morrison 15 19:08 (sh). Penalties -Willis, UM (roughing) 3:13; Lorenz, ND (tripping) 3:13; Nelsen, ND (roughing) 3:13; Legg, UM (delay of game) 5:30; Welch, ND (delay of game) 5:30; Sinclair, UM (holding) 9:31; McCarthy, ND (interference) 12:15; Knuble, UM double minor sevred by Morrison (roughing) 16:54; Hasselman, ND (roughing) 16:54: Herr, UM (boarding) 18:04; Luhning, UM (slashing) 18:04; Gruber, ND (slash- ing) 18:04. Shots on goal - UM 15-11-17-43. ND 9-13- 14-36. Power plays - UM 3 of 4, ND 2 of 8. Goalie saves- UM, Loges 7-12-14-33. ND, Eisler 13-9-12-34. Referees - Roger Graff Linesman - Don Kline, John Laduke. At: The Palace. A: 20,889. Through games of Jan. 22 CONFERENCE TEAM W L BGSU 13 4 Michigan ±3 2 Michigan St. 11 3 Miami (Ohio) 8 5 III.-Chicago 7 7 Ferris State 7 9 W. Michigan 6 9 Lake Superior 5 8 Ohio St. 2 13 Notre Dame 2 14 T 4 2 3 2 1 PTS 27 26 24 20 16 16 13 13 6 5 OVERALL W L T 16 7 1 I8 4 0 10 10 4 1011 3 10 12 2 14 11 2 7 10 5 5 16 2 6 18-1 I I Loges makes bestof rare startMgp ~etmnder settles down, shines between Michigan's pipes it , fh' FT~ By BARRY SOLLENBERGER Daily Hockey Writer AUBURN HILLS -- If you look the word "backup" in any dictio- ry, you're likely to find this defini- n: See Al Loges. * three-plus seasons, the senior is never been Michigan's No. 1 >alie. In fact, until this season, he couldn't ien crack the second string. For three ears, he played third fiddle behind because you never know when you're going to play." But despite his lack of ice time, Loges is no sieve between the pipes. Saturday's contest between Notre Dame and the No. 2 Wolverines gave Michigan coach Red Berenson the chance to rest Turco and to get a look at Loges, who responded with his best showing of the season in the 9-3 Wol- verine win. After a rocky beginning in which Loges allowed two early goals, he got knocked over on my butt and lost my stick." He finally dove on the loose puck, bringing the NCAA-record crowd of 20,889 to its feet for one of the few times all evening. "Those were some huge stops," Berenson said. "He made two or three unbelievable saves." Loges' performance Saturday hardly means that Turco is out of a job. Prior to Friday's victory over Bowl- ing Green, Turco was among the .... _ v V&1