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March 8, 1995
Three 'M' freshmen honored
Gordon, Muckalt and Turco on CCHA All-Rookie team
By Barry Sollenberger
Daily Hockey Writer
It may not be easy for the rest of
the league to keep the No.1 Michi-
gan hockey team from winning its
third straight CCHA title next year.
The Wolverines captured their
second straight CCHA champion-
ship this season with only seven
seniors on the roster. Two of those
seven players - defensemen Mark
Sakala and Alan Sinclair - aren't
even regular contributors.
Michigan is, indeed, a young
team. In fact, 14 of the Wolverines'
25 players are either freshmen or
sophomores.
Part of Michigan's youth was
rewarded Sunday when freshmen
Marty Turco, Bill Muckalt and Robb
Gordon were named to the CCHA
All-Rookie team.
"It's really nice for our coaching
staff," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said of the selections. "It
tells us that we've recruited good,
solid freshmen."
Turco, Muckalt and Gordon join
Ferris State's Jason Blake, Western
Michigan's Steve Duke and Dan
Boyle of Miami (Ohio) on the team.
The league's Rookie of the Year
will be announced March 17 at the
CCHA awards banquet.
After winning a preseason battle
with senior Al Loges for the starting
job between the pipes, Turco
emerged as one of the top goalies in
both the conference and the nation.
He leads the CCHA in wins (24)
and is second in goals-against aver-
age (2.82). His 24 wins rank him
second nationally
behind Maine's
Blair Allison
(28). Turco is the
first goalie in
Wolverine his-
tory to make the
' k CCHA All-
Rookie team.
"One of the
things that was
Gordon helpful for me
was to be able to
come in and play as a freshman,"
Turco said. "I'm excited about be-
ing chosen, but I look at it as a team
thing more than anything else."
Muckalt was the only unanimous
selection to the team, chosen by the
CCHA head coaches.
The right wing leads all fresh-
men in the conference in goals (18)
and overall scoring (35 points). His
five game-winning goals tie him
with Blake and Michigan's Mike
Knuble for the CCHA lead.
"Making the team is kind of an
evaluation," Muckalt said. "It kind of
judges how Marty, Robb and I com-
pare with the rest of the league and
shows that we're working hard and
improving."
Gordon trails only Muckalt in
rookie scorers in the conference (33)
and leads all freshmen forwards with
20 assists.
"I think that I've always had a
reputation for playing freshmen,"
Berenson said. "It was easy to- do
when we didn't have good teams, but
(the selections) are real tributes to the
players because they're good enough
to play on the teams we have now."
Michigan opens the league play-
offs Friday in a best-of-three series
against Ohio State without senior cap-
tain Rick Willis and freshman Matt
Herr. The Buckeyes advanced to
Friday's contest after defeating
Alaska-Fairbanks in last night's pre-
liminary CCHA playoff game.
Willis is out indefinitely after suf-
fering a strained knee last Friday
against Miami.
"It's hard to say how long he'll be
out," Berenson said. "But we'll get him
back out on the ice late next week."
Herr injured his knee Sunday
against Ohio State and his status for
the rest of the season is unknown.
DOUGLAS RANTER/Daily
Bill Muckalt was the pnly unanimous selection to the CCHA All-Rookie team. He led all conference freshmen in
scoring and is tied for most game-winning goals in the league.
___________________________________________________________ urn
Bahr's class shines
By Tim Smith
Daily Sports Writer
Amidst the hubbub and craziness
of last weekend's Big Ten wrestling
championships, one incident in par-
ticular stuck out.
Michigan coach Dale Bahr was on
the sideline when his wrestler escaped
to seemingly grab
a 3-1 lead. How-
ever, an error by
the judges as-
signed the point to
.x the wrong wres-
. tier. Many of the
Michigan fans in
the stands were
ready to strangle
the student score-
Bahr keepers and tear
the refs apart.
The fact is, many other coaches in
the heat of the battle may have at-
tacked the referee, the scorekeeper
and anybody else within arm's length
until they got their deserved point.
But not Bahr.
Bahr acted with his typical class
and cool head and showed why he is
one of the most respected and well-
liked coaches in the country. Bahr
calmly walked over to the scorers
table and alerted them of the error.
When they didn't seem to hear his
polite request and left the score un-
changed, he asked again, almost
apologetically, for a change until the
referee interceded and corrected the
problem.
In this day and age of chair throw-
ing, verbal assaults, and down right
hostility by coaches, Bahr's act helped
to show what is right in sports.
And it also helped show what is
wrong.
When a simple act, which should
have been the norm instead of the
unusual, stuck out for its uniqueness
something is definitely wrong.
Granted, it wasn't a huge deal for
Bahr to act so civil, but it was big
enough to show the differences be-
tween Bahr and others in his profes-
sion.
The bottom line is that Bahr, would
have walked over to the scorers table
and told them the score was wrong if his
team was the team given the extrapoint.
through
Other coaches in that situation may
have pointed to the stands and told
everyone that Elvis was making a
guest appearance in section 23 in or-
der to divert attention from the well-
appreciated scoring error.
One coach in particular, Dan Gable
of Iowa, may have even yelled at his
wrestler for not seeing the error first.
The Hawkeyes went on to win the
Big Ten title for the 22nd year in a
row, but their coach would never win
any awards for kindness and mod-
esty.
When his team placed second to
Oklahoma State in the NCAAs last
year, Gable commented that the
coaching wasn't the problem (in fact,
he said the coaching was great), rather
that his team just didn't want it
enough.
Butmaybe they did want itenough
and other factors such as their studies,
health and overall skill level limited
their ability to win it.
But in Gable's eyes it didn't mat-
ter. They just didn't want it enough.
And that's all that the press, the
fans and any others who heard that
i1
Big Tens
comment would come away with on
their notepads or in their memories.
In 17 years at Michigan, Bahr has
recorded 181 wins - a number sec-
ond only to the legendary Cliff Keen
- and has proven that he doesn't
need a raging demeanor to do it.
Following the Big Ten Champi-
onships, Bahr's main concern was the
health of 177-pound wrestler Jesse
Rawls Jr., who had injured his knee
the day before. He was worried about
his wrestler as a person and not just as
an athlete. Bahr is concerned about all
of his wrestlers.
In Bahr's eyes, the Wolverines
were not slabs of meat who didn't
want it enough. They were a tired
bunch who gave it their all and
wrestled as well as they could.
When the meet was over, the
Wolverines piled back into the team
vans for the long trip back to Ann
Arbor.
At some schools sitting by the
coach would have been a punishment,
but for any Wolverine lucky enough
to occupy the seat next to Bahr, it
would have been an honor.
CCHA Playoffs at the Joe
Olympia Arenas, Inc. and the Daily are holding a contest
with prizes for the CCHA Playoffs March 18 and 19 at Joe
Louis Arena. The Grand Prize: A night for two at the Westin
Hotel in downtown Detroit including two game tickets to
both the semifinals and the finals. Four First Prizes: Four
game tickets to both the semifinals and finals. Six Second
Prizes: Two game tickets to both the semifinals and the
finals. To enter, drop off your answers at the Daily sports
desk in the Student Publications Building at 420 Ma ynard.
The contest Is'cumulative - the contestants with the
most correct answers over the week will have the
greater chance to win.
Today's question: What four teams were the original
members of the CCHA in the 197172 season?
Answer
Name:
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Continued from page 12
been here, I might not come out focused
and ready to play. I have to look at Penn
State as a regular game."
There is one catch to the Jackson-
King swan song. If the Wolverines lose
tonight, they may very well be NIT-
bound. It is possible that Michigan will
host at least one game early in that
tournament, giving King and Jackson
an unwanted game at Crisler.
"I don't even want to think about
that," King said. "Our destiny's in our
hands. I really don't want to give that
any thought. There's no (NCAA) Tour-
nament without Michigan."
Some of the Fab Five's greatest
achievements occurred in front of the
0
home fans. When King and Jackson are
honored tonight, many of those memo-
ries should come rushing back. Each
season seems to have produced many
exciting games on the Crisler floor.
Fromtheclassic 1991 matchupwith
Duke that introduced the Fab Five on
national television to January's double-
overtime thriller against Iowa, Michi-
gan fans have been witness to one of the
most intriguing periods in the history of
Wolverine basketball.
And now it is coming to a close.
"It's going to be emotional, buthope-
fully that emotion will be channeled in
a good way," Fisher said. "They've
been part of the greatest era of Michi-
gan basketball to date. We are saying
goodbye to two guys that have meant a
lot to Michigan basketball."
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